merits as it were with incense out of a censor what neede haue we of Saint or Angell to helpe vs to accesse and acceptance before the Father Yea I neede not say what neede but what Faith can we haue in so doing seeing that both himselfe hath bidden vs aske in his owne name and in the case of sinne-guiltinesse wee are directed onely to him as our onely Mediator and Aduocate Wherefore the profession of the Church of Rome is in this point by all meanes to bee reiected as a profession and practice of infidelity in Christs sitting at the right hand of the Father Their comparison from earthly Princes are chaffie and of no moment if they be brought to the ballance of the Sanctuary and are meerely colours whereby they seeke to dawbe ouer their blinde deuotion and to gull the doting people Quest 31 Which is the third degree of his exaltation and in which words Answ Thirdly he shall come from Heauen at the ende of the World to iudge all that shall then be found liuing and all that haue dyed since the world began in these words From thence hee shall come to iudge both the quicke and the dead Explan For the meaning of this Article it is opposite to that which setteth downe the first degree of his humiliation for as there of God he was made Man yea a poore man vnder the gouernment of Ioseph and Mary so heere hee is of a poore man set ouer all both rich and poore great and small that they might be disposed of according to his pleasure And as there he was vnder earthly Iudges and Rulers who did often decree hard things against him so here hee comes as Iudge and Ruler of all to decree vnalterably extreame things against all the stoutest of his enemies and comfortable things for all his louers and friends He shall come from Heauen that is as man for thus onely hee can remooue from place to place his God-head euer fils all places as man then hee shall come downe visibly and openly with great glory and troopes of Angels about him as Iudges are wont in pompe and with great attendance to ride their circuits and he shall come downe towards this nether part of the world where they haue liued whose causes shall be heard and proceeded in as Iudges are wont to go to sit in Iudgement in such places as wherin they dwel which are to be brought before them To iudge those that shal be then liuing for the World shall be full of people euen to the houre of his comming and then the dead being raised out of their Graues euen all from the first Adam shall be ioyned with the liuing who shall onely instead of dying be changed and thus all people together of all Countries and Nations shall bee presented before his Tribunall to receiue sentence according to the equity yea and iustice of his Gospell whether of Absolution to passe into the Kingdome of the Father or of condemnation into the Kingdome of Hell with the Diuell and his Angels for euer Proofe Secondly for the grounds of holy Scriptures whereupon all this is founded the comming of Christ to iudgement according to all these circumstances is plainely heere set downe in many Places First that he shall come againe the Angels sent of God for the same end told his Disciples thus much immediatly after his ascension saying Acts 1.12 This Iesus shall euen so come downe from heauen as ye haue seene him goe vp to heauen Heb. 9.28 And in another place it is said that Christ vnto them that looke for him shall appeare the second time without sin vnto saluation and of himselfe he saith I goe away but will come againe Secondly that he shall come to iudge Iohn 14. not in pouerty but in Maiestie not basely accompanied but gloriously with Angels not like a Lamb to be slaine againe but like a Lyon to teare in pieces his enemies all this doth he himselfe promise saying Then shall they see the Son of Man come in the clowds of Heauen with power and great glory Mat 24.30.31 and he shal send his Angels with the sound of a Trumpet c. And what is here wanting is further supplied in the next Chapter Chap. 25.31.32 When the Son of man commeth in his glory and all the holy Angels with him then shal he sit vpon the Throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered all nations c. Thirdly that the world shall bee then full of people liuing as at other times and that all shal not die before the Apostle sheweth both where purposely he entreateth at large of the resurrection saying We shall not all sleepe but we shall be changed in a moment 1 Cor. 15.51 in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet 1 The. 4 and where he comforts the Church of God in this that their dead friends and they aliue shall meete againe at the last day And the Lord himselfe plainely saith that as it was in the dayes of Noah and in the daies of Lot so shall it be at the comming of the Son of man then the world was full of people which were eating and drinking marrying and giuing in mariage c til the floud came Luc. 17.27 swept them all away till fire came from Heauen and consumed them all so shall it be at Christs cōming to iudgment Fourthly that quick dead shal all come to iudgement before him was long since confirmed vnto Iohn by vision He saw a Throne set and the Son of of Man sitting theron the books opened and al euen the dead as wel as the liuing brought before him to be iudged according to the things written in the bookes Reuel 20.12 then the earth gaue vp the dead buried there the sea gaue vp the dead that were therin Rom. 14.10 And S Paul hence giues warning that wee iudge not one another For wee must al appeare before the Iudgemēt seat of Christ Fiftly that the maner of his comming shall be most terrible to all his enemies but comfortable to his friends and faithfull people for the terrour it is set forth by comparisons taken from the flood Luk. 17.27 fearefully drowning the old world without mercy or compassion from the fire and brimstone descending vpon Sodome Prou. 1. from the sorrowes comming vpon a woman in trauell Math 24. from a seuere master returning from a farre countrey and adiudging his vnprofitable seruants to be cut off and to haue their portion in the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth and from a thiefe breaking into an house to rob and slay in the dead time of the night c. For euen such and more terrible by farre shall Christs comming to iudgement be 2. Pet 3.10 Againe this terrour is set forth by particular accidents that shall accompany this time viz flaming fire in which the Lord shall come to render vengeance to the wicked
out of it Secondly that howsoeuer they fall or whensoeuer yet they shall be raised againe by a supernaturall power the soules being reunited vnto them and that not onely the bodies of the iust and righteous but of the vniust and wicked the bodyes of all both high and low rich and poore great and small Thirdly all this shall be at the last day together in a moment at the sound of a Trumpet and not some at one time some at another Fourthly being thus raised they must come to iudgement all the secretest things that euer they did being laid open and the hidden things of all hearts being manifested Proofe Now for the further manifestation and prouing of these things and first that our bodies shall fall as it is intimated in the word resurrection for that cannot rise againe which did not first fall so it is proued by the experience of all times and ages of the world for euen they of the first times whose bodies were most durable yet their end was they dyed when they had liued nigh a thousaÌ„d years these strong oaks though they stood neuer so long they fell at the last but long since the state of mens bodies grew more weake which made â—ob compare mans life vnto a shadow Iob. 1â— Esa 40. a Weauers shuttle and a floure and Dauid to a light that is soone put out and to a spans length and Esay to grasse which is greene in the morning but is cut down before night and withered And dayly examples confirme the same thing euery small matter ouerthrowing the strongest man and making him to fall to the earth from whence he was taken Secondly that our bodies hauing lien rotting in the graue shall bee raised againe by a supernaturall power which is more specially heere intended S. Paul proueth at large in the fifteenth chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinths making this the ouerthrow of all religion to deny the rising of the dead and our Sauiour Christ before him opposed himselfe earnestly against the Saduces which denyed the resurrection saying Math. 22.31 Verse 32. Haue you not read of the resurrection what is spoken vnto you of God saying J am the God of Abraham Isaacke and Jaacob now God is not the God of the dead but of the liuing and long before this Esay hath said The dead shall come forth with my body shall they rise and Daniel Dan. 12.2 Iob. 19.25 Many of them that sleepe in the dust shall awake and Iob I know that my redâ—emer liueth and I shall stand at the last vpon the earth and though after my skin the wormes shall consume my body yet I my selfe shall see him c. and thus it is plaine that the resurrection shall be though wee say nothing of Ezechiels dryed bones reuiuing nor of Adam whose sleepe was a type of death and his waking of the resurrection Reuel 10.12.13 Math. 25.32 Now that it shall bee generall of all without exception is shewed in the booke of the Reuelation where all both great and small are seene comming forth the earth giuing vp the dead in it and the sea yeelding vp the dead therein and Christ saith that at his comming all nations shall be gathered before him Wherefore that of Daniel speaking of many is to be vnderstood as though he had said that they being a great many an infinite multitude shall awake Lastly that all shall be raised by a supernaturall power and not by any thing in the course of nature is shewed where the Lord saith The dead shall heare his voyce and shall come forth it is then by the vertue of his call that men euery where shall rise againe 1 Cor. 15. Math. 24. The trumpet shall sound and the dead shall rise incorruptible saith the Apostle He shall send forth his Angels to gather them he saith in another place the meaning is the same that as God at the first by his word made all so he will at the last reuiue all and vse his Angels as Ministers to gather them together from all parts of the world Obiect 1 1. King 17. If this shall seeme strange because it hath beene a rare matter that any haue beene raised at all after death I answer is it true that many being truely dead haue beene raised againe as it cannot be denied for such was the womans son the Shunamites raised by Elisha the widowes sonne of Sarepta raised by Eluah Lazarus and two more raised by Christ Dorcas by Peter and Eutychus by Paul then me thinkes it should not be supposed impossible that there should be a generall resurrection of all For if in the winter time some plant or hearbe shall put out and grow greene it is an argument that others may doe so too if a man expert in any curious trades as the Goldsmith in trying gold and siluer from drosse the Glasse-man in making Glasses c. Shall doe but one or seldome acts of their trade is it not an argument that they can do many more when they shall thinke good In like manner some hauing beene already by the diuine power raised from the dead springing vp againe after death is it not an argument that this hauing beene done in the winter of this worlds standing all shall in like sort rise againe at the spring time of the resurrection The Lord hauing in some performed this hard worke that hee can doe the same in all it being as it were his profession and his skill sufficient for it Obiect 2 All shal be raised howsoeuer they haue perished If it shall further seeme yet an hard matter that all should be raised because some are drowned in the sea and eaten vp by fishes and these fishes being taken by men c. Now if it shall sound as a thing imposssible that euen men comming thus to their ends should be raised for where shall the parts of their bodies be found seeing the same becommeth the substance of diuers bodies I answere with God all things are possible and to vse the comparison of a learned Father When Doues flye diuersly abroad and are mixed with others yea infinite numbers together being farr from home yet they returne vnto their seuerall Doue-coats Greg Nyssen lib 1. de opificio hominis cap 26.27 so the soules of diuers men departing out of their bodies and remaining long from home yet they haue some naturall or rather supernaturall motion by which they are addicted to returne to their owne bodies vnto which they haue beene vsed Quicksiluer being powred forth amongst the dust is mixed with nothing else but though diuersly parted yet it remaineth in litle globules so that it is easie for a man to gather it together againe and then ioyneth in one as before and much more easie shall it be for the great God of heauen to gather in one the parts of the same bodies howsoeuer dispersed and powred as it were into the dust of the earth When seedes
THE ENGLISH CATECHISME EXPLAINED OR A COMENTARIE ON THE SHORT CATECHISME set forth in the Booke of Common Prayer WHEREIN DIVERS NECESSARIE Questions touching the Christian Faith are inserted moderne Controuersies handled doubts resolued and many Cases of Conscience cleared Profitable for Ministers in their Churches for Schoole-Masters in their Schooles and for Housholders in their Families By IOHN MAYER Bachelour of Diuinitie The second Edition reviewed LONDON Printed by Augustine Mathewes for Iohn Marriot and are to be sold at his Shop in Saint Dunstans Church-yard in Fleetstreet 1622. TO MY REVEREND BRETHREN THE PASTOVRS OF Parochiall Congregations in the Church of England REuerend Brethren euer since my first entring into a Pastorall charge I haue applied mine endeauours by Catechising to instruct the ignorant And because I would not be irregular my Theame hath alwaies been the short Catechisme set forth in the Booke of Common Prayer a Catechisme indeede solely appointed to bee first taught but to the great detriment of our Church either wholly neglected any other being preferred or barely taught without any further explanation or else for outward formality onely in Lent set vpon the Table as a dish appropriated to that Fast My study hath been first to mend this fault for my owne particular and therefore I haue diuers yeares labored constantly throughout the yeare by this kind of teaching to forme in my hearers some distinct knowledge of our Christian Principles and hauing at length come to my intended period I digested the pith of all my Collections and Meditations into this Booke herein imitating Vrsinus vpon Melanctons short Catechisme so vsefull to young Students in Theologie and to other studious persons The labour thus ended being conscious to my self of mine own weaknes I suppressed it three or foure yeares till that being animated by some of you my Brethren who had either seene or heard hereof I haue aduentured to bring it into publike view The worke I confesse is ordinary and worthles but for forme it is alone and so may craue entertainement Heere are collected into one all fundamentall points of the true Christian Religion sparsedlie handled in diuers learned Bookes and applied to the short English Catechisme It is a Catechisme and a Comentarie the one for Children short and fitted to their capacity the other for men leading to a larger mappe of Christian Principles and fitted for the edification of all To haue written a large new Catechisme without an old text had bin superfluous amongst so many already abroad but to write for the illustrating of the Text to which we English must all hold vs is very necessary In publishing this I take not vpon me to prescribe a forme vnto any my selfe being the least amongst thousands but I whet on all what I can to an vniforme proceeding by our common grounds We haue all one God one Christ one Baptisme one Gospell and one forme of Articles of Religion to which wee subscribe why then should we not all consent in one Catechisme Our Mother the Church of England hath first commaunded this one Catechisme vpon which is my Commentary If therefore my inward wishes may breake foorth into open request I would craue that it might please the right Reuerend Fathers of our Church more strictly to presse the teaching of our common Catechisme in their seuerall Iurisdictions and you my Brethren who doe already teach it in your seuerall Parishes to labour in it with all diligence and to bring it in and commend it to the priuate exercise of your people in their families amongst whom it hath hitherto been much neglected And I beseech you all fauourably to accept this my present act and where I haue faulted correct me where I haue failed supply me where I haue done rightly ioyne with me If this may be any thing though but goats hayre towards the Lords Sanctuary I shall be glad and giue God the glory Our great Shepheard the Lord Iesus who hath laid downe his life for his sheepe make this and all the endeauours of his Seruants fruitfull pastures for the comfort of his flocke and for the praise of his holy and glorious name Amen Your fellow-Seruant in the worke of the Ministery IOHN MAYER A TABLE OF THE QVESTIONS AND Answers added vnto those of the Catechisme handled in this Commentarie Question WHom doe the Articles of your faith concerne Answ The first part of them concernes God the second the Church of God 21 Quest In the first part concerning God what learne you to beleeue Answ First I learne to beleeue in God the Father secondly in God the Sonne thirdly in God the holy Ghost 21 Quest How knowest thou that there is a God Answ Many wayes but chiefly by mine owne conscience accusing me for secret sins which cannot be but vnto an infinite wisedome that knowes the most secret thoughts of the heart such as is neither man deuill nor Angel but God alone 22 Quest How many Gods be there Answ But one onely true God the rest are Idols set vp by man Quest VVhat is God Answ He is a spirituall Essence most simple infinitly present holy wise iust mercifull and mightie the creator preseruer and onely gouernour of the whole world 23 Quest Into how many Persons is the God-head distinguished Answ Into three the Father Sonne and holy Ghost 24 Quest If in the God-head there be three persons and euery one be God how say you then that there is but one God Answ Although there bee three persons yet is there but one onely God in substance one infinite power and one eternitie 25 Quest What learne you to beleeue concerning God the father and in which words Answ I learne to beleeue that God is my Father able to doe all things the creator of the whole world and the Lord and gouernor of the same in these words I beleeue in God the Father almighty maker of heauen and earth 26 Quest In which words learne you to beleeue in God the Sonne Answ In these And in Iesus Christ his only Sonne our Lord c. From thence he shall come to iudge both the quicke and the dead 32 Quest What learne you to beleeue heere concerning God the Sonne Answ Two things First his humiliation secondly his exaltation Quest What is the Son of God who is also called Iesus Christ Answ Hee is perfect God by nature and one substance with the Father and perfect man made so of his owne good wil that he might become our Redeemer and thus is he subiect to the Father 33 Quest How can this be that God should be made man Answ Not by turning the God-head into the nature of man but by taking mans nature vnto the God-head that so one person might be both God and man 33 Quest What need was there that the Sonne of God should thus abase himselfe to become man Answ Great need on our behalfe who could not be deliuered by Angels or by earthly treasures but onely by his precious blood
and so bee all such as wittingly labour about any ornament or implement to the setting forth of Idolatrie But God forbid that euerie Image and Image-maker should bee therfore accounted abominable for so the excellent Art of painting seruing in liuely colours so to expresse our friends absent as if they were euer present with vs and picturing many emblemes of vertue and vice for ornament and delight should cleane bee put downe and our very coyne were vnlawfull Therefore here are first to be excepted ciuill pictures for the delight and comfort of the beholder secondly all such as serue for some remembrance tending to our instruction for vertue or vice for wit policy discretion and diligence Thus the old Romans offended not in painting a drunken man goggle eyd foaming at the mouth thus Time is well pictured bald behind and hairy before Iustice with a paire of scales with the hands and eyes shut c. And lastly such Images as serue for good remembrances to stir vp deuotion or Christian affections Ioshua 4.22 without abuse Thus Ioshua set vp twelue stones on the further side of Iordan for a remembrance of the miraculous parting of the waters Ioshua 22. whilst the people went ouer and the people that dwelt on the other side of Iordan set vp an Altar like that at Ierusalem for a remembrance that they were all one Nation and serued one God and many like monuments were there of old tending to the same ends Of this commemoratiue nature was the vse of the transeunt signe of the Crosse in baptisme amongst the most ancient Fathers in the purer times Nor can I vpon due consideration see any iust reason why the same should not bee so reputed as it is now in vse retained in the Church of England being intended as a signe meerely monitory not operatiue that is as putting vs in mind of our duty and profession not as infusing any spirituall grace or protection or making vp any part of that Sacrament as imperfect without it I would to God that we all could grow to a like resolution about this ceremony 2 Kind of Idolatry to fall downe before and worship an Image The second kind of Idolatrie is the falling downe before an Image whether with an intention the better to bee put in mind of God or of any Saint or by bowing before the image to giue worship to the thing represented or ignorantly only according to the tradition of the Fathers For howsoeuer or vnder what pretence soeuer if the knee be religiously bowed before any Image Idolatry is committed and this Commandement broken And this is so plainely set downe in the holy Scriptures as that were there no Patrons of this vice it were superfluous to speake much But for their sakes first consider the beginning of this euill from whom sprang it from any of the Patriarkes Prophets or Apostles from any of the ancient Fathers of the Church since the time of the Gospell Euseb liâ— 7. cap. 18. No verily but if Gregorie Bishop of Neocaesarea or Eusebius may be heard they will tell you that the vse of Images came from the Heathen Heltogabalus Alexander Seuerus Hadrianus had first in their Chappels the Images of Abraham Moses and Christ If Theodoret and Augustine may be heard they will tell you that Simon Magus first offered his owne and the Image of Selene his Concubine to be worshipped by his followers If Ierom may be heard he will tell you that the Cretians whom Paul to Titus so much disgraceth brought Images first into the Church Wicked Marcellina began the worshipping of the Images of Christ Paul Homer Pythagoras Iren. lib. 2. cap. 6. The filthy Gnosticks worshipped the Image of Christ and are therefore condemned of Ireneus Irene a most wicked woman who murdered her owne sonne Constantine through a desire of raigning called the first Councell that gaue any allowance to Images and there her flatterers without all reason ordained that Images should bee both set vp and worshipped Their maine arguments are recorded in the booke of Charles the Great Iohn Caluin Iâ—stit lib. 1. cap 11. sect 14. Legat of the East said That God made man after his owne Image therefore it was fit that there should bee Images of God Another said That no man lighteth a candle and putteth it vnder a bushell therefore Images were to be set vp in Churches c. Tom 3 qu. 25. art 3. Bellar. de Eccles triump lib. 2 c. 2. lib. 9. cap. 6. Secondly consider what foule errorâ— the Patrons of Image-worshipping haue falne into Aquinas saith Because the Crosse representeth Christ who is God it is also to bee worshipped with diuine worship Bellarmine saith That Images are properly to be worshipped Azorius saith It is the constant opinion of our Diuines that the Image is to bee worshipped with the same worship wherewith the thing represented by it is worshipped Constantinus Bishop of Constance said in the forenamed Councell of Nice I doe worship the holy Images with the same worship with which I worship the consubstantiall Trinitie Iohn the Legate of the East The Image of the King is the King and so the Image of God is God and therfore if any man worshippeth it with the same worship he sinneth not Neither is there errour herein onely that they giue the worship of the most glorious God to wood and stone to the worke of mens hands but in that they Deifie make a God as it were of euery relique about Christs body the napkin linnen-clothes c. Yea of euery instrument vsed to torment and teare him vpon the Crosse as the speare and nailes witnesse their hymmes made vnto them To the Crosse they say O Crur Bell. l b. 2. de Imag cap 20. â—â—e spes vnica auge pijs iustitiam reisque dona ventam that is Hayle O Crosse our onely hope encrease righteousnes to the righteous and giue pardon to the guilty To the Speare they say Aue ferrum triumphale intraâ— pectus tu vital costâ—â— pandis ostia Foecundata in â—ruore foelâ—x hasta nos amore per te fixt saucia that is Haile triumphant iron thou entring the vitall breast Cron. Crossin did open the doore of the rib O thou that wert made fruitfull by his bloud Oh happy Speare wound vs with the loue of him which was wounded by thee To the cloth with which his head was bound they light two Candles and by the Acolith it is exhibited to euery one being vpon his knees to be adored and reuerently kissed c. This grosse and palpable erring from the truth following vpon the vse of Images a man would thinke should be sufficient alone to make Image-worshipping odious to all but onely to such as are giuen ouer to strong delusions to beleeue lyes for who would drinke of that cup the bottome whereof hee seeth to bee full of poyson or who would lie downe in that channell the stirring whereof causeth a