Answer to a Popish Antichristian Catholic, Offer 9
The ninth Offer.
Offerer.
Ninth. Where as the Proteſtants by the drift of reaſon and Argument, are forced of the Catholiques, to acknowledge and confeſſe their Church and Congregations to hauehave lien hidden & vnknowne for the ſpace of one whole thouſand yeeres togither, without all the foreſaid functions and miniſtrations of Apoſtles, Prophets, Euangeliſts, Paſtors and Doctors of their goſpell, faith and religion, at the leaſt wiſe to be openly perceiued & knowne: if therefore they ſhall be able for the ſpace of that whole time to prooue by auncient writers of Eccleſiaſticall hyſtories, any other word, goſpell or doctrine to be vniuerſally & openly taught, any other ſacraments to be miniſtred, any other diſcipline or correction to be practiſed, any other iudgements, decrees, Canons, or lawes to be executed, then thoſe which were daily practiſed in the common knowen Catholique Church of Chriſt, I will then recant and not before.
Crowley.
This Offerer would beare vsus in hand that wée Proteſtants, are by the drift of reaſon and argument, enforced to confeſſe, &c. Hée dooth vsus great wrong, in yt hée auoutcheth that wée confeſſe, that for the ſpace of a thouſand yéeres togither, wée had no maner function or miniſtration, &c. As though wée ſhould confeſſe that wée had no goſpel, no faith, no religion. And yet his owne conſcience driueth him to ſay thus: At the leaſt wiſe to be openly perceiued & known. Well, then his owne conſcience telleth him that wée had thoſe miniſtrations, and that it was knowne that wée had them, but not openly.
It appéereth that this man vnderſtandeth nothing of the myſterie of that woman that the Apoſtle Iohn ſaw in his viſion. Apoc. 12.Apoc. 12. If theſe Antichriſtian Catholiques could content them ſelues to bée taught by ſuch as God hath ſtirred vp & made able to open ye meaning of this myſtery: they ſhould ſée, that the right Catholique church of Chriſt, hath bin in Wilderneſſe euer ſince the Male childe that ſhee brought foorth, was taken vp into heauen. Yea, & although ſhee bee clad with the ſunne, and hath the Moone vnderunder hir feete: yet doo not theſe men ſo ſée hir, that they may diſcerne hir from the congregations of the heathen, bicauſe their ſight is ſuch as the ſight of Howlets and ſuch other night fowles, that cannot endure the brightnes of the ſunne.
Immediately after our ſauiour Chriſt was aſcended into heauen, the Dragon (that olde ſerpent, the deuill & Satan) being vanquiſhed by Michael and his Angels, & expelled out of heauen, and caſt downe to the earth, did perſecute the woman that had borne a ſonne, which is our ſauiour Chriſt, and the woman is his Catholique church. This Church did the Dragon (the diuell) perſecute by the miniſtrie of the Romaine Emperors: by the ſpace of 294. yéeres vnderunder Nero, Domitian, T…a…ant, Seuerus, Commodus, Decius, and Diocleſian. All this while the Dragon did perſecute the Catholique church, & ſéeke by all meanes poſſible to roote it out: but Almighty God had in mercifull prouidence prouided for his Church, two wings of a great Egle, whereby ſhée tooke flight into the wildernes, into the place that was prepared for hir; where ſhée was noriſhed all that time, out of the ſight of the ſerpent.
Yea, the ſerpent did caſt out of his mouth after the woman, as it had bin a riuer of water: that ſhee might hauehave bin violently borne away of the water. But the earth did help the woman, and opening hir mouth did ſwallow vp the Riuer that the Dragon had caſt out of his mouth, after hir.
If ſuch as bée of the learned ſorte amongſt them that be of the Romiſh Catholique church, would with humbled mindes reade this booke of Reuelations, & ſéeke for the true fence & meaning but of this one viſion: vndoubtedly they ſhould finde (and I hope they would confeſſe) that the true Catholike church of Chriſt, that was figured by ye woman: had not the glory of the world, as the Romiſh Catholique church hath now, but was in this world obſcure, and after a ſorte, hid from the preſence, of ſuch as the ſerpent had ſtirred vp to perſecute hir, which were the mighty Emperors, and other yt were of great powre within the Romaine Empire. And yet was ſhée ſtill clad with the ſunne, & had the Moone vnderunder hir féete, &c. That is, ſhée was ſtill glorious in the ſight of God and of all good men. For hir garment was Chriſt the bright ſhining light of the world. VnderUnder hir feete ſhée had the Moone ſtill, for ſhée contemned, & trode vnderunder foote, the vaine pompe & glory of this world, which ſhineth gloriouſly in the ſight of the blinde worldlings, euen as the Moone dooth in the darknes of the night. Yea, and ſhée had hir head crowned with the twelue ſtarres, the Patriarches which were Fathers to the twelue kinreds of Iſraell, or thoſe twelue Meſſengers, or Apoſtles, which our ſauiour Chriſt had ſent foorth, as ſtarres to giuegive light in the darknes of this world.
Yea, although ſhee dwelt ſtill in Rome, & in other Cities that belonged to the Romaine Empire: yet ſhee was as in a wildernes, as hauing nothing, and yet poſſeſſing all things, &c. 2. Cor. 6.2, Cor, …, So that if this Offerer would but conſider this, & conceiue in his minde, the countenance that the Catholique church could beare in this world, during ye time of perſecution vnderunder ye aboue named Emperors: ſurely hee would neuer for ſhame ſay, that our Church is not the Catholique church, bicauſe we confeſſe, that for ye ſpace of one thouſand yeeres: it was by the two horned beaſt (that is by the papacie) kept vnderunder, as that Church (which hee him ſelfe dooth confeſſe to bée the right Catholique church of Chriſt) was by the ſeuen headed Dragon, which was the Romaine Empire.
If the Catholique church might hauehave hir Apoſtles, Prophets, Euangeliſts, Paſtors, and Doctors (as vndoubtedly ſhee had) in the time of the firſt bloody perſecutions, which continued for the ſpace of 294. yeeres almoſt continually: why might ſhee not hauehave ſo many of thoſe miniſters as were neceſſarie for hir edification, during the time of ye later perſecution which hath continued how almoſt a thouſand yeeres togithers? Yea, and why might not ſhe hauehave ye miniſtration of Sacraments, and execution of diſcipline, as well in the one time as in the other? And ſo, by good conſequence, Why may not the Proteſtants Church be the Catholique church of Chriſt, as well as that Church was, that differed as much in all points, from the knowne Popiſh Catholique church, as our Proteſtant Catholique church dooth differ now, from the ſame?
I conclude therefore, that it is altogither vnneceſſary, to prooue any way, that any other goſpell or doctrine, then that which was preached by the Apoſtles, or any other Sacramēts, then the ſame that Chriſt Ieſus did firſt inſtitute, or any other diſcipline, then that which ye Catholique church of Chriſt hath practized: ſhould hée preached, miniſtred, and practized vniuerſally & openly, yt thereby wée might prooue our Church to be Catholique. For it is manifeſt by the hyſtories, that the right Catholique church hath ſildome had ſuch fréedome vponupon earth, that ſhee might hauehave hir doctrine publikely, & vniuerſally preached, hir ſacraments miniſtred and hir diſcipline practized. Wherefore, except you will ſhew your ſelfe wilfull and obſtinate, you muſt now recant, although heretofore you would not.