all men for his crueltie seemes to giue consent to the ambition of this Boniface to the end he might haue the Romans obedient vnto him But how vnluckily and vnfortunatly this happened to the Church not onely the euent and profaning of the holy thinges and of all religion which then followed did declare but also many sad and sorrowfull prodigies terrifying the minds and harts of men did demonstrate all which are recorded in ancient histories For a burning Comet appeared a childe was borne at Bizantium hauing foure Annal. Palmer feete another without eyes and hands whose inferiour parts from the loynes downeward were like a fish bloodie speares appeared all the night God witnessing thereby that the fatall time was now at hand wherein the Popes or Bishops of Rome who ought to follow celestiall things and teach all men to lift vp their hearts and mindes vnto God were now degenerated into four footed beasts and the Church depriued of her lights and of her hands that is to say destitute of faithfull Seers trustie guides and vigilant watchmen should now as a fishe swimme and floate amongst the waues of the world and vnstable alterations of superstitions For such Bishops followed as troubled the whole world with greate warres and cruell murders and vsurped to themselues an authoririe or power ouer Emperours and Kings Let the Popes of Rome then by their flatterers Iesuites and Seminaries boast spread abroad the antiquitie of their supremacie which all histories being considered had no being before the dayes of Boniface the thirde neither can they bring forth any other author of the same but onely Phocas then whome amongst the Emperours that professed the name of Christ none liued that was more wicked nor more cruelly minded I so speake of him because to make himselfe Emperour as he did he murdered Mauritius his Lord and Christian Emperour Is then the supremacie of the Pope so newe but newer are those things whereby superstitious men doe measure religiō in poperie amongst which the worshipping of Images is chiefest Euerie Images one knoweth that God in the olde Testament forbade Images and Christ teacheth vs that the same was ratified in the newe Testament when hee saith that hee came not to abolish the Lawe or to Mat. 5. 17 1. Io. 5. 21 breake the commandements of the Lawe but to fulfill them to whom consenteth the Apostle Iohn saying Babes keepe your selues from Idols It is manifest in the Primitiue Church there were no Images at all tolerated no not so much as of Christ Ierenaeus an auncient writer about Ire lib. 1. cap. 24. the yeare of Christ 185. maketh mention of the Gnostickes that they had the Imamages of Christ which they proposed to be worshipped with the Images of Pithagoras Plato and other Philosophers but this father condemnes and reproues the same in them Knowen is the action of Epiphanius Bishoppe of Salamina in Cipres which in an Epistle written to Iohn the Bishoppe of Ierusalem Saint Ierome being the Latin Translater thereof is thus cited When I came sayth he to a Village that was called Anablatlia and there passed-by seeing a candle burning demaunding what place it was and vnderstanding that it was a Church I went in to pray Now there I found hanging behinde the doores of the Church a vayle washed and painted and hauing an Image as it were of Christ or some other Saint for I doe not well remember whose Image it was Therefore when I sawe in the Church of Christ contrarie to the Authoritie of the scriptures the Image of a man hanging I cut it downe and gaue commaundement to the keepers of the same place that therewith they should burie some poore man And a little after in the same Epistle Precor vt iubeas presbyteros eiusdem loci deinceps praecipere in ecclesiae Christi istiusmodi vela quae contra religionem nostram veniunt non appendi These things then doe demonstrate and declare how the Fathers of auntient time vnderstood the commaundement of God concerning Images when as Epiphanius doth affirme the Images of Christ to bee against the authoritie of the scriptures and enemies to Christian religion But after the supremacie of the Popes before spoken of was confirmed Images also crept into the Church about the yeare of Christ 707 by Constantine the first for hate of the Emperour Philip. By which action grewe greate contention in the whole Empire and at the last was the occasion that the Greeke fell from the Latine Church In which schisme the Turkish Empire encreased which GOD euer from that daye hath vsed as his roddes and scourges to purge the filthinesse of Idolatrie And yet for all this foolish and superstitious men doe recken the worshipping of Images amongst the exercises of ancient and Catholicke religion oppressing and burdening vs with the name of noueltie because wee condemne this worshippe and would rid it away by the authoritie of the worde of God But now let vs come to their Masse the supporter and piller of their popish kingdome Masse inuented and encreased The author hereof they fayne Iesus Christ to be constantly affirming that all the Apostles but especially Peter and Iames celebrated the Masse Now how friuolous this is euerie man may easily knowe that doth but consider the Euanglicall history and the writings of the Apostles Christ instituted his supper in remembraunce of his death in that forme 1. Cor. 11. 23. and manner that the Apostles after deliuered it to the Church But what communion can this mysticall supper haue with the Masse wherein the sacrificing Priest doth all alone eates alone drinkes alone speakes alone behaues himselfe like a foole in a playe all the rest behoulding him as an idle spectacle Or hath Christ made any mention of a sacrifice for the quicke and the dead in the which notwithstanding they fixe the chiefest vse of their masse Christ instituted his supper in remembrance of his death hee neuer commaunded to apply it to the dead much lesse to offer his bodie and bloud dayly for their sinnes The Masse then is a newe Inuention the authors whereof are superstitious men that haue patcht it and pieced it vp at diuers times which that we may omitte other histories we wil declare out of Platina the Popes secretarie For he vpon the life of Sixtus the first thus writes In celebratione de coena domini loquitur mandauit vt sanctus sanctus sanctus dominus Deus Sabaoth cantaretur These wordes were at the first euident and did saith he touch all things as it had beene instituted by Christ Peter when hee consecrated vsed the Lords prayer Saint Iames the Bishoppe of Ierusalem encreased these mysteries Basill encreased thē others encreased them First he saith that Peter consecrated a newe worde whereof in the newe Testament vvhen there is any speech of the Supper the Apostles make no mention at all neither by it can any other thing be vnderstood but onely the reciting of the
THE HARMONIE OF the LAWE and the GOSPEL Wherin is plainly shewed that howsoeuer they differ in time and some other circumstances yet in substance they are one the same And By waie of application the pretended antiquitie of Poperie is discouered and found to be a meere nouelty Deliuered in a Sermon at Pauls-crosse the 9. of Aug. 1607. by GEORGE CRESVVELL Minister of Gods word Imprinted at London by H. L. for WILLIAM LEAKE 1607. TO THE RIGHT Honourable Sir Thomas West Knight Lord Lawarre all peace prosperitie and happinesse RIght Honourable hauing at the request of a religious Knight an Alderman of the Cittie of London gathered this my Sermon into writing and deliuered him the Copie I was soone after desired nay importuned by others my worshipful good friends to giue consent for the printing of it Which when I could not in good manners as I thought farther put off I was at length induced to condescend vnto the rather both in regard of the benefit which by this my weake meanes may growe to the Church of God as also that by seeking shelter vnder your Ho protection I had now a fitte opportunitie long wisht-for to manifest my dutifull respect and humble affection to your Lordship This your Patronage if it please your Honour as an addition to your former fauours gratiously to vouchsafe mee I cannot but also acknowledge my selfe herein the more obliged in al boundē duties Thus humbly crauing your Lordships fauourable acceptance of my faithful endeauours I take my leaue Your Honours euer in all duty GEO. CRESWELL Dated the 8. of October 1607. Galati 3. vers 17. 18. 19. 20. 17. And this I say that the Law which was 400. and 30. yeares after cannot disannull the couenant that was confirmed afore of God in respect of Christ that it should make the promise of none effect 18. For if the inheritance be of the Law it is no more by promise but God gaue it vnto Abraham by promise 19. Wherefore then serueth the Lawe It was added because of the transgressions till the Seede came vnto the which the promise was made and it was ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator 20. Now a Mediatour is not a Mediatour of one but God is one THe Apostle right honourable right worshipfull and welbeloued Christians in all this whole Epistle doth grauely and sharply confute them that in his time mingled the Lawe with the Gospell and as if that Christ had beene insufficient for vs did teach that Circumcision and the obseruation of the Lawe was necessarie for the Gentiles that had alreadie beleeued in Christ Further he demonstrateth that the Lawe did subdue al men to the curse and therefore they did very vnwisely that hoped for any blessing frō the Lawe Yea God would haue it to bee so that all men might knowe that they should be blessed and saued in Iesus Christ in whom God had promised the same vnto Abraham Now when hee had confirmed this by the testimonies of the scripture hee vseth a similitude or example of testaments or wills wherein he teacheth vs that they were too rash that thought it lawfull for them to doe that in the couenāt of God which is vnlawful to bee done in the will of a man being once well confirmed sealed a matter worthie of our best consideration because God was willing to comprehend the whole manner of our saluation vnder the word or forme of a Will or couenant such a one as could no otherwise be fulfilled or ratified but by the ensuing death of his onely begotten sonne which was an argument of Gods goodnes and mercie full of most sweet and excellent comfort God was willing that his onely begotten sonne obedient to his decree by whom hee made and gouerneth all things should be made man and deliuered him vp to the bitter and ignominious death of the Crosse that hee might adopt vs into his children and make vs fellow inheriters of his kingdome Euen vs I say who how honorable rich or great soeuer wee bee yet are we of our selues sinners and the sonnes of wrath Therefore it is manifest that our saluatiō doth proceed and come vnto vs from the free mercie of God without any desert of ours And as this scripture doth maintaine the certaintie of it so doth it admonish vs of our dutie which is to be cōtented with Christ only remember that we owe our selues al that we haue vnto God who hath aduanced vs miserable wretches vnto the dignitie of his sons Thus much be spokē as an Introduction into the Text. Now let vs proceed in the words of the Apostle who doth more amply declare that which before he had spoken concerning the couenant of God in these words And this I say that the Lawe which was 403. yeares after c. The summe of this is that the Couenant of God was so firme and sure that it could not bee abolished by the Lawe So that the Apostles words are as much as if he should haue said It may be I may seeme vnto many to speake obscurely yet I wil speake truth as the matter is for as God touching his essence is eternall and is not changed so also his wil is constant in it selfe and his decrees are immutable For as saith the Prophet Esaie When the Lord of Hostes hath determined any Isai 14. 27 thing who shall disannull it Wherfore although God gaue a lawe afterwards to our forefathers yet notwithstanding this law which followed 400 and 30 yeares after was not able to abolish or any way to corrupt that ancient couenant that God before had made with Abraham and confirmed it by authoritie The Apostle heere draweth an argument from time in the which that wee may note this by the way appeareth with what diligence the Apostles read searched the scriptures Many other such like places we haue in the word of God Steuen the protomartyr in his Apologie in the seauenth of Acts. 7 the Acts from the succession of time draweth a reason wherby hee proues that what excellent thing soeuer our fathers had it came vnto them from the free mercie of God Our Apostle doth the like in that famous Act. 13. sermon that hee made vnto the Iewes at Antioch a Citie of Pisidia And in his Epistle to the Romans doth teach vs from Rom. 4. the circumstance of time that Abraham was Iustified by faith onely and not by circumcision it being no other but a seal of that righteousnes hee had already obtained by faith In all which is proposed a notable Instructiō for ministers to imitate this diligēce of the Apostles remembring that the holy scriptures were not written by the priuate will or motion of man but the whole scripture as said the Apostles Peter and Paul by 2. Pet. 1. 20. 21. 2. Tim. 3. 16. the inspiration of the holy Ghost who doth nothing rashly but all things with discretion and iudgement For there is nothing so small
in the scriptures but is verie much auaileable to our instruction and comfort if it be diligently considered And the scriptures are the inestimable riches of this treasure to the destroying and confounding wherof no industrie and endeuour of man is of it selfe sufficient But arguments that are taken from the circumstance of time are firme and sure when men doe speak of God and of the action of eternall saluation because God is subiect to no alteration or change of times For as saith the Apostle Peter One day with the Lord is as a thousand 2. Pet. 3. 8. yeares and a thousand yeares as one day And Iesus Christ who is constituted made vnto vs of God the Father the author Mediator of saluation is yesterday and to day and Heb. 13. 8. the same for euer He is the Lambe of God who was offered from the beginning of the World because that in his merite the auncient Apoc. 13 8 fathers who from Adam beleeued his comming were saued and by him also shal be saued to the ende of the world all that doe apprehend him with a true and liuely faith That this should bee thus effected is necessarie For if wee were iustified and saued by any other meanes then our auntient Fathers were there would follow a double manner of Iustification and a diuerse or double meane of saluation which cannot be because Christ hath saide that hee is the Iohn 10. 9. doore by whom we must enter into the society of his sheep-fold that is of his Church and Saluation calling all them theeues and robbers that endeuour to clyme vp by any other meanes To whom the Apostles Acts. 4. 12. consent seeing they affirme no other name to be giuen vnto men vnder heauen wherin wee must bee saued but onely the name of Iesus This may be confirmed by diuers reasons in the word of God First the elect that are heires of saluation in the scriptures are called the children of Abraham Now how can they be so called if they should be iustified and saued by any other meanes then Abraham was Secondly all those things that God in times past hath determined concerning the monarchies and kingdomes of this worlde remaine firme and certain for they did arise fall in that order and time that Daniel other Prophets foreshewed they should arise and come to their end And shall we then think that God would be so vnmindefull of himselfe that hee would set vp and pull down the Lawes of his kingdome or in those Lawes for mens sakes would alter and change any one of those things that by his eternall decree he had determined before we were in natura rerū yea before the foundatiōs of the world were laied Thirdly if the Law then the which the whole world neuer sawe a thing more magnificent whether wee haue a respect vnto the giuing of it full of maiestie feare or the forme of the outward worship or the example of holy men that liued vnder the discipline of the Lawe was not able to abrogate the Couenant of eternall saluation which God in times past had made with Abraham then what foolishnesse yea rather madnesse shall it bee that in changing of this couenant wee should attribute any thing to humane traditions which God will not entertaine in his worship as being manifestly cōdemned by authoritie both of the olde and newe Testament Fourthly and lastly if God himselfe were vnwilling to giue vnto vs a Lawe which should abolish the auncient promise and couenant of Abraham shall wee then grant this to superstitious and foolish men that they should set downe newe meanes to attaine vnto saluation whereby Iustification by faith already cōfirmed by the authority of the new Testament should bee abolished or any way corrupted Then hereby are they confuted that defend Poperie by Antiquitie but doe accuse the Gospell and faith that is grounded vpon the onely merite of Christ of noueltie Beloued if wee consider the whole matter wee shal then see that there are fewe things in Poperie that deserue the name of Antiquitie because it may be shewed out of credible histories both at what time and by what men the most part of all those things that by papistes are esteemed had their beginning First to beginne with their supremacie It is manifest it was in the yeare of Christ sixe hundred seauen or thereabouts The Apostles being mindefull of the admonition of Christ neuer thought of any such matter neither amongst their successors was there any contention about the supremacie vntill the dayes of the Emperour Mauritius when Iohn the Patriarke Popish supremacie of Constantinople an ambitious man calling a synode determined that the Supremacie ought to belong to the Church of Constantinople that like as all the Christian worlde was subiect to the Emperour of that place so in like sort all Churches ought to acknowledge the Patriarke of that Citie for the vniuersall pastour and chiefe Priest This was in the yeare of Christ fiue hundred fourescore and fiue Against the ambition of this man Pelagius the second being then Bishop of Rome opposed himselfe and by letters written to the Synode disallowed abolished this decree His words are thus recited a Decret Distinct 99. Cap. 4. Nullus Patriarcharum vniuersalitis vocabulo vnquā vtatur Quiae si vnus patriarcha vniuersalis dicitur patriarcharum nomen caeteris derogatur That is to say Let no Patriark hereafter vse the word of Vniuersalitie for if any be called vniuersall Patriarke the name of Patriarke is taken away from the rest But when this Patriarke of Constantinople for all this would not cease his ambition then Gregorie the first whom wee commonly call Gregorie the great more strongly opposed himselfe against his pride and by many Epistles written to the Emperour Mauritius to the Empresse Constantia to the Bishoppes of Alexandria and Antioche hee calls the Title of the Vniuersall Prieste a newe Title foolish proud peruerse wicked and profane to which if they did yeelde were all one as to denie the faith And amongst other things hee thus writes Ego fidenter dico quia quisquis se vniuersalem sacerdotem vocat vel in elatione Libro 6. Epist 30 sua vocari desiderat antichristum praecurrit I speake it bouldly whosoeuer calles himselfe Vniuersall Prieste or desires in the pride of his hearte so to bee called is the fore-runner of Anti-Christ And that this was true the euent afterward declared For this proud Patriarke by his ambition gaue occasion to Boniface the thirde that was Pope next but one after Gregorie that beeing puft vp with the like pride he demanded yea and obtained of the Emperour Phocas still being imbrewed in the blood of his Master Mauritius the supremacy ouer other Bishoppes that the Church of Rome should bee called the head of all Churches and all the Churches of the whole world should be obedient to the Pope of Rome This same murderer Phocas hated of
first Institution and words of Christ which he vsed when hee deliuered bread and wine to his Disciples Againe the auntient fathers neuer knewe any other consecration but onely that wherein common bread was made mystical and a sacrament or signe of the bodie of Christ as touching the vse of it and not that the substance of it was turned into the substance of a fleshly body Secondly hee sayeth that Saint Iames increased these mysteries but heereby he doth intolerable wronge first to the holy man secondly to all the Apostles For first if Saint Iames had added any thing to the institution of Christ hee had beene too bolde and also had sinned against the Lawe of Christ who had commaunded his Disciples to teach no other thing but that which hee had deliuered vnto them Secondly if the Matt. 28. 20. Apostles had suffered any such matter they had beene vnfaithfull in their office and had neglected the Church which Christ will haue free from burden of humane traditions But the writinges and actions of the Apostles doe teach vs to iudge farre otherwise of them When the Corinthians had chaunged the mysticall Supper of CHRIST into a luxurious or want on banquet Saint Paul testifies that hee deliuered nothing vnto them but that which hee had receiued from Christ recalling them in such sort to the first institution that in the historie thereof hee differs not one word from those things that other Euangelistes had deliuered pronounceth all them to be accursed whether they bee men or Angells Gal. 1. 8 that durst adde anye thinge to the Gospell alreadie preached by the Apostles And shall wee then thinke that hee would tolerate so filthy a profaning of the mysticall Supper who withstoode Gal. 2 11 Peter to the face when hee as touchinge the conuersation of life something varied from the trueth of the Gospell Most vaine therefore and foolish is all that the Popes speake concerning the Apostles that they instituted or celebrated their Masse But let vs returne to Platina that the vanitie hereof may be more apparant For when hee had saide that others encreased it he addeth for Celestinus gaue the Introit Gregorie the Kyrielison Symmacchus the Gloria in excelsis deo Gregorie the third to the secret of the Masse Quorum solennitas hodie in conspectu tuae maiestatis celebratur domine Deus noster in toto orbe terrarum Alleluia was taken out of the Church of Ierusalem the Creed in the Councell of Neece Pelagius the Commemoration of the dead Leo the third Frankincense Innocent the first the kissing of the Pax Sergius the Agnus dei Nicolas the first the Sequences Gelasius Africanus as saith Nauclerus the Hymnes Collects Responsories Graduals and Prefaces Ierome the Epistle and Gospell Leo the first Orate pro me fratres and the Deo gratias the Cannon also sanctum sacrificium immaculatam hostiam c. Now beloued if all these thinges which Platina and others affirme to haue beene instituted at diuers times and by sundry men were taken from the Masse what I beseech you would be therein remaining that should deserue the name of a masse or a sacrifice Why then should that be called an ancient faith or religion whose chiefe foundation being first layde many yeares after Christes Ascension into heauen was afterward confirmed by new rubbish being added vnto it But admit that some of those things of the which wee haue hitherto spoken being added to the institution of Christ are in some sort tolerable yet our auncient fathers were altogether ignorant of the Corporall presence of Christ in his Supper and transsubstantiation of bread into his body whereupon the authoritie of the Masse depends The first disputation here of was in the Bertram yeare of grace 844. as may bee gathered out of the bookes of Bertram which he writ at the commaundement of Carolus Calvus concerning that matter Then Sergius the second who was the first that changed his name sate in the Romish sea Sergius 2. Pope For whereas before hee was Pope he was called Os porci swines-mouth hee then tooke vpon him the name of Sergius by which action God was willing to testifie to the whole world what a boare should come out of the Forrest whom Dauid affirmes Psal 80. 13. to be the destroyer and waster of the Church and that the time of defection was at hand wherein they that by baptisme had giuen their names vnto Christ by denying him should follow after superstitions For ten yeares after ascended into that place a womanish harlot to be Pope hauing to name Iohn the eight or rather Ioane the first God manifesting thereby that now that harlot beganne to shewe her selfe whereof Apoc. 17. 3. Christ had prophecied in the Reuelation But as yet they were not able to perswade all men to worshippe this their newe Idoll but alwayes GOD sent some to testifie of the truth vntill in the yeare of Christ 1215 vnder Innocentius the thirde in the Councell of Lateran there was a decree made concerning Transubstantiation which in the Decretals is thus reade Vna est fidelium vniuersalis ecclesia extra quam nullus omnino saluatur in qua idem ipse sacerdos est sacrificium Iesus Christus cuius corpus sanguis in sacramento altaris sub speciebus panis vini veraciter continentur transubstantiatis pane in corpus vino in sanguinem potestate diuina vt ad perficiendum mysterium vnitatis accipiamus ipsi de suo quod accepit ille de nostro There is one vniuersall Church of the faithfull without which none canne bee saued wherein the Priest himselfe Christ Iesus is the sacrifice whose bodie and blood in the sacrament of the Altar vnder the formes of bread and wine are truely contained the bread being transubstantiated into his bodie and the wine into his bloud by a diuine power that the vnitie of this mysterie might be effected wee receiue from him that which he tooke from vs. In the same Councell also was constituted Auricular confession whereby men of euery state and degree being fast chayned together as with fetters and linkes of Iron durst neuer speake against the decrees of the Romish Church Tenne yeares after that Honorius the thirde commaunded darke places or Chestes to bee made wherein the bread alreadie consecrated or rather as they speake transubstantiated into the bodie of Christ was reserued to bee worshipped which without all doubt are those secret places whereof Christ speakes Mat. 24. 23. commaunding vs not to beleeue them who shewe vs Christ to be contayned in them And to fulfill and finish all this superstition Vrban the fourth in honour Vrban 4. inuented the Feast of Corpus Christ 1264. of this sacrament at the request of a Recluse with whom in times past hee had beene ouermuch familiar inuented the solemne Feast which they call Corpus Christi Who is it then that can affirme the whole worshippe of the Masse to be