if we truelie obserue pointeth out our land of promise and directeth vs the right waie thither Nay this is the waie it selfe that leades vs vnto truth and the truth it selfe that leades vnto life and the life it selfe that vve so long after euen eternall selicitie I am the way Iohn 14 6. the truth and the life Novv from this knowledge of my sauior I learn to renounce my selfe and relie vpon him to cast off mine own beggerlie rags patched together with abhomination and by the hand of faith to put on his princely robe the glorious robe of his righteousnes In this attire I appeare before my god become acceptable in his presence for this garment he frely giueth me and as freely teacheth me how to weare it I meane this righteousnesse of Christ which is the true consormitie with the law of GOD and an absolute fulfilling thereof God out of his meere grace and mercy impureth vnto me and withall wooâ—keth in me faith whereby I apply the same vnto my selfe so that in this sence I may presume to say the righteousnes of Christ is mine and that therein I serue my God truely as he that laboured so much euen to anotamize the worke of iustification hath for an eternall Maxime set downe that Christ is made vnto vs righteousnes wisedome 1 cor 1 30 sanctification and redemption and else where That in him we are compleat Col. 2 10 The fraile wit of man hath deuised a law whereby an act doue by one is remitted from him that did it to him that gaue consent and commission for the doing of it But the vnsearchable wisedome of our God from the deepe reach of his mercy and compassion without so much as our knowledge for he knew vs from euerlasting and before the foundation of the worlde contriued this meanes for our deliuery hath more then admirably conueyed vnto vs the memorable act of Christes humiliation and satisfaction and by his imputation and our aprehension which is likewise his guifte freelye made it ours The worke it selfe which is Iustice not altred by the exchange of the subiect but onely inattribute It being I egall in Christ in vs Euangelicall If then the righteousnesse of Christ thus be made ours if his obedience and satisfaction be thus freely bestowed vppon vs What should hinder vs it may be meruailed from affording due entertainment to so vnspeakeable a benefit and that we make not true vse of so great aduantage Is not this the delectablest food that euer any hungry stomacke longed after Is it not the softest couch that the wearied soule can find to repose vpon Questionlesse it is and therefore whosoeuer resolueth to fare well shoulde frame himselfe to this diet and he that loueth to lie soft must become his owne Harbinger and make sure in time to take vp this lodging For this is the food of eternall life this is the bed of euerlasting rest Peter not himself but being then and not only then out of his proper Element for he knew not what he said brake with christ about building of tabernacles on the mount Thabar But hee that vppon this foundation which is christ himselfe shall aduisedly erect the fortresse of his hope and Tabernacle of his felicity may be truely said to be his owne man though scarcely as the apprehension of men goeth now a daies and that he is in the right For he knowes what he doth and that his building though all those wordely fleshly and diuellish aduersaries combino in oppugnation can neuer be subuerted In more propper sence therefore then Peter spake it I may boldely say Heere is good being good for the King good for the Begger good for all heere is good being indeed and heere am I constantly resolued let neuer so many millions of misbeleeuers rest vppon what other rotten dependance they list to set downe my rest for euer This stay I know to be sure and neuer shrincking this supportation I am sure is strong and neuer shaketh This this is our soules most firme and neuer-failing anchorage yea this righteousnes of our sweete and louing sauiour is not onely a sure strong and neuer failing foundation but it is the onely sure stronge and neuer failing foundation whereupon we must resolue to build all our happines for euer if euer we resolue to for to relie vpon ought besides that the earth or the heauens themselues can afford in the great and weightie cause of our iustification is to trust vnto that which shall neuer stedde vs and most vndoubtedlie to become most vnhappie Now this righteousnesse of our mercifull redeemer so aduantageable to all those that constantly depend thereuppon I consider in his perfect obeying to the law of God which we had transgressed and coulde neuer of our selues haue fulfilled and his painefull vndergoing the punishment proper to such our transgressions euen the wrath of his father which was incensed by no satisfaction of man or Angel could euer haue bin appeased O sweet vneffable and incomprehensible mercie of our God who out of his owne bosome hath distilled a balme to cure all our wounds though neuer so mortall and albeit so deseruedlie receiued in the traiterous breach of his sacred ordinaunces and not spared euen his owne heart bloud to wash awaie our vncleannesse and to purge vs that were his enemies from all our corruption The meanes that conueieth vnto us this mercie of God the father in this merite of God the sonne is as I formertouched a liuelie iustifieng faith begotten in our harts by God the Holi-ghost who must needes be thefficient cause of the said Faith as the true knowledge and trust in Christ is the formall the gospell the instrumentall and the finall gods glorie By which faith it being The ground of thinges which are hoped for Hebr. 11 1 and the euidence of things which are not seene or a stedfast supernaturall knowledge and firme apprehension of Gods kindnes in Christ Iesus towards vs. Many celestiall indowmentes and good workes are kindled in the mind and hart and flame forth of the life and conuersation of euerie true beleeuer as repentance hope loue inuocation obedience iustification adoption patience consolation mortification peace of conscieÌ„ce ioy in the holighost and regeneration with the fruits therof All of them togither with diuers other such like heauenlie infused qualities though not distinguishable in time but in nature though essentially being Gods gifts and immediatelie proceeding from his grace yet properlie either begotten wrought or apprehended by the saide Faith it being in vs a cause they the necessarie effects the root and they the inseperable braunches So that when I affirme my religion to be The true seruice of God and that seruice to be performed truelie by vs in the righteousnes of Christ I do not herein exclude our workes as impertinent or vnnecessarie thereunto or deny but that good workes are Gods seruices and that therein it pleaseth him to be glorified But because
their birth immediately vpon the Apostles death but some of them sprang vp two hundred some three hundred some fiue hundred years after some sooner some later and were not al til within this very age euen the memory of men now liuing by your selus consented vnto nor absolutely by your owne vsurped authority concluded vpon Hence may you easily gather your religion being neither sufficiently waranted by authority of Gods word nor generally approued by the ancient fathers of the church how woorthily or vnworthily you stile the same with such confidence the old and catholicke religion I cannot go on with particular examination of euery part of your profession your patience and my leisure being I fear proportionable wil not permit me but do beg your attētion to the consideration of one principal point of doctrine generally taught by your greatest clarks as generally beleeued euen to the simplest amongst you whose stomackes indeed are the best digesters of such misdiet because at the hands of ignorance errour euer findeth her securest entertainment I formerlye in discourse of our Religion affirmed that our whole dependance for our saluation was vpon the free mercy of God through christ Iesus And the righteousnesse of christ without any worke or merit of our owne applyed truely by faith was before God our only iustification contrary to this doctrin you are taught and do beleeue that you shall be saued by your workes or at least that your workes must concur and stand vp with faith in the act of your iustification before God Now to make you see and acknowledge the absurdity and preiudice of this opinion first you shall heare what the Apostle himselfe inspired with the holy spirit and the fathers of the church hauing the same diuine scholmaister though instructed in farre different measure haue thought and deliuered touching the same and then som principal inconueniences that necessarily follow that doctrine pregnant and aparant enough I hope vtterly to deterre you from euer lending a listening eare againe thereunto Titus 3 5 Paule that writ more touching the manner of our iustification then all the rest of the Apostles to make his Scholler Titus and others by him to abandon all hope of being saued by their works telleth him plainely We are saued not by workes of righteousnesse which we haue done but acording to his mercy he saued vs Heere he excludeth workes though they be works of righteousnes though they be our best works and ascribeth all the matter of our saluation meerely to the mercy of God through Iesus christ I am sure there is no worke that you or the holiest of your church whatsoeuer can do that is a better worke more meritorious a worke of purer righteousnesse then the workes of Paule were No they hold in no comparison with his for his workes as yours doe not sprang from a liuely faith which made them so good as they were notwithstanding you see he vtterly renounceth them all how good soeuer and dare you in any sort rest vpon yours in this important matter of iustification The said Apostle laboring to win the Romaines to the same faith readeth them this lecture to the same effect Ro. 6 23 The wages of sinne is death but the guift of God is eternall life through Iesus Christ our sauiour Heere you are plainly told what are the causes of going to hell and comming to heauen The desert of man the cause of damnation but the mercy of God the cause of saluation our sinne doth incur the one for the reward of sinne is death but our best deserts merit not the other for eternal life is meerly the guift of God through Iesus Christ had Paule that learned Apostle in this point approued the doctrine of your church thus questionlesse or to this effect he would haue concluded the reward of sinne is death and the reward of good workes is eternall life but you see hee quite ouerthroweth that opinion leauing vs of our selues to deserue the one but ascribing the other to Gods free guifte in Christ beyond our desert But if neither of these places haue power to remoue you from your former opinion giue me leaue to produce one saying more out of the same authour which I assure my selfe so you ponder it rightly will pierce euen the quickest vayne of your heart if the same as I hope in my sauiour it is not be not vtterly benummed the sufferings saith he of this life are not worthy of the glory to come I conceiue that the workes whereby you hope to merit at Gods hands are the workes of doing and workes of suffering the former more easie and lesse deseruing the latter lesse easie and therefore as you are taught the more meritorious but Paule that knew what it was both to do suffer better then those by whom you are perswaded to place such hie affiance in your workes preacheth vnto you heere another kind of doctrine namely that euen the sufferings of this life your afflictions your deeds of best desert are not worthy of the glory to come And you may be assured that no man that euer fought vnder the banner of Christ Iesus suffered more for his sake or deserued heauen better for his sufferings then he that teacheth you this lesson For he testifieth of himselfe that the sufferings of Christ did abound in him That in labours he was more aboundant then other in ripes aboue measure Co. 11 23 in pryson more plenteously on death oft that of the Iewes fiue tymes he receiued forty stripes saue one that he was thrice beaten with rods once stoned thrice suffered shripwracke that he was night and day in the deepe Sea In iournying often in perils of waters in perils of robbers in perils of his owne nation in perils among the gentiles in perils in the citty in perils in the wildernesse in perils in the Sea in perils amongst false breathren In wearinesse and painefulnesse in watching often In hunger and thirst in fasting often In cold and in nakednesse and beside the thinges that were outward he was combred daiely and had the eare of all the Churches Phi 1 13 And that his bandes in Christ were famous throughout all the iudgement hall and in all other places These are Paules owne wordes of himselfe and his sufferings Now if euer there were such merit in our works sure heere it was if euer the desert of sinfull man could iustly haue challenged such a reward as euerlasting life doubtlesse Paule for these his sufferinges would haue put in with the formost Howbeit you see when he speakes of the glory to come and the proper cause of our attayning vnto eternall saluation he then disclaimeth from al his works from these his sufferings and all and cherefully runs to another refuge euen the righteousnesse of his sauiour christ Iesus wherein there is true merit indeede and wherewith hee knovveth the iustice of God is worthily satisfied and our eternall peace onely procured thus you
for our sinnes and prayeth that the same may be accepted for vs and we for the merit thereof become acceptable and gratious in his sight for euer And lastly he vndertaketh that at length we shal leaue our sins and cease to offend his deuine Maiesty any more that wee shall truely honour him and become fit instruments to sound forth his praise and glory Now I beseech you mark how this doctrin of Christs mediatorship and your doctrin of merits can stand togither Christ as a mediator intreteth his father in our behalfe but if we do merit what need this intreaty for God is iust and of himself wil reward the wel deseruing of euery man to the ful Christ as he is a mediator presenteth satisfaction vnto his father for our sinnes but if we do merit that satisfaction might be spared for God is iust wil not be paid duble christ as he is our mediator vndertaketh for our innocency herafter but if we do merit then belike we are innocent already for none can merit at gods hands that is absolute righteousnes but he that is absolutely righteous and so that part of christs mediatorship would cease for God is iust and will haue no security for that heerafter which he hath receiued already but what doctrin cal you this and yet such is your doctrine of merits and so derogating as you see from the holy mediatorship of christ Iesus If therefore you looke for benifit by that mediatorship as most miserable is their condition that do not you must lay by your own merit which is so thin a clothing that the least drop of Gods indignation will drench cleane through it and cloath your selfe with christes merit which will keepe you warme indeed and be sure to hold out in all weather for as christ came from heauen into the world not to call the righteous they that thinke themselues so but the sinners they that acknowledge themselues so to repentance In like sort he returned not into heauen out of the world to medyate for such pharasaicall iusticiaries as rest vpon their owne integrity but for the humble deiected publicans that with repentance acknowledge their owne vnworthinesse Furthermore I do not see how it can be well maintained but that it is in some sort repugnant euen to the office of the holy ghost likewise for if the same be to sanctifie vs to nevvnesse of life and to giue groweth to our faith from time to time which taken at the best as I am taught standeth in neede of increase how can any workes we do which are the fruites of that faith be truely sayd to merit considering it is a ground that the effect must be answerable to the cause and the cause heer which is our faith being desectiue the effect which is our workes cannot bee perfect as necessarily they must be if they be meritorious now tel me I pray you whether any heresie can be compact of grosser absurdities then this be more preiudiciall then this or the author of greater indignity euen to the blessed Trinity then proceedeth from this your heresie of merits and yet which may be wondered at it findeth professors and patrons more then a good many and those sconfesse not vnlearned but profoundly reade in all knowledge that humane helpes can puffe vp their vnderstanding with but there is a knowledge that only one scholmaister reueileth a diuine knowledge a diuine scholmaister happy and truely learned is that scholler which is trained vp in such knowledge and that is instructed how vnlearned soeuer he seeme otherwise by such a scholemaister I am not altogether ignorant of the cūning distinctions which your greatest clarkes deuise for maintenance of this your merit and how they will haue their merit of worke and merit of the person the merit of congruity and the merit of condignity and I knowe they will tell you that there are diuers places of scripture to vphold the same But first let me tell you what a bold offer a good-fellow of our church once made to the contrary he that can shew me saith he in any scripture that workes do merit or be any meanes to our iustification for the first scripture without any further iudgement I will loose both mine eares for the second my tongue for the third my neck but the yssue was they accepted of his eares his tongue and his neck without performing the condition for no such place in all the whole scripture could be found and yet was he pittifully martyred amongst them poore soule nay rich soule rather for who can be richer then he by whom euen the house of God is inriched and it is the saying of a learned father that the blood of the martyr is the seede of the Church I confesse there are many sayinges in the booke of god that at the first sight and being not throughly waighed do seeme to import such a matter as where it is said that euery man shall receiue according to his labour your reward is great in heanen he will render to euery man according to his works From these and such places your doctors would draw inuincible arguments that good workes because God hath promised to reward them doe therefore merit that reward so promised but there is no necessity of that consequent our good workes indeed shall receiue reward but not because they merit the same for the finest hath his staine the best worke that man can doe is blemished but in regard that God of his owne free grace and mercy without respect to any worthynesse in the worke at all hath promised to reward them who being euer faithful will euer be as good as his promise and shew himselfe in all thinges to deale with his seruantes that truely depend vpon his mercy far better then after their best deseruings And that our workes deserue not this reward christ that is the paymaister himselfe by his prophets his Apostles Doni 9.38 by himselfe telleth vs plainely We do not saith the prophet present or supplications before thee Rom. 3 27 for our owne righteousnesse but for thy great tender mercies your reioycing saith the apostle is excluded by the law of faith Luk. 37 10. When ye haue don all saith christ say we are vnprofitable seruants The reuerent fathers and and learned Doctors of the church are copyous and doe flow in their obsernations vpon these and such like places of holy write to drowne the barren plot of mans merits bring in greater estimation the Aeden soile of christs righteousnes where all true merits grow and whence the riches euen of heauen it selfe are to be gathered but because I haue already partly cited them vpon the same subiect and my letter begins with prolixity to try the pacience euen of a friendly reader I will only present you with a litle nosegaie of foure or fiue flowers out of their seuerall Gardens which although for hast they be not curiously tyed together will neuerthelesse I doubt not
answerable proportion betwixt this and the rest Or if it fayle it is in this degree because many of the other pointes haue not that colour of maintenance out of the scriptures as this pointe of merites is vpheld by For I confesse there were sundry places which vpon the first shew and not well examined did seeme a supportation for this opinion but there are diuerse other pointes of your religion which haue not so much as any literall shew of countenance by the word of God but are inforced to flye from the same to crouch vnder the protection of Traditions Decretals and beg their defence from the warrant of such humaine authority so that in this regard the doctrine of most of the other points of your religion seemeth to be lesse iustifiable howsoeuer yet full as vnsound and as litle deseruing to be trusted vnto as this of the merit of your works in the act of your iustification but I promised if I had not I am compelled to insist vpon no other particular and I hope it were needlesse for I doubt not but that which I haue saide touching this one point only hath made you in some sort to distast the rest and wrought in you at least a sensible feeling of your soules insirmity NOw it remaineth that after that poore skill I haue I prescribe you some whole some course 5. Sect. whereby this your dangerous maladye may be cured For he may be a cunning but cannot be a kinde Physitian that hauing discoursed vnto his patient though but in part the nature of her disease and layed open vnto her insome measure the daungerous estate she is in shall then presently leaue her to her selfe and regardlesse of her recouery affoord her no further comfort To auoide therefore that imputation which I woulde be loth by you or any else in this or any other experiment should deseruedly be laide vpon me and to obserue the method I prescribed vnto my selfe in the beginning I wil first impart vnto you what the medicine is that necessarily you must take Secondly some part of those infinite and vnspeakeable benefits which you shall receiue in taking it Thirdly the meanes whereby you must take it And lastly what little charge it will stand you in and how cheape the taking of it will bee vnto you But because my allowance of time is spent and your patience I feare to sore pressed I will huddle vp this which is behind rather omit somthing that I could say then be taxed for containing my self within no compasse In a word then this medicine is a true and sincere faith in the righteousnesse of Christ Iesus This fayth if you remember I haue formerly defined and plainly laid down vnto you al the causes and some of the effects thereof It shall suffice in this place onely to tell you that it is A speciall and perfect assurance that we are partakers of the merit of Christes righteousnesse and that by the same righteousnesse onely satisfaction is made vnto God for all our offences and our saluation purchased This is that wholesome receit which I would minister vnto you and this you may be bolde to take for it will bee sure to cure your soule I gage mine owne vpon it not onely of that pestilent Gangrena the merit of workes but of all other imperfections that now doe or shall heereafter threaten the ruine thereof This only might be a sufficient motiue to stir vp your desire to the taking of it But to make you more eager vnderstand more particularly the benefits that you shall reape by the same It will make you that which you so long to be A saued soule in heauen So Saint Paule assureth you Ephe 1 1 Luke 6.20 It will procure you that which you so faine would haue Forgiuenesse of all your sinnes So Saint Luke assureth you It wil procure you that wherunto al the brauery and felicity of the earth is trash and beggery Praise honour and glory at the ioyfull appearing of Christ Iesus 1 Peter 1 Chap 7 And so Saint Peter himselfe whom I know you will beleeue assureth you Through this you shal haue free accesse to the grace of God which will make you eternally happye Through this you shall reioyce in all your tribulations which otherwise would make you vnhappy through this like those doubty souldiors of Christ that haue led you the waie you shall shew your selfe a valiant champion and ouercome the world This will be a Supersedeas vnto you not onely against the eternall death as is already proued but against the temporall death likewise for the beleeuer although he seeme to be dead is aliue as the vnbeleeuer although he seeme to bee aliue is dead God giueth saith one such grace and priuiledge to faith that death which of his owne nature is the priuation of life doth thereby become the entrance into life This is that happy starre which will lead you directly to that house where the king of glory hath his habitation Nay what will you say if the virgin Mary was not more happy for bearing the blessed body of our Sauior then you shall be by possessing this faith whereby as by the instrumental cause you must be saued you thinke this a hard saying as the capernaits thought that of christs yet Saint Augustine inferreth no lesse for these are his wordes Mary was more blessed in receiuing the faith of Christ then she was in conceiuing the flesh of Christ. The last benefit of faith that I will propose vnto you omitting many which I know and acknowledging infinite which I know not is that thereby your works wil becom good works at least accepted for good from the least to the greatest receiue their reward Whereas without the said faith there is no vertue in them they tast no more in gods mouth then the white of an Egge doth in mans they please him not for without faith it is impossible to please him and indeed they are no better then sinnes for as I haue saide whatsoeuer is not of faith is sin I know you think your works are good alredy better by many degrees then mine and me therefore an vnfit schoolma to read a lectur ther of vnto you I refer that vnto him who hath the balance in his hand and humbly throw downe mine such as they are at the footstool of his mercy confessing that many of thē are such as I haue cause to be ashamed of and the best of them not so good as I long they were and hope they will be but to make you look with a single and no such indulgent eie vpon your owne Vnderstand that euery good work must necessarily haue these two ends Faith and the glory of God faith is the end from whence it must proceed The glory of God is the end wherunto it must be directed Now if the work want either of these ends it is not a good worke yours want them both for they
vnto you and withall annex vnto his aduise a forcible reason importing some singular benefit that should redound in doing it woulde you not with all readinesse vndertake it and most willinglie embrace his counsell I know you would and therefore cannot chuse but woonder when that extraordinarie friend of yours Christ Iesus who held you I charitablie include you amongst the chosen as precious as his owne heart blood and whome you shoulde reesteeme more deere then your owne soule shall offer you his owne booke to read commaund you to read it and withall assertaine you that you goe astraie and wander out of the right waie that leadeth to felicitie because you want that direction which the same woulde affoorde you To see you notwithstanding shut your eies and eares and all your sences to be delighted and euen rauished with such harsh sounding and vnmelodious harmonie such absurd and hereticall doctrine as this booke which I receiued from you and other of the like stampe to frequent amongest you are stuffed with Wherein I graunt some part of Goddes worde to countenaunce forth all the rest is heere and there inter-wouen but that either not it selfe through corrupt translation or at least not like it selfe it is so violentlie wrested and by misapplication so pittifully disfigured When I had read your booke entituled A quartern of reasons of catholicke Religion with as manie briefe reasons of refusall collected and composed by T. Hill Doctor of Diuinity and hadde weighed the subiect the stile and the method I adiudged the answering of it to be a matter of no great difficultie and methought no taske of impossibilitie for my selfe though as you know no professed Diuine no noted student and indeed not worthie the name of a Scholler Howsoeuer yet I vndertook it till in my return frō you out of Glostershire at the Stationers in Worster I light vpon a booke bearing this title A quartern of reasons composed by D. Hill vnquartered and proued a quartern of follies by Francis Dillingham Batcheler of Diuinity Hereupon seeing the Doctor so substantiallie dealt with by M. Dillingham a degree behind him one waie though manie degrees before him another waie and to haue receiued from him a more sufficient answer thē my pouertie could haue affoorded I willing lie surceased and so let fall my former resolution yet being vnder saile seeing the wind faire and feeling my selfe to brook pretilie wel the Ocean I was entred into I thoght to make a voyage of it though a contrarie waie before I returned I meane hauing taken pen in hand to haue answered in my vnlearned fashion and therefore the more suteable the foresaide Treatise and perceiuing my selfe so happilie preuented I determined notwithstanding to write something vnto you that should concerne you and whereby if God were so pleased that more then Egyptian darknesse wherwith yoursoule is so benighted might in a timely houre bee expelled For two chiefe reasons haue I made religion the argument of this my letter the first for that there is nothing vnder the glory of God that so highlie importeth you as the good estate of your soule which depen deth vpon the religion you professe in the daies of this your pilgrimage vpon earth The other reason is because the difference of your religion mine our contrarie opinion therein hath bin the principall impediment that interrupted our loues proceeding brake the marriage betwixt vs which the worlde so long expected and we but for that mutually desired For as I vpon sure ground was euer resolued one way so you though without ground were as resolut another way and still would intimate your desire of my reconcilement to your Catholicke Religion as you call it Indeed for a Gentlewoman that is a catholike to ponder aforehand that irreligion though it cannot lawfullie breake that indissoluble band yet ought to be helde of sufficient force to restraine at first the making thereof is a prudent consideration For her to weigh with her selfe that this word coniugium or wedlocke importeth a vniting of two mindes and that if she match with one contrarily affected in religion the only true tempred stuffe that soldreth harts togither they can neuer rightly accord because they cannot agree in loue that disagree in faith This is like wise an ingenious and religious caution And then if she in true zeale and vpon the forsaid considerations conuert that hereticke whom she loueth to the profession of the catholike faith before she dain him the title of her husband Questionlesse she doth a worke that pleaseth God profiteth his church and ministreth matter of reioycing to the Angels of heauen But standeth the cause thus betwixt vs two I dare sweare for I had rather think you any thing then a dissembler you thinke it doth you thinke your elfe a catholicke and mean heretick you thinke the custome of our young gentlewomen of your old religion in turning their husbands hearts to the imbracing of their opinions a laudable custome and ought by you likewise as strictlie to be obserued But alasse that such blindnesse were it otherwise pleasing to our great God whose wisedome best knoweth what is good for his Church should get such possession of your vnderstanding and Ignorance so ouercloude your iudgment as to make you deeme your selfe to be otherwise then you are and others to be euen as the vncharitablest of your constructions can make them Alasse I saie vnder the foresaid reseruation that it should be so howbeit I maruaile not that it is so since it hath bin proper to the heriticks of old preiudicatlie to arrogate vnto themselues that acceptable appellation of catholicks and to intitle the catholiks indeed by this odious attribute of hereticks But now methinks you begin to distast my phrase because it begins to deale roundlie with you in retorting thoughe couertlie the heretick thus vpon you be patient a while and because no man that iudgeth himselfe sound is easilie wonne to accept the Phisitians helpe hovv full of vertue soeuer the Medicine be which is tendred him giue me leaue I praie you first to make you knovv your selfe to be imperfected then I doubt not but the receipt which the small measure of my skill shal compound for the expelling of your infirmitie will not onely be pleasing vnto your tast but powerfull through his working that giueth power to euery good work for your recouery It hath bin held a profitable method in the discription of any vice to anotamize that vertue which is properlie the opposite for the hard fauored gentlewoman is neuer so disaduantaged as whē she goes hand in hand with her beutiful neighbor each thing indeed being best deciphered by his contrarie I will therefore the question being which of vs is the catholicks first discouer mine own faith which you hold to be no better then heresie the verie contrarie vnto yours that thereby the beutie of your profession if mine be so deformed may the more bee admired or rather as I
hope and if iudiciall eies impartially discerne berwixt vs assure my selfe that the impuritie and blemishes thereof by such opposition of mine so substantially warrantable may the sooner be reuealed and by yourselfe whom it so neerelie concernes the better discerned and the rather do I begin with disclosing the substance of mine owne profession because we are bound to sind the true faith of christ in our selues before we examine the want therof in others and ought readilie to giue a reckoning of the same if either authority that is sufficient inioyne or causes that are substantial as in this case shal induce vs therunto MY religion vnderstand me I praie you Is the true worship of the euerliuing God 2. Sect. I know it is the true worship of God because it is that manner and forme of worship which is agreeable to his blessed wil I know it is agreeable to his wil because it is framed acording to the prescription of his holy word And I know it to be framed according to his word because I learne the same out of his owne booke which containeth nothing but his word deliuered first by his owne voice to our fore fathers after indighted by his owne al-sufficient wisdome penned downe by his owne chosen seruants the prophets and Apostles sealed and confirmed with the precious bloud of his owne deere sonne and from age to age through persecution through captiuitie thorough the most powerfull occurrents that euer Sathan deuised for impugning the same by his owne woonderfull prouidence so mercifully preserued to be food for the soules and direction for the liues of his elect here on earth while the world endureth which booke we therefore intitle the sacred scriptures commonly the Bible so that my Religion is a worshipping of god after his owne will reuealed by his owne word comprized in his owne booke and therfore as I first said a true worship of the euerliuing God And is it not iudge you the wisest course we can take for the vnderstanding the wil of our God without which we are no better then the beasts that perish and which necessarilie wee must attaine vnto before we can do it as we must doe it before we receiue that which you call the wages of wel-doing To read diligentlie this book to search reuerently these scriptures and to haue continuall recourse vnto this word which may be called the trusty Embassador that faithfullie deliuereth the reuealed councels of God the holy mouth that truely vttereth the oracles of his blessed sanctuarie which is the word of life the worde of truth as true as himselfe his owne word and therefore the best reuealer of his will and most absolute describer of that platforme after which hee delighteth to be worshipped I will not by way of inference as I go along roue at any marks of your profession til I haue in som perfecter sort measured out mine owne else could I me thinks with an arrow drawne out of this quyuer pierce euen the quickest vaine of those vnwarranted Decretals and humaine Traditions of yours But let your thoughtes a while be bestowed in consideration of what I say touching mine owne religion which earst I desined to be The true worshipe of the euerliuing God Wherein least you should mistake in thinking I deale Pharasaically or attribute perfection of impossibility vnto my selfe who being but flesh am therefore full of sinne and thereby disabled for that righteous cariage and the perfourmance of those holy offices which properly belong to the seruice of him who is all righteousnesse and true holines it selfe conceiue I pray you how I vnderstand my selfe and desire to be vnderstood therein I confesse that all men are sinners and my selfe as sinfull as any man I might saie more sinful for I must iudge my selfe seuerely and of others charitably besides I knowe mine owne wickednesse and my sinne is euer before me The Angels of heauen that excell in strength may keep o happy happie are they that while the commandments of the Lord but the inhabitants of the earth that are composed of weakenesse doe nothing but breake them In a word I am one of Adams crooked brats My workes are impure and all my righteousnesse as a polluted cloute So that to doe true worship to that Euerliuing God as I professed of my selfe I am not able for a sinfull lumpe of fleshe I finde it impossible Who am I said Moyses in a timerous distrust of his owne abilitie Exod. 3 xi that I shold go vnto Pharo Thē what am I maie I better expostulate from the certaine knowledge of my disabilitie to worship the Euarlasting God What am I that am a thousand times inserior to that Moses to worship him truelie who is ten thousand nay innumerable and vnimaginarie millions of degrees superior to that Pharo But the same God who in respect of his owne desert being the perfection of all thinges and all perfection before thinges had being requireth such exact seruice from me knowes whereof I am made for I am a worke of his owne handes and remembreth that I am but dust the substance of my forefathers vnskilfull how for I am no better then a beast in my owne knowledge and vnapt if I were skillfull so to serue him My hearte by nature being continually so misdisposed And out of the great storehouse therefore of his vnualuable compassion hath he sent me a full supplie to all my desects and plainelie directed me how to adresse my selfe for the manner of seruice which must purchase his acceptation for as he gaue encouragement to Moses and taught him with his owne word what to saie vnto and howe to carrie himselfe before Pharo It hath pleased him in like sort to imbolden mee in my greatest seare and by the perfect rule of the same powerfull word to instruct me after what sorte to appeare before him and how to demeane my selfe in the presence of his Maiestie his sacred word I saie still the spirit of truth expounding the same vnto me is my instruction Hence I learne which is the lesson that all christians should be perfect in the knowledge of Iesus christ and him crucified to know him to be perfect God and perfect Man my maker my sauiour my mediator My maker as he is God my Sauiour and mediator as he is God and man this is all I desire to knowe and may be wel enough for that learned Apostle of his notwithstanding his miraculous conuersion aboundant inspiration and heauenly vision by his own testimonie knew no more as he needed not the docctrine thereof being indeede the verie summe and scope of the whole scriptures This knowledge whosoeuer hath though he knowe nothing else knoweth all thinges as who so wanteth the same though hee knowe all thinges else maye bee saide to knovve nothing This is that christall sountain from whence the pure Waters of life do flovv and they that drinke soundlie thereof shall neuer thirst This is that fixed Helice which
our workes when they are at the best are of themselues imperfect and when they finde the happiest passage not for themselues but in and for Christs righteousnes are accepted I iudge it a more proper speech to say that in the righteousnes of Christ which is absolutely perfect which is freely bestowed vpon vs and really made ours by faith and from which as from the fountaine of all Gods graces all our owne good workes are properlie saide to spring that therein we serue God truely it being of it self as it wel deserueth merritorious and making our poor endeuours which of themselues deserue nothing most gratiously to be regarded Indeede it is all in all vnto vs reconciling vs to the fauour of our God and inablinge vs to doe that which is acceptable both before God and man for where this righteousnesse is faithfully receiued This righteousnesse through which only we enioy all the blessings of the earth by which onely as I said our best deedes must purchase acceptation and for which only we confidently hope at the last daie to be saued where I saie this righteousnesse is truely apprehended by faith by vertue of the same the heart and all the powers of the whole man are instantly prest so much as in him lies for al godly designs and eagerly bent so far as by grace he is inabled to the execution of any religious office that may tend to the seruice of his Lord and sauiour and to the manifestation of his obedience loue and thankefulnesse to his maiestie for such his vnspeakable mercy towardes him for looke how proper light is to the sunne or heate to fire so proper and so inseparable are good workes vnto that faithe which is so surely founded vpon the mercie of God in this righteousnesse of Christ Iesus No I am so far from renouncing or disclaiming from good works that I will acompany any true or stiled catholick protestant or papist in the world in commendation estimation and approbation of them till they come to be so intollerably prized as to be set in the roome of christes righteousnesse to fulfill the eternall law of God which was Christs office to be held meritorious of saluation which is the due of christs obedience and consequently to be made proportionable with Gods iustice which is onely proper to christs righteousnesse In this degree of magnifieng them I hold it security to leaue them acknoledging my pouerty one waie acording to that rate not able to reach them and knowing my riches another way after such a reckoning not to stand in neede of them for We are poore in our selues but rich in Christ I confesse that to glorifie God by doing good workes is a principall end both of our election creation redemption and sanctification I confesse that workes are necessary for great and waightie respects as besides the honnouring of God which is the chiefe end of all and to be preferred before any respect whatsoeuer to manifest our faith to credit our vocation to expresse our thankefulnesse to benefite our neighbour and to acertaine vs that wee are in the right waie that leadeth to euerlasting happinesse yea so farre fourth necessarie that without them I meane without the workes of the second or at least of the first Table we shall neuer attain vnto saluation Howbeit I dare not thence conclude that those workes are the cause of our saluation but the effects of the cause which is faith in the righteousnesse of christ I confesse that all our good workes shal be rewarded euen to a cup of cold Water yet will not thereby enferre that such reward is extended for the merit either of the person that doth the worke or of the worke how wel done soeuer but frō the meere bounty of our god who dealeth with vs in all things better then of our selues we deserue and for manifestation of his truth who hath gaged his word to that effect and will euer be as good as his promise In a worde I approue good workes I honour the doers of them and admire that grace which by faith enableth men to do them but stil vnderstand them to be the fruites and consequents of faith and in vs to receiue their life and being from the same for I cannot thinke that repentance or charity themselues though both of them steed vs so much in this world the one of them stay with vs in the world to come are sent by the blessed spirit into the heartes or mindes of the faithfull till faith formerly planted there by the same spirit be ready to receiue them For I know they are diuine vertues and no sinnes Howbeit had they being before faith I durst not thinke them so Ro 14 23 because I am commaunded to hold the necessity of this consequent whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne to be inuincible A legall contrition indeede and humaine effection may goe before but when that contrition becommeth true repentance and that affection is refined into perfect charity Questionlesse it is faith it being the receiuer of the spirit and purifier of the hart by which vnder God is wrought that happy and heauenly metamorphosis BVt to wade no deeper in this bottomlesse Ocean where the pilate himselfe if he take not good heed may quickly sinck ouer head and eares 3. Sect. so infinite are the misteries of our redemption and so many degrees more then infinite the mercies of God in our redemer And because I stand in feare least for the difficulty you conceite not or for the strangenes therof affect not this description which I haue already made of my Religion I will after a plainer sort for your vnderstanding and in a fashion more sutable for our liking draw forth in a word or two that pattern which in the profession of my faith and action of my life till the daies of my pilgramage in this vaile of affliction bee determined I am resolued by the ayde of the blessed spirit precisely to follow and whence as touching the discharge of my duty both towardes God and man I fetch my direction I formerly implyed that this patterne was the written word and so I doe still for the worde of God is a Lanthorne vnto our feete and a light vnto our pathes Psa 119 a Lanthorne to keepe our feete from falling in the race that we are to runne for so greate a Wager and a light to make our pathes though they be narrow and otherwise impossible to be hit yet plain passable vnto vs but an Epitomy onely of this word I wil now propose vnto you which consisteth of the creede the commandements and the lords praier the creed indited by the holy ghost and frō probability penned by the apostles howsoeuer yet composed of their doctrine therfore not vnworthily called their creed The commaundements indited and penned to for ought we knowe by god himselfe and deliuered to his chosen seruant Moses on the Mount Synay and the Lords prayer indicted
deposing of my lawful soueraigne the Lords anointed no not although my king were a tyrant as we all know and his very enemies acknowledge he is gratious and mild and after the Apostles precept hath put on euen the howels of compassion but concerning this last treason that treason of treasons the vnparalleld arch-treason of the world my protestation shall extend it selfe fvrther Namely that were I assared besides the fruition of all the former cited felicity that my God neither in this world by the worme of conscience nor in the world to come by eternall confusion would lay the same to my charge but absolutly remit it for euer yet that I should abhor from my soule such a bloody inhumaine action neuer be won to giue my consent thereunto for my loue to god and his church my king and country would I know religiously and forcibly restrain â—ne heere you may thinke I go very far but I assure you no furâ—her then I am directed by holy warrant and this I affirme to be the true resolution of a protestant and present vnto you as the proper fruit of our religion Whereupon if you please to fix the eie of your soule which is your vnderstanding and weigh the same in the true and single ballance of impartial Iudgment you wil presently I doubt not distast the fruits of your religion and happely discouer the same not to be as it seemeth but rather like the aples of Sodome which are said to be faire and beautifull in shew but when they are touched turne to ashes and reueile themselues to be of no substance But I ouerlong detaine you and confesse it is more then hie time I had concluded I leaue therefore this and all the other pointes formerly touched to your mature and indifferent consideration and theirs whomsoeuer that shall likewise daigne the perusall thereof and will now make bold though an vnbidden guest and but an intruder to come to your wedding It should seem without impeachment of the gent. worth that the deere expence of your time that pretious and vnualuable Iewell was an eloquent and powerfull aduocate in his behalf that at last hath so happily made conquest of your affection wherein I must approue your wisedome for there is no earthly Iewel to be compared therewith Iewels being lost may by possibility be recouered againe but time being spent can neuer be recalled againe I condemne my selfe in iustisieng of you Indeede therein I confesse I haue bene a prodigall for I haue played so long at this dangerous game of delay that I deserue methinkes to be notorious for ill husbandry The idle time-spender being as it is truely saide the greatest vnthrift you haue conside ratiuely avoided this scandall wherunto I onely say this that as you haue bin wise to enter into that happy and honourable calling of marriage and for ought I knowe aduised in making your choise so it is and shall be my prayer how weake soeuer you account the power thereof that you may bee hlessed in your course that your husbande that lyeth in your bosom the yssue which is likely to spring from those imbracements and all other blessings belonging to marriage may deriue vnto you such contentment ment and happinesse as your vttermost desires can aime at or any Gentlewoman of the world euer inioyed If you haue deserued well of me this for the present is my best requitall if otherwise it is my vttermost reuenge But if the world which is wedded to idle inquisition and sicke of her old disease sinister misconstruction would vnderstand the reason that brake the marriage betwixt vs two and gaue you occasion otherwise to dispose of yourselfe as you haue done let them know that on my part nothing but our different religion was the impediment I appeale vnto yourselfe whether I speake truely For you cannot but remember that in all oportunity I was still harping vpon that string and euer did my best though all in vaine to haue set the same in perfect tune I told you that if you would alter your grosse and foolish opinions or but giue mee hope that in future time I should haue better hearing and might happily win you thereunto I woulde be most willing and thinke my selfe most happy to knit that gordean knot without longer deferring although our friends should vtterly withstand it and euen inforce vs to get our maintenance I with my pen and you with your needle yea albeit we were sure to haue gone a begging which we then had not neither I hope euer that haue reason to stand in feare of These words I spake oftner then once vnto you I spake them from my hart I protested that I spake them so and I protest againe that I protested truly This methinks may discharge me from all imputations touching that matter and vpon this targe of proofe will I safely take all the malevolent darts that shall be throwne against my reputation I say if I was not so forward and willing as the world expected and your worth required our different manner of doing God seruice gaue the occasion And you are not the only Iewell of worth for I will euer acknowledge your worth your morral ver tues your gifts of natur all your praise-worthy parts as al are praise-worthy that that onely which obscureth ali the rest excepted I say you are not the onely Iewell of worth that this religious and lawfull impediment hath debarred me the wearing of But my god whose blessed will I refer my self vnto and vpon whose holy pronidence I pray I may euer depende will I know sufficiently prouide for those that faithfuly trust in his goodnesse and in his insinite and vnspeakeable distribution of blessings I am in good hope not forget my poor and sinful selfe though his most vnworthy seruant And so I beseech his diuine Maiesty Our almightie creator for the merit of his deere sonne Our merciful redeemer by the illumination of his blessed spirit Our holy sanclisier to renew you in the spirit of your mind to giue you grace to lay lowne the old man which is corrupt and to put on that new man which after God is shapen in righteousnesse and holinesse of truth To sill you with knowledge of his will in all wisedome and spirituall vnderstanding to free you from these strong delusions and to giue you a true liuely iustifieng faith in the righteousnes of Christ Iesus our Sauior wherby you haue cause to say and sing with holy Dauid My soul is escaped euen as a bird out of the snare of the fowler the snare is broken and I am deliuered That when your house of clay whose foundation is but dust shall be consumed You may be translated into the great citty holy Ierusalem be fed by the Lambe which is in the midst of the throne be led into the fountains of liuing water haue all your teares wiped from your eyes And in a word be crowned amongst the true seruants of the euerliuing God with eternall ioy and felicity in heauen where I hope notwithstanding our seperation vppon carth we shall one day by the mercy of our god liue and raign together FINIS