say that he brought forth Bread and Wine and not to God as an Oblation but to Abraham for his refection If he had offered vp Bread Wine as a Sacrifice to God how commeth it to passe that the Apostle comparing the Priesthood of Christ and Melchizedeck so particularly maketh no mention at all thereof For certainly the point being so materiall and the place so fit it must needs bee great ignorance or negligence to omit it To say nothing that if your owne reason be good the Sacrifice of Melchizedeck shall be inferiour to that of Aaron Bread and Wine being of lesse value and not so evidently representing the death of Christ as the slaying of Beasts doth Secondly you say that the true Flesh of Christ is contained in this Sacrament and that the ancient Fathers with one consent testifie the same which in your sense and meaning is vtterly false For neither is the Flesh of Christ vnder the Accidents of Bread by Transubstantiation neither doth any of the ancient Fathers testifie it as in the sequele God willing shall more plainely appeare Thirdly where you say and many others as my Author setteth downe it seemeth that in this point you beleeue but by an Attornie pinning your Faith vnto the credit of I knowe not whom The true flesh of Christ say you is contained in the Sacrament How knowe you that By the ioint consent of Fathers And how know you they consent therein My Author tells me so And what may he be Peter or Paul or one of them vpon whom clouen tongues descended I trow no but some equivocating Priest or Iesuite A sure rock I promise you to stay your faith vpon You say lastly that the Bloud of the Testament described Exod. 24. Heb. 9. was fulfilled when Christ said This cup is the new Testament in my Bloud False For then hee did but institute the Sacrament of his death and fulfilled it the day following when really hee suffered death vpon the Crosse. And what reason haue you to thinke it was performed in a Commemoratiue sacrifice wherein your selues confesse there is no effusion of Bloud rather then in the true Sacrifice vpon the Crosse wherein the pretious bloud of the sonne of God was plentifully shed N. N. Out of all which Figures is inferred that for so much as there must bee great difference betwixt the Figure and the thing prefigured no lesse if we beleeue S. Paul then betweene the Shadow and the Body whose Shadow it is it cannot be imagined by any probability that this Sacrament exhibited by Christ in performance of the Figures should be only creatures of Bread and Wine as Sacramentaries doe imagine for then should the Figure be either equall or more excellent then the thing prefigured it selfe For who will not confesse but that Elias his Bread made by the Angell that gaue him strength to walke fortie daies vpon the vertue thereof was equall to our English Communion Bread and that the Manna was much better I. D. The Antecedent being as we haue shewed vntrue it is no matter what Consequence soeuer you deduce from it Neverthelesse let vs for the present suppose it to be true What inferre you therevpon The Real Presence and Transubstantiation How so I pray you Because otherwise the Figure would be either equall or more excellent then the thing prefigured which is absurd and contrary to the rule of S. Paul This indeed I confesse would bee absurd but how doe you shew it to be so in this particular By a double instance of Elias his bread and Manna whereof you say the one was equall the other more excellent then our English Communion Bread But still I deny the consequence the weaknesse whereof if you see not in this I hope you will in the like Argument The Cloud the Red sea and Circumcision were all as you say Figures of Baptisme and the Figure is euer inferiour to the thing Figured If therefore Baptisme be only Water and suffer no Transubstantiation at all the Figure is equall or more excellent then the thing Figured For the Water of the Cloud the Red sea was equall to the Water of Baptisme and the Foreskin in Circumcision is much better as being part of the Flesh of man What say you now Doth this Argument follow yea or no If yea then haue wee a Real Presence also in Baptisme by Transubstantiation of Water which I suppose you will not admit If no then neither doth it follow in the Eucharist for the reason is exactly the same in both Would you yet more plainely see your errour It is this your Disiunction is not sufficient either there is a Real Presence or the Iewish Figures equall our Sacraments For there are diuers other waies wherein our Sacraments excell theirs although there be no such Presence at all What waies will you say Verily not in the worth or value of the outward Elements for therein they may be exceeded nor in the thing signified for it is one the same in both even Christ Iesus Wherein then Even in these particulars First their Sacraments respected Christ yet to be exhibited in the flesh our Christ alredy exhibited Now as the Faith of things future is ever more languid and faint then of things past so is the adumbration and shadowing of them vnto Faith more obscure also Secondly although Flesh may perhaps seeme better to expresse Christs body then Bread the killing of the sacrifice his death then the breaking of Bread yet in regard of the word annexed vnto ours plainly declaring what they are to what end instituted and what proportion there is betweene the signe and the thing signified ours must needs be more evident and cleare then theirs Even as a Picture to vse S. Chysostomes similitude when it is perfected and set forth with liuely colours better representeth the person of the Prince then when no more but the first lineaments thereof are drawne or it is yet but darkly coloured Thirdly in the Eucharist are figured two things the Death of Christ our Communion with him That without this availes no more to our soules health then the sight of meat without touching it to the nourishment of our bodies That is shadowed by the breaking of Bread and powring out of Wine Not so expresly will you say as by the Leviticall sacrifices Suppose it though in regard of the Sacramentall words the cleare knowledge we haue of this mysterie it is far otherwise Yet this I meane our Communion with Christ is as exactly represented by the Eating of Bread and Drinking of Wine as nothing can be more Finally seeiâ—g the Iewes were strictly commanded to abstaine from Bloud and we on the other side are charged Sacramentally in the Wine to drinke Bloud and in the Bread to eate Flesh our Sacrament even in regard of the externall ceremonie is to bee preferred to the Iewish And thus you see wherein our Sacraments excell theirs Now where you affirme that
it is said in expresse words that he tooke Bread and what he tooke he blessed what he blessed he brake and what he brake he gaâ—e to his Disciples and what he gaue he bid them take and eat of what they tooke and eat he said This is my body Of bread therefore he said it there being nothing before spoken of nor nothing else present whereof it could be spoken but only Bread And if our Saviour himselfe made no scruple at all to call his Body bread why should you think it strange if he vouchsafe also to call bread by the name of his body Adde herevnto the testimony of the Fathers Iustin Martyr We be taught that the sanctified food which nourisheth our flesh and bloud and what is that but Bread is the flesh and bloud of that Iesu. Irenaeus How shall it appeare to them that the bread on which they giue thankes is the body of their Lord and the cup his bloud if they grant not Christ to be the sonne of the Creator of the world Tertullian So Christ taught vs calling bread his body And againe Why doth Christ there call bread his body Cyprian Christ called bread made of many graines his body and Wine prest out of many grapes his blood Hierom Let vs learne that the bread which the Lord brake and gaue to his Disciples is the Lords body himselfe saying to them Take yee eat yee this is my body Athanasius or the Comment vnder his name What is the bread The body of Christ. Epiphanius Of that which is oblong or roule figure and senselesse in power the Lord would say by grace this is my body Cyril Christ thus avoucheth and saith of bread this is my body Theodoret In the very giuing of the mysteries he called bread his body Thus the Fathers To whom I may adde some of your owne men also as Gerson Wee must say that the article This doth demonstrate the substance of bread And Stephen Gardiner Christ manifestly saith This is my body demonstrating bread And the Canon Qui manducat bread is the body of Christ. This being so I assume but bread properly and without Figure is not Christs body The reason because Disparates cannot bee so predicated or affirmed one of another An egge is not a stone nor a stone an egg Besides if Bread properly be Christs body then is it of the seed of David conceaued of the Holy Ghost and borne of the blessed Virgin then was it also crucified and died it was buried and descended into hell it rose againe and ascended into heauen and now sitteth at the right hand of God for all these things are truely affirmed of Christ. The grosse absurdity or rather horrible impietie whereof your men well perceauing they are driuen of force to grant vs our Assumption For saith your Canon Law It is impossible that bread should be the body of Christ. Thomas of Aquin It cannot properly be said that of bread the body of Christ is made And Bellarmine It is altogether absurd and impossible for it cannot bee that bread should be the Body of Christ. Out of which Premisses thus I argue That which Christ saith is vndoubtedly true But Christ saith Bread is his body as wee haue shewed Ergo it is vndoubtedly true But it is not literally and in proper signification true as wee haue also demonstrated Ergo after some other manner What manner Let Bellarmine himselfe tell you Either saith hee it is to be vnderstood tropically that Bread is the Body of Christ significatiuely or it is altogether absurd and impossible Now certainly it is absurd and impossible that bread literally should be Christs body Ergo it is so Tropically and Significatiuely And this may yet farther appeare by that which Christ immediatly added This is my body which is broken for you Whence I thus reason As Christs body is broken in the Sacrament so is bread his body But Christs body is broken therein Sacramentally not literally Ergo so is bread Christs body It is farther added Doe this in remembrance of me If the Breaking of Bread be the Remembrance of Christ of his Death then is not bread properly Christ himselfe for nothing is the Remembrance of it selfe Figuratiuely therefore Herevnto the Fathers agree Tertullian Augustine Ambrose Hierome as is already declared With whom I could easily joyne many others but that it is needlesse seeing your selfe confesse that the Fathers call the Sacrament a Figure Signe Representation Similitude of Christs Body If any yet demand why our Saviour then did not rather chuse to say This signifieth my body I answere two things First the language in which he spake knoweth not the word Signifie but alwaies insteed of it vseth the word is as appeareth by these places The seauen fat kine and the seaven full eares of corne are seauen yeares of plenty The seaven leane kine and the seaven empty eares are seven yeares of Famine These bones are the whole house of Israell It is thou o King that art the head of Gold The tree which thou sawest is thou o King The foure great beasts are foure Kings The ten hornes are ten Kings The Ramme with two hornes are the Kings of Media Persia. The goat is the King of Grecia The like Hebraisins haue wee also in the new Testament The Rocke was Christ. Agar and Sara are two Covenants The seaven Heads are seaven hills The woman is the great citty Secondly being about to institute a Sacrament Sacramentall speech was best in which it is vsuall to call the signe by the name of the thing signified as is aboue declared To summe vp all the Article This either demonstrateth bread or doth not If not then can you not hence proue Transubstantiation thereof for that only is Transubstantiated whereof he spake If yea then is the speech Figuratiue and Bread remaines For if it be Sacramentally Christs body then it is and being it is not abolished by Transubstantiation I conclude with the determination of your owne law The Heauenly Sacrament which truly representeth the flesh of Christ is called his Body but improperly not in the truth of the thing but in a signifying mystery Secondly it overturneth the Articles of Faith particularly the verity of Christs Humanity A point so materiall Fundamentall that the razing thereof draweth with it the ruine of the whole Christian Religion For this is the only ground of that great mystery of godlinesse God manifested in the flesh And if Christ be not as well true Man as true God then hath hee not suffered for vs nor redeemed vs then are wee yet in our sinnes and stand liable vnto the eternall wrath of his Father Wherefore according to the counsell of Saint Augustine Wee must carefully beware that wee doe not so maintaine the Divinity of the man Christ as to take from him the truth of his
so pleased haue vsed some other meanes for the appeasing of his wrath Yes doubtlesse for he had abundance of spirit wisdome But he chose this as the best course for the declaration of his iustice and mercy justice in the rigorous exacting of satisfaction for sinne yea even from his owne sonne mercy in the free pardon of sinne by the death and passion of his sonne Excellently to this purpose Cameracensis God in the beginning gaue vnto man truth to instruct him iustice to direct him mercy to preserue him and peace to delight him But he rebelling against his creator they all fled from him returned vnto God Where iustice called vpon him for satisfaction and truth required performance of his word but Peace sought mitigation of wrath and mercy sued for pardon In this difficulty wisdome interposed her selfe and found out a meanes to content all namely by the incarnation and suffering of the sonne of God Wherevnto the Father yeelding all were soone accorded and so mercy and truth met together and justice and peace kissed each other For further ratification whereof it pleased the Father solemnely and vnalterably to decree that his sonne should suffer in the flesh Wherevpon our Saviour saith it was so determined and the Scriptures as they foretell it so they affirme that thus it must be and that Christ ought to suffer And according to this determinate counsell and fore-knowledge of God when the houre appointed was come he was delivered and taken and by wicked hands crucified and slaine Of which great worke being now to speake and to enquire into the Punishment fore appointed vnto him by his Father because some extenuate it too much as if he seemed only to suffer or suffered not what indeed hee did others againe too much aggravate it as if he suffered the very paines of the damned in hell wee will as warily and as carefully as we can steere betweene that Scylla and this Charybdis And to this end wee will diligently enquire foure things the species or kinde of punishment he suffered the extention the intention and the duration thereof And of each of these briefely in a word The kind of punishment was that which was due to sin and every way equivalent for the expiation thereof howbeit so farre forth and no further then was convenient for such a person First therefore he suffered not that Punishment of sinne which is sinne for God many times and that iustly punisheth one sinne by another The reason for that then he should haue beene a sinner either by inherent or actuall sinne and so could never haue made sufficient satisfaction for the sinnes of others Neither secondly did he suffer the personall punishment of this or that man as the gout the stone the dropsie and the like For he tooke not the person but the nature of man into him and so made himselfe subiect not to Personall but to Naturall infirmities only To say nothing that those paines are many of them so contrary and repugnant one vnto another as they are incompatible in the same person Nor yet thirdly did he suffer those punishments which proceede either from the conscience of inherent sinne or the eternall continuance of sinne such as are Remorse and despaire For in him was never any sinne whether Originall or Actuall Only it was imputed vnto him inasmuch as he vndertooke to satisfy for it These foreprised and excepted all other sorts of Punishment were laid vpon him And because in Sinne there is a double act an Aversion or turning away from God the chiefest good and a Conversion or turning vnto that which is only a seeming good and consequently the desert of a double Punishment the one of losse to be depriued of the true good in regard of the Aversion the other of sence to feele smart both in body and soule in regard of the Conversion our blessed Lord and Sauiour suffered both The Punishment of Losse being in regard of present comfort and ioy left vnto himselfe and in a sort forsaken of his Father of which againe anon in the due place The punishment of Sence for he felt during the while extreame both torment and paine outwardly in the body and horror and anguish inwardly in the Soule The Extension whereof was also exceeding generall for he suffered from all that any way could afflict him and in all whatsoever belonged vnto him From his Father therefore he suffered who for a time abandoned him and delivered him into the hand of sinners from the powers of darknesse who laid vpon him whatsoever their malice could devise from the Iewes who stumbled at him and despised him from the Gentiles who made a game and laughing-stocke of him from Magistrates who convented and condemned him from the people who arrested and accused him from the Clergie who charged him with cozinage and blasphemy from the Laity who cryed out crucifie him crucifie him from his enimies who cruelly persecuted him from his friends who in his greatest need started aside from him from forrainers who disdainfully shooke the head at him from those of his owne houshold who most treacherously betraied him and in a word from all sorts both of men and women yea from the Heaven which denied to giue him light from the aire which refused to vouchsafe him breath from the earth which would not so much as beare him frō what not And as from all so hee suffered also in all In his goods being stript even of his raiment and lots cast thereon in his good name being esteemed a deceiuer a blasphemer a drunkard a glutton a magitian a traitor to Caesar in his friends who were scattered as soone as the shepheard was smitten in his mother through whose heart a sword was driuen in his soule by strong feare before his passion and extreame sorrow in his passion in all the parts of his body his head being crowned with thornes his face spit vpon his cheekes buffited his hands feet nailed his sides peirced his backe armes scourged and the whole vpon the crosse barbarously stretched and racked in all his sences the touch by wounds the tast with myrre and vineger the smell with the loathsome savour of Golgotha the hearing with shamefull taunts and revilings and the sight with mowes and disdainefull behaviour finally in the whole person by death the separation of the soule from the body The Intension of all which was likewise exceeding vehement even proportionable vnto the desert of sinne wherefore he sticketh not to say Behold and see if there be any sorrow like vnto my sorrow And againe the sorrowes of hell compassed me round about Not that he felt the flames of hell fire or the same kind of torment which the damned suffer in hell farre bee such impiety from our thoughts but that which is equivalent therevnto Had he suffered only the death of the crosse and no more his martyrs might seeme to haue endured more bitter paines
Adam the tenour whereof runnes thus Hoc fac vives Doe this and thou shalt liue hee gaue it not vnto the person of Adam alone but vnto all those that were in his loines even to all his posterity who had the law printed in their hearts by nature In like manner when Christ commanded the Gospell of Faith and repentance to be preached he limited it not vnto a few but said vnto his Apostles Goe teach all nations and goe into all the world and preach the Gospell vnto every creature Neither from the law nor from the Gospell was any man excepted God is no accepter of persons the hand that swaies a scepter and that diggeth with the spade are both alike vnto him Idem ius Titio quod Seio one rule vnto all whether they be high or low noble or base rich or poore learned or vnlearned bond or free young or old of what state age sexe or condition soever they be God hath not strowed the way to Heaven with roses for great ones to dance vpon and with thornes for the meaner sort to tread vpon neither hath hee appointed a spacious and broad way for some and a strait narrow way for other some to passe vnto life everlasting by For the waies of the Lord are strait waies and as betweene two points there can be but one strait line drawne so can there bee but one strait way that leadeth vnto life Vno quisque modo bonus est mutisque nefandus a man may be wicked many waies but he can bee good only one way A thousand byâ—pathes are there which lead vnto destruction and but one only right path that leadeth to salvation For there is but one body and one spirit and one hope in which all are called one Lord one faith one baptisme one God and father of vs all in a word one Blessednesse which is the end and one Religion which is the way to that end through which way every man of necessity must passe that meaneth to arriue at that end Now I beseech you all that heare mee this day of what place soever you be whether high or low that you will be pleased every one to apply this individually and singularly vnto himselfe and to take notice that none of you can come after Christ but only by the same way Every one must deny himselfe every one must take vp his crosse daily every one must follow Christ or else yee cannot possibly come after him There is none of you so meane whom God overseeth or neglecteth none so great whom he priuiledgeth or exempteth And thus much of the generality of the Counsell The Forme of words in which the Counsell was deliuered is if any will let him which as wee haue said importeth the liberty of them that are counselled For it is as if our Saviour should thus haue said Behold I tell you all plainely no man can come after me vnlesse hee deny himselfe take vp his crosse daily and follow me Now if any will thus come after me I giue him good leaue let him doe so for my part I will neither force him from me nor after me if he come he shall come willingly If any will let him First therefore Christ putteth off and forceth no man from him For God would haue all men to be saved and to come vnto the knowledge of the truth neither is he willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance I haue no pleasure in the death of him that dieth saith the Lord God nay he sweares as he liues hee will not the death of a sinner but that the wicked turne from his way and liue And certainly seeing man is the creature of God and creation is the first emanation issue as it were of his loue it cannot be that hee should delight in his destruction He made not death as the wise man saith and when he inflicts it alienum opus facit he doth a worke not so pleasing him for he had rather shew mercy then execute iudgement Hence is it that he standeth at the doore of our heart and knocketh yea that he continueth knocking vntill his head be filled with dew and his lockes with the drops of the night that he requesteth vs so louingly to giue him entrance Open vnto mee my sister my loue my doue my vndefiled promising so bountifully that if wee shall open vnto him he will come in vnto vs and sup with vs and wee with him and threatning vs that as if we come vnto him wee shall finde refreshment so if wee draw backe his soule shall haue no pleasure in vs. Neither let vs thinke but that God meaneth seriously in all this for otherwise he should but mocke and deceiue vs pretending one thing and intending another and which I tremble to speake playing the hypocrite and dissembler with vs. Besides this he should make vs the ministers of the Gospell no better then false witnesses vnto him testifying things that are vntrue and which he never purposed whereas God being omnipotent needeth not our lye and being truth it selfe will not compasse his end by a lye Finally if Christ with his hands should push from him those whom by his word he inviteth to him then they that come not are the more excusable for every one may plead for himselfe that he suffered violence and Christ himselfe hindred him whose force no creature is able to withstand Christ then forceth no man from him If so whence then is it that many who are invited come not I answere the fault is in themselues they will not come I called saith Wisdome yee refused I stretched out my hand no man regarded yee set at naught all my counsells and would none of my reproofe And againe I called saith God and yee did not answere I spake and yee did not heare but did evill before mine eyes and did chuse that wherein I delighted not Wherefore he protesteth by the prophet Osea Perditio tua ex te Israell thy destruction is of thy selfe oh Israell and complaineth by the prophet Ezechiell why will ye dye ô house of Israell as if he should say if yee dye it is because yee will needs dye They refused to harken saith Zacharie and pulled away the shoulder and stopped their eares that they should not heare yea they made their hearts as an adamant stone least they should heare the law In like manner in the new testament How often would I haue gathered thy children together as the hen gathereth her chickens vnder her wings and yee would not Marke the words I would therefore Christ forceth no man from him yee would not therefore the fault is in our selues The Pharisees and Lawyers saith St Luke reiected the counsell of God against themselues our Saviour testifieth of the Iewes that they would not come vnto him that they might haue life
Ierusalem behold now and knowe and inquire in the open places thereof if yee can finde a man or if there bee any that executeth judgement and seeketh the truth and I will spare it According wherevnto as it is recorded by S. Luke all those that sailed with S. Paul being in number two hundred seaventy and six soules were giuen vnto him that not one of them in that exceeding dangerous tempest lost so much as a haire from his head When Augustus the Emperour had conquered Mark Antonie and taken the Citie of Alexandria and the Citizens looked for nothing but extremitie the Emperour in the hearing of them all freely pardoned them for Arius sake a Philosopher of that Citie one whom he honoured much for his learning and loved for his vertue If the heathen who knowe not God can for one friends sake remit the offences of many shall not God doe much more for their sakes whom he calleth and counteth his friends Certainely hee will Egypt shall fare the better for Ioseph and the very remembrance of Abraham Isaac and Iacob shall moue God to persist in doing good to their rebellious posterity The charity of the Saints towards the wicked is very great and the praiers they make vnto God for them are many and so available are they that by them oftentimes the arme of God is held from striking them oftentimes his hand is opened to blesse them And thus sometimes God prospereth evill men for a few good mens sakes that liue among them Sometimes againe hee dealeth otherwise with these mixt companies and when he punisheth a wicked nation nor will be perswaded to spare them hee preserueth the godly that they tast not of the common calamitie For sometime he preventeth them by death and taketh them into his rest before the misery come Thus all the Fathers died before the floud came vpon the world and good Iosiah according to the prediction of Huldah the prophetesse was gathered to his fathers and laid in his graue in peace that his eyes might not behold all the evill which God resolued to bring vpon his kingdome For as it is in the booke of Wisdome Because the Lord loueth the soule of the righteous therefore he hastneth to take them away from the wicked and the righteous that is dead condemneth the vniust man that is liuing for God will shake his foundations and lay him vtterly wast they shall be in sorrow and their memoriall perish So that as it is a great signe that God intends to continue his mercies to a nation while as good men remaine among them according to that of old Althes in the Poet Non tamen omnino Teucros delâ—re paratis Cum tales animos iuvenum tam certa tulistis Pectora I see God hath not determined vtterly to destroy the Troians seeing such valiant hearts and braue spirits still rise vp among them so is it as great a token of imminent destruction when the good are taken away and as the Psalmist speaketh their signes are no longer to be seene among them Now as sometimes hee preventeth the righteous by death that they partake not in the punishment of the wicked so sometimes hee prolongeth their life to see it but withall sendeth them strange and miraculous deliverance that they feele it not Thus was Noah delivered by an Arke when all the rest of the world were drowned Lot and his family by a gard of Angells when Sodom and the neighbour Citties were consumed Israel by a speciall protection when the Egyptians were many waies plagued Rahab by a cord of red thred when all the rest of the soule in Ierico were put to the sword the Christians by oracle at Pella in the generall vastity and desolation of Iudea So that God knoweth well how to separate betweene the pretious and the vile and in the greatest perplexities if he please can find an issue and enlargement for all such as he loueth Howbeit almighty God doth not alwaies thus deliuer his Saints but sometimes involueth both good and bad in the same calamity And even as the evill because they are mingled with the good partake with them of temporall benefits as the shining of the Sun the showres of raine so the good also because they are mingled with the evill partake with them in temporall afflictions Aliquid mali propter vicinum malum the neighbourhood of evill cannot but worke them some evill Both good and bad are one common flesh common flesh as Cyprian saith is subiect to the same common inconveniences and ever will be vntill corruption be swallowed vp of incorruption Hence is it that in the time of famine or pestilence there is a common mortality in hostile impressions and conquests a common captivity in shipwracke at sea a common drowning If then the Sodomites loose the day and bee made prisoners vnto Chedor-laomer so is Lot also if Nebuchadnezzar King of Babilon lead away the Iewes into captivity Daniel and Ezechiell and the three children are lead away also If Totilas overflow Europe with his barbarous troopes Christians are not freer then Gentiles Behold saith the Lord by the prophet Ezechiell I come against thee and will draw my sword out of his sheath and cut off from thee both the righteous and the wicked Also by Saint Iohn he straitly chargeth his people to depart out of Babylon least they be partakers in her plagues Nay if one Achan only trespasse in the execrable thing hee alone perisheth not but wrath falleth on the whole congregation which the heathen poet also obseruing said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many times a whole citty smarts for the offence of one But this specially if any publike man commit some notorious wickednesse for as when the head akes or is distempered the arme vaine many times is opened so for the offence of Kings and Princes the people oftentimes are punished as appeares in Davids case for whose sinne in numbering the people seaventy thousand of his subiects perished That all these were wicked men and that none of them feared God it is both vnreasonable and vncharitable to imagine and therefore not doubting but that good and bad pell mell were cut off in that pestilence I conclude this point with that aphorisme of the Rabbins When once the sentence of punishment is pronounced and resolued by God and power is given to the destroyer to execute the same he from thence respecteth the person of no man nor putteth difference betweene the iust and the vniust And thus yee see how diversly God dealeth with these mixt societies let vs before we proceed vnto the next point make some vse of what hath beene deliuered First then doe the wicked fare the better for the godly that liue among them and are their prosperities and deliverances to bee imputed vnto them Oh then the extreame folly Oh the monstrous ingratitude of wicked men folly in imputing all the crosses and
the naturall light of humane reason can afford which what a glow-worme it is and how subiect to mistaking who sees not Aristotle whose eyes were as sharpe sighted and peircing into these matters as ever any mans yet confesseth we are but owly-eyed in them and the Pyrrhonian Philosophers saw so much vncertainty in most things that they grew to maintaine an impossibility of knowing any thing So vaine is man in his imaginations and so full of darkenesse is his foolish heart that when they professe themselues to be most wise they become the starkest fooles But the truths of this divine science being supernaturall haue their certainty from a supernaturall light even the revelation of Gods spirit which can neither deceiue nor bee deceiued according to that of our Sauiour Flesh and blood hath not revealed this vnto thee but my Father which is in Heauen This is the light shining in the darke vntill the day dawne the day-starre rising in our hearts the Certitude of Faith which is simply and absolutely so because no falsehood can possibly be vnder it and being as Chrysostome saith more firme then all Demonstration as standing not in the enticeing speech of mans wisdome but in plaine evidence of the spirit and of Power True it is that this our Science sometime receiueth from humane wisdome yet not because shee needs it but because wee neede it nor for any defect or vncertainty in it but for the weaknesse of our vnderstanding which by those things that are knowne to naturall reason is more easily brought to vnderstand those things which are aboue reason For otherwise she is so farre from receiuing her Principles from any other Science that shee either allowes or controls all their rules and maxims as being their soveraigne Queene and Mistresse And thus much of the excellency of the Science of Divinity now of the Efficacy of the Ministry As is the man so is his strength saith the Proverbe in like manner as is our science so is our Ministry that the most noble therefore this the most powerfull That is most powerfull which worketh most effectually to atchieue ' its end and the more difficult the end is to bee attained the greater is the power that attaineth it Now what is the end of the Ministry It is as Saint Paul saith to build vp the body of Christ to open mens eyes and to turne them from darkenesse to light and from the power of Satan vnto God that they may receiue forgiuenesse of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith in Christ that is in a word to make men partakers both of the state of grace in this life and of eternall glory in the life to come An employment as of highest consequence so of greatest difficulty that Saint Paul wondreth who might be sufficient for it Chrysostome saith that the Angels themselues would tremble to vndergoe the burthen Yet hath it pleased the wisdome of God in earthly vessels to convey vnto vs these heavenly treasures and to make the Ministry of weake mortall men mighty in operation able to pull downe strong holds and to cast downe imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it selfe against the knowledge of God and to captiue every thought to the obedience of Christ. Hence is it that Esay calleth the word of God the arme of the Lord and Saint Paul the preaching of the Gospell the power of God vnto salvation Hence that God himselfe affirmeth that his word shall never returne vnto him void but shall accomplish that which he will and prosper in the thing whereto he sends it Is it is not strange that the wolfe should dwell with the lambe and the leopard with the kid and calfe and the lion and the fat beast lye together and a little child lead them That the cow and the beare should feede together and their young ones lye downe together and the Lyon eate straw like the Oxe That the sucking child should play on the hole of the aspe and the weaned child put his hand on the Cockatrices den and all without either hurt or danger Yet all this is done through the knowledge of the Lord and by the power of our Ministry This is it that filleth vp every vally and levelleth every mountaine and hill that maketh the crooked straight and the rough waies smooth that all flesh may see the salvation of God The meaning of which allegoricall speech I cannot better expresse then in the words of Lactantius giue mee the man that is cholericke a railer vnruly and with a few words of God I will make him as meeke as a lambe Giue mee him that is greedy covetous gripple and I will make him liberall and giue bountifully with his owne hands giue me him that is fearefull of paine and death eftsoones shall he contemne his gibbets fires and Phalaris bull Giue me the lecher the adulterer the taverne haunter and by and by shalt thou see him sober chast and continent Giue me the cruell and bloud thirsty man and his fury shall soone be turned into clemency Finally giue me the vniust man the foole the sinner and forthwith hee shall be iust and wise and innocent Such and so great is the power of this divine wisdome that it quickly changeth a man and transformes him into another shape so as ye can hardly know him to be the same Neither let any man thinke that these are but words no they haue ordinarily beene and are daily done Did not Ionas with one sermon humble the pride of the King of Niniveh and all that mighty citty into sackcloth and ashes Did not Peter at his first preaching to the Iewes pricke them to the heart and at once adde about three thousand soules vnto the Church Did not Paul discoursing of iustice and temperance and iudgement to come make Felix the governour although a heathen yet to tremble But what speake I of particulars which are infinite Never did Alexander or Cesar with their huge hosts of armed men win so great victories or erect such troopes of honour to themselues as did the holy Apostles vnto the name of Christ. They were in number but twelue for the most part poore fishermen and vnlettered and despised in the eye of the world and yet within a few yeares armed only with the sword of the mouth and the power of this Ministry they conquered the whole world and subdued it to the obedience of Christ. And whom they subdued they so setled in the Faith that rather then they would renounce it they were content to endure most exquisite torments and to loose a thousand liues In like manner hath the Ministry hitherto prevailed and shall successiuely vnto the worlds end How many families of Philosophers haue heretofore failed without successor How many sects of Hereticks are vanished and melted away as dew before the sunne But the Church
the Pope himselfe is not exempted from this generality saith Bernard And. God hath made Kings rulers not only over Souldiers but over Priests also saith Pope Gregory In the old Testament Aaron was subiect vnto Moses and Priests and Levites to the Prince in the new Testament Christ himselfe submitted himselfe vnto the secular power and St Paul appealed vnto Caesar at whose iudgement seat hee saith hee ought to be iudged In a word the law of nature requireth Subiection of all the law of Moses requireth the same so doth the Gospell too and therefore let every soule be subiect vnto the higher powers And so much also of the Subiect As touching the Relation or Duty that from the higher Powers to the inferior is Rule Government of which neither was it my purpose neither doth my Text occasion me now to speake but from the inferiour to the superiour it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Subiection Yee must bee subiect This Subiection is not a point but hath latitude and includeth within it sundry duties all which notwithstanding as I conceaue may be reduced vnto three answerable vnto those three eminencies and excellencies that are in the Magisâ—rate For there is in the Magistrate first the eminencie of person and degree then the excellency of power and authority and lastly the dignity of his worke and operation and every one of these deserueth accordingly to be requited with a seuerall dutie First then there is in the superior powers an eminencie aboue others in regard of their persons as being the vicegerent and lieutenants of the King of heauen and earth not as other men but after a peculiar manner in maiestie and dominion bearing the image of God the God of heaven as Daniel saith hauing giuen vnto them a Kingdome power strength and glory In which respect they are stiled in Scripture Principalities and Powers Dominations and Dignities the Lords annointed yea Gods Dixi Dij estis I haue said yee are Gods This eminency and excellency in the Magistrate is to be answered with Honour and Reverence from vs. My sonne feare the Lord and the King saith Solomon Feare God honour the King saith Peter Honour thy Father and thy Mother saith the fift commandement not those naturall parents onely which haue begotten vs but Patres patriae the fathers of the country also This Honour and Reverence as I vnderstand includeth within it a triple act first of the minde in a due estimation and valuing of their place and dignity secondly of the will in an humble inclination thereof vnto them because of their excellency thirdly of the body in outward behaviour carriage towards them as rising vp in their presence baring the head bowing the knee reverent speaking vnto them and such like according to the manner of the country where wee liue Neverthelesse of these three the second is the principall and most proper act of Honour for a man may know the worth of a thing and yet bee no whit affected towards it as the Gentiles knew God yet glorified him not as God and outward demeanure comporement what shew of reverence soever it haue yet may proceede of scorne and derision as was that of the Iewes towards Christ. But if vpon apprehension of the Magistrates worth and excellency the heart be inclined and duly affected therewith all externall acts of reverence will surely follow of themselues Such a one will ever set the best construction on all their actions interpreting nothing sinisterly he will conceale their errours and infirmities and with Sem and Iaphet going backward cover them hee will not suffer them either in their persons or actions to bee traduced or dishonoured but will carefully defend or excuse them In a word hee will not somuch as entertaine an evill thought against them so farre is he from saying or doing ought that may detract from them And so much of the first duty Honour and Reverence The second eminencie in the magistrate is the excellency of Power and Authority whereby he enacteth and ordaineth lawes for the well government of the common-wealth commanding that which is good forbidding that which is evill advanceing the well deseruing and punishing those that either transgresse or neglect his commandements briefly hauing the greatest power that can be on earth ius vitae atque necis power of life death Now vnto authority who seeth not that Obedience is due Put them in minde saith Saint Paul to obey Magistrates and indeede to what end is authority and power to command if every man notwithstanding might refuse to obey and doe what he list But here wee are to be advertized that as the Magistrates authority is not infinite so there are bounds set vnto our Obedience Princes though they be soveraignes in regard of their subiects yet are they viceroyes in regard of God Regum timendorum in proprios greges Reges in ipsos imperium est Iovis Kings command their people and God them Omne sub Regno graviore Regnum est every Kingdome is vnder a greater Kingdome If then they command vnder God wee must obey if against God wee must say with the Apostle it is better to obey God then man Hand over head to yeeld a Monkish and blind obedience vnto them is to advance man into the throne of God and to giue vnto another the glory only due to him withall to incurâ—e the fearfull curse threatned vnto Israel for obseruing the wicked statutes of Ahab and Omri True it is wee must giue vnto Cesar the things that are Cesars and so must wee giue vnto God the things that are Gods If any aske quis prohibet who forbids in such cases to obey Say maior potestas a greater power If they threaten answere with Saint Augustine Da veniam tu carcerem ille gehennam minatur thou threatnest the body with imprisonment hee both body and soule with hell fire Only take heede first that thou be not lead by fancies and imaginations but be sure that they command against God secondly that denying obedience thou doe it in all humility without scandall or contempt lastly that yet thou be content to obey passiuely and whatsoever they shall command within the sphere of their activity and not against God that thou bee ready also to obey actiuely And so much of the second duty Obedience The third and last eminency in the magistrate is the dignity and excellency of his worke which is exceeding great For he is the Minister of God for our wealth saith Saiâ—t Paul and thereunto he applyeth himselfe Hee is custos vtrivsque tabulae the guardian and keeper of both the tables of the law that vnder him wee may lead a godly and a peaceable life in all godlinesse and honesty Were it not for him every one would doe what seemed good in his owne eyes and men like wolues would pray one vpon another but now by him every man enioyes his own violence is repressed
Christian ingenuity to acknowledge your errour herein that God may bee justified in all his sayings and cleare when he is judged N. N. Againe its possible we wish it were not common that malice ignorance or bribes corrupt the Swearers sometimes so that we see it directly many times that in an Oth or by the Oth of an vngodly person great sinne and great wrong is committed But now in the Lot mans wit will are so curbed the whole disposition of it being of God it being Gods only pure act without any commixtion of any power will skill or motion of any creature I say man is so curb'd that the most wicked and the most ignorant must needs say that it is of God The very heathen that did vilifie Gods Providence and erected Fortune insteed of it they made a Goddesse of Fortune being forced of their owne Conscience to confesse that there was a Divine thing in every Chance they met withall DEFENCE By an Oth say you great sin and great wrong is committed but never by a Lot Ergo a Lot excells an Oth. I deny the consequence and affirme that the contrary Conclusion would follow much better Ergo an Oth excels a Lot For it is certaine that the higher degree of perfection a thing naturally holdeth the more dangerous is the corruption thereof when it degenerateth as for example Wine the more generous it is when it waxeth eager it turneth into the sharper vineger Were not Angels in their primitiue state more noble and excellent then man and Man againe then the brute creature Yet Man when hee sinned grew thereby more detestable and mischeevous then the brute creature and Angels againe then man Is not Divinitie Architectonicall and soueraigne mistresse of all other Sciences Yet being perverted and abused no other can doe the like mischiefe In like manner the Oth of an vngodly person may worke more villanie and wickednesse then a Lot can yet is it not therefore inferiour to it in the right vse thereof but rather superiour But what is a Lot so priuiledged that there is no place for corruption therein Whence commeth it then that the Dutch by way of Proverb vse to say In Lotterie is Boverie that is to say couznage and knauerie And that all Historians report of so much jugling and false play vsed in them Those Lycian Delian Praenestine Antiatine Lots and those of â—ura in Achaia and of Elis and sundry others were they not all Magicall and of Satans invention And being so doe you thinke that the Divell neuer plaid the Divell by them If every Lot bee as you say Gods pure act without any commixtion of any power will skill or motion of any Creature why are not these esteemed the Oracles of God And why doe all Divines both ancient and moderne ever in their writings call them the Oracles of the Divell But how proue you that Lottery is Gods pure act Forsooth it is enough for you to say it and then what man so wicked or ignorant that dare gainsay it Marry sir many a one neither wicked nor ignorant but farre more learned religious then your selfe Neither will they be of other minde vntill you convince theÌ„ with stronger arguments then confident asseveration For I assure you you haue not yet gotten such authority among wise and vnderstanding men that all your words should passe for Oracles How often haue you now affirmed that God worketh immediatly in every Lot yet hetherto haue you never gone about to proue it as you ought to doe it being the maine foundation of all your building That the Gentiles in deifying of Fortune acknowledged a Divine thing in every Chance is but your own private Mythologie You might as well say they found I knowe not what divine thing in the hinges of a dore in the every in lechery and bawdery and the like when they canonized for Gods and Goddesses Carna and Laverna and Cotytto and Priapus and others of that stampe more then a good many Assuredly whosoeuer seekes or hopes to finde divine things in all the Idolatry of the Heathen either knowes not or remembers not how much God in his iust iudgement infatuated them that when they thought themselues most wise they proued the starkest fooles doing things cleane contrary not only to the rules of Divinity but of right reason also For when they abused the very light of reason to the dishonour of God hee blew out the candle as it were and cast vpon their vnderstanding such a palpable darknesse as they neither knewe or whether they went or what they did Had they beene wise and acknowledge a Providence they would never haue consecrated Fortune for a Goddesse Even the heathen Poet witnesseth as much where he saith Nullum numen abest si sitprudentia sed te nos facimus Fortuna Deam as if he should say It is our ignorance and folly that maketh Fortune a Goddesse for were wee as wise and vertuous as wee ought to be wee would never acknowledge any Deity or divine power at all to bee in her N. N. Againe it excels an Oath in this particular God would not haue one oath or one mans oath to put any man to death there must be two swear But the Lot once cast must determine it There never was an order from God nor a practise amongst Gods people to cast the Lot twice for the determination of the most weightiest matters that ever were either of life or of lands or of office DEFENCE The life of man indeed is in all law Divine Naturall Civill of so pretious account that it will by no meanes hazard it vpon the bare testimony of one man Hence the proverbe vnus testis nullus testis one witnesse is as good as none For one man may easily be mistaken not so many and therefore in ore duorum aut trium testium in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word bee established But what Can a Lot once cast determine it and suffice to put a man to death It cannot if you meane an Ordinary lot no not though it were cast ten thousand times And where is the state I pray you in wich capitall questions are divided by Lot No where I thinke vnlesse happily in Vtopia For seeing God hath not promised it neither doe men beleeue that such a Lot can discover the truth If you vnderstand an Extraordinary Lot I confesse it is sufficient but you dispute not to the purpose for they are now out of vse and to argue from Extraordinary vnto Ordinary is very ridiculous You adde there never was an order from God nor practice amongst Gods people to cast the lot twice What of that Ergo the lot may not be cast twice about one thing It is no difficult matter to alleadge many examples wherein the first fall of the Lot hath beene controled not by a second casting only but by suffrages also But you will say you finde them not in Scripture I
possibly be true at once For truth evermore agreeth with truth and never crosseth it and whatsoeuer resisteth or contradicteth truth is Falshood Hence the rule and the infallible rule of your owne Schoole that God cannot doe those things that imply contradiction For contradiction is not in the bosome of God seeing he is essentially Truth it selfe And being not yea and nay but yea and Amen hee cannot say yea is nay or nay is yea And if hee cannot say it neither can he will it to be so If he cannot will it neither can it be so For what God cannot will cannot bee done Neither doe we herein derogate from the Power of God for whatsoeuer is against his Truth is against his Power and therefore as St Augustine saith Powerfully hee cannot doe it Which being so let vs see whether this Doctrine of yours imply such contradictions or no. First you say that Bread is made the Body of Christ and yet that the Body of Christ was before Bread was made his Body Now if to vnmake that which never was imply contradiction by the same proportion to make that which already is implies it also That which is not made as yet is not and that which is already made is and is and is not be direct contradictories Is it possible to kill a dead man Or to beget the child that is already borne As impossible is it to make him of Bread who was long before he is pretended to be made Secondly to be locally in a place and not locally in a place is a contradiction But that Christs Body is locally in heauen you all confesse and that at the same time he is not locally in the Sacrament you likewise acknowledge Can you reconcile this contradiction Besides what confusion of speech is this Christ is in a place but not locally or as in a place As if a man should say such a one is reasonable but not reasonably or as reasonable and learned but not learnedly or as learned How then Certes as vnreasonable and vnlearned Thirdly I hope you will not deny vnto Christ as much power as you grant to every pettie Masse-Priest But you grant power vnto them to reserue the consecrated Hoste vntill the next day yea vntill it beginne to corrupt and putrify If then our Saviour instituting his supper the even before his Passion had deliuered vnto his Apostles any part of the Eucharist to be kept vnto the end of the next day I demand whether the Body in the Pixe should haue beene scourged crucified thrust through and slaine together with that which was fastned to the Crosse If no as your Church concludeth then haue we here another contradiction Christs Body is at the same time scourged and not scourged crucified and not crucified thrust through and not thrust through slaine and not slaine Fourthly you say that the Body of Christ is contained vnder the Accidents of Bread yea that the whole Body is in every the least crum of the Hoste Yet you say it is much greater then that which containeth it and elsewhere besides the Accidents You say also that Christ at his last supper ate himselfe and swallowed downe his owne body into his stomacke so that his stomacke containing himselfe hee was both within and without himselfe Which in effect is a meere contradiction the Accidents the stomacke containeth and not containeth Christs Body is contained not contained Fiftly you confesse that the Body of Christ then when hee celebrated his Supper did see and heare and moue and breath was weake and passible and subiect vnto death Yet you say that the same time the Body of Christ in the Eucharist could neither see not heare nor moue nor breath but was vtterly insensible impassible and without infirmitie And is not this a manifest contradiction If you say he is passible in the Sacrament but after an impassible manner you shall pardon vs if we answer it with no other then laughter For it is as if you should say the crow is blacke after a white manner or that the world is square after a round manner Sixtly before Transubstantiation was invented it went for currant in Philosophie that the very essence and being of an Accident is to be in the subiect Yet you say that in the sacrament the Accidents of Bread are in no subiect But for an Accident to be and not to be is a contradiction for not to be in is not to be As well may you say a substance subsisteth not or the shining shineth not or the liuing liueth not as that the Accident doth not accidere or befall the subiect Seauenthly every creature is measured by time and place If therefore it bee a contradiction to say such a thing is and yet is in no time it is as cleare a contradiction to say such a thing is and yet it is limited in no place Neverthelesse you say that the body of Christ in the Sacrament occupieth no place Againe if it be a contradiction to say that a man at the same instant of time liueth in the fifteenth and sixteenth hundred yeare of Christ because there is a great distance betweene them and they are not the same number as palpable a contradiction is it to say the Body of Christ is at once both in Heauen and Earth seeing earth is not heauen nor heauen earth and there is such a vast space betwixt them Eightly Aristotle maintaineth that vacuity or emptinesse is impossible if you should grant it infinite contradictions would follow But your doctrine establisheth it For what is vacuitie but a space vnfilled by a Body I aske then when the Cup is consecrated wherewith is it filled With wine So indeed it seemeth but after consecration you say it is not Wine that which is not there filleth it not With bloud then Nor that For that which filleth the Cup must every way be as large as the hollow surface of the Cup. But the bloud is not so for it wanteth Dimensive quantitie Unlesse therefore the Accidents help and they cannot being no Bodies the Cup must needs bee empty and void which cannot but imply contradiction For voidnesse as the Philosopher saith is the root of infinite contradictions Ninthly and lastly if one and the same Body may be in mo places then one at once why not in a thousand And if in a thousand why not in a thousand thousand millions If so then a little point or droppe continuing still in the same Quantitie may occupie as much space as the greatest mountaine or the whole Ocean For so many may the severall places be that all put together may make a greater space then which what plainer contradiction Vnto these few I might easily adde six hundred other as grosse absurdities as that Christ at the same time is to himselfe both neere and farre off aboue beneath within and without before and behind at his right and at his left hand that he is also elder and younger sooner and