so often as the Teachers of new and strange Doctrines come into the World professing opposition to those receiv'd by our present superiors and to the common Tenents of the Church Christians are directed by St. Iohn c. 4. v. 1. to try such Spirits whether they are of God And we are instructed by our Lord Mat. 7. v. 16. that they shall know and discern them by their Fruits The inference from hence is that Luther's Doctrine should be try'd by his Works Now tho' we are very willing to stand to this Test yet nothing hitherto said can any ways engage us to it For here is a manifest violence offer'd to two places of Scripture by leaving out the preceding verse in one and the subsequent in t'other he has quite perverted the meaning of both St. Iohn sayes Beloved believe not 1 John 4. 1. every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they be of God How shall we try them the next verse instructs us Hereby know ye the Spirit of God every Spirit that confesseth Ib. v. 2. that Iesus Christ is come in the Flesh is of God Nothing can be plainer then that the Apostle here would have new Teachers prov'd by the conformity their doctrine bore to that he had deliver'd But this was not for our Author's purpose to observe and therefore He drop'd the latter part of the Quotation which would have expounded the former and slip'd over to St. Matthew's Ye shall know them by their Fruits Whom Mat. 7. 16. Ibid. v. 17. Consult the foregoing words Beware of false Prophets which come to you in Sheeps clothing but inwardly they are ravening Wolves The caution here given is against such as come in Sheeps clothing that is in all outward innocence and meekness as our learned Paraphrast expound's it * Nor is this merely a Protestant-Exposition Luca-Brugensis upon the place sayes Induti speciem â—…vium i â—… mâ—…ntientes 〈◊〉 fraudisque nesciam simplicitatem And Maldonate much to my purpose â—…ensus est facilis Vestimenta vocat quicquid extrinsecus apparet 〈◊〉 Opera 〈◊〉 â—…iaque 〈◊〉 châ—…ritatis Ye shall know them by their Fruits not by their well or ill living sure for they are suppos'd to put on the Vizard of seeming sanctity but by the doctrines which as soon as they have got any authority with you they will endeavor to infuse into you id ibid. Thus are the two Texts which should be the Basis of the whole discourse prov'd directly contrary to the design of it and naturally leading us to the examination of particular doctrines according to a receiv'd standard the thing which our Adversaries so studiously avoid But Scripture-proof was never the Talent of these men and 't is no wonder they are foyl'd when they fight us at our own weapon Yet in these places the sense offers it self so easily and that shuffling way in which they are propos'd looks so like a Trick that we can't but question our Author's sincerity and shall therefore be the less concern'd when in the Progress of these Papers we find him mâ—…gling and putting a wry â—…ense upon our Protestâ—…t Writers since 't is but what he has done to the inspir'd Penmen themselves But to drive this point further whether Works ought to be the adequate measure of Doctrines I say not onely that he has not prov'd it by any authorities drawn from Scripture but that it is impossible he ever should For Scripture cannot be against Scripture Now we have frequent instances in Holy Writ where God Allmighty has made bad men the Instruments and Promoters of a good Doctrine such indeed whose actions were not agreeable to what they taught So Balaam was a Diviner yet the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and Num. 24 2. he prophesied of the coming of Christ. Iehu tho' otherwise none of the Holiest men was yet imploy'd by God in that grand Reformation of his when the whole Land of Israel was over-run with Baalism A Case so parallel to this we are upon that one would wonder it should never be taken notice of in the whole course of the Pamphlet did we not know some men's Talent lay in dissembling things when speaking out won't be for their turn I ask him again if the Iews should have contrasted thus with Hosea that his message could not come from God since his works were not answerable he Hos. 1. 2. had taken a Wife of Whoredoms to him and lov'd another that was an Adulteress or should a Ninevite Hos 3. 1. have disputed the mission of Ionas because he was a wicked person and had been thrown into the Sea to appease a tempest would this kind of Plea have held against the Prophets If not why is it urg'd against Luther Or why are Scripture-Maxims put upon us without taking notice of Scripture-Examples that ly cross ' em He has not offer'd any thing from the Fathers upon this occasion and therefore we may take it for granted they are Ours Indeed to instance in no more St. Austin a Ne objiciatis haereticis nisi quia non sunt Catholici ne similes iis sitis qui non habendo quod in causa suae divisionis defendant non nisi hominum crimina colligere affectant ea ipsa plura falsissime jactant ut quia ipsam divinae Scripturae veritatem criminari obscurare non possunt homines pâ—…r quos praedicatur adducant in odium de quibus fingere quicquid in mentem venerit possunt August Ep. 137. is express upon the point Nay the greatest of their own party even the two pillars of the Romish faith Bellarmin b Certum est ex ipsorum hominum qui nos docent operibus non posse cognosci doctrinam cum opera interna non videantur externa autem sint communâ—…a â—…que c. Bellarm de grat lib. arb L 5. c. 10. and Baronius c Ignarum Vulgus dum non ex sacris literis quas ignorat sed ex vitae exemplo definire soleat Catholica dogmata Bâ—…ron Annal. Tom. 7. An 526. n. 58. are in this case as much Protestants as we are But he himself has given up the Cause p. 98. He there in broad words confesses that a teacher of Truth may bring forth the fruits of a bad life And if so I would ask him why he writ his Book And here the business seems to be at an end For if no proof has been brought why a good Doctrine should alwaies require good outward works to support it and yet it be the whole drift of the Pamphlet to bring Luther's preaching to such a scrutiny 't is all built on a false foundation and when that 's weak'ned must drop a course But because we are pretty well assur'd of Luther's Moralls too we 'll be so obliging as to give up what has been allready said and put the Cause upon that Issue tho' his Life dos not in the least concern the Church
AN ANSWER TO SOME CONSIDERATIONS ON THE Spirit of Martin Luther AND The Original of the REFORMATION Lately Printed at OXFORD The fierceness of Man shall turn to thy praise and the fiercness of Them shalt thou refrain Ps. 76. 10. OXFORD Printed at the THEATER Anno 1687. Imprimatur IO. VENN Vice-Can Oxon. Iulii 29. 1687. The PREFACE WHEN I first happ'ned upon this Pamphlet and by some peculiar beautys in the style easily discover'd it's Owner I was I must confess not a little surpriz'd I could not have imagin'd that a Man of so bigg a reputation as the Author of the Guide in Controversy One whose thoughts had for some years convers'd with nothing less then Oecumenical Councels Popes and Patriarchs should quitt all those fine amusements for the humble task of Life-writing and drawing of Characters 'T was mean prey I thought for a Bird of his Pounces and the Design he did it with made it ten times more a Riddle The Doctrines of the Reformation have for near two Centuries kept the field against all Encounterers and do's He think they may be foil'd at last by two or three little Remarks upon the Life and Actions of a single Reformer But it look's like a Jest when the Irregularities committed by Luther in Germany are turn'd upon Us here in England as if any thing that He said or did could affect a Church establish'd upon it's own bottom and as independent on any forreign authorities as the Crown Her Defender wears Luther's Voice is indeed to Us what our a Pag. 2. of Consid. Author term's it the Voice of the Stranger and tho' we are allwaies ready to wipe off the unjust aspersions cast upon him by his Enemies yet this is what we are oblig'd to not as Sons but as Friends Whenever injur'd Virtue is set upon every Honest man is concern'd in the Quarrel But these last Attacqu's have been so very feeble that had we for once trusted the Cause to it 's own strength 't would have suffer'd but little Damage And I for my part should have done so did I not know there were a sort of Men in the World who have the vanity to think every thing on their side unanswerable that do's not receive a sett Reply tho' at the same time they are pleas'd to answer nothing themselves They fight indeed all of 'em like Tartars make a bold and furious onset and if that does not doe they retreat in disorder and you never hear of 'em afterwards And this I expect will be the present case The Editor of these Considerations won't much care for replying I believe because that must be de proprio and can't be drawn from the old store of provisions laid in by the Fraternity But whether the Poysons were of an earlyer mixture and design'd like Italian Preparations to work now at a distance or whether later temper'd is a thing we may safely be ignorant of as long as we are secure of the Antidote before they take their effect And this the Theatre-Press thinks her self engag'd to promise considering from Whose Munificence she had her Birth and especially to Whom she ows her Lustre a late Prelate of a remarkable zeal for the establish'd Church and who were Religions to be try'd by Lives would have liv'd down the Pope and the whole Consistory If the Services she do's now are not of the most deserving Character 't is what the Meanness of the Opposer and a worn-out Cause will bear she has already produc'd the strongest arguments against Popery Fathers and Bibles The present Attempt is confin'd perfectly within the bounds of an Answer and pretend's to nothing more then a bare pursuit of the Author step by step and the laying open his Blunders for the Reader 's ease just in the same order they ly There was nothing frightful in this Task but the toil of being forc'd to think so long upon so very thoughtless a Writer in all other respects 't was as easy as one would wish The History-part lay within a little room and the Reasonings upon it were so thin that they needed only setting in the light to be look'd thro' In both my greatest helps have been drawn from one single Author the Considerer himself who in every Book of his has made it appear that he can write Contradictions as well as believe ' em This small performance had seen the light much sooner but that it waited the Edition of another Piece which should regularly have prevented it But the Gentleman employ'd on that occasion having not yet had all the leisure he expected 't was thought fit rather to send this abroad out of it's due place then stay till every body had forgotten the Book it answer's a misfortune which I fear it has already in a great measure undergone In the Defence of Our Reformation to come 't will be found that the Considerer is no good Historian the Replyer has prov'd him no good Catholic the Animadverter no good Subject and all together no good Disputant so that I have now no new side of him left to entertain the Reader with What he is after all this no body know's 't is much easyer to guess what under another Revolution he will be Answer to Considerations c. MARTIN Luther's Life was a continual Warfare he was engag'd against the united forces of the Papal world and he stood the Shock of 'em bravely both with Courage and Success After his Death one would have expected that generous Adversaries should have put up their Pens and quitted at least so much of the Quarrel as was Personal But on the contrary when his Doctrines grew too strong to be shook by his Enemies they persecuted his Reputation and by the venome of their tongues sufficiently convinc'd the world that the Religion they were of allow'd not only Prayers for the Dead but even Curses too Among the rest that have engag'd in this unmanly design our Author appears not indeed after the blustring rate of some of the party but with a more calm and better dissembled malice He has charg'd his Instrument of Revenge with a sort of White Powder that does the same base action tho' with less noyse 'T is cruel thus to interrupt the Peace of the Dead and Luther's Spirit has reason to expostulate with this Man as once the Spirit of Samuel did Ecclus. 46. 20. 1 Sam. 28. 15. with Saul Why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up He know's the sequel of the story the answer that was given was no very pleasing one it only afforded the Enquirer an account of his own Discomfiture Let us see whether this Disturber of Luther's Ashes will have any better fortune The first thing we are presented with is a double Character of the Good and Evil Spirit set out by those Works or Properties which are said to attend each of 'em in Scripture And by this Test it is that Luther's Consid. p. 2. Spirit is to be try'd For
must be counted a flourish only and not a convincing argument for tho' Lr. gives his assent in general to the reasoning of that discourse yet he do's not say every particular of it amounted to a demonstration As for his book adversus falso-nominatum ordinem Episcoporum and some harsh expressions about the Prelates of his time they must not be so understood as if he meant to unbishop 'em but only to set out their corruption and degeneracy Athanâ—…sius do's not speak more softly of the Arrian Bishops in Constantius his Court he says they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that if any of 'em has a mind to be consecrated he is not told that a Bishop should be blameless but only bid to rage against Christ and never trouble himself about manners b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athan. Ep. ad Solit. Vit. agentes p. 812. Edit Paris 1â—…27 But these words must be allow'd a latitude and are not strictly to be taken as if the Father deny'd the validity of their Consecration After the Breach with the Pope 't is own'd that Lr. â—… 17. took the freedom of calling him Antichrist when ever he came in his way but ere this can be made his crime it must be prov'd that St. Paul has not call'd him so too for otherwise we can't but think that he has taken after a good pattern If his spirit must be dubb'd evil for an hard word or two against his holyness of what spirit pray was the sacred Council of Brixia when they stigmatiz'd Hildebrand calling him Virum procacissimum sacrilegia inâ—…endia praedicantem Perjuria Homicidia defendentem manifestum Necromanticum and a deal of that stuff Now can I see no great difference between Lr. and the Council in this matter but that they rayl'd perhaps with infallibility on their side when He had only plain certainty on his But he rejected the authority of Councils yes siquando §. 19. contraria Scripturae statuunt a Assert Art 29. and so do all the Reform'd as well as He. So that this won't pass for a fault in him till 't is prov'd one in us too But he never refus'd to be concluded by the authority of One legally summon'd as is plain from that Preface of his to the Smalcald Articles written a little while before he went out of the world Indeed the sense he had of the tricks and Artifices us'd in convening these Synods for some Centuries together and the noise of his Adversaries who were perpetually crying Councils Canons c. when they had nothing else to say for their cause might perhaps force out an expression or two from him that did not carry all the respect due to those great Names he had fire in his temper and a German bluntness and upon these provocations might possibly strain a phrase with too great freedom yet even the diligence of his accuser has in all his works been able to find out but a few passages of this nature and of them the most material perhaps were never found out by any body else but himself For those two which seem the warmest on this occasion are quoted the one from Assertio Art 36. contra Reg. Angliae the other from a Treatise of his about Councils in 1639 two imaginary books that the considerer dreamt of perhaps but I am sure L. never wrote a In Luther's Works in High Dutch there is a Book of Councils I confess But this can't be that my Author means because his Quotations here are in Latin So that till he lay'â—… his Indictment in some certain County we don't think our selves bound to answer an indefinite charge As for the rest we acknowledge he call'd the Council of Constance Synagogam Satanae and I wonder my author should be offended at the expression when 't is consider'd what unlucky things they did in the business of the Pope's Supremacy especially since their own Annalist has given the same Title to that of Syrmium a Council legally summon'd by the Emperor Constantius approv'd by Pope Liberius and which they of the Roman Perswasion have no colour to reject but upon Protestant grounds because it made Heretical Decrees Lr. says sive Papa sive Concilium sic aiunt abundet quisque in sensu suo in rebus non necessariis ad salutem Assert Art 28. Here is He represented by this author as denying the power of the Church in indifferent things but this is foul dealing to conceal the occasion the words were spoken upon and then fasten a sense of his own This Article is aim'd against the pretences of a Pope or Council to make that a necessary point of faith by their determination which was of it self unnecessary before For they took upon 'em he knew to enlarge the Creeds which were already fix'd and had explain'd a Parable of our Savior's in a far different sense to what he taught it in The Faith which was but a Mustard-seed in the Primitive ages was grown by little and little tow'rds the beginning of the 16th Century into a great Tree This power of their's and no other Lr. here disowns as any one that views the place but cursorily must needs see There is no harm in this I hope and yet how bigg the accusation look'd as his sly Enemy had manag'd it There is another sentence taken from Tom. 2. p. 243. But I must desire the Citer henceforward to inform us of his Editions too for in the first Wirtenberg one which I now have by me no such thing appears I would request of him too to be punctual in his Titles that we who are at the drudgery of Reading him may loose no more time then is necessary By the book de gravi doctrina is meant I suppose de quavis doctrina p. 33. but 't is a trifle he has taken from it and what he knows every body own 's Thus has this one Paragraph afforded us more absurdities then we could possibly have expected in so narrow a compass and methinks tho I don't well know what the words mean yet in the phrase of the man it discover's a strange plerophory of blindnesâ—… Lr. is next arraign'd for speaking contemptuously of §. 20. Fathers but this is a rank calumny No man has a greater veneration for 'em then He. Let his latest Writings which our Author observes to have been the most haughty give us a tast of his thoughts on this point I say not this to lay a blott on the Holy Fathers whose Labors we ought with veneration to receive They were great men but men still and a little afterwards b Quoties videmus patrum opinioneâ—… cum scriptura non convenâ—…re cum reverentia eos toleramus agnoscimus tanquam majorâ—…s 〈◊〉 sedâ—… 〈◊〉 eoâ—…â—…almen non discedimus ab authoritate scripturae Ibid. When â—…e find the opinions of Fathers jarring with Scriptures we must pay a respect to 'em even in their very Errors and
over Melchior Adams has afforded us the Lives of no less then 22 Divines who immediately before and together with Luther promoted all the same design The Errors of the Church of Rome were never possess'd quietly we have told 'em when they came in and who they were that rose up against 'em in every age from the 6th Century down to the 16th If any man requires this Catalogue he may find it in White 's True way to the Church compleatly and learnedly sett down a p. 387. Edit Lond. 1620. not to mention Field Usher Catalogus Testium Vt ritatis and twenty more Goldastus's three Volumes sufficiently explain the sense of all ages in this point and Orthuinus Gratius's Collection of Complaints lets us know what peoples thoughts were when Luther appear'd He did not awaken the world with new surprizing notions for then they would have suspended their judgments a while whereas thousands follow'd his standard as soon as ever it was advanc'd and Melitz the Apostolic Commissary own'd that in 1518 a year after Lr. first preach'd he found in his journy from Rome to Saxony three on Luther's side to one that stood for the Pope b Vide Sleid. ad Ann. Luther then was one of the latest asserters of truth and even at that time not single Oecolampadius Zuinglius Carlstad and many more were e'en as early as he tho' 't is true he signaliz'd himself above the rest by a peculiar bravery of mind and an undauntedness in the cause of God that was little less then miraculous He labor'd more then them all yet still they were his Fellow-Labourers in the Gospel and therefore were the Reformation to be run down by Life-writing yet to think this task is perform'd by considering the actions of Lr. alone when there were so many both before and with him that embark'd in the same cause is the most senseless thing imaginable But further when the Considerer has manag'd this argument to the best advantage he would do well to consider too how it returns upon him Luther even in the colours he has laid upon him do's not look half so ill as some Popes of theirs who were his Cotemporaries Iulius was of a cruel restless temper and sacrific'd the peace of all Italy to his ambition Leo the 10th is deservedly infamous for his base prostitution of Indulgences Paul the 3d. kept a Whore openly and own'd it and advanc'd a-Bastard of his to the Principality of Parma and Piacenza Would we ascend higher to the known names of Hildebrand Innocent Boniface and the rest of those lew'd Popes whom Bellarmin confesses to have gone in a long Train to the Devil we should quickly find how advantageous Luther's character would appear and what reason Castilio's Painter had to reply upon the Cardinal who blam'd him for putting a little too much colour into St. Peter and Paul's faces that 't was true indeed in their Life time they were pale mortify'd men but that since they were grown ruddy by blushing at the sins of their Successors Now let any man tell me why manners are not as much nay more requisite to an Infallible Guide then a fallible Reformer since in the one we accept the Doctrine merely for the man's sake in the other the man for his Doctrine's sake especially since the first involves alwayes the latter's character for Infallibility carrys along with it the perpetual power of reforming Abuses This holds good then against such as place the last appeal in the Pope those who take refuge in a multitude have an Arrian Council to Answer for a Council where the lives of the Fathers were as unorthodox as their Principles and this in a much higher degree then is pretended upon Luther if Athanasius's word may be set over against the Considerer's The method then of the Pamphlet is every waâ—… 〈◊〉 sufficient and let the Spirit of Martin Luther be as 〈◊〉 't is suppos'd to be yet the proof of this would not blaâ—… one single truth of that Religion he profess'd But to â—…e off all seeming objections and stop the mouths of the most unreasonable Gainsayers I have examin'd even this little pretence too and find upon a faithful enquiry that Luther's Life was led up to those Doctrines he preach'd and his Death was the death of the Righteous Were I not confin'd by the character of an Answerer merely to wipe off the Aspersions that are brought I could swell this book to ' twice the bulk by setting out that best side of Lr. which our Author in the Picture he has given us of him has contrary to the method of Painters thrown into shade that he might place a suppos'd deformity or two the more in view He was a Man certainly of high endowments of mind and great Virtues he had a vast understanding which rais'd him up to a pitch of learning unknown to the age he liv'd in his knowledge in scriptures was admirable his Elocution manly and his way of reasoning with all the subtilty that those honest plain truths he delivered would bear His thoughts were bent alwayes on great designs and he had a resolution fitted to go thro' with 'em The assurance of his mind was not to be shook or surpriz'd and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his for I know not what else to call it before the Dyet at Worms was such as might have become the days of the Apostles His Life was holy and when he had leisure for retirements severe his virtues active chiefly and homilitical not those lazy sullen ones of the Cloyster He had no ambition but in the service of God for other things neither his enjoyment nor wishes ever went higher then the bare conveniencies of living He was of a temper particularly averse to covetousness or any base sin and charitable even to a fault without respect to his own occasions If among this Crowd of Virtues a failing crept in we must Remember that an Apostle himself 〈◊〉 not been irreprovable If in the Body of his Doctrine 〈◊〉 Flaw is to be seen yet the greatest Lights of the Church and in the purest times of it were we know not exact in all their Opinions Upon the whole we have certainly great reason to break out in the phrase of the Prophet and say How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth glad tideings FINIS