Answer Unto Assertion that Church of Rome is the True Church, Assertion 4
Assertion.
For the second the Prophet saith, Domum tuam decet sanctitudo Domine in longitudinē dierum. Psal. 92.1. corint. 3. Psalm 118. Matth. 19.Templum Dei sanctum est, quod estis vos (inquit Christus.) Media nocte surgebam ad confitendum tibi (inquit Propheta.) Some saith Christ geld thēselues for the kingdom of heauē that is to say, by fasting, by prayer, & other afflictions. Castigo corpus meum inquit Paulus, 1. corinth. 9.& in seruitatē redigo, &c. To Iudith after her notable & victorious acte to her cōmēdation it was said.Iudith. 15. Confortatum est cor tuū eo quod castitatē amaueris. Bona est oratio inquit Tobias cum ieiunto & eleemosina, Tobi. 12.…his kind of deuils, saith Ch…ist, meaning …as the Doctors say,Matth. 17.) the spirits of forni…ation are not cast out but by fasting & …rayer.Matth. 5. Sic luceat lux vestra coram homi…ibus, vt videant opera vestra bona, inquit Christus, Matth. 7. Lucae 6.ex fructibus eorum cognoscetis eos …nquit Christus. Mutuum date nihil, inde …perantes inquit idem Christus. Sancta & …alubris est cogitatio pro defunctis exorare vt a poenis soluantur dicit Scriptura. 2. Machab. 12.The which though the Iewes did neuer receiue no more than they did the Gospel of Iohn, yet the church hath and doeth receiue boeth for canonicall scriptures. Vt patet in the third generall councell of Charthage,Consil. in suorum decret cap. 47. August. lib 18. de ciuitate Dei cap. 26. Canon. cap. 84. where Saint Augustine was present. Qui dicit quod Machabaeorum libros non Iudaei sed Ecclesia pro Canonicis habet. Which also is affirmed in the Canons of the Apostles. The which church is to be preferred before the Iewes sinagogue,Psalm. 86. Agge. 2. to whome Christ hath promised the continual assistaunce of his holy spirit, Propheta teste dicente diligit Dominus portas Syō super omnia tabernacula Iacob. Magna erit gloria domus istius nouissimae, plusquam primae: dicit dominus. In the primitiue church they vsed praier for the soules departed, which was the traditiō of the Apostles,Dionys. cap. 7. de coelest. Hie. Chry. in Epist. ad Philippens. Homil. 3 as witnesseth Dionysius Areopagita, S. Paul his scholler, & so witnesseth also S. Chrysostome. Non frustra ab Apostolis sancitum est, vt in celebratione venerandorum mysteriorum memoria fiat eorū, qui hinc decesserunt: nouerunt illis hinc multum emolumenti fieri multum vtilitatis. Habet inquit August. ecclesiastica disciplina, August. Homi. 17. de verb. Apostoli.quod fideles nouerunt cum Martyres eo loco recitantur ad altare dei, vt non pro ipsis oretur, pro caeteris autem commemoratis defunctis oretur. S. August. praying for his mothers soule Monica saith in his praiers made to God thus,Read the whole chapter, and ye shall finde the matter more at large. as it appeareth in the eleuēth chapter of his nienth booke of his confessions, declaring how she did not desire to be costly buried. These were not the thinges (saith hee) that shee anie thing required vsus, but only desired vsus to hauehave her in remēbrance at thine Alter, to the which she had beene accustomed no day missing to doe seruice, from which shee well knewe that holy sacrifice to be dispenced, by which the obligation that made against vsus was cancelled, &c. In the primitiue Churche they builded Churches, they erected altars, and offered sacrifices therevpon, which was a sure token and argument of the true faith of Christ:Chrysost. contra gentes. Deus sit homo. as Chrysost. writeth. Nowe such as in wordes and actes inueygh against & contemne the said good woorkes both profitable for the quicke and the dead, seeme to me to bee no more members of the primitiue Church, than they bee of our Catholique Churche, at this daye. And I pray ye iudge which are Christ his folke by his owne rule abouesaid, that is to saye, by their fruites, and consider by the monumentes of our forefathers left behinde them,Math. 7. whether they were Illa arbor bona, which brought foorth good frute.