A PLEA TO AN APPEALE Trauersed Dialogue wise By H. B. August De Tempore Sermo 98. Idcirco Doctrinam Catholicam contradicentium obsidet impugnatio vt fides nostra non otio torpescat sed multis exercitationibus elimetur Ibid. There must be heresies euen among you that they which are approued may bee made manifest among you 1. Cor. 11. 19. Printed at London by W. I. 1626. TO THE HIGH AND MIGHTY PRINCE CHARLES KING OF GREAT Britaine France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. Most gratious Soueraigne IF it be a mans glory to passe by an offence how much more a Kings who being armed with power to reuenge his pardon is the more glorious the more gratious This is Your Maiesties glory that You haue passed by the offence of Your seruant and Your glory how beautifully shall it shine forth if Your noble pardon shall be sealed with Your Royall Patronage of this poore Plea which if it passe not vnder the Priuiledge of the Caesarean Maiestie it is like to fare the worse for the Atturneys sake whom besides his many personall imperfections the very scarres of his late disgrace with so gracious a Maister expose with his Plea as no lesseridiculous to the Antagonists then Dauids sling was to Golia◠and his Philistims Who if they aske me vpon what hope I presumed to impleade an Appeale to Caesar I cannot answere with Solon vpon old age rather vpon pouerty rather vpon Caesars equity rather vpon the causes verity Yea my duty to God to your Maiestie to the sacred memory of your Royall Father to the Church of God to my Mother Church of England to the State to my Reuerend Fathers to my reproached Brethren all these summon me from my sweete safe Priuacy to runne a hazzard vpon the Theater of importune opposition And see also Dread Soueraigne how deeply You stand ingaged in this Plea Therein seuen Plaintifes sollicite Your Grace for justice First Truth she complaines of hard vsage how shee is driuen to seeke corners sith shee cannot passe the Presse Cum Priuilegio but must be silēced yea Gagged least while shee refuseth to subscribe to An Appeale she should by writing cleare her Doctrines from the infamous terme of Puritanisme and her selfe from being reproached for a Puritan The next Plaintife is Gods Glory Grace Gospell complaining they are vndermined ouerturned by an Appeale wherein Gods foundation of his free grace and mercy in electing vs in his Son to saluation is laid vpon the sandy ground of Mans freewill his eternall and vnrepentant loue to his Elect made to depend vpon the haire of humaine mutability standing on its owne vnsteddy bottome to fall totally finally The third Plaintife is the Sacred Ashes of Your Royall Father of famous memory complaining His honor is polluted prophaned in a high degree by An Appeale so much depressing the Synod of Dort which His Maiestie so much graced and exalting Arminianisme which His sacred Maiestie so much detested The fourth Plaintife is Gods Church especially our Mother Church of England iustly complaining how impiously she is abused and her Doctrines traduced by an Appeale as if in the very Fundamentalls as Praedestination Election Freewill Iustification Faith Perseuerance in sauing grace Certainty of saluation and the like shee iumped with the Apostatized Church of Rome and her confederate Arminians as if her Doctrines were not the same with the holy Scriptures as if they must be rated by a few priuate spirits ingrossing as by a Monopoly the name of the Church of England reducing Ecclesia Romana to Curia Romana as if her Doctrines were as mutable as their vniust Iudges who Cameleon like will change colour with euery obiect of time The fifth Plaintife is the State complaining of a ruefull distraction and rent it suffereth by a most factious and seditious Appeale which coming very vnseasonably like a disastrous Comet portendeth vniuersall ruine both to Church and State if the vast breach made thereby for the grand enemy to enter bee not all the sooner and surer if possible made vp againe The sixth Plaintife is the Ghost of some of the Reuerend forefathers of our Church as Doctor Bancroft once Bishop of London and Doctor Ouerall once Deane of Pauls and Bishop of Norwich complaining that their speeches in the Conference at Hampton Court Ianua 14. 1603. now lately printed the one about Praedestination the other Perseuerance in grace are pitifully and palpably peruerted in An Appeale to the great reproach of their owne Credits and in them the scandall of the Church of England The seuenth Plaintife is the Communion of Saints militant in this Church and elswhere yea some now Triumphant in heauen complaining that notwithstanding they striue both in faith and practise to come as neere as is possible for humaine frailtie to Christ and his Apostles yet for that very cause they are persecuted and reproached in An Appeale with the odious name of Puritan and what not Now all these Plaintifes most noble King do as by speciall interest craue iustice at Your Maiesties hands Truth claimes it as You are King of England Defender of the faith that as It makes You free so You would it with full priuiledge to plead its owne cause Gods glory claimes it of You as whom aboue all Princes in Christendome He hath put such a rich crowne of grace and glory vpon that thereby Your Maiestie might learne how highly to prize His infinite glory which the more You stand for against its enemies the more firmely it shall make You to stand against all Your Aduersaries The Sacred Ashes of Your royall Father of pious memory require justice of You not onely as you are a King but as the most pious Son of such a Father that as by An Appeale You are called to be an vmpire You would accordingly determine whither in Your judgement the Synod of Dort with the Decrees of it be rather to be reiected and set at nought for the Appealers vilifying and disclaming of it or religiously maintained by Your Maiestie at least for the incomparable judgement of King IAMES who both sent thither a learned select representatiue Church of England and Himselfe also gaue His royall assent to all the conclusions of it as being in all points consonant to the Doctrine of the Church of England The Church of England with the State like Hipocrates twinnes mutually affected with each others weale or woe both liuing together both dying together with one heart and voyce humbly craue justice of Your Maiestie as being next vnder Christ ouer both in all causes ouer all persons the onely supreme Gouernour that You would chastise their contumacious children who fasten reproaches and hasten ruines to both The fame of our Forefathers craveth justice of Your Maiestie to free them from the false aspersion of blasphemy and from the opinion of being Arminians All Gods children co-heires with Your Maiestie of the same Kingdome of glory implore Your iustice to rescue their innocency
vnderstanding onely or to any one faculty of the soule though hee place it principally in the will in regard of those natiue and inseporable qualities of true sauing saith namely confidence and affiance in Gods promises So that I wonder how this Doctrine of that good Cardinall hath escaped the flames of their Purgatory Index But his owne life paid for it when he with his fellow Cardinall Fregosus being suspected too much to fauour the Doctrine of Luther were both quickly taken out of the way non sine veneni suspicione not without suspicion of poyson But those Diuines that liued in more ancient ages contented themselues with the most simple but most eâ—phaticall tearmes of the Scripture not troubling their heads with quirks and questions of this nature whether faith were in the vnderstanding or in the will c but with the Scripture they include altogether in the heart the seate and confluence of all the powers of the soule Bernard saith that first the sâ—â—ncere roote of holy faith is planted in the ground of mans heart and when faith is fully growne vp it becomes as a great tree hauing in it sundry sorts of apples wherewith the soule being full of God is refreshed St. August takes no more care but to place faith in the soule Vnder whence comes death in the soule because faith is not there whence in the body because the soule is not there therefore the soule of the soule is faith Againe Fides quae credit in Deum vita anima existit per hanc iustus viuit Faith which beleeueth in God is the life of the soule and by it the iust man liueth And speaking of the vnderstanding hee saith Intellectus merces est sides c. The vnderstanding is the reward of faith doe not then seeke to vnderstand that thou maist beleeue but beleeue that thou maist vnderstand And againe Intellectui fides viam aperit infidelitas claudit faith opens the way to the vnderstanding but infidelity shuts it And speaking of the will he saith Fides excitat ad exercitium voluntatem Faith stirreth vp the will to excercise And in a word Fides sic est in anima vt radix bona quae pluuiam in fructum ducit Faith is so in the 〈◊〉 as a good roote which peoduceth the raine into fruit I might adde many others but this may suffice Babylonius But Sir whereas you seeme to oppugne the Councell of Trent doth it not also acknowledge faith to be the roote of all other graces Doe the Church of Rome right I 〈◊〉 you Orthodoxus God forbid else The prouerbe is Giue the Diuel his due Indeede the Trent Councell confesseth that faith is the beginning of mans saluation the foundation and roote of all iustification But vnder this painted Sepulcher she buries the bones of true sauing faith which she hath slaine there to ly rotting as the Iewes did with Gods Prophets whom their Fathers had slaine and vpon the foundation they erect the Monument and Trophe of their Pageantfaith For vndertaking to glâ—sse vpon the Apostles wordes A man is iustified by faith and gratis freely she saith These wordes are to be vnderstood in that sense which the perpetuall consent of the Catholicke Church hath holden and expressed to wit that we are said therefore to be iustified by faith because it is the beginning of mans saluation the foundation and root of all iustification So that they attribute iustification to faith not simply for it selfe but relatiuely as it hath reference to the fruits whereof they say faith is the roote namely their inherent righteousnesse But the truth is this restrained yea constrained sense of theirs is most absurd and senslesse as hauing neither foundation nor roote of reason to support and maintaine it All is but wordes They neither meane nor will nor can maintaine it For how is faith a beginning of grace if grace be no necessary consequent of their faith For they confesse they may haue faith and want grace which is the Diuels case Or how is faith the roote of grace and iustification sith it is impossible for this roote to produce any fruite at all For how can a dead roote bring forth any liue-fruite And they confesse their faith to be a dead and dry roote of it selfe vntill the sap of charity be powred into it to actuate and quicken this otherwise dead roote So that by Babylons Doctrine the fruite must giue life to the roote not the roote to the fruite And yet forsooth faith must be the roote of iustification the foundation of mans saluation Surely the Prouerbe may here well be verified Dignum patella operculum like roote like iustification both dead like foundation like building both sandy yea meere aery and imaginary Babylonius But is not faith dead and vnformed vntill it be inliued and formed by charity Doth not St. Iames say that as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without workes is dead also Therefore the good workes of charity giue life vnto faith as the soule to the body Orthodoxus Doth charity giue life to faith How is then faith the roote your owne reason may teach you the contrary as wee haue showed But to that place of Saint Iames it is too commonly abused For marke first hee saith not As the body without the soule is dead but as the body without the spirit is dead The spirit is the breath by which the body is knowne to liue So that the body receiueth life from the soule but sheweth it by the spirit which it breatheth The spirit then is an effect and signe not a cause of the life of the body So charity and the workes therof are a fruite and effect breathing from sauing faith testifying that it is a liuing faith not causing it so to be for that were to turne the tree vpside downe as if the roote which is faith should receiue life sap and groweth from the branches And it is plaine by the whole analogy and tenure of the chapter that the Apostle speakes of good workes as they are demonstratiue signes and fruits of a liuing faith not as causes of it Againe he putteth a distinct difference betweene the true sauing faith which alwaies shewes it selfe to liue by the fruits of it for it is that faith euer working by loue and betweene a false counterfeit faith such as is dead and knowne to bee so by the not breathing out of good workes So that the true sauing iustifying faith is that which worketh by loue So the Apostle saith But how by loue as by the efficient mouing cause of the working of it or rather as the instrumentall cause moued by the hand of faith Loue is faiths instrument whereby it worketh Yea it is an inseparable quality of sauing faith whereby faith workes as the heat is the inseperable quality of the fire whereby the fire worketh This is the Doctrine also of the ancient Fathers They so make faith the roote as
that the Elect may fall away finally from grace because Christ said Haue not I chosen you twelue Iudas then saith he was one of the Elect. But as Saint Augustine answereth well it is one thing to be elected to the office of Apostleship another to the fellowship of the Saints For there is as a twofold vocation so a twofold election externall and internall temporary and eternall Iudas was of the externall and temporary but not of the internall and eternall election For of this Christ said elsevvhere I speake not of you all I know whom I haue chosen There Christ puts a plaine difference between Iudas an elect Apostle the rest who were also elect Saints But how came Iudas an elect Apostle to fall away hee was a theefe and bare the bagge Yet he bâ—ught not his Apostleship he was elected by Christ. He had a faire and lawfuâ—l calling Yet his coueteousnesse brought him to Apostacy and euen to betray the innocent blood of the Lambe of God Then wonder not at the Church of England The saâ—e Rebecca brought forth as well a rough Esau as a smoâ—th Iacob And as Tertullian saith to the same purpose Of the kernell of the milde and fat and vsefull oliue doth spring the rough wilde oliue and of the most pleasant and sweete figges seede doth grow the windy and empty wilde figtree So heresies saith hee haue fructisied of that which was ours but they are not ours being degenerate from the graine of truth and by lyes become wilde They went out from vs but they were not of vs. What then if wee shall see some of the Apostles or such as would bee accounted Apostolicall to proue Apostaticall from the faith shall this stumble Gods Saints Or shall an impotent admiration of their persons draw beliefe to their heresies God forbid For as the same Tertullian for I finde not an acuter authour for this purpose comparing champion-like hereticks to wrastlers or sword players which many times ouercome not by their owne strength but by the others weaknesse no otherwise saith he doe heresies preuaile ouer the infirmities of men but haue no power at all vpon a sound faith Yea of what qualitie or dignity soeuer hereticks be whether for personall or politicall respects the holy Ghost warnes the Saints to auoid and contemne them Auoide an hereticke saith the Apostle And St. Iohn If there come any vnto you that brings you not this Doctrine receiue him not to your house neither bid him God-speede for hee that biddeth him God-speede is partaker of his euill deedes And Saint Paul doubles his admonition If an Angel from heauen preach vnto you any other Gospell then that which we haue preached vnto you let him be accursed which is not another Gospell but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the Gospell of Christ. Into this condemnation be the new Pontifician Arminian shall I say Hereticks I need not if they persist I will not if they recant and desist Approvers of the Councel of Trent fallen the doctrine whereof is a fowle and flat Apostacy from the Mystery of godlines They would bring in another Gospell though no Gospell but they would obtrude it far the true and only Gospell of the Grace of God And if the Galatians were said to be fallen from Christ onely for mingling Circumcision with the Gospel as requisite with faith to their iustification how fearefull is that Apostacy from Christ which quite ouerthroweth the effectuall and free grace of God excluding yea accursing the true sauing faith in our iustification as the Doctrine of Trent doth so dangerous it is to be any way accessary by yeelding the least assent vnto it And what execrable heresies will these proue to be that goe about to pluck vp the tree of life by the roote out of the Paradise of Gods Church and would plant instecde thereof the forbidden tree of knowledge teaching and perswading the eaters that they are made thereby as Gods selfe-sufficient selfe-wise selfe-able to saue themselues not onely in their receiuing but retaining grace which worke of their owne wills being foreseene of God was say they the first mouing cause of electing and praedestinaring them to saluation which what is it else but a meere making voide of Gods vnchangable Decree of Praedestination and free grace of Election no farther fixed and certaine but as mans receiuing and retaining of grace and perseuering therein is certaine which say they is vncertaine Pardon my zeale gentle Reader Impute it not to any bitternesse of spleene I beare it not to any mans person liuing God is my record much lesse to the Authours of the Appeale and the Approbation I know none whom I hate more then my sinfull selfe But the Lord knowes it is no small greife to me that I am thus forced to sharpen my style Which if it seeme tarter to thy Palate then may sure with Christian moderation and modesty examine I pray thee whether the long custome of Court-smoothing and eare-pleasing specially in Diuine matters haue not bred such a delicacy in the soules tast as that downe right zeale for Gods glory can hardly finde a slomack to take it downe or digest it but is reiected as a bitter pill or potion of such Patients as account the remedy worse then the disease Zeale will not passe now but for fury or rude incinility at the best But ab initio non erat sic In old time it was lawfull to call a spade a spade Saint Peter dealt roundly with Simon Magus for his Simony Thy money perish with thee How sharpe was Paul with Elimas the Sorcerer for going about to turne away the Deputy fioÌ„ the faith O full of all subtilty and all mischiefe thou child of the Deuill thou enemy of all righteousnesse c. And what would he haue said trow we to those men who goe about to turne away not a Deputy but a whole kingdome a well settled flourishing Church from the faith What if they were graue learned Diuines So much the worse If an enemy had done this it had ben more tolerable but it was euen thou my guide and familiar freind I will not adde Dauids imprecation but rather aduise them as Peter did Simon to pray that if it be possible the sinne not of their heart onely but of their hand may be forgiuen How did Paul though but a young Apostle reproue the prime Apostle Peter onely for a matter of dissimulation in his conuersation not any default in his preaching And shall wee not zealously resist those to the face that noâ— now dissemblingly anymore but with opeÌ„ profession approue auow stafly maintaine grosse and greiuous heresies deuised by the Deuil to betray Gods glory and mans saluation That sticke not to call the Doctrinas of Pradestination freewill and the like Scholasticall speculations meerely questions of obscurity not fit for pulpits and popular eares but procuring rather discord and troubles in
Church and State then serue to edification c. Appeale pag. 42. 78. 80. Which speeches and the like whether doe they tend but to suppresse those Doctrines of the Gospell whereby God is most glorified and man most humbled shall we spare such When Policarpus met Marcion the hereticke casually and neglecting him was asked of him Dost thou not know vs He replyed I know thee for the Diuels eldest childe Such was the zeale of holy men in times past against not onely those that were Hereticks but hinderers of the truth The Apostle wished that those false teachers of legall righteousnesse were euen cut off which troubled the Church of Galatia Therefore what cause any faithfull Minister of Christ hath to vse sharpnesse of stile to seditious seducers and troublers of Church and State in so famous a Kingdome in so perilous a season too let any indifferent man iudge And consider iudicious Reader if we had not a King seasoned from his very cradle with the knowledge of the true faith of Christ hauing now growne vp therein to a goodly ripenesse in regard whereof we haue small cause to suspect his constancy herein iâ—to what danger were we and Gods religion brought when such kind of Ministers are not wanting to helpe forward the reerecting of the Romish Baal in our Land had they but a young Manasses to restore the Altars and Groues which the good King Ezechiah his Father had pulled downe But to conclude sith these two fore named Worthies worthy to be named againe the Reuerend Bishop of Chichester Dostor Carlton and the Worshipfull Maister Francis Rovs haue so learnedly and zealously confuted some materiall points in the Appeale which like expert archers making speciall choyse of for their marke they haue hit home although I could haue wished that they had with no lesse felicity coped with the rest of the materialls in the booke yet sith they haue ben pleased to leaue behind them some liberall gleanings yea some whole ricks of tares to be cut vp and carried away from Gods wheat field I will craue leaue to shew at least my good will in all hoping my defects will finde pardon of all them who though they can yet forbeare to make their best supply The blasphemer was to be stoned of the whole Congregation some hitting one part some another till he were beaten downe and buried vnder the heape Yet in this Impression the Plea reacheth no farther then the first part of the Appeale Which if it finde courteous intertainment the other part is forth comming and wants but time to helpe the slownesse of the Presse to bring it forth Farewell Thine in the Lord H. B. Good Reader correct these faults with thy pen with others of smaller note The rest are noted in the end of the booke Amend first then reade Page 7 line 19 reade scantling l. 28 r. Doctrines p. 51 l. 13. r. preuifion p. 52 l 6 r. â—ssâ—s p. 54. l. 21. r. 4. 5. l. 29 r. sâ—â—scos p. 82. l. 3 1. â—â—â—â—â—ude 10. l. 9 1. vn 〈◊〉 c. Whence l. 13 1. anima l. 24 1. prâ—â—â—ceth p. 83 l. 15 r. the beginnâ—ng p. 84. l. 35 1. into him p. 85 l. 24 r. quomodo p. 87 l 13 1. â—xecrated p. 91 l. 30 1 ground of hope l. 35 r. his Maiesties A PLEA TO AN APPEALE Asotus Babylonius Orthodoxus ASotus Master Babylonius you are well met Babylonius And you Master Asotus Asotus Sir I thanke you for your last good company at the Ordinary and especially for your both merry and learned discourse wherein among other passages you wittilie disciphered the nature of a Puritan that common opposite to vs both I was much delighted to heare you and haue often thought of you since and shall loue you the better for it for of all men I cannot away with these Puritans a precise sect crosse and contrary to all other men A man may not sweare an oath forsooth nor play the good fellow a little in drinking a cup or two more then needs for good fellowship-sake nor loue a wench and the like but wee must passe their most sharpe censure Nay hauing deeply waighed the matter I am perswaded that were it not for these Puritans wee and you should agree together as louing brethren and Countreymen Babylonius Are you aduised of that friend Asotus you haue hit the very nayle on the head and herein you discouer your wisdome and judgement For it were no hard matter I wis to reconcile you and mee and such as wee are as well in Religion and opinion as we are already in affection were it not for these make-bate Puritans And you haue well said in saying we and you for howsoeuer the Puritans both in England and beyond the seas I meane the Caluinists and Hugenots are called Protestants yet betweene them and vs Romane Catholicks there is a great Gulfe set so that there is no hope of reconciliation betweene vs. And indeed for those ciuill and good fellow Protestants whom I know you meane that hold of the Church of England and of the Doctrine of the Church for the prop and piller of their Faith there is great hope that they will ere long be reconciled to the holy mother Church of Rome for he that beleeueth as the Church beleeueth is not farre from the kingdome of God But these Puritans they will not acknowledge any rule of faith from the Church but are all for Scriptures Scriptures so that so long as they are of that minde there is no hope of reconciliation betweene vs and them vnlesse they will yeeld to this Manime That the Church is the Iudge and interpreter of the Scriptures which they most obstinately deny Asotus But by your leaue Master Babylonius I neuer vnderstood but that the Doctrine of the Church of England was all one with the Doctrine of the Scriptures as I euer haue ben taught Babylonius I will not take vpon me now to dispute that point but haue you not seene an excellent Booke set out of late by one of your most learned Ministers which he calls his Appeale to Caesar. Asotus I haue heard of it the Author is highly commended by some for a great Scholler but a great many on the other side and especially those we call Puritans doe very much condemne the booke saying it is written in the gall of bitternesse and with the spirit of sedition enough to set all in a combustion if his books should passe for currant Babylonius In the gall of bitternesse That was the doome of Saint Peter vpon Simon Magus but by such like puritanicall censures you may the better judge of the worthinesse of the booke which is both learnedly and wittily pend Asotus You say well I thinke neuer a whit the worse of the booke for the Puritans taxing of it nor the Author the lesse learned when you Master Babylonius sticke not so to commend him Babylonius I must needs ingenuously confesse that I like the booke the better
take vpon mee to be a censurer of bookes much lesse of an Appeale to Caesar if the Author haue any just cause for which to Appealâ— to Caesar and which is just and fit for Caesar to judge no doubt but hee shall finde a just Caesar to doe him right But the points you seeme to propose to me are matters of Faith wherein the Author seemeth too suspicious of his owne cause that like to fraudulent Merchants who haue run themselues into many mens debt and danger hee appeales to Caesar to haue a protection for his person But blessed be God wee haue a Caesar The Defender of the Faith not a protector of oppugners and vnderminers of the Faith And for matters of Faith our Caesar knowes they ought to be pleaded onely at Gods barre and tryed at the Common Law of the holy Land the Scriptures Nor will hee giue way for any Prohibition out of any Court of Chancery or conscience which may inhibite the proceeding of Gods cause in Gods Court by any prerogatiue whatsoeuer Therefore in such causes causes of Faith I say to appeale to Caesar giues to speake plainly a strong suspition of the weakenesse at least of the cause For so did Heretickes in times past to maintaine their heresies they had no other way but to patronize themselues vnder Caesars wings Thus did the Arians so mightilie preuaile against the Orthodox professors by the onely helpe and authority of Caesar. Not that I impute heresie to the Author of this booke onely for his appeale to Caesar. Let the booke like Baal plead for it selfe Asotus Sir you make me begin to suspect something Did Hereticks so as you say I pray you for my better satisfaction giue me some example of it Orthodoxus I will briefly Constantine the great he that restored the Church to a generall peace and calme sitting at the first Councell of Nice not as Iudge but rather as a Minister as himselfe piously confessed did for his part ratifie the Councels Decrees against Arius yet afterwards growing old hee was wonne by a woman his sister Constantia and she seduced by a sycophantizing Arian Priest to recall Arius from banishment that hee might againe declare his Faith whereof comming before the Emperour he made such a cunning confession as formerlie hee had done to the whole Councell of Nice which he had well nigh imposed vpon by his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in steed of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as that the good Emperour suspecting no deceit tooke it to be in all points the very same with the Councels owne confession yet so as hee referred Arius to the determination of a Councell But the Emperour not long after dying Arius with his faction creepe into the fauour and protection of Constantines successors especially of his sonne Constantins who was by the same Arian Priest who had formerly inueagled Constantia about Arius perswaded to fauour and protect the Arians and the rather was the Emperour perswaded by this old Priest because Constantine had committed to him his last Will and Testament to deliuer it to his sonne Constantius which he did Thus Arius by his Appeale to Caesar and by the cunning insinuaâ—ion of his craftie confederate an old Court Priest got footing againe and had in all likelihood mightilie preuailed but that God in justice to that impious impostor and in mercy to his Church and children calling the cause into his superiour Court cut Arius short by a suddaine and strange infamous iudgement euen in hot blood as he was going with all his pompe and traine into the Cathedrall in Constantinople in despight of the good Bishop Alexander who all the night before and that morning continued his earnest supplications to God prostrate in the Temple to â—uert and preuent Arius from setting his wicked foote and proude Standard of triumph against Christ in that sacred place His deuout and zealous prayers were heard and Arius his infamous death strucke all his traine with a shamefull amazement and confusion I would this example might teach the Appealler to tremble before that God from whose Tribunall is no appeale but by speedie flying with repentance to his throne of grace and mercie in Iesus Christ. But for the Appeale here let me tell you thus much by the way which I dare be bold to auouch that as he thinks he hath done politickly so I know hee hath done very poorely to appeale to Caesar being such a Caesar as when his many waightie affaires shall lend him leisure to view the Appeale the Appealer will quickly find his owne errour and haue cause to repent his appealing to a Prince of such dexteritie and judgement as in humaine so also in diuine matters Asotus Sir I thanke you I am satisfied in this matter Now let me intreat you to performe your promise in resoluing some doubts ministred by this booke Orthodoxus If you instance any particular I am ready to doe my best indeauour Asotus Sir because this Gentleman my friend hath some more learning then my selfe and is somewhat acquainted with the booke I shall entreate him to propouÌ„d and obiect and your selfe to resolue the Obiections Babylonius Friend Asotus I pray you doe not impute that to mee which I was neuer guiltie of as matter of learning yet if as a friend you impose this taske vpon me to ease you I will the more willingly vndertake it prouided that where you see me faile you will supplieâ— and Master Orthodoxus pardon I shall onely act your part in propounding those particular pointâ— which you say are contrary to those which Master Orthodoxus hath taught you as being also the most materiall things in the booke Asotus Sir I thanke you I desire no more Babylonius Then to begin in order as they lye the first thing is about the losse of Faith and Iustification in the third Chapter and so consequently of falling away from grace totally in the fourth Chapter and if totally possibly also finally without recouery Now although the Authour doe not auouch absolutely his owne oppinion yet hee proues the affirmatiue from antiquitie of Fathers and from the authoritie of the Church of England vnto whose Articles and Homilies all the Ministers thereof haue subscribed Now we desire your resolution herein Orthodoxus True it is that the Authour is very cauâ—elous in auerring any thing in his owne opinion especially in points of such consequence therein I commend his wit as the Lord did the wisdome of the vniust Steward but his priuate conception hee fathereth vpon the Fathers and his mother Church yet it is to be concluded that what he goes about to proue by the Fathers and by the authoritie of the Church of England though most falsly by him forced and forged glosses himselfe is of the same judgement with them and by the way for the Articles and Homilies of the Church of England wee subscribed vnto them indeede but not to the priuate sense which any particular man may make of them Now
they would seeme to giue most to God Therefore if this bee that which the Appealer sticks not to approue in the Councell of Trent I will bee bold to say as Saint Ierome did to the Pelagians * It is the Churches victory that you vtter your mindes plainely Sententias vestras prodidisse superasse est to discouer your opinions is to discomfit them And for him to say that God prouided a Mediator for all such whom he foresaw would receiue him to wit by the freedome of their will were a meere absurdity if man haue not an absolute freedome to grace And by the Appealers approbation of the Councell of Trent in the point of freewill he must confesse that man in his Naturalls hath at least some free-will to grace Which will agree well with that he said before touching Gods foresight of those would lay hold on grace otherwise it implies a flat contradiction For if there be no freewill in a naturall man towards grace then what willingnesse did God foresee in men to receiue his Son vnlesse that which himselfe did purpose wholly to worke in them Although not Gods owne worke which hee purposed to worke in man by giuing him faith grace was that which foreseene moued him to elect and praedestinate to saluation for then the meanes should in Gods first intention to saue mankinde haue taken place of the end it selfe which in the priority of order is the first in intention though last in execution yea haue taken place also of Gods eternall free loue the prime motion and sole absolute cause that moued him to make his election of those whom he would not who would him But the Councell of Trent and who so take part with it deales coldly and comes farre short in giuing Gods grace the due praise in the worke of mans saluation So that while they aduance mans will too high and too much depresse Gods grace they so part the stakes that they giue the right hand rather to freewill then to grace For what saith the Councell Si quis dixerit c. If any man shall say that mans freewill moued and stirred vp of God doth cooperate nothing by assenting to God stirring vp and calling wherby it may dispose and prepare it selfe to obtaine the grace of iustification c. Let him be accursed In this very Cannon is inuolued a great part of the mysterie of iniquity For note here Romes Legierdemam in iuggling with Gods grace She ascribes to God two things 1. a worke of mouing and stirring vp the will 2. Touching the obiect or end of this worke that the will may by the cooperation of a free selfe assenting dispose prepare it selfe to obtayne the grace of iustification Examine we the words a little Note what a slight and slender worke they here attribute to God it is with them but a moving and stirring vp iust like the confederate Arminians lenis suasio some gentle motion as if the will were but a little dull and lazy and must be spurred or sleepie and drowsie and must be awakened as Elias bad Baals Prophets to cry alowd to awake their sleepie God Yet this moving and shirring vp their Schoole-men and in particular Andrew Vega and Dominick Soto two grand sticklers in that Councel who being the two standard bearers of two strong different factions in that Councel the one of the Dominicians the other of the Franciscans bore a great swinge and sway in it and haue written large Commentaries vpon that sixt the mayne and masterpiece Session of that Councel as also Catharinus of that Councell too and so Bellarmine others of that crew they expresse this Motion I say stirring vp of the will to be vnderstood as an act of the first grace a grace which the subtile Schoolemen haue deuised distinct from their second grace Which Schoole-diuinity and subtile Sophistry is the yery ground worke of all the maine Decrees of the Councel especially of those contained and most cunningly contriued in that sixth session concerning Iustification Well But what may this first grace be Truely no other by their owne Doctrine but such as a man may haue and yet never attaine to iustification and so to salvation yet such a grace they say it is as by moving and stirring vp the will cooperates to giue assent and to dispose and prepare it selfe to receiue iustification to wit an infusion of inherent grace which they call the Second grace and so the will by giving free assent by disposing and preparing it selfe doth merit of Congruity the second grace although the Councel confesseth that the first grace is given freely without any precedent merit in man By which one devise of a poore I wot not what first grace whereby a man is not at all by their owne confession iustified and so will scarce proue worth God haue mercy they would elude and evacuate the Scriptures which so much advance and magnifie the worke of Gods free and effectuall grace in our first conversion and iustification as Rom. 3. 24. Being iustified freely by his grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Iesus For they turne the cat in the pan and because they cannot deny the expresse Scripture so pregnant and plentifull in setting out the free and vndeserved grace of God in mans salvation but are forced at least in words to confesse it therefore they haue no other shift but to restraine this free gift of Gods effectuall sauing grace to that onely which they call their first grace though no iustifiying grace at all Whereas the Apostle expresly in the forementioned place speaketh of the free gift of saving grace whereby wee are indeed actually iustified But the Trent Councell saith no where that that grace whereby a man is iustified which they call their second grace is freely given No they haue a freewill whose cooperating assent with their first grace produceth a merit of Congruitie to procure that their iustification may not be freely given but merited of Congruity For whereas they say chap. 8. that a man is said therefore to be iustified freely because none of those things which goe before iustification whither faith or workes doe merit the grace it selfe of Iustification for if it be of grace it is no more workes otherwise as the Apostle saith grace is now no more grace as the Councell hypocritically alleadgeth yet wee must vnderstand that the Councell meaneth no other here but to exclude merit of condignity from going before her iustification but not the merit of congruity And thus by her cunning equivocation she both keepeth good quarter with her Schoolmen and satisfieth the contrary opinions of Vega and Soto about the merit of Congruity in justification as ye may see in the History of the Trent Councell yea and thus also the Church of Rome quits scores with the Scriptures which exclude all merit of man from iustification and all by her futile distinction of a first and
that all other graces are radically in faith and spring from it They make all other holy graces to be inherent in sauing faith as the natiue qualities of it essentiall and inseparable not as accidents which are seperable Saint Augustine saith What is it to beleeue in him By beleeuing to loue him by beleeuing to affect him by beleeuing to goe vnto him and to be incorporated into his members And againe Paulus fidem c. Paul approueth and commendeth that faith which worketh by loue which cannot be without hope therefore neither is loue without hope nor hope without loue nor both without faith And which we cited before Faith is so on the soule as a good roote which bringeth forth the fruite S. Chrysostome saith Faith is the foundation of the most holy religion the bond of charity the supply and succour of loue it confirmes sanctity it strengtheneth chastity it gouernes all sexes it promotes all degrees it obserueth all offices faith keepeth the Commaundements practiseth the precepts accomplisheth the promises And much more to this purpose according to his fluent golden elegancy Saint Ambrose There are in faith great prerogatiues what be they piety iustice sobriety charity discipline or good gouernment And to conclude with St. August In ipsa fide sunt omnia opera quae diligit Deus in faith it selfe are all those workes which God loueth Nor need this poynt seeme so strange Morall Philosophy can teach vs that there is such an inseparable combination of all moral vertues as he that hath one hath all And shall wee deny then this inseparable conjunction of Spirituall graces whereof Faith is the Radicall and principall Though it is a marveile that these Philosopers Aristotle and Tully haue escaped the fiery purgatory-Index sith not even Romes owne Gratian for saying no more in Divinitie then those in Morality hath had the grace to escape their Singe or Spunge For where he saith Sed commodo c. But how can I haue such a faith to remoue mountaines and not charity Sith he that hath one vertue hath all I could not haue it but miraculously All these words must out as may be seene in Collat. censurae in gloss iuris canonici vum 84. Such a hatred they haue to the living saving faith as though a Princesse they will not allow her any necessary attendance coÌ„comitancy of other graces Whereas Bernard saith To beleeue in God is to hope in him and to loue him And Hieronymus Osorius Faith containeth all religion and piety for all vertues are by faith consorted and combined together and with it are connexed and intwined in a most holy knot But Deleantur haec verba let these words be cancelled saith the Index expurgatorius Also these words of his Ergo cùm fides c. Therefore seeing faith doth governe the whole soule and drawe it to the studie and loue of Gods word it followeth necessarily that it is proved not only in beleeving but also in obeying And those words also of Osorius must passe their purgatory Tune igitur verè fideles sumus cùm Dei verbo audiontes sumus Therefore then are wee truely faithfull when wee are obedient to the word of God I will conclude with the golden saying of our Royall Paraphrase vpon the Reuelation God by faith onely iustifieth man which notwithstanding is done according to his workes because they as the fruits of faith cannot be seperated from it and be are witnesse of the same to men of the earth I might seeme to haue digressed all this while from the point of freewill in speaking of faith But partly you haue moued me and the more willingly haue I followed you it being very pertinent to set forth discouer the Councell of Trents egregious hypocrisy in her Doctrine of grace and freewill For vnto what is the will stirred moued assisted by grace Parturient montes we expect some wonderfull consequent Thereby forsooth the will conceiueth faith by hearing the word and prepareth and disposeth it selfe to iustification And what faith is this thus conceiued Nascetur ridiculus Mus behold a ridiculous Mouse in steede of a young Mountaine For of their freewill is conceiued by hearing not that iustifying sauing liuing faith whereof the Apostle Faith commeth by hearing Rom. 10. 17 that faith whereof rightcousnesse is ver 5. that which beleeueth to righteousnesse ver 10 that which beleeueth In D. Iesâ—m in the Lord Iesus ver 11 but this conceiued faith of Rome is a bare historicall implicit generall dead faith like that of the Deuils no grace but such as euery wicked man may haue as their * fideles fornicarii c. their faithfull fornicaters adulterers c. And that grace of God their first grace whereby they say the will is first moued to conceiue a dead faith is with them but an ordinary common grace in deede no grace and by their owne confession no sauing sanctifying iustifying grace at all Yea and though they stile it a preparatory grace yet it neuer bringeth a man to true iustification sith they disclame that liuing sauing faith the onely faith whereby instrumentally we are iustified The summary conclusion then is that seeing the Trent Councell hath in her Doctrine of freewill so slily vndermined and ouerturned the fundamentall doctrine of saluation consisting in the iustifying sauing liuing faith powerfully wrought by the sanctifying grace of Gods Spirit in the heart euen in the whole man the soule with all the faculties from which faith as from a liuing and fructifying roote doe spring all other holy graces therefore for any man to goe about to excuse the Councell of Trent in the point wherein for the maine she is altogether to be condemned yea executed with Anathema Maran-atha I see not how such a one can be excused from being a reconciled confederate in all that damnable Doctrine of Trent about freewill Is this the way to make vs beleeue the Apppealers profound protestations that he is a Protestant of the Church of England while he so religiously pleadeth for the Councell of Trents mystery of iniquity and that flatly against the Doctrine of the Church of England Doth he thus perswade vs hee is no Papist Fy Maister Mountagu for shame learne not thus of your Councell of Trent to equiuocate with your brethren yea with your Mother Church of England You hold with the Step-mother of Rome in her most damnable Doctrines whereby she vtterly euacuates Christ Iesus and the whole mystery of our saluation and yet you are no Papist Why Because forsooth you doe not hold those Doctrines to be Popery but catholicke with those of the Church of England If you can bring no better arguments to proue you a good Protestant these you haue brought will sufficiently conclude you to be a reconciling reconciled English Romane-catholicke Babylonius Sir to trouble you no longer for this time and for a conclusion of the first part of this Appeale