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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07845	The golden ballance of tryall VVherein the reader shall plainly and briefely behold, as in a glasse of crystall; aswell by what rule all controuersies in religion, are to be examined, as also who is, and of right ought to be the vpright iudge in that behalfe. Whereunto is also annexed a counterblast against a masked companion, terming himself E.O. but supposed to be Robert Parsons the trayterous Iesuite.	Bell, Thomas, fl. 1593-1610.	1603 (1603)	STC 1822; ESTC S120918	58,889	126

who affirmed Christ to haue but one onely nature after the vnion hypostaticall albeit hee graunted him to haue had two natures before the sayde ineffable coniunction This to be so most renowmed Historiographers and Chronographers will testifie with me I say secondly at such times and in such places as they might safely and lawfully come togither because in these latter dayes neither can a plenarie and generall Councell meete togither with securitie neither will the late tyrannizing Bishops of Rome permit that freedome to be their vsed which hath beene graunted in former times Hereof none can stand in doubt that will seriously peruse my booke of Motiues The great pillar of Christs Church Saint Augustine confirmeth this whole discourse in these golden wordes Putemus illos Episcopos qui Romae iudicarunt non bonos iudices fuisse restabat adhuc plenarium Ecclesiae vuiuersale Concilium vbi etiam cum ipsis iudicibus causa possit agitari vt si malè iudicasse conuicti essent eorum sententiae soluerentur Let vs imagine that those Bishoppes which gaue sentence at Rome were not good Iudges there yet remained a plenarie vniuerfall Councell of the Church where both the cause might be examined and the Iudges also that there sentences might be disanulled if they were found to haue giuen euill iudgement The same Saint Austen sayeth againe in an other place that great Doctors of the Church thought diuersly of rebaptization and that without all preiudice of fayth vntill the question was decided in a plenarie generall Councell Loe a free and godly generall Councell was in Saint Austines time the ende of all controuersies in religion But now there remayneth a great and most important question to wit what remedie must bee sought to appease controuersies when a free godly and lawfull generall Councell can not bee had To which question aunswere shall bee made in the Paragraph next following The fourth Paragraph I haue proued at large in my booke of Motiues that the decrees of generall Councels in these latter dayes are nothing else but a meere mockerie and sophisticall subtiltie to deceyue and delude the Worlde To which booke I referre the reader that shall expect a larger discourse in this behalfe I say now for the present that seeing generall Councels cannot be gathered togither in such maner and with such freedome as they haue beene in former times of antiquity and seeing withall that some iudges must be designed of meere necessity to appease end and decide doubts difficulties and controuersies in religion least the Church should be vexed turmoiled and swallowed vp with schismes heresies and variety of opinions euerie Emperour and Empresse euery King and Queen and euery other ciuill Magistrate independent by what title or name soeuer he be called must before all things haue a vigilant Christian and religious care to settle establish and plant within their kingdomes Realmes Precinctes common weales territories and dominions where they haue the chiefe and independent soueraignty immediately vnder God the pure and sincere religion of Iesus Christ and to abandon extirpate and vtterly abolish all schismes heresies errors and superstitions whatsoeuer This hath euer beene the religious care of all godly and zealous Princes aswell before Christ in time of the olde testament as since Christ in time of the new testament Holy Moses tooke the molten Calfe which Aaron the High Priest to please the people had made burnt it in the fire bet it to powder strowed it in the water and made the people to drinke thereof He reproued Aaron for his offence who calling him Lord laboured with humble obeysance to excuse himselfe Iosue commanded the Priestes and Leuits to do all their ecclesiasticall functions to beare the Arke to carry trumpets to circumcise to set vp Altars to offer sacrifice and to reade the booke of the law to all the people yea the same Iosue was appointed to go out and in before the people and to leade them out and in least the congregation of the Lord should be as sheepe without a Pastor King David ordered disposed and reformed the Priestes and Leuits in their offices and functions ecclesiasticall He appointed how the Arke shoulde be borne hee ordained Psalmes Singers Instrumentes Officers and all other things for the setting forth of Gods true religion and seruice King Salomon appointed the Priestes to bring the Arke into the temple hee instituted the dedication of the temple hee offered sacrifice hee directed the Priestes Leuites and other Church officers as his father had done afore him He deposed Abiathar the hie Priest and placed Sadocke in his roome King Iosaphat appointed in Ierusalem Priestes and Leuits and Princes of the Families of Israell that they might iudge the iudgement and cause of the Lord to the inhabitantes of the land And he vsed these expresse wordes vnto them Sic agetis in timore Domini fideliter corde perfecto Thus shal yee doe in the feare of the Lord faithfully with a perfect heart King Ezechias tooke away the hie places brake the images cut downe the Groues and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had set vppe He purged the Temple reformed the Priestes and commanded them to doe their duties in cleansing themselues and in offering their sacrifices Hee renued the Passeouer Hee appointed the courses of the Priestes and Leuites by their turnes both for the burnt offeringes and peace offeringes to minister and to praise God in the Temple He also commanded that sufficient maintenance should be giuen to the Priestes that they might be encouraged in the law of the Lord and not bee intangled with prouision of worldly thinges And which is to bee noted he called the Priestes and Leuites his sonnes in regard of his royall power and estate in which respect hee was the Father of all his people for otherwise hee was but a Child and for yeares might haue had many of thē to haue bin his father King Iosias brake the Altars of Baalim destroied the Groues burnt the bones of the idolatrous Priestes vpon their altars and purged Iuda and Ierusalem from idolatrie This religious care had the noble Emperour Constantine the Great who as reporteth Eusebius thought nothing to pertaine more to his royall charge then to plant true religion throughout his realmes and dominions S. Austen proueth the facts and examples of the Kinges of the old Testament to haue beene figures of the new Testament and consequently that it is the duty of all kinges in this time of grace to haue speciall regard to the seruice and true worship of God to abandon all false worshippe idolatrie errors heresies and superstition and to plant the Gospell of Christ Iesus in all the partes of their realmes and dominions The same S. Austen in an other place among many golden sentences which I now omit in regard of breuitie hath these expresse words In hoc ergo reges

Chapter hoping by Gods grace to vse such perspicuitie in handling this difficult question as shal bee to the contentment of all indifferent Readers CAP. VIII Shewing who is the right Iudge of the holy Scripture and word of God ALbeit the holy Scripture be the infallible rule of Faith and the true Touchstone by which all doctrines are bee examined and tryed as is already proued yet will controuersies neuer haue a peaceable end vnles some speciall iudges bee appointed to decide and determine the same For as the old Prouerbe saith So many heads so many wittes Out of one and the selfe same Scripture one man gathereth one sense an other man an other sense For the perspicuous vnderstanding wherof I put downe these Paragraffes The first Paragraffe The examination of doctrine is of two sortes the one is priuate the other is publike Priuate examination is that vpon which euery man doth build and stablish his owne faith For as the Prophet sayeth The iust man shall liue by his faith And as the great Popish Doctor Aquinas writeth the former obiect of our faith or that which wee formally belieue is God himselfe or that which God hath reuealed to vs and not that which man telleth vs. For sayeth hee faith doth not yeelde assent to any thing but because it is reuealed of God The publike examination of doctrine pertayneth to the common consent of the Church for the peaceable gouernance thereof For GOD is not the Author of confusion but of peace The Second Paragraffe As the examination of doctrine is of two sorts so are the examiners and the iudges of two sortes also that is to say publike and priuate The Publike iudges are all the Ministers of the Church by what name or title soeuer they bee called The priuate Iudges are all the faithfull seuerally by themselues in all matters pertayning to Faith and the saluation of their owne soules That all the faithfull are priuate Iudges it may be easily proued by many textes of holy writte First by this text of S. Iohn beleeue not euery spirit but trie the spirits if they bee of God Secondly by this text of S. Paule trie all thinges and keepe that which is good Thirdly by this text of the same Apostle the spirituall man iudgeth all thinges These texts the two famous Papistes Nicholaus de Lyra and Dionysius Carthusianns expounde of thinges pertayning to saluation which say they all the faithfull are able to trie And which is to bee wondred at the Iesuite Bellarmine vnawares confesseth the same These are his expresse wordes Duo vel tres congregati in nomine Christi obtinent semper quod petunt a Deo nimirum sapientiam lumen quod sufficit eis ad cognoscenda ea quae ipsis necessaria sunt Sequitur itaque siue pauci siue multi siue priuati siue Episcopi congregentur in nomine Christi omnes habent Christum praesentem adiuuantem obtinent quod eis conuenit obtinere Two or three gathered together in the name of Christ do at all times obtaine that of God which they desire at his handes to witte Wisedome and vnderstanding which is sufficient for them to know those thinges which are necessarie for them Therefore whether fewe or many whether Priuate persons or Bishoppes bee gathered in the name of Christ they all haue Christes presence they all haue Christes helpe they all obtayne that which is meete and conuenient for them Thus sayeth our Iesuite And doubtlesse it is meete for euery one to know all thinges necessary for his saluation it can not be denied Out of these wordes I note first that whosoeuer are gathered together in Christes name they all obtayne of GOD so much vnderstanding and knowledge as is necessarie for Saluation I note secondly that God is as well present in the assemblie of priuate men as in the Synode of Bishoppes I note thirdly that God helpeth priuate men and is present with them at all times euen as hee is with Bishops Whereupon I must needes inferre that the thinges concluded by secular persons in their assemblies for matters pertayning to their soules health doe no lesse proceed from GOD then doe the Decrees of Bishoppes And consequently the Iesuite will hee nill hee must perforce confesse that priuate secular and meere Lay-men can and may iudge in matters of Religion in matters of Faith in matters concerning their own soules health And all this is nothing else in deed but euen that which Christ himselfe hath plainly taught vs. Where two or three sayth Christ are gathered togither in my name there am I'in the midst of them I proue the same doctrine because Christs sheepe as Christ the great sheepheard telleth vs know his voyce and follow him but will not follow a straunger This place doubtlesse doth conuince For if the sheepe know the voice of the sheepheard as Christ saith they do then must the sheepe perforce iudge of the voice of the sheepheard For otherwise it will follow that a man cannot discerne that which hee knoweth Melchior Canus faith plainly that the holy Ghost teacheth euery one all things necessarie to saluation This veritie is confirmed by an other testimonie of our Lord Iesus if any man sayth he will do his will the will of God hee shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speake of my selfe Loe the knowledge of Gods word proceedeth from the doing of his will But the doing of Gods will pertaineth to all both great and small as well to priuate lay-men as to ecclesiastical persons though they be the Bishops of Rome And for this cause sayth the great Papist Panormitan his words you may reade in the sixt chapter of this discourse that the iudgement of a meere lay-man must be preferred before the iudgement of the Pope if that priuate lay-man haue better reasons gathered out of the old and new Testament then are the reasons of the Pope See the aunswere to the Obiection in the fourth Paragraffe and note it will To conclude holy Writ telleth vs that the Bereans did search the Scriptures to see if they were according to Saint Paules doctrine And let this suffice for the iudgement of priuat persons and meerlay-men Now that all ministers Archbishops Bishops and other pastors of the Church may iudge of the sense of the holy Scripture it is a thing so cleare and manifest as little or nothing need be said thereof For Saint Paule saith that Bishops by which worde he vnderstandeth all the Ministers of the Church must haue great care that false doctrine be not taught This the Papists freely graunt of Bishops denying the same in other inferior ministers of the Church But I will proue the assertion to be verified of all ministers in generall First because Saint Paul committeth the gouernment of the church to al the ministers in differently calling them Bishops that is ouerseers of the

seruiunt Domino in quantum reges sunt cum ea faciunt ad seruiendum illi quae non possunt facere nisi reges In this therefore do kinges serue God as they are kings when they do hold those things which none can doe but onelie kinges Where me must seriously obserue this reduplication of S. Austen kings as kings as a point of great importance For kinges as the same father teleth vs serue God two waies as they be men and as they be kings As men they serue God in liuing a Christian and godly life but as king they serue God in making godly lawes for the punishment of blasphemers idolaters heretiks and all kind of malefactors And this is that which S. Austen saith none can doe but kinges as rhey are kinges Yea this is that which the Prophet Esay telleth vs when he saith That kinges shall bee the nurcing Fathers of the Church and Queenes her nurces For albeit the Ministery of feeding of preaching the worde and administration of the Sacramēts pertaine onely to the ministers neyther may the meere ciuill Magistrate in any wise meddle therewith yet for all that it is most true that the prouision for the foode the ouersight that the children of God bee duely fed and that the Ministers doe exercise their functions in vigilant dutifull manner belongeth to the ciuill independent and absolute Princes For this respect is it that kinges and Queenes haue the name of Nurses not to nourish their children in ciuill matters and corporall foode onely but as in ciuill so also in spirituall that is In lacte verbi Dei in the milke of the worde of God For though the execution pertain to the ministers yet the prouision direction appointment care and ouersight which is the sepreme gouernment belongeth onely soly and wholy to the Prince as is already proued Now to the question proposed in the former Paragraffe vz. What remedie is to be had when a free and lawfull general Councell cannot be had To this question I answere that when any controuersies shall arise to the disturbance of the Peace of the church then euery absolute and independent ciuill Magistrate must commaund his Archbishop Bishoppe and other learned Ministers within his territories and dominions to come together and to celebrate a Nationall Councell or Synode and then and there to debate discusse and decide the controuersie in religion And he must charge them as did the religious kinges Dauid Salomon Iosaphat Ezechias Iosias and the rest of whom mention is already made to haue the fear of God before their eyes and carefully to examine all doubts difficulties contentions and controuersies in religion according to the infallible rule of the holy scripture This done the same ciuill independent magistrate must call together his wife and graue Counsellers and after mature deliberation had with thē confirme whatsoeuer shal tend to the aduancement of Gods glory and the peace of his church And withall he must publish sharpe penall statutes against all such as shal with disloyall contumacy violate and transgresse the same Thus did the good kings Reccaredus and Constantinus and this is this day most prudently and christianly obserued in the church of England God be thanked for it For first the Archbishops Byshops and other learned Ministers come all together in the Conuocation-house and there dispute discusse determine set down what they finde conuenient for the Peace of the Church and correspondent to the infallible rule of Gods word Secondly this done they present the same to her most excellent Maiesty most humbly crauing her royall assent for the confirmation therof Thirdly her Maiesty after consultation had with her graue Counsellers doth confirme and authorise by vertue of her royall and princely prerogatiue whatsoeuer seemeth expedient for the godly gouernment of her louing subiectes and withall enacteth necessary penall lawes against the insolent contumacy of seditious and disloyall people This godly and most christian maner of proceeding in religious causes is so liuely set downe before our eyes in the honourable fact of the Noble Spanish king Reccaredus as it is able to penetrate the very heart and throughly to perswade euery one that shall ponder the same seriously and in the feare of God This religious king Reccaredus in the year of our Lord 585. cōmāded al the Bishops with in his dominions of Spaine and Galicia to come together in his royall Citie of Toledo to confute and condemne the Arrian heresie When they were come thether the king sate downe in the middest of them and declared the cause that moued him to call them together After that hee enacted a publike Edict for the inuiolable obseruation of all the decrees of the counsell straitely charging aswell the Clergie as the Laitie to obeye and keepe the same Lastly hee subscribed his owne name and that before all the Bishoppes who in their due places subscribed after the king These are the expresse wordes of the king set down in the end of the said Edict Flauius Reccaredus rex hanc deliberationem quam cum sancta definiuimus Synodo confirmans subscripsi I Flauius Reccaredus the king confirming this consultation which wee haue defined with the holy Synode haue subscribed thereunto The next that subscribed after the king was Mausona the Metropolitane Bishoppe of the Prouince of Lusitania After him subscribed Euphemius the Archbishoppe of Toledo The residue followed in order as in the Councell is to be seen These particular subscriptions I note as a matter of great moment against the Papistes who will grant no prerogatiue or royall place to kinges in time of ecclesiastical Synodes Out of these wordes contayned in the kinges subscription I note first that the king confirmed the councell Secondly that the king subscribed to the Decrees of the Councel Thirdly that the king subscribed before all the Bishops Fourthly that the king decreed and defined the controuersies together with the Bishops To which I adde for the complement in the fift place that the councell was called and the Bishoppes assembled at the kinges commaundement For so saith the Councell Cum pro fidei suae synceritate idem gloriosissimus princeps omnes regiminis sui Pontifices in vnum conuenire mandasset c. When the same most glorious prince for the sincerity of his faith had commaunded all the Bishops within his dominions do come together to Toledo c. This was the practise of godly Princes aboue a thousand yeares ago when royall Prerogatiues were not brought into thraldome by popish tyranny An Obiection The councels which the Emperour called together were plenary and generall but those which you speake of are but Prouinciall or National The latter may erre the former are euer directed by the holy Ghost The Aunswere I say first that generall councels both may erre and de facto haue erred as is already proued I say secondly that the holy Ghost doth direct two or three gathered together in his