Faith as it cometh not by mans will as the Papists falsly pretend but only by the Election and free gift of God so it is only the immediate cause whereto the promise of our salvation is annexed according as we read And therefore of faith is the inheritance given as after grace that the promise might stand sure to every side Rom. 4. and in the same Chapter Faith believing in him that justifieth the wicked is imputed to righteousness And this concerning the causes of our salvation you see how Faith in Christ immediately and without condition doth justifie us being solicited with Gods mercy and Election that wheresoever Election goeth before Faith in Christ must needs follow after And again whosoever believeth in Christ Jesus through the vocation of God he must needs be partaker of Gods election whereupon resulteth the third note or consideration which is to consider whether a man in this life may be certain of his election To answer to which question this first is to be understood that although our election and vocation simply indeed be known to God only in himself a priore yet notwithstanding it may be known to every particular faithful man a posteriore that is by means which means is Faith in Christ Jesus crucified For as much as by Faith in Christ a man is justified and thereby made the child of salvation reason must needs lead the same to be then the child of election chosen of God to everlasting life For how can a man be saved but by consequence it followeth that he must also be elected And therefore of election it is truly said de electione judicandum est à posteriore that is to say we must judge of election by that which cometh after that is by our faith and belief in Christ which faith although in time it followeth after election yet this the proper immediate cause assigned by the Scripture which not only justifieth us but also certifieth us of this election of God whereunto likewise well agreeth this present Letter of Mr. Bradford wherein he saith Election albeit in God it be the first yet to us it is the last opened And therefore beginning first saith he with Creation I come from thence to Redemption and Justification by faith so to election not that faith is the cause efficient of election being rather the effect thereof but is to us the cause certificatory or the cause of our certification whereby we are brought to the feeling and knowledge of our election in Christ For albeit the election first be certain in the knowledge of God yet in our knowledge Faith only that we have in Christ is the thing that giveth to us our certificate and comfort of this election Wherefore whosoever desireth to be assured that he is one of the Elect number of God let him not climb up to Heaven to know but let him descend into himself and there search his faith in Christ the Son of God which if he find in him not feigned by the working of Gods Spirit accordingly thereupon let him stay and so wrap himself wholly both body and soul under Gods general promise and cumber his head with no further speculations knowing this that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish Joh. 3. shall not be confounded Rom. 9. shall not see death Joh. 8. shall not enter into judgment Joh. 5. shall have everlasting life Joh. 3.7 shall be saved Matth. 28. Act. 16. shall have remission of all his sins Act. 10. shall be justified Rom. 3. Gal. 2. shall have floods flowing out of him of the water of life Joh. 7. shall never die Joh. 11. shall be raised at the lest day Joh. 6. shall find rest in his soul and be refreshed Matth. 11. c. Such is the judgment and opinion of our Martyrologist in the great point of Predestination unto life the residue thereof touching justification being here purposely cut off with an c. as nothing pertinent to the business which we have in hand But between the Comment and the Text there is a great deal of difference the Comment laying the foundation of Election on the Will of God according to the Zuinglian or Calvinian way but the Text laying it wholly upon faith in Christ whom God the Father hath Predestinate in Christ unto eternal life according to the doctrine of the Church of England The Text first presupposeth an estate of sin and misery into which man was fallen a ransom paid by Christ for man and his whole Posterity a freedom left in man thus ransomed either to take or finally to refuse the benefit of so great mercy and then fixing or appropriating the benefit of so great a mercy as Christ and all his merits do amount to upon such only as believe But the Comment takes no notice of the fall of man grounding both Reprobation and Election on Gods absolute pleasure without relation to mans sin or our Saviours sufferings or any acceptation or refusal of his mercies in them As great a difference there is between the Author of the Comment and Bishop Hooper as between the Comment and the Text Bishop Hooper telleth us cap. 10. num 2. that Saul was no more excluded from the promise of Christ than David Esau than Jacob Judas than Peter c. if they had not excluded themselves quite contrary to that of our present Author who having asked the question why Jacob was chosen and not Esau why David accepted and Saul refused c. makes answer that it cannot otherwise be answered than that so was the good will of God And this being said I would fain know upon what authority the Author hath placed Nachor amongst the Reprobates in the same rank with Esan Pharaoh and Saul all which he hath marked out to reprobation the Scripture laying no such censure on Nachor or his Posterity as the Author doth Or else the Author must know more of the estate of Nachor than Abraham his Brother did who certainly would never have chosen a Wife for his Son Isaac out of Nachors line if he had looked upon them as reprobated and accursed of God I observe secondly that plainly God is made an accepter of persons by the Authors doctrine For first he telleth us that the elder Son had a better will to tarry by his Father and so did indeed but the fatted Calf was given to the younger Son that ran away and thereupon he doth infer that the matter goeth not by the will of man but by the will of God as it pleaseth him to accept I observe thirdly that Vocation in the Authors judgment standeth upon Gods Election as the work thereof whereas Vocation is more general and is extended unto those also whom they call the Reprobate and therefore standeth not on Election as the Author hath it For many are called though out of those many which are called but a few are chosen Fourthly I observe that notwithstanding the Author builds the doctrine of Election on Gods
Prin and his Shadow so declare themselves Anti-Armin Pag. 48. the one affirming that all these passages are directly for them and punctually opposite to their Arminian Antagonists the other crying out with some admiration How do the Master and Scholar plainly declare themselves to bâ— no friends to the Tenents which the English Arminians how contend for but notwithstanding all this cry I fear we shall get but little wool when we come to consider of those passages in Poynets Catechism which are most relied on and which hâ—re follow as I find them in the Anti-arminianism without alteration of the words or syllables though with some alteration in the method of the Collection Now the passâ—ges collected out of Poynets Catechism are these that follow viz. The Image of God in man by original sin and evil custom was so obscured in the beginning and the natural judgment so corrupted Caâ—â—â—â— Pag. 7.8 12. Page 9. that man himself could not sufficiently understand the difference between good and bad between just and unjust c. As for the sacrificings cleansings washings and other Ceremonies of the Law they were Shadows Types Images and Figures of the true and eternal sacrifice that Jesus Christ made upon the Cross by whose benefit alone all the sins of all Believers from the beginning of the World are pardoned by the sole mercy of God Page 13. and not by any merit of their own As soon as ever Adam and Eve had eaten of the forbidden fruit they both died that is that they were not only liable to the death of the body but likewise lost the lise of the soul which is righteousness and forthwith the Divine Image was obscured in them and those lineaments of Righteousness Holiness Truth and knowledge of God exceeding comely were disordered and almost obliterated the terrene Image only remained coupled with unrighteousness fraud carnal affections and great ignorance of Divine and Heavenly things from thence also proceeded the infirmity of our flesh from thence corruption and confusion of affections and desires hence that plague hence that seminary and nutriment of sin wherewith all man-kind is infected which is called Original sin Moreover nature is sodepraved and cast down that unless the goodness and mercy of Almighty God had helped us by the medicine of grace as in body we were thrust down into all the miseries of death so it was necessary that all men of all sorts should be cast into eternal torments and fire which cannot be quenched â—eâ— 18. Those things which are spiritual are not seen but by the eye of the spirit He therefore that will see the Divinity of Christ on Earth let him open the eyes not of the body but of the mind and of Faith and he shall see him present whom the eye doth not see he shall see him present in the midst of them Wheresoever two or three are gathered together in his Name he shall see him present with us to the end of the World What have I said he shall see Christ present yea he shall both see and feel him dwelling in himself no otherwise than his own soul for he doth dwell and reside in the soul and in the heart of him who doth place all his confidence in him Above all things this cannot be concealed that the benefits which are brought unto us by the Death 〈◊〉 23. the Resurrection and Ascention of Christ were so great and ample that no tongue either of men or Angels can express it c. From these and from other actions of Christ two benefits do accrew unto us One that whatsoever he did he did it all for our profitand commodity so that they are as much ours if we cleave fast to him with a firm and lively faith as if we our selves had done them He verily was nailed to the Cross and we are crucified with him and our sins are punished in him He died and was buried we likewise with our sins are dead and buried and that so as that all the memory of our sins is utterly abolished he rose again and we also are risen with him being made partakers of his resurrection and life that henceforth death might no more domineer in us for there is the same Spirit in us that raised Jesus from the dead Lastly as he ascended into Celestial glory so we are exalted together with him Fol. 30. The Holy Ghost is called holy not only for his own holiness but because the Elect of God Fol. 31. and the Members of Christ are made holy by him The Church is the company of them who are called to eternal life by the Holy Ghost by whom she is guided and governed which time she cannot be understood by the light of sense or nature is justly placed amongst the number of those things which are to be believed and is therefore called the Catholick that is the universal Assembly of the faithful Fâ—â— 44 45. because it is not tied to any certain placed God who rules and governs all things can do all things No man is of so great power that he can so much as withst and him but he gives whatsoever he shall decree according to his own pleasure and those things which are given to us by him he is able to take them away After the Lord God had made the Heavens and Earth he determined to have for himself a most beautiful Kingdom 〈◊〉 from Pag. 37. to 41. and holy Commmon-wealth The Apostles and Ancient Fathers that writ in Greek called it Ecclesia in English a Congregation or Assembly into the which he hath admitted an infinite number of men that should be subject to one King as their Soveraign and only Head him we call Christ which is as much as to say Anointed or to the furnishing of this Common-wealth belong all they as many as do truly fear honour and call upon God daily applying their minds to holy and godly living and all those that putting all their hope and trust in him do assuredly look for bliss of everlasting life But as many as are in this Faith stedfast were fore-chosen predestinate and appoined to everlasting life before the World was made witness whereof they have within their hearts the merit of Christ the Authour earnest and unfailable pledge of their Faith which Faith only is able to perceive the mysteries of God only brings peace unto the heart only taketh hold on the Righteousness which is in Christ Jesus Master Doth then the Spirit alone and Faith sleep we never so securely or stand we never so reckless or slothful work all things for us as without any help of our own to convey us to Heaven Scholar Just Master as you have taught me to make a difference between the Cause and the Effect The first principal and most proper cause of our Justification and Salvation is the goodness and love of God whereby he chose us for his before he made the World After that God
not only a strong interruption for the present to the proceeding of the Church but an occasion also of great discord and dissention in it for the time to come For many of our Divines who had fled beyond the Sea of avoid the hurry of her Reign though otherwise men of good abilities in most parts of Learning returned so altered in their principals as to points of Doctrine so disaffected to the Government Forms of worship here by Law established that they seem'd not to be the same men at their coming home as they had been at their going hence yet such was the necessity which the Church was under of filling up the vacant places and preferments which had been made void either by the voluntary discession or positive deprivation of the Popish Cleergy that they wer fain to take in all of any condition which were able to do the publick service without relation to their private opinions in doctrine or discipline nothing so much regarded in the chice of men for Bishopricks Deanries Dignities in Cathedral Churches the richest Benefices in the Countrey and places of most command and trust in the Universities as their known zeal against the Papists together with such a sufficiency of learning as might enable them for writing and preaching against the Popes Supremacy the carnal presence of Christ in the blessed Sacrament the superstitions of the Mass the half Communion the celebrating of Divine service in a tongue not known unto the People the inforced single life of Priests the worshipping of Images and other the like points of Popery which had given most offence and were the principal causes of that separation On this account we find Mr. Pilkington preferred to the See of Durham and Whittingham to the rich Deanry of the Church of which the one proved a grear favourer of the Non-conformists as is confessed by one who challengeth a relation to his blood and family the other associated himself with Goodman as after Goodman did with Knox for lanting Puritanism and sedition in the Kirk of Scotland On this account Dr. Lawrence Humphrey a professed Calvinian in point of doctrine and a Non-conformist but qualified with the title of a moderate one is made the Queens Professor for Divinity in the University of Oxon Thomas Cartwright that great Incendiary of this Church preferred to be the Lady Margarets Professor in the University of Cambridge Sampson made Dean of Christ-church and presently propter Puritanismum Exacutoratus Godw. in Catal Episc Oxon. turned out again for Puritanism as my Author hath it Hardiman made one of the first Prebends of Westminister of the Queens foundation and not long after deprived of it by the high Commissioners for breaking down the Altar there and defacing the ancient utepsils and ornaments which belonged to the Church And finally upon this account as Whitehead who had been Chaplain to Queen Anne Bullain refused the Archbishoprick of Canterbury before it was offered unto Parker and Coverdale to be restored to the See of Exon which he had chearfully accepted in the time of K. Edward so Mr. John Fox of great esteem for his painful and laborious work of Acts and Monuments commonly called the Book of Martyrs would not accept of any preferment in the Church but a Prebends place in Salisbury which tied him not to any residence in the same And this he did especially as it after proved to avoid subscription shewing a greater willingness to leave his place than to subscribe unto the Articles of Religion then by Law established when he was legally required to do it by Arch-bishop Parker Of this man there remains a short discourse in his Acts and Monuments of Predestination occasioned by a Letter of Mr. Bradfords before remembred whose Orthodox doctrine in that point he feared might create some danger unto that of Calvin which then began to find a more general entertainment than could be rationally expected in so short a time And therefore as a counter-ballance he annexeth this discourse of his own with this following title viz. Notes on the same Epistle and the manner of Election thereunto appertaining As touching the Doctrine of Election whereof this Letter of Mr. Bradford and many other of his Letters more do much intreat three things must be considered Fox in Acts and Mon. fol. 1505. 1. What Gods Election is and what the cause thereof 2. How Gods Election proceedeth in working our salvation 3. To whom Gods Election pertaineth and how a Man may be certain thereof Between Predestination and Election this difference there is Predestination is as well to the Reprobate as to the Elect Election pertaineth only to them that be saved Predestination in that it respecteth the Rebate is called Reprobation in that it respected the saved is called Election and is thus defined Predestination is the eternal decreement of God purposed before in himself what shall befal all men either to salvation or damnation Election is the free mercy and grace of God in his own will through faith in Christ his Son choosing and preferring to life such as pleaseth him In this definition of Election first goeth before the mercy and grace of God as the causes thereof whereby are excluded all works of the Law and merits of deserving whether they go before faith or come after so was Jacob chosen and Esau refused before either of them began to work c. Secondly in that the mercy of God in this Definition is said to be free thereby is to be noted the proceeding and working of God not to be bound to any ordinary place or to any succession of choice nor to state and dignity of person nor to worthiness of blood c. but all goeth by the meer will of his own purpose as it is written spiritus ubi vult spirat c. And thus was the outward race and stock of Abraham after flesh refused which seemed to have the preheminence and another seed after the Spirit raised by Abraham of the stones that is of the Gentiles So was the outward Temple of Jerusalem and Chair of Moses which seem'd to be of price forsaken and Gods Chair advanced in other Nations So was tall Saul refused and little David accepted the Rich the Proud and the Wise of this world rejected and the word of salvation daily opened to the poor and miserable abjects the high Mountains cast under and the low valleys exalted c. And in the next place it is added in his own will by this falleth down the free will and purpose of man with all his actions counsels and strength of nature according as it is written non est volentis neque currentis sed miserentis Dei c. It is not him that willeth nor in him that runneth but in God that sheweth mercy So we see how Israel ran long and yet got nothing The Gentile runneth began to set out late and yet got the game So they which came at the first which did labour more
and yet they that came last were rewarded with the first Mat. 20. The working will of the Pharisee seemed better but yet the Lords Will was rather to justifie the Publican Luk. 18. The elder Son had a better will to tarry by his Father and so did indeed and yet the fat Calf was given to the younger Son that ran away Luk. 15. whereby we have to understand how the matter goeth not by the will of man but by the will of God as it pleaseth him to accept according as it is written non ex voluntate carnis neque ex voluntate viri sed ex Deo nati sunt c. Which are born not of the will of the flesh nor yet of the will of man but of God Furthermore as all then goeth by the will of God only and not by the will of man So again here is to be noted that the will of God never goeth without faith in Christ Jesus his Son And therefore fourthly is this clause added in the definition through faith in Christ his Son which faith in Christ to us-ward maketh altogether For first it certifieth us of Gods Election as this Epistle of Mr. Bradford doth well express For whosoever will be certain of his Election in God let him first begin with faith in Christ which if he find in him to stand firm he may be sure and nothing doubt but that he is one of the number of Gods Elect. Secondly the said faith and nothing else is the only condition and means whereupon Gods mercy grace Election vocation and all Gods promises to salvation do stay accordingly the word of St. Paul si permanseritis in fide and if ye abide in the faith Col. 1.3 This faith is the mediate and next cause of our justification simply without any condition annexed For as the mercy of God his grace Election vocation and other precedent causes do save and justifie us upon condition if we believe in Christ so this faith only in Christ without condition is the next and immediate cause which by Gods promise worketh out justification according as it is written crede in dominum Jesum salvus eris tu domus tus Believe in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved thou and thy whole house And thus much touching the Definition of Election with the causes thereof declared which you see now to be no merits or works of man whether they go before or come after faith For like as all they that be born of Adam do taste of his Malediction though they tasted not of the Apple so all they that be born of Christ which is by faith take part of the obedience of Christ although they never did that obedience themselves which was in him Rom. 5. Now to the second consideration Let us see likewise how and in what order this Election of God proceedeth in choosing and electing them which he ordaineth to salvation which order is this In them that be chosen to life first Gods mercy and free grace bringeth forth Election Election worketh Vocation or Gods holy calling which Vocation though hearing bringeth knowledge and faith in Christ Faith through promise obtaineth justification justification through hope waiteth for glorification Election is before time Vocation and Faith cometh in time Justification and Glorification is without end Election depending upon Gods free grace and will excludeth all mans will blind fortune chance and all peradventures Vocation standing upon Gods Election excludeth all mans wisdom cunning learning intention power and presumption Faith in Christ proceeding by the gift of the Holy Ghost and freely justifying man by Gods promises excludeth all other merits of men all condition of deserving and all works of the Law both Gods Law and mans Law with all other outward means whatsoever Justification coming freely by Faith standeth sure by Promise without doubt fear or wavering in this life Glorification appertaining only to the life to come by hope is looked for Grace and Mercy preventeth Election ordaineth Vocation prepareth and receiveth the Word whereby cometh Faith Faith justifieth Justification bringeth glory Election is the immediate and next cause of Vocation Vocation which is the working of Gods Spirit by the Word is the immediate and next cause of Faith Faith is the immediate and next cause of Justification And this order and connexion of causes is diligently to be observed because of the Papists which have miserably confounded and inverted this doctrine thus teaching that Almighty God so far as he foreseeth mans merits before to come so doth he dispence his Election Dominus prout cujusque merita fore praevidet ita dispensat electionis gratiam futuris tamen concedere That is that the Lord recompenseth the grace of Election not to any merits proceeding but yet granteth the same to the merits that follow after and not rather have our holiness by Gods Election going before But we following the Scripture say otherwise that the cause only of God Election is his own free mercy and the cause only of our justification is our faith in Christ and nothing else As for example first concerning Election if the question be asked why was Abraham chosen and not Nathor why was Jacob chosen and not Esau why was Moses Elected and Pharaoh hardened why David accepted and Saul refused why few be chosen and the most forsaken It cannot be answered otherwise but thus because so was the good will of God In like manner touching Vocation and also Faith if the question be asked why this Vocation and gift of Faith was given to Cornelius the Gentile and not to Tertullus the Jew why to the Poor the Babes and the little ones of the world of whom Christ speaketh I thank the Father which hast hid these from the wise c. Matth. 11. why to the unwise the simple abjects and out-casts of the world of whom speaketh Saint Paul 1 Cor. 1. You see your calling my Brethren why not many of you c. Why to the sinners and not to the just why the Beggars by the high-ways were called and the bidden guests excluded We can ascribe no other cause but to Gods purpose and Election and say with Christ our Saviour quia Pater sic complacitum est ante te Yea Father for that it seemed good in thy sight Luk. 10. And so it is for Justification likewise if the question be asked why the Publican was justified and not the Pharisee Luk. 18. Why Mary the sinner and not Simon the inviter Luk. 11. Why Harlots and Publicans go before the Scribes and Pharisees in the Kingdom Matth. 21. why the Son of the Free-woman was received and the Bond-womans Son being his elder rejected Gen 21. why Israel which so long sought for righteousness found it not and the Gentiles which sought it not found it Rom. 9. We have no other cause hereof to render but to say with Saint Paul because they sought for it by works of the Law and not by Faith which
as a commendable thing in Timothy that he knew the Scriptures from his Childhood And why else doth S. Hierom speak it to the honour of the Lady Paula that she made her Maids learn somewhat daily of the holy Scriptures Why else does Chrysostom call so earnestly on all sorts of men to provide themselves of the holy Bibles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the only Physick for the Soul as he calls it there inviting to the reading thereof not only men of learning and publick business but even the poor Artificer also as is acknowledged by Senensis whom before we mentioned And why else doth S. Augustine inform his Auditors that it sufficeth not to hear the Scriptures read in the Congregation unless they read also in their private Houses Assuredly if Boys and Girls if Servants and Artificers are called upon so earnestly to consult the Scriptures to have them in a Tongue intelligible to them in their private Families and are commended for so doing as we see they are I know no rank of men that can be excluded Let us next see whether it be an Innovation in the Church of Christ to have the Liturgies or Common-prayers of the Church in the Tongue generally understood by the common people which make the greatest number of all Church Assemblies And first we find by the Apostle not only that the publick Prayers of the Church of Corinth were celebrated in a Language which they understood but that it ought to be so also in all other Churches Except saith he ye utter by the voice words easie to be understood how shall it be known what is spoken How shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen to thy giving of thanks and consequently to thy Prayers also if he understand not what thou sayest 1 Cor. 14.9.16 What say the Papists unto this Do not both Lyra and Aquinas expresly grant in their Commentaries on this place of Scripture that the common Service of the Church in the Primitive times was in the common vulgar language Is not the like affirmed by Harding in his Answer to Bishop Jewels challenge Art 3. Sect. 28. Adding withal that it was necessary in the Primitive times that it should be so and granting that it were still better that the people had their Service in their own vulgar Tongue for their better understanding of it Sect. 33. Having thus Consitentes reos we need seek no further and yet a further search will not be unprofitable And on that search it will be found that the converted Jews did celebrate their divine Offices Tractatus oblationes as the Father hath it most commonly in the Syriack and sometimes in the Hebrew tongue the natural Languages of that people as is affirmed by S. Ambrose in 1. ad Cor. cap. 14. and out of him by Durand in his Rationale Divinerum Eckius a great stickler of the Popes affirmeth in his Common places that the Indians have their Service in the Indian tongue and that S. Hierome having translated the whole Bible into the Dalmatick procured that the Service should be celebrated in that Language also The like S. Hierome himself in his Epistle to Heliodorus hath told us of the Bessi a Sarmatian people The like S. Basil in his Epistle to the Neo-caesareans assures us for the Aegyptians Libyans Palestinians Phenicians Arabians Syrians and such as dwell about the banks of the River Euphrates The Aethiopians had their Missal the Chaldeans theirs each in the language of their Countreys which they still retain So had the Moscovites of old and all the scattered Churches of the Eastern parts which they continue to this day But nothing is more memorable in this kind then that which Aeneas Silvius tells of the Sclavonians who being converted to the Faith made suit unto the Pope to have the publick Service in their natural Tongue but some delay being made therein by the Pope and Cardinals a voice was heard seeming to have come from Heaven praying Omnis Spiritus laudet Dominum omnis lingua confiteatur ei Whereupon their desires were granted without more dispute Touching which grant there is extant an Epistle from Pope John VIII to Sfentopulcher King of the Moravian Sclaves anno 888 at what time both the Latine Service and the Popes Authority were generally received in those parts of Europe Which Letter of Pope John VIII together with the Story above mentioned might probably be a chief inducement to Innocent III. to set out a Decree in the Lateran Council importing that in all such Cities in which there was a concourse of divers nations and consequently of different Languages as in most Towns of Trade there doth use to be the Service should be said and Sacraments administred Secundum diversitates nationum linguarum according to the difference of their Tongues and Nations And though Pope Gregory VII a turbulent and violent man about 200 years after the Concession made by John VIII in his Letter to Vratislaus King of Bohemia laboured the cancelling of that priviledge and possibly might prevail therein as the times then were yet the Liburnians and Dalmatians two Sclavonian Nations and bordering on Italy the Popes proper seat do still enjoy the benefit of that Indulgence and celebrate their Liturgy in their own Language to this very day So that the wonder is the greater that those of Rome should stand so stifly in defence of the Latine Service which the common people understand not and therefore cannot knowingly and with faith say Amen unto it For though the Latine Tongue was Vulgar in a manner to those Western Nations amongst whom the Latine Service was first received and for that cause received because Vulgar to them Yet when upon the inundation of the barbarous Nations the Latine tongue degenerated into other Languages as in France Italy and Spain or else was quite worn out of knowledge as in Britain Belgium and some parts of the modern Germany in which before it had been commonly understood it was both consonant to Piety and Christian Prudence that the Language of the common Liturgies should be altered also The people otherwise either in singing David's Psalms or repeating any parts of the daily Office must needs be like those Romans or Italians which S. Ambrose speaks of who loved to sing Greek songs by rote as we use to say out of a meer delight which they had to the sound of the words nescientes tamen quid dicant not understanding one word which they said or sung The blame and guilt of Innovation being taken off we must next examine the effects and dangerous consequents more visibly discerned at this time in the Church of England than was or could have been believed when they were first intimated Amongst these they reckon in the first place the increase of Heresies occasioned by the mistaking of the true sense and meaning of the Holy Scripture and to that end it is said by Bellarmine that the people would not only receive
use of a Liturgy surther than to be an help in the want or to the weakness of a Minister and thereupon it is inferred with contempt enough that if any Minister appear insufficient to discharge the duty of conceived Prayer it may be imposed on him as a punishment to use set forms and no other If these two Propositions did proceed from the same one spirit as no doubt they did the extream falshood of the last doth prove sufficiently that neither of them did proceed from the Spirit of Truth King Edward VI. the Lord Protector then being and the learned Prelates of that time were our first Reformers the two first approving and confirming the last labouring and acting in that weighty business but all contributing to the passing of an Act of Parliament for uniformity of Service and Administration of the Sacraments 2 and 3. Ed. 6. cap. 1. and in that Act it is said expresly That all Ministers in any Cathedral or Parish Church or other place within this Realm of England Wales and other the Kings Dominions shall from and after the Feast of Pentecost next coming be bounden to say and use all Mattens Evensong Celebration of the Lords Supper commonly called the Mass and Administration of each of the Sacraments and their common and open Prayer in such order and form as is mentioned in the same Book and none other or otherwise Which clause continued still in being notwithstanding the alteration of the Liturgie till K. Edward's death and was revived again in the Act of Parliament 1 Eliz. cap. 2. By which the second Liturgie was confirmed and ratified Assuredly they that are bound to officiate by a Form prescribed to use no other Form but that and to use that Form no otherwise than the Law requireth and requireth under several penalties contained in it cannot be said to be at liberty to use or not to use it as they list themselves nor can pretend in any reason nor with common sense That the first Reformers of Religion did never intend the use of a Liturgy further than to be an help in the want or to the weakness of a Minister What the Reformers did in other Countreys was no Rule to ours who in the modelling of that great work had not only an eye and respect as the forementioned Statute telleth us to the most sincere and pure Christian Religion taught by the Scripture as probably the others had but also to the usages in the Primitive Church which certainly the others had not So that the second Position which the proud Inference thence deducted being blown aside the whole weight of the cause must wholly rest upon the first which whether it be of strength enough to support the same is the main disquisition and enquiry which we have in hand For when this Proposition was first vented and the point had been somewhat ventilated betwixt the humble Remonstrant on the one part and the Smectymnians on the other I was required by those who had Authority to command me to try what I could do in drawing down the Pedegree and the descent of Liturgies from the first use and institution of them amongst the Jews till they were setled and established also amongst the Christians For since the Smectymnians had appealed to the ancient practice of the Jews and Christians affirming positively that no such Liturgies that is to say no stinted and prescribed Forms of Administration were anciently used by either of them it is most fit and just they should be tryed by the Records and practice of those elder times to which they have Appealed for their justification So that the point between us being matter of Fact I shall pursue it in the way of an Historical Narration in which the Affirmative being made good by sufficient evidence it will be very difficult if not impossible to prove the Negative And for the better making good of the Affirmative I have taken in the Jewish Rabbins and other Antiquaries of that people of most faith and credit the holy Fathers and other Ecclesiastical Authors since the times of Christ to testifie unto the truth of what here is said either by way of explication of such Texts of Scripture which do relate unto this cause or in the way of declaration as laying down the practice of the Jews or Christians in their several times And that it may be seen that Liturgies or Set Forms of worship were of general usage I have made diligent search into the best and most unquestioned monuments of the ancient Gentiles and traced out many of their Forms of prayer and sacrifice used by them in the most religious acts of those performances and placed that search betwixt the practice of the Jews and that of the Christians And I have placed it in that order to the end that it may appear that the Christians had not only some ground of Scripture Tradition Apostolical and the best judgments of their own times to direct this business but that they were also guided in it by the light of Nature the Word of God amongst the Jews and the constant practice of that people in the times precedent Nor have I only took this pains in tracing out the constant practice of all people in respect of Liturgies but also with relation unto the necessary adjuncts and concomitants of them Set Forms of Worship require set times and places to perform them in which gives occasion to insert some notes or observations touching the Festivals or days of Religious offices taken up by the Authority of the Church in several Ages according as the commemoration of some signal benefits or Gods special mercies toward them might invite them to it The like I have done also in the erecting and dedicating of those sacred places which have been destinated in all times to Religious offices from the first Consecrating of the Tabernacle by Gods own appointment till the last dedication of the Temple in the time of Herod and from the first deputing of some places by the Lords Apostles for the divine performances and administrations of the Christian Faith till calmer times permitted the erecting of those stately Fabricks which the Gentiles looked upon with envy and admiration Some other things are intermingled touching the Habit of the Priests or Ministers under either Testament in the time or act of their officiating as also of the Gestures used both by Priests and People according to the several offices and acts of worship And this I have drawn down unto the time of S. Austin's death when neither Superstition in point of worship nor Heterodoxie in point of Doctrine had gotten any predominancy in the Church of Christ which was then come unto her height both for peace and purity By which the Reader may perceive how warrantably this Church proceeded in her Reformation as to this particular how strict an eye was had therein as well to the most sincere and pure Christian Religion taught by the Scripture as to the usages
and Ministers shall move the people to joyn with them in Prayer in this Form or to this effect as briefly as conveniently they may Ye shall pray for Christs holy Catholick Church that is for the whole Congregation of Christian people dispersed through the whole world and especially for the Churches of England Scotland and Ireland And herein I require you most especially to pray for the Kings most excellent Majesty our Sovereign Lord James King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governour in these his Realms and all other his Dominions and Countreys over all Persons in all causes as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal Ye shall also pray for our gracious Queen Ann the noble Prince Henry and the rest of the Kings and Queens Royal Issue Ye shall also pray for the Ministers of Gods holy Word and Sacraments as well Archbishops and Bishops as other Pastors and Curats Ye shall also pray for the Kings most honourable Council and for all the Nobility and Magistrates of this Realm that all and every of those in their several callings may serve truly and painfully to the Glory of God and the edifying and well-governing of his people remembring the accompt they must make Also ye shall pray for the whole Commons of this Realm that they may live in true Faith and fear of God and humble obedience to the King and Brotherly Charity one to another Finally let us praise God for all those that are already departed out of this life in the Faith of Christ and pray unto God that we may have grace to direct our lives after their good examples that this life ended we may be made partakers with them of the glorious Resurrection in the life everlasting Always concluding with the Lords Prayer So far the Letter of the Canon in which there was not any purpose nor in the makers of the same to introduce into the Church any Form of Prayer or Invocation save those which were laid down in the Common prayer Book nor indeed could they if they would the Statute 1 Eliz. being still in force but to reduce her Ministers to the antient usage of this Church which had been much neglected if not laid aside The Canons then established were no late Invention as some give it out but a Collection of such Ordinances and pious Customs as had been formerly in use since the Reformation which being scattered and diffused in several Injunctions Orders and Advertisements published by K. Henry VIII K. Edward VI. and Q. Eliz. or in the Canons of particular Convocations in those times assembled or otherwise retained in continual practice was by the care and wisdom of the Clergy in the Synod at London An. 1603. drawn up together into one body and by his Majesty then being Authorized in due form of Law And being so Authorized by his Majesty the Canons then made had the force of Laws and were of power to bind the Subjects of all sorts according to their several and respective concernments as fully and effectually as any Statute or Act of Parliament can bind the Subject of this Realm in their goods and properties For which consult the Statute 25. H. 8. cap. 19. and the practice since Which as it may be said of all so more particularly of the Canon now in question of which it is to be considered that the main body of the same had been delivered formerly almost verbatim in the Queens Injunctions published by her Royal and Supream Authority in the first year of her Reign Anno 1559. which I will therefore here put down that by comparing both together we may the better see the true intention of that Canon and what is further to be said in the present business The Queens Injunction is as followeth The title this The Form of bidding the Prayers to be used generally in this uniform sort and then the body of it is this Ye shall pray for Christs holy Catholick Church that is for the whole Congregation of Christian people dispersed throughout the whole world and especially for the Churches of England and Ireland and herein I require you most especially to pray for the Queens most excellent Majesty our Soveraign Lady Eliz. Queen of England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith and supream Governour of this Realm as well in causes Ecclesiastical as Temporal You shall also pray for the Ministers of Gods holy Word and Sacraments as well Archbishops and Bishops as other Pastors and Curats Ye shall also pray for the Queens most honourable Council and for all the Nobility of this Realm That all and every of these in their callings may serve truly and painfully to the glory of God and edifying of his people remembring the accompt they must make Also you shall pray for the whole Commons of this Realm that they may live in true faith and fear of God in humble Obedience and brotherly Charity one to another Finally let us praise God for all those that are departed out of this life in the faith of Christ and pray unto God that we may have grace to direct our lives after their good example that after this life we may be made partakers of the glorious resurrection in the life everlasting These are the very words of the Injunction wherein it is to be observed that as the Canon hath relation to this Injunction so neither this Injunction nor any thing therein enjoyned was of new erection but a Reviver only of the usual Form which had been formerly enjoyned and constantly observed in King Edwards days as we shall see by looking over the Injunction published and the practice following thereupon in the said Kings Reign Now the Injunction of King Edward the 6. is in this Form following The Title thus The Form of bidding the Common prayers and then the Form it self You shall pray for the whole Congregation of Christs Church and especially for this Congregation of England and Ireland wherein first I commend to your devout prayers the Kings most excellent Majesty supreme Head immediately under God of the Spiritualty and Temporalty of the same Church And for Queen Katharine Dowager and also for my Lady Mary and my Lady Elizabeth the Kings Sisters Secondly you shall pray for my Lord Protectors grace with all the rest of the Kings Majesties Council for all the Lords of this Realm and for the Clergy and Commons of the same Beseeching Almighty God to give every one of them in his degree Grace to use themselves in such wise as may be to Gods glory the Kings honour and the weal of this Realm Thirdly you shall pray for all them that be departed out of this world in the faith of Christ that they with us and we with them at the day of Judgment may rest both Body and Soul with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven This was the Form first published in the beginning of the Reign of King Edward VI. and it continued all
sake of Jesus Christ to lay aside all prejudice which possibly you may be possessed withal either in reference to the Argument or unto the Author and to peruse this following Story with as much singleness of heart and desire of truth and invocation of Gods Spirit to find out the same as was by me used in the writing of it It is your welfare which I aim at as before was said your restitution to your functions and reconciliation to the Church from which you are at point of falling that we with you and you with us laying aside those jealousies and distrusts which commonly attend on divided minds may joyn our hearts and hands together for the advancement of Gods honour and the Churches peace And God even our own God shall give us his blessing For others which shall read this Story whether by you misguided or yet left emire I do desire them to take notice that there is none so much a stranger to good Arts and Learning whom in this case and kind of writing I dare not trust with the full cognizance of the cause herein related In points of Law when as the matter seems to be above the wit of common persons or otherwise is so involved and intricate that there hath been no Precedent thereof in former times it is put off to a demurrer and argued by my Lords the Judges with their best maturity of deliberation But in a matter of fact we put our selves upon an ordinary Jury not doubting if the evidence prove fair the Witnesses of faith unquestioned and the Records without suspition of imposture but they will do their Conscience and find for Plaintiff or Defendant as the cause appears So in the business now in hand that part thereof which consists most of Argument and strength of Disputation in the examining of those reasons which Pro or Con have been alledged are by me left to be discussed and weighed by them who either by their place are called or by their Learning are inabled to so great a business But for the point of practice which is matter of fact how long it was before the Sabbath was commanded and how it was observed being once commanded how the Lords day hath stood in the Christian Church by what Authority first instituted in what kind regarded these things are offered to the judgment and consideration of the meanest Reader No man that is to be returned on the present Jury but may be able to give up his Verdict touching the title now in question unless he come with passion and so will not hear or else with prejudice and so will not value the evidence which is produced for his information For my part I shall deal ingenuously as the cause requires as of sworn counsel to the truth not using any of the mysteries or arts of pleading but as the holy Fathers of the Church the learned Writers of all Ages the most renowned Divines of these latter times and finally as the publick Monuments and Records of most Nations christned have furnished me in this enquiry What these or any of them have herein either said or done or otherwise left upon the Register for our direction I shall lay down in order in their several times either the times in which they lived or whereof they writ that so we may the better see the whole succession both of the doctrine and the practice of Gods Church in the present business And this with all integrity and sincere proceeding not making use of any Author who hath been probably suspected of fraud or forgery nor dealing otherwise in this search than as becomes a man who aims at nothing more than Gods publick service and the conducting of Gods People in the ways of truth This is the sum of what I had to say in this present Preface beseeching God the God of truth yea the truth it self to give us a right understanding and a good will to do thereafter THE HISTORY OF THE SABBATH BOOK I. From the Creation of the World to the destruction of the Temple CHAP. I. That the SABBATH was not instituted in the Beginning of the World 1. The entrance to the Work in hand 2. That those words Genes 2. And God blessed the seventh day c. are there delivered as by way of anticipation 3. Anticipations in the Scripture confessed by them who deny it here 4. Anticipations of the same nature not strange in Scripture 5. No Law imposed by God on Adam touching the keeping of the Sabbath 6. The Sabbath not ingraft by Nature in the soul of man 7. The greatest Advocates for the Sabbath deny it to be any part of the Law of Nature 8. Of the morality and perfection supposed to be in the number of seven by some learned men 9. That other numbers in the confession of the same learned men particularly the first third and fourth are both as moral and as perfect as the seventh 10. The like is proved of the sixth eighth and tenth and of other numbers 11. The Scripture not more favourable to the number of seven than it is to others 12. Great caution to be used by those who love to recreate themselves in the mysteries of numbers I Purpose by the grace of God to write an History of the Sabbath and to make known what practically hath been done therein by the Church of God in all Ages past from the Creation till this present Primaque ab origine mundi ad mea perpetuum deducere tempora carmen One day as David tells us teacheth another Nor can we have a better Schoolmaster in the things of God than the continual and most constant practice of those famous men that have gone before us An undertaking of great difficulty but of greater profit In which I will crave leave to say as doth St. Austin in the entrance to his Books de Civitate Lib. 1. c. â— Magnum opus arduum sed Deus est adjutor noster Therefore most humbly begging the assistance of Gods holy Spirit to guide me in the way of truth I shall apply my self to so great a work beginning with the first Beginnings and so continuing my Discourse successively unto these times wherein we live In which no accident of note as far as I can discern shall pass unobserved which may conduce to the discovery of the truth and seâ—ling of the minds of men in a point so controverted On therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the present business Gen. 2. In the beginning saith the Text God created the Heaven and the Earth Which being finished and all the hosts of them made perfect on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made And then it followeth And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made Unto this passage of the Text and this
Learning And as for Barns the far most learned of the three he had been once Prior of the Augustinian Fryers in Cambridge whose Doctrines he had sucked in at his first coming thither and therefore might retain them to the very last without relation to the Zuinglian or Calvinian Tenents or any differences then on foot between the Protestant Doctors and the Church of Rome Besides being of the same Order which Luther had quitted he might the more willingly encline to Luthers first opinion touching servitude of the will mans inability in co-operating with the Grace of God and being forcibly drawn in his own conversion velut inanimatum quiddam like a stock or stone in which he was tenaciously followed by the rigid Lutherans though he had afterwards changed his judgment touching that particular So that beholding Dr. Barns either as one that followed Luther in his first Opinions or travelled the Dominican way in the present points as an Augustinian it is no marvel if we find somewhat in his Writings agreeable to the palate of the Calvinists and rigid Lutherans From whence it is Dise of Free-will p. 278. that laying down the Doctrine of Predestination he discourseth thus viz. But yet sayst thou that he giveth to the one mercy and the other none I answer what is that to thee is not his mercy his own is it not lawful for him to give it to whom he will is thine eye evil because his is good take that which is thine and go thy way for if he will shew his wrath and make his power known over the vessels of wrath ordained to damnation and to declare the riches of his glory unto the vessels of mercy Id. ib. which he hath prepared and elected unto Glory what hast thou therewith to do But here will subtil blindness say God saw before that Jacob should do good and therefore did he choose him he saw also that Esau should do evil therefore did he condemn him Alas for blindness what will you judg of that which God foresaw how know we that God saw that and if he saw it how know we that it was the cause of Jacobs Election These Children being unborn they had done neither good nor bad and yet one of them is chosen and the other is refused St. Paul knoweth no other cause but the will of God and will you needs discuss another He saith not I will have mercy on him that I see shall do good but I will shew mercy to whom I will He saith not I will have compassion on him that shall deserve it de congruo but Of him of whom I will have compassion Now as he followeth the Dominicans or rigid Lutherans in laying down the grounds and method of Predestination so he draws more to them also and the Zuinglians also touching Gods workings on the will than possibly may be capable of a good construction Ib. p. 281. Gods saith he of his infinite power letteth nothing to be exempted from him but all things to be subject unto his action and nothing can be done by them but by his principal motion So that he worketh in all manner of things that be either good or had not changing their nature but only moving them to work after their natures So that good worketh good and evil worketh evil and God useth them both as instruments and yet doth he nothing evil but evil is done alone through the will of man God working by him but not evil as by an instrument Which last Position notwithstanding all the subtilty in the close thereof how far it is from making God to be the Author of sin I leave to be determined by men of more Sholastical and Metaphysical heads than my simplicity can pretend to For Tyndal next though I shall not derogate in any thing from his great pains in translating the Bible nor from the glory of his suffering in defence of those Truths for which he died yet there were so many Heterodoxes in the most of his Writings as render them no fit rule for a Reformation no more than those of Wicklif before remembred the number and particulars whereof I had rather the Reader should look for in the Acts and Monuments where they are mustered up together about the latter end of the Reign of King Henry the eighth than expect them here That which occurreth in him touchin Predestination is no more than this Prolog in Epist to the Romans p. 42. 1. Grace saith he is properly Gods favour benevolence or kind mind which of his own self without our deservings he reacheth to us whereby he was moved and inclined to give Christ unto us with all other gifts of Grace Which having told us in his Preface to Sr. Pauls Epistle to the Romans he telleth us not long after that in the 9 10 11. Chapters of the Epistle the Apostle teacheth us of Gods Predestination From whence it springeth altogether whether we shall believe or not believe be loosed from sin or not be loosed By which Predestination our Justifying and Salvation are clear taken out of our hands and put into the hands of God only which thing is most necessary of all for we are so weak and so uncertain that if it stood in us there would of truth no man be saved Ibid. 15. the Devil no doubt would deceive him but now God is sure of his Predestination neither can any man withstand or let him else why do we hope and sigh against sin Discoursing in another place of the act the Will hath on the Understanding he telleth us That the Will of man followeth the Wit that as the Wit erreth so doth the Will and as the Wit is in captivity so is the Will neither is it possible that the Will should be free when the Wit is in bondage c. as I err in my Wit so I err in my Will when I judg that to be evil which is good then indeed do I hate that which is good and then when I perceive that which is good to bee evil then indeed do I love the evil Finally in the heats of his Disputation with Sir Thomas Moor who had affirmed That men were to endeavour themselves and captivate their understandings if they would believe He first cryes out lib. 3. Hist Moor p. 306. How Beetle-blind is fleshly reason and then subjoyns that the Will hath no operation at all in the working of faith in my soul no more than the Child hath in begetting of his Father for saith Paul it is the gift of God and not of us my Wit must conclude good or had yet my Will can leave or take my Wit must shew me a true or an apparent cause why yet my Will have any working at all I had almost forgot John Frith and if I had it had been no great loss to our rigid Calvinists who not content to guide themselves in these Disputes by Gods Will revealed have too audaciously pried into the
world The like saith Bishop Hooper also telling us Pref. to his Exposition There was no diversity in Christ of Jew or Gentile that it was never forbid but that all sorts of people and every propeny of the World to be made partakers of the Jews Religion And then again in the example of the Ninevites Thou hast saith he good Christian Reader the mercy of God and general promise of salvation performed in Christ for whose sake only God and man were set at one The less assistance we had from Bishop Hooper in the former points the more we shall receive in this touching the causes why this great benefit is not made effectual unto all alike Concerning which he lets us know That to the obtaining the first end of his justice he allureth as many as be not utterly wicked and may be helped Ibid. partly with threatnings and partly with promises and so provoketh them unto amendment of life c. and would have all men to be saved therefore provoketh now by fair means now by foul that the sinner should satisfie his just and righteous pleasure not that the promises of God appertain to such as will not repent or his threatnings unto him that doth repent but these means he useth to save his creature this way useth he to nurture us until such time as the holy Spirit worketh such a perfection in us that we will obey him though there were neither pain nor joy mentioned at all And in another place more briefly That if either out of a contempt or hate of Gods Word we fall into sin and transform our selves into the image of the Devil then we exclude our selves by this means from the promises and merits of Christ Serm. 1. Sund. after Epiph. Bishop Latimer to the same point also His salvation is sufficient to satisfie for all the World as concerning it self but as concerning us he saveth no more than such as put their trust in him and as many as believe in him shall be saved the other shall be cast out as Infidels into everlasting damnation not for lack of salvation but for infidelity and lack of faith which is the only cause of their damnation One word more out of Bishop Hooper to conclude this point which in fine is this To the Objection saith he touching that S. Peter speaketh of such as shall perish for their false doctrine c. this the Scripture answereth that the promise of grace appertaineth to every sort of men in the world and comprehendeth them all howbeit within certain limits and bounds the which if men neglect to pass over they exclude themselves from the promise of Christ CHAP. XI Of the Heavenly influences of Gods grace in the Conversion of a Sinner and mans co-operation with those Heavenly influences 1. The Doctrine of Deserving Grace ex congruo maintained in the Roman Schools before the Council of Trent rejected by our ancient Martyrs and the Book of Articles 2. The judgment of Dr. Barns and Mr. Tyndal touching the necessary workings of Gods grace on the will of man not different from that of the Church of England 3. Vniversal grace maintained by Bishop Hooper and proved by some passages in the Liturgy and Book of Homilies 4. The offer of Vniversal grace made ineffectual to some for want of faith and to others for want of repentance according to the judgment of Bishop Hooper 5. The necessity of Grace preventing and the free co-operation of mans will being so prevented maintained in the Articles in the Homilies and the publick Liturgy 6. The necessity of this co-operation on the part of man defended and applied to the exercise of a godly life by Bishop Hooper 7. The Doctrine of Irresistibility first broached by Calvin pertinaciously maintained by most of his followers and by Gomarus amongst others 8. Gainsaid by Bishop Hooper and Bishop Latimer 9. And their gainsayings justified by the tenth Article of King Edwards Books And 10. The Book of Homilies THIS leads me unto the Disputes touching the influences of Grace and the co-operation of mans will with those Heavenly influences in which the received Doctrine of the Church of Rome seems to have had some alteration to the better since the debating and concluding of those points in the Council of Trent before which time the Doctrine of the Roman Schools was thought to draw too near to the lees of Pelagianism to ascribe too much to mans Free-will or so much to it at the least as by the right use of the powers of nature might merit grace ex congruo as the School-men phrase it of the hands of God Against this it was that Dr. Barnes declared as before was said in his discourse about Free-will and against which the Church of England then declared in the 13 Article His works p. 821. affirming That such works as are done before the grace of Christ and the inspiration of his Spirit do not make men meet to receive grace or as the School-men say deserve grace of Congruity Against which Tyndal gives this note That Free-will preventeth not Grace which certainly he had never done if somewhat to the contrary had not been delivered in the Church of Rome and against which it was declared by John Lambert another of our ancient Martyrs in these following words viz. Concerning Free-will saith he I mean altogether as doth S. Augustine that of our selves we have no liberty nor ability to do the will of God but are subject unto sin Acts and Mn. fol. 1009. and thrals of the same conclusi sub peccato or as witnesseth S. Paul But by the grace of God we are rid and set at liberty according to the proportion that every man hath taken of the same some more some less But none more fully shewed himself against this opinion than Dr. Barnes before remembred not touching only on the by Collection of his works by I. D. sol 266. but writing a Discourse particularly against the errours of that time in this very point But here saith he we will search what strength is of man in his natural power without the Spirit of God to will or do those things that be acceptable before God unto the fulfilling of the will of God c. A search which had been vain and needless if nothing could be found which tended to the maintenance of acting in spiritual matters by mans natural power without the workings of the Spirit And therefore he saith very truly That man can do nothing by his Free-will as Christ teacheth for without me ye can do nothing c. where it is opened that Free-will without Grace can do nothing he speak not of eating and drinking though they be works of Grace but nothing that is fruitful that is meritorious that is worthy of thanks that is acceptable before God To which effect we also find these brief Remembrances Mans Free-will without Gods Grace can do nothing that is good p. 268. that all which
to say to receive the grace offered consent to the promise and not to impugn the God that calleth More fully but to the same purpose also speaks Bishop Latimer Gods salvation saith he is sufficient to save all man-kind But we are so wicked of our selves that we refuse the same Serm. on Septu fol. 214. and we will not take it when 't is offered unto us and therefore he saith pauci vero electi few are chosen that is few have pleasure and delight in it for the most part are weary of it cannot abide it and there are some that hear it but they will abide no danger for it And in few lines after thus Such men are cause of their own damnation for God would have them saved but they refuse it like Judas the Traytor whom Christ would have had to be saved but he refused his salvation he refused to follow the Doctrine of his Master Christ The like occurs in another place of the same Sermon where we find That seeing the preaching of the Gospel is universal it appeareth that God would have all man-kind saved and that the fault is not in him if they be damned For thus it is written Deus vult omnes homines falvos fieri God would have all men to be saved but we are so wicked of our selves that we refuse the same and will not take notice of it when 't is offered And here for strength and confirmation unto all the rest we are to know that these two godly Martyrs have delivered no other Doctrine than what is positively expressed or may be rationally inferred both from the tenth Article of King Edwards book and the book of Homilies And first for the tenth Article of King Edwards book it is this that followeth viz. Gratia Christi sive Spiritus Sanctus qui per eundem datur cor lapideum aufert dat cor carneum Atque licet ex nolentibus quae recta sunt volentes faciat ex volentibus prava nolentes reddat Voluntati tamen nullam violentiam infert nemo hac de causa cum peccaverit ut eam ob causam accusari nonmereatur aut damnari That is to say The Grace of Christ or the Holy Ghost which is given by him doth take from man the heart of stone and giveth him a heart of flesh And though it rendreth us willing to do those goed worke which before we were unwilling to do and unwilling to do those evil works which before we did yet is no violence offered by it to the will of man so that no man when he hath sinned can excuse himself as if he had sinned against his will or upon constraint and therefore that he ought not to be accused or condemned upon that account The composition of which Article doth most clearly shew that our first Reformers did as little countenance that Doctrine of the Irresistibility of Gods grace in its workings on the will of man which the Calvinians now contend for as they did the Dreams and Dotages of some zuinglian Gospellers into whose writings if we look we shall easily find that Gods divine Predestination is by them made the cause of sin by which men are necessitated and compelled to those acts of wickedness which they so frequently commit By the vertue of Gods will saith one all things are done yea even those things which are evil and excerable By Gods Predestination saith another we are compelled to do those things for which we are damned as will appear more fully in the sixtecnth Chapter when the extravagancies of the Predestinarians come to be considered And it is probable enough that to encounter with these monstrous Paradoxes of the Zuinglian Gospellers this Article was first composed in which Provision seems to have been made against all those who taught that men sinned against their wills or upon constraint or that men might excuse themselves from the blame thereof upon that consideration If any of the Calvinian factions can find any thing in this Article against Arminianism as they call it or in defence of the determining of the will by converting grace or the consistency of the freedom or liberty of the will much good may it do them But then they should think themselves obliged to give a better reason than I think they can why this article is not to be found in the Book as now it is Printed Either this Article was not made in favour of Calvinism when it was published with the rest in King Edwards time or the Reformers of the Church under Queen Elizabeth were no friends to Calvinism in cansing it to be left out in the second Book Anno 1562. to which subscription is required by the Laws of the Land Proceed we next unto the book of Homilies in the one of which we find this passage Hom. of the Mis of Man p. 10. that few of the proud learned wise perfect and holy Pharisees was saved by Christ because they justified themselves by their counterfeit holiness before men And in another thus But the corrupt inclination of man was so much given to follow his own fancies and as you would say to favour his own bird Hom. of good works p. 33. that he worships himself that all the admonitions exhortations benefits and the precepts of God could not keep him from their intention More clearly and expresly in another place where after the recitation of some pious duties by God commended to the Jews the Homily proceeds in this manner following But these things they passed not of they turned their backs and went their way they stopped their ears that they might not hear 1. p. of the Ser. of felling from God p. 53. and they hardned their hearts as an Adamant stone that they might not listen to the Law and the words that the Lord had sent through his holy Spirit Wherefore the Lord shewed his great indignation upon them It came to pass saith the Prophet even as I told them and they would not hear so when they cried they were not heard but were scattered into all Kingdoms which they never knew and their Land was made desolate And to be short all they that may not abide the Word of God but following the persuasions and stubbornness of their own hearts go backward and not forward as is said in Jeremy they go and turn away from God Nor is this spoken only of such a temporary resistance as may be overcome at last by the unconquerable power of the Spirit of God but even of such an obstinate and perverse resistance as in the end will lead the way to a final Apostacy an unrecoverable forsaking of God and being as irrecoverably forsaken by him Of which we shall speak more at large in the fifth and last Article concerning the uncertainty of perseverance CHAP. XII The Doctrine of Freewill agreed upon by the Clergy in their Convocation Anno 1543. 1. Of the Convocation holden in the year 1543. in order to
Church teacheth men to pray to Almighty God not to take his holy Spirit from us And in another place that he suffer us not at our last hour for any pains of death to fall from him which certainly she had never done were it not possible for a man so far to grieve and vex the Holy Spirit of God and so far to despair of his gracious mercy as to occasion him at the last to deprive us both of the one and the other Next for the Homilies as they commend unto Gods People a probable and stedfast hope of their salvation in Christ Jesus so they allow no such infallibility of persisting in grace as to secure them from a total and final falling In reference to the first they tell us in the second part of the Sermon against the fear of death That none of those their causes of the fear of death that is to say the sorrow of repenting from our worldly pleasures the terrible apprehension of the pangs of death and the more terrible apprehension of the pains of Hell do make any trouble to good men Hom. p. 67. because they stay themselves by true faith perfect charity and sure hope of the endless joy and bliss everlasting All therefore have great cause to be full of joy that he joyned to Christ with true Faith stedfast hope and perfect charity and not to fear death nor everlasting damnation The like we find not long after where it speaks of those Who being truly penitent for their offences depart hence in perfect charity and in sure trust that God is merciful to them forgiving them their sins for the merits of Jesus Christ the only natural Son In the third part of which Sermon it is thus concluded He that conceiveth all these things and believeth them assuredly Ibid. p. 68. as they ought to be believed even from the bottom of his heart being established in God in his true faith having a quiet Conscience in Christ a firm hope and assured trust in Gods mercy through the merits of Jesus Christ to obtain this rest quietness and everlasting joy shall not only be without fear of godly death when it cometh but greatly desire in his heart as St. Paul did to be rid from all these occasions of evil and live ever to Gods pleasure in perfect obedience of his Will with Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour to whose gracious presence c By all which passages it is clear and evident that the Church teacheth us to entertain a probable and stedfast hope of our salvation in Christ Jesus but whether it teacheth also such an infallibility of persisting in grace such a certainty of perseverance as to exclude all possibility of a total or a sinal falling we are next to see And see it we may without the help of Spectacles or any of the Optical instruments if we go no farther than the title of two of those Homilies the first whereof is thus inscribed viz. A Sermon shewing how dangerous a thing it is to fall from God And it had been ridiculous if not somewhat worse to write a Sermon de non ente to terrifie the people with the danger of that misfortune which they were well enough assured they should never suffer Out of which Homilies the Appellant makes no use but of these words only Whereas God hath shewed unto all them that truly do believe his Gospel his face of mercy in Christ Jesus which doth so enlighten their hearts that they be transformed into his Image be made partakers of the Heavenly light and of his holy Spirit Hom. p. 54. be fashioned to him in all goodness requisite to the Child of God So if they do afterwards neglect the same if they be unthankful unto him if they order not their lives according unto his Doctrine and Example and to the setting forth of his glory he will take from them his holy Word his Kingdom whereby be should reign in them because they bring not forth fruit which he looked for besides which there are mony other passages to this effect where it is said that as by pride and sin we fall from God Ibid. p 50. so shall God and all goodness go from us that sometimes men go from God by lack of faith and mistrusting of God and somâ—tâ—â—te by neglecting his Commandments concerning their Neighbours And after some examples given in these several cases it followeth that by these examples of holy Scripture we may know that as we forsake God Id. p 54. so shall he forsake us And what a miserable estate doth consequently and necessarily follow thereupon a man may easily consider by the horrible threatnings of God c. And finally having not only laid before us the said horrible threatnings but the recital also of those gentle courses by which he doth endeavour to gain us to him it concludeth thus viz. that if these will not serve but still remain disobedient to his Word and Will not knowing him or loving him not fearing him nor putting our whole trust and confidence in him and on the other side to our Neighbours behaving our selves uncharitably by disdain envy malice or by committing murder robbery adultery gluttony deceit lying swearing or other like detestable works and ungodly behaviour then he threatneth us by terrible comminations swearing in great anger that whosoever doth these works shall never enter into his rest which is the Kingdom of Heaven CHAP. XIV The Plain Song of the second Homily touching the falling from God and the Descants made upon it 1. More from some other Homilies touching the possibility of falling from the grace received 2. The second Homily or Sermon touching falling from God laid down verbatim 3. The sorry shifts of Mr. Yates to elude the true meaning of the Homily plainly discovered and confuted 4. An Answer unto his Objection touching the passage cited from the former Homily in Mr. Mountagues Appeal 5. The Judgment of Mr. Ridley Archdeacon of Canterbury in the points of Election and Redemption 6. As also touching the Reasons why the Word was not preached unto the Gentiles till the coming of Christ the influences of of grace the co-workings of man and the possibility of falling from the truth of Christ NOR doth the Church declare this only in the former Homily where the poin is purposely maintained but in some others also obiter and upon the by whert it discourseth principally on some other subject Hom. of good works p. 32. for in the second part of the Sermon of good Works we shall find St. Chrysostom speaking thus viz. The Thief thawas hanged when Christ suffered did believe only and the most merciful God justified himt And because no man shall say again that he wanted time to do good works for else he could have done them truth it is and I will not contend herein but this I will surely affirm that faith only saved him If he had lived and not regarded Faith and
granteth us to be calledby preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ when the Spirit of the Lord is poured upon us by whose guiding and governance we be led to settle our trust in God and hope for the performance of his promise With this choice is joyned as companion the mortifying of the Old man that is of our affections and lusts from the same Spirit also cometh our Sanctification the love of God and of our Neighbour justice and uprightness of life Finally to say all in sum whatever is in us or may be done of us honest pure true and good that altogether springeth out of this most pleasant Rock from this most plentiful Fountain the goodness love choice and unchangable purpose of God he is the cause the rest are the fruits and effects Yet are also the choice and Spirit of God and Christ himself causes conjoyned and coupled each with other which may be reckoned amongst the principal causes of salvation As oft therefore as we use to say that we are made righteous and saved by Faith only it is meant thereby that faith or rather trust alone doth lay hard upon understand and perceive our righteous making to be given us of God freely that is to say by no deserts of our own but by the free grace of the Almighty Father Moreover Faith doth ingender in us love of our Neighbour and such works as God is pleased withal for if it be a lively and true faith quickned by the Holy Ghost she is the mother of all good saying and doing By this short tale it is evident by what means we attain to be righteous For not by the worthiness of our deservings were we heretofore chosen or long ago saved but by the only mercy of God and pure grace of Christ our Lord whereby we were in him made to do those good works that God had appointed for us to walk in And although good works cannot deserve to make us righteous before God yet do they so cleave unto Faith that neither Faith can be found without them nor good works be any where found without Faith Fol. 68. immortality and blesse life God hath provided for his chosen before the foundations of the World were laid These are the passages which Mr. Prin hath gathered out of Poynets Catechism to prove that Calvinism is the true genuine and original Doctrine of the reformed Church of England in the Points disputed for my part I can see no possible inconvenience which can follow on it in yielding so far to his desires as to admit the passages before recited to be fully consonant to the true genuine sense and proper meaning of all but more especially of our 9 10 13 16 and 17. Articles then newly composed so that whatsoever is positively and clearly affirmed in this Catechism of any of the Points now controverted may be safely implied as the undoubted Doctrine of our Church and Articles For who can find if he looks upon them with a single and impartial eye that all or any of the passages before treated can be made use of for the countenancing of such a personal and eternal election without relation unto sin as is supposed by the Supralapsarians or without reference to Christs death and sufferings as is defended by the Sublapsarians in the Schools of Calvin What ground can a man find here for the Horribile Decretum that cruel and most unmerciful decree of pre-ordaining the far greatest part of all man-kind to everlasting damnation and consequently unto sin that they might be damned What passage find we in all these either in opposition to the Doctrine of Vniversal Redemption though that be afore said to be here condemned or in maintenance of the irresistible working of the grace of God as takes away all freedom and co-operation from the will of man and renders him as unable to his own conversion as to the work of his own being begotten to the life of nature or to the raising of his dead body to life of glory And finally what assurance is here that the man once justified shall not fall into deadly sin or not continue in the same multiplying one sin upon another till he hath made up the measure of his iniquities and yet all this while remain in the favour of God and be as sure and certain of his own salvation by the like unresistible working of the holy Spirit as if he had never wandred from the ways of Righteousness He must see further into a Mill-stone than all men living who can conclude from all or any of those passages that the Zuinglian and Calvinian Doctrines the Anti Arminian Doctrines Antiaâ—m as that Author calls them are manifestly approved and undeniably confirmed by them as the only ancient established and professed Doctrines of our Church and Articles or that can honestly affirm as his eccho doth that both the Master and the Scholar declare themselves plainly in that Catechism to be no friends to any of the Tenents which those of the opposite side contend for Which said 〈◊〉 Faith 〈◊〉 -arm p. 102. we will endeavour to find out Bishop Poynets judgment in the points disputed or so many of them at the least as are touched upon as well from such fragments as are offered to us in the Anti-Arminianism as from such passages as have been cunningly slipt over of purpose to subduct them from the eye of the Reader And first the Author lets us know that God created man after his own Image that is to say in ea absolutissima Justitia perfectissima sanctimonia c. in such a high degree of righteousness and perfect holiness as came most near unto the nature of God himself that this Divine image was so defaced by the sin of our first Parents Adam and Eve that those lineaments of righteousness holiness truth and knowledge of God were disordered and almost obliterated that man being in this wretched case it pleased God to raise him to a new hope of Restitution in the seed of the Woman that is to say in Jesus Christ his only Son conceived of the Holy Ghost and born of the pure and most immaculate Virgin Mary the actions of whose life do so much redound to our benefit and commodity that if we cleave fast unto them with a true and lively faith they shall be as much ours as his and finally that as many as are in this faith stedfast were fore-chosen predestinate and appointed to everlasting life before the world was made 2. In the next place he lets us know which the Author hath amongst his fragments that the sacrificings cleansings washings and other Ceremonies of the Law were Shadows Types Images and Figures of the true and eternal Sacrifice of Jesus Christ made upon the Cross by whose benefit alone all the sins of all Believers from the beginning of the World are pardoned by the sore mercy of God and not by any deserts of their own But then he lets us
Papist nor Pelagian 3. The common practices of the Calvinists to defame their Adversaries the name of Freewill-men to whom given why 4. The Doctrine of John Knox in restraining all mens actions either good or evil to the determinate Will and Counsel of God 5. The like affirmed by the Author of the Table of Predestination in whom and the Genevian Notes we find Christ to be excluded from being the foundation of mans Election and made to be an inferiour cause of salvation only 6. God made to be the Author of sin by the Author of a Pamphlet entituled against a Privy Papist and his secret Counsels called in for the proof thereof both by him and Knox with the mischiefs which ensued upon it 7. The Doctrine of Robert Crowly imputing all mens sins to Predestination his silly defences for the same made good by a distinction of John Verons and the weakness of that distinction shewed by Campneys 8. The Errours of the former Authors opposed by Campneys his book in answer to those Errours together with his Orthodoxy in the point of universalRedemption and what he builds upon the same 9. Hissolid Arguments against the imputing of all actions either good or evil to Predestination justified by a saying of Prosper of Aquitaine 10. The virulent prosecutions of Veron and Crowly according to the Genius of the sect of Calvin THUS we have seen the Doctrine of the Church of England in the Five Controverted Points according to the Principles and persuasions of the first Reformers And to say truth it was but time that they should come to some conclusion in the Points disputed there being some men who in the beginning of the Reign of King Enward the sixth busily stickled in the maintenance of Calvins Doctrins And thinking themselves to be more Evangelical than the rest of their Brethren they either took unto themselves or had given by others the name of Gospellers Of this they were informed by the reverend Prelate and right godly Martyr Bishop Hooper in the Preface to his Exposition of the Ten Commandments Our Gospellers saith he be better learned than the holy Ghost for they wickedly attribute the cause of Punishments and Adversity to Gods Providence which is the cause of no ill as he himself can do no ill and over every mischief that is done they say it is Gods Will. In which we have the men and their Doctrine too the name of Gospellers and the reason why that name was ascribed unto them It is observed by the judicious Author of the Book called Europae Speculum that Calvin was the first of these latter times who search'd into the Counsels the Eternal Counsels of Almighty God And as it seems he found there some other Gospel than that which had been written by the four Evangelists from whence his followers in these Doctrines had the name of Gospellers for by that name I find them frequently called by Campneys also in an Epistolary Discourse where he clears himself from the crimes of Popery and Pelagianism which some of these new Gospellers had charged upon him which had I found in none but him it might have been ascribed to heat or passion in the agitation of these Quarrels but finding it given to them also by Bishop Hooper a temperate and modest man I must needs look upon it as the name of the Sect by which they were distinguished from other men And now I am fallen upon this Campneys it will not be unnecessary to say something of him in regard of the great part he is to act on the stage of this business Protestant he was of the first Edition cordially affected to the Doctrine of the Church of England in the present points but of a sharp and eager spirit And being not well weaned from some points of Popery in the first dawning of the day of our Reformation he gave occasion unto some of those whom he had exasperated to inform against him that they prosecuted the complaint so far that he was forced to bear a faggot at St. Pauls Cross as the custom was in all such cases Miles Coverdale then or not long after Bishop of Exon preaching a Sermon at the same But whatsoever he was then in other Doctrinals he hath sufficiently purged himself from the crimes of Popery and Pelagianism wherewith he had been charged by those of the adverse Party Answer to a certain Letter p. 3. For whereas one William Samuel had either preached or written in Queen Maries times That a man might deserve God c. Campneys beholds it for a Doctrine so blasphemous and abominable that neither Papists nor Pelagians nor any other Heretick old or new hath ever-written or maintained a more filthy and execrable saying For it is the flat and manifest denying both of God the Father and of his Son Christ Jesus neither doth it require any confutation to him that doth but confess that there is a God And as for my self saith he I do not love my life so dearly as I hate this vile saying deadly He gives not long after to the Popish Pelagians the name of a filthy and detestable Sect. p. 5. mustereth up all the errours of Pelagius which had been publickly recanted in the Synod of Palestine and falling upon that which teacheth That the grace of God is given according unto our deserving he declares it to be vile and abominable contrary to the manifest mind and words of the Apostle p. 12. Finally Not to trouble my self with more particulars encountring with another of the Pelagian Heresies he passionately cries out O blasphemy intolerable O filthy puddle and sink most execrable full of stinking Errours full of damnable presumption like to the pride of Lucifer most abominable p. 15. This is enough to free this man from being either a Papist or Pelagian Heretick as his Enemies made him And for the other reproach which they laid upon him of being an Enemy to Gods Predestination I conceive it will not be regarded as a matter of moment considering the Disputes between them and the usual acts of the Calvinians to defame their Adversaries We shewed before how Bogerman Paraeus and the rest of the Calvinian Sect reproach'd the Remonstrants with Pelagianism in their publick Writings though as free from it as themselves We shewed before how Cross in the continuation of his Belgick History imposeth on them for some of their detestable Opinions that they made God to be the Author of sin and that he had created the infinitely greatest part of mankind to no other end but to burn them in Hell-fire for ever which horrid blasphemies they both abominated and confuted to their best abilities The like unworthy practices were used by Calvin and Beza against Sebastian Castel a man of no less learning but of far more modesty and moderation than either of them whom they never left persecuting and reviling till they had first cast him out of Geneva and afterwards brought him to his grave And this they
did unto a man both of parts and piety upon no other pretence or provocation whatever but because he maintained another way of predestination than that which they had taught their followers for Gods Truth and Gospel And therefore it can be no wonder if the new Gospellers in England pursued the same courses against all those who opposed their fancies For being governed by this spirit they taxed their opposits sometimes for being haters of Gods Predestination as before is said though entire lovers of the same Answer to a certain Letter p. 16. reviled them by the names of Popish Pelagians and justifiers of themselves imputing to those men the whole mass of Pelagianism who from their very hearts and souls abhorr'd all their wicked Opinions and have been many years willing to bestow their lives against all their abominable Errours And sometimes finally they call them Free-will men in contempt and scorn designing by that name not the Papist only but such of their own Mothers Children also as taught that Cain was not predestinate to slay his Brother Id. p. 56. and that God hath not predestinate any man to the committing of Murder or any such like wicked abominations Which being said and the credit of the man set right we may the better know what we are to trust to in taking up some few following passages upon his Authority Amongst which I shall first begin with that of Knox that great Incendiary of the Nation and Kirk of Scotland who in a book of his published in the end of King Edward's or the beginning of Queen Mary's Reign against an Adversary of Gods Predestination as the Title telleth us First builds the Doctrine of Predestination unto Gods absolute Will without relation to mans sin or our Saviours suffering and then ascribes unto the predeterminate Counsel and Will of God all humane actions whatsoever In reference to the first he was of their opinion plainly who building upon the example of Esau exclude all that is in man either original sin or actual from the cause of Gods hate which they lay on his own pleasure only which Knox endeavoureth to make good by this following Argument p. 141. That if Esau was hated for his evil deserving then must needs follow that Jacob was loved for his well-deserving Pag. 48. the Argument following as he saith by the rule of contraries What superstructure he hath raised upon this foundation Assuredly no better nor no worse than this That the wicked are not only left by Gods suffering but compelled to sin by his power p. 317. More copiously but not more plainly in another place fol. 158. where it is affirmed That whatsoever the Ethnicks and Ignorants did attribute unto fortune we Christians do assign to the Providence of God that we should judge nothing of fortune Id. p. 22. but that all cometh by the determination of his Counsel and finally that it displeaseth him when we esteem any thing to proceed from any other so that saith he we not only behold and know him to be the principal cause of all things but also the Author appointing all things to the one part or to the other by his Counsel In which last if he make not God the Author of sin as I think he doth we shall very shortly find another that will So able a Leader as John Knox could not want followers of all Nations to attend upon him in the Catalogue or list whereof Id. p. 36. we must first look upon the Author of a Treatise written in French and published afterwards in English entituled A brief Declaration of the Table of Predestination in which it is affirmed expresly That seeing God hath appointed the end it is necessary also that he should appoint the causes leading to the same end as if he should have said saith Campneys that as God hath appointed some man to be hanged so he hath appointed him also to steal as a cause leading to the same end to which by God he is appointed The same French English Author lets us know in another place That by vertue of Gods Will all things were made yea P. 45. even those things which are evil and execrable Which execrable saying he endeavoureth to palliate with this distinction That those evil execrable things which are wrought by the vertue of Gods Will are not evil and execrable in that they are wrought by his divine Counsel P. 63. but for as much as they proceed from the Prince of the air And as for the foundation of Election to eternal life he laies it not on the free Mercy of God in Christ which he affirms to be no other but an inferiour cause thereof but teacheth us to ascend unto an higher cause that is to say to the eternal purpose and predestination of God which he determined only in himself Conform to which we find in the Genevian Bibles this marginal note amongst many others of like nature viz. As the only Will and purpose of God is the chief cause of Election and Reprobation so his free mercy in Christ is an inferiour cause of salvation c. Rom. 9. In the next place comes out a Pamphlet entituled Against a privy Papist the Author whereof takes him to prove this point That all evil springeth out of Gods Ordinance or that Gods Predestination was the cause of Adams fall and of all wickedness Now this man goes to work like a Logician and frames his Syllogism in this manner viz. That whatsoever was in Adam Major was in him by Gods Will and Ordinance But sin was in Adam Minor Ergo Sin was in him by Gods Will and Ordinance Of which Syllogism Campneys very well observeth that if the major of it be understood of Adam after his fall as by the minor it must be then may it be affirmed also of any other that whatsoever execrable wickedness is in him the same is in him by Gods Will and Ordinance But then because it might be asked that seeing it is the Decree Ordinance and Will of God that man should not sin how they should creep into that secret Council Ibid. p. 43. where God ordained decreed and willed the contrary The leader will come in to help his followers in the present plunge for in his trayterous and seditious Libel Against the Regiment of Women which he calls The first blast of the Trumpet he knows not how to shift off the obedience due by Gods word to lawful Queens in their several Kingdoms but by flying to some special Revelation from his secret will not publickly communicated to the Sons of men And this he speaks not faintly but with zeal and confidence telling us who assured him that God hath revealed to some in our Age that is to say himself and his Disciples in the holy Presbytery that it is more than a Monster in nature that a Woman should Rule and have Empire against man And what could they do less upon this assurance
touching the divine Decrees upon occasion of Gods denounced Judgment against the Ninevites 5. His constant opposition to the Predestinarians and the great increase of his Adherents 6. The Articles collected out of Barrets Sermon derogatory to the Doctrine and persons of the chief Calvinians 7. Barret convented for the same and the proceedings had against him at his first conventing 8. A form of Recantation delivered to him but not the same which doth occur in the Anti-Arminianism to be found in the Records of the Vniversity 9. Several Arguments to prove that Barret never published the Recantation imposed upon him 10. The rest of Barrets story related in his own Letter to Dr. Goad being then Vice-Chancellor 11. The sentencing of Barret to a Recantatation no argument that his Doctrine was repugnant to the Church of England and that the body of the same Vniversity differed from the heads in that particular THIS great breach being thus made by Fox in his Acts and Monuments was afterwards open'd wider by William Perkins an eminent Divine of Cambridge of great esteem amongst the Puritans for his zeal and piety but more for his dislike of the Rites and Ceremonies here by Law established of no less fame among those of the Calvinian party both at home and abroad for a Treatise of Predestination published in the year 1592. entituled Armilla Aurea or the Golden Chain containing the order of the causes of salvation and damnation according to Gods Word First written by the Author in Larin for the use of Students and in the same year translated into English at his Request by one Robert Hill who afterwards was Dr. of Divinity and Rector of St. Bartholomews Church near the Royal Exchange In the Preface unto which discourse the Author telleth us that there was at that day four several Opinions of the order of Gods Predestination The first was of the old and new Pelagians who placed the cause of Gods Predestination in than in that they hold that God did ordain men to life or death according as he did foresee that they would by their natural free-will either reject or receive Grace offered The second of them who of some are termed Lutherans which taught that God foreseeing that all man-kind being shut under unbelief would therefore reject Grace offered did hereupon purpose to choose some to salvation of his meer mercy without any respect of their faith or good works and the rest to reject being moved to do this because he did eternally fore-see that they would reject his Grace offered them in the Gospel The third of Semi-palagian Papists which ascribe Gods Predestination partly to mercy and partly to mens foreseen Preparations and meritorious works The fourth of such as teach that the cause of the execution of Gods Predestination is his mercy in Christ in them which are saved and in them which perish the fall and corruption of man yet so as that the Decree and Eternal Counsel of God concerning them both hath not any cause besides his will and pleasure In which Preface whether he hath stated the opinions of the parties right may be discerned by that which hath been said in the former Chapters and whether the last of these opinions ascribe so much to Gods mercy in Christ in them that are saved and to mans natural Corruption in them that perish will best be seen by taking a brief view of the opinion it self The Author taking on him to oppugn the three first as erroneous and only to maintain the last as being a truth which will bear weight in the ballance of the Sanctuary as in his Preface he assures us Now in this book Predestination is defined to be the Decree of God by the which he hath ordained all men to a certain and everlasting Estate that is Golden chain either to salvation or condemnation to his own Glory He tells us secondly that the means for putting this decree in execution were the creation and the fall 3. Ibid. p. 52. That mans fall was neither by chance or by Gods not knowing it or by his bare permission or against his will but rather miraculously not without the Will of God but yet without all approbation of it Which passage being somewhat obscure may be explained by another some leases before In which the Question being asked Whether all things and actions were subject unto Gods Decree He answereth Yes surely and therefore the Lord according to his good pleasure hath most certainly decreed every both thing and action whether past present or to come together with their circumstances of place time means and end And then the Question being prest to this particular what even the wickedness of the wicked The answer is affirmative Yes he hath most justly decreed the wicked works of the wicked Ibid. 29. For if it had not pleased him they had never been at all And albeit they of their own natures are and remain wicked yet in respect of Gods decree they are to be accounted good Which Doctrine though it be no other than that which had before been taught by Beza yet being published more copiously insisted on and put into a more methodical way it became wondrous acceptable amongst those of the Calvinian party both at home and abroad as before was said Insomuch that it was Printed several times after the Latin edition with the general approbation of the French and Belgick Churches and no less than 15. times within the space of twenty years in the English tongue At the end of which term in the year 1612. the English book was turned by the Translator into Questions and Answers but without any alteration of the words of the Author as he informs us in the last page of his Preface after which it might have sundry other impressions that which I follow being of the year 1621. And though the Supra-lapsarians or rigid Calvinists or Supra-creatarians rather as a late judicious Writer calls them differ exceedingly in these points from many of their more moderate Brethren distiguished from them by the name of Sub-lapsarians yet in all points touching the specifying of their several supposed Degrees they agree well enough together and therefore wink at one another as before was noted Notwithstanding the esteem wherewith both sorts of Calvinists entertained the book it found not the like welcome in all places 〈◊〉 Dedi nor from all mens hands Amongst other Parsons the Jesuite gives this censure of him viz. That by the deep humour of fancy he hath published and written many books with strange Titles which neither he nor his Reader do understand as namely about the Concatenation or laying together of the causes of mans Predestination and Reprobation c. Jacob van Harmine afterwards better known by the name of Arminius being then Preacher of the Church of Amsterdam not only censured in brief as Parsons did but wrote a full discourse against it entituled Examen Predestinationis Perkinsanae which gave the first
Tyranny over his Subjects may not be resisted that is to say if the Subject may not take up Arms against him he and his followers may destroy the Kingdom And and we are fallen upon the business of Resistance Calvin allows of no case for ought I can see in which the Subject lawfully may resist the Sovereign Sect. 23. quandoquidem resisti magistratui non potest quin simul resistatur Deo forasmuch as the Magistrate cannot be resisted but that God is resisted also and reckoning up those several pressures whereof Samuel spake unto the Jews and which he calls jus Regis as himself translates it he concludes at last Sect. 26. cui parere ipsi necesse esset nec obsistere liceret that no resistance must be made on the Subjects part though Kings entrench as much upon them both in their liberties and properties as the Prophet speaks of His Scholars are grown wiser and instruct us otherwise Paraeus saith that if the King assault our persons or endeavour to break into our Houses we may as lawfully resist him as we would do a Thief or Robber on the like occasions And our new Master have found out many other Cases in which the Subject may resist and which is more than so is bound to do it Paraeus in Rom. cap. 13. as namely in his own behalf and in Gods behalf in behalf of his Countrey and in behalf of the Laws and in so many more behalfs that they have turned most Christian Kings out of half their Kingdoms But to go on Calvin determins very rightly that notwithstanding any Contract made or supposed to be made between a King and his people yet if the King do break his Covenants and oppress the Subject the Subject can no more pretend to be discharged of his Allegiance than the Wife may lawfully divorce herself from a froward Hisband or Children throw aside that natural duty which they owe their Parents because their Parents are unkind and it may be cruel Those which do otherwise conclude from the foresaid Contract he calls insulsos ratioeinatores Sect. 29. but sorry and unsavory Disputants and reckoneth it for a seditious imagination that we must deal no otherwise with Kings than they do deserve nec aequum esse ut subditos ei nos praestemus qui vicissim Regem nobis non se praestet Sect. 27. or to imagine that it is neither sense nor reason that we should â—â—ew our selves obedient subjects unto him who doth not mutually perform the duty of a King to us His Scholars are grown able to teach their Master a new Lesson and would tell him if he were alive that there is a mutual Contract between King and Subjects and if he break the Covenant he forfeiteth the benefit of the Agreement and he not performing the duty of a King they are released from the duty of Subjects As contrary to their Masters Tenet as black to white and yet some late Pamphleters press no doctrine with such strength and eagerness as they have done this Nor have the Pulpits spaâ—ed to publish it to their cheated Auditories as a new Article of Faith that if the Ruler perform not his duty the Contract is dissolved and the people are at liberty to right themselves What excellent uses have been raised from this dangerous Doctrine as many Kings of Christendom have fest already so posterity will have cause to lament the mischiefs which it will bring into the World in succeeding Ages Finally Calvin hath determined and exceeding piously that if the Magistrate command us any thing which is contrary to the Will and word of God we must observe Saint Peters Rule and rather choose to obey God than men and that withal we must prepare our selves to endure such punishments as the offendd Magistrate shall inflict upon us for the said refusal Sect. 32. Et quicquid potius perpeti quam à veritate deflectere and rather suffer any Torments than forsake the way of Gods Commandments The Magistrate as it seems by him must at all times be honoured by us either in our active obedience or in our passive if we refuse to do his will we must be content to suffer for it His Scholars are too wise to submit to that and are so far form suffering for the testimony of the Gospel and a good conscience that they take care to teach the people that it is lawful to rebel in behalf of God to preserve the true Religion when it is in danger or when they think it is in danger by force of Arms and to procure the peace of Hierusalem by the destruction of Babylon Which being so the difference being so great and irreconcileable between the Followers and their Leader in the point of practice between the Master and the Scholars in the points of Doctrine me thinks it were exceeding fit the man were either less admired or better followed that they who cry him up for the great Reformer would either stand to all his Tenets or be bound to none that they would be so careful of the Churches peace and their own salvation as not to swallow down his Errors in his points of disciplines and pass him by with a Magister non tâ—netur when he doth preach Obedience to them and doth so solidly discourse of the powers of Government Tilly Philip. 2. Aut undique religionem suam toliant at usquequaque conserent as Tully said of Antony in another case But of this no more Hitherto CALVIN hath done will few better of the Genevian Doctors none ne unus quidem not so much as one But there 's an herb which spoils the pottage an HERB so venomous that it is mors in olla unto them that taste it The figs in the next basket are evil Jerem. 24. very evil not to be eaten as it is in the Prophets words they are so evil In that before he did exceeding soundly and judiciously law down the doctrine of obedience unto Kings and Princes and the unlawfulness of Subjects taking Arms against their Sovereign In this to come he openeth a most dangerous gap to disobedience and rebellions in most States in Christendom in which his name is either reverenced or his works esteemed of For having fully expressed the points before delivered unto the conscience of the Subject and utterly disabled them from lifting up their hands against the Supream Magistrate on any occasion whatsoever he shews them how to help themselves and what course to take for the asserting of their Liberties and the recovery of their Rights if the Prince invade them by telling them that all he spake before was of private persons Sect. 31. but that if there were any popular Officers such as the Ephori of Sparta the Tribunes of Rome the Demarchi of Athens ordained for the restraint of Kings and Supream Governours it never was his meaning to include them in it And such power he doth suppose to be in the three Estates of
at Toledo by Ferdinand the Catholick 1479. for swearing to the succession of his Son Don John in which the Prelates the Nobility and almost all the Towns and Cities which sent Commissioners to the Assembly are expresly named Id. lib. Thus finally do we find a meeting of the Deputies of the three Estates of Navarre at the Town of Tasalla Anno 1481. for preserving the Kingdom in obedience to King Francis Phoebus being then a Minor under Age and that the Deputies of the Clergy Id. lib. 22. Nobility Provinces and good Towns and Portugal assembled at Tomara Anno 1581. to acknowledg Philip the second for their King and to settle the Government of that Kingdom for the times to come Id. lib. 30. Now let us take a view of the Northern Kingdoms and still we find the people ranked in the self-same manner and their great Councils to consist of the Clergy the Nobility and certain Deputies sent from the Provinces and Cities as in those before In Hungary before that Realm received the Gospel we read of none but Nobiles Plebeii Bonfinius in hist Hungar. Dec. l. 1. Id. ibid. Dec. 2. l. 2. Id. Decad. 2. l. 3. the Nobility and common people who did concur to the Election of their Kings but no sooner was the Faith of Christ admitted and a Clergy instituted but instantly we find a third Estate Episcopos Sacerdotum Collegia Bishops and others of the Clergy superadded to them for the Election of the Kings and the dispatch of other businesses which concerned the publick as it continueth to this day In Danemark we shall find the same if we mark it well For though Poutanus seem to count upon five Estates making the Regal Family to be the first and subdividing the Commons into two whereof the Yeomanry makes one and the Tradesman or Citizen the other Pontan in Doriae descript Id. in histor Rerum Danic l. 7. yet in the body of the History we find only three which are the Bishops the Nobility and Civitatum delegati the Deputies or Commissioners of Towns and Cities Take which of these Accounts you will and reckon either upon Five or on three Estates yet still the Ecclesiastick State or Ordo Ecclesiasticus as himself entituleth it is declared for one and hath been so declared as their stories tell us ever since the first admittance of the Faith amongst them the Bishops together with the Peers and Deputies making up the Comitia or Conventus Ordinum In Poland the chief sway and power of Government next to the King is in the Council of Estate Secundum Regem maxima Augustissima Senatus autoritas Thuan. hist sui temp l. 56. as Thuanus hath it And that consisteth of nine Bishops whereof the Archbishops of Guisna and Leopolis make always two of fifteen Palatines for by that name they call the greater sort of the Nobility and of sixty five Chastellans which are the better sort of the Polish Gentry who with the nine great Officers of the Kingdom or which the Clergy are as capable as any other sort or degree of Subjects do compleat that Council The Common people there are in no Authority à procuratione Reipub. omnino summota not having any Vote or suffrage in the great Comitia Thuan. hist sui temp l. 56. or general Assemblies of the Kingdom as in other places For Sweden it comes near the Government and Forms of Danemark and hath the same Estates and degrees of people as amongst the Danes that is to say Proceres Nobiles the greater and the less Nobility Episcopi Ecclesiastici the Bishops and inferiour Clergy Civitates universitates the Cities and Towns corporate for so I think he means by universitates as Thuanus mustereth them Id. lib. 131. And in this Realm the Bishops and Clergy enjoy the place and priviledges of the third Estate notwithstanding the alteration of Religion to this very day the Bishops in their own persons and a certain number of the Clergy out of every Sochen a division like our Rural Deanries in the name of the rest have a necessary Vote in all their Parliaments And as for Scotland their Parliament consisted anciently of three Estates as learned Cambden doth inform us that is to say the Lords spiritual as Bishops Abbots Priors the temporal Lords as Dukes Marquesses Earls Vicounts Barons Cambden in descript Scotiae and the Commissioners of the Cities and Burroughs To which were added by King James two Delegates or Commissioners out of every County to make it more conform to the English Parliaments And in some Acts the Prelates are by name declared to be the third Estate as in the Parliament Anno 1597. Anno 1606 c. for which I do refer you to the Book at large And now at last we are come to England where we shall find that from the first reception of the Christian Faith amongst the Saxons the Ecclesiasticks have been called to all publick Councils and their advice required in the weightiest matters touching the safety of the Kingdom No sooner had King Ethelbert received the Gospel but presently we read that as well the Clergy as the Laity were called unto the Common Council which the Saxons sometimes called Mysel Synoth the Great Assembly and sometimes Wittenagemots the Council or Assembly of the Wise men of the Realm Anno 605. Coke on Lit. l. 1.2 sect H. Spelman in Concil p. 126. Ethelbertus Rex in fide roboratus Catholica c. Cantuariae convocavit eommune concilium tam Cleri quam populi c King Ethelbert as my Author hath it being confirmed in the Faith in the year 605. which was but nine years after his conversion together with Bertha his Queen their son Eadbald the most Reverend Archbishop Augustine and all the rest of the Nobility did solemnize the Feast of Christs Nativity in the City of Canterbury and did there cause to be assembled on the ninth of January the Common-council of his Kingdom as well the Clergy as the Lay Subject by whose consent and approbation he caused the Monastery by him built to be dedicated to the honour of Almighty God by the hand of Augustine And though no question other Examples of this kind may be found amongst the Saxon Heptarchs yet being the West Saxon Kingdom did in fine prevail and united all the rest into one Monarchy we shall apply our selves unto that more punctually Where we shall find besides two Charters issued out by Athelston Consilio Wlfelmi Archiepiscopi mei aliorum Episcoporum meorum Ap. eund p. 402 403. by the advice of Wlfelm his Archbishop and his other Bishops that Ina in the year 702. caused the Great Council of his Realm to be assembled consisting ex Episcopis Principibus proceribus c. of Bishops Princes Nobles Earls and of all the Wise men Elders and people of the whole Kingdom and there enacted divers Laws for the weal of his
the Article to the present Established Doctrine in the Church of Rome ibid. CHAP. XIII The Doctrine of the Church of England concerning the certainty or uncertainty of Perseverance 1. The certainty of Grace debated in the Council of Trent and maintained in the Affirmative by the Dominicans and some others Page 573 2. The contrary affirmed by Catarinus and his adherents ibid. 3. The doubtful resolution of the Council in it Page 574 4. The Calvinists not content with certainty of Grace quoad statum praesentem presume upon it also quoad statum futurum ibid. 5. The bounds and limits wherewith the judgment in this point ought rationally to be circumscribed Page 575 6. The Doctrine of the Church of England in the present Article ibid. 7. Justified by the testimonies of Bishop Latimer Bishoop Hooper and Master Tyndal Page 576 8. And proved by several arguments from the publick Liturgie ibid. 9. The Homily commends a probable and stedfast hope Page 577 But 10. Allows no certainty of Grace and perseverance in any ordinary way to the Sons of men ibid. CHAP. XIV The Plain Song of the second Homily touching the falling from God and the Descants made upon it 1. More from some other Homilies touching the possibility of falling from the grace received Page 578 2. The second Homily or Sermon touching falling from God laid down verbatim Page 579 3. The sorry shifts of Mr. Yates to illude the true meaning of the Homily plainly discovered and consuted Page 581 4. An Answer unto his Objection touching the passage cited from the former Homily in Mr. Mountagues Appeal ibid. 5. The judgment of Mr. Ridley Arch-Deacon of Canterbury in the points of Election and Redemption Page 582 6. As also touching the reasons why the Word was not preached unto the Gentiles till the coming of Christ the influences of grace the co-workings of man and the possibility of falling from the truth of Christ ibid. CHAP. XV. Of the Author and Authority of King Edwards Chatechism as also of the judgment of Martin Bucer and Peter Martyr in the Points disputed 1. The Catechism published by the Authority of King Edward VI. Anno 1553. affirmed to have been Writ by Bishop Poinet and countenanced by the rest of the Bishops and Clergy Page 583 2. Several passages collected out of that Catechism to prove that the Calvinian Doctrins were the true genuine and ancient Doctrins of the Church of England Page 584 3. With a discovery of the weakness and impertinency of the Allegation Page 585 4. What may most probably be conceived to have been the judgment of Bishop Poinet in most of the Controverted Points Page 586 5. An Answer to another Objection derived from Mr. Bucer and Peter Martyr and the influence which their Auditors and Disciples are supposed to have had in the Reformation ibid. 6. That Bucer was a man of moderate Counsels approving the first Liturgy of King Edward VI. assenting to the Papists at the Dyet of Ratisbone in the possibility of falling from grace and that probably Peter Martyr had not so far espoused the Calvinian quarrels when he lived in Oxon as after his return to Zurick and Calvins Neighbourhood Page 587 7. The judgment of Erasmus according as it is delivered in his Paraphrases on the four Evangelists proposed first in the general view and after more particularly in every of the Points disputed Page 588 PART III. CHAP. XVI Of the first breakin gs out of the Predestinarians and their Proceedings in the same 1. The Predestinarians called at first by the name of Gospellers Page 589 2. Campney's a professed Enemy to the Predestinarians but neither Papist nor Pelagian Page 590 3. The common practices of the Calvinists to defame their Adversaries the name of Free-will men to whom given why ibid. 4. The Doctrine of John Knox in restraining all mens actions either good or evil to the determinate Will and Counsel of God Page 591 5. The like affirmed by the Author of the Table of Predestination in whom and the Genevian Notes we find Christ to be excluded from being the foundation of mans Election and made to be an inferiour cause of salvation only ibid. 6. God made to be the Author of sin by the Author of a Pamphlet entituled against a Privy Papist and his secret Counsels called in for the proof thereof both by him and Knox with the mischiefs which ensued upon it ibid. 7. The Doctrine of Robert Crowly imputing all mens sins to Predestination his silly defences for the same made good by a distinction of John Verons and the weakness of that distinction shewed by Campneys Page 592 8. The Errours of the former Authors opposed by Campneys his Book in answer to those Errours together with his Orthodoxie in the point of universal Redemption and what he builds upon the same ibid. 9. His solid Arguments against the imputing of all actions either good or evil to Predestination justified by a saying of Prosper of Aquitain Page 593 10. The virulent prosecutions of Veron and Crowly according to the Genius of the sect of Calvin Page 594 CHAP. XVII Of the disputes amongst the Confessors in Prison in Queen Maries days and the resetling of the Church on her former principles under Queen Elizabeth 1. The Doctrine of Predestination disputed amongst the Confessors in Prison in Queen Maries days Page 595 2. The Examination of John Carelese between Dr. Martin in reference to the said Disputes ibid. 3. Considerations on some passages in the conference betwixt Dr. Martin and the said John Carelesse Page 596 4. Review made of the publick Liturgie by the command of Queen Elizabeth and the â—araphrases of Erasmus commended to the reading both of Priest and People Page 597 5. The second Book of Homilies how provided for and of the liberty taken by the Gospellers and Zuinglian Sectaries before the reviewing and confirming of the Book of Articles by the Queens Authority ibid. 6. Of the reviewing and authority of the Book of Articles Anno 1562. and what may be from thence inferred Page 598 7. An Answer from the Agreement drawn from omitting the ninth Article of King Edwards Book the necessity of giving some content to the Zuinglian Gospellers and the difficulty wherewith they were induced to subscribe the Book at the first passing of the same ibid. 8. The Argument taken from some passages in the English Catechism set forth by Mr. Alexander Nowel and the strength thereof Page 599 9. Several considerations on the said Catechism and the rest of the Authors making and what his being Prolocutor in the Convocation might add to any of them in point of Orthodoxie ibid. 10. Nothing to be collected out of the first passage in Mr. Nowels Catechism in favour of the Calvinian doctrine of Predestination and the points depending thereupon and less than nothing in the second if it be understood according to the Authors meaning and the determination of the Church Page 600 CHAP. XVIII A Declaration of the