pastors; confirmed, by clear evidences of Scriptures; evinced, by sound reasons; sealed up, by the blood of our blessed martyrs. So, while no man takes away the crown of your constancy, ye shall be our crown and rejoicing in the day of the Lord Jesus.

To whose all-sufficient grace I commend you all; and vow myself,

Your common servant, in

him, whom we all

rejoice to serve,

JOS. EXON.

THE

OLD RELIGION.

INTRODUCTION.

SECT. 1.

THE

The Extent of the Differences betwixt the Churches.

HE first blessing, that I daily beg of my God for his Church, is, our Saviour's legacy, Peace; John xiv. 27: that sweet peace, which, in the very name of it, comprehends all happiness, both of estate and disposition. As that mountain, whereon Christ ascended, though it abounded with palms, and pines, and myrtles *, yet it carried only the name of Olives, which have been an ancient emblem of peace: other graces are for the beauty of the Church; this, for the health and life of it: for, howsoever even wasps have their combs, and heretics their assemblies (as Tertullian †) so as all are not of the Church that have peace; yet, so essential is it to the Church, in St. Chrysostom's opinion, that the very name of the Church implies a consent and concord. No marvel, then, if the Church, labouring here below, make it her daily suit to her Glorious Bridegroom in Heaven, Da Pacem, "Give Peace in our time, O Lord." The means of which happiness are soon seen; not so soon attained; even that, which Jerome hath to his Ruffinus §, Una Fides: "Let our belief be but one, and our hearts will be one."

But since, as Erasmus hath too truly observed ||, there is nothing so happy in these human things, wherein there is not some intermixtures of distemper; and St. Paul hath told us, there must be heresies; 1 Cor. xi. 19. and the Spouse, in Solomon's Song, compares her Blessed Husband to a young hart upon the mountain

* Adrichoni. Descr. Hieros. fol. fig. 192.

+ Faciunt favos et vespæ; faciunt Ecclesias et Marcionitæ. Tert. adv. Marcion. 1. iv. c. 5.

Ecclesia nomen consensus concordiæque est. Chrys. Com. in Ep. ad Gal. § Sit inter nos una fides, et illico pax sequetur. Hier. adv. Ruff.

Eras. Ep. 1. xx. Paulo Decimario.

of Bether; that is, division; Cant. ii. 17. yea, rather, as under Gensericus and his Vandals *, the Christian temples flamed higher than the towns; so, for the space of these last hundred years, there hath been more combustion in the Church than in the Čivil State : my next wish is, that, if differences in religion cannot be avoided; yet that they might be rightly judged of, and be but taken as they are.

Neither can I but mourn and bleed, to see how miserably the world is abused, on all hands, with prejudice, in this kind; while the adverse part brands us with unjust censures, and with loud clamours cries us down for heretics. On the other side, some of ours do so slight the errors of the Roman Church, as if they were not worth our contention t; as if our martyrs had been rash, and our quarrels trifling. Others, again, do so aggravate them, as if we could never be at enough defiance with their opinions, nor at enough distance from their communion.

All these three are dangerous extremities. The two former whereof shall, if my hopes fail me not, in this whole discourse be sufficiently convinced.

Wherein, as we shall fully clear ourselves from that hateful slander of heresy or schism; so, we shall leave upon the Church of Rome an unavoidable imputation of many, no less foul and enormous, than novel errors: to the stopping of the mouths of those Adiaphorists, whereof Melancthon seems to have long ago prophesied; Metuendum est &c: "It is to be feared," saith he ‡, "that, in the last age of the world, this error will reign amongst men, that either religions are nothing, or differ only in words."

The third comes now in our way. That, which Laertius § speaks of Menedemus, that, in disputing, his very eyes would sparkle, is true of many of ours; whose zeal transports them to such a detestation of the Roman Church, as if it were all error, no Church ||; affecting nothing more than an utter opposition to their doctrine and ceremony, because theirs: like as Maldonate professeth ¶ to mislike and avoid many fair interpretations, not as false, but as Calvin's.

These men have not learned this in St. Austin's school; who tells us, that it was the rule of the Fathers, as well before Cyprian and Agrippinus as since, whatsoever they found in any schism or heresy, warrantable and holy, that they allowed for its own worth, and did not refuse it for the abettors **. "Neither, for the chaff, do we leave the floor of God: neither, for the bad fishes, do we break his nets ++." Rather, as the priests of Mercury had wont

|| Hooker.

Victor. Pers. Afric. l. v. + Spalat. de Hist. Eccl. tom. ult. 1. vii.
Melanct. Postill. de Bapt. Christ. § Diog. Laert.
¶ Comment. in Evang. sæpe.

Eccl. Pol. 1. iv. sect. 3.

** Patres nostri et saluberrimam consuetudinem tenuerunt, ut quicquid divinum ac legitimum, &c. Aug.

tt Neque propter paleam, relinquimus aream Domini: neque, propter pisces malos, rumpimus retia Domini. Aug. Ep. 48.-Sic Anabaptiste accusant pædobaptismum Papismi. Clifton contra Smith,-Sic Neariani Trinitatem arguunt et ar ticulum Papæ. Prolæus Fascic. c. 1.

to say, when they ate their figs and honey, yλunù, &c. all truth is sweet. It is indeed God's, not ours, wheresoever it is found; as the king's coin is current, though it be found in any impure channel.

For this particular, they have not well heeded that charitable profession of zealous Luther, Nos fatemur &c: "We profess," saith he*, "that, under the Papacy, there is much Christian good; yea, all; &c. I say moreover, that, under the Papacy is true Christianity, yea the very kernel of Christianity, &c. No man, I trust, will fear that fervent spirit's too much excess of indulgence.

Under the Papacy may be as much good, as itself is evil † : neither do we censure that Church, for what it hath not; but, for what it hath. Fundamental truth is like Maronæan wine, which, if it be mixed with twenty times so much water, holds its strength. The Sepulchre of Christ was overwhelmed by the Pagans, with earth and rubbish: and, more than so, over it they built a temple to their impure Venus ; yet, still, in spite of malice, there was the Sepulchre of Christ. And it is a ruled case of Papinian, that a sacred place loseth not the holiness, with the demolished walls §: no more doth the Roman lose the claim of a True Visible Church, by her manifold and deplorable corruptions. Her unsoundness is not less apparent than her being. If she were once the Spouse of Christ, and her adulteries are known; yet the divorce is not sued out.

SECT. 2.

The Original of the Differences betwixt the Churches.

IT is too true, that those two main elements of evil, as Timon called them, Ambition and Covetousness, which Bernard professes were the great masters of that Clergy in his times, having palpably corrupted the Christian world both in doctrine and manners, gave just cause of scandal and complaint to godly minds: which, though long smothered, at last brake forth into public contestation; augmented by the fury of those guilty defendants, which loved their reputation more than peace: but yet so as the com

Nos fatemur sub Papatu plurimum esse boni Christiani; imò, omne bonum Christianum: dico, insuper, et imo vero verum nucleum Christianitatis. Luther in Ep. ad 2. pleb. de Anabapt. cit. à Cromero de Falsâ Relig. Lutheran. † Aliud est credere, quod Papa credit; aliud credere, quod est Papæ. Prolæus ibid. ubi supr.

Euseb. de Vitâ Const. 1. iii. c. 25.

§ Justin. Tit. 1. §. 4. Annot. in Leg. xii. Tab.

Magistris utentes Ambitione et Avaritiâ. Bern. ad Henr. Senonensem.

Que fuerant vitia, mores fiunt. Gers. de Negligentiâ Prælatorum. Ex Senec. Grav, Germ.

plainants ever professed a joint-allowance of those fundamental truths, which descried themselves by their bright lustre, in the worst of that confusion: as not willing, that God should lose any thing, by the wrongs of men; or, that men should lose any thing, by the envy of that Evil Spirit, which had taken the advantage of the public sleep for his tares; Matt. xiii. 25.

Shortly, then, according to the prayers and predictions of many holy Christians, God would have his Church reformed.

How shall it be done? Licentious courses, as Seneca wisely, have sometimes been amended, " by correction and fear; never, of themselves *."

As, therefore, their own president was stirred up in the Councik of Trent, to cry out of their corruption of discipline † ; so was the spirit of Luther, somewhat before that, stirred up to tax their corruption of doctrine.

But, as all beginnings are timorous ‡, how calmly did he enter§; and, with what submiss supplications, did he sue for redress! "I come to you," saith he , "most Holy Father, and, humbly prostrate before you, beseech you, that, if it be possible, you would be pleased to set your helping hand to the work."

Entreaties prevail nothing. The while, the importune insolence of Eckius and the undiscreet carriage of Cajetan, as Luther there professes, forced him to a public opposition.

At last, as sometimes even poisons turn medicinal **, the furious prosecution of abused authority encreased the zeal of truth; like as the repercussion of the flame intends it more. And, as zeal grew in the plaintiff, so did rage in the defendant ††: so as, now, that was verified of Tertullian ‡‡: A primordio, &c: "From the beginning, righteousness suffers violence: and no sooner did God begin to be worshipped, but religion was attended with envy." The masters of the Pythoness are angry, to part with a gainful, though evil, guest. Am I become your enemy, because I told you the truth? saith St. Paul. Yet that truth is not more unwelcome, than successful: for, as the breath of a man, that hath chewed.

*Per disciplinam et metum ; nunquam, sponte. Sen.

+ Corrigenda et reformunda est ecclesiastica disciplina, quæ jamdiu depra. vata atque corrupt. &c. Orat. Præsid. Conc. Trid. ses. 11.

Primordia cuncta pavida sunt. Cassiod.

Luther offered 95 Conclusions to be disputed at Wittenberg. Jo. Tecelius offers the contrary Propositions, at Francfort. Vid. Hist. Conc. Trid. lib. i. Lutherus &c.

|| Ita venio, Beatissime Pater, &c. et, adhuc prostratus, rogo, &c. Ep, ad Leon. X.

¶ Ibid. Luth. Jo. Eckius and Silvester Prierius write against Luth. Vid. Hist. Conc. Trid.

** Sæpe saluti fuere pestifera. Sen.

tt James Hogostrat, a Dominican Inquisitor, stirs up Pope Leo to capital punishments of Luther and his followers. Ibid. Hist. Conc.

A primordio, justitia vim patitur: statim ut coli Deus cœpit, invidiam religio sortita est. Tert. Scorpiac. adv. Gnostic. c. 8.