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
bee translated with the Preface of his Bul vpon feare of a curse commanding all to approue onely this of his I aske seeing these translations differing in so many hundred places some meerely coÌ„tradicting each others and seeing all of these are commaunded vpon no lesse theÌ„ the Thunderboult of Anathema Bellum papaâ—â— to which of these must Papists adhere for their resolution in doubts I am sure Doctor Morrice being asked that Question was not able to answer and being againe pressed to this was as silent as before shewing thereby the translations insufficiencie This Motiue you had from Gretzer who maketh himselfe sport with our later translations fitter for a stage then a matter of such consequence InterpretatioÌ„ And concerning interpretation of Scripture if you go no farther then the Rhemists Testament it were enough to pay him in his owne kinde These such other more absurd be the coÌ„moÌ„ wordes of the Rhemists translation Be not these dainty words to instruct the vnlearned Agnition for acknowledgmeÌ„t Azimaes for vnleavened bread Didrachmes for tribute mony the Dominicall day for sunday for Preaching Evangelize for a young scholler a Neophyte Paraclite for a Comforter victimes for sacrifice many many more And for the place you lay to the chardge of our translatioÌ„ First I may answer it as Bellarmine doth answer Chemnicius concerning a place in Ecclesiastes Non numerando verbo sed expendendo sensum eorum exprimendo which kinde of Translation S. Hierome approveth Secondly the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vsed in the original text Mat. 19 doth not only signifie caepio actiuely but also passiuely capax sum wherevpon Erasmus traÌ„slates it non omnes sunt capaces and the Syriae according to your owne Fabritius Boderianus rendreth it omnes non sufficienter capiunt not so much because they will not but because they haue not the gift and therefore cannot To a man that will admit reason the next words inforce it All receiue not this saying or word yet some do what are they that receiue it they to whom it is given Is it not manifest then that a peculiar gift inableth a man to such a course of life and not any thing of himselfe S. Augustine which both the Rhemists and your Gregory Martin vrge to maintaine this your frivolous exception is wrested contrary to his meaning his words are these All men take not this saying but they to whom it is given Quibus enim non est datum aut nolunt aut non implent quod volunt This nolunt you referre to the gift as though all might take it if they would and if they do not it is no aversment But S. Augustine vnderstands it of the effect of the gift as if hee shoulde haue said They that haue not such a gift let them vowe what they will they inioy not the fruit of it either they minde not to do what they are enabled for or if they purpose any such matter they faile because the groundworke which should come from aboue is wanting whervpoÌ„ S. Augustine in another place saith Aust in Psal 147. Paucorum est virginitas in carne omniuÌ„ debet esse in corde But your Rhemists vrge Origen It is given to all that aske it It is true but looke what Doctor Fulke answereth out of Origen Tract 7. in Matth. Vtile est autem scire quid quis debeat petere The places you wrest out of Luther be to be interpreted as by circuÌ„staÌ„ces of the places may be collected of the ordinary streÌ„gth of meÌ„ For he denieth not a peculiar gift CoÌ„science is to bee made of doing that which God enableth vs to do yet presumption is to be feared if we vndertake that which we cannot performe It is better to marry then to burne and S. Augustines conclusion is firme Lib. de sancta virginit cap. 18. Melior est in Scriptura Dei veritas quà m in cuiusquam mente virginitas And this is not against Christs gospel or S. Paul his advise for the same Act is in the choice and election a CouÌ„sell and in the performance and practise a precept neither do Protestants lesse care or endeavor to fulfill in generall the Precept then in particular each man enabled to exercise his gift in the CouÌ„sell or branch of the generall precept Knowing that punishmeÌ„t is certainly due to neglect of both And therefore this is my fift resolution and pillar in the building of my faith that Papists vnderstand not scripture fully nor interpret truely who haue so many wrested opinions and manifested Corruptions Mr LEECH The sixt Motiue The Protestantes are Iovinianists and therefore Heretiques and not Catholiques even for this cause S. Augustine as a Register of the Cotholique Church doth witnesse that Iovinian broached this hereticall fancy Heres 82. See the perorat of S. August his treatise vide Ambros 10. lib. epist epist 80 81. contrary to the receiued opinion of the whole Church There is no more merit in the virginity of Nonnes and other continent persons then in chast mariadge The very same opinion is defended Counsailes of perfection denied by Iovinian and imbraced by the Lutherans and Caluinists and they both conspire with Iovinian in this hereticall tenent that there is no greater perfection in a virginall theÌ„ in a coniugall estate And though it pleased Doctour Feild to say Pag. 143. We doe not approue any privat opinion of Iovinian contrary to the iudgement of Gods Church yet both he his Grace of Cant. who approued his booke speake herein against their owne conscience yea mine owne experience in this particular businesse informeth me otherwaies theÌ„ they pretend And I desire no better witnesse to convince them then S. Augustine who writeth of this matter in the name of the vniversall Church According to whose relation compared with the generall opinion of Lutherans Calvinists I doe confidently affirme that the Protestants are Heretiques in this behalfe and that for this cause besides many others which I spare to deale in at this present they are exiled out of the society of the auncient Catholike Church For S. Augustine protesteth in the peroration of his aforesaid treatise that whosoever doth maintaine any of these Heresies which he hath recorded before he is not a Catholique Christian and therefore an Hereticall companion Which censure doth necessarily fall vpon my Calvinian iudges and vpon all such as concurre with their irreligious opinion ANSVVER THe privat opinions of Iovinian disagreeing from the iudgement of the holy Catholique Church we approue not The opinioÌ„ for which you tearme vs Heretiques is noted by S. Austin to haue beene an equalling of married with single life S. Augustin numbreth this among their heresies not so much because he thought it to be a heresie for in many places that good Father doth equallise matrimony with virginity but he mentioneth it rather because S. Ierom had not long before written against that point
Biell in their distinction of faith they hold that it is either fides infusa inspirata an infused faith wrought in vs by the inlightning spirit of God and resting it selfe vpon the truth of God or else it is acquisita suasa a naturall faith grounding it selfe vpon humane authority and wrought by humane motions and persuasions The faith wee haue of the points in Scripture is of the former and better kind not relying on the testimony of the Church whose authority is but a created thing from the first verity as a Prin. fid doct lib. 8. Stapleton confesseth when as the first verity enforceth the minde without further autority to yeeld obedience As also Scripture is that b Rom. 1.16 power cōmanding that c Eph. 6.17 sword dividing that d Ier. 23.27 hammer driving in that e 2. Cor. 10. Pyoner powerfull to overthrow strong holds and to cast downe every high thing therefore onely the authority of the Scripture is to be relied vpon because our faith would reele and totter and fall if the authority of Scriptures stand not fast O then submit your selfe to the censure of Scripture whose maiestie is ineffable whose decree inevitable which rightly looked into with the eye of humility harkned vnto with the eare of attention and vnderstood with the hart of faith wil be the certaine rule authority testimony only to be relied on the piller of truth and Schoole of goodnesse Mr LEECH his Title A TRIVMPH OF TRVTH ANSVVERE A Triumph and why c Ludov. Vives in praefatio ad libros Aug. de civit Dei Honorius the Emperor had a fighting Cocke called Rome wherevpon Vives recordes that when the Goathes surprised Rome the Citty news was brought that Rome was lost the Emperour thought it was his Cocke not his Cittie Your Triumph and his Cocke may go togither d A booke in folio vpō the 4. Gospels Iohannes de la Hay the Jesuit hath lately robd you of the Title his great volume being intituled Triumphus Veritatis and surelie he had some semblance for it for his volume seemed to bee a vessell of good lading though it haue nothing in it but stubble and hay But you to giue your boate of so small burden the Title of a man of warre sure your title is too big your booke is too little It is A Triumph got by flying or a triumph got without fighting Let the Pharisee bee the Herauld of his owne praises Pigmalion enamored with his owne devises let Narcissus do ate on his shaddow let Thersites vaunt without modesty but how much better were it for you that you had styled your booke with some humble and religious title savouring of grace not of vaine-glory But alas Religion without Truth wil be ever vnsavory and reading without iudgement ever peremptory Mr LEECH CHAP. 1. INtreating of this parcell of holy scripture I sawe the dead In a sermon at Christ-Church in Oxford 1607 Apoc. 20.12 both great and small stande before God I distinguished a fowrefolde acception or signification of great and small FIRST great and small for worldly authoritie and temporall condition SECONDLY great and small in respect of heavenly supereminency of grace and spirituall infusion THIRDLY great and small in lieu of diversity of rewards and retribution FOVRTHLY great and small in regard of contrariety and disparitie of workes and operation ANSVVER A time there shall bee when the bookes of everie mans conscience shall be laide forth a day of feare and furie when an vniversall flowde of fire shall overstreame the whole world when the heavens shall threaten the earth cast vp al creatures cry vengeance devils accuse conscience giue evidence and the whole Iurie of Saints passe verdict vpon sinners and then the secrets of all harts shall be disclosed In holy Scripture this iudgement is often mentioned but of all others Hier. that glorious Eagle S. Iohn mounting the high spheare of divinest contemplation doth most expresly by his vision and revelation manifest the declaration thereof and of all other places most pregnantly in this your text Apoc. 20.12 And I saw the dead both great and small stand before God and the bookes were opened Was there no other place to confirme an vntruth but that which shall confound all vntruth no other Scripture to iustifie you but that which shall iudge you Would you sow tares vpon that ground vpon which wheate and tares shal be distinguished Remember whence you are fallen and repent and doe the first workes or else I will come against thee saith Christ Rev. 2.5 O the eternity of that cursed time Rev. 2.5 to be spēt in wretchednesse and confusion no myriads of yeeres to free from the execution of that perpetuall iudgement An end not ending a death not dying should terrifie and amase you and make you returne seeing the dead both great and smal shall stand before God But to your distinction There is a great mistake in your fourfold acception of great and small For antiquity which you so much boast of doe all expound it otherwise a Rupert in Apoc. Rupertus by mortuos magnos and pusillos vnderstanding homines impios spiritus malignos b Anselm in Apoc. 12. c Lyra in Apoc. 12. Anselmus Lyra d Hugo in Apoc. 12. Hugo the e Gloss in Apoc. 12. ordinary glosse and many others vnderstanding by the dead great and small malos only wicked men And f Carthus in eund Carthusian intimateth so much of St Austins opinion that he vnderstandeth not by mortuos magnos and pusillos the Saints but by libros apertos Carthusians words be plaine Augustinus per libros apertos intelligit Sanctos in quibus mali poterunt legere seu videre bona quae facere debuerunt neglexerunt Austin vnderstandeth by the books that were opened the Saints in whome the wicked might see and reade the good which they ought to haue done and haue neglected How then holdes your fourfold acception if by the dead you meane the living and by the wicked you meane the Saints g Caelius Rhodog lib. 20. Rhodogine recordeth that Polemo being the spectator of a Tragoedy at Smyrna a ridiculous actor comes out vpon the stage and being to pronounce O coelum ô terra bends his hands and eies to the earth and crieth ô coelum and then lifts his eies and hands to the heaven and pronounceth ô terra Polemo condemneth his action for a soloecisme It is no lesse in you to call evill good and good evill and in the Prophet it is forewarned with a woe Whose fourfold acception this should be I knowe not If your owne I am sorry for the mistake and I confesse it is the first notice that I ever tooke of your breathing in any Schoole learning and in that I shall doe you no more iniury then h Gretzer App. 1. ad lib. 1. Bellarm. § Idem dictū pag. 558. Caietanus homo
whatsoever he was in other points sure hee was no father or author of your position your citations out of him haue no one word of Evangelicall Counsails of perfection Mr LEECH The report and rumor whereof by relation of some friends no sooner came vnto my eares but presently knowing well the assured grounds of my doctrine I addressed my selfe to haue satisfied and contented any ingenious and vnpassionate auditour by a second repetition with a briefe punctuall and perspicuous explanation and confirmation of my aforesaid doctrine For I was altogether vnwilling to suffer the least imputation or scandall to be fastned vpon it or vpon the Author were it but in corners secretly and farther though I intēded not to run into a publike opposition yet now occasion might bee ministred vnto me others to vindicate a necessary truth from the detraction of calumnious tongues ANSVVER To satisfie anie auditor is not only ingenuous but a religious act But did you giue content to any mā that conferred with you in it Did you not rather in your preparation for the second sermon take occasion to cast the stumbling blocke of offence in your third verifying that speech 〈◊〉 Finis vnius mali gradus est futuri I will not aske you whether the second sermon were your owne or whether you purged the bowels of a Fryers Postill culd all those your pearles as you thought them out of the Dunghill of some moath-eaten Monke tyed vp in chaines till you came to free him and to binde your selfe The generall iudgemente vpon your booke when it came first foorth was this that it was composed of two styles diverse in forme vneequall in fabrique the one somewhat dull and leaden very resty the other more nimble and quicke-silvered but somewhat scurvy whervpon a familiar acquaintance of yours censured it thus that the grounde of your paper was plowed by an oxe and an asse a coniunctiō forbidden in the law I do not desire to make my paper guilty of idle wordes but yet this I must professe that your second repetition which you mētion doth savour of much vnsavory stuffe and hath in it d sapientiam attramentalem non mentalem Senec. You say you did not purpose to run into a publicke opposition when you did reiterate that in your second which you had in your former sermon But I desire you to summon the sobriety of your senses before your owne iudgement and confesse plainely how it could otherwise be But that the proclamation of cōtradiction in you would proue a publicke oppositiō mainetained by you weigh this in the ballance of discretion and you will finde it lightnes and innovation you seeme to ioine your forces in mainetenance of your position when you say occasion was given to you and others to vindicat this necessary truth What others assisted you Among vs all desire to purge the Temple from superstition to sweepe away those cobwebs which the Spiders of Rome haue hanged vp There is no one that dare polute our Holie places publiklie with anie such infectious doctrine so farre are your fellow Counsailors from making a plural number that a duall number never shewed themselues amongst vs yet in this controversie Mr LEECH CHAPT 3. BEing thus occasioned by the secret clancular murmuration of Brethren the fame whereof began now to disperse it selfe abroad to addresse some defence of my former doctrine I tooke the next opportunity to supply the publike place willing rather to giue a litle farther touch to convince the said Brethrē then to dwell as yet vpon any maine and full discourse which was not my purpose the point being yet not publiquely contradicted I repeated and dilated vpon the point more at large as it was originaly deduced out of the last brāch of S. Gregorie his distinction to wit quidā non judicantur regnāt to this purport and effect ANSVVER OCcasion and scandall be either given or taken they were both given by you rather then offered you You desired to giue a touch to convince the said Brethren all of vs were brethren in this all agreed in dislike of your manner of preaching which was so dull and Delphically mysticall that fewe heard you and none approved you But I woulde willingly desire you to reconcile these two places in this paragraph First that the fame of the brethrens murmuratiō began to spread it selfe abroad and yet within fiue lines you confesse the point was not publikely contradicted If murmuration be contradictiō then non sense may serue as a marginall note But because you breath at the brethren againe in this chapter though I defende none that Schismatically contradict the state or breake the blessed peace of our flowrishing Church neither doe know any such here God that knoweth the secrets of all hearts bearing me recorde seeing you so malitiouslie traduce this Honorable Vniversity as if it were an Anabaptisticall Seminary I doe challendge you or anie of your part to answer these two points First that there be * Vide Iohan Pappium Peace of Rome and many other bookes more materiall differences in points of religion and more grosse pointes of Chatharisme amōg Papists then among al the Schismatiques or Separists Secondly that the Church of Englande never had any so Puritannical as to iudge themselues celestiall men terrestriall Angels excelling surmounting transcending in perfection fulling the law nay more then the law Mr LEECH Of this point said I I may speake as S. Iohn speaketh to the seauen churches of Asia cōcluding euer the burthē of his admonitiō which a pathetical Epiphonema in the reprehension Let him that hath an eare to heare heare what the spirit saith to the churches And may not I apply let him that hath not only an eare to heare but a soule to saue by the eares hearing heare what the coelestial Oracle heauēly spirit Catholike Church iointly speak deliuer concerning Evangelicall Counsells ANSVVER Remember not only what S. Iohn endeth his epistle with but also what he sealeth vp his whole revelatiō with I a Apoc. 22.19 protest vnto euerie man that heareth the Words of the prophecie of this book If any māshal adde vnto these things God shall adde vnto him the plagues that are written in this booke For that sweet aphorisme and acclamation of everie of S. Iohns Epistles cited by you I acknowledge the power and divine spirit speaking in it For what is recorded of Hercules Gallicus that his speeches tyed the eares of his hearers to his tongue is more true by many degrees concerning God and therefore it is not onlie Davids incitation * Ps 34.9 O come and see and taste how good the Lord is but b Ps 34.12 Apoc. 1. O come hither chidren and harken I will teach you the feare of the Lord. And S. Iohns proclamation in the first of the Apocalyps Blessed are they that read and they that heare and they that keepe the words of this booke therfore let
vnto thee Arise and if you heare not this I ingeminate his speech yet to a third yong man i Act. 9.4 Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Mr LEECH O what an exchange had this yong man made what an offer did Christ make him what counsell did the wisdome of the father giue him how much doth it now repent him In a word ô how happy had he beene both in body and in soule since he had beene secure of the salvation both of body and of soule and not only secure of that but thesaurū habuisset in coelo his penny had beene of pure gold he had had measure for measure yea aboue measure heauens remuneration heaped vpon him in lieu of Christian perfection if he had parted with himselfe and abandoned the worlds trash to haue partaked with Christ and heauens treasure ANSVVER It had beene a royall exchange if he hereby for riches that are transitory had obtained heauens blisse his soules security I am glad that all your lamp is not leavened that yet you beleeue a man may bee secure and certaine of his salvation which is a point vncertainely delivered among you What meane you by his now repenting Thinke you that he is in hell I doubt not but you may easily know seeing in Rome you haue news every day from hell and purgatory Certainty of salvation howsoever it be opposed by the Iesuits in generall yet k Medina 1. 2 q. 112. art 5. p. 630. Medina averreth that he would haue every beleeuer certainely to hope he shall obtaine eternall life Vega saith l Greg. de Valentia tom 2. pag. 957. Gregory de Valentia holdeth that some spirituall men may be so certaine that they bee in grace that this their assurance shall be without al feare and staggering And m Cathar assert apolog Catharinus holds the same certainty of faith which we teach I might vrge much out of n 3. d. 23. p. 46. Scotus o Par. 3. q. 61. mem 7. art 3. Alexander of Hales p Lib. 3. distin 20. q. 1. art 2. Bacon others whō you claime yours And q Stap. de Iustif pag. 341. Stapleton commeth so nere to the point as that hee professeth thus wee leaue not a sinner hanging in the midst of wavering doubtfulnesse but wee place him in good and firme hope Your penny of pure gold I will not stand to waigh if I should bring it to the ballance of the sanctuary I should find it scarce sense and much lesse Scripture Mr LEECH And yet this being a counsell not a precept it is not enioined as a precept to all but giuen by way of counsaile vnto perfecter men as the Fathers teach And the reason is excellently rendred by S. Gregory the great to be this It is not enioined as a precept to all for then were it sin either to marry or to possesse any of the worldes goods but yet it is counselled vnto men of more holy rancke For these haue an arbitrary and voluntary choice in their things ANSVVER That your owne advocate should giue evidence against you is great disadvantage S. Gregory himselfe calleth it praeceptum a precept not a counsaile I desire all indifferent readers to looke on the 25 Chapter of his 26. booke of Moralls Greg. Mor. lib. 26. where as I saide before you borrowed this distinction there is only the word precept neither counsel nor counselled is there mentioned And in your place vrged but not quoted not found in S. Gregory suppose it were so it may haue a good meaning for that which you call a counsell is nothing but a particular praecept which though it bind not all yet it must bee observed of those who are furnished with gifts and find themselues fitted thereto by Gods spirit Mr LEECH Such were the Apostles and those Apostolicall mē that hauing possessions sold them brought in the mony laid it downe at the Apostles feete ANSVVERE What Apostles did so Indeed Peter and Andrew forsooke their nets Mat. 4.20 a Mat. 9.9 Matthew forsooke his custome Reliquerunt non vēdiderunt saith one b Luk. 19.8 Zaccheus did restore al Luk. 19.8 c Mat. 19.27 The Disciples did forsake all Mat. 19.27 S. d Phil. 3.8 Paule did vilie value all Phil. 3.8 Only the Merchant did sell all Mat. 13.46 But that is but a parable Laert. Plut. Heathens did somewhat in this kinde e Mat. 13.46 Diogenes neglected all Socrates contemned all Crates cast awaie all and yet these were as farre short of the disciples as the Disciples of Angelicall perfection But to the purpose that the Apostles sold all it is not so they sold nothing for they had nothing to sel That the Apostolical mē sold their possessiōs Act. 4.35 Act. 4.35 it is true but it was not by Evangelicall counsaile nor for Angelicall perfection but to supplie the present want of the Church Mr LEECH Such was holy Antony that ancient Monke of Egypt S. Paul the Hermite S. Benedict S. Hierom S. Basil S. Gregory Nazianzen S. Gregory the great S. Bernard and many other Doctors and Fathers the most renowned lights of learning and greatest pillars of the Church ANSVVER For your Catalogue of Saints f Trithem Anthony was no such Monke nor Benedict the former lived in the year 330 the later in the yeare 500. I marvaile not that you make these to be Monkish Counsellors seeing before you haue so reckoned the Apostles themselues You ioine the Saints very vnequally and claime kindred of some that never knew your religion I examine not the sanctitie of some of them but denie all their bils of Sale or if they sold al I hope you wil be accōptable what they did with the mony I acknowledge the reverence of those blessed Fathers S. Hierom S Basil S. Gregorie Nazianzen c. I marvailed why you brought not in S. Francis till I remembred that g Canus loc Theol. l. 11. c. 7. Canus calleth him a lowsie Saint and yet hee instructed a Cade lambe so wel that it would kneele at Masse and the Saint was wont to preach to geese which heard him with devotion Or why remembred you not S. h Baron ano 1208. n. 5. Fulbert a man of Evangelicall perfection who being sicke the virgin Marie came gaue him sucke from heaven Or among many others i Ant. part 3. art 23. c. 1. §. 1 S. Dominicke whō Antoninus maketh the first inventor of Evangelicall Coūsailes Of whom he affirmeth that before he was borne there were two images founde in a church at Venice the one of S. Paul the other of Dominicke on S. Pauls image was written By this man you may come to Christ on Dominickes image But by this easier Antoninus giveth the reason because Paules doctrine led but to faith and keeping of the commādements but Dominicke should teach the observing of Evangelical Counsailes which is the easier way Risum
outlawry the law doth accuse you for sin and you accuse it for imperfection Vnlesse you send for an advocate to Hell there is none to speak for you Briefly to your quotation I say the law wanted not perfecting but man wanted meanes of fulfilling it Christ in that sense added perfectiō to the law in fulfilling it because as Cardinall l Cusanus excit l. 10. Cusanus confesseth never did any fulfill the commandements but Christ But in this there was no addition and therefore no former imperfection in the law Mr LEECH And as he taught this vnto vs by practise in his owne most sacred person and in the persons of his Apostles so he left vs the first pure primitiue Church and raised vp many in the other succeeding ages and Centuries of the Catholike Church to be examples and patterns of these Evangelicall Counsells ANSVVER It is a toile that my pen must follow yours in these so idle repetitions and needlesse Tautologies I ingeminate my former answer Christ did not professe the teaching of Evangelicall Counsells he came not from heauen with another edition of the law then what Moyses had brought The Primitiue Church knewe not the name of Evangelicall Counsells that as m Assert Luther conf art 18. pag. 86. Fisher B. of Rochester said of Purgatory that there was litle mentiō or none at all among the Ancients thereof so I say of Counsells this opinion was a Posthume to the Primitiue Church Anselmus that liued many hundred yeeres after denyeth that any man may performe more then he oweth as you would teach by Counsells His words be n Anselm de concep virg c. 21. Nullus potest reddere quantum debet solus Christus reddidit pro omnibus qui salvantur plus quà m debetur But as o Dion Xiphilin in epitome Domit. Decebalus king of Dacia put to flight the Romans by arming trunks of trees insteed of souldiers so the new Romans suppose to gull vs by obtruding shadowes insteed of substance inserting into their Pamphlets the name of the Primitiue Church Ancient Catholike Church Fathers of the Church in those matters controversed betweene vs whereas the Church and Fathers in this case may answere Papists as answer was made to p 1. Sam. 28.26 Saul in the 1. Sam. 28.16 Wherefore dost thou aske of mee seeing the Lord is gon from thee and is thine enemie Mr LEECH This was the summe of my repetition with a more ample explanation of my former doctrine iustified now in publike against the Brethren who had traduced it in their whispering conventicles according to the liberty of their private spirits ANSVVER You haue landed this discourse thinking hereby to gaine the name of an authorizer if not an author But bragge not that you haue publikely iustified that against the Brethren which you will be constrained to deny before the Saints The writtē Coppy which you delivered is much different frō this second repetition you and it farre from truth Because with Peter you hope to warme your hands at the high Priests fire therefore you deny the truth of your Master Follow Peter rather in repenting then in forswearing CHAP. 4. Mr LEECH THis sermon being ended and supper time immediatly approaching M. Doctor Hutton one of the Channons of Christ Church now deputed Provicechancellour in the absence of Mr. Doctour King sent for me by one of my fellow Chaplaines into the commō kitchin A place fitt to treat vppon Iovinianisme but vnfit for the sacred mysteries of Religion to conferre with me vpon the point delivered in my sermon ANSVVER The summe of this ensuing chapter was begot in the Kitchin it is so full of smoake heat Your marginall note doth much traduce Doctor Hutton Prebendary Subdeane of Christ-Church an auncient learned preacher Professor Doctor of Diuinity the least of these titles might haue restrained you in your duty towards him But a more neere respect of obseruance bound you to reuerence him not only for private but for publicke authority not only for feare but for cōscience sake saith the Apostle He was the Magistrate Provicechancellor Deputy Governor of your betters at that time not in that house alone but in the whole Vniuersity He might haue sent for you by an officer not your fellow Chaplaine vnto a publique place not so familiar to cōvent censure imprison punish you not to conferre with you It is not the place that doth honest the man but the man the place Lucifer rebelled in heaven Adam sinned in Paradise whē as Lot served God in Sodom Ioseph in Egypt Better to speake truth in the Kitchin then falsehoode in the Pulpit The place of all other is least circumstantiall Mr LEECH Hither I no sooner came but hee interessing himselfe in the quarrell of IOVINIAN began very fiercely to assault and chardge me for preaching scandalous erroneous doctrine excepting farther against the tearmes of Angelicall Chastity and Evangelicall Counsailes of perfection expresly mentioned by me in the aforesaid sermon ANSVVER For any Iovinian heresie that you taxe him with or the opposers of your opinion you knowe in your conscience that no Protestant ever defended anie of them S. r Aug. de haeresibus ad quod vult De um haeres 82. Augustine in his tract De haeresibus ad Quodvult Deum the 82. heresie reciteth the divers positiōs of Iovinian and I doe freely and fully protest that I knowe no point wherewith our Church in that kinde may be accused In what point of Iovinianisme was he guilty name it I am sure if you could you would Your doctrine offered much offence therfore was scandalous and was opposite to our Churches doctrine and therefore to be called erroneous Mr LEECH The onset being thus given by his worship my warde was Sir vnder your correction the doctrine lately by me preached howsoever you disconceipt it is not nay cannot possibly be either scandalous or erroneous for it is the doctrine of that great Pillar of the Latine Church S. Gregory accorded vnto and confirmed by vniforme consent of fathers both of the Greeke Latine Church ANSVVER As Salomon spake of ſ Eccl. 12.12 making many books so may I of vsing many words There is no end the one wearying of the flesh the other angariation to the spirit It is not as you take it the doctrine of that great Pillar of the Church S. Gregory it is a Doctrine which is the Pillar of Monkes I assure my selfe the Monkes would not maintaine it vnlesse it did maintaine Monkes The Fathers of the Greeke and Latine Church are answered so sufficiently as that I hope you will change and challendge your Grand-Iurie for beeing too partiall for our part Mr LEECH As for the termes of a Virginity equalleth it selfe to Angells yea if wee examine well the matter we shall finde it to exceed Angells for that contrary to nature it getteth a victory in flesh aboue flesh which Angells doe not Cypr. de
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
more then thou commādest Witnesse learned iudicious Hooker in the second booke of his Church Politie in the thirde page before the ende of the same booke witnesse also the Apologie in defence of him written by Doctor Covell in the 14. Chapt. of Satisfaction ANSVVERE Tertullian observeth that Orthodoxall teachers vse first to teach Lib. contra Valent. c. 1. and then to perswade but heretikes vse first to perswade and then to teach I can finde abundance of wants both in your manner method matter of this sermon This sermon doth nether teach nor perswade teaching by false proofe perswading by fained power to strengthen that which no mā besiegeth or gain saieth that there be degrees of perfection In this part your proofes so sinisterly collected from the practise of the Apostles Authority of S. Austin frō the opiniō of Mr Hooker Doctor Covell need rather an interpretiue answer then a defensiue encounter 1. For the Apostles that they did forsake all the necessity of the times and their vocation required it Legend yet Christ biddeth them keepe their Scrippe Coate Frier Iuniper thought that was too much ran about without his breeches and Fryar Ruffin as Sedulius witnesseth Apol. l. 2. c. 5. n. 7. did preach naked Secondly for the Virgins in S. Austin whose speech is amando te plus facimus quà m iubes Serm. 18. de verbis Apost by loving thee we doe more then thou commandest that is more thē thou commandest Perkin prob Tit. super hoc mandato de non moechando as learned Perkins answereth or it is to be vnderstood in genere to others that God did not command all so to loue him as they did that is in that kinde he commandeth al to avoide adultery but he commaundeth not all to professe Virginity and yet those that he hath seperated for that kinde of life are bound because commanded so to liue and cannot say plus facimus quà m iubes For your third allegation out of that Reverend Authour Mr Hooker In the place cited he maketh not any mētion of the word Counsaile One of his propositions among others is this that God approveth much more thē he doth commande which may be spokē in a good sense for as much as God doth approue many things hee doth not particularly commande in holy Scriptures I will seek no other example then that which Mr Hooker alleadgeth there his words be these Hook 2 book of Eccles Polity § 8. p. 120 lin 39. Hereat S. Paul vndoubtedly did aime in so farre abridging his owne liberty and exceeding that which the bond of necessary and enioined duty tied him vnto What that was his marginal quotation sheweth 1. Thes 2.9 the words be these 1. Thess 2.9 Yee remember brethren our labour travaile for we laboured day and night because wee would not be chargeable to any of you and preached vnto you the Gospell of Christ To preach the Gospel so freely as that he that serveth at the altar doth not seeke maintenance from the altar is more then is enioined generally to the Ministers of the Gospell and yet is approved in the sight of God and no doubt rewarded Yet vpon some circumstances where the people are vnwilling to heare because vnwilling to pay for their hearing a Minister ratione officij rather then beneficij is bound to preach because his rule is this vbicunque quandocunque quomodocunque wheresoever whensoever howsoever he is commaunded to preach the word in season out of season For your authority out of learned Doctor Covell I answere aetatē habet doctrinam habet he may saue you the helpe of a Frier to lash you for stealing out of that one Article aboue forty lines of his words without his meaning According to my vnderstanding all that he endevoureth to shew is that there be divers degrees of perfection in this life and of glory in the life to come that to attaine this perfection some courses bee more exquisite thē others that such courses are not of necessity prescribed to ALL therefore in that regarde they may be said to be more then is commanded in generall or in particular to any absolutely but only conditionally with supposall of gift or vocation These hee calleth Coūsels And we refuse not the name if the thing were taken aright but that by such we may merite for our selues and others and come with an over-plus to bee treasured vp to make marchandise for indulgences let him speake himselfe what hee thinketh in this Article whence you borrowed much but vnderstood little The 8. Article 8. of defence of M. Hooker Title Super. Article of his defence of Mr Hooker in the Title workes of supererogation whereas you quote him for the 14. Chapter the Title Satisfaction But to the purpose in the place aboue cited the vpshot of his tract is this we cannot supermerit by these more then we ought Therefore his speech fasteneth no post in your weake building And in a word to adde this Corolarie to Mr. Hooker Doctor Covell which will I hope giue some light to any that shall sinisterly interpret them Lib. 3. de anima It is a position in Aristotle lib. 3. de Anima that intellectus Coniunctus semper progreditur ab imperfecto ad perfectum which Thomas the schooles haue made vse of in the Metaphysickes to proue that conceptus particularis a particuler conceipt is ever more perfit then an vniversall so species then genus individuum then species is held more perfit because in descending downewarde there is ever something added to the perfection of the vniversall which the particular includeth This may be well applied to the present and to the conceit of these learned men to which you never attained Though the vniversall precept bindeth al and in that may be said to want no perfection yet the particular adding some thing from extraordinary meanes to a branch of the generall precept is some way said to bee a more exquisite way notwithstanding these lists are ever to be kept that as the Poet spake Est modus in rebus sunt certi denique fines Quos vltra citraque nequit consistere rectum So say I and so held these in divinity in all the actions of our life there be land markes of our procession which striue we never so earnestly we cannot goe beyonde and therefore not beyond the precept Mr LEECH The perfection of man here in this life is the soules vnion with God not essentiall for this is peculiar only to the Trinity Not personall this proper to Christ his humanity Not sacramentall this extendeth to the whole Church in generall But it is vnio animae spiritualis the soules spirituall vnion with God when the soule is whollie sequestred from the world and is sincerely ravished with the loue of God of Christ and of her neighbour guided ledde therevnto by precepts and Counsailes ANSVVER It is true
doctrin of the Apostles though the Apostles doctrine was Scripture so we admit of no fundamentall interpretation to builde vpon but that which is approved by the sacred scriptures The place that you vrge out of Matthew Math. 18.17 Hee that will not heare the Church let him be tanquam Ethnicus you may vpō your better review finde it is spoken concerning those that refuse to heare the admonition or iudiciall censure of the Church not the glosse or interpretatiō of the Church Wee confesse the letter of Scripture was not nor the sense is of any privat inspiration and therefore trial which is made by the Scriptures is no privat iudgement but the publike cēsure of Gods spirit that speaketh openly in the Scriptures to all men And Basils rule shall bee ever the true practise of the true Church Basil de examin doctr part 1. Cons 5. that they that bee conversant in the Scriptures should examine all that is said whether it agreeth with Scriptures From a private interpretation not agreeing with the Canon of Scripture we fly because as you vrge out of Bernard Nonnulli adesse putant spiritum Acts and monuments by Mr Fox many thinke that they haue the spirit of God with them as they that in that Councell sang veni spiritus and an Owle was sent them they killed that spirit And many thinke they haue the spirit Nicol. Clau. disput de cōcil and yet shut out the spirit as the Councell of Pisa did You saie the sentence of Bernard striketh our religion as dead as a dore naile it is a clownish marginall you might haue learned amongst Scholers that a dore naile could not be said to be dead because it had never life Privat opinions with vs sway not each wel disposed mā submitteth himselfe to the censure of the Church wherein we liue our Church to the Scriptures and this wee make to be the last resolution Mr LEECH It is lawfull to followe the spirit in interpreting the Scripture but it must be the spirit of the Church that spirit of peace vnity charity that descended vpon the Apostles vnited for domus vna c. they abode all in one house a signe of externall charitie Mens anima vna one minde one soule for they had but one God one faith one Church Ancient Church Calvins and Luthers congregations a signe of internall spirituall vnity The same spirit ever since continued in the Church vnited in faith not divided in faction And wee may seeke for the sense of the scripture but where It must not be out of the stincking puddle of a private braine The aforesaid gentlemen c. but forth of the treasuring memory of the Church Christi Evangelio vim nō inferat humana praesumptio patrum semel definita non sunt iterum in dubium vocanda This is contrary to cursed Luther it is blessed Leo in his 94. Epistle let not humane presumption dare to offer violence vnto the Gospell of Christ for the constitutiōs of fathers once decreed are not further to bee questioned Nec definitiones eorum perpetuae commutandae quorum regulam secundum scripturam esse didicimus So speaketh Flavianus bishop of Constantinople in his Epistle to Pope Leo the first Neither are the perpetuall determinations of them to be changed whose rule we haue learned to agree with scripture ANSVVERE Vnity was the bond of Patriarkes Chariot of the Prophets refuge of the Apostles solace of the Saints and Character of Christians But is this belonging to them who abhorre vnity whose religion is rebelliō whose faith is faction as our Church litargie speaketh in the prayer against the conspiracies of Papists What part in vnity haue they that haue divided Christs Coate nay Christs body Christs Church Quis tulerit Gracchos de seditione loquentes Doe all the opinions in the world squadron themselues into so many divided factions as Papists Do not they like the Midianits sheath every man his sword in his neighbours side Cumel is against Suarez Bellarmine is invaded by Carerius for giuing to little to the Pope Marsilius and Father Paulus encounter him for giving to much Cardinall Columna striueth with Baronius Barelay with Boucher Antonius Augustine tilts against Gratian. That as Ieronymus de Cavallos hath set forth in the law his speculum aureum opinionum Communium contra communes so also in the diversitie of contradictions riotting one against another the sweet and mellifluous Author of the Peace of Rome whom I may tearme a library for a whole nation as Mirandula entitled another great scholler hath most amply delivered and sealed it with their own proofs Doct. Hall so also hath Crastovius in his booke Bellum Iesuiticū 205 contradictions of the Iesuits Pappus hath collected 237 differences in doctrine out of Bellarmine Laborious and reverend D. Willet proveth that there be 70 maine contradictions betweene the olde Papists and the new 37 among the Iesuits 57 points wherein Bellarmin is at strang variance with himself 39 essentiall contradictions of Popish religion 100 opposite Constitutions of the Popish Canons And many more might in this kinde bee registred wherein are divers assertions which are onely taile-tied as Sampsons Foxes with a firebrand betweene them but are head-severed wrenching one from another So that you are the divided factiō not we our difference only de fimbria non de toga yours de toga de corpore de Christo many ridiculous many blasphemous all erroneous We doe not seeke the sense of Scripture out of the stinking puddle of a privat brain as out of the Crows nest of your invention that impostumated phrase doth traduce vs nor doe wee by humane presumption offer violence to the Gospell of Christ as many thousand places in Popery bee abused as your blasphemous Pope who vpon that place Act. 2. Papa Clem. In Canonis cap. disertiss 12. quaest 1. Bellar. lib. 2. de sacram c. 1 Bell. Tom. 1. lib. 3. cap. 3. Bell. de Mon. Erant Apostolis omnia cōmunia addeth immo coniuges or your detorting Cardinal Tortus the Torturer of Scripture vpon that spiritus Domini ferebatur super aquas ergo Baptismus confert gratiam ex opere operato or againe vpon that Scripture Bibite ex hoc omnes id est saith hee omnes Apostoli or vpon that place vocauit nomen eius Enos coepit vocare nomen Domini ergo Enos fuit Monachus and infinite many more violences by him offred Your cursed epithet against Luther is full of hellish fury I doe assure my selfe that God blesseth where the Pope curseth and as sure I am blessed are they that die in the Lord and so is he for he resteth from his labours And was Luther cursed for denying some interpretations of the Fathers Did not Caietan as much In praef com in lib. Mosis in affirming that God had not tied the expositions of the Scriptures to the sēse of the Fathers And did not
desire to be taught the rule of faith out of an humble and a religious meaning here you may learne it it was a question worth his asking a point worthy your learning Mr LEECH Why said he what other ground of faith then the pure word of God I demaunded then who shall interpret this word Hee replied the spirit What spirit good Sir The spirit of God only which privat men thinke they haue Against which rule I except for that it was the common plea of all condemned Heretiques Wherefore I required a triall of this pretended spirit for I cannot admit that to be God his spirit in any private man which consenteth not with the spirit of the Catholique Church And thus you see M.D. Airay that what you formerly reiected out of my rule as Popish you must necessarily admit as true that is Ecclesiasticall Tradition annexed to the sacred Canon for the discerning of private spirits Otherwaies each Heretique will sense Scripture in the mould of his owne braine ANSVVER That the word of God is the ground of beleefe in God sacred Scripture it selfe proveth in manifold and pregnant places as in the olde Testament in the Proverbs Prov. 2.9 They make a man vnderstand righteousnes and iudgement and equity and every good path Esay 8.19.20 in Esay should not a people enquire at their God at the law and at the Testimonie they that speake not according to this word there is no light in them by Malachie Mal. 4.4 Remember the law of Moses which I commanded all Israell with the statutes and iudgements in the new Testament in S. Paul 2. Tim. 3.15 The Scriptures are able to make a man wise vnto salvation through the faith which is in Christ Iesus in S. Peter 2. Pet. 1.19 We haue a most sure word of the Prophets wherevnto we must giue heed as to a light that shineth in darknesse till the day starre arise in our hearts Luc. 1.4 in S. Luke They containe the certainty of those things whereof we are instructed and in S. Iohn Ioh. 5.39 These things are written that yee might beleeue that Iesus is that Christ the sonne of God and in beleeuing yee might haue eternall life and by Christ himselfe sealing this point Search the Scriptures for in them you haue eternall life and they are they which testifie of mee but to this also the Fathers with all reverence haue agreed Basil Ep. 80. ad Eust Med. Let the Scriptures be arbitrators betweene vs saith Basill in his 80 Epistle and whosoever holds consonant opiniōs to those heavenly oracles let the truth bee adiudged on their side We are to enquire for iudges saith Optatus Contra Parmenianum de coelo quaerendus est Iudex Optat. cont Parmen l. 5. the Iudge must bee had from heaven but saith hee wherefore need we to knock at heauen when we haue a iudge wohm wee finde in the Gospell The Scripture is the rule of faith saith Tertullian contra Hermogenem Tertull. cont Hermog Chrysost in 13. Homil. in 2. Corinth It is a most exquisit rule saith Chrysostome in his 13 homily vpon the second to the Corinths It is an inflexible rule Greg. Nyss Grati. de ijs qui adeunt Hierosolymā saith Gregorius Nyssenus And S. Austin ample for this in many places in his booke de bono viduitatis testifieth that the Scripture pitcheth downe the rule of our faith And not only the Ancient Fathers but the Schoole-men haue succeeded in the same resolution Aquinas writeth expresly Aq 1. qu. 1. art 8. that our faith must rest vpon the Canonicall bookes of Scripture Durand agreeth with this Durand pref in senten that the maner of our knowledge exceed not the measure of faith and the holy Scripture expresseth the measure of faith Sum part 3. tit 18. c. 3. Nay Papists haue acknowledged this Antoninus confesseth that God hath spoken but once to vs and that in Scripture so plentifully that hee voucheth Gregory in the 22 book of his Moralls thus God needeth to speake no more concerning any necessary matter Al. 1. sent quaest 1. art 3 1. Coroll seeing all things are found in Scripture Alliaco consenteth to this The verities of Scripture bee the Principles of divinity quoniam ad ipsas saith he fit vltima resolutio Theologici discursus Bell de verbo Dei lib. 1. c. 2. In one word Bellarmin agreeth to all these Testimonies in his first book de verbo Dei Sacra Scriptura est regula credendi certissima tutissima This may serue to shew you that there is no other ground of faith then the worde of God Scriptures Fathers Schoolemen nay even our Adversaries being witnesses Deut. 32.31 as Moses speaketh You demaund who shall interpret this word It is replied the spirit of God which spirit the elect doe know certainly that they haue not only thinke as you traduce the speech of this reverēd Doctor but they assure thēselus that they haue the spirit and hee that knoweth not this ◠Cor. 3.16 is ignorant as Paul teacheth by an interrogatiō Knowe yee not that yee are the Temples of the holy Ghost and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you But against this rule you except for this was you say Chrysos prolog in Epist ad Rohan 3. de Lazar. the plea of al Heretiques It is false Heretiques and the devill did vrge Scripture but these could never for wāt of Gods spirit compare Scriptures together The privat spirit even every Priuat man of himselfe saith Chrysostom only by reading may vnderstand yea need nothing else but to read Chrysos hom 13. in Gene◠by which he meaneth to confer one place of Scripture with another And the same Father giveth the reason Scriptura seipsam exponit auditorem errare non sinit The scripture expoundeth it selfe and suffereth not the hearer to be deceived Distinct 37. Relatum So speaketh Chrys 13. hom in Genes The Canon Law is most plaine herein Non enim sensum extrinsecus alienum extraneum sed ex ipsis Scripturis sensum capere veritatis oportet For we must not from without them seeke a forraine and strange sense but wee must out of the Scriptures themselues receiue the meaning of the truth And a clowde of witnesses do testifie the same Wherefore it is no way necessary that we aske helpe of Tradition which is as I formerly spake the cittie of refuge for all runnagate points in your religion Popish Tradition in the Church soiourning only as the deuill doth to deceiue as a treacherous stranger not to be acquainted with or as an Infidell not to be conversed with and therefore D. Airay taught you the truth when you heretically thought you might mould the sense of scripture in the brain of the brasen head Tradition Mr LEECH And now M. D. Airay being thus overthrowne in the rule of his faith proposed vnto me a question of