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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10345	The summe of the conference betwene Iohn Rainoldes and Iohn Hart touching the head and the faith of the Church. Wherein by the way are handled sundrie points, of the sufficiencie and right expounding of the Scriptures, the ministerie of the Church, the function of priesthood, the sacrifice of the masse, with other controuerises of religion: but chiefly and purposely the point of Church-gouernment ... Penned by Iohn Rainoldes, according to the notes set downe in writing by them both: perused by Iohn Hart, and (after things supplied, & altered, as he thought good) allowed for the faithfull report of that which past in conference betwene them. Whereunto is annexed a treatise intitled, Six conclusions touching the Holie Scripture and the Church, writen by Iohn Rainoldes. With a defence of such thinges as Thomas Stapleton and Gregorie Martin haue carped at therein.	Rainolds, John, 1549-1607.; Hart, John, d. 1586. aut; Rainolds, John, 1549-1607. Sex theses de Sacra Scriptura, et Ecclesia. English. aut	1584 (1584)	STC 20626; ESTC S115546	763,703	768

you graunt at least that the Bishop of Rome cannot erre in faith by S. Ieroms iudgement Rainoldes Or at least you take it though neither I doo graunt it nor is it proued by S. Ierom. But this is proued and I grant it that he did not erre in the faith of the Trinitie when Damasus was Bishop of Rome Hart. When Damasus was Bishop Why do you so restraine it S. Ieroms wordes be generall I am ioyned in communion vnto your holinesse that is to Peters chaire I know that the Church is builded vpon that rocke Behold to Peters chaire He speaketh not to Damasus as in respect of Damasus but in respect of the chaire and so of the succession of the Bishops of Rome that what hee saith to one belongeth to them all Rainoldes If you set his wordes vpon such tenters they will neuer hold For him selfe reporteth that the next Bishop of Rome before Damasus Liberius by name subscribed to the Arian heresie Hart. S. Ierom reporteth so but he might be deceiued by some misreporte For he could say nothing more of that matter then what he had by heare-say Rainoldes But seing that hee liued so néere to that time and in the same place and loued the Sée of Rome and yet doth report this matter of Liberius and report it constantly not onely in his booke of Ecclesiasticall writers but in his Chronicle also it is more likely that hee did both know and testifie the truth then Pontacus who maketh your exception against him or any man that liueth now Hart. Why will not you credit a man that liueth now in any thing against S. Ierom Rainoldes Yes if he bring me good reason to disproue him Hart. And Pontacus doth so For he sheweth that Basil Ambrose and Epiphanius do call Liberius a blessed man and that Athanasius doth frée him from the spot of Arianisme Rainoldes Basil Ambrose and Epiphanius do call Liberius a blessed man What Therefore he subscribed not to the Arian heresie Then you may say that Peter did not deny Christ. For Basil Ambrose and Epiphanius doo call Peter a blessed man They are blessed who repent them selues of their sinnes as Peter did of his denyall and so might Liberius doo of his subscription As for Athanasius though hee say that Liberius condemned the heresie of the Arians and therefore suffered banishment yet hee saith withall that hee continued not in suffering banishment to the end but through feare of death subscribed to that heresie with his hand though with his heart he were still against it Thus euen Athanasius who liued at the same time with Liberius and knew his state well acknowledgeth that he subscribed though iudging most friendly both for his owne sake and the causes that he consented not But Damasus Bishop of Rome who succéeded Liberius and might know the matter better then Athanasius doth write that Liberius did consent also to Constantius the Arian Hart. Although this be writen in the booke of Damasus yet it is not likely that Damasus wrote it For Carranza noteth that there are many who dout of that storie And Onuphrius a man verie skilfull of antiquities chiefly of the Roman discrediteth both the report and the autour of it saying that Anastasius the keeper of the Popes librarie was as hee thinketh the first who beleeued it and thrust it into the booke of Damasus as many other thinges besides Rainoldes What Anastasius did I know not But if he stuffed Damasus with any thing of his owne it was belike in such thinges rather as aduance then empeach the Popes credit Howbeit if Onuphrius in that he denyeth Liberius was an Arian doo meane that he subscribed not to the Arian heresie and that this report came first from Anastasius what answereth hee then to Ierom and Athanasius and Sozomen and Marcellinus in effect too who wrote it all with one consent the youngest of them a hundred yeares before Anastasius was borne As for Carranzas note that there are many who doubt of that storie hee must shew who they be and what groundes of dout they haue Or els those many may be such as himselfe and Onuphrius whose doubting may not preiudice the credit of historians that wrote a thousand yeares before them Chiefly if they haue no surer groundes then Carranza who to disproue the storie alleageth that Liberius wrote one epistle to Athana●ius and the Bishops of Aegypt against the Arians and another to all Bishops exhorting them to constancie Which reasons are so poore that your owne Iouerius a Paris Doctour of Diuinitie rehersing them by occasion hath withall refuted them But sée to what miserable shiftes you are driuen to vphold the pride of the man of Rome Because it were a staine vnto his supremacie if his predecessour Liberius subscribed against the Catholike faith therefore you rather choose to deny it and how First the autoritie of Ierom is alleaged affirming it in his Chronicle Your Pighius doth answere that some hath interlaced those wordes into his Chronicle through ignorance or fraude When this answere séemed hard because Ierom hath other where affirmed it also your Pontacus to helpe it replieth that Ierom could say nought thereof but what he had by heare-say When proofe of this heare-say is made out of Damasus your Onuphrius supposeth him to be corrupted by Anastasius the keeper of the Popes librarie When Sozomen a Gréeke writer confirmeth Damasus and Ierom Your Christophorson who translateth him doth make him hold his peace or rather witnesse to the contrary For where he saith in his owne tongue that the Emperour compelled Liberius to subscribe he saith by your transl●tor the Emperour assayed to compel him And where he saith in his owne tongue that certaine Arian Bishops procured him to consent he saith by your translator they endeuored that he should consent When farder Marcellinus is found to agrée with Sozomens report your Genebrard séeing Ierom approued by them both doth raze out that of Ponta●us that Ierom could say nought thereof but by heare-say and doth assalt him with the Fathers Wherein besides them whom you alleaged out of Pontacus he citeth Socrates and Theodoret Socrates declaring that Liberius was no Arian in the time of Valens the Emperour as though this were a proofe that hee subscribed not to the Arian heresie in the time of Constantius Theodoret auouching that the west was alwayes free form Arianisme which is lesse to the purpose Theodoret speaking generally as for the most part and in respect of the East by way of comparison For himselfe had shewed before that Auxentius a westerne Bishop was an Arian Now for Athanasius who is the most auncient witnesse of this matter and of such valure that your Andradius could not but yéeld himselfe vnto him yet Genebrard Pontacus thought it good policie to name him as gainesaying

earthly not bodily but spirituall not temporall but eternall Their authoritie they receiued by the wordes of his commission But the discharge of the duetie required great treasures of the holie Ghost Whereof hée gaue them some then more in the fiery toonges from heauen more as the churches state required and these well occupied gained more with the increase whereof their abilitie still increased their authoritie not so which all was giuen them at once Hart. But a King for better triall of his Iustices may commit some lesser authoritie first vnto them and afterwarde greater Rainoldes So did Christ to his Apostles But hauing made triall of them in the lesser he called them by this commission to the greater nay to the greatest then which he had no greater for them Hart. Not within the limits perhaps of their commission yet he might enlarge them and giue them greater limits Rainoldes But Christ in this commission had giuen them authoritie through all his dominion not through a shire onely For he sent them to all nations Hart. And what if I grant that Christ in this commission gaue all that power to Peter which he had promised him was to giue vnto him Rainoldes If he gaue him all that power in this commission no part thereof remained to be giuen in any other If no part to be giuen then was there no further power giuen to him by those wordes of Christ Feede my lambes feede my sheepe If no further power were giuen him thereby the bulwarke of your Papacy is builded on a fansie Hart. Then belike our Sauiour spake to no purpose when he said to Peter Doost thou loue mee Feede my lambes Doost thou loue mee Feede my sheepe Rainoldes God forbid To great purpose though not to yours For he giueth him therein a commandement though not a commission As if the Quéenes Maiestie hauing made alreadie by letters of commission some Iustices in the North one perhaps amongst them of whose faithfull heart she were persuaded well yet that had shewed himselfe not of the trustiest in time of the rebellion shée should say vnto him to stirre in him a liuely regard of his duetie Do you loue vs Haue care of our poore subiectes Doo you loue vs Haue care of our good people Which charge and commaundement Christ might giue a great deale better to Peter then the Quéene to any Iustice in the North because shée knoweth not whither any new Bull be comming from Rome or new rebellion be toward But he knew that Peter should be in greater danger then he was when he fled and denied his Maister Whereof he forewarneth him straight vpon the giuing him of this commandement and that with earnest words of great asseueration as in a matter of weight telling him that he should dye a gréeuous death for his profession of the faith and féeding of the flocke of Christ. So that to arme him against that feare of the flesh which before had made him to betray his duetie when he had lesse cause to feare Christ hauing made the iron hot as it were by asking him Doost thou loue mee striketh it to make it a fit instrument to build with so commandeth Feede my flocke yea though the worke be painefull and will cost thée déere for it shall bring thée to thy death So he committeth not a new charge to Peter but willeth him to looke to that which he had committed and flée not from it for any danger As if a wise shipmaster séeing a daungerous storme at hand should command his mariners whom he had well deserued of that if they loue him they looke vnto their tackelings Hart. Well If it were perhaps not a commission but a commandement yet was it a commandement to discharge that duetie wherewith he was put in trust by commission Rainoldes I grant What inferre you Hart. Then Peter had commission to feede the lambes and sheepe of Christ. Rainoldes Who dooth deny it For he had the same commission from Christ that Christ from God his Father to preach the Gospell to the poore to heale the broken-hearted to preach deliuerance to the captiues and recouering of sight to the blind to set at libertie them that are bruised and preach the acceptable yeare of the Lord. Which is in other wordes to feede the lambes and sheepe of Christ. For Christ by a similitude is named the chiefe shepheard his church and chosen seruants a flocke of sheepe and lambes whereof he gaue a principall charge to his Apostles that they should féede it Wherefore the commandement giuen vnto Peter to feede his sheepe and lambes importeth the commission which before was giuen him when Christ sent him as God sent Christ. But in this commission the Apostles all were equall vnto Peter They were equall therefore to him in charge of feeding the sheepe and lambes of Christ. And so the second point which I had to proue the verie deaths-wound of your supremacy is proued Hart. Proued How proued Rainoldes As clearely as the Sunne dooth shine at noone day For to send the Apostles as God the Father sent Christ is to giue them charge to feede his sheepe and lambes But Christ sent the Apostles as God the Father sent him Therefore he gaue them charge to feede his sheepe lambes Now this is the greatest power that can be shewed was giuen Peter by Christ. Wherefore in the greatest power that Christ gaue him the rest of the Apostles all were his equals If you be loth herein to beleeue the Scripture yet beleeue the Pope and an ancient Pope vnlesse the Canon law lye The rest of the Apostles receiued honor and power in equall felowship with Peter Hart. It is true that the Apostles were equall to Peter but in respect of their Apostleship not of their Pastorall charge Rainoldes This answere of yours hath a distinction but not a difference It is the same fellow but in an other gowne whom a litle rather I shewed to be a bankrupt and now he commeth foorth againe in newe apparaile like an honest and welthy Citizen Hart Why say you so Rainoldes Because you did distinguish the Bishoply power of the Apostles from their power Apostolike as here with other wordes you doo their Apostleship from their Pastorall charge Whereas in déede the pastorall charge of the Apostles is nothing els but their Apostleship and hath no more difference then the other had For the name of Pastor is vsed in two senses a speciall and a generall In the speciall to note a kind of function distinct from the Apostles your Doctor graunteth it and so Apostles are not Pastors as when it is said some Apostles some Prophets some Euangelistes some Pastors and teachers In the general to signifie the cōmon charge of al such as do teach the word and féede the flocke of God in which respect Christ him selfe is called a Pastor Wherefore sith Apostles

opinion and sound in points of faith yea so sound and right that they think no pestilent disease may attache her no contagion infect her no spot of vnfaithfulnes any way defile her Of the which assertion they alleage the Fathers to omitte the residue men of baser credit for principall patrones And therein Andradius dealeth somewhat wisely For he dooth heape together witnesses without testimonies the geuers of euidence without euidence Austins Ieroms Basils Athanases and Chrysostoms But Sanders much more gloriously For he hath laide on such a l●ade of testimonies that if the sayings should be numbred and not weighed we must léese our suite no remedy But all the Fathers whom this pety-lawier produceth as speakers for the Popes monarchie doo either deny that the Church of Rome did erre or that it may erre did erre as Irenaeus In the Church of Rome that doctrine hath beene kept still which was deliuered by the Apostles may erre as Cyprian that the Romanes are they whose faith is commended and praysed by the Apostle vnto whom vnfaithfulnes can not haue accesse The former who deny that the Church of Rome did erre speake not against vs. For we doo not say that it did erre in Irenaeus time but that it dooth erre now He denyeth that it did erre we say that it dooth erre doo we gainesay one another Ierusalem is called the citie of God by the Psalmist and he is said there to be serued Esay termeth it an harlot The temple of the Lord is named the house of God the house of prayer by Salomon by Christ it is reported to be a denne of theeues Dooth Esay speake against the Psalmist or Christ against Salomon No but the Psalmist sheweth what Ierusalem was in his time Esay what in his The faithfull citie is become an harlot it was a faithfull citie but it is become an harlot Salomon teacheth what the house of God ought to be Christ what it is made You haue made it a denne of theues it was not to Salomon but you haue made it So Rome was likewise sound in the time of the Fathers but the faithfull citie is become an harlot the soundnes it hath lost it hath got a leprousie it was the house of God it is a denne of théeues it held the faith of Christ but it is fallen from it It had kept the doctrine still which was deliuered by the Apostles vntill the time of Irenaeus but that it hath kept still vntil our time the doctrin which was deliuered by the Apostles doth it thereof folow Unlesse perhaps the Popes Courtiers will proue that the whoores the Courtisans which keepe their stewes are virgins because they were virgins when they were litle babes The former Fathers then who deny that the church of Rome did erre doo not gainsay vs. The later who deny that it may erre gainsay vs in deed but they gainesay the holy Ghost too By whose inspiration the blessed Apostle exhorting the Roman church not to lift vp it selfe against the Iewes Be not high minded saith he but feare For if God spared not the natural branches take heed least he also spare not thee Behold there fore the bountifulnes and seueritie of God seueritie toward thē which haue fallen but toward thee bountifulnes if thou continue in his bountifulnes or els thou shalt also be cut off The church of Rome therefore may be cut of if cut of then erre if erre then vnfaithfulnes may haue accesse vnto it What and was Cyprian of an other minde Pardon me O Cyprian I would beléeue thée gladly but that beléeuing thee I should not beléeue the word of God But whether we should rather beléeue God or man let the Papists iudge At least if they beléeue rather man then God let them beléeue the reason and iudgement of their owne men For Sotus Alfonsus Hosius Verratus the lightes of the Papists doo witnesse that any particular church may erre But that the church of Rome is a particular church the same Verratus affirmeth nor can the rest deny it Wherefore if Cyprian did thinke that the church of Rome can not erre in that he must him selfe be condemned of errour by the Papists iudgement And so whereas all the testimonies of the Fathers are of two sortes the one of them true but cleane beside the purpose the other to the purpose enough but vntrue it foloweth that the sicknes of the Church of Rome can finde no helpe in any medicines of the Fathers What haue we then to doo with them by whom olde Rome is praysed and reported to gather together Christians to peace and repaire their faith to minister reliefe vnto the brethren the Churches to be a schoole of the Apostles a mother-citie of godlinesse a sanctified Church and such like things a number We haue to doo with new Rome whom her owne stories actes and monuments doo conuince to be a nurse of wars a parent of vnfaithfulnesse a spoyler of the brethren a worshipper of idols a seate of couetousnesse a ladie of pride a cherisher inflamer of lustes of outrages of abominations whose most louing sonne complaineth of his mother that her old fame continueth but her goodnesse is gone that her Pastours are turned into the shape of woolues the neerer you come the filthier all thinges be that trifles are giuen gold is receyued and onely money raigneth there that the Church-goods are made to serue for scoffers the altars for wantons the temples for boyes abused by vnnaturall monsters that the lawes diuine and humane are denyed men and God deceiued holinesse put to flight godlinesse despised renounced and afflicted Yet that a holy life would leade from Rome see that ye flee Though al things els be lawful there yet good ye may not be And these may séeme I hope both weightie causes and iust why the reformed Churches to come to the last Conclusion in England Scotland Fraunce Germany other kingdomes commō wealthes haue seuered them selues from the corruption of Rome Though if this were al that it were not lawful to lead a holy life at Rome that we might not be good as Mantuan affirmeth we would haue departed from the citie of Rome as Mantuan aduiseth vs but we would not haue gone frō the Church of Rome If onely smal infirmities had cra●ed the health of Rome in pointes of faith such as certaine did in the time of the Fathers we would haue lamented but tolerated it taking compassion of men being vnwarily fallen into a faute we would haue born their burdens But sith in the felowship of the Church of Rome it was not lawful for vs either to serue God with a holy worship or to beléeue God with a holy faith as God hath commanded sith the Church of Rome being taken with contagious diseases a frensy did put her counsellers to

to harten them against all dangers and deceites of enemies with the skill of warfare and sure hope of victorie he bindeth them with sacraments as with bonds of obedience and pledges of his grace he willeth them to call for his helpe in distresses promiseth it if they call for it he appointeth them warlike discipline to kéepe them selues in order and gard them safer from their enemies to be short be deliuereth them the whole trade of warfare opened by himselfe the Generall of the armie and writen in his word To the intent then that all the souldiers of God who be sent at diuers times into diuers countries to serue him in this warfare might learne it practise it he hath ordeined as ciuill assemblies societies for the mainteinance of this life so likewise for the next ecclesiasticall In which ecclesiasticall societies and assemblies it is his will pleasure that there should be captaines to teach and souldiers to learne both of them warriours faithfully to practise and wage the warre of the Lord. And these are called churches but particular churches to distinguish them from the catholike because they are diuers partes of the catholike that is the whole church diuers members of one body diuers bandes of one army Which for the diuers regard of place and time wherein they go to warfare are specified by diuers names In regard of place the church which serued God at Ierusalem is called the church of Ierusalem that which at Samaria the church of Samaria that which at Ephesus the church of Ephesus that which at Rome the church of Rome they which in England in France in Germany are called the English the French the Dutch churches In regard of time wée say the Iewish church in the dayes of Moses of Dauid of Ezekias the Roman vnder Nero Constantine Boniface the English in King Henries raigne King Edwardes Queene Maries or how soeuer els the difference of times be noted Now the rule of reason and honestie would that euery one of these churches ordeined by God to that end should bring foorth the children of God as a mother yeld dutifull honour to God as a spouse and fight the spirituall battailes of God as a valiant and faithfull army But the deuill the enemy of the chosen woman in nature a Satan in subtletie a serpent in fiercenes a dragon which furiously pursueth the woman her seede soweth rares among the wheate in the field of the Lord that is to say he mingleth his souldiors with the souldiours of God in the campe and amongst the godly he foysteth in hypocrites that they being felow-souldiors in shew but traitours in déede may corrupt the army And him selfe prouoketh the faithfull to reuolt from God by all his practises open and secret force and fraude some time by fyer and sword of tyrantes some time by baites of pleasures and wealth some time by the pretense of religion and charitie By the which meanes he procureth often partly through the craft and cunning of hypocrites chiefly when they are made captaines of some band partly through the frailtie and infirmitie of the elect whom flesh and blood doo weaken that the church which is billed to the warfare of Christ knoweth not or careth not for the trade of warfare and serueth perhaps vnder her captaines banner but retchlessely and loosely perhaps is betrayed to the enemy by her watchmen while either they doo fall a sleepe or deale falsely And so commeth that to passe at the length which the Prophets lament in the church of the Iewes too many churches since Christes time haue felt that the church which should be a mother is a stepmother shée whose faith is plight to Christ becometh an adulteresse bands of souldiers breaking their promise yea their oth doo rebell against the Highest So the churches of Galatia when they had beléeued the Gospell of Christ and their names were billed by their owne consent to serue in his warres were remoued away by such as troubled them to an other Gospell So S. Paul feareth for the Church of Corinth least as the serpent beguiled Eue through his suttletie so their minds should be corrupted and seduced from the simplicitie that is in Christ. So Christ him selfe teacheth vs that the church of Pergamus was stayned with the filth of the Nicolaitans that the church of Laodicea was blind naked luke-warme neither hot nor cold that the church of Sardis was in part dead in part readie to dye though aliue in part The assemblies therefore of the churches militant called visible churches which doo containe the good togither with the bad the chosen with the reprobate the faithfull with the treacherous the holy with the hypocrites chaffe with corne tares with wheate wooden and earthen vessels with vessels of gold and siluer some of them for honour and some vnto dishonour I say these visible churches may doo their dutie faintly may leaue it altogither vndoon may be discharged of their oth and dismissed from souldiers seruice they may be sicke of lesser diseases and infirmities they may be of a deadly pestilence they may lose the spirit of Christ and so dye Furthermore to make it easier to be séene what churches ought to be accounted dead what churches sicke what churches whole and sound we haue to consider the causes of death of sicknesse and of health The causes of these things do come in mens bodies as Physicians teach partly from the seede that wee are begotten of partly from the foode wherewith wee are nourished Whereof the one appeereth in sicknesse and diseases that come by inheritance such as are deriued from the parents to the children the other as it hath a great force in all men so experience sheweth that it hath greatest force in armies For the souldiors who serued Marcus Antonius being faine to eate rootes for want of corne fell vpon an herb which brought them first to madnesse and afterward to death and Vegetius a writer of the trade of warfare geuing charge that souldiers drinke not of marish waters saith that naughty water is like vnto poyson and doth breede the plague in them who drinke of it Not vnlike is the case of spirituall death diseases and health in the bodies of Churches For they doo either liue in p●rfit good health or fall into sicknes or come to their death according to the nature of their seede and foode Now the seede whereof and foode with the which they are wont and ought to be begotten anew and nourished is the word of God as S. Peter witnesseth preached by the seruants and ministers of Christ. Therefore in what Churches the ministers doo preach the word of God pure sincere and vncorrupt that it may bréede good iuyce and blood in them through the inward woorking of the holy Ghost those churches must we count to be ●ound and whole some of them

the people may haue eyes and not reade them eares and not heare them In the which fact whither they shew them selues more disobedient to God or iniurious to the people it is hard to say sith God hath expresly commanded that all things must be doon to edifie that is to build vp and things not vnderstoode I trow build not vp no not the tower of Babylon But by this meanes the people can not heare the word of God publikely because he speaketh to them in an outlandish toong and a strange language Which thing the Lord laid on the Iewes for a punishment the Roman Church doth thrust it on Christians for a benefit Much lesse are they able priuately to reade it because they neither haue the scriptures translated into their mother toongs and many in the time of our predecessours were condemned as heretikes for reading part thereof which they had translated Wherefore sith the plentie of the word of God which it is a point of very heinous wickednes not to procure for Christians more heinous not to allow it them most heinous not to permit it them is not onely not permitted but hindered by the Church of Rome and hindered not onely by lawes but by fyer too I will not vse sharper wordes against her tyranny onely this I say that he must be impudent néedes who would deny that shée hath brought in a famin of the word The causes then of sicknesse are manifestly found in the Church of Rome both for the corruption and scarcitie of the foode of life Now such as the cause is such is the effect and out of bitter fountaines there issue bitter waters The lesse maruell is it that her effectes and functions bewray sore diseases such as must of likelihood procéede from such causes For a sound and whole Church the faculties and powers whereof are not impaired hath fower speciall functions as the scriptures shew namely to teach the faith to minister the sacraments to pray and practise discipline according to the word of God But neither is the faith of Christ purely taught nor sacraments rightly ministred nor prayers made religiously nor discipline duely practised by the Church of Rome The Church of Rome therefore is not whole and sound no more then was his daughter who said vnto Christ my daughter is at the point of death For to say a little of ech of these in order the summe of the doctrine of the Christian faith is the saluation of the faithfull by Iesus Christ the lambe of God Of the which saluation the beginning cometh from the grace of God the substance consisteth in the righteousnes of God the end is referred to the glory of God by the holy scriptures This holy religion which maketh God all in all for our saluation giuing the whole to him and taking it from men that we may trust not in flesh but in the Lord onely dooth sauour of Christian modestie too much it contenteth not the Roman pride and arrogancy And therefore as Prometheus in the Greeke fables is said to haue allotted part of a sacrifice to Iupiter part to him selfe euen so the Prometheus of the Popish Church in the Roman faith assigneth and referreth the beginning of our saluation in part to Gods grace in part to the power of nature the substance of our saluation in part to Gods righteousnes in part to mans merits the end of our saluation in part to Gods glory in part to the honour and woorship of creatures Neither is this doon by some one Prometheus or Epimetheus rather but by the whole company of the Epimetheans euen the Councell of Trent though closely sometimes to couer their deceit with darknes yet so that their expositours bring their hidden meanings out into the light For first and formost they will haue the naturall power and abilitie of their owne will free-will they terme it to be concurrent as they speake with the grace of God that is a party-worker with it as if God did onely reléeue the will béeing weake and raise it vp being faint not renue it being corrupted and repaire it being perished Besides they imagine that infidels and faithlesse men doo certaine workes they call them woorkes of preparation in which though being doon without faith they sinne not nay they procure the grace of God thereby So they bring to passe as much as lieth in them at least they indeuour what by the power of free-will what by their works of preparation that all be not attributed to the grace of God which grace is with them as Paul saith of himselfe but to the grace of God with them as those words of Paul are ill expressed in their translation that is some what to Gods grace and somewhat to their own merit at least as to a merit of meetenes and conueniency As for the righteousnes of God which is geuen vs in Christ while we are clensed from our sinnes and acquitted as righteous before Gods iudgement-seate by the sacrifice of Christ offered for the faithfull and the obedience of Christ imputed to the faithfull they contemne this righteousnes yea and condemne it as hereticall In the stéede whereof as of a vaine righteousnes or at least to it as to a righteousnes vnperfit they put the righteousnes of men consisting of their own woorks and merites of woorthines woorkes and merites wrought by the grace of Christ they will say I graunt yet of their own woorkes and merites of woorthines as the Schoolemen name them that is to say the woorthines whereof doth deserue and merit euerlasting life That so they may enioy it not of gift but of duetie by their own merit not by Christes as triumphers not as suters not as beggers but as conquerors after the glorious vant of the Louan-diuinitie To that which purpose they doo not extenuate onely the worthines of the merites of Christ in so much that they supply the weaknes thereof with their own merits other mens with due workes and vndue with Masses Trentals Pardons Pilgrimages with treasures of the church with praiers of the Saints finally wit satisfactions while they are aliue and after death with paines to be endured in Purgatory but also they extoll and lift vp to the sky the woorthines of their own merites professing most proudly that they are able to doo the law of God perfitly and truely to merit euerlasting life yea to doo more then they are bound by Gods law euen workes as they terme them of supererogation thereby to help foolish virgins with their oyle And hence it commeth too that they doo no lesse extenuate their own sinnes then they extoll their own vertues neither make they onely veniall sinnes of mortall and change the commandementes of God into counsels but also deny concupiscence to be sinne acquitting fleshly lustes wherewith we being pricked doo rebell against