current of the greater faction ran the quite contrary way yet they which were of our opinion submitted themselues to the obedience of the Church of Rome which Luther did not So that if any aske where was our Church before Luthers rising I answere it was in Rome and the Romane Iurisdiction perhaps not in the Popes privy chamber yet in his Court amongst his greatest counsellours agents doctours writers prelates Then did Gregorius Ariminensis doubt how any such place as Limbus puerorum might stand with the doctrine of the primitiue Church then did Richardus de Sancto Victore Gerson and Durand deny that distinction of veniall and mortall sinnes then did Scotus Cameracensis and Waldensis refute those merits of congruity and condignity Bernard with others justification by inherent qualities thē did the M. of the Sentences not once mētion transubstantiation Bonaventure doubted of it Cajetan confes'd that though in word most doe affirme it yet in deed many deny it thinking nothing lesse Then did many saith Bacon deny that Purgatory could bee proved by Scriptures Willielmus Altisiodorensis said it was a common opinion of his time that wee neither doe properly pray to Saints nor Saints for vs Then did Mirandula withstand worshipping of images the Sorbonistes the Popes infallibility many his indulgences and pardons and most good men his Iurisdiction in the temporall affaires of princes So that hee which shall seeke reconciliation betweene vs and them because before the Councell of Trent wee jumpt in opinions with many of their men or at lest not greatly swarv'd from them will fight very much without an enemy and forgets that the Papists by the Church which they would vnder paine of damnation binde every man to beleeue vnderstand not the Church which was sixty or an hundred yeares since but the present Church as Bellarmine and their great Doctours doe interpret Secondly wee distinguish of Romane Catholickes whereof as in all religions so in theirs some are more moderate and whether through ignorance of their owne doctrine or through an impartiality of judgement as divers learned men in France or through an accusation of their conscience as most at the time of death especially touching the doctrine of merits doe greatly incline to our tenents others are professed Romanists both in letter and title and swarne not a whit from the determination of the Church The former I leaue in this controversie the demonstration of the probleme shall bee in the latter Thirdly because wee propose the question whether wee and they doe differ not onely in lighter matters but also in those which concerne the foundation of religion lest any should misconceiue our meaning let vs adde a third distinction that a foundation of religion is overthrow'd two wayes either in flat termes when a maine principle of faith is absolutely denyed as the deity and the consubstantiality of the Sonne by Arrius the trinity of the persons by Sabellius and Servetus the resurrection of the body by Hymenaeus and Philetus and the last judgement by S Peters mockers or 2ly by consequent when any opinion is maintained which by just sequell overturneth the truth of that principle which the defendant professeth to hold So the Minaei of whom St Ierome speakes whil'st they vrged circumcision by consequent according to Paules rule rejected Christ so the Pelagians whil'st they defended a full perfection of our righteousnesse in our selues by a consequent overthrew Christs justification Popery comes in the latter ranke it pronounceth the same wordes of the Bible beleeues them it repeates the same Creed Apostolique Nicene and Athanasian and adheres to it but it denyes each article by a consequent because it denyes the true exposition of the article Non enim in verbis sed in sensu fides est saith Bellarmine nec idem symbolum habemus si in explicatione dissidemus Our beliefe stayes not it selfe vpon the words but vpon the sense nor haue wee the same Creed if we differ in the explanation of it The Arrians Novatians Nestorians and almost all heretickes haue ever agreed vpō the same Creed but because they agreed not vpon the meaning of it they therefore consequently may bee said to deny it The state therefore of our position in summe is this That a pure profest Romanist which strictly adheres to the doctrine of the Pope and of the Romane Church since the Councell of Trent doth differ from this reformed Church of ours in such fundamentall pointes that if not directly yet by a consequence wee must needes hold him to deny sundry articles of faith and therefore all hope of reconciliation to be taken away In the proofe of which assertion because I will not stand vpon such differences as perhaps arise betwixt private persons on both sides I will take for the Papists side the Councell of Trent begun in the yeare 1545 celebrated by three Popes Paulus tertius Iulius tertius and Pius quartus received by all succeeding Popes and vnder paine of Anathema or curse enjoyned to be beleeved by all Catholicks For our side I will take the booke of Articles Homelyes and such bookes as to which wee all doe subscribe And that wee may the better proceed in such pointes as may cause a separation from a Church let vs examine those things which the 19th article makes to bee the notes of a Church to wit the pure preaching of the Word and the right administration of the Sacraments Now the controversie betwixt vs the Church of Rome concerning the preaching of the Word are either of the Word it selfe or of the things delivered in the Word Touching the Word wee agree that it is infallible but we differ mainely three manner of wayes first in setting downe what is Scripture and what is not The Councell of Trent in the fourth Session reckons vp all those bookes which we terme Apocrypha to be Canonicall and saith that the Church doth pari pietatis affectu ac reverentiâ suscipere venerari receiue them with the same reverence and affection as it doth the other bookes of the Old or New Testaments Our booke of Articles in the sixth Article saith of these Apocrypha bookes that the Church doth reade them as Hierome saith for example of life and instruction of manners but yet doth not apply them to establish any doctrine So then it doth not receiue them with the same reverence affection as it doth the other Secondly we differ in the interpretation of the Scriptures The Councell of Trent in the same Session forbids any man to interprete the Scripture contra eum sensum quem tenuit aut tenet sancta mater Ecclesia contrary to the sense which the holy mother the Church hath held or doth hold by the Church saith Bellarmine in his 3 booke de verbo Dei and 3 chap. vnderstanding Pontificem cum Concilio the Pope in a Councell in which opinion hee affirmes all Catholickes to concurre Our booke of Articles in the sixteenth art saith that a generall Councell
is infinite it cost the death of him which was God and man to gaine it for vs if hee had beene God onely and not man hee could not haue suffered for vs and if hee had beene man onely and not God his sufferings had not beene of so great a vertue as to merit for vs so goodly an inheritance now is it possible that hee which is God as well as man that hee might bee capable of such a merit should make vs againe which are but men and sinfull men and not Gods capable of this merit why surely wee dare not say that wee are able to carry all those millions which must bee payed for our celestiall Citty in our pockets as do the Papists but wee must bring the Lord of it to our treasury Christ Iesus and bid him take from thence what will satisfie him Thus you see the Papists and Wee do yet differ about the matter of our cure or justification and in this wee cannot bee reconciled Let 's now come to the instrument whereby the playster is applyed to the wound The Papists affirme that it is applied by habituall and actuall righteousnesse But yet amongst these they allow faith a share wee say on the other side that faith onely doth apply it but yet not that faith which is alone without inherent righteousnesse habituall and actuall so that say our truce-makers for so much as the Protestant and Papist doe both holde faith and good workes to bee necessary for those which are saved it seemes they agree vpon the same roote CHRIST IESVS vpon the same tree springing and receiving nourishment from its roote faith and workes the difference is onely in the boughes which wee must holde by the Protestant say they layes holde of a sure one which will holde it is faith in CHRIST the Papists for more security lay holde on both faith in CHRIST and workes seeing then it is but so that both may bee saved by their holde why should wee so wrangle about trifles I answere that the reason holdes not vnlesse we conceiue faith and workes to bee two firme boughes equally growing out of the same body whereon one might hang now faith I confesse is a firme bough whereon wee may safely venture but workes or rather righteousnesse is not another bough equalling faith but a tender and weake twigge blasted and halfe withered sprouting out of the bough which is called faith So that hee which shall hang vpon it shall certainely fall downe Againe that faith which wee rest vpon is a bough of the tree which wee may put confidence in and and may bee bolde to relye vpon their faith is not the same bough as men would make vs beleeue but another bough wanting sappe and juyce and strength splitted with tempests and shaken with winde and weather vpon which they forbid any man to lay his assurance and indeed which cannot saue them marke but the difference The Councell of Trent in the 6. Sess and 12. chap hath these words Nemo quamdiù in hac mortalitate vivitur de arcano divinae praedestinationis mysterio vsque adeo praesumere debeat vt certò statuat se omninò esse in numero praedestinatorum Let no man so loÌ„g as he liues in this mortal life presume so farre of the mystery of divine predestination that he will resolue assuredly that hee is in the number of the Elect And in the 3d Canon of the 6. Sess pronounceth Anathema to him whosoever hee be which assuredly without doubting by reason of his owne infirmities and vnfitnesse beleeues that his sinnes are forgiuen on the other side our Church of England in the 11. Article as before you heard saith that wee are accounted righteous before God onely by faith and for the fuller explication of this faith what it is it referreth vs to the Homily of Iustification confirmed likewise by publicke authority which Homily in the third part of it tells vs that the right and true justifying faith is not onely to beleeue the holy Scripture and all the foresaid articles of our faith are true but also to haue a sure trust and confidence in God's mercifull promises to be saved from everlasting damnation by Christ they are the very wordes and therefore I pray you marke them Nowel's Catechisme commaunded to bee taught by publike authority saith the like that a liuely true Christian faith is a certaine Knowledge of God's father-like good will towardes vs through CHRIST a confidence in the same and that none haue this true faith which doe despaire of God's mercy I need not stand long in proving either the former to be the Church of Rome's Bell. Valentia the whole current of Popish Doctors making it a main coÌ„troversie between vs nor to induce you to credit the latter as a firme position of our Church for I hope you heare no other doctrine preached vnto you then this that you must bee saved by a firme faith and confidence that your sinnes are remitted in IESVS CHRIST Onely let me for conclusion of all frame this Argument The Church of England holdes it necessary to salvation to beleeue confidently and assuredly one 's selfe to be of the number of the Elect and that his sinnes are remitted in IESVS CHRIST but the Church of Rome pronounceth a curse to all those which beleeue confidently and assuredly that they are of the number of the Elect and that their sinnes are remitted in IESVS CHRIST therefore the Church of England and the Church of Rome doe differ in a point which we holde necessary to salvation and therefore they can by no meanes be reconcil'd Having shewed vnto you what the maine differences â—re betweene Vs. and the Church of Rome concerning the pure preaching of the Word which is the first note of a true Church I will now come to the Administration of the Sacraments which the 19. Article makes to bee the second note Wherein for brevities sake I will giue you onely a taste and that shall bee in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Wee agree on both sides that CHRIST is really present in the Sacrament the question is about the manner of it The Councell of Trent in Session 17th injoynes vnder paine of curse to beleeue that CHRIST is there substantially by converting the bread and wine into the substance of his Body and Bloud which the Church termes transubstantiation Our 8th Article determines first negatiuely that he is not there by transubstantiation for that the change of the substance of bread and wine in the Supper of the Lord is repugnant to plaine wordes of Scripture and over-throweth the nature of a Sacrament and hath given occasion to many superstitions Secondly affirmatiuely how Christ is there to wit after an heauenly and spirituall manner and receiued and eaten by faith Afterwards whereas the Councell of Trent would haue vs to worship this SacrameÌ„t with divine worship the 31. Artic. of ours well coÌ„plaines that these sacrifices of Masses were blasphemous
teacheth presumption for hee which at the 11th houre was willing to accept of these mens labours gaue them no assurance that they should find labour at the sixth Besidcs non semper manet in foro Pater-familias saith Austin the lord of the vineyard is not alwayes in the market to set thee on worke and no marvaile saith Gregory if at the last gaspe hee forget himselfe who in all his life neglected to remember God But these I passe over as being by others often beate vpon wherefore I desire that you would returne a litle backward with mee and call to minde how Interpreters for the most part do agree that the severall howers and parts of the day do delineate vnto vs in this parable nothing else but the severall seasons of of mans life and how that the market place doth paint out any place out of the Church that therefore the husbandman should brand all the day or parts of mans life spent here or out of the Church with this blot of idlenesse I inferre That all our life appeares idle in Gods sight which is spent before wee truly are inserted or engrafted into the body of the Church As the Church is distinguished into visible invisible so may a man be said to be actually inserted either into the visible alone which requireth nothing but an externall profession of the true faith or into the invisible which besides the profession craues the inward spirit of adoption The Papists howsoeuer they make a faire glose and seeme much to extoll their Mother the Church with extra EcclesiaÌ„ non est salus out of the Church there is no salvation a point acknowledged as well by vs as themselues yet it is a matter worth the observing that lest the doctrine of merits and freewill should quite goe to the ground so bolde will they make with this their Mother as that Andradius on the one part would haue euen HeatheÌ„s existing out of the visible Church by their good workes to purchase salvation Bellarmine on the other part in his 1. book de Iustif 21. chap thinks that men wanting justifying grace therfore not yet actually of the invisible Church if we should speak according to the truth may performe works which shall not onely appeare not idle in God's sight but over aboue proue meritorious ex congruo of justification Alas but if either of these doctrines might hold play it had been hard measure to haue stiled these labourers standing here with so homely a title as idle Bellarm. quoting this Parable at least 7 times in his 4th Tome to proue free-will merits cannot if he be ingenious but confesse that if euer merituÌ„ ex congruo were found in any it was in these men For what vertues requires he to merit of congruiry which any way might be defectiue in them Faith enough for a Papist they had for they knew the way into the market in which they were to staÌ„d for hire the Papists desire to know no more for this merite then where is the church waÌ„ted their Hope another of Bellar. preparatiues when they so stedfastly kept their station Slack't they their desire or was their inteÌ„t altered when they so patieÌ„tly expected the hire vntill the 11 â—â— houre nay to coÌ„clude lack't there anything to the perfection of the actioÌ„ when it tooke effect They might haue excused themselues saying Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that wee haue stood heere all the day to merite ex congruo our hire that we might merite ex condigno the penny But beholde the Husbandman like a good Physitian first shewes them their malady before he applyes the medicine and by arguing their infirmity stirres them vp to an acknowledging of their misery What shall wee say beloued is it likely that God is so rigide in his censures that he will not spare to reproue euen actions meritorious his mercy was wont to be aboue all his works and will hee now make well-deseruings the subject of his high displeasure God forbid let him be just and these labourers how glorious soeuer their actions sinners and being sinners it followeth that God which in the evening rewarded them aboue their merite did now entertaine them without their merite and that their works which after their calling into the Church appeared pleasing before this admission appeared idle and vaine in themselues The reason is giuen by our Sauiour Mat. 12. when he bids vs to make the tree good and his fruit good or the tree euill and his fruit euill for as is the tree such will be the fruit the sacrifice of the vnregenerate or wicked is an abomination vnto the Lord Proverb 15. and the Lord Esay 1. cryes out to the Iewes which had forsaken him Bring no more oblations in vaine my soule hateth your new Moones and your appointed feaste they are a burthen vnto me and I am weary to beare them and againe in the 66. Chap He that killeth a bullocke as if he slew a man he that offereth an oblation is as if he offered swines bloud he that remembreth incense as if he blessed an Idoll Heere nothing might passe for meritorious ex opere operato though it were sacramentall but rather in that they wanted Faith the seale of their redemption and gate of entrance into the Church of Christ they had no fruit in those things their workes yet did appeare idle A point worth the considering by those who hauing once beene freed from the bondage of Antichrist doe like Lot's wise looke backe againe towards Sodome if not with a resolution of returning yet with a delight of beholding her painted outside Beloued if wee acknowledge them to be none of the true Church I may confidently pronounce their workes as they are in Gods sight vaine and idle For Sodome will be Sodome and Antichrist will bee Antichrist we cannot expect grapes of thornes nor figges of thistles Affirmatiuely I confesse I cannot conclude this or that man doth outward good workes therefore hee is a member of the true Church for God onely who knoweth the heart of man can truely judge of the goodnesse of the worke but negatiuely I may say this man is no member of the true Church therfore his life beit never so laborious in the eyes of men yet in the sight of God with these labourers in my Text he stands alwayes idle And indeede the husbandman's argument so runnes statis hîc you stand here out of the Church ergo otiose pretend therefore what you list defend your case how you can you stand heere all the day idle It hath beene a preposterous course therefore as you may well obserue which the Iesuites and Priests haue vsed in seducing our Countrymen either at home or abroad to winne them to their side by shewing them the devotion of their religious men the liberality of their Lay people or the strange outward holinesse of both sorts at some times in the yeare our men should first before
they venture too farre vpon their workes sift the truth of their Church and before they suffer shipwracke in their practickes sound the depth or their shallowes in their theoricks For from the glistering of works to the verity of the Church inference can be but probable at the most often false but from the corruption of doctrine or from a nullity of the Church to the nullity of good workes the argument holdes alwayes strong and the conclusion necessary Bellarmine himselfe acknowledgeth the former in his 5. booke de gratia libero arbitrio and 10. chap when he sayth Ex operibus ipsorum hominum qui nos docent non posce cognosci doctrinam cùm opera interna non videantur externa autem sunt communia vtrisque The doctrine which men teach cannot be knowne by their workes because their inward workes are not seene and their outward workes are common to both sides The latter I confirmed before it needes not much amplifying for if the roote be bitter the fruit cannot be sweet and if the member be rotten it cannot but be of small performance But to come more particularly vnto them because they seeme heerein to out-face vs our men doc commonly giue three reasons wherefore the workes of those which exist out of the true Church can by no meanes be pleasing in God's sight and should I not too farre encroach vpon your patience I could easily exemplifie thē in the Church of Rome The first is because they proccede not from a true faith alas what is the faith of the Church of Rome Antichrist hath not so shedde her hornes as she hath diminished that true faith to which Paul tells vs shee was once obedient that faith was such an one as came by hearing the word of God Rom 10 and was like that of Abraham's by which he doubted not of the promises made vnto him Gen. 15 so that her eyes were knowledge her soule was a firme confidence in the merits of our Saviour here you may see a strange alteration Bellarmine defining faith rather by ignorance thē knowledge telling vs that all confidence in these cases is plaine presumption wherfore Rome's faith being deprived both of sight soule at once can bee no more operatiue it must needs be dead profit them nothing The 2d reason why the workes of those which are not members of the true Church are idle in God's sight is because they are not done to a right end well said therfore S. Austin Cùm facit homo aliquid vbi peccare non videtur si non propter hoc facit propter quod facere debet peccare convincitur Now to instance in the Church of Rome whither bend their actiōs but to this end to foūd the kingdome of Antichrist Whither tends all their doctrine teachings but only to reare vp fortify as Molineus well notes the towre of confusion new Babell some points to enrich her treasury as indulgences pilgrimages and dispensations some to augment her power authority as ignorance of Lay-people multiplying of Fryeries the necessity of Confession and Absolution some to conserue that which hath already beene gotten as the single life of Priests exemption of Clergie from secular Magistrates the preheminence of the Pope aboue Princes Councels and Scripture it selfe with the like See how out of the mines of the Gospell Antichrist labours to hew his throne make the Articles of faith nothing but columnes of a Papall Empire But these may seeme yet to be actions of State let 's see what each member doth in the closet of his soule a man would thinke that betweene onesselfe God there should be plaine dealing found yet behold evē there do they erre in their scope rob God of his honour rejecting him which is the way striuing through their owne workes to beat a path to the heavenly Canaan How art thou fallen Babylon that great City and art become the habitation of divels how hast thou built thy fortresse vpō the sands of humane wisdome refusing the rock corner-stone Christ Iesus But to be briefe the 3d reason why those works are idle in God's sight which are done by men out of the true Church is drawne à formali because the works many of thē in their owne nature are grosse sins indeed it is a matter worth the observing by all of vs that those fects which maintain not the truth of the Gospel in purity sincerity are tainted cōmonly besides other errors with the defending of some grosse sin or other which displaies and add's suspition to all the rest God in his providence detecting hypocrisie by some apparent iniquity S. Paul giues vs an evidēt exāple hereof in the Gentils Ro. 1. who for that they turned the glory of the incorruptible God to the similitude of the image of a corruptible man and of birdes and foure-footed beasts and creeping things God also gaue them vp vnto horrible sinnes promiscuous lusts which were against nature and deliuered them vp vnto a reprobate minde to doe those things which they knew that they which cōmitted them were worthy of death and yet they not onely did the same but also favoured them which did them And to say the plaine truth what are many of those points which the Romane Consistory defends at this day any other then hay nous crymes hatefull to all men Perhaps their prayer for the dead their pilgrimages fasting-dayes vowes and ceremonies may seeme to come frō a foolish ignorant zeale and therfore the more excusable but the doctrine of murdering and deposing of Princes their Powder plots the assertion of aequivocation their tolerating of publicke stewes euen in Rome it selfe what Christian can with patience abide to heare them O heauens open your doores send thunder that may sound out these wicked and vnnaturall positions astonish the nature of things reasonable a while that the nature of things vnreasonable may vnderstand and all God's creatures be abashed at such impieties It is not I am perswaded either the wheele offortune or the change of destiny or the craft of the diuell that brings the adversaries of our Church to beleeue such shamefull doctrines but it is God in his divine providence which hath permitted them euen there where the light of nature is most apparent so to stumble that the meanest of God's Elect whom he hath decreed to redeeme from the servitude of the Beast by feeling the Law written in their hearts to thwart and contradict those strange assertions nay grow to a distrust in the rest and by distrusting search and by searching finde the true way which leades vnto life euerlasting We may well remember how the absurd selling of Indulgences or pardons for mens sinnes by Leo the tenth was that which first stirred vp Luther's generous spirit in Germanic to make a farther inquirie into Babylon's mysteries and how that grosse dispensation from the Pope for K. Henry to marry his brothers wife was
sayth Beza that to propose as these Gentiles did the 〈…〉 GOD for one's scope and not to bee grounded on sound and sure foundations a good meaning is nothing availeable to excuse one before GOD. To a good intention it is not enough say Divines that the end bee good vnlesse other two properties bee present Goodnesse in the worke and Lawfullnesse in the meanes Saul had a good end when hee sought to slay the Gibeonites the text tell 's vs it was in his zeale to the Children of Israell and Iudah neverthelesse it brought a famine vpon the land and cost the liues of his seuen sonnes because the worke was bloudy 2. Sam. 21. The Scribes and the Pharisees no doubt had a good end in their laborious worship of God but our Saviour tells them that in vaine did they worship him because they taught for doctrines the commandements of men Matt. 15.8 If the end be sufficient to excuse an action then Paul sinned not in that he persecuted the Church of God hee should not haue said Accepi misericordiam I found mercy but rather Mercedem accepi I receiued a reward for he did it with zeale ignorantly 1. Tim. 1. If sins as our adversaries would haue them may become veniall from the end then we are vnjustly angry with the murtherers of the Apostles for they were not only ignorant that it was a sinne but thought also moreover that they did God good service Ioh. 16.2 How is it then that this answere flies with such plausible passage in the world that when ignorance and superstition raigne together neither the ignorant is so carefull to learne nor the learned to teach nor the taught to remember onely because if the worst come to the worst God will be merciful in that things are done as we say with a good meaning Alas beloued it had beene happy for the Gentiles if any such plea could haue serv'd their turnes compare but their Hecatombs with the Papists wafers their Colossus's and golden statues with these mens woodden or stonie poppets their cuttings with others whippings and you will say that in the end they equalled in many other things out-stripped Popery yet this begg'd not their pardons the Apostle tells vs that the wrath of God was revealed from heauen against them because though God they glorified yet they say led in the maine matter non vt Deum glorificarunt they glorified him not as God It is not therefore we see the glorious title of a profession not the antiquity not the duration not the conspiration of a multitude in doctrine or a religious purpose which is warrant sufficient for a Church to be true so long as they first proue not their worship to bee free from idolatrie their ceremonies from superstitions their faith and doctrine not tainted with false conceivings of the deitie but as they glorifie God in word so really vt Deum glorificant they glorifie him as God What is man if he be spoiled of reason and senses and motions so what is God if hee bee supposed without his attributes the Gentiles glorified him not as god because as you heard they rob'd him of his simplicity immensity power and providence and what doe the Papists when they impaire his wisedome grace and glorie They match traditions with the written word therein injurious to the wisedome of God they mingle mans merits with the merits of Christ therein injurious to the grace of God they communicate divine worship to stocks and stones therein injurious to the glory of God Thus haue you briefely seene what the Apostle vnderstood in that they glorified not God of God what he addes that they were not thankefull is but a part if not the same in substance with the former for they glorified him not as God because they stript him besides other attributes of his workes of creation and providence and they were not thankefull because they acknowledged not these things to bee his doings and handie worke I will not therefore stand long vpon it it requiring rather the comment of a gratefull convert then of a curious interpreter Onely let mee say that if ingratitude be so highly condemned in the sonnes of nature it is much more to bee pittied in the children of grace God might say to all that he gaue them a soule to bee commander of their bodies thinking that it being placed by him would performe the ordinary respect of the worke to be at his command and at the sinke-ports of the body would admit no enemie which should impeach the quiet of his government hee might alleadge farther that he made them after his owne image hoping that as Simile simili gaudet their joy and contentation should be to walke with him like Enoch and not to goe like cursed Caine from his presence but never did such arguments enter into the heart of any oratour or rhetorician to stirre the coales of gratitude and thankefulnesse as are conversant and familiar with the least of Gods elect If you pervse the acts and monuments of our redemption that he of rich did become poore this is more then of a monarch to become a beggar it was in the abstract of riches to become pouerty but that hee so loved the vvorld that hee gaue his onely begotten Sonne to die and be subject to death even the death of the crosse for vs vvhen vve vvere yet his enemies here eloquence may cast in her mite and like the poore widow be liberall of what shee hath but admiration and stupor must supply what the tongue of men and Angels cannot vtter There is therefore no ingratitude like the ingratitude of men to God it is a contempt of him whose benefits they cannot want it is saith Gregory suis contra Deū donis pugnare to oppugne God with his own gifts thus are they vnthankefull which acknowledge not Gods grace and protection they which deny themselues to be sinners or bragge of merits they to whom God hath given the meanes of knowing him as he did to these Gentiles and they abuse it by not hearkning vnto it and living accordingly I pray God it may not be imputed to vs that in this respect wee are not thankefull lest wee participate of the punishments of these Gentiles in becomming vaine in our imaginations and having our foolish hearts darkened and obscured O that we could be taught by presidents and were not so blockish as not to learne vntill our owne experience bee our master We know how heretofore the Easterne Churches contended for the Empire of learning knowledge with the whole world where are now those famous schooles of Alexandria where those seven renowned Churches of letter Asia where those Colledges of Monkes dispers'd through Egypt and Syria where their Basill's Nazianzens Chrysostomes Nyssens Cyrils was not the vngratefull world thought vnworthy of these benefits and therefore were those lights extinguished those candlesticks removed and in their place nothing but darkenesse and confusion Greece it selfe sometimes the flow and
martyrdomes of the Prophets before Christ of the Fathers in the Ten first persecutions and of the Protestants here in England in Queene Marie's dayes The third is the endeavouring by the same meanes to preserue the liberties and immunities of the Church which are two fold either natiue and connaturall to the Church as preaching the word administring the Sacraments and applying medicinall censure or accessory such as for the furtherance advancement of the worship of God Christian Princes haue given vnto it If any to whose charge God hath committed these by an ordinary calling do loose his life either in the execution of the former or for a pious dutifull admonition to the Prince for the latter wee may justly esteeme him for a martyr But to come to our application Christ hath his martyrs and Antichrist would haue his also It may make some peradventure to wonder and stand astonisht at the strange hardnesse of some priests Iesuites of the Roman religiō their resolution to dye for their Bell the Bishop of Rome but should wee but sift the truth of the point wee should finde that it is not Christ's cause that they dye for nor his Name which with the Apostle here they so stand for but that other reasons and by-respects do induce them to this false martyrdome To see one lavish of his bloud would perswade a simple man to thinke that the cause could not be but good but alas it is not true zeale but fury which driues them to these exigences it is not the loue of their Master Christ but the hope of avoyding Purgatory and of meriting heaven which so advanceth this corrupt inclination Yet this I will say that if the sustaining of death for the defence of one's cause could end the controversie Bellarmine the greatest Doctor of the Romish Church would giue the Vmpire to our side for in his 4th book de signis Ecclesia 2. chap. he ingenioussly cōfesseth that Martyrdome can be no note of the Romish Church because saith he other sects there are amongst which he name 's the Calvinists who haue ever bin most forward in dying for their Religion But let vs goe on and examine a little whether those Iesuites and Priests according to the ground laide downe before can challenge the names of true Martyrs or no. To beginne therefore with the first kinde of Martyrdome which is for defending some morall truth doe they dye for defending any such verity No beloved it is for oppugniug euen the rirst Commandement which concernes our duty towards man that Commandement teacheth vs that we should honour our Fathers and Mothers by which is meant not only our naturall Parents but likewise all higher powers and especially such as haue soveraigne authority over vs as Kings and Princes whom the Scripture doth terme nursing Fathers of the Church Esay 49. But they are executed for plotting their deaths for contriving powder-treasons for affirming that the Pope may depose the King that hee may excommunicate him and then giue his Subjects a priviledge to assassinate him so that for defending any morall truth they are not Martyrs but rather for breaking of so great a Commandement they dye as guilty offenders both of God and the Lawes of the Land Well then let 's goe to the Articles of Faith may they beterm'd Martyrs because they stand for the vp-holding of any part of the Creed therein do they maintaine the Name of Iesus No beloved though some of them are called Iesuites yet are they so farre from being so indeed that as Whitaker a learned divine of ours hath observ'd there is no point of their doctrine wherein they differ from vs but either therein they deny the Name of Iesus or the Name of Christ one of our Saviour's two Names is alwayes infring'd by thē But yet they will say perhaps that they dye for maintaining their Churche's immunities priviledges therein do descrue to be called Martyrs They may wel indeed say their Churche's for I cannot say Christ's Church But what are the Priviledges which they pretend why any of their Priests will tell you they are those which our Saviour gaue to S. Peter in Matt. 16. ver 18. in these words Thou art Peter and vpon this rocke I will build my Church But what meane these words are they any thing else then that Christ would build his Church vpon that rocke that is vpon that confession of Peter's immediatly before vttered That he was the Sonne of God this indeede is the true sense but yet the Pope's Canon-Law hath pleas'd to giue another interpretation Thou art Peter that is to say in the Romane speech I am sure neither in the Greeke nor Latine thou art Bishop of Rome and vpon thee as thou art such an one I will build my Church but not onely vpon thee Peter for there shall be no moreBishops of Rome of that name but vpon thee Gregory vpon thee Adrian Iulius Ioane vpon euery Bishop of Rome good or bad holy or prophane Christian or Atheist be he what he will I will build my Church and vnder this I ordaine thee Monarch both of things temporall and things spirituall Soveraigne King and Bishop together of spirituall to controlle the Olde Testament to dispense against the Gospell and against the Apostles to make new articles of faith to be aboue all Councels and when thou traylest men by thousands into hell I would haue no man to question thee why doest thou this Of Temporall to dispose of all the World to distribute it at thy pleasure as if it were thine own heritage to raigne over Kings to arraigne and indite them to depose them to absolue their subjects from their Oath of Allegiance to expose their estates for a prey their persons to murther to bestow their Kingdomes on whom it shall please thee and lastly to change their tenures to fealty or convert their territories to their owne demaine Pitty will strike one here into horrour but sweete Iesus were these the priviledges which thou bequeathed'st to S. Peter were these the dignities which thou conferred'st on thy Church thy profession was wont to be that thy Kingdome was not of this world that the servant is not greater then his Master and thy Apostles haue taught vs that euery soule should be subiect vnto higher powers may now any be so hardy as to claime this Imperiall sway from thy donation Alas beloued this challenge by the Pope is farre from the promise of the Apostles and of S. Peter himselfe let 's looke into his 1 Epistle and 2 Chap. where he enjoynes all men to feare God and honour the King and wee shall perceiue that his scope was obedience subjectiō duty Poore man whil'st he liv'd he was in want and need silver and gold he had none and see since his death the Pope hath provided for him a mighty Kingdome All the Churche's priviledges which they dye for if they dye for any are these which you haue heard
hollow-hearted in religion for gaine and preferment but if you vvould knit an vnseparable knot of kindred let your brotherhood bee founded in Christ lest at your deaths you bee both of you either everlastingly separated or everlastingly confounded I confesse it is an hard thing to perswade flesh and bloud to follow this they will scarce beleeue that Christ by the right of kinred claimes such an interest in them as that by his example they should so much preferred the spirituall alliance they haue vvith him before that vvhich they haue vvith their owne kinred For doe not vvee see the quite contrary practised every vvhere in the vvorld Doth not one thinke his vvife neerer to him and for her sake either quits or at lest is cold in the profession of Christs religion Doe not others thinke their mother or their brethren neerer to them and vvhen they heare Christ taught in the Church if any saith vnto them as here vvee finde it in my text thy mother and thy brethren are without desiring to see thee they vvill leaue Christs company to feede their fancies Doe not all thinke their humours and pleasures and profits neerer vnto them and for their sakes goe to law vvith their brethren reject all alliance they haue vvith any in Christ and vvith slaundrings backbitings and raylings like foule birds defile their owne nests Moses vvhen two Israelites stroue together said why smitest thou thy fellow I say more vvhy striue vvee vvee are brethren Wee may conceiue our head Iesus Christ as saying from heaven vvhy striue you my kinsmen vvhy make you divisions in our family my mother and my brethren vvhich you are Your are all children of the same heavenly Father children should dwell together members of the same body members should grow together souldiers of the same army souldiers should gether souldiers of the same army souldiers should march together Thus vvee are termed in the holy Scriptures let it be our care to be answerable to such honourable appellations And now that you have seene your titles and prerogatiues vvhich Christ bestowes on you of his mother and brethren hearken but like mothers and brethren to the propertyes required in you which are hearing and doing and God will make you to be so indeed And first I desire hearing which commeth in the next place to be handled My mother and my brethren are they which heare the word of God c. There is nothing so necessary to a Christian which travells from this Egypt of misery and oppression to the heavenly Canaan as the knowledge of the vvord of God for by this hee is directed in his way conducted to his port assured of his safe arrivall This made the Prophets so often to ingeminate the hearing of it vnto Gods people Heare yee the word of the Lord yee rulers Esay 1.10 Heare the word of the Lord yee house of David Ierem. 12.4 You sheepheards heare the word of the Lord Ezech. 34.7 Heare all yee old men Ioel. 1.2 Heare all yee people Mich. 1.2 Princes rulers sheepheards people old young all lyable to this taske of hearing in somuch that our Saviour makes this the burden of his Sermons hee that hath an eare to heare let him heare But beloved in this place our Saviour seemes to goe somewhat farther and as if our kinred and alliance with him were to be confirmed by charter makes none capable of that honour but those which can shew their title out of the word of God My mother and my brethren are they which heare the word of God The observation which I draw from hence is this That it is required of all those which would bee adopted into Christs family to bee diligent hearers of Gods word I neede not be large in proving the truth of this doctrine It is sufficient that hearing is the ordinary meanes vvhich Christ hath left vs to engraft vs into his family and to make vs the children of his heavenly Father for by faith wee are made the heires of salvation and faith commeth by hearing saith the Apostle Rom. 10. so that no hearing no faith no faith no salvation Hee therefore which is of God heares Gods voyce saith our Saviour Iohn 8.47 And againe my sheepe heare my voyce Ioh. 10.27 In regard whereof the Saints in all ages were bound to repaire to the ministers of the word and to heare the Law at the Priests lips Malach. 2.7 In the Old Testament wee finde that they resorted to the Prophets vpon the sabbaths and vpon other dayes for when the Shunamite in 2. King 4. craved leaue of her husband to goe to the Prophet hee replyed wherefore wilt thou goe it is neither new moone nor Sabbath day as if on those dayes the people vsed to resort vnto them to heare them The like was vsed in the new Testament for so our Saviour sent the Iewes to the Scribes and Pharisees Matt. 23.1 the Angell sent Cornelius to Peter Act. 10.32 and of these times Esay prophecying saith that in the last dayes it shall come to passe that many people shall goe and say Come yee and let vs goe vp to the mountaine of the Lord to the house of the God of Iacob and hee will teach vs his wayes Esay 2.3 For indeed the ministery of the Gospell is that golden pipe as one termes it whereby and wherethrough all the goodnesse of God all the sweetnesse of Christ all heavenly graces whatsoever are derived vnto vs It is that hooke and bait which Christs fishers of men his disciples and Apostles vsed in the taking of soules It is that spirituall armour which casteth downe every thing that exalteth it selfe against the knowledge of God and bringeth into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ It is that blowing of the Levites which if not at the first yet at the seventh time will beat downe Iericho in vs and hew a passage in our hearts for the entrance of the heavēly tabernacle It is that poole of Bethesda at which should lye every distressed impotent soule expect the moving of the waters I meane the first moving of the spirituall waters of life by the preachers of the Gospell To make vse of this doctrine there are two sorts of men vvhich commonly faile in the performance of this commandement of hearing the word the first are those which say they can reade the Bible in their houses that they haue Gods word which will instruct them as sufficiently at home as any sermons in the Churches But these men foulety deceiue themselues for first they must know that it is one thing to say that the Scriptures are sufficient to teach them all things necessary to salvation another thing to say that they teach these things so vsefully without an interpreter as with one I deny not but that in the Scriptures more excellent knowledge profound mysteries are contayned then the greatest Doctours learned'st men withall their paines industry can attaine vnto but so powerfull