Thyest quod nulla posteritas taceat sed nulla probet exceeding any particular Scythian Scillian Marian Tartarian Barbarian Iewish Turkish villany yet it was plotted by Catholiques Anticoton conspired by Catholiques acted Ioh. Mariana and to be acted by Catholiques and maintained as a lawfull doctrinall position by Catholiques Heretofore it was a Catholique doctrine held tyrannous in a king to kill a Priest but now it is thought a meritorious point in a Priest to kill a king and you must iustifie it If you iustifie not it they will not iustifie you Mr LEECH And if this blowe haue not hit home to the finall deciding of this quarrel depriving his heresie of al breathing let him or any or all his complices and especially those six well selected doctours who haue so farre engaged their credits by interessing themselues so deepely in the quarrell warde and answere the blow which they haue publikely received Doctor Benefield for all of them put togither haue not yet diverted the stroke Or if the cause which the principall Actor vndertooke will abide so much as the least touchstone of tryal let him vpon what grounds and confidence soever he stādeth as I dare boldly chardge challeng him he standeth vpon none but hereticall divulge his lecture vnto the cēsure of the world ANSVVER Your challēdge is received But why were not those many challēages answered by you which were offered by the ingenious and learned students of Christ-church and by the ingemminated motions of the Reverend Deane that you shoulde sit to answere or oppose in the scholasticall forme of Disputations about this point The sixe Doctors need not to raise their forces to encounter you One of them whom it most cōcerneth hath opposed more then you and Rome will ever answer His lecture is divulged to the worlds censure so it was desired by the Rightly Honorable and most reverend Bishop Ravis whose great care before his death was that your ignorant scandalous Pamphlet they were his owne wordes might receiue a rigid answere The learned and painefull lecture is able to satisfie any who giue i 1. Tiim 4.1 no heed vnto spirits of errour doctrines of Divels which speake not lies through hypocrisie having their consciences seared with a hot yron With that lecture the places of Scripture be truely expounded the question as in the sight of God truely discussed in the Appendix the ancient Fathers most sufficiently answered Mr LEECH Meane while for the honor of God confusion of Sathan to preserue Christ his word the word of verity from the infectiō of Heresie for the iust defence of this doctrine the due reproofe of hereticall innovatiō I haue thought good here to insert a true coppy of the Sermon preached by me in Oxford to iustifie Evangelicall Counsailes vpon the occasion aboue mentioned Anno Dom. 1608. 27. die Iunij ANSVVERE k Chem. in loc Commun loc de Cons Evang. Luther about to cōfute this very doctrine vseth these words In perpetuam rei memoriam maximè verò in Redemptoris gloriam ista sunt memori mente servanda exaggeranda adversus impudentissimos rabulas Papisticae abominationis defensores I wil not bee so bitter But to the glory of God dischardge of my conscience and satisfying of those great and honorable friends that did importune me to this businesse I follow you line by line to see whether your coppy bee right You say you haue endevored to reproue hereticall innovation I say so much dicit Scaurus negat Varius vtri creditis you must put your selfe vpon God and the Country Mr LEECH Reade it deare Christian brother severely iudge of it impartially and God graunt it may effect in thee what I wish hartily and that is if thou feelest thy selfe called and thy soule mooved effectually to practise the same Amen ANSVVER Wish faithfully pray religiously then no doubt God will giue you vnderstanding in al things which you must haue in your selfe before you cā wish it or teach it to others I lament you should so oppose your selfe to the doctrine of Christs holy Catholique Church in a mercenary respect and discontented humour burthen your soule with so fowle a sinne as this is truely iudged to be even Apostasie All such to the life S. Paule doth decipher and giveth order against such 1. Tim. 6.3 4.5 If any man teach otherwise and consenteth not to the wholesome doctrine which is according to Godlinesse he is puft vp and knoweth nothing he doateth or languisheth about questions and strife of words whereof commeth envy strife raylings evill surmises vaine disputations of men of corrupt mindes destitute of the truth which thinke that gaine is Godlinesse Fly such and feare such So I wish you so I counsell you so I pray for you and seale my counsell wishes and prayers with Amen Mr LEECH THE SERMON PREACHED IN defence of EVANGELICALL COVNSAILES and the Fathers ANSVVER It was and ever will be true Causa patrocinio non bona peior erit In that it is Bellarmines doctrine all your authorities gathered from him you are his advocat hee your author But I know not whose the Sermon is he made it but preached it not you preached it but made it not Mr LEECH AND I saw the dead both great and small stande before God Apoc. 20.12 the bookes were opened and another booke was opened which is the booke of life and the dead were iudged of those things which were written in the bookes according to their works This verse naturally floweth into three streames of Christian Doctrine The first is a generall citation of all And I saw the dead both great and smal stand before God The second is a particuler examination of all vpon a two-fold evidence brought in liber conscientiae librū praescientiae the booke of conscience and the booke of God his eternall prescience the bookes were opened and another booke was opened which is the booke of life A finall retribution involved in the act and particuler manner of the iudgement and the dead were iudged of those things which were writtē in the books according to their workes ANSVVER AS the Surgion seeking to heale some vlcerated partes of a corrupted body doth not apply his Kataplasmes vnto every mēber but vnto those that are worse affected so must I deale with your sermon seeke to cure only those partes that are most tainted In this first Passage if by the rules of Criticisme I should examine it I shoulde finde it guilty of diverse errors but chiefly of your mistake in calling the first part of your text a Citation which is an appearance or a vision of the appearāce the effect of the citation I saw the dead both great and smal your best helpe here wil be to let it be dispensed with per metonimiam satis impropriam Mr LEECH The generall citation more particularly wrappeth in it the persons appearing the dead the extent of
advise both these Doctors do vtterly denie it and I am sorrie you so malitiously repeate it againe knowing how confident each of them bee in the contrary opinion to you Caietan in Thom. 22dae q. 184. art 7. Caietan his censure vpon the doctrine of Counsailes is that hee thinketh this doctrine fit to be sprinkled with salt I applie it to you your lines be vnseasoned they lacke truth in relation soundnesse in opinion want of verity in thē want of charity in you want of salt in both Mr LEECH Thus the good Doctor soundly plainely on al parts charitably afforded him his friendly advise And herevpō it was that Doctour Hutton was satisfied whereof he gaue sufficient signes when hee received the aforesaide copie ANSVVER The Hebrew c Buxdorf in Hebrea Gram Coniug Grāmarians haue a rule that Characteristicum temporis excludit Characteristicum coniugationis so the characters of the time in many Apostats doe exclude the notes of all honest respects and characters of all parts of honesty Your paper seemeth to groane vnder your lines it is so heaped and dawbed with vntruthes The Doctor spake charitably but his charity did not so fully cloath you but he left place for the rod of correction And though Doctour Hutton for a smal time seemed content having received your coppy yet hee daily exspected besides your silence some recantatory satisfaction Mr LEECH So the matter was for that time ended and the doctrine without any māner of preiudice or farther contradiction cleared being now at two severall times by me preached First generally glanced at intimated only Secondly against the Brethren who in private corners traduced it publiquely repeated amplified explaned ANSVVER There was onlie a cessation a while from your trouble no satisfactiō given for your doctrine Your feare was somewhat calmed but the point no waie cleared your inhibitiō was sufficient note of the contradiction of your opinion but that was not all for all among vs did distaste it You did present this twise to the Vniversity but it was denyed grace as oft as presented You verifie the Psalmists speech d Psalm Impij ambulant in circuitu The wicked weary their soules vntruely in their vnrulie designes and desires CHAP. 6. Mr LEECH AND nowe resolued as my next occasion drew me to preach to proceede forwards with the exposition of my text to haue vnfolded the sense of the opening of those mysticall bookes the booke of conscience the booke of God his eternal prescience for so it followed in my text the books were opened an other book was opened which is the booke of life This was my intention because I had now spoken sufficiently of that point as I thought which I met withall but obiter in my text vpon a subdivision and a distinction cited forth of S. Gregorie ANSVVERE IT had beene good that you had heere ended your course discourse vpon Counsailes without Counsaile rather then to sow vp these thin fig-leaues which you gathered out of Bellarmine and Coccius to cover the nakednesse of the cause you thought you spake sufficiently of the former point few so thought but your selfe Sufficiently indeed to manifest the corruption of your hart but not sufficiently to teach the truth of the point Mr LEECH As I resolued privately vpon this course so I had performed it accordingly if a certaine exorbitāt accidēt had not interrupted and disturbed this my quiet and setled resolution diuerting my purpose for that present cōverting my forces another way The occasion whereof was as followeth ANSVVER d Greg. Mor. lib. 18. c. 6. Gregory in his Moralls writeth of some new-fangled questionists Praedicamenta doctrinae quae quaerūt ad quaestionem habere non valent ad refectionem that as e 1. Tim. 1.4 S. Paul speaketh they giue heed to wrangling which breed questions rather then godly edifying which is by faith You haue beene ever ready but ever vnhappy in these questions for still comming to the well of a deepe and profound controversie either with the woman in the Gospell you had nothing to drawe with or else with the childe in the fable your bucket was too small and your roap too short What forces you meane I knowe not but it seemeth they were conducted vnder the regiment of the whore of Babylon Mr LEECH In the Easter time following M. Benefield one of the Inceptors of divinity for the Act ensuing whether it were of his owne proper motion which I very hardly can suppose or vpon the instigation of some other of the Brethren which I doe more easily belieue since he must needs goe whome a maine schisme driveth purposedly provided one of his six solemne lectures read for the assumpt of his degree of Doctorship mainely and directly by way of opposition and confutation of that erroneous Popish doctrine A new doctor of Oxford contrarie to all the Catholike Doctors of the Church For so it pleased this initiate Doctor to brand the Doctrine of all the Ancient Catholique Doctors delivered concerning Evangelicall Counsells Wherein whether I and my doctrine were mainely shot at and impugned or no I will not iudge in my owne cause let the equall and impartiall Reader vmpire for vs both ANSVVER This worthy discreet and learned Doctor f Corp. Christi Colledge of that honorable foundation which hath bread as rarely indowed divines Ludov. Vives B. Iuell Mr Hooker D. Rainolds c. as ever liued in our Church is much abused by you yet not so much iniured by you as honored by all others In respect of him and the Choisest oracles of our wisdome whom you abuse I cannot but breake out into that speech of Seneca g Seneca Trag. in Thyest Quid sancta prodest pietas Quid vita prodest honesta flagit io carens This good servant of God neither by instigation of others nor in contradiction of you as hee protesteth provided and promised in the publike schoole to reade on this point eight weekes before You know those solemne lectures are commonly all concerning points of controversie and why then might not this bee the subiect of one of his readings as well as any other No maine schisme ever drewe him to this action or any exotical opinion he was never subiect to interpretation for any Schismaticall contradiction his worthy Lord the most reverend Bishop of London Bishop Ravies of honorable memorie cuius pia memoria defleri potest nō deleri approued him to be free from schisme and abounding in science and his sermons Lectures Exercises actions all proceedings iustify him and condemne you in his lecture hee never named you nor aimed at you he only read against the question as Bellarmine defended it Mr LEECH This busines was not so secretly plotted by the aforesaid Brethren nor yet so privately intended and caried by the Actor himselfe but I had certaine notice giuen me by a friend of mine a graue Bachellour in divinity M. R. and
find nothing which they could calūniate And for his learning let l Hosian trist cat cent 16. p. 837. Andreas Masius speake for him whom you haue reason to beleeue who reporteth of him that there was more divinity in one page of Luther then sometimes in a whole booke of some Father The Magdeburgenses though they seeme to be censorious and Aristarchicall were very speciall servants of God for liues most honest for knowledge most learned the eares that heard them blest them and the eies that saw them gaue witnesse vnto them and as Iob speaketh of himselfe so I of them They brake the iawes of the vnrighteous man and pluckt the pray out of his mouth Neither they nor Doctor Benefield did blaspheme Gods spirit as you slaunder them Neither was Gods spirit promised to lodge onely in the Fathers of the Church but even iointly in all the members of the Church And yet for the Fathers wee doe reverence them as much or more then the Papists doe as the KINGS most excellent Maiestie m In his Premon to his booke in his Premonition doth professe Mr LEECH This is right the Puritan cut as D. Bancroft observeth against the Presbyterian faction in some whole Chapters of his Survay And yet after he had thus censoriously handled the Fathers vpon my private conference with him in stead of the Fathers which I called for he offred vnto me two English pamphlets one whereof was entituled the Apologie of the Church of England whereat I could not but smile in regard of his simplicity though inwardly grieved much at the times misery when a statizing Pamphleter who would flie vpon the wing of his penne vnto the height of some ambitious designment shall bee compared nay preferred before the ancient Orthodox divines that painefully laboured in the vineyard of the Church against the brunt of all heresies ANSVVER That you came to Doctor Benefield to bee enformed about this doctrine it is true you came even then when you knew the instant approach of the Act was at hand the very next Saturday before the Vespers which time being vnseasonable did abridge him of any large or ample discourse with you Otherwise I assure my selfe that as no suiter came to that good Emperour Titus that returned discontented so none shall euer come to this worthy Doctor to aske counsell or conference that shall returne vnsatisfied The two bookes that you were offered either of them might haue enformed you that you held an opinion cōtrary to the Church of England to whose Doctrine you subscribed The one which you call the Apologie of the Church of England Oportet esse memorem was a booke entituled The Catholike doctrine of the Church of England an exposition of the Articles of religion professed here published by authority The other Reverēd Mr Perkins reformed Catholique such a booke and such an Author that your Bishop could wish hee had never beene Priest it hath so entoiled him he n In the beginning of his answere cōfesseth that he neuer saw any booke of like quantity published by a Protestant to containe either more matter or to be delivered in better method For Mr Rogers hee liueth worthy of much commendation for that necessary paine and his learned labour will liue long after him M. Perkins he is asleep in the Lord his holynes of conversation soundnes of learning actions labours life death haue sealed him A blessed servant of God I would others were as free from being flying wanderers as he or M. Perkins from being statizing Pamphleters You smiled you say at the Doctors simplicity but vnlesse you repent the world will laugh and hisse at your folly Was it simplicity indeed as simplicity is taken for integrity veritas est simplex the greatest attribute of truth is to be simple and so he might well prefer the simple positiue truth in one of those bookes before all the iugling expunged impostured Copies which you vrge for the Fathers The name of the Orthodoxall Fathers in matter of controversie I hold to be nomen verendum reverendum and the current of the Fathers in the true Copies for the first 500 yeeres or thereabout after Christ is like Iordan which passeth sweetly and quietly through Canaan but for their Current in some points after that time it is I will not say like to Iordan falling into mare mortuum but it is much hindered corrupted and abused I had here ended this point but that your Marginal vrgeth a testimony from that most wise and learned observation of dangerous Positions and proceedings published and practised for the Presbyteriall discipline First you may please to vnderstande that there was want of good manners in neglecting the reverence you owe to that rightly honourable AVTHOR whose eminent place in the State My Lords Grace of Cāterbury painefull Government in the Church carefull authority over our Vniversity and other his honorable respects do adorne him with the cōfluence of many Titles yet this sacred Prelat graue Counsellour our noble Chauncellor must passe so vnregarded by you But what do you ground out of that note His Grace wrote against the ambitiously factious and Paradoxically furious Presbytery Doctor Benefield none such his Profession an honourable Bishops Chaplaine his Positions mainely against Presbytery declare so much Haec nota nihil notat praeter notam malitiae CHAP. 7. Mr LEECH THis solemne lecture reade in publicke schooles by an inceptor in divinity for so venerable a degree enforced me now evē as I would not openly betray the truth of this doctrine vnto a more plaine ample and personall defence inciting mee also nay inflaming me with some extraordinary desire for the reiection and depulsion of his infirme reasons ANSVVER IT is observed a Plin. nat hist lib. 11. c. 37. that in the falling sicknesse the eies though opē see nothing when the minde is darkened dim-sighted so seemeth it with you when in your declining and falling away you could not see or like the deafe adder would not heare charme the charmer never so wisely You say you were inflamed with an extraordinary desire for the reiection of the infirme reasons of the lecture I marvaile you should be in such a heat It had beene wel if with David you had cryed out My heart is hot and the fire is kindled within me that was a heat that tooke fire from the altar but yours was no such spirituall heat b Albert. in comp Theol. Albertus observeth that many sinnes are deciphered by many sicknesses luxury by a feaver envy by a leaprosie Anger by a phrēsie and pride by an inflammation take head of prowde heat such inflaming will breede flashing I would be sorie from my hart to heare that you should turne Melancholy Dominican or lowsie Franciscan or lazy Capuchine but of all others a Iesuiticall incendiary for he is the wilde fire of the world in mind ravenous as a wolfe in head crafty as a Fox in heart
but we are sure certitudine fidei by the certainety of faith that not a dead temporall historical miraculous faith but by a true liuely quickning iustifying faith Lastly your distinction seemeth very strange which saith a man cannot be certaine of his salvation Certitudine rei yet he may Certitudine Dei I had thought that Certitudo rei and Certitudo Dei had beene the same Because God iudgeth not as wee misconceiue but as the thing is Mr LEECH These though they stand 1. Cor. 10.12 yet must they take heed least they fall For these are but yet in via not in patria vpon the seas of this world floating not in the haven of heaven raigning Begin they in the spirit Yet they must not end in the flesh or be made perfit by the flesh For they are yet in certamine not in triumpho warfaring on earth encompassed with theeues and pirats the world flesh and devill on all sides assaulting them not triumphing in heaven environed and garded with legions of Angels armies of the spirits of iust and perfit men ANSVVER The words of S. Paule do not serue to proue anie vncertainty in the faith of the Saints 1. Cor. 10.12 any hesitation or doubting concerning their salvatioÌ„ but those the like words Be not high minded but feare are inculcated rather ad supprimendam praesumptionem non ad imprimendam dubitationem A filiall feare is the character of the childe of God a feare of offending nor of finall falling for he knoweth that to be true Quos amor verus tenuit tenebit Howsoever there may be this feare in faith as that a Christian bee in his faith as Christ in his fight in agony passion sweat and blood yet he resisteth vnto blood yea vnto hell for the gates of hel cannot prevaile against him Mr LEECH These must remember remembring tremble at that fearefull distriction terrible commination so often reiterated direfully threatned by the prophet If the righteous turne away from his righteousnes commits iniquity and doe according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth shall hee liue saith the Lord God of hoasts All his righteousnes that hee hath done shal not be mentioned but in his traÌ„sgression that he hath committed and in his sinne that he hath sinned in them shall hee die And the same reason is excellently rendred by the Apostle Hebr. 6.4.5.6 For it is impossible that they which were once enlightened and haue tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the holy Ghost and haue tasted of the good word of God of the powers of the worlde to come if they fall away should be renued by repentaÌ„ce seeing they crucifie againe to themselues the sonne of God and make a mocke of him ANSVVERE The infernal furies distrust feare horror do keep the soules of the wicked continually in alarum but these bee strangers yea enemies to the Godly they know how to temper their feare with ioy to cast sweet wood into the bitter waters to cast anker in the Tempestuous stormes of distrust knowing that they cannot fall finally and totally from God And howsoever the frequent mentions of these the like Scriptures are very necessary yet neither of these do proue that the true and faithfull Saints doe fall for the place in Ezekiell is as Danaeus answereth Bellarmine to bee interpreted only of those that are iust in their owne eies not of those truely iust before God They doe not hereby proue that ever the truely righteous haue fallen finally but in such sort that they may rise againe and so you grant in your former distinction that they are certaine certitudine Dei and is not that sufficient assurance for the conscience to build vpon The place out of the Hebrews is very obscure and one of those places that S. Peter spake of 2. Petri 3.16 that in S. Pauls Epistles there were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 places harde to bee vnderstood which vnstable and vnlearned men pervert as they do other Scriptures to their owne damnation Novatus who lived about the yeere 253. abused this place to proue that it was impossible for those that had once falleÌ„ after Baptisme to be renu'd by repeÌ„taÌ„ce Your Doctrine seemeth to be neighbour to his error Chrysost Epiphanius Athanasius Ambrose Austin do interpret it against RebaptizatioÌ„ that such as fall should not be renued againe with another Baptisme But others interpret S. Paule by himselfe Heb. 10.26 in the 10. Chap. ver 26. that he vnderstandeth those only Paraeus in Heb. not that fall in part as David into adultery nor wholly of infirmity as Peter in his Abnegation but wholly finally and malitiously as Iulian and Porphiry did because they spite the spirit of God and count the blood of the Testament an vnholie thing Others may fall and rise againe as I trust you wil. And for the obiections against our certainety of salvation I briefly answere them thus If you obiect Saul to haue fallen finally we acknowledge it but we deny him to haue beene endowed with the spirite of grace he had only spirituÌ„ consilij dominationis not gratiae regenerationis If you obiect Iudas fall you caÌ„not proue that ever he had the true iustifying faith hee had gratiam gratis datam not gratiam facientem gratum If you vrge the reiectioÌ„ of the Iewes the Oliue branches we answer that these branches were grafted in only quoad externam visibilem Ecclesia faciem not quoad internam invisibilem gratiam according to that of Christ Every plant which my fathers right haÌ„d hath not planted shall be rooted out If lastly you vrdge Moyses Paul for I know you wil disturbe not only Prophets Apostles but even Saints Angels nay and Lucifer from hell concerning whom this answer is sufficient Stella cadens noÌ„ est stella cometa fuit For Moyses Paule when they did wish that their names might be rased out of the booke of life they did it rather out of an ardent forcible zeale Zâ—nch Danaeus theÌ„ out of a possible act non propriè verè sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if it coulde haue beene which was not possible to be done herein expressing their care and loue and zeale of the salvation of their brethren But absolutely it is the most certaine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that can be that any true servant of God should finally fall from grace the promise of the Father is I wil put my feare into their hearts Luk. 22.32 they shall not depart from me and the praier of the Son is for Peter and in him for all faithfull I haue praied that thy faith faile not Faith may sometimes be seene Orient in her full heate and lustre sometimes in the occident Sometimes it is in the flowre sometimes privat in the roote sometimes in the flame sometimes in the sparke but as that stone in Pliny once made
hot never looseth its heate so faith is never deade dryed or extinguished If faith take fire from Gods altar it is like the fire in the Temple on the altar never goeth out Men Angels Divels cannot extinguish it It is as mount Syon that shall never be removed Flac. Illir coÌ„tra relig pp. Catharinus thought so and mainetained it against Dominicus Soto in the Councell of Trent of which CouÌ„cell they that were the Presidents did protest they did not think the question to be sufficiently discussed and therefore the decision thereof was deferred two severall times And Antonius Marinarius doth exquisitly speake herein If heaven fall if the earth vanish Dominic Quad. 4. if the whole worlde ran headlong I will looke to the goodnes of God and as he addeth if an Angell from heaveÌ„ shall labour to perswade me against the certainety of my salvation I will say Anathema to him So against such wee will shut vp the bowels of charity and as far as the power of the keyes is given vnto vs the gates of everlasting life Mr LEECH The last sort are such whose salvation is already certaine and these differ from the other quoad graduÌ„ gradum in via perfectionis gradum in patria retributionis 1. Cor. 15.41 For if stella à stella differt gloria the Apostle applyeth it to the bodily resurrection that is if there be degrees of exaltation in the kingdome of glory of necessity by force of inevitable consequence it must follow that there be degrees of Christian perfectioÌ„ in the kingdome of grace the one being a retribution of the other heauens remuneration awarded according to Christian perfection practised ANSVVER This is your part of the division that divided you from your part among vs vpon this all your paper building consisteth vpon this Champion ground you marshall your munition here be the sluces of your invasion this is the squadron you encounter vs with But in this Paragraph three things are to bee reproued The first your misinterpreting of the place of the Apostle S. Paul There be Interpreters that proue that that speech and the collation thereof is onely inter corpus depositum corpus restitutum it is not a comparison betweene the elect in glory but between a glorified and a corruptible body Pet. Martyr class 3. c. 17. § 8. Paraeus Com. in 1. Cor. 15. to manifest resurrection Secondly your disiointed consequence is to bee reproued stella à stella differt gloria ergo there bee divers degrees of exaltation in the kingdome of glory according to Christian perfectioÌ„ practised in this life Aristotle 2. Post c. 15. 4. Top. c. 3. 6. Top. c. 2. 7. Top. c. 2. in many places of the Organon giueth caveats against arguing from Metaphors figuratiue speeches and therefore your foundation is faulty in Logick but much more in the law Thirdly though we deny not but that there be degrees of holy life in the kingdome of grace yet the reason is not good that therefore there be degrees of perfection in this life because degrees of exaltation in the life to come in as much as these degrees of exaltation depend not on that proportion you imagine which is betweene the worke and reward but on the grace and fauor of God who bestoweth liberally I am not ignoraÌ„t that Ierom is fierce against Iovinian for maintaining an equality of glory S. Austin ioineth with Ierome Mr Calvin with both and Peter Martyr acknowledgeth Aug. Ench. c. 3. epist 146. that all the Fathers beleeue it Yet this was never vrged or held that it deserved the name of an inevitable consequence but rather of a probable opinion Mr LEECH These ioin with their faith vertue 2. Pet. 1.5.6.7.10 with vertue knowledge with knowledge temperance with teÌ„perance patience with patience godlines with godlines brotherly kindnes with brotherly kindnes loue the very boÌ„d of perfection nay plÃroma tou nomou the fulfilling of the law and doing these things they can never fall These giue all diligence to make their calling and election sure by faith by workes by precepts by Counsells These are terrestres Angeli coelestes homines earthly Angells heauenly men their names are written in heauen and themselues registred and inrolled in the booke of life and of the Lambe These I remember well I stiled entia transcendentia men soaring with the wings of faith and workes aboue the ordinary pitch of men etiam praecepta legis perfectiori virtute transcendentes transcending surmounting the precepts of the law by Evangelicall Counsells of greater perfection so speaketh S. Gregory in the place about cited ANSVVER So speaketh not S. Gregory you insert the words Evangelicall Counsells in place aboue cited It is the most absolute distinction of generall and speciall precepts that can be vrged Praecepta generaliter specialis iussio perfectiorib ' imperatur praecepta â—â—â—cialia but no word of counsells mentioned Foure especiall notes be there for to guid any man that runneth not astray through the wildernesse of his will to the true knowledge of the difference of that divisioÌ„ Your very paper is a writ against you for you cannot out of Gregory cite the worde Counsaile As for the fulfilling of the law it can be in this life but only ex parte non ex toto as is taught in the third of the Sentences 3. Sent. dis 17. the 17 distinction and as Calvin and Bucan worthily teach the best of Gods servants haue peccatum domitum Greg. 4. mor. cap. 24. Manuscripts in the publike Library of Oxford wherein are found many 1000 differences in the works of Gregory and many a hundred contradictions to the now extant Roman Coppie as will shortly appeare non dominum sinne doth remaine in them though it doth not raigne in them S. Gregory doth elegantly proue this Chananaeus populus non occisus sed factus tributarius meaning hereby that the Saints here as long as they liue in the world haue the flesh to vex them and the Angell of Sathan to buffet them And for that fragment out of Gregory perfectiori virtute transcendentes or perfectionum virtute as some copies or perfectionis virtute I say none can so transcend as you interpret some meÌ„ may transcend other men but yet not transcend the law or they may vnproperly bee said to transcend the precepts that is the ordinary and customary obseruing of the precepts they may transcend in seeking to keep them in a more holy maner then others that be not so well enabled by gifts but yet they doe not surmount the precepts of the law nor pitch beyond the Commandements If you pitch beyond that pitch he that toucheth your pitch will be defiled with it The Poets observation may warne you Deus immortalis haberi Dum cupit Empedocles ardentem firgidus Etnam Insiluit Hor. Art Poet Mr LEECH For explanation of which sentence of that good Father and great pillar of the
as Hereticall for which Act S Ierom himselfe was much condemned and how his bookes against Iovinian were excepted against even at Rome D. Field sheweth in the place cited by you Whose words which you propose so disgracefully are better worth the pondering then you thinke Our determination state of that question is this breefly virginity is a state of life wherein if all things be answerable in the parties that embrace it there are fewer occasions of distractions from God and more opportunities of attaining to the height of excellēt vertue then in the opposite state of marriage yet so that it is possible for some married men so to vse their estate that they be no way inferiour to those that are single This doth S. Austin confidently defend so your Iesuit Espencaeus as before and so also Gregory Nazianzen absolutly doth proue it Nazianz. in his Oration made in the praise of Gorgonia his sister I might stand much in proofe of this as also that the olde Roman Church did defend and maintaine the cause of Iovinian But I haue in many places already answered this accusatiō and therefore I retort vpon you that seeing your imputations be furnished with malice spite rather then truth and spirit my sixt resolution is to acknowledge with thankfulnesse duty comfort the truth of God defended in this Church of England from whence rather out of a desire to maligne thē out of strength of argument to repugne you are fallen by contumacy in action and heresie in opinion Mr LEECH The seauenth Motiue The Protestants accommodate their Religion vnto the state and present time AS the formes of Ecclesiasticall gouernments are varied by the Calvinists in sondry places according vnto the state vnder which they liue so their Doctrines are framed according to the times and made sutable vnto the policy of their common wealths Pipe state and dance Church Religion must haue no coat otherwise then measure is taken by the State Aiust experience whereof I had in the passage of this businesse For as the more grosse and senselesse Calvinists in England do Heretically confound Evangelicall Counsailes with Legall Precepts so others more regardfull of the time wherein they liue then of the truth which they should professe doe willingly yeeld for if they should doe otherwaies they should speake against their iudgement and conscience that this distinctiō is founded in the gospell and propounded by the Church but they say that it is not a doctrine seasonably to bee delivered in these times And might not this statizing reason aswell plead for Arrius his damnable Heresie being more generally disaffected by the state in those times Contra Lucifer dum totus mundus ingemuit sub Arrianismo as S. Hierom speaketh But I considered first that truth is not to be impugned suppressed is the common fury of Calvinists hath euer sought to extinguish it to the vttermost of their power in which respect I found my selfe extraordinarily affected for the reiection of their heresie in this behalfe And I trust it was not without speciall motion of that spirit which breatheth in the whole body of the Catholike church and consequently in every member of the same Secondly though time beare the blame yet men are in the fault therfore seeing that the opē enemies of truth did barke when her secret friends did holde their peace I conceived that it was my duty rather to change the time from evill into good then to suffer it to grow from evill in to worse And though some men assisted with power to punish that which their peevish fansie disaffected did beare me downe by violence yet I tooke no lesse comfort by this iniurie which they offred vnto me thē courage by the course which they held against my doctrine For I saw that they rather observed prophane policie to force me vnto silence then either shew of iustice or piety in proceeding against my falsely supposed crime or waight of reason in convincing my vnderstanding And why they are the slaues of time but not disciples of truth ANSVVER HOw true this imputation vrged against vs is in the Romane Religiō some parts of the Christian world see and others feele it Leo that kinsman of the roaring Lyon when he was about to go in visitation to his infernall cosen confessed how much worth to his purse fabula Christi that tale of Christ was as he blasphemously called the gospell And is it any better esteemed at this day among Papists at lest haue they not enioined tales and fables and lies to bee beleeved as well as the Gospell Indulgences and Purgatory to go no farther be they not only invented to get mony doth the Pope ever keepe fire but he hath his fuell from Purgatory Is not this doctrine of Monkery only invēted to humor divers melācholike fat paūches If our land were a poore Coūtrey the Pope would never keep such a stirre it is not to gaine souls but Peter pence And to sum vp all in one word all religion depends on the Popes pleasure That as in the Metaphysickes the vtmost proposition is Nihil simul est non est so in Popish divinity the vtmost resolution is Papa non potest errare Wherefore Bellarmine holdeth Question of Supremacy which all the world seeth to be but a matter of Policie Bellarm. in praef ad 3 cōtrovers to be summam rei Christianae who then are the statizers To say nothing of your Iesuits that manage al the affaires of those Princes in whose Courts like Salomons Spiders they remaine Our Religion is the same which the Apostles did teach was in practise in the Primitiue Church happy is the state in which this true Religion flourisheth your distinction of Precepts and Counsels hath beene sufficiently cāvased and you haue been taught in what sense wee retaine the name of Counsell and that S. Austin calleth your Consilia perfectionis Aug. lib. de perfect iustitiae ad coelestinum praecepta perfectionis It is a slander by which you seek to deceiue by your speech of accusing any of our part as if they did professe that your doctrine was true but not seasonable for these times We hold that all places and all times must entertaine truth and therfore your first collection is false Calvinists extinguish not truth Rome doth racke burne torture the Gospell and the truth therof but we feare the punishmēt of sinning against conscience and knowledge if wee should suppresse but the lest truth we behold it with an impartiall eie we represse not the professors but adversaries thereof of which number you were accounted one Your second Collection which hath more sound then sense is easily refuted time beareth no blame for truth secret enemies may looke against her open friendes but wisdome will bee iustified and though Sathan seek to sow bad seed in good ground yet the Lords busbandmen sleepe not but will reforme ill by good refute that is false