meanes those blessings which are incomprehensible Seeing therfore that grace is a consequent of Sacraments a thing which accompanieth them as their end a benefit which he y t hath receiueth from God himselfe the author of Sacraments not from any other natural or supernatural quality in them it may be heereby both vnderstood that Sacraments are necessary and that the manner of their necessity to life supernaturall is not in al respects as foode vnto naturall life Because they containe in themselues no vitall force or efficacie but they are duties of seruice and worship which vnlesse we performe as the author of grace requireth they are vnprofitable For all receiue not the grace of God which receiue the Sacraments of his grace Neither is it ordinarily his will to bestowe the grace of Sacraments vpon any but by the Sacraments Which grace also they that receiue by Sacraments or with Sacraments receiue it from him and not from them That sauing grace which Christ originally is or hath for the general good of his whole Church by Sacramēts he seuerally deriueth into euery mēber therof They serue as instruments the vse is in our hands the effect is his And this made the Schoolemen and the rest which you are affraide to graunt to say that the Sacraments were not only signes but causes of our iustification Now agent causes we know are of two sorts principall which worketh by the vertue and power of his forme as fire maketh hotte and thus nothing can cause grace but God himselfe Grace being a participation of the diuine nature Instrumentall which worketh not as the other by vertue of his owne proper forme but only by that motion which it hath from the principall and first agent Thus doe Sacraments worke and therfore saith Saint Austin the Sacraments are finished performed and passe away but the vertue of God that worketh by them or with them remaineth Thus for the vse of them the Church hath Gods expresse commandement for the effect his conditionall promise so that without our obedience to the one there is of the other no apparant assurance as contrariwise where the signes and Sacraments of his grace are not either through contempt vnreceiued or receiued with contempt we are not to doubte but that they really giue what they promise and are what they signifie For we take not the Sacraments as it seemeth you doe for bare resemblances or memorials of things absent neither for naked signes and testimonies assuring vs of grace receiued before but as they are indeede and in truth for meanes effectual whereby God when we take the Sacraments deliuereth into our hands that grace auaileable vnto eternall life which grace the Sacraments represent or signifie And yet we acknowledge as Hugo saith that the Sacraments being as he calleth them vessels of grace they cure not of them selues no more then glasses doe the sick but the potions contained in them Neither doth any man say no not the Church of Rome although they be so accused by some of vs that the Sacraments worke of themselues by a vertue resigned vnto them without God meerely of the worked on actiuely but that God worketh by them as by instruments powerfull and thought in his wisdome fittest For doubtles the Church hath authority to vse the word and the Sacraments as powerfull meanes of regeneration both hauing by a diuine ordination a force and vertue to beget faith and therefore iustly amongst all the treasures that God hath left vnto his Church we honor and admire most the holy Sacraments not respecting so much the seruice which we do vnto God in receiuing them as the dignity of that sacred and secret guift which we thereby receiue from God And therfore when our Church saith that Sacraments are not only markes of Christian profession but rather certaine testimonies and effectuall signes of Grace and of the goodwill of God towards vs by which God worketh inuisiblie in vs we thereby conceiue how grace is indeed the very end for which these heauenly mysteries were instituted and besides sundry other properties obserued in them the matter whereof they consist is such as signifieth figureth and representeth their end For surely sacraments are the powerfull instruments of God vnto eternall life For as the naturall life consisteth in the vnion of the body with the soule so the spiritual life in the vnion of the soule with God And for asmuch as there is no vnion of God with man without that meane betweene both which is both nor this participated to vs without the sacraments the vertue must needs bee great that God by these imparteth vnto his Church For they are signes not only signifying but as M. Zanchie saith exhibiting also inuisible grace For God directly affirmeth that he giueth that with the signe which by the signe he representeth In the Sacraments wee acknowledge three things The Word the Element the thing signified by the word and represented by the element and all these vnited yet not by any reall or physicall vnion that one cannot bee receiued without the other but in these the vnion is sacramentall and the order mysticall betwixt the signes and the things signified by an institution from God Whereby it commeth to passe that heauenly and spirituall things by signes bodily and earthly are signified offered and by the vertue of the holy Ghost really exhibited and performed vnto the elect Thus if either the signes or the thing signified be wanting it ceaseth truly to bee a sacrament Neither is grace necessarily tied euer to the externall sacrament for we giue the one and God giueth the other and when both are giuen then is the sacrament faithfully receiued Thus God iustifieth by the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the holy Ghost for this being the effect of his promise the sacraments apply it vnto vs by thus giuing it faith by thus receiuing both being as instruments For God doth iustifie by the sacraments man by faith but God one and the same maketh righteous by both he being the author from whence they both come Therefore it is a branch of beleefe howsoeuer you scoffe at it as omitted in our Creed that sacraments are in their place as Maister Hooker saith no lesse required then beleefe it self For when our Sauior promiseth eternall life it is with this condition as health to Naaman the Syrian Wash and be cleane But you are afraid to say that the Sacraments beget faith although you confesse that they do increase it Surely this is a feare like to the disposition of some melancholie humour where fancie growing strong forceth an auoidance of things oftentimes that are without daunger for to make Sacraments and the word to be ioyned with faith both in his generation and in our iustification is neither to rob faith of his proper office nor to ascribe more vnto the Sacraments then of right belongeth For we are not in anie doubt to affirme
the free will both being the rationall power of desiring but that the one respecteth the end and then it is called will the other respecteth the meanes and then it is called free-will So the same power of vnderstanding as it respecteth the first principles is called vnderstanding as it respecteth the conclusion which is gathered by a discourse from the principles it is called reason Now this reason concerning things doubtful hath naturally in it selfe a way to both opposites but leaneth to that for the most part wherunto either appetite ignorance or grace sway it So that though freely and without constraint it follow naturally the wisedome of the flesh yet without a supernaturall grace the wisedome of the flesh is enmitie against God For it is not subiect to the lawe of God neither indeed can be This being duly weighed with vnderstanding and considered of with a charitable humilitie such as the cause requireth euery man may see notwithstanding your accusation that our Church in this neither differeth from the truth nor Master Hooker at all from our Church ARTICLE VI. Of Faith and Works WHere charity hath not power enough to guide reason there malice out of ignorance is able to make conclusions against sense For the eies being blinded which naturally are to perform the best offices of seeing the colours that are discerned otherwise are litle better then the false errors of a troubled fancy For where the light is darkenes how great must that darkenes be To attaine by a supernaturall power to that felicity which is an acte of the greatest mercy as infinite numbers faile in the thing so there are not a few which vtterly mistake the meanes And whilest all that are Christians acknowledge it to be a grace eager contentions are stirred vp whether it be imputed or inherent in vs. And seeing in this acte of iustification by the consent of all man doth receiue from God what he hath the question is what vertue must be in that hand to inable weakenes to receiue such strength and how that faith must be accompanied that is able to clothe our soules with the righteousnes of anothers merit Heere we haue aduersaries whom peraduenture we mistake as they mistake vs making as in other points a misconstruction to be the ground of a great difference and the strongest opposition to arise from hence that nether part is willing to vnderstand each other Heere if we should but discouer the least meanes of reconcilement some hasty spirits would not stick to accuse vs as more then partiall and that treacherouslie we sought to betray the cause In that we purpose to set downe what truth warranteth in this behalfe it is rather to free him from suspition whom you doe accuse then that hee in that wherein you accuse him any way standeth in neede of our weake defence If man rightly value but the merit of the Sonne of God and how so humble and innocent obedience to so lowe a state must needes in iustice make a full satisfaction for so great a sin he cannot chuse but confesse that onely for the merit of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ through faith and not for works and our merits we are accounted righteous before God If the soule of man did serue only to giue him being in this life then things appertaining to this life would cōtent him as we see they doe other creatures which creatures inioying those things by which they liue they doe seeke no further but in this contentation doe shew a kinde of acknowledgement that there is no higher good which any way doth belong vnto them With man it is far otherwise for although all inferiour things were in the possession of one yet he would euer with a desire thirst for some thing aboue all those so that nature euen in this life doth claime a perfection higher and more diuine then any thing in it selfe which man must receiue in the reward now rewards doe alwaies presuppose such duties performed as are rewardable our naturall meanes vnto blessednesse are our workes nor is it possible that nature should euer finde any other way to saluation but only this Yet seeing that no man can say since the foundation of the world that his workes are pure but that all flesh is guilty of that for which God hath threatned eternally to punish there resteth either no way vnto saluation or a way which must needs be supernatural and aboue mans reach Had Adam continued in his first estate mans absolute righteousnes and integrity in all his actions had bin the way of life to him and to all his posterity though peraduenture not in so large a manner as heauenly felicity doth import the possession whereof euen the least moment were too abundant a retribution Yet now we fayling in that which was our dutie it were a thing impossible in nature to obtaine the other The light of nature is neuer able to find out any way of obtaining the reward of blisse but by performing exactly the works of righteousnes Therfore God hath prepared a supernaturall way namely that we doe beleeue not that God doth require nothing vnto happines at the hands of men as Maister Hooker sayth sauing only a naked faith for Hope Charity we may not exclude but that without faith all other things are as nothing this being the grounde of those other diuine vertues The principall obiect of faith is that eternall verity which hath discouered the treasures of hidden wisdome in Christ the highest obiect of hope is that euerlasting goodnes which in Christ doth quicken the dead the final obiect of charity is that incōprehensible beauty which shineth in the countenance of Christ the Son of the liuing God The first beginneth heere with a weake apprehension of things not seene and endeth in the beholding of God in the world to come The second beginneth heere with a trembling expectation of things far remoued and as yet but only heard of and endeth with a reall and actuall fruition of that which no toong is able to expresse The third beginneth heere with a weake inclination of hart towards him vnto whom we are not able to approch and endeth with an endles vnion the mystery wherof is higher then the reach of the thoughts of men And howsoeuer the apprehension of that righteousnesse wherby man is iustified be properly but the worke of one yet we dare not neither doe any learned in our Church make faith to be naked of other vertues and therefore it is so much the more strange that you follow the error which our aduersaries haue accused vs for as though it were an opinion holden by our Church In this article against Maister Hooker you say that God requireth no more at the hands of men vnto happinesse then a naked beleefe And a little after We claime nothing by any dutie we do or can do or any vertue which wee find in our selues but onely by
and as if it were neuer giuen True it is that seeing God from whom mens seuerall degrees preheminences proceed hath appointed them in his Church at whose hands his pleasure is that we should receiue Baptisme and all other publike helpes medicinable to the soule perhaps thereby the more to settle our hearts in the loue of our ghostly superiors they haue small cause to hope that with him their voluntarie seruices will be accepted who thrust themselues into functions either aboue their capacitie or besides their place and ouerboldly intermeddle with duties whereof no charge was euer giuen vnto them In which respect if lawes forbid it to be done yet therefore it is not necessarily void when it is done For many things are firme being done which in part are done otherwise thē positiue rigor and strictnes did require Actions vsurped haue often the same nature which they haue in others although they yeeld not him that doth them the same comfort What defects then are in this kind they redound with restraint to the offender only the grace of Baptisme commeth by donation from God onely That God hath committed the mysterie of Baptisme vnto speciall men it is for orders sake in his Church and not to the intent that their authoritie might giue being or adde force to the Sacrament it selfe Infants haue right to Baptisme we all know that they haue it not by lawfull ministers it is not their fault Mens owne faults are their owne harmes So then wee conclude this point with Maister Hooker that it is one thing to defend the fact for lawfulnesse in the doer which few do and another thing the fact being done which no man hath reason to disallow for though it is not lawfull for women to vndertake that office to baptize which peraduenture belongs not vnto them yet the Baptisme being done we hold it lawfull ARTICLE XIIII Of the Sacraments IT is not a thing lesse vsuall in the apprehension of truths through the weaknesse of our vnderstanding to ascribe too little to that which in all reason hath great vertue then to allow ouermuch to that which hath no vertue at all It fareth with men in this kind as it doth with some deceitfull artificers who bestow most arte and outward additions where inwardly there is least value whilest they leaue that altogether vnfurnished which is able to expose it to sale by his owne worth It is our fault no lesse violently to extoll what our fancies make vs to account excellent then to dispraise things truly commendable in their owne nature because onely they haue gained this disaduantage to bee disliked by vs. So that whosoeuer maketh either praise or dispraise to be a rule of iudgement or the iudgement of some few to bee a signe of value he with like hazard equally erreth in both For times and places violent circumstances of that which men say with or against breed infinite varietie of alterations where things are the same and out of commendation alone a strange effect dispraise like a monster doth spring vp It being cause sufcient to distempered humours vehemently to dislike only in this respect that others doe commend the same Wherein the safest and most charitable direction will bee absolutely in that violent opposition to beleeue neither but euen from both to deriue a truth much sounder then that which either holdeth From hence hath it come to passe that whilest they of the Church of Rome haue peraduenture ascribed too much to works some of vs too little others haue set downe an equality dissenting from both Thus in the matter of the sacraments things of greatest and most hidden vertue left vnto the Church for they are called Mysteries some haue bin thought to deriue that power to them which belongeth to God only which whilest others sought to auoide they haue euen depriued them of that grace which God doubtles in truth hath bestowed vpon them In this kinde you are of opinion that M. Hooker hath erred who as you imagine hath ascribed to the sacraments farre more following therein the steps of the Church of Rome then either the Scripture the articles of our Church or the exposition of our Reuerend Bishops and others do For the Fathers say you make the Sacraments only Seales of assurance by which the Spirit worketh inuisibly to strengthen our faith And therfore they call them visible words seales of righteousnesse and tokens of grace That they doe and say thus there is no man doubteth but we are not yet perswaded that this is all or the furthest as you alledge that they saie because vndoubtedly we are assured that they haue learned both to know and to speake otherwise For the Sacraments chiefest force and vertue consisteth in this that they are heauenly ceremonies which God hath sanctified and ordained to be administred in his Church First as markes to know when God doth impart his vitall or sauing grace of Christ vnto all that are capable therof and secondly as meanes conditionall which God requireth in them vnto whom he imparteth grace For doubtles it must needes be a great vnthankfulnesse and easily breed contempt to ascribe only that power to them to be but as seales and that they teach but the minde by other sense as the worde doth by hearing which if it were all what reason hath the Church to bestow any Sacrament vpon Infants who as yet for their yeares are nor capable of any instruction there is therefore of Sacraments vndoubtedly some more excellent and heauenly vse Sacraments by reason of their mixt nature are more diuersly interpreted and disputed of then any other part of Religion besides for that in so great store of properties belonging to the selfe same thing as euery mans wit hath taken hold of some especiall consideration aboue the rest so they haue accordingly giuen their censure of the vse and necessity of them For if respect bee had to the dutie which euery communicant doth vndertake we may cal them truly bōds of our obedience to God strict obligations to the mutuall exercise of Christian charity prouocations to godlines preseruatiōs frō sin memorials of the principal benefits of Christ. If we respect the time of their institutiō they are annexed for euer vnto the new testamēt as other rites were before with the old If we regard the weakenesse that is in vs they are warrants for the more security of our beleefe If we compare the receiuers with those that receiue them not they are works of distinctiō to separate Gods owne from strangers and in those that receiue them as they ought they are tokens of Gods gratious presence whereby men are taught to know what they cannot see For Christ and his holy spirit with all their blessed effects though entring into the soule of man we are not able to apprehend or expresse how doe notwithstanding giue notice of the times when they vse to make their accesse because it pleaseth Almighty God to communicate by sensible
that the Sacraments by the worke done actiuely doe not affoord grace though rightly vnderstood passiuely they may by the worke done for in that iustification and meanes of righteousnesse whereof man is made partaker by the Sacraments manie things concurre First in Gods behalfe a will that we should vse those sensible elements in Christs behalfe his passion from which the sacraments haue their vertue in the Ministers behalfe his power his will in the receiuers behalfe will faith repentance in respect of the Sacrament it selfe the externall action which ariseth out of the fit application of the matter the form of the Sacraments Now that which in all this actiuely and instrumentally bringeth grace is the externall action which is commonly called the Sacrament This hauing his vertue from his institution and not from anie merit either in the Minister or in him that receiueth For the wil of God which vseth the Sacramēts as that meanes of grace which it hath ordained concurreth actiuely but as a principall cause the passion of Christ concurreth as a cause meritorious the power and the will of the Minister necessarily concurre but as causes further remoued hauing their vse only in effecting the sacramentall action in whose due circumstances of administring he is vnwilling to faile Will faith and repentance are necessarily required in the receiuer that is of yeares not as actiue causes but as fit dispositions for the subiect for faith and repentance make not the sacramentall grace nor giue power to the Sacrament but onely remoue those lets which are hindrances that the Sacraments exercise not that vertue that is annexed to them So that in infants in whom no such disposition is required the sacrament of Baptisme is auaileable without these And therefore to satisfie your demaunds in this Article wee conclude that a man dying without faith and receiuing the sacramentall signes for sacraments he cannot receiue shall not be saued and not receiuing them if his want bee not either negligence or contempt may be saued Yet the latter to vs is fearefull and ordinarily impossible whereas the former is an euidence of our hope and giueth most iust reason charitably to iudge So that we say with Saint Austin he that eateth and drinketh vnworthily eateth and drinketh his owne damnation but he that contemneth to eate hath not life and therefore shall not come to eternall life And yet those things that hurt the vnworthy receiuer do much profit him who receiueth them as he ought ARTICLE XV. Of Christs Institution IT is not an apprehension equally incident vnto the iudgments of all wise men rightly to conceiue the true dependance of things for those who allow and confesse actions to haue much vertue oftentimes do mistake from whence that vertue commeth this as it happeneth in causes of more vsuall and knowne nature so it is sometimes euen in those things where the authour is but one and he incomparably the best Because he vouchsafeth to admit instruments of a lower conditiō to be agents in the performance of things of so great an vse This maketh men in the sacraments those holy institutions of God left vnto the Church often to faile in a due estimation of them And when they do graunt their vse to be singular yet euen then to doubt whereupon this dependeth because the same things performed by diuers are not the same and those which admit no difference in respect of substance yet are subiect in regard of some circumstance to an alteration either more or lesse From hence hath proceeded the difference in this article which ouer violently you vrge to be betwixt Maister Hooker and our Church of whom as vsually you do you carie too iealous a suspition of too great agreement with the Church of Rome That sacraments haue a vertue euen more then to be onely signes is already proued but whether this vertue be lesse where the Minister hath moe faults or none at all where his intention is not to administer a sacrament that commeth now to be discussed in this place To make the Sacraments depend for their grace vpon the integritie of men were to denie the benefit to a great number without cause and to punish men for a fault that were none of theirs The first of these is denied by fewe nay some are so farre from opinion that sin in the Minister is anie let to the sacrament that they are not affraid to affirme that Sacraments are effectuall though administred by Satan himselfe Doubtlesse few sauing onelie some Anabaptists denie the efficacie of the Sacraments for the defects of life in the lawfull dispensers of them They are inestimable fauours vnto Gods Church not to be measured by the hand from whom immediately wee receiue them but by that Almightie power the fountaine of all goodnesse from whence they do first come For as amongst men it were want either of iudgement or ciuilitie or both lesse to esteeme of the benefit for the meannesse of the messenger where we are vndoubtedly assured that it is the princes seale so in the Sacraments we must esteem them as the seales fauours of God himselfe whatsoeuer the imperfections are in those Ministers from whom we haue them For the defects of men being in the Church and lawfully called to those functions no way touch the efficacie of the Sacraments whose vertue dependeth vpon a higher power And therefore we denie all reiteration of Baptisme whatsoeuer the defects for manners are in those that do first giue it For we are equally baptized into the name of the Father the Sonne and the Holy-ghost what vnworthines or inequality soeuer remaine in the persons that do baptize For the holinesse of the Sacraments is no way polluted by the vncleannesse of the handes that giue them For those Sacraments which vnreuerently being handled as Saint Austin saith doe hurt the giuer yet euen by their hands profit those that receiue them worthily It was both in Asia and Africk an error longe since that the Sacraments were not firme which were administred by Heretickes or Schismatickes separated from the vnity of the Church The first author of this was Agrippinus Bishop of Carthage whom Saint Cyprian succeeded as Saint Austine writeth and was a little infected with the same errour After these were the Donatists but we wil not labour for confirmation of this point because you obiect nothing against Master Hooker in it And it is no controuersie at all betwixt vs and the Church of Rome and therfore we say with the auncient Fathers Stephanus Siricius Innocentius the first Leo Anastasius the second in his epistle to Anastasius the Emperour with the councels first the generall councell of Nice often alledged by Saint Austin to this ende the first councell of Carthage the last assembly at Trent with the testimonies of Fathers and Doctors and according to the articles of our Church by you alledged That by the malice of wicked men which are ouer the administration