of Christ by the Euangelists and Apostles as by his Pen-men or Notaries How is the Scripture diuided in respect of that authority it hath in prouing So it is diuided into the bookes which are Canonicall and those which are not Canonicall but Apocryphall Which doe you call the Canonicall Books Syst Theol. pag. 169. item p. 173. Hi constituūt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Those which are of vndoubted authority in prouing the Articles of Faith or which are the Square and Rule of our faith for Canonicall is deriued from Canon which signifieth as much as a Rule or Square Of what sort are the Canonicall books Of two sortes either of the Old or of the New Testament Which Books of the Old Testament are Canonicall The Canonicall Scripture of the old Testament is diuided into foure rancks Syst The. pag. 182. the first containeth the fiue Bookes of Moses the second those Bookes which are called Historicall as these Joshua Iudges Ruth the two Bookes of Samuel the two Bookes of Kings the two Bookes of the Chronicles the Bookes of Esdras Nehemiah Ester The third Bookes which are written in verse which are called Poeticall as these Job the Psalmes of Dauid the Prouerbs of Salomon Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs the fourth comprehendeth the Prophets which are either greater Prophets in number foure or lesser to wit twelue Which Bookes of the New Testament are Canonicall The Canonicall Scripture of the New Testament is diuided into the History of the Euangelists the Acts of the Apostles the Apostles Epistles and the Prophecy or Reuelation of John Which are called Apocriphall or not Canonicall Syst Theol. pag. 190. Which are not of infallible truth and authority in prouing the Articles of faith and consequently which are not the Rule and Square of our beliefe but containe precepts of life and historicall instructions Which are those Apocryphall Bookes Among the Bookes of the Old Testament as wee haue before said there are some found not to bee Canonicall such as the Booke of Tobias Iudith Wisedome which falsly is ascribed to Salomon Ecclesiasticus or Syracides the third and fourth bookes of Esdras all the Bookes of the Maccabees Baruch with Ieremy his Epistle the Prayer of Manasses the fragments of Ester the additions to Daniel as is the Song of the three Children the Historie of Susanna the Historie of Bell and the Dragon None of all these Bookes are to be found in the Hebrew tongue in which Language onely God would haue the Bookes of the Old Testament to bee written neither were they written by the Prophets or any person immediately called of God Neither doth Christ the Euangelists or the Apostles cite them at any time and to conclude there bee many vntruths in them Wherefore when the Papists vrge any thinge out of these Bookes against vs wee must answer that those Bookes containe not the infallible Word of God and consequently that they haue no firme force or validity in prouing How is the Scripture diuided in respect of the matter it handleth Into the Law and the Gospell for that part of Gods Word is called the Law wherein wee are taught what we ought to doe but the Gospell is that part of Gods Word wherein we are taught what we ought to beleeue and consequently wherein wee haue the remission of our sins promised vs by faith in Christ I haue heard sufficiently touching the diuision of the Word of God J pray you also instruct mee in the proprieties of it That will I willingly doe so I first admonish you that hereafter wee shall alwaies take the holy Scripture for the Canonicall Bookes onely and not at all for the Apocryphall VVhat is the first proprietie of the holy Scripture The first propriety is that it deriues all its authority from God alone Syst Theol. pag. 171. not from the assembly of godly men which is called the Church How proue you this I proue it by these reasons first the testimony of God hath not any authority from men The Scripture is the testimony of God alone Ergo. It hath none authority from men yea the most holy men that bee and consequently not from the Church which is nothing else but a company of godly and sanctified men The force and pith of the argument you shall finde 1 Ioh. 5.9 If wee receiue the witnes of men the testymonie of God certainely is greater Secondly that must needs be before the Scripture in naturall order of which the authority of the Scripture dependeth But the Church is not before the Word of God Ergo. The Maior proposition is euident because that which dependeth of another must needs come after that on which it dependeth The Minor is thus prooued That which is gathered gouerned regenerated by the Word or by the Scripture that is in order after the Scripture But the Church Ergo. The Maior is plaine the Minor is prooued by 1 Pet. 1.23 Wee are regenerated and borne anew by the word of God Iames 1.18 He hath begotten vs by the word of truth Ioh. 17.20 Which by their word shall beleeue in me Thirdly the foundation of any building depends not on the roofe or vpper roomes which are built vpon the foundation but contrarily those same vpper roomes and the roofe depend vpon the foundation but the Word of God is the foundation Ergo. The Maior is plaine in it selfe The Minor is confirmed by that Ephes 2.20 You are built vpon the foundation of the Profits and Apostles Obict The Papists obiect to vs that place 1 Tim. 3.15 Where the Church is said to be the pillar and ground of truth Whereto we answer Answ that this argument is sophisticall or a fallacie commonly called a Dicto secundum quid a dictum simpliciter For the Church is not called the piller and ground of truth in regard of it selfe but in regard of Christ the head who is that corner stone And further it is so called in regard it is the keeper of the Scripture Syst Theol pag. 181. forsomuch as God hath made the Church onely to haue to doe with the treasurie of his Word and in the Church as on the piller and doore of his house or pallace he hangeth those holy Tables which euery man must go thither to read No otherwise then the Magistrate hangeth vp on pillars and gates of his Court Tables containing in them his Lawes and Decrees to the end that his Subiects may there reade them as in a publike place Lastly the Church is called the Pillar of Truth in this respect because that God vseth the testimony of the Church as his instrument and meanes for the proposing teaching and expounding of the holy Scriptures vnto men for the Ministers of the Church are the conseruers of truth and the interpreters of the Scriptures yet not so as if the authority of the Scripture did depend on them but because God vseth them as his seruants and Ministers to propound and to beate into the memories of
lost when this Kingdome shakt off his tyrannicall yoake and therefore for regaining hereof Reu. 16.13 hee blowes ouer whole Iesuites like Apricocks heretofore here and there one succored in a great Mans house now you may haue them in euery Countrie village I. D so that wee may say I feare me of them as Rob. Grosthead a good B. of Linâ— in Hen. 3. dayes said of the Popes Legats So many disguised daily come into the Realme that the very names of them recited wold be tedious for any man to heare Fox Mar. p. mihi 326. swarmes of these Locusts into England where sitting theeuishly in blind corners of our streets they entrap the simple folke and lurking in their secret dens of darknesse they ensnare the poore and wauering minded making them being once caught in their grin Mat 21 15 two times more the Chidren of darknesse then they themselues are Which indeed how can it otherwise fall out sithence their doctrine and their doings bee both of darknesse The Doctrine of the Papists a doctrine of darknes Their doctrine as it is a hotchpotch of beggerly rudiments like a beggers cloake full of patches some of Iudaisme some of Turcisme some of Paganisme some of Pelagianisme and in some what is it else but a Vt quicquid passim in variis regionib est sordiuÌ„ tandeÌ„ per diuer so flumina in mare vnum deportatur it a quicquid blasphemia ruÌ„ in variis ac diuersissimis sectis reperitur totuÌ„ id confluxit in RomanaÌ„ colluuiem Tilleman Hesbus compound of errours so in nothing more does it bewray it selfe to be raked out of the pit of darknesse then that it will not abide the light of Gods Word to bee tryed by For what 2 Cor. 6.14 Communion hath darkenesse with light are not these two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heereupon well knowing what would betide them Iuel Apolog pag 116. The ReligioÌ„ of Papistrie is like a Curtaine made to keepe out the light B.R. if the Gospell should cleerely shine forth in al mens hearts they muffle the vnderstanding of the simple people giuing them to wit that all is Oracles that they speak not giuing them once leaue or leasure yea which is more interdicting them to search the holy Scriptures with the Act. 17.11 Noblemen of Beraea and to see whether those thinges bee so as they speake them Let our late worthies who haue descried the imposture of the Church of Rome let them speake in this case and heare their verdict Nos luci fidimus saith blessed Apolog. ecclesiae Anglic pag. 147. Iewell isti tenebris Wee trust and desire to bee tried by the light of Gods Word they put their confidence in darkenesse Vt latro crucem ita isti horrent verbuÌ„ Dei Iuel wherupon it is that a thiefe stands not in more feare of the Gallowes then they doe of the Scriptures We labour to plant knowledge in all saith the reuerend and my much honoured My Lord of Chichester in his Preface to his Booke entituled Directions to know the true Church Lord of Chichester and are desirous that euery man may know the things needfull for his saluation they labour to hold all in ignorance their hope is not in the goodnesse of their cause for they see the ruines of Babylon falling eueryday onely their care is to blind you and keepe you Ignorant Jf the light of knowledge might freely shine to the world Popery would soone bee ashamed of it selfe saith D D. Halls Que vadis p. 3â— 1. Edâ—â— another worthy in our Church And not to bee infinite in this kinde M. Anton. de Dominis who was once welcommed by vs from the Tents of Antichrist and is ours still if couetousnesse the roote of euill and hypocrisie the colour of good hath not put out both his eies confesseth in that little book wherein he expresseth the reason of his departure out of the Ch. of Rome the Prodromus to his larger and more fruitfull labours that this closing vp of the Scripture from the people gaue him occasion to suspect their Religion and to feare his estate and to thinke on conuersion freely professing there in these tearmes Scripturae summa apud nos ignoratio M. Anton. de dominis Archiep. Spalat that there is nothing whereof the Papists are more ignorant then of the Scriptures Nay a certaine Bishop of Italy was not ashamed to tell Claudius Espencaeus Master Sheldon ex Claud. Espenc Coment in cap 1 Epist ad Titum a famous Pontifician that the learned men of Italy it selfe were afraid to study the holy Scriptures least thereby they should become Heretiques and that therefore they employed themselues in commenting vpon the Popes Law bookes Decrees and the Decretalls the which Booke though full of lies contradictions impertinences yet because it is the Popes booke it must bee respected whilest the holy Scripture lieth as it were in the streets neglected And therefore to barre their â—educed followers vtterly from this godly exercise of reading they beare them in hand that to reade the Scripture is very perillous Quia experimento manifestuÌ„ est si sacra Biblia vulgari lingua passim sine Discrimine permittantur plus inde ob hominum temeritatèm ditrimenti quam vtilitatis oriri idcirco c. Index lib. prohibit confect a deput Concilii Trident. reg 4. Quid quod populus non solum caperet fructum ex Scripturis sed etiam caperet detrimentum acciperet enim facillime occasionem errandi tum in doctrina fidei tum in praeceptis vitae morum Bellarmin Lib. 1. de verbo Dei cap. 15. see DD. Hakewells Answer Likewise to D D. Car. second letter Pag 11. and the cause of erring from the faith Sed execratione ac detestatione dignior est ista vox quam responsione Hiper de quotid â—lectione S. Script lib. 1. pag. 175. Wicked impostores as if God our heauenly Father who hath made his Will and Testament and hath reuealed it by writing vnto vs his Children would not haue it Vehementer ab istis disseÌ„tio qui nolint ab idiotis legi diuinas literas in vulgi linguam transfusas fiue quasi Christus taÌ„ inuoluta docuerit vt vix â pauculis theologis possint intelligi siue quasi religionis Christanae prasidium in hec situm fit sinesciatur c. Erasm in Paracles ad Christian philosophiae studiuâ— read and vnderstood bâ— vs Blasphemous wrethes â— if God who can neither bâ— deceiued nor deceiue caâ— sing his holy Will to be peâ—ned both as touching hâ— owne Worship and also â— touching the meanes of maâ— Saluation and that so poweâ—fully and yet plainely witâ— all that hee should seeke herâ— by to Neque adeo 〈◊〉 humanus suit Deus vt voluerit huius rei ignorâ— tione per omnes aetates homines torqueri cum 〈◊〉 que vllum in Sacris Scripturis passus est esse locuâ— quem si accuraté pensitemus interpretari non posâ—mus Aug. Steuchius in Genes cap. 2. entrap
Lerinens Mâ—â—â— Dâ—â—â— tam non habit hoe illud quam non haec illa Bern. or these diuerse manners of Gods being doe not multiply the Diuine Essence no more then the diuers degrees of heate or light doe multiply the light or heatâ— so that I speake right when I say there are moe persons in the diuine Essence but it cannot be vttered without blaspheâ—y to say there are in God more Natures or more Gods then one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 NazianzeÌ„ Qui nescis TrinitateÌ„ ito ad Iordanem Mat. 3. Aug. Syst Th p 46 vide etiaÌ„ p. 35. seqq Dicamus tres sed non ad praiudiciaÌ„ vnitatâ— dicamus vnâ—â— sed non ad confussionem Trinitatis Ber. v. Syst Theol p. 49. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Na. Quomodò pluralitas in vnitate sit aut ipsa vnitas in pluralitate scrutari hoc temeritas est credere pietas est nosse vita vita aeterna est Bern. How many persons are there Three the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost which is proued by manifest Testimonies of holy Writ Matth. 28 19. Goe teach all nations baptizing them in the namâ— sc by the Authority and appointment of the Father thâ— Sonne and the Holy Ghost Iob. 15.26 When that Comforte shall come whom I will send tâ— you from the Father euen tâ— Spirit of Truth who proceedeth from the Father he well testifie of me where they are all three plainely named the Father from whom the holy Spirit is sent the Sonne who sendeth and the Holy Ghost who is sent 1. Ioh. 5 7. There bee three which beare record in Heauen the Father the Word and the Spirit and these three are one in Essence or Nature How proue you that these three persons bee that one God First I must haue it granted that these three persons are distinct because hee that sendeth is distinguished from him that is sent and hee from whom is distinguished from him that is sent Now Iâ—â—c 15. plainely saith that Christ is hee that sendeth the Holy Ghost him that is sent and the Father from whom the Sonne sendeth the holy Ghost Whence I doe necessarily inferre that these three manners of being in God are distinct which being graunted I shall easily prooue this three-fold manner of being or these three Persons in the diuine Essence to be that true God For first as touching the Father the very aduersaries themselues yeeld Christus est Deus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coÌ„tra AriuÌ„ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contra Apolinar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contra Nestor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contra Eutych Syst Theol. pag. 52. seqq that he is truely God And touching the Sonne wee haue manifest testimonies of the Scripture Rom. 9.5 Of whom namely the Israelites are the fathers of whom Christ came as concerning the flesh who is God aboue all blessed for euer If aboue all therefore about those who by reason of their excellent gifts are called Gods That the holy spirit is God these Sentences of Scripture plainely proue Acts 5.3 Peter saith to Ananias Why hath Satan filled thy heart that thou shouldest lye against the holy Ghost And presently he addeth vers 4. Thou hast not lyed vnto men but vnto God Therefore the holy Ghost is God Another place is 1 Cor. 2.10 The Spirit searcheth all things euen the profound things of God And the verse following For who knoweth the things c. Whence wee may thus reâ—son whosoeuer knoweth the secrets the profound secrets of God or which is all one whosoeuer is omniscient is God but the Holy Ghost is Omniscient Ergo The Maior is euident the Minor is exprâ—sly in the Text. Secondly whatsoeuer is in God is God but the Holy Ghost is in God Ergo. The Proposition is of certaine truth for that God who is a most simple Essence void of all difference and composition cannot consist of any thing which is not God The assumption is in the Text v. 11. where it is said As the reasonable soul is in man that is of the essence of man so the holy Spirit is in God Hitherto may tha testimony 1 Cor. 3.16 be referred â— August Enchirid. cap. â—6 Know yee not that yee are the Temple of God and that the holy spirit dwelleth in you where the latter words doe expound the former for it is all one as if the Apostle had said Know yee not that yee are the Temple of God seeing that the Holy Ghost dwelleth in you who is God But if the Aduersaries say that the spirit is nothing else saue the effects and gifts of God they are most manifestly confuted and confounded by the words of the Scripture 1 Cor. 12.4.5.6 There are diuersities of gifts but the same spirit there are diuersities of ministrations but the same Lord c. And verse 11. All these gifts worketh that one and selfe same spirit distributing c. Whence ariseth this argument He that distributeth a gift is not himselfe that gift that is distributed but the Holy Ghost is the distributer of all those gifts Ergo. The Proposition is cleare enough The Assumption is plaine in the Text where it is said that the spirit worketh and distributeth al those gifts Another argument out of the same text may bee this Hee that is endued with a will hee cannot be a bare vertue or accident but is a substance subsisting by it selfe but the Holy Ghost c. Ergo. The Maior is cleare for whosoeuer willeth he vnderstandeth and whosoeuer willeth and vnderstandeth hee must bee a substance by it selfe subsisting The Minor is clearely set downe in the text where it is said The Spirit distributeth to euery one as he will Fuit principium essendi DEVS sequiter cognoscendi principium VERBVM DEI non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verbum Christi Syst Th p. 167. Qui ScripturaÌ„ ignorat ChristuÌ„ ignorat Hieronym de Scriptura Zanch. Confess pag. 482. item in illud Pauli 2 Tim. 3.14 tom 8. p. 319 seqq I haue heard the doctrine concerning God tell mee now besides what the holy Scripture is It is that testimony and witnesse which God hath giuen to Mankind as touching his owne nature and will and as touching those thinges which appertaine to the saluation of man How is the holy Scripture diuided Three manner of waies first by reason of the Time wherein it was reuealed secondly by reason of that Authority it hath in proouing thirdly by reason of the Matter which it handleth How is the Scripture diuided in respect of the time wherin it was reuealed Into the Old and New Testament The Old Testament therefore is that part of the Scripture which God reuealed to the first of Man-kind people of the Iewes which liued vntill the Ministery of Christ which hee reuealed I say by the Prophets as by his Scribes and Notaries But the New Testament is called that part of the Scripture which God hath reuealed to Man-kind after the birth