vvhereof, the law of chastitie pertaineth to them, and not to the foure inferior Orders of Acolyti, Exorcista, Lectores, and O••tiarij. Vvho neither by precept nor vovv be bound to per∣petual chastitie, as the others of the holy and high Orders be bound, both by precept and promis or solemne assent made vvhen they tooke Subdeaconship.
Al these degrees and orders to haue been euer since Christes time in the Church of God, it might be proued by al antiquitie. but for as much as the Apostles purpose is not here to recken vp al the Ecclesiastical Hierarchie, it neede not be treated of in this place. But we vvish the learned to reade the 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9▪ chapters of the 4 Councel of Car∣thage, vvhereat S. Augustine vvas present: vvhere they shal see the expresse callings, offices, and maner of ordering or creating al the said sortes, and shal vvel perceiue these things to be most auncient and venerable. Let them read also Eusebius historie, the 35 Chapter of the 6 booke, vvhere for al these orders he reciteth Cornelius epistle to Fabius, concerning Nouatus. Likewise S. Cyprian in many places, namely ep. 55. nu. 1. where see the notes vpon the same. S. Hiero. ep. 2. c. 6. Of Subdeacon there is mention in S. Augustine. ep. 74 and ep. 20 de epistolis 22 in edit. Paris. S. Epiph. har•• 59. S. Cyprian ep. 24. S. Ignatius ep. 9▪ ad Antioch••nos, and in the 43 canon of the Apostles. Conc. Tolet. 2. can. 1 & 3. Conc. Laodicen. can. 21. Epist. Epiph. apud Hiero. 60. c. 1.
1••. In the house of God.] Al the vvorld being Gods, yet the Church onely is his house, the Rector or Ruler vvhereof at this day. (saith S. Ambrose vpon this place) is damasus. where let our louing brethren note vvel, how cleere a case it vvas then, that the Pope of Rome vvas not the Go∣uernour onely of one particular See, but of Christes vvhole house, vvhich is the Vniuer∣sal Church, vvhose Rector this day is Gregorie the thirtenth.
15. The piller of truth.] This place pincheth al Heretikes vvonderfully, and so it euer did, and therfore they oppose them selues directly against the very letter and confessed sense of the same, that is, cleane contrarie to the Apostle. some saying, the Church to be lost or hidden: some, to be fallen avvay from Christ these many ages: some, to be driuen to a corner onely of the vvorld: some, that it is become a stewes and the seate of Antichrist: lastly the Protestants most plainely and directly, that it may and doth erre, and hath shame∣fully erred for many hundred yeres together. And they say herein like them selues, and for the credit of their ovvne doctrine, vvhich can not be true in very deede, except the Church erre, euen the Church of Christ, vvhich is here called the house of the liuing God.
But the Church vvhich is the house of God, whose Rector (saith S. Ambrose) in his time was Damasus, and novv Gregorie the thirtenth, and in the Apostles time S. Peter, is the piller of truth, the establishement of al veritie: therfore it can not erre. It hath the Spirit of God to lead it into al truth till the vvorldes end: therfore it can not erre. It is builded vpon a rocke, hel gates shal not preuaile against it: therfore it can not erre. Christ is in it til the end of the vvorld, he hath placed in it Apostles, Doctors, Pastors, and Rulers, to the consummation and ful perfection of the whole body, that in the meane time we be not caried about vvith euery blast of doctrine: therfore it can not erre. He hath prai∣ed for it, that it be sanctified in veritie, that the faith of the cheefe Gouernour therof faile not: it is his house, his spouse, his body, his lotte, kingdom and inheritance, giuen him in this vvorld: he loueth it as his ovvne flesh, and it can not be diuorced or separated from him: therfore it can not erre. the nevv Testament, Scriptures, Sacraments, and sacri∣fice can not be changed, being the euerlasting dourie of the Church, continued and neuer rightly occupied in any other Church but in this our Catholike Church: therfore it can not erre. And therfore al those pointes of doctrine, faith, and vvorship, vvhich the Arians, Manichees, Protestants, Anabaptistes, other old or new Heretikes, vntruely thinke to be errors in the Church, be no errors in deede, but them selues most shamfully are deceiued, and so shal be still, til they enter againe into this house of God, vvhich is the piller and ground of al truth: that is to say, not onely it self free from al error in faith and religion, but the piller and stay to leane vnto in al doubtes of doctrine, and to stand vpon against al heresies and errors that il times yeld, without vvhich there can be no certaintie nor se∣curitie. And therfore the holy Apostles, and Councels of Nice and Constantinople, made it an article of our Creeds, to beleeue the CATHOLIKE and APOSTOLIKE CHVRCH. Vvhich is, not onely to acknowledge that there is such a Church, as heretikes falsely say: but that that which is called the Catholike Church, & knovven so to be, and cōmuni∣cateth vvith the See Apostolike, is the Church: and that vve must beleeue, heare, and obey the same, as the touch stone, piller, and firmament of truth. For, al this is comprised in that principle, I beleeue the Catholike Church. And therfore the Coūcel of Nice said, I beleeue in the Church, that is, I beleeue and trust the same in al things.
Neither can the Heretikes escape by fleing from the knovven visible Church, to the hid congregation or companie of the Predestinate. For that is but a false phantastical