shall vvalke after the Lord your God and feare him and shall keepe his commandements and hearken unto his voyce and yee shall serve him and cleave unto him But that Prophet or that Dreamer of dreames hee shall bee slaine because hee hath spoken to turne you avvay from the Lord your God vvhich brought you out of the Land of Egypt and delivered you out of the house of Bondage to thrust thee out of the vvay vvherein the Lord thy God commanded thee to vvalke Wherby we are admonished that if anie Miracle be wrought or wonder done to leade a man out of the right way from God and his religion or for the confirmation of anie Idolatrous erroneous or false religion or of anie point of Error or Vntruth wee must not regard it or bee moved by it And therefore wee are first to examine whether that point of faith and religion which in these daies is so attempted or intended to bee proved by Miracle or Wonder bee consonant and agreeable to the word of God delivered unto us in the holie and Canonical Scriptures For if it be not found to bee thereby warranted the Miracle or wonder wrought for the confirmation of that untruth must beare no sway with us how great soever it seeme but must be reiected as here you see And this is one cause amongst the rest why they bee called Lying Miracles and wonders which are done in Poperie the Antichristian Church because they bee done to this end to maintaine lyes and lying doctrines and an untrue and false religion whereby they deceive men and bring them first to Impietie and misbeleefe and afterward to utter ruine and destruction 7 For as this Antichristian Poperie was to prevaile by the subtiltie and deceiveablenesse therof and by the working of Satan and by the lying miracles and wonders that be therin so S. Paul further sheweth amongst vvhom it should prevaile namelie Amongst them that perish because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved and that therefore God did sent them strong delusion that they should beleeve lyes that they all might be damned vvhich beleeved not the Truth but had pleasure in unrighteousnesse In which words you see first the cause and reason which God had to punish the world with this great plague of Antichristian Popish blindenesse namely the neglect and contempt of his Word and Gospell and their preferring mens traditions doctrines lies and devises before his truth in his Scriptures contained For saith he because they received not the love of the Truth that they might bee saved therefore it is that Satan with his fraudes and deceiptfull practises should so prevaile among them Againe hee saith And therefore shall God send them strong delusion that they should beleeve lyes that they all might be damned vvhich beleeved not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousnesse Observe here well that hee calleth it as most apparantly it is indeede a strong delusion wherewith Papists are possessed and carried and that it is also a strong delusion to beleeve lyes and such as that they take pleasure in that unrighteousnesse Doe not all devoted Papists finde this to be true And is not Popish Antichristianisme also rightly worthily called Iniustice or unrighteousnesse when most iniuriously it hath robbed God and men Christ and his Church and the sacred and canonical Scriptures and not only Bishops and Clergie men but Kings Princes and Emperors also and people of the rights and dues to them belonging Yea it breaketh the strength and sinewes of Common weales also aswell as of the Church by lying and deceiptfull equivocations by dispensing with oathes and with other things by their doctrine and Decree that Faith is not to be kept vvith Heretickes by their dissolving of the allegeance of subiects by their doctrine of deposing Kings by their Gun-powder plots and most detestable devises of treasons rebellions murders and massacres of Christian and Protestant Princes and their people and by sundrie other wayes rufull to be told and most shamefull to be either professed or put in execution Can there be greater points of iniustice or unrighteousnesse then these But all this while forget not I beseech you amongst what manner of people it is that this Antichristian Poperie prevaileth namely that it is amongst them that perish that all they might be damned vvhich beleeved not Gods truth extant in his Scriptures but take pleasure in that unrighteousnesse For doe you not hereby perceive the most fearefull estate and most wofull condition that all Papists be in that notwithstanding they be often admonished will not for all that forsake Antichrist and his religion to embrace the truth and the most pure religion of Christ taught in the holy Scriptures Bee they not here expressely affirmed to be such as perish and are to be damned if they persist obstinate and will not be reclaimed or converted Agreeably hereunto is also that which is written in the Revelation of S. Iohn where the Angel uttered it with a lowd voice to the end that all men should take notice of it saying If any man vvorship the beast and his image and receive his marke in his forhead or on his hand the same shall drinke of the vvine of the vvrath of God yea of the pure vvine that is poured into the cup of his vvrath and hee shall be tormented with fire and brimstone before the holy Angells and before the Lambe and the smoake of their torment shall ascend up evermore and they shall have no rest day nor night vvhich worship the beast and his image and whosoever receiveth the print of his name Consider these things seriously yee that are wont to say and hold that None can be saved but he that is a pure Papist Doe yee not see the cleane contrarie here directly affirmed and that by warrant from God himselfe that whosoever is a pure Papist and in contempt of all admonitions will so live and die is not a saved but a damned soule Wee wish your salvation and if your selves wish it likewise as no doubt ye doe yee will then take the right course for it and be content not onely patiently but thankefully also to receive these christian and friendly admonitions and so be moved in time to relinquish and utterly to detest and abandon this Antichristian Poperie that thus directly and certainely leadeth to Hell and damnation 8 But consider yet further the other words of S. Paul where he saith of Antichrist thus VVhom the Lord shall consume vvith the spirit of his mouth and shall abolish with the brightnesse of his comming For hereby appeareth that Antichrist and his religion shall be consumed by the voice and preaching of the word of God which he calleth the spirit of his mouth and that hee shall be utterly abolished at the bright and glorious comming of Christ to iudgement so that here you may observe the decay and destruction of that Antichristian monster namely
true Church but of the whore of Babylon which submit themselves and yeeld their obedience to the Pope and Popish Rome And whereas secondly ye obiect that it would move scandal and offence to others if yee came to our Churches What need yee care that others without cause be offended so long as God is well pleased For in such a case it is an offence not given but taken And when there is no iust cause given why anie should be offended the fault is theirs that be so causelesly offended and not yours A man must never forsake God and Gods religion nor absent himselfe from the true Church of God because some seduced or ill-disposed people will finde fault with it Thirdly yee obiect that it were but a point of dissembling to come if your mind stand against it But this allegation is soone answered if yee please to come as ye may and ought that is with sincere hearts and unfained affections and without anie such wicked Hypocrisie and Dissembling For indeed all halting dissembling and counterfeyting especially in matters of Gods service and religion is ever to be eschued and detested Fourthly ye obiect that the Translation of the holy Scriptures amongst us is not right But it hath before beene shewed unto you that our Translations being according to the originals of the Hebrew and Greek must needs be right whereas contrariwise your Translations not being according to those originals be and must needes be untrue in all those sundrie and manie places detected and discovered at large by the Protestants wherein they differ from those originalls Fiftly yee say that our Church-Service and Liturgie is disallowable for that it wanteth your Popish Masse and sacrificing Priesthood But to that we answer that our Church-Service is so much the better and the more to be liked for that it hath abolished as it ought that Idolatrous Popish Masse and that abominable Priesthood thereto belonging which fearelesly and impiously presumeth to offer up and that in a bodily manner as they say Christ Iesus againe and againe and often and that also as a Sacrifice propitiatorie for the taking away of mens sinnes whereas all true Christians doe knowe contrariwise that Christ Iesus was in a Bodily manner to bee offered up in sacrifice to his Father but once and that was upon the Crosse and that himselfe was the onely Priest allowed and appointed of God to make that Bodily oblation and no other and that this Bodily oblation and sacrifice by himselfe performed upon the Crosse is the onely propitiatorie Sacrifice and onely availeable and effectual to clense and take away the sinnes of men So that our Church and Church-Service were indeed iustly worthie to be abhorred detested and condemned as now yours is for the same cause if such blasphemous and intolerable monstrous abominations were suffered or allowed in it And wee are highly and everlastingly to thankâ— God that they be removed and abolished Sixtly yee alledge that in a Psalme or Hymne which wee sometimes sing in our Churches wee pray unto God to keepe and defend us from the Pope and Turke and why should we not doe so It is plainly and cleerely proved before that the Pope is the grand Antichrist and that hee not openly and professedly as the Turke doth but closely and covertly and therefore in a more subtill and more dangerous manner oppugneth Christ and his religion and ordinances deceiving under the name of Catholikes and of the Catholike Church and pretence of the Holy Ghost ruling that Church of his so that it cannot erre as hee suggesteth to his credulous and blinded followers whereunto he hath also added all maner of impostures and deceiveable and lying signes and wonders to enchant and seduce the people and to allure them to himselfe and to confirme them in their misbeleefe and errors Wherefore not without good cause doe wee pray God to keepe and defend us from him especially now in this later age of the world wherein he useth not only secret sleights and fraudes but open warres also and rebellions when he seeth fit time for them and murthers and massacres of Protestant Princes and people Gunpowder villanies and such like hellish abominations Who then can iustly blame us for praying against him that doth thus abound with these his wicked and mischievous plots fraudes forces treacheries and conspiracies Lastly yee alledge it to bee against your conscience to come to our Churches But herein I desire you to consider better and more seriously whether this will stand or bee allowed for a good excuse or plea for you in the day of Iudgement For may not Turks Iewes Pagans hereticks schismaticks or whatsoever other erroneous deceived and misbeleeving persons make the like excuse and pleade the same plea and say that it is against their conscience to become Christians or to come to their assemblies or to be Orthodox and right-beleeving people Or if they make that plea doe you thinke it will passe for good and allowable before Gods Iudgement seate in the last day But yee I pray shew some cause or reason if yee can why your â—â—â—science wil not give you leave to come to our Churches Is there anie thing in our Church-Service that may iustly offend anie of you â—f there be declare it But you were 〈◊〉 yet able to shew it and I assure my selfe you never will be able If then your Conscience be as in this case it appeareth to be not a right but a wrong and an erring and missed conscience you must endevour to rectifie and reforme this kinde of conscience and not be guided or carried anie longer by it For so also â—tacheth Siâ—â—â—â—â—â— Priâ—rias inâ—â—â—â—â—â—â—scientia that a man is bound to forsake his erroneous conscience and not to follow it 3 But consider yet further how manie Martyrs also there have bin that have died for in defence of several points of our religion and how few or rather none at all there be that have bin put to death for in defence of anie one particular point of Popish religion against Protestantie unless you wil account denying the Kings Supremacie and such like points of treason disloyaltie and contempt against Princes theâ—â— Commonâ—weales and Kingdomes to be points of that Religion For example that I may be the better understood What man amongst them was ever put to death for that their Article of Transubstantiation or for their opinion of Purgatorie or for their opinion of praying to Saints and Angels or for their opinion of meâ—â— meriâ—â— or for anie other such like point of their religion for of such it is that I speake and meane Can ye name or produce anie one man that ever since the world began died for anie of these articles If you say 〈◊〉 some amongst you have beene bold to say that there neither was nor is anie Law amongst us to put Papists to death for anie point of their religion are you not therein much deceived For may not Hereticks by the
in vaine it is for men or Councils to say they be undoubtedly guided by the holy Ghost the spirit of truth unlesse they have the Word of truth for their rule and direction and can so prove the spirit whereby they speake and decree to be Gods Spirit and not their owne But againe yee know that in Councills aswell Generall as Provinciall things be caryed and over-ruled by the most Voyces and where things be so caried and ruled by the greater number of voyces there it is experimentally found to be a thing verie easily possible for the most voyces or greater number sometimes to over-rule the better part being the lesser and consequently Councils whether generall or particular because they may sometime possibly erre can not be held for anie absolute and infallible Iudge or infallible rule of truth in these controversies Or would anie think the Bish. Pope of Rome to be an infallible Iudge Why in the glosse upon the Popes owne Law that opinion also is reiected saying thus Quaero de qua Ecclesia intelligas quod hic dicitur quod non possit errare Si de ipso Papa certum est quod Papa errare potest Respondeo Ipsa congregatio Fidelium hic dicitur Ecclesia I demand of what Church it is meant when it is said as here That the Church cannot erre If of the Pope himselfe it is certaine he may erre I therefore answer that the whole company of the Faithful is here meant by the Church Where beside that you see what Church it is that cannot erre you see it directly affirmed that certum est quod Papa errare potest it is a thing certaine that the Pope may erre Gerson also the Chancellor of Paris telleth us that tam Papa quam Episcopus deviabiles à fide aswell the Pope as anie other Bishop may go out of the way of Faith Alfonsus that wrote so earnestly against Luther yet touching this point said thus Non credo aliquem esse adeo impudentem Papae assentatorem ut ei tribuere hoc velit ut nec errare possit I doe not beleeve that any man is such an impudent flatterer of the Pope as to attribute this unto him that he cannot erre Which words were in his first edition but are not now in the last but yet even in his new copies although he qualifie his termes he holdeth the same opinion verie directly saying Omnis homo errare potest in fide etiamsi Papa sit Every man may erre in faith yea even the Pope himselfe And againe he saith that Papa in fide errare potest ut melius sentientes tenent etiam ex hijs qui Papatui plurimùm favent inter quos est Innocentius ejus nominis quartus in cap. 1. de Summa Trinitate The Pope may erre in matter of faith as the better opinion is even of them that favour the Papacie most of all amongst whom is Pope InnocentÃus the fourth of that name writing upon the first chapter De Summa Trinitate Well therefore doth Erasmus also confute this new conceit strange opinion For If it be true saith he which some say that the Bishop of Rome can never erre Iudicially vvhat neede is there then of Generall Councils Why are men skilfull in the Lawes and learned in Divinitie sent for to Councils if he in his speakings cannot erre To what purpose be so manie Vniversities troubled with handling Questions of faith when thc truth may be had from his mouth Yea how commeth it to passe that the Decrees of one Pope be repugnant to the Decrees of another What Wresters of Scripture then do some Papists in these later times here appeare to be that abuse it to give an infallibilitie of judgement and an immunitie or priviledge from error to the Pope of Rome Arboreus a Doctor of Paris and one not of the meanest Sorbonists confesseth likewise and teacheth this truth saying Papa in fide errare potest Et tota mihi aberrare via videtur qui aliter sentit Assentantur sanè Romano Pontifici qui faciunt eum immunem à lapsu haereseos schismatis The Pope may erre in faith And he seemeth to mee to be in an extreame error that thinketh otherwise Surely they doe but flatter the Bishop of Rome that make him free from falling into heresie and schisme And how can it in reason be otherwise For if Provinciall Councils wherein be manie Bishops may erre in matter of Faith which is a thing that the Popish Writers themselves do grant yea if Generall Councils may possibly erre in matter of Faith which is also a thing confessed by some of the Popish Divines and cannot iustly be denied by anie is there anie likelyhood that any one Bishop singly considered by himselfe should be so priviledged as that he could not possibly erre Yea even a general Councill namely the Councill of Basil saith Saepe experti sumus legimus Papam errasse Wee have often found it by experience and know it also by reading that the Pope hath erred And againe they say Cum certum sit Papam errare posse Forasmuch as it is a thing certaine that the Pope may erre Whereupon it must be concluded that therefore the Pope also cannot be held for an unerrable or infallible Iudge Shall then the ancient Fathers be this Iudge They are I grant in all respects to have that due reverence that belongeth to them but themselves will by no meanes assume that high honour to themselves to be infallible Iudges or such as cannot possibly erre Yea they acknowledge that they may erre and therefore would have no man further to beleeve them then there is warrant for what they write and speake in the Canonicall Scriptures I cannot denie saith S. Augustine but that there be many things in my Workes as there be also in the Writings of my predecessors vvhich justly and without anie rashnesse may be reproved And when S. Cyprian was obiected against him hee answered thus I am not bound by his Authoritie For I doe not account Cyprians Writings as Canonicall but weigh them by the Canonicall Scriptures and that in them which agreeth with the Canonicall Scriptures I allow to his praise but that which agreeth not by his favour I refuse Againe he saith If anie thing be proved by the manifest Authoritie of the divine Scriptures which in the Church be called canonicall it must be beleeved without any doubting but as for other testimonies thou mayst beleeve them or not beleeve them according as thou shalt see cause to trust them And therefore he giveth this prerogative to the sacred and canonicall Scriptures that amongst all the Writings in the world they onely cannot erre and that all other may erre For which cause he saith againe thus Solis eis Scripturarum libris qui jam canonici appellantur didici hunc timorem honoremque deferre ut nullum eorum Authorem scribendo
at my vvords But thirdly be not Lay-men of the Church of God aswel as those that be Church-Ministers And may not these be Theodidactoi that is taught of God and instructed by his spirit aswell as others for the right understanding of the Scriptures especially in all points necessarie to salvation Yea doe wee not see and finde experimentally that manie great Scholers and learned men doe notwithstanding all their learning erre verie much in the exposition and understanding of the Scriptures for why else doe they differ so much and hold contrarie opinions All which what else doth it shew but that indeed not anie humane spirit how learned soever but a divine spirit onely is the opener and the right expositor and understander of those sacred and divine writings And this S. Paul also hath before assured us that the things of God no man knoweth but the spirit of God Now this Spirit of God none can denie to be grantable as well to lay-men as to those that be of the Ecclesiasticall Ministerie Yea everie childe of God hath Gods Spirit given unto him For if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his as S. Paul witnesseth Inasmuch therefore as lay persons have received or may receive the spirit of GOD whereby it is that the Scriptures be rightly understood and are of the number of Gods Church and people no reason can be shewed why they should be debarred by others or why they should debarre themselves from the reading and searching of those Scriptures which they may possibly understand by the grace power of Gods Spirit within them aswell as others especially if they reade and search them as I said before in the feare of God and with all humble reverence and with often and earnest praiers unto God for the right understanding of them and with a godly purpose of minde to beleeve follow and doe thereafter For as S. Paul saith againe The spirit of God searcheth all things even the deepe things of God If anie finde difficultie and hardnesse in some places of the Scriptures he must not thereby be discouraged but provoked rather to use so much the more diligence in them For that which is difficult and hard in one place is as the ancient Fathers themselves have told us made more plaine and easie by another And touching such places of difficultie beside praier unto God and conference of Scriptures together it will be good also to reade Interpreters and to consult with godly and learned Pastors and Teachers and use all such good meanes for the understanding of them as God hath allowed For the godly and learned Pastors and Teachers be Gods own ordinance in his Church to them usually above others doth he give more speciall gifts for the edifying and instruction of his people and for the opening and unfolding of those harder and difficulter places of the Scripture so that they are not to be neglected but to be resorted unto and to be evermore much honored reverently esteemed If peradventure by all meanes used a lay-man or an ecclesiasticall Minister shall not understand some hard and obscure Scripture yet let him reverence as becommeth him that which he understandeth not and therein suspend his judgement and opinion untill it please God further to enlighten him For whereas some alledge that lay persons should not reade the Scriptures lest through misunderstanding of them they might possibly fall into some errors or heresies it hath beene before answered that such a reason is verie feeble and of no weight inasmuch as it may as well serve to disswade Pastors Doctors and Ministers of the Church from reading the Scriptures because there is also a possibilitie for them as well as for lay persons in the reading of them to misunderstand them and so to fall into errors and heresies as wee finde experimentally that sundry of them heretofore have done and still doe And whereas some againe imagine and feare not to say that the permitting of the Scriptures to bee read of the lay people in the vulgar tongue is the cause of all the schismes sects errors and heresies that now flow in the world they are herein mightily deceived by mistaking the cause for not the reading of the Scriptures either by lay persons or ecclesiasticall Ministers but the misunderstanding and misapplying of them through the frailtie and corruption that is in mens minds wresting and forcing them to serve their owne humors fancies and conceits is the cause of all those schismes sects heresies and errors and this is not the right using but abusing of the Scriptures Now even Reason and Philosophie doe teach as well as Divinitie that Of vvhat things there may be an use of the same things there may be also an abuse and it is a Maâ—â—ime with all that abusus rei non tollit usum an abuse of a thing doth not take away the lawfull use of it Manie men you know doe abuse meate and drinke to surfetting gluttony and drunkennesse shall that be therefore made an argument to perswade anie from all eating or drinking or is therefore eating and drinking the cause of mens gluttonie and drunkennesse or is not their owne excesse and intemperate humor the cause of it So albeit manie abuse the Scriptures wresting and wringing them to a wrong sense and to their owne humors and fantasies as doe Papists Anabaptists and other Sectaries and Heretickes yet must that bee no argument therefore to disswade anie from the reading of them or from taking that lawfull use comfort profit and benefite that may be had out of them and for which they were ordeined Yea the true cause both of the beginning and continuance of all the schismes sects errors and heresies that now be in the world is in verie deed for that men will not suffer themselves to be over-ruled by the Scriptures but will contrarie to the Scriptures and to the true sense of them follow their owne waies conceits and inventions or the devises of other men Let none therefore pretend or alledge excuses for their owne sloth or negligence in this case but with all alacritie betake your selves even ye that be lay persons as well as the rest to the reading of the Scriptures with reverence humilitie praier and a right inclined minde and affection to beleeve live and doe thereafter And then shall yee not need to make anie doubt of Gods blessing or good successe and profit unto you by the reading of them yea then shall yee see and discerne the errors heresies Idolatries filthinesse and other abhominations of the Popish Church and Religion which otherwise ye will not be able to discerne This is the condemnation saith Christ that light is come into the vvorld and men loved darkenesse rather then light because their deeds vvere evill for every one that evill doth hateth the light neyther commeth hee to the light lest his deedes should be reproved But
the Church of the Gentiles to continue untill the second comming of Christ. It is true that the Church of Christ shall never bee extinguished But is there anie such promise that the Church of Christ shall never be hidden For persecutions even of the Christian Church have sometimes beene so great and cruell as that the Christians by reason thereof have beene enforced to lye hid and to be unseene and unknowne to the wicked world as in the daies of Dioclesian and Maximian persecuting Emperors who impiously boasted that they had utterly abolished the superstition of Christ and name of Christians The like divelish boasting also made Nero in his time Yea it is indeed expresly foretold in the Scriptures that such should be the state of the church sometime as that shee should be enforced to flie into the desert or wildernesse where shee should have a place prepared of God to cherish hide and keepe her from all her persecutors And therefore the church is not alwaies conspicuous and openly shining and shewing her selfe to the malignant world Neither doth that Text which yee alledge of Dic Ecclesiae tell it to the Church prove the church to bee alwaies openly conspicuous to the ungodly world It onely sheweth an order of Ecclesiasticall discipline for sinnes and offences how they should be proceeded in amongst brethren and such as professe one and the selfe same religion of Christ which order of discipline may well be observed even in a Christian church and among themselves though the wicked world neither see them nor the exercises of their religion nor know where they are But you say that if they make profession of their faith and religion as all Christians ought then the world cannot choose but take notice of them It is true that they are to make profession of their faith with their Mouth when cause so requireth aswell as to beleeve with their heart yea and to answer everie one in authoritie before whom they shall be convented and called and that with mildenesse and reverence concerning the same their faith and hope as S. Peter declareth But it doth not continually evermore so fal out that Christians be brought before Kings Princes and Magistrates of the earth to be examined and to make answer of their faith but at sometimes it so falleth out and at some other times againe it sufficeth that they make profession of their faith among themselves Neither were it indeed safe or a pointe of christian wisdome in them whom Christ willeth To bee as wise as Serpents though as innocent as Doves and to whom hee giveth an expresse caveat to take heede of men rashly or unadvisedly or without good and urgent cause to manifest and lay open themselves unto the view rage and furie of the malicious and persecuting world But you alledge further that Christ said to his Disciples Yee are rhe light of the world A Cittie that is set on a hill cannot be hid Neither doe men light a candle and put it under a Bushell but on a candlesticke and it giveth light to all that are in the house But none of these words doe proove the Church to be alwaies and evermore apparant to the eies of the wicked world though sometimes it bee For first though it be called the Light of the world yet thereupon it followeth not that therefore it is alwaies and at all times to bee seene Inasmuch as the Sunne and the Moone which be the great lights of the World and so appointed of GOD in the begining be not alwaies brightshining and appearing unto us but are sometimes unseene and covered with clouds and darkened and suffer strang Eclipses And therefore doth S. Augustine compare the Church to the Moone which is often obscured and hid yea he acknowledgeth that the Church may be so hid and secret as that the very members therof shal not know one another And whereas ye further alledge that it is like a Citty set upon a hill neither doth it thereupon follow that it is alwayes to be seene For in a great Mist or a darke night an Hill or Mountaine be it never so great will not be seene So if men be stricken with blindnesse it cannot be seene of them as the Aramites were that could not see the mountaine that was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha nor knew that they were in the midst of Samaria till God opened their eies Likewise though a Candle be set on a Candlesticke and giveth light to all that are in that house yet neither doth it give light to them that be in another house nor to anie that be blinde or shut their eies against it And yet the candle-light it selfe also will somtimes be much dimmed darkned with sundrie occurrents accidents that doe befall it When therfore the world either by reason of their own blindnesse or by reason of fierce and terrible persecutions or by reason of clowdie smoakie and mistie errors raised up bee not able to see and discerne the Church of Christ Is that anie iust cause for anie to quarrell against her as if therefore she had no being at all Yea when the fift Angell blew the Trumpet and the Bishop of Rome being in that time as a Starre fallen from heaven to the earth had no longer the keies of heaven in his custodie but the keies of hell even of the bottomlesse pit and that the smoake of the pit arose as the smoake of a great furnace so that the Sunne and the ayre were darkened by reason of the smoake Is it anie marvaile that the Church was then obscured Your selves doe grant that in the daies and times of the grand Antichrist foretold by S. Paule the church should lye obscured and be hidden And wee say and proove vnto you that those daies and times be come long since and therefore this ought not to seeme anie new or strange thing unto anie in these dayes Yea in the Revelation of S. Iohn you further reade that the Temple of God that is his Church which is there said to be in heaven because from thence she is descended and hath her minde treasure and affection there with Christ her head Phil. 3.20 Coloss. 3.1.2 was sometime shut and sometime opened For in that it is there said sometime to be opened therein is included that it was at other sometimes shut and closed and not open to the view of the world So that the Church of God is not alwaies openly and splendently seene to the persecuting World but is sometimes patent and sometimes latent as I trust you now sufficiently perceive and withall I trust you perceive that the Church was then in esse and had a continuance even when it was most latent For unlesse they even then had been in esse and in being they could not have beene à latent oppressed or persecuted Church Now as touching unitie I must tell you
signes or vvonders wee say that those which were done by Christ and his Apostles and in those ancient and primitive Churches be sufficient for the confirmation of that most ancient primitive Christian and Apostolicke faith and religion conteined in the booke of God which wee professe Yea now in these daies saith S. Chrysostome the vvorking of miracles is ceased and they be rather counterfeit miracles saith he vvhich be found amongst them that be false Christians Againe he saith There be some that aske vvhy men vvorke not miracles novv in these dayes If thou bee beleeving saith he as thou oughtest to be and if thou lovest Christ as he should be loved thou needest no miracles for signes be given to unbeleevers and not to beleevers Againe S. Cyrill saith that to vvorke miracles maketh not a man one iot the more holy seing it is common to evill men and to such as he obiects or reprobates For so the Lord himselfe witnesseth saying Manie shall say unto mee in that day Lord Lord have not vvee prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out divels in thy name done manie great vvorks And yet will he neverthelesse professe unto them I never knevv you depart from me ye vvorkers of iniquitie And on the other side working of no miracles hindereth not a mans holinesse for Iohn wrought neither signe nor miracle and yet was this no derogation to his holinesse for amongst them that are borne of vvomen arose there not a greater then hee as Christ himselfe testifieth Yea that miracles signes or wonders may be done by false Prophets and false teachers is further manifest for even Christ himselfe saith that There shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and they shall shevv great signes and vvonders so that if is vvere possible they should deceive the very Elect. S. Paul also directlie testifieth that in the Antichristian Church there shall be the vvorking of Sathan vvith all power and signes and lying VVonders Which saith S. Augustine be called lying signes and VVonders for this cause that either mens senses be deceived thinking that to be done which revera is not done or else because if they be done in deed they draw men to beleeve that they could not be done but by the power of God whereas they know not the power of the Divell For S. Iohn in the Revelation mentioneth spirits of Divels vvorking Miracles to deceive those that be of the Antichristian Church By all this then you see that the Miracles wrought in Poperie be no argument or proofe that therfore it is the right or true Church or that the Teachers therein be the right and true Teachers for they may be false Prophets and false Teachers and the Popish Church may be as indeed it is the false and Antichristian Church all these their Miracles notwithstanding But hereof I shall have occasion to speake more fullie afterward when I come to speake of Antichrist and his Miracles In the meane time concerning this point thus much may suffice CAP. III. Of Iustification by Faith onely The right sense and meaning of that position and of the truth of it And that being rightly understood it excludeth not good workes nor importeth anie licentiousnesse at all in it but the cleane contrarie IT is a thing well knowne how busie and earnest Popish Teachers be not only by word of mouth but by their books writings also to perswade you all that ever they can against ours the most ancient most pure and only right Religion and amongst other their bad devises which they plot contrive for their owne advantage and behoofe this is not the least that they accuse our Religion to be a doctrine and religion of much licentiousnesse and that in sundrie points which therefore must be answered And manie there be also that be too hastie and over credulous to beleeve them as if all that they speake and write were to be held for undoubted truth and oracles without further enquirie or examination But howsoever they thus boldly presume they for all that be not able to take anie iust exception against our Religion or to shew or prove it in anie point whatsoever to be an allower of anie the least impietie or licentiousnesse if it be rightly understood It is true that sundrie that professe Protestancie live licentiously and wickedly and so doe manie also that professe Poperie likewise live wickedly licentiously If therefore they allow not this for an argument sufficient to convince their religion of wickednesse licentiousnesse which is taken from the wicked lives manners and conversations of men Why will they be so unequall as to make it of anie force against our religion Wise men can easily distinguish inter vitium rei personae betweene that which is the fault of the thing and the fault of mens persons For the religion may be good though some persons that professe it live not answerably thereunto yea the Protestant that is the Christian Religion which we professe is so good godly divine holy and pure as that it neither alloweth nor tolerateth the filthie Stewes nor anie other impuritie nor anie treasons or rebellions nor perjuries nor lying or deceitfull equivocations nor anie other wickednesse or impietie whatsoever but utterly condemneth them all So that for true pietie puritie integritie and all manner of good life and godly conversation the religion of Poperie commeth farre short of it and is in no sort to be compared with it If then anie professing our religion live wickedly or licentiously as too manie do it is the fault of the men that live so dissolutely and not of the religion which requireth and commandeth the cleane contrarie at their hands But for all that they persist and say that even the Protestants religion it selfe is licentious because it teacheth and holdeth that men are justified in Gods sight and before his Tribunall onely by faith in Iesus Christ which doctrine say they maketh men licentious and carelesse of doing good workes Howbeit both they and you must understand that when the Protestants doe say or have said at anie time that Faith onely iustifieth in Gods sight it is and ever was meant and intended howsoever some seeme purposely to mistake it not of anie dead faith which hath no life in it to bring forth anie good workes but of a true and lively faith which is accompanied with good works and is fruitfull and working by love as S. Paul and S. Iames and S. Peter and the rest of the holy Scriptures cleerly declare Whilst therefore they teach both in their Sermons writings with S. Iames and the rest of the Scriptures That the faith that is vvithout vvorks is dead and that such a faith cannot save or iustifie a man but that it must be a true and lively faith that is such a faith as produceth bringeth forth good workes I hope you sufficiently perceive that the doctrine of
the Protestants concerning iustification by this lively faith and not by anie dead faith is such as you can no way dislike that it is so far from making anie carelesse of doing good works that contrariwise it urgeth abetteth perswadeth and provoketh men unto them if they meane or desire to have such a faith as whereby they may be saved But now although the Protestants doe thus rightly teach that this faith and good workes goe together and be inseparable in respect of the person so that he that hath this faith hath also good workes yet in the point of our Iustification in Gods sight and before his Tribunall they are to be distinguished and to be considered apart and not confusedlie because it is Faith onlie and not Workes whereby we apprehend and applie Christ Iesus unto us as our Righteousnesse To understand this the better you must ever remember that Christ Iesus is in verie deed our Righteousnes for so the scriptures doe plentifullie teach and proclaime Our faith is but the hand or instrument whereby we apprehend and applie that righteousnesse unto us and our good workes be the fruits testimonies and declarations both to our selves and other men of that faith in Christ which iustifieth us before God And therefore it is not enough for a man to say hee hath faith but if hee have that true livelie and iustifying faith which he pretendeth he must declare shew it by his workes for so S. Iames saith Ostende mihi fidem tuam ex operibus tuis shew me thy faith by thy vvorkes And agreeablie hereunto S Paul calleth good workes and a sanctified course of life fructus Iustitiae the fruits of righteousnesse So that wee are first righteous by faith in Christ before wee doe or can bring forth these fruits of righteousnes And so S. August likewise teacheth affirming directly that Opera sequuntur Iustificatum non praecedunt Iustificandum Good vvorkes doe follow him that is formerly iustified and doe not goe before him that is afterward to be iustified And this even Christ Iesus also himselfe declareth namelie that the tree must first be good before it can bring forth good fruit By all which it is verie manifest that good works be not causes but fruits effects and consequents of that faith which iustifieth us before God But this is yet further evident because S. Paul saith expresselie that wee are Iustified by faith and so have peace vvith God Hee further excludeth Workes verie directlie and by name from having anie thing to doe in that act of our Iustification Therefore vve conclude saith he that a man is Iustified by faith vvithout the vvorkes of the Law And againe he saith that God imputeth righteousnes vvithout vvorks Againe he saith It is by grace and not of works Rom. 11.6 And againe he saith It is not of vvorkes Rom. 9.11 And againe hee saith By grace are yee saved through faith and that not of your selves for it is the gift of God and not of vvorkes lest any man should boast himselfe In all which places yee may perceive that how requisite or commendable soever good workes be and what good use soever they have yet they bee directlie excluded from being anie cause of our Iustification and salvation in Gods sight and censure And with this also agreeth that saying of S. Paul in his Epistle to the Galathians where he giveth this conclusion saying Yee are all the sonnes of God by faith in Christ Iesus And so also testifieth S. Iohn saying That as many as received Christ to them he gave this prerogative to be the sonnes of God even to them that beleeve in his name Where you may observe that beleefe or faith is reckoned as the hand or instrument whereby Christ is apprehended or received Againe he saith That God so loved the vvorld that he gave his onely begotten Sonne that vvhosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life In which words you may observe againe the first and originall cause of our salvation to be the meere grace and love of God Secondly the materiall cause to be Christ the Sonne of God with his obedience and righteousnesse And thirdlie the instrumentall cause to be faith or beleefe in that his Sonne and our Saviour Iesus For he saith the text was sent into the world to this end that vvhosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life But consider that he saith yet further That as Moses lift vp the Serpent in the vvildernesse so must the sonne of man be lift vp that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have eternall life Some of you no doubt remember the storie of the Serpent there mentioned which is in the booke of Numbers for after that the people of Israel had wickedly spoken and murmured against God and against Moses The Lord sent fierie Serpents among the people which stung the people so that manie of the people of Israel died Therefore the people came to Moses and said VVe have sinned for we have spoken against the Lord and against thee pray to the Lord that he take away the Serpents from us And Moses prayed for the people And the Lord said unto Moses make thee a fierie Serpent and set it up for a signe that as many as are bitten may looke upon it and live So Moses made a Serpent of brasse and set it up for a signe and when a Serpent had bitten a man then he looked to the Serpent of brasse and lived As therefore Moses lift up this brazen Serpent in the wildernes to the end that whosoever was stung by those fierie Serpents and did looke upon that brazen Serpent might be cured live and was cured and did live accordingly So was also the Sonne of man Christ Iesus lift up upon the Crosse where he was crucified to the end that whosoever is stung with the deadly stings of sinne or of that old Serpent the Divell and doth with the eies of his faith applying him looke upon Christ Iesus so lifted vp and crucified for him should bee healed and have eternall life Where you may againe perceive that as Christ is compared to that brazen Serpent so is our beliefe or faith in him compared to their looking upon the brazen Serpent so that still it appeareth that faith is as the eie or instrument whereby wee behold apprehend and apply Christ crucified as a salve unto us for all our sores For in him is comprehended whatsoever is necessarie or fit to cure us When therefore wee say and speake in this sort that Sola fides iustificat Faith onely iustifieth wee meane not that this faith is so sole or alone as that it is without good works but that in the act of our iustification before God and in his sight and as it respecteth and apprehendeth Christ the obiect of it it is sole and alone workes having no
by his appointment belong to anie but to the elect It is true neverthelesse that God ordereth disposeth and useth as lawfully hee may all mens sinnes to serve his owne glorie and good pleasure And herein is his power and wisedome highly to be admired who can thus one of the sinnes of men and Divels draw matter serving for his owne glorie as likewise most admirably he made the light to shine forth out of darkenesse How great glorie did God get to himselfe by that proude and mightie King Pharao whose heart was so much and so long hardened against the people of God Insomuch that himselfe saith thus of him For this cause have I appointed thee to shew my power in thee and to declare my Name throughout all the vvorld Exod. 9.16 Rom. 9.17 In like sort may it be said that for this cause God hath appointed Divels and reprobate men to shew his glorie by their destruction and in the meane time to use their wickednesse to serve his owne ordinance Sometimes therefore as the Schoolemen themselves doe also say Deus vult peccatum nâ—n quatenus est peccatum sed quatenus est poena peccati God vvill have sinne to be done by men not simply for the sinnes sake but as it is to be a punishment for another sinne formerly committed Which point namely that God will sometime have one sinne punished with another is verie evident for God punished the Adulterie of King David with another like sinne of Absolon his sonne who lay openly with his fathers Concubines and in the sight of Israel And the Text witnesseth that God himselfe would raise up this Evill against King David for David did this wickednesse secretly but I saith God vvill do this thing before all Israel and before the Sunne In which Act of Absolon therefore it is apparant that God had to do though not simply for the sinne sake yet so farre forth as it served for a requitall or punishment of the sinne and adulterie committed formerly by King David with Vriahs wife S. Paul saith likewise that the Gentiles when they knew God by the creation of heaven and of earth of all the things which they saw visibly before their eyes yet they glorified him not as God neyther vvere thankefull but became vaine in their Imaginations and their foolish heart vvas darkened vvhen they professed themselves to be vvise they became fooles for they turned the glory of the incorruptible God to the similitude of the Image of a corruptible man and of birds and foure-footed beasts and of creeping things VVherefore God gave them up to their owne hearts lusts unto uncleanenesse to defile their owne bodies betweene themselves And he further saith For this cause God gave them up to vile affections for even their vvomen did change the naturall use into that vvhich is against nature and likewise also the men left the naturall use of the vvomen and burned in their lust one toward another and man vvith man vvrought filthinesse and received in themselves such recompence of their error as vvas meete For as they regarded not to acknowledge God even so God delivered them up into a reprobate minde to doe those things vvhich are not convenient being full of all unrighteousnesse fornication vvickednes covetousnes maliciousnes full of Envie of Murder of Debate of Deceipt c. Where you plainly perceive how even amongst the Gentiles their not glorifying of the Creator of heaven earth as God according to such knowledge of him as by the creation of all things they had received was punished by divers and sundrie other sinnes into which they fell and wherin God himselfe had an hand so farre forth as they served for recompences requitals or punishments for former sinnes committed for it is said in the Text For this cause God gave them up to their owne hearts lusts c. And againe For this cause God gave them up to vile affections c. And againe As they regarded not to acknowledge God so God delivered them up into a reprobate mind to doe thâ—se things vvhich are not convenient c. In like sort it is said of some living in the daies of Antichrist that because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved therefore God sent them strong Delusion that they should beleeve lyes that they all might be damned vvhich beleeved not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousnesse Where you see againe that he punisheth one sinne with another in that he will have them to have this strong delusion to beleeve lies and false doctrines For it is expressely said that God sent this strong delusion upon them namely as a punishment as it is indeed a most iust and grievous one for their contempt of his Gospel neglect of his word and truth Sometimes againe God permitteth a sinne to be done for the triall proofe of his own servants and children as was the sinne of the Shabaeans and Chaldaeans in the violent taking away of Iobs goods for the further triall and proofe of Iobs faith vertue and patience and as is the sinne of persecution of Gods servants for their better triall and proofe likewise for so S. Peter declareth withall sheweth that Ita vult Dei voluntas Gods vvill vvill have it so And sometimes againe God permitteth sinnes to be done and multiplied by men thereby to heape up to themselves wrath against the day of vvrath and against the day of the declaration of the iust iudgement of God and thereby to procure to themselves the greater damnation as the Scriptures speake and thus 〈◊〉 all Reprobates commit their sinnes But sometime againe did God permit a sinne to the end there might be a way made and opened for declaration both of his Iustice and Mercie toward mankinde and thus he permitted the sinne and fall of Adam our first father For if Adam had not sinned but had alwaies remained in his estate of puritie and innocencie wherein he was created neither could Gods mercie towards anie nor yet his iustice towards anie have appeared in the race of mankinde inasmuch as where no sinne noâ— sinner is there can be no condemnation for sinne in iustice neither can anie mercie be shewed or exercised but towards the miserable and such as sâ—and in neede of it and have transgressed Although therefore God made Adam good in the creation of him yet hee made him mutably good that is in such an estate as that he might possibly fall For which cause he gave him free-vvill either to stand or to fall at his owne election So that there was in him a possibility to fall as also a possibility to have stood if he had would but the Divel tempting him and he yeelding and consenting to the temptation he then fell thorough his owne default as appeareth Wherupon S. Augustine saith that Homo libero arbâ—trio malè usâ—â— se illud
perdidit Man having ill used his free-vvill destroyed both himselfe and it So that now since the fall of Adam liberum arbitrium captivatum non nisi 〈◊〉 peccandum valet free vvill being captivated iâ— of no force but to sinne as the same S. Augustine affirmeth Againe he saith Quia peccavit voluntas secuâ—a est peccantem peccatum habendi dura necessitas Because the vvill had offended there followed the sinner an hard necessity of having sinne And againe he saith that Naturae nostrae dura necessitas merito praecedentis iniquitatis exâ—rta est The hard necessity of our nature arose out of the merit or desert of the before going transgression Since the fall of Adam then as the same S. Augustine further saith Voluntas in tantum est libera in quantum est liberata Mans vvill is so farre forth free as it is made free by God For as hee saith againe Hominis non libera sed à Deo liberata voluntas obsequitur Mans vvill not free of it selfe but so farre forth as it is made free by God doth yeeld obedience But yet howsoever mans Will is now become thus thrall and captive unto sinne yet is it free from constraint And of this freedome in respect of constraint it is that S. Augustine is ever to be intended wheresoever hee acknowledgeth men to have free VVill and therefore doe not mistake or misunderstand him in this point For indeed it is not by forcing violence constraint or compulsion but by his sweet internall motions and perswasions that God ex nolentibus facit volentes of unwilling maketh men willing as S. Augustine himselfe teacheth and affirmeth Now that out of the fallen Lumpe of mankinde it was that God shewed his Mercie to some in Electing them to salvation and his Iustice to othersome in not Electing them this is apparant because S. Paul saith directly that Election is neither of the vviller nor of the Runner sed miserentis Dei but of God that sheweth mercy For which cause also the Elect upon whom GOD thus shewed Mercie be called the vessels of mercy and the rest upon whom hee shewed not this mercie but left them as hee then saw them in their sinne and transgression be said to be the vessels of vvrath But as nothing commeth to passe in this world but what God before the world was made decreed and determined with himselfe either to doe or to permit to be done so accordingly hee decreed and determined before the foundations of the world to permit this sinne and fall of Adam and thereout to make this his Election of some unto glorie and salvation in and through Christ and to leave the rest in their sinne unto condemnation For that God did decree or purpose to permit Adam to fall beside the event of it which doth sufficiently declare it it is further evident because S. Peter also writing to the Elect saith that they were redeemed vvith the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb undefiled and without spot and that he namely Christ vvas ordeyned before the foundation of the vvorld but was manifested in the last times for their sakes S. Paul likewise testifieth the same in his Epistle to Timothy Inasmuch then as both these Apostles doe thus cleerely affirme that Christ was ordeyned before the foundation of the vvorld to be as he is a Redeemer and Saviour of all the elect from their sinnes for for this cause it was that he had the name of Iesus which signifieth a Saviour given unto him because hee was to save his people from their sinnes as the Angel himselfe witnesseth I say seeing Christ was thus ordeyned before the vvorld vvas made to be a Redeemer and Saviour of people from their sinnes it must of necessitie be granted that the fall of Adam was also decreed to be permitted whereby men might become sinners for by the fall of Adam it was and not otherwise that sinne entred and was to enter into all mankinde Neither indeed needed there nor possibly could there have beene anie Redeemer Saviour or deliverer from sinne unlesse sinne had first beene and had made an entrance into the world And therefore well doth S. Gregory say Et quidem nisi Adam peccasset Redemptorem nostrum carnem suscipere nostram non oportuisset Dum pro peccatâ—ribus Deus homo nasciturus erat That verily if Adam had not sinned our Redeemer should not hâ—ve taken our flesh upon him Sith that for sinners it vvas that God vvas to be become man And to the same effect speaketh also Saint Augustine saying that Melius Iudicavit de malis benefacere quam mala nulla esse permittere God iudged it better out of evill to vvorke good then to suffer no evill at all to be And this is further declared for Saint Paul saith expressely That the Scripture hath concluded all under sinne that the promise by the faith of Iesus Christ should be given to them that beleeve Againe hee saith That â—ll both Iewes and Gentiles bee under sinne c. that everie mouth may be stopped and that all the vvorld might be made subiect to the iudgement of God And again he saith There is no difference for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God being Iustified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Iesus vvhom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousnesse Againe he saith that God hath shut up all in unbeleefe that hee might have mercy on all even upon all those whether they were Iewes or Gentiles whom hee so purposed to take to mercie in and through CHRIST By all which you may perceive that GOD did purpose or decree to permit the sinne and fall of Adam and for what cause and reason it was so permitted as likewise that hee permitteth other sinnes also in which permission of his his vvill is alwaies included for against his vvill hee permitteth nothing neither can anie thing come to passe against his will that is whether he will or no But he it is that ruleth ordereth and governeth the whole world all things therin and doth both in heaven and in earth whatsoever he pleaseth Yea Bonum est ut mala sint alioquin non sâ—â—eret deus ut mala sint Non sinit autem nolens utique sed volens It is good saith S. Augustine that there should be evill or sinne otherwise God would not suffer or permit it to bee And verily he permitteth it saith he not against his will but vvith his will Againe hee saith Non fit aliquid nisi omnipotens fieri VELIT vel sinendo ut fiat vel ipse faciendo There is nothing done unlesse God WILL have it to bee done either by suffering it to be done or by doing of it himselfe In like sort saith Hugo that when God doth good and permitteth evill his
wills and affections good before they have anie goodnesse in them or readinesse to obey him and before that they can give consent to his motions or walke in his wayes And thus is it a thing evident that Gods Love and good Will toward us is antecedent and goeth before our love and good affection toward him for so Christ Iesus himselfe also witnesseth saying Yee have not chosen mee but I have chosen you And so also witnesseth S. Iohn saying expressely Herein is love not that vvee loved God but that he loved us and sent his Sonne to be a reconciliation for our sinnes And againe he saith expresly VVe love him because he loved us first Now then seeing it is manifest throughout the whole course of mens salvation that Gods love and his good will and working is first precedent and goeth before all good wills and loves of men toward him againe and that mens good wills consents loves and affections towards him are caused wrought and procured by himselfe and come in the second place as a thing following after it must needs be granted that Gods will doth not depend upon mens will as an attendant thereupon to follow it but contrariwise that mens will doth depend upon Gods will for him to order frame and dispose it as pleaseth him And therefore you now perceive I trust that this great matter of Salvation dependeth not upon the will of men for if it did who would be damned but upon the will of God who giveth those his saving graces of a lively faith and of a true Christian repentance and conversion to whom hee pleaseth For as S. Paul saith againe expressely Hee doth all things according to the counsell of his owne vvill Howsoever then men are bidden in the Scripture to repent convert return to walk in Gods wayes and to keepe his commandements and such like yet thereupon it followeth not that men have free will and power of themselves to doe these things for it is before proved unto you that it is God that by his grace and spirit working in men maketh them both willing and able to doe these things and to consent to his divine motions before they can doe it Yea albeit they are bidden to choose life yet it is God that must teach and direct them before they can make a right choyce in that case And therefore doth the Psalmist say Shevv mee thy vvaies O Lord and teach me thy paâ—hes Lead me forth in thy truth and teach me for thou art the God of my salvation And againe he saith VVhat man is he that feareth the Lord Him will he teach the way that hee shall choose But to conclude How can mens salvation depend upon their owne wills when as long before they were borne or had anie being in the world or anie will at all they were with GOD and in his counsell determination and purpose elected thereunto namely even before the foundations of the world as the Scriptures doe clearely and directly testifie 5 But then they further obiect that S. Paul saith thus VVhom God foreknew them hee did predestinate c. moreover whom he predestinated them also he called and whom hee called them also he iustified and whom he iustified them also he glorified Here Gods foreknowledge is mentioned as going in order before his predestination and this his foreknowledge say they sheweth that God did foresee and foreknowe what men would bee and what workes and merits they would doe when they should be living in this world and that according thereunto he made his predestination and so they make not Gods will and pleasure but mens future wills workes and merits so long before foreseene foreknown the Cause of Gods predestinating them to salvation It is true in verie deed that God did foresee foreknow what men would and should bee as likewise hee foresaw and foreknewe whatsoever was afterwards to happen or bee in the world but thereupon it followeth not that the good workes of men which hee so foresaw and foreknew were the original and antecedent cause of his Predestination of them to eternali life for they might be a consequent and an effect of his predestination of them for all that as indeed they were and not the Cause For Christ himselfe saith They vvere ordained to this end to bring forth fruite and that their fruite should remaine And so also testifieth S. Paul that they bee Gods vvorkemanship created in Christ Iesus unto good vvorkes vvhich God had before ordained that they should vvalke in them Neither could God foresee or foreknow any merit of salvation to bee in mens workes whereto no such merit belongeth Neither could hee foresee or foreknowe any free or foreward Will in men after the fall of Adam of their owne naturall abilities for the walking in the waies of God as is also before declared But this he might and did indeed foresee and foreknow namely the fall of Adam whereby all mankinde was in respect of themselves most miserable wretches liable to the wrath of God and eternall condemnation Hee did also foresee and foreknow Christ Iesus his Incarnation Passion Satisfaction Righteousnesse and Obedience and that he should be the Saviour and Redeemer of all his Elect For which cause it is said by S. Paul That they which bee Elected were elected in him that is in Christ the mediatour and their head and appointed Saviour and Redeemer who being the second Adam did interpose himselfe and as their suertie did undertake for them to answer whatsoever Gods Iustice would demaund to be performed by him in their behalfe And as for the rest which were not Elected to salvation but refused they being not so beheld nor considered in Christ but as being out of him and consequently as they were in and after the transgression of the first Adam they lye still in that their most wofull estate as having no Suertie to undertake for them nor Saviour appointed to deliver them from the wrath and curse of God to them for their sinnes in his Iustice belonging And therefore doth the Scripture speake in this sort of them namely that The vvrath of God abideth upon them as being never taken away in Christ. And as they were borne in sinne and live in sinne so Christ Iesus himselfe saith that they die in their sinnes So that they never had nor shall have remission of their sinnes nor deliverance from the curse and wrath of God through the death and satisfaction of Christ Iesus 6 For wheras some here obiect that Christ died for all in a generally the Schoolmen answer it with a distinction namely that Christ died for all sufficienter but not efficienter that is sufficiently but not efficiently that is to say his death in respect of the greatnesse vvorth and value of it hee being the Sonne of God aswell as Man was sufficient for all in a generalitie and is therefore propounded as
love Non quia futuros tales nos esse prâ—scivit sed ut essemus tales per ipsam Electionem gratiae Not because he foreknevv that vve should be such but that vvee might be such by the verie election of grace saith S. Augustine By all which you cleerely may perceive that not foreseene or foreknowne faith in Christ not anie foreseene good vvorkes the fruites of the same faith nor anie sanctitie or obedience that men have or performe unto God bee the cause of their predestination to eternall life but a consequent and an effect of it And this S. Paul also yet further and fully sheweth where he maketh mens effectual Calling and Iustification and consequently Sanctification and Glorification also it selfe to depend all upon this that God hath predestinated them And even this predestination likewise he maketh to depend upon his fore-knovvledge that is upon his fore-purposing of them to this eternal glory in his owne secret approbation of them and Counsell had with himselfe before the world was made And againe S. Paul yet further declareth it saying that God hath saved us and called us vvith an holy calling not according to our vvorkes but according to hâ—s ovvne purpose and grace vvhich vvas given to us through Christ Iesus before the vvorld vvas Be not these words most plaine direct and expresse for this purpose But yet againe he saith There is a remnant through the election of grace and if it be of grace it it is no more of vvorkes oâ—hervvise grace vvere no more grace But if it be of vvorkes then is it no more grace othervvise vvorke vvere no more vvorke Yea againe speaking of the two Children of Rebecca Iacob and Esau he saith that the one was loved and the other hated and that before they vvere borne and vvhen they had done neither good nor evill That the purpose of God according to election might stand and not of workes c. What would you have more For by all these Texts and sundrie other which might bee cited if neede were it is abundantly manifest that not future faith or future good workes but the meere good pleasure and will of GOD and his owne most free purpose and Counsaile had with himselfe otherwise termed his fore-knovvledge was and is the first primarie and original cause of mens predestination to eternal life And consequently you may withall perceive that not future unbeleefe or future bad works but Gods owne meere pleasure vvill and purpose was and is likewise the original cause of the Reprobation or refusal of them that were refused or not elected For the Election of the one sort from the rest and the reprobation that is the preterition or refusall of the rest that were not elected being done both at one time must needs both have one and the selfe same primarie and originall cause namely the free and uncontrollable vvill purpose and pleasure of the Almightie 9 For indeed beside the will of God which is ever Iust and the highest and supreame cause of all things what cause or reason can be shewed on mens behalfe why God should Elect and choose that particular man to salvation and refuse this why he should choose Iacob and refuse Esau or why hee should choose Paul and refuse Iudas Iscariot If you answer and say that originall sinne was and is the cause of that difference Doe you not consider that Iacob had original sinne aswell as Esau and that Paul had it aswell as Iudas and that all the Elect have it aswell as the Reprobate So that if Original sinne wherewith all are infected alike had beene the cause of Reprobation then should all have beene reprobated one aswell as another And this even Bellarmme himselfe saw affirming that the cause why God hated Esau before he was borne was not original sinne for if that had beene the cause he should for that cause saith he aswell have hated Iacob as Esau. Yea Gods electing of some and consequently his reprobating or refusing of the rest whom he did not elect was in respect of the purpose and decree of it before the foundations of the world were laid howsoever in respect of the manifestation of it it was not til after the Creation and fall of Adam How then could anie sinne either Orâ—gâ—nal or Actual be the cause when at the time of the purposing of this reprobation as also of Election neither men nor Angels nor world was made nor anie sinne committed If you answer that although sinne were not then committed yet God foresaw it should afterward bee committed and that sinne thus foreseene was the cause of the decree or purpose of reprobation you know that God did foresee sinne aswell in the Elect as in the Reprobate and therefore if sinne foreseene should be che cause of the purpose or decree of reprobation then again should all have beene purposed or decreed to bee reprobated in as much as sinne was foreseene to be in all the people of the world If you reply and say that although sinne was foreseene in all yet it was with a difference because some namely the Elect were foreseene to bee beleeving and repentant sinners new Creatures mortified regenerated iustified and sanctified persons and so were not reprobates I answer that this faith repentance effectuall calling mortification regeneration iustification sanctification and all saving graces whatsoever were so foreseene in the Elect not as antecedent causes but as consequents and effects of that their predestination and election and as dependants thereupon for so is it before proved and apparant and therefore the Reprobats on the otherside must be deemed to have their occecation and obduration in their sinnes and their vnregeneration unmortification unsanctification uneffectual calling and the absence defect or want of saving graces not as Antecedents but as Consequents likewise and Events following that Decree of their not Election otherwise called their Reprobation And this will be yet the more evident if we enquire search whence this difference of sinners ariseth namely that some bee mollified repentant regenerate iustified and sanctified persons and that some others be not so Is it not because God doth bestowe those his saving graces upon the one sort and not upon the other And why doth hee bestow them upon the one sort and not upon the other Is it not because the one sort be Elect and the other Reprobate And why be the one sort Elect and the other Reprobate can anie other reason be yeelded for it but Gods owne meere will and pleasure You see then that in the conclusion you must bee forced in this case to have recourse to the meere pleasure and will of God and to make that as indeed it is the true highest and supreame cause why God chooseth this man and refuseth that man and accordingly giveth his sanctifying and saving graces to the one and not to the other It is true neverthelesse that Reprobation hath an eye
cleere that there was then no citie in the world noted knowne by these seven hills or mountaines but Rome onely and therefore doth Virgil say of it Pulcherrima Roma Septem quae una sibi muro circumdedit arces That Rome onely hath seven hills vvithin her vvall For which cause also it is commonly termed Septicollis that is the seven hild City And Propertius also saith of it that it is Septem urbs alta Iugis toti quae praesidet orbi A City high vvith seven Hills that ruleth over all the world The names also of the seven hills are to this day knowne namely Palatinus Caelius Capitolinus otherwise called Ianiculus Aventinus Quirinalis Viminalis and Esquilinus Seeing then there was in that time of S. Iohn no citie in the world that was noted and knowne by the seven Hills and which also in those daies raigned over the Kings of the earth and had the Empire but Rome onely even by these two markes and demonstrations conioyned it is infalliby manifest that not anie other citie in the world but Rome onely is and must needs be the Woman and vvhore of Babylon there described And this is so cleere and evident that the Papists themselves confesse it to be Rome But then for an evasion Bellarmine some other Papists say that thereby onely Heathenish Rome and such as it was in the time of Infidelitie and before it embraced the Gospel and Religion of Christ is signified and intended but how untrue and vaine an evasion this is let all men iudge that have anie iudgement or indifferencie in them For first why is that woman that is the citie of Rome there called an Whore but to shew that shee was once an honest chaste and obedient spouse of Christ and that she afterward revolted and became an Whore and so fell from that obedience saith and true Religion which shee had formerly professed and embraced For is anie called an Whore but shee that was once an honest woman And doth not that word Whore import that shee was now at this time when shee thus became an Whore departed from that her former faith and fidelitie And indeed most true it is that the citie of Rome did once embrace the faith and religion of Christ and was an honest dutifull and true spouse unto him as S. Paul himselfe and other Ecclesiastical Histories doe witnesse But afterward in processe of time Ambition Pride Covetousnesse and Licentiousnesse growing in the Church and Churchâ—men and an Apostasie or departure from the right faith and religion being also foretold to come into the world for the neglect and contempt of the Gospel it came to passe that the once faithfull and Christian citie of Rome departed from that her former true faith and obedience and became an Harlot or Whore so that now and long sithence it may be said of Rome as God himselfe sometime spake of Hierusalem saying How is the faithfull City become an Harlot It being therefore manifest and a thing confessed even by the Papists themselves that by this Woman the citie of Rome is intended thereupon must needs be further granted that inasmuch as the Woman afterward became an Whore that is that Rome afterward became an Adulteresse against Christ her head and husband not the Heathen and Infidell citie of Rome but Rome after it had once received the Christian faith and religion and afterward fell from it to follow her owne false doctrine and religion is to be understood For how could the citie of Rome whilest it was Heathenish and before it ever embraced Christianitie be properly or rightly termed an Harlot or Whore that is a violater or breaker of anie faith formerly plighted by her unto Christ Iesus when as yet whilest shee was Heathen shee had plighted no such faith unto him The citie of Rome therefore which S. Iohn thus saw beforehand in vision to be such a one as should afterwards become an Whore and a great VVhore even the vvhore of Babylon as shee is entitled must needs be intended of Papal or Popish Rome for with the Heathen Rome that had never betrothed her selfe to Christ and consequently could for that time be no Whore or violater of her faith unto him it hath no fit or apt coherence and agreement Secondly as touching the Heathenish estate of Rome in that respect and for that purpose S. Iohn needed not anie Revelation at all for he knew it otherwise sufficiently even by his owne banishment into Pathmos and other daily experiments that Rome was then Heathenish and governed by Heathen Emperors and was by that meanes a great persecutor of the Saints and Martyrs of Iesus but that the same citie should be afterward governed by Popes and so fall into the spiritual whoredome of Poperie that hee could not foresee or foreknow or foretell without a Revelation and therefore hath he a Revelation given him of that matter And hereat the Text also saith that He vvondred and that with great marvaile This great vvondering of S. Iohn also Thirdly declareth what maner of Rome this was for even thereby likewise appeareth that not the Heathen citie of Rome at whose persecutions they being so frequent and common in those dayes he had no cause at all to wonder but the once true Christian citie of Rome which afterward revolted from that her true Christianitie to her Antichristian and persecuting courses whereat there was indeed iust cause to wonder is the thing there meant and intended Fourthly Rome governed by the Emperors is in that Chapter distinguished from Rome as it was afterward governed by the Popes yea Rome as it was governed by the seven heads or principal Rulers of it from the beginning of it to the end is there decyphered For this vvhore or vvhorish vvoman is not onely there said to sit upon a scarlet coloured beast with which kinde of colour the Romish Popes aswell as the Romane Emperors were and are delighted as appeareth in the Decret dist 96. but it is there further said that this beast that is this State or Dominion for so by the Beast is understood a State or Dominion as afterward is shewed which thus bare up and supported this woman the citie of Rome had seven Heads ten Hornes The seven Heads be in the Text it selfe expounded to be seven Hills or mountaines which are before named and mentioned And they be also there further said to be seven Kings that is seven sorts of principal or soveraigne Rulers whereby Rome hath beene governed namely by Kings Consuls Decemvirs Dictators Tribunes Militarie with consular Authoritie Emperors Popes Five of these were fallen saith the Text in the dayes of S. Iohn namely Kings Consuls Decemvirs Dictators Tribunes and one is saith hee that is the governement by Emperors For then in S. Iohns time was Rome governed by Emperors and one is yet to come saith the Text that is the governement by Popes For as yet the
of the doctrine of faith calleth Pope Gregory the 13 Supremum planè Supremum in terris Numen The supreme verily the supreme god upon earth And Steuchus the Popes Librarie keeper in his Booke of the Donation of Constantine saith that Constantine the Emperor held Pope Silvester for a god â—doravit ut Deum and worshipped him as God And the Councell of Lateran in the 3 and 10 Sessions further telleth you saying The Pope ought to be worshipped of all people and is most like unto God and least you should thinke that he speaketh of a civill kinde of worship it is there told you what manner of worship it is namely that it is with that kinde of worship or adoration that is mentioned in the 72 Psalme Adorabunt eum omnes Reges terrae All the Kings of the earth shall worship him where by worship the highest kinde of worship is meant which is due to the Sonne of God as Tertullian also teacheth in his 5 Booke and 7 Chapter against Marcion Againe Leo the 10 in the Councell of Lateran before cited is called the Lyon of the Tribe of Iudah the roote of David the Saviour of Sion And Bellarmine in the Preface of his Book calleth the Pope the Corner-stone a tried stone a precious stone All which bee titles proper and peculiar to the Son of God And in the 25 Cause 1 quaest it is said that to violate his Canons and ordinances is to blaspheme against the holy Ghost which is a sinne not to bee forgiven in this world nor in the world to come Againe he calleth his decrees and Canons by the name of Oracles Now an Oracle signifieth an heavenly answer proceeding from the mouth of God Rom. 3.2 11.4 Sutably whereunto hee saith That his decretal Epistles are to bee numbred amongst the Canonical Scripturs in the 19 distinction in the Canon In Canonicis Againe what can bee more said of God then that which the before cited Councell of Lateran in the 9 and 10 Sessions attributeth to the Pope namely that hee hath all power aboue all Powers both in heaven earth And himselfe speaketh asmuch of himselfe in the first Booke of holy Cerimonies saying thus This Pontifical Sword representeth the Soveraigne temporal power that Christ hath given the Pope his Vicar upon earth as it is written All power is given mee both in heaven and in earth and elsewhere His dominion shall bee from Sea to Sea and from the River to the ends of the earth And Pope Paul the 5. in his holy Register calleth himselfe a Vice-god the Monarch of the Christian world and the upholder of the Papal Omnipotencie So that if the words of S. Paul in 2 Thes. 2. concerning Antichrist had beene as they are not that hee should expresly say and affirme that hee is god you perceive by that which is before spoken how it might have beene verified and withall in what sort and sence it is that the Pope hath the verie name of God given unto him For it appeareth to bee given him in a farre other sense then it is to Kings and Princes and yet in verie deede Kings and Princes and such like Magistrates of the earth and not Bishops bee the men that in Scripture bee called Elohim or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Gods And they are called Gods as Christ himselfe declareth in respect that the word of God was committed to them not as it is to Bishops and Pastors publikely to preach in the Congregations but by their authoritie to establish and promote it to command obedience to it and to punish the violators of it and to countenance and encourage the professors and observers of it For to this end is it committed to their charge and custodie And for this cause are they called Custodes utriusque Tabulae The keepers of the two Tables wherein the Lawes of God were written And for this cause also was it an Institution from God and accordingly an observation in the Church of the Iewes that at the Coronation of a King the Booke of Gods Law should bee delivered unto him When therefore the Bishops of Rome take upon them this title to be called gods they take that which God in his Scriptures doth no where give them but when further they take upon them to be adored as God they doe that which is in them most intolerably blâ—sphemous And when you suppose out of this Text that Antichrist shall call himselfe God you see how much you are mistaken and that the Text affirmeth it not Obiect 7. Yea Antichrist must bee exalted even above God himselfe 2. Thes. 2.4 Ans. How proove you that For in the verie Text it selfe the highest degree and step of the pride and aspiring minde of Antichrist is discribed and set forth in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. So that hee shall sit in the Temple of God as God shewing himselfe that hee is God Hee doth not say that such shall bee his pride and elation as that he shall sit in the Temple of God aboue God or so shew himselfe as if hee were aboue God but onely that hee doth sit in the Temple of God as God and so shew himselfe as if hee were God The pride of the Divell himselfe is noted to be such as that he would bee onely as God or like the most high but not above Him And when the Divell tempted the first man Adam being in state of Innocencie and Integritie unto pride and ambition it was not to anie such pride or elation as to be above God but to be onely as God knowing good and evill It were therefore strange if the pride of Antichrist should be supposed to exceed or goe beyond the pride of the Divell his Master Yea indeed how can it enter into the conceit of anie creature to thinke it anie way possible for him to be exalted above God his creator when nothing can be conceived or imagined greater nobler or higher then Hee who is God over all blessed for ever But secondly observe that the words be not as you suppose viz. that Antichrist shall be exalted above God but above all or everie one that is called God for the words in the Greeke Text be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 super omnem qui dicitur Deus aut Sebasma that is above everie one that is called God and above every one also that is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sebasma .i. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hoc est Augustus for so Pausanias interpreteth that word and so is it likewise taken and used in the New Testament it selfe So that the meaning of those words is that the grand Antichrist should be exalted not only above Kings Princes and other Magistrates but even above those also that be Emperors and have an Imperial command and authoritie For it was indeed this Imperial State that was the hinderance or impediment that Antichrist
ever since the Emperor ceased to have any Soveraigne command in that Citie and that the Pope hath gotten the soveraigne rule and command there is apparantly become the seventh so the last Head of Rome How can it bee avoided but that Antichrist must needs be come long sithence and that the Pope of Rome undoubtedly is hee and that there is none other to bee expected Obiect 10. Antichrist is to be an open oppugner of Christ and a direct and professed enemie to all manner of Christianitie Ans. You are mightilie deceived if you thinke so For first the Scripture telleth us of manie Antichrists of one grand Antichrist above the rest According whereunto Origen saith Generaliter unus est Antichristus species illius multae c. Generally there is one Antichrist but there bee manie sorts of him c. For as all the true Prophets had relation to Christ By whose spirit they spake as S. Peter sheweth so have all the false teachers and false prophets in the Church relation to Antichrist by whose spirit they speake as S. Iohn affirmeth in the Church relation to Antichrist by whose spirit they speake as S. Iohn affirmeth For which cause S. Cyprian saith that Novatianus the Schismatick is to be reckoned amongst the Antichrists And so saith S. Hierome that all Arch Hereticks be Antichrists and againe there bee so manie Antichristâ— saith hee as there be teachers of false doctrine in the Church Yea this they might learne of S. Iohn himselfe in his Epistles who likewise calleth those that were hereticks and false Teachers in the Church so manie Antichrists And this also Saint Augustine teacheth saying Hide quibus Iohannes Epist. 1 Antichristi sunt ad illum novissimum pertinentes c. These Antichrists of vvhich Saint Iohn speaketh in his first Epistle be belonging to that last the grand Antichrist Againe Quisquis Christum qualis est ab Apostolis praedicatus negat Antichristus est VVhosoever saith Saint Hillary denyeth Christ to be such a one as he vvas preached to be by the Apostles is an Antichrist Irenaeus affirmeth that Valentinus Basilides and Câ—rinthus vvere Antichrists Antichrist saith Origen hath nothing but the name of Christ for hee neyther doth the vvorkes of Christ nor teacheth his doctrine Christ is the very Truth and Antichrist is the disguiser or counterfeyter of Truth The mysterie of that Antichristian Iniquitie wrought even in S. Pauls time as hee himselfe affirmeth He vvell calleth it saith S. Chrysostome a mysterie of Iniquitie because he shall not come like a Nero by open force and vvithout all maner of shame c but entisingly and underhand This Mysterie saith Theodoret signifieth the heresies by vvhich the Divell maketh vvay for Antichrist S. Gregory saith that Antichrist seduceth the people by his Preachers the ministers of lying He hath two hornes like to those of the Lamb Rev. 13.11 that is saith S. Augustine hee hath the two Testaments like to those of the Lamb inasmuch as under the name of Christ he doth covertly infuse the venome of the Dragon And for this cause is he called the false-Prophet diverse times in the Revelation by reason of the false Religion and false doctrines he teacheth in the world under the name of Christ and Christian verities Yea this Antichrist must sit in the Temple of God amongst Christians within Christendome and not without it amongst Turkes Iewes and such like Infidels of the world for he must pretend himselfe to be a chiefe Christian as S. Hierome also sheweth which none of those so much as pretend themselves to be yea they utterly disclaime to be anie Christians at all so that those be rightly and properly to be termed unchristian but not Antichristian people Within Christendome then and no where else is Antichrist to be sought and found Now then within Christendome where shall we finde him Can Protestants be hee No for they professe not to confirme their doctrine and religion nor any point thereof with miracles signes and wonders done by them as this Antichrist and his complices doe neither doe anie of their Bishops or Pastors exalt themselves against or above all Kings Princes Emperors Magistrates of the earth which be called gods in the Scripture as this Antichrist also doth neither doe they teach that doctrine of Divels as S. Paul calleth it which consisteth in prohibiting of Meates and Marriages for conscience and religion sake as this Antichristian and Apostaticall Church likewise doth Protestants then verie cleerely appeare to be such as belong not to this Antichristian crew or companie Who then within Christendome or outwardly professing Christianitie is more likely or so likely to be or possibly can be this grand Antichrist but he onely that exalteth himselfe not onely against but above all Kings Princes Emperors and Potentates of the world and that obtrudeth vaunteth and boasteth of so manie miracles signes and wonders done in his Church and by him and his Clergie and people for confirmation of his religion and that teacheth also that doctrine of Divels aforesaid consisting in prohibition of Meates and Marriage that is to say the Pope of Rome For there is no other within Christendome to be named to whom these things doe thus fitly agree Yea Hee and onely hee in all the world hath all the markes of the grand Antichrist upon him And therefore he and onely he and no other is to be held of all for the undoubted grand Antichrist Obiect 11. The grand Antichrist is The man of sinne the sonne of perdition 2. Thess. 2.3 But shall anie be so bold to affirme these things of the Pope of Rome especially doth it not seeme to be a rash and uncharitable thing to affirme of him that he is the sonne of perdition Answ. It is never anie rashnesse or uncharitablenesse to affirme what God in his word affirmeth It were rather incredulitie not to beleeve it and impietie not to affirme it For if the Pope of Rome be that grand Antichrist and the man of sinne doth it not well agree unto him that he should also be the sonne of perdition as well as Iudas Iscariot who likewise pretending to be a friend to Christ did neverthelesse betray him He that under the like pretence of being a special friend to Christ and under colour of Christianitie destroieth himselfe and others and that without check of conscience remorse or repentance at anie time shewed is he not worthily and iustly called the sonne of perdition Yea doth not the Scripture directly say of him that hee is in Hebrew Abaddon and in Greeke Apollyon that is in English a destroyer And must not hee needs be deemed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sonne of Perdition who together with himselfe thus destroyeth others For all those that be led by him and maugre all admonitions will neverthelesse irremoveably adhere unto him and follow him be answerably
shall be able to diswade them Howbeit I would desire you to be better advised and though it be to the utter overthrowing of your fancies and wills to yeeld to that puissant and unvanquishable truth which not onlie reason but all right faith and religion also requireth at your hands for even faith and religion aswell sense and reason perswadeth against that monstrous conceipt of Transubstatiation and of the natural bodie of Christ to be eaten with the bodilie mouth For further declaration whereof doe but consider some absurdities and inconveniences wherewith it is accompanied First you thereby make the Lords Supper to be no Sacrament for if it be a Sacrament it must of necessitie have aswel an outward visible signe of an holie thing as the holie thing it selfe The outward visible signe in this point is the bread and the holie thing whereof it is a signe is the verie natural bodie of Christ which was crucified for us Now you sâ—y That after consecration there is no bread at all remaining but onlie the verie natural bodie of Iesus Christ and so making no bread at all to be there you also make no outward visible signe to be there and consequentlie make it no Sacrament Secondlie if there be no bread remaining but onlie the Accidents of bread that is whitenesse roundnesse and such like without a substance as yee hold then beside that it is most absurd by the rules of reason to hold that anie accidents can be without their substance I pray further tell me what it is that the communicant receiveth and eateth for we thinke everie man should be ashamed to say that he eateth bare accidents and not the substance of bread But for cleere proofe S. Paul affirmeth it expreslie to be still bread after consecration and that accordinglie the communicant eateth bread neither will the bare accidents of bread without the substance nourish anie man Thirdlie how absurd and unseemlie a thing is it for one man to eate up another as if it became Christians to be Caniballs or Anthropophagi that is such as were eaters of men and yet if this Popish opinion were true should Christians be eaters even of the bodie of a man and of the best mâ—n that ever lived even of their owne Saviour and Redeemer Iesus Christ both God and man and that in a most grosse and carnal manner which is a most impious and most inhumane barbarous conceit Fourthlie it is well knowne that Christ Iesus is true man and hath all the properties of one that is a true man being like unto man in all things sinne only excepted as the Scripture witnesseth And therefore as he is a true man and hath a true humane bodie like other men sinne onelie excepted that his humane bodie cannot possiblie be in two or manie places at once no not after his resurrection as S. Augustine expresly witnesseth no more then the bodies of other men For which cause the Angel said of Christ Non est hic surrexit enim He is not here for he is risen This speech of the Angel sheweth contrarie to your conceit that the humanitie and bodie of Christ even after his resurrection is not in diverse places at once as his Deitie and Godhead is and that it cannot be in anie more places then one at a time because when his bodie was in the grave it was not anie where else and when it was risen ouâ— of the grave then it was not there but in another place as the Angel declareth Yea whilest you make his humanitie to be multi-present what doe yee else but confound his humanitie and fall into as manifest an errour as is the Heresie of the ubiquitares If anie alledge that the humanitie of Christ and his Deitie be inseparable and that therefore wheresoever his Deitie is there is also his humanitie and consequently because his Deitie or Godhead is everie where his humanitie also or manhood must be likewise everie where This is but a sophistical and deceitfull kinde of reasoning wherewith none should be ensnarled for although it be true that the Deitie and humanitie of Christ be inseparable in him in respect of his person in whom they are united both together making but one Christ yet are they not so inseparable but that the one may be and is namelie his Deitie or Godhead where the other is not For example the Deitie or Godhead of Christ is indeed everie where and filleth heaven and earth as it is said in the Prophet yea the heaven of heavens cannot conteine him as Solomon saith and consequently that Deitie was also even in the grave of Christ after he was risen from death and yet was not his humanitie or manhood there as the Angel himselfe hath before assured us So that although wheresoever his humanitie or manhood is there is also his Deitie or Godhead yet it followeth not contrariwise that wheresoever his Deitie or Godhead is there also is his humanitie or manhood Again doth not Christ Iesus himselfe say thus The poore ye have alwayes with you but me ye shall not have alwayes How could these words be true except wee confesse that he may be and is absent from us in his humanitie and manhood although he be alwaies present with us in respect of his Deitie and by his power and spirit In which respect he hath also said that Hee vvill be vvith his Church to the end of the vvorld You perceive then how Christ is present and how absent namelie that he is alwaies present everie where in his Deitie but not so in his humanitie or manhood And for further proofe hereof doth not Christ Iesus say againe expressely thus It is expedient for you that I goe away for if I goe not away the Comforter will not come unto you Againe he saith I leave the vvorld and goe to the Father And againe he saith Now am I no more in the vvorld but these are in the world and I come to thee Holy Father keepe them in thy Name even them vvhom thou hast given mee What meaneth all this but that Christ Iesus after his resurrection was to ascend into heaven and so to goe away to depart to leave the vvorld and to be as himselfe there speaketh no more in the vvorld Must not this needs be intended in respect of his manhood and bodily presence for most certaine it is that in respect of his Deitie power and spirit he is with us to the worlds end and for ever as before is said And therefore also doth S. Peter witnesse that in respect of that his manhood or humanitie the Heavens must conteyne him untill the time that all things be restored vvhich God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy Prophets since the vvorld began For which cause also we beleeve according to our Creede that from thence hee shall come to iudge both the quicke and the dead If then ever since his ascention hee be
in respect of his bodily presence and manhood departed from the world and in that respect is as himselfe affirmeth no more in the vvorld but in heaven untill the day of the general judgement as S. Peter also and our Creede doe teach us how grosse and absurd yea what misbeleevers be Papists that dare affirme him cleane contrarie to his owne testimonie and the testimonie of S. Peter and the rest of the Scriptures and contrarie also to the verie Creed it selfe to be still in the world in that his manhood and bodily presence It is high time therefore for all to renounce and forsake this monstrous and detestable errour if they will be right Christians and right beleevers As for that Text where it is said No man ascendeth up to heaven but he that descended from heaven even the sonne of man vvhich is in heaven It is easily answered and resolved for most true it is that the Sonne of man Christ Iesus was even then in heaven in his Deitie at such time when hee was also upon the earth in his humanitie So that in respect of that his Deitie or Godhead it is that being upon the earth he was neverthelesse also in heaven and not in respect of his manhood or humanitie for his manhood or humanitie or bodily presence was then on the earth and could not also be in heaven at one and the selfe same time as is before declared S. Iohn saith that Every spirit vvhich confesseth not that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God but this is the spirit of Antichrist Now what is it else to denie Iesus Christ to be come in the flesh but to denie him to be true man and like unto men in all things sinne onely excepted Whilest men therefore thus denie Christ to be come in the flesh that is to have all the properties of a True man and to be like unto other men in all things sinne onely excepted how can they cleere themselves but that they must be enforced to yeeld and confesse that they be herein led not by the spirit of Christ but by the spirit of Antichrist Yea whilest they thus say that Christ is in his manhood and natural bodie present upon earth what doe they else but denie or impugne not onely those Articles of the Creed viz. that Christ is ascended into heaven and that there hee sitteth at the right hand of God his Father and that from thence he shall come to iudge the quicke and the dead But this Article also that Iesus Christ vvas borne of the Virgin Mary and was incarnate and made man of her substance For this doubtlesse is the right Iesus Christ in whom wee are to beleeve but by this their doctrine they contrariwise beleeve in another Iesus Christ namely in such a one as they affirme by this their Transubstantiation to be made of another substance namelie out of the substance of a piece of bread And how can such a Christ so made of the substance of a piece of bread be the true Christ Of which and of all other sorts of false Christs the true Christ Iesus himselfe hath given us sufficieÌ„t forewarning Fiftly they herein make their Massing Priest after their words of consecration uttered to be the maker of his Maker namelie of Iesus Christ And that Iesus Christ is thus made anew everie day or so oft as their Masse is celebrated How manie thousand Iesus Christs by this meanes will they have in the world But can anie be so absurdlie impious as to beleeve or suppose that Christ Iesus can be made out of the substance of a piece of bread by a Priest by vertue of anie words of consecration uttered or by anie devise whatsoever Can anie creature possibly make his Creator or the thing made make his maker Fie on these and all other such senselesse detestable abominations Diverse other absurdities also of the Papists might here be further alledged but these before mentioned will I hope suffice to declare the most grosse and most notorious false exposition of the Popish Church concerning those wordes of Christ This is my Body in the Lords Supper wherby they strangely suppose a Transubstantiation and a carnal eating of Christ his verâ—e natural bodie contrarie to the Scriptures and contrarie to all sense reason right faith and true Religion For ye must learne so to expound Scripture as that yee make all the rest of the Scriptures to stand and agree with that sense you set upon it so that there may be no repugnancie But the sense and exposition which the Popish church setteth upon those words of Christ namely This is my Body is cleerely repugnant to other Scriptures and even to the verie Articles also of the Creede aswell as to all sense and reason as is before apparant and therefore it cannot possibly be the right sense nor true exposition What remaineth then but that the right and true sense and meaning of those words is and must needs be the same which the Protestants set upon them because that their exposition is consonant agreeing to the rest of the Scriptures and to all the Articles of the Creede aswell as to all sense and reason and is also sutable and correspondent to the like usuall ordinarie phrase and manner of speech in other and former Sacraments amongst the Iewes the old people of God under the old Testament according to which maner of speech Christ also spake when he instituted this Sacrament of his Supper under the new Testament calling according to the usuall Sacramental phrase the signe by the name of the thing signified Which thing I trust is now so cleare and evident as that none can iustly anie longer make anie doubt or question of it 5 But yet for the fuller discussing hereof it will not be amisse here to speake a few words touching Consecration because upon Consecration it is that they seeme to build their before mentioned error of Transubstantiation Let us therfore consider what Consecration is and what it importeth or worketh To Consecrate then is to take a thing from the prophane or ordinarie and common use and to destinate or appoint it to some holy use and end And if wee would know how things come to bee consecrate or sanctified S. Paul saith that everie Creature of God is good and nothing to bee refused if it bee received with thankesgiving For it is sanctified saith hee by the word of God and prayer Sanctification then or Consecration of a thing doth here appeare to bee by the institution and word of God and by praier or invocation whereof thankesgiving is a part And therefore the Lord Iesus before he brake the bread and gave it hee Blessed that is he gave thankes to his Father that hee out of his love to men had appointed him to bee the Redeemer for the satisfying of his Iustice in the behalfe of his elect and had given him authoritie to institute this