give him advantage against them, so as he might put

them to the worst:

5. St. Austen saith, Those words of Saint Luke, I will not henceforth drinke of the fruit of the Vine, are to be understood of the Sacramentall Cup*, and consequently the fruit of the vine, was wine in substance after consecration. Bellarmine is a witnesse against him, that hee did not well consider of that text, which appeares by this, that hee passed it over lightly.

6. Saint Austen saith, The Israelites eate of the same spirituall meate, but not the same corporall which wee eate for they eate Manna, wee an other meate, but both the same spirituall meat. Maldonat confesseth, this is the doctrine of the Calvinists but (saith he) I am verily perswaded, that if Austen had been living in these dayes, and had seene the Calvinists so interpret Saint Paul, he would have been of another mind, especially being such an utter enemy to heretikes §.

7. Saint Austen saith, The workes which are done without faith, though they seeme good, are turned into sinne. Maldonat answers: Wee may not

* August. de Consens. Evang. lib. 3. cap. 1.

+ Dico Augustinum non expendisse hunc locum diligenter. Bellar. de Euch. li. 1. cap. 11.

Aug. in Joh. Tract. 26.

§ Hoc dico persuasum me habere D. Augustinum si nostrâ fuisset ætate longè alitèr censurum. Mald. in Joh. 6. n. 50.

Sine fide etiam quæ videntur bona opera in peccata vertunfur. Aug. contr. duas Ep. Pelag. ad Bonif. 1. 3. c. 5.

defend

defend that opinion which the Councell of Trent did of late justly condemne, although the great Father S. Austen seeme to be of that opinion.

8. Saint Austen saith: He crowneth thee, because he crowneth his owne gifts, not thy merits†: M. Bishop protesteth that Saint Austen was too wise to let any such foolish sentence to passe his pen ‡.

9. Saint Austen saith: I know certaine worshippers of Tombes and Pictures, whom the Church condemneth §. Bellarmine answers: This booke was written in the beginning of his first conversion to the Catholike Faith.

10. Saint Austen saith: In doing good, none can be free in will and act, unlesse hee bee free by him that said: If the Sonne free you, you are truely freed. Sixtus Senensis saith: Whilst Saint Austen doth contend earnestly against the Pelagians, for the defence of divine Grace, hee doth seeme to fall into another pit, and sometimes attribute too little to Freewill**. But saith the Bishop of Bitonto:

Let

Non sequenda illa opinio quam Tridentinum Concilium" nuper merito damnavit (omnia infidelium opera esse peccata) quamvis maximum authorem Divum Augustinum habuisse videatur. Mald. Com. in Math. vii. 18.

+ Coronat te quia dona sua coronat, non merita tua.` Aug. in Psal. 102.

Bish. in his Refor. of a Cathol. deformed.

§ August. de Mor. Eccles. li. 1. c. 34.

|| Bell. de Imag. c. 16.

Aug. de corrept. & gra. cap. 1.

** D. Augustinus dum toto spiritus ac verborum ardore pro

defensione

Let not Saint Austen moove us at all; for it is proper and peculiar to him, that when he opposeth any errour, hee doeth it with that vehemencie, that hee seemes to favour an other errour: even so, when hee prosecutes Arrius, hee seemes to favour Sabellius; when Sabellius, Arrius; when Pelagius, the Manichees; when the Manichees, Pelagius; and this is very considerable, and ought especially to be noted in him*.

Lastly, Saint Austen (upon the words of Christ) saith, Thou art Peter, and upon this Rocke which thou hast confessed, upon this Rock which thou hast knowne, saying, Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God, will I build my Church-for the Rocke was Christ. Stapleton answers: It was lapsus humunus, an humane errour, caused by the diversitie of the Grecke and Latin tongue, which' either hee was ignorant of, or marked not. Bellarmine replies: Saint Austen was deceived by the ignorance onely of the Hebrew tongue§. But Albertus Pigghius concludes with a witness against him: Nusquam hæret, nusquam figit. He never resolves

defensione divinæ gratiæ pugnat adversus Pelagianos liberum arbitriam cum injuria divinæ gratiæ extollentes in alteram quasi foveam delabi videtur, minusque interdum tribuere quam par sit liberæ hominis voluntati. Sixt. Senens. in Bib, sanct. 1. 5. in Præfat.

*Nos non moveat Augustinus vel tantillum, &c. Episc. Bitont. comment. in Ep. ad Rom. ca. 5. p. 270.

+ August. de verb. Dom. Serm. 13. Staph. princip. doct. lib. 6. c. 3.

Bell. li. 1. de Pont. ca. 10.

certainly

certainly upon any thing, but (as if he were idle headed, given to crotchets) hee fetcheth about this way, and that way, and at length lighting upon some probabilitie, layeth hold on it, and then dislikes it, and presently retracts it*.

Thus, if we may credit their best learned Romanists, Saint Austen did not agree constantly with himselfe, nor others: his doctrine is opposed by the consent of Fathers in the Trent Councell: hee used not his own meaning in fighting against heretiques: if he had been living in these dayes, he would have been of an other mind: he is inconstant, and fixeth in certaine upon nothing, but as an idle-headed man, full of crotchets, one while he resolves, another while he retracts it.

You have heard Saint Austen's confession, and our adversaries' solution, touching the chiefe poynts in question betwixt us; whereby as yet I see no cause why the Romanists should brag of the ancient Fathers in generall, nor of Saint Austen in particular.

I proceed in the next place to examine the faith of Austen the Monke, that it may appear, whether that doctrine, which he published here in England, above a thousand yeeres since, bee consonant to our Religion, or the doctrine of the Roman Church.

Nusquam bæret, nusquam figit, sed ubique explorat, ubique tentat, et suboratur omnia, et quicquid probabile occurrit alicubi amplectitur, qd continuò post displicet et retractaturOciose secum inquirentis et téntantis omnia. Alb. Piggh. Hier. Eccles. lib. 3. c. 5.

SECT.

SECT. XIII.

SAINT GREGORY PRETENDED TO BEE THE FOUN DER OF THE ROMANE RELIGION IN ENGLAND, BY SENDING AUSTEN THE MONKE FOR CONVERSION OF THIS NATION; IN HIS UNDOUBTED WRITINGS, DIRECTLY OPPOSETH THE ROMISH FAITH, IN THE MAINE POYNTS THEREOF.

AUSTEN the Monke, was sent into England by Gregorie the Great, about the yeere 600, and is tearmed by the Romanists of this latter age, England's Apostle. To say nothing of the haughtinesse of his person, (through whose pride and contempt twelve hundred poor Christians and holy men of Bangor were murdered, as it is related by Venerable Bede) let us observe the doctrine of that age: and because we have no Records of the Monkes doctrine, let us reflect upon Gregory the Great; whose writings are extant; and who, without doubt, professed the substance of that Faith; which by his Warrant and Commission was then published in England by Austen the Monke.

It is the generall vote of the Romanists in this latter age, that the Faith which Gregorie delivered

*Bede Hist. Ang. 1. 2. c. 2.