know that the misticall senses of the scripture are of no strength to conuince an aduersarie But the literall sense of that which I alleaged doth proue the point in question For there lyeth often times within the literall an other sense hidden which is not directly vttered and plainely but is gathered and inferred by the force of argument As for example God said to comfort Moses and the Israelites I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob These wordes in the first sense doo signifie the couenant that God made with Abraham and with Abrahams seede whom hée chose to be his seruants and promised he would bée their God But Christ alleageth them to proue against the Sadduces the resurrectioÌ„ of the dead Which he doth conclude by consequeÌ„ce of reason God is not the God of the dead but of the liuing He is the God of Abraham Therefore Abraham is not dead Abraham is a man consisting of two partes the soule and the bodie If Abraham then liue and yet his bodie be dead his bodie must rise againe to the end that God may iustly be called the God not of Abrahams soule but of Abraham Wherefore in that God is called the God of Abraham it followeth by discourse that the bodies of men shall bée raysed from death to life Is not this reason conteined in the literall sense of the scripture from which it is deduced Rainoldes Yes and is of force to proue the point in controuersie For whatsoeuer followeth necessarily of the literall sense that is as true and sound as the sense whereof it followeth But how will you gather so the Popes supremacie from the place in Deuteronomie Hart. By a reason which I ground vpon the likenes and proportion of the Church of Christ to the children of Israell For if the Israelites had a high Priest to be their iudge in matters of difficultie and doubt betweene blood and blood betweene cause cause betweene plague and plague why should not we semblably haue a hie Priest to bée the iudge in our causes Rainoldes This reasoÌ„ is drawn from a similitude that as it was amongst the Iewes in the olde Testament so must it bée amongst Christians in the new Logicians say that similitudes do halt of one foote But this doth halt of both For neither was the high Priest amongst the Iewes iudge of all those matters nether doth it follow thereof although he had béene that amongst Christians there must a high priest bée likewise iudge of all Els it must be lawfull for all your priestes to marry For it was so amongst the Iewes And Masse must be be saide no where but at Rome For the Iewes might not sacrifice but in the place which the Lord had chosen And all the males amongst the Iewes must goe thither euery yeare thrise Which were ouermuch for all your males to Rome Yet must they doo it by your reason For it is written in Deuteronomie And because Deuteronomie is the second law by interpretation the force of the word proueth that what is there decreed ought to be obserued in the new Testament saith Pope Innocentius Hart. The condicion of Christians is not in all respectes like vnto the Iewes nor Rome vnto Ierusalem And why it is not like in the matters which you mention there may bée reasons giuen Rainoldes May there be reasons giuen Then reasons may be giuen why your reason is naught But that you may sée what a lame thing it is marke the pointes whereon it standeth First the high Priest you say is the iudge to whom for the deciding of hard and doubtfull controuersies the Lord doth send the Iewes This the scripture saith not but maketh a difference betwéene the iudge and the Priest For it giueth sentence of death vpon him who refuseth to harken to the Priest or to the iudge Wherein by disioyning the Priest from the iudge it declareth plainely that the Priest was not the same that the iudge Hart. Our commoÌ„ editioÌ„ in Latin doth not reade it so but in this sort he that shal presumptuously refuse to obey the coÌ„mandement of the Priest by the decree of the iudge shall that man die You sée it is here the commandement of the Priest the decree of the iudge is an other point It is not as you cite it the Priest or the iudge Rainoldes It is not so in your Latin which man hath translated But it is so in the Hebrew writen by the Spirite of God Hart. But we haue a decree of the Councell of Trent that our old and common edition in Latin shall be taken as authenticall in publike lectures disputations sermons and expositions and that no man may dare or presume to reiect it vnder any pretense If no man may reiect it vnder anye pretense then not vnder pretense of the Hebrew text And that for great reason For the Hebrewe Bibles which are extant now are shamefully corrupted in many places by the Iewes of spite and malice against Christians as Bishop Lindan sheweth largely and learnedly in the defense of that decrée of the TreÌ„t-councell Rainoldes This is a shamefull sclaunder brewed by Satan and set a broch by Lindan to the intent that errours which haue preuailed in Poperie either by the faulte of the Latin translator or by the ouer sighte of them who haue mistaken him should not be discouered and put to shame by the light of the Hebrew truth And this shall appeere by his arguments and dealings if you will sift them in particular If in generall onely you meane to vse his name to discredite the truth as your Doctor doth I will send both you and him for an answere to three of the learnedst and fittest iudges of this matter that your church hath euen Isaac Leuita Arias Montanus and Payua Andradius Of whom the first being Lindans owne maister and professor of the Hebrue tongue in the vniuersitie of Coolen hath writen three bookes in defense of the Hebrew truth against the cauils of his scholler The next for his rare skill of tongues and artes was put in trust by king Philip to set forth the Bible in Hebrew Chaldee Greeke and Latin wherein he hath reproued that treatise of Lindan and disclosed his folly The last was the chiefest of the Diuines and Doctors at the Councell of Trent The decrées wherof though he haue defended and namely that which you mention yet not so but he hath withall conâ—uted them who say that the Iewes haue corrupted the Hebrew text Your cause M. Hart beginneth to be desperate when it can finde no coouert but such as your owne patrones are ashamed off Hart. I haue not read thâ—se mens discourses But certainely what soeuer they say for the rest neither they nor you shall be euer able to proue that the Iewes haue not corrupted the Hebrew tâ—xt in the one and twentéeth Psalme or
it is impossible they should merit Hart. Nay I meant not so For though they be defiled as they are of our selues yet as they are of Christ whose grace worketh in vs they are pure and perfit Rainoldes Then as they are wrought by the grace of Christ so they may be the offering which the Prophet speaketh of For they are pure and perfit so and therefore cleane by your owne opinion Hart. But the Propheticall offering is cleane of it selfe Our workes are not cleane of them selues but of Christ and therefore can not be that offering Rainoldes Now may you féele the falshood of D. Allens dealing For himselfe addeth those words of it selfe to make his reason serue the Prophet saith no more but that the offering is cleane Wherefore sith our workes are cleane and vndefiled chiefly as Papistes iudge our workes might be meant by the Propheticall offering howsoeuer they be vnperfit and impure of them selues Hart. What And doo you thinke M. Rainoldes that our workes though vncleane of them selues yet as they are wrought by the grace of Christ are cleane and vndefiled And see you not then that of the other side you consent in the chiefest point of Catholike faith with Papists as you terme vs For if you thinke in deede that our workes bee cleane as they are wrought by grace then must you néedes thinke that we may so fulfil the law and merit life and be iustified by workes not by faith onely Rainoldes I meant not so M. Hart. But according to the prouerbe that for a hard knot a hard wedge must be sought I thought good to cleaue a Popish dreame in sunder with a Popish fansy For otherwise I know that although our workes be wrought by Christes grace yet is mans nature and flesh in vs who worke them and therefore doo they cary a staine of vncleannes It was of grace that the children of Israel did consecrate their holy thinges and giftes to God Yet that worke of theirs was not frée from spot in so much that Aaron must beare on his forhead a plate of pure gold wherein was ingrauen Holines of the Lord a monument of Christ that hee might take away the iniquitie of the holy thinges which they consecrated of all the giftes of their holy thinges and he should beare it alwayes to make them acceptable before the Lord. It is of grace that the Saintes of God doo pray to him Yet the other Angel that stoode before the altar with a golden censer had much odours giuen him that hee might put them into the prayers of all the Saintes vpon the golden altar which is before the throne and the smoke of the odours put into the prayers went vp before God out of the Angels hand Which is a token that the prayers of Saintes haue their infirmitie and yeelde no sweete smelling fauour vnto God without fauour in Christ. To be short in all the gratious and good workes of men God doth worke in vs both to will and to doo But euill is so present with vs that the good which we would doo we can not wee would through Gods grace we can not through our frailtie Yea when we doo good it is a will rather of dooing then a dooing we are so farre from perfit dooing it For wee ought to loue God with all our heart and with all our soule and with all our strength with al our thought and our neighbours as our selues But as long as the flesh doth lust against the spirit and a law in our members doth rebell against the law of our minde which is as long as we are in this body of death we loue him not with all our heart soule strength and thought but with part and therefore in lesser measure then we ought Now whatsoeuer is lesse then it should be is fautie for it transgresseth his commandement Wherefore sith our workes should bee doon with perfit loue of God and men and that perfit loue we haue not in this life it foloweth that our workes in this life are fautie yea though they 〈◊〉 wrought by the grace of Christ. Not as though his grace had any blemish God forbidde but because our selues in whom it worketh are corrupt as water though it flow from a fountaine most cléere yet if it doo runne through a muddy chanell it becommeth muddy So nether fulfill we the law in any worke much lesse in all our workes which they must doo who will fulfill it for he that offendeth in one is guiltie of all nether can we merit ought at Gods hands much lesse eternall life for he oweth vs no thankes though we did all thinges which are commaunded vs because we ought to do them and what is our desert then who doo not all things nether may wee possibly be iustified by workes before the iudgement seat of God for cursed is euery man that continueth not in all things which are written in the booke of the law to doo them and we all offend in many things Hart. But if all our workes be muddy as you say and stained with vncleannesse then is it much surer that the cleane offering which the Prophet speaketh off cannot betoken them For the Lord reproueth the Iewish Priests there for offering vncleane bread and sacrificing the blinde the lame and the sicke Wherefore sith of the contrarie he saith that the offering made among the Gentiles shall be a cleane offering it foloweth that he meant not the spirituall sacrifices that is the workes of Christians and what then but the outward sacrifice of the Masse Rainoldes In déede if cleane things stained with vncleannesse were the verie same that vncleane things you might iustly thinke that our spirituall sacrifices could not be allowed no more then the carnall of those Iewish Priests But the onely sacrifice that is cleane perfitly and hath no staine at all is Christ the vndefiled and vnspotted Lambe offered on the crosse to sanctifie vs with his blood The sacrifices of the faithfull are cleane but vnperfitly and therefore néede his fauour with pardon as I shewed that they may be acceptable to God through Iesus Christ. The sacrifices of the wicked and hypocrites are vncleane as being either vnlawfull such as were the blinde and lame and sicke among the Iewes or offered vnlawfully with mindes and consciences defiled So the sacrifices of those Iewish Priests which God reproueth were absolutely vncleane Our spirituall sacrifices are vnperfitly cleane cleane in comparison and cleane by acceptation Cleane in comparison respect of men as Habacuk complaining that the wicked man deuouteth the righteous saith him that is righteous in respect of him selfe praysing not the righteous man as simply righteous but in comparison of the wicked Cleane by acceptation in the sight of God who dealing as a louing father with his children taketh in good part that which they
haue Nor yet am I ashamed of that kinde of triall and iudgement by the godly who haue not learned toonges and artes but Christ onely And I comprised it in that which I said that Christ is the iudge and they which vnder him haue it committed to them euen the church of Christ. For himselfe hath giuen by speciall commission two sortes of iudgement to his church the one priuate the other publike priuate to all the faithfull and spirituall as God calleth them who are willed to iudge of that which is taught and to trie spirits whither they be of God publike to the assembly of pastors and elders for of that which Prophets teach let Prophets iudge and the spirites of Prophetes are subiect to the Prophets In both of the which the church must yet remember that God hath committed nothing but the ministerie of giuing iudgement vnto her The soueraintie of iudgement dooth rest on Gods word For Christ is our onely Doctor Law-giuer according to whose written will the church must iudge And so to returne vnto the wordes of Christ from which we digressed the sense I gaue of them will I proue by scripture according to the rule of faith the proofe of the sense I submit to the priuate and publike iudgement of the church The wordes of Christ to Peter conteined a promise of the keyes I will giue thee the keyes of the kingdome of heauen The occasion of the wordes was a question of Christ asked of the Apostles answered by Peter whom say yee that I am Thou art Christ the Sonne of the liuing God The sense which I gathered by laying these together was that as Peter answered one for all so the keyes were meant to him one with all To proue the former point that Peter answered one for all the scripture is most plaine in the sixt of Iohn where before this time Peter had confessed in their common name We beleeue and know that thou art Christ the Sonne of the liuing God To proue the later that the keyes were meant to him one with all the scripture is as plaine in the twentieth of Iohn where Christ performing that which he had promised to Peter doth say to him with the rest As my Father sent me so doo I send you Whose sinnes soeuer ye remit they are remitted to them whose sinnes soeuer ye reteine they are reteined Wherefore sith the keyes were promised by Christ on the profession of their fayth which was common to them all and the promise was performed when he sent them all with power to binde and loose to remit and reteine sinnes it followeth that the keyes belonged no more to Peter then to all the Apostles And therefore the promise of the keyes to him importeth no headship of his ouer them Hart. That which was promised by Christ vnto Peter was not performed to the Apostles For he gaue not them the keyes of his kingdome but the power of remitting and reteyning sinnes Rainoldes These things differ in wordes but they are one in sense as Ioseph said to Pharao Both Pharaos dreames are one For as God to teach Pharao what he would do in Egipt by seuen yeares of plentie seuen yeares of famine did vse two sundrie dreames of kine and eares of corne the surer to resolue him of his purpose in it so Christ to teach vs what he doth for mankind in ordeining the ministerie of the word Sacraments vseth two similituds the one of keyes the other of binding loosing that we may know the better the fruit force of it Touching the keyes he speaketh of heauen as of a house wherinto there is no entrance for men vnlesse the doore be opened Now we all Adams ofspring are shut out of heauen as Adam our progenitour was out of Paradise through our offenses and sinnes For no vncleane thing shall enter into it But God of his loue and fauour towards vs hath giuen vs his sonne his onely begotten sonne that whosoeuer beleeueth in him should not perish but haue eternall life which is the inheritaunce reserued in heauen for vs. We cannot beleeue vnlesse wée heare his word We heare not his word vnlesse it be preached Wherefore when God the Father sent his sonne Christ and Christ sent his Apostles as his Father sent him to preach his word to men that they who repented and beleeued in Christ should haue their sinnes forgiuen them the faithlesse vnrepentant should not be forgiuen then he gaue authoritie as it were to open heauen to the faithfull and to shut it against the wicked Which office to shut and open because in mens houses it is exercised by keies and the stewarde of the house is saide to haue the key of it to open it and to shut it therefore Christ the principall steward of Gods house is saide to haue the key of Dauid and he gaue his Apostles the keies as you would say of the kingdome of heauen when hee made them his stewardes to shut out to let in The other similitude of binding and loosing is to like effect For we are all by nature the children of sinne and therefore of death Now sinnes are in a maner the same to the soule that cordes to the body and the endlesse paines of death that is the wages of sinne are like to chaines wherewith the wicked are bound in hell as in a prison From these cordes of sinne and chaines of death eternall men are loosed by Christ when their sinnes be remitted their sinnes are remitted if they beleeue in him If they beleeue not their sinnes are reteined whose sinnes are reteined they doo continue bound For he that beleeueth not shall be condemned he that beléeueth shall be saued None shall be condemned but they whose sinnes are reteined to binde them with the chaines of darkenesse none saued but they whose sinnes are remitted and the cordes vnloosed by which they were holden UUherefore sith the Gospell is preached to this ende a sauour of life to life vnto beléeuers vnto the vnbeléeuers a sauour of death to death as we reade of Christ that the Lord sent him to preach deliuerance to the captiues and opening of prison to them that are bound in like sort his ministers whom he sent to preach it are said to binde and loose to reteine and remit sinnes So that both these kinds of spéech import the same that is signified by keyes For to binde and to reteine sinnes is to shut to loose and to remit sinnes is to open the kingdome of heauen Your owne church dooth take the keyes in this meaning euen the Councell of Trent For whereas Christ gaue to his Apostles and their successours the power of binding and loosing that is of remitting and reteining sinnes as your selues expound it this power you call the power of the keies as
famous by sundrie of their liues succeeding one another Formosus Boniface Stephen Romanus Theodore Iohn the ninth and a litle after them Christopher and Sergius Of whom their owne friendes and fauorers doo write that they were gone from Peters steppes that they did get his See by briberie that they were moÌ„strous men or rather beastes and monsters Amongst whom the first was accursed by a Pope and made himselfe Pope by periurie The second would but that he was preuented by death the third did repeale the decrées of the first and condemne his actes the fourth condemned the third and iustified the first the fifth did keepe the same race the sixth confirmed it by a Councell the last for all the Councell and the Popes allowing it restored the third to his credit and againe coÌ„demned the first Thus were Peters successors whirled about with giddinesse as Krantzius speaketh of them and the head of the Church was long without a braine A thing verie straunge and such as I thinke hath scarce béene heard off amongst the Barbarians that one of these successours did take vp the carkasse of his predecessour out of his graue brought it into iudgement before a Councell of Bishops spoyled it of his Papall roabes clad it with a lay-mans garmentes endited it arraigned it condemned it cut off thrée fingers ofit and cast it into the streame of Tiber. Yet this Pope might haue béene a Saint of the Popes in comparison of Iohn the twelfth For he did shew more crueltie vpon the bodies of many liuing then the other of one dead and the other excelled not so much in one vice as Iohn the twelfth in all in vngodlinesse vnrighteousnesse intemperance pride in whooredomes adulteriâ—s incestes murders in periuries simonie sacrileges blasphemies and such abominations as I abhorre to mention Not Catiline not Nero not Heliogabalus not the most monstrous wretches that euer liued in Rome came néere vnto him It were incredible that one caraine should haue so much so horrible filth but that his owne Church and the Italian Bishops in a Councell assembled by the Emperour Otho did charge him with these thinges and with thinges more vilanous and outragious then these And himselfe when the Emperour and Councell wrote vnto him that he should come to make his answere made this answere to them and other he would make none that hee cursed them all to hell if they attempted to depriue him as hée heard say they did Luitprandus a deacon of a Church in Italie a man commended for his holines who liued at the same time doth write this storie of Pope Iohn and that with such credit that beside Martinus Tritemius Platina KraÌ„tzius and others men of your owne religion who write the summe of it after him Sigonius an Italian to whom your Pope giueth almost a thousand crownes yearely to reade in one of his Uniuersities though he dissemble much in his Italian historie the thinges that touch the Popes state yet he acknowledgeth this and writeth it somewhatfully Now I hope you will not say of this Pope Pope Iohn the twelfth that perhaps he shewed his faith by his workes or if you would say that he shewed his faith as it may be he did yet you will not say that it was such a faith as was the faith of Peter for which our Sauiour prayed For if you thinke here that notwithstanding all these crimes he might be good after as Peter repeÌ„ted when he had denyed Christ and so his faith did not faile though it did fainte then I must tell you further that Pope Iohn went forwarde as he had begoon and his death was answerable vnto his life While he was committing adulterie he was slaine whether thrust through by some who tooke him in the act or striken by the diuell historians agrée not But Cardinall Turrecremata doth take that as more likely which is more dreadfull Because the life saith he of Pope Iohn was detestable and marueilous offensiue to the Christian people therefore Christ himselfe gaue out the sentence of condemnation against him For while he was abusing a certaine mans wife the Diuell strooke him sodenly and so he died without repentance Hart. What if Pope Iohn and some others of them offended in their liues Yet their faith failed not that faith which Christ spake off For by the name of faith he meant the doctrine of faith which he prayed for Peter and so for his successours that they might kéepe sound and neuer be seduced from it to any heresie No more was Pope Iohn nor any other of the Popes though in their liues they were not all of the best Rainoldes I thought that Christ had meant by the name of faith a liuely Christian faith which imbraceth the promise of the mercie of God which worketh by loue and bringeth forth the fruites of faith which whosoeuer haue they haue assurance of euerlasting life But you thinke belike that he meant a dead faith a faith which they haue of whom it is writen the Diuels beleeue and tremble a faith which Pope Iohn might haue and be a reprobate and dye without repentance and be the heire of death eternall Hart. I say not that Christ meant a dead faith but the right faith that is as I saide the true and Catholike doctrine of the faith of Christ. As the scripture vseth that worde where it is writen that in the later times some shall depart from the faith and shall giue heede to spirites of errour and doctrines of Diuels The doctrines of Diuels are heresies whatsoeuer The faith is the true doctrine set against heresies S. Peâ—er held this faith when he saide Thou art Christ the Sonne of the liuing God From this faith the diuell would haue remoued him But Christ prayed for him that it should not faile And so I say he prayed for the Bishops of Rome that it should faile in none of them Rainoldes But this faith is also a faith which the Deuils may haue and yet tremble a faith which Pope Iohn might haue and be a reprobate and die without repentance and be the heire of death eternall Hart. What if it be so Rainoldes Then Christ praied for Peter that he should neuer lose that faith which faith he might haue kept and yet be lost himselfe euen lost both bodie and soule to euerlasting death Hart. If I should graunt you so much Rainoldes Nay you must néedes graunt it for it is proued by Pope Iohn But why said Christ to Peter Satan hath desired that he may sift you as wheat What is that to sift the disciples as wheat Hart. To sift them as wheaten meale that is to shake out of them all their truth and faithfulnes as flower out of the sieue and leaue nothing within them but branne as it
and loosing giuen Peter as though after Peter it were proper to the Pope Denys saith the contrarie that it is common to all Bishops Whereby you may perceiue beside that if the title which he giueth Peter did proue his supremacie though I haue shewed it doth not but if it did yet your commoÌ„ reason from Peters supremacie to the Popes is iointlesse For he who calleth Peter chiefe of the Apostles yet maketh Bishops equal and giueth Rome no greater priuilege then Antioche or Ierusalem But to knit vp that which brought vs vnto this of Denys you sée that your Rhemists tale of the assumption of the blessed virgin is contrarie to the scriptures Yet they doo beléeue it for the authoritie of Fathers That I might dout iustly whether you would beléeue the Fathers in those things in which they are conuicted of errour by the scriptures Hart. I cannot beléeue that the scriptures are against it For the Church doth holde it I meane the Catholike Church of Rome Rainoldes In that your Rhemists lauish too For though the lying Greekes as your Molanus calleth them doo vouch it very boldly yet the Latin writers do say it is vncertaine Yea the verie Martyrologe of the Roman Church affirmeth that the Church celebrateth the memory of S. Maries death but where it hath pleased God to hide her body the Churches sobrietie hath chosen rather to be ignorant therof religiously then to holde and teach some friuolous thing forged How much the more shamefull is the misdemeanor first of a Papist who saith that it is certaine she was assumpted by death not onely in soule but in body also then of the Pope who setting foorth his new Portesse saith that those things which are vncertaine are put out where this is left in which they can not denie themselues to be vncertaine But your Rhemists passe Who as though the Porâ—esse were not bolde enough in alleaging Damascene though it mende his tale with more then one lye they take that which their Portesse doth tell them lye and al and father it vpon S. Denys that it may haue the greater credit Hart. Our Rhemists will render good account I dout not of this which they haue writen when they shall heare what is said against it And that which you declared out of the holy scriptures concerning the time of S. Denys conuersion which is the greatest argument that you brought yet to disproue the storie auouched of his preseÌ„ce at the departure of our Lady I must referre to them For I my selfe know not indéede how to accord it But why do you presse that point about the Fathers touching their ouerseeing ether the wordes or meaning or consequent of the scriptures We are past the scriptures and proofes that the Fathers do gather out of them Rainoldes But if they may gather amisse out of the scriptures and ouershoote them selues in the word of God they may be deceiued in the word of man too and either not conceiue well or not remember well or not conclude well of it Which hapned to S. Ierom in that same point that I reproued a litle rather in Eusebius For he reckning Philo the Iew amongst the Christian ecclesiastical writers doth it he saith for this reason because Philo writing a booke touching the first Church planted by the Euangelist S. Mark in Alexandria hath praised the Christians reporting them to be not onely there but in many countries and calling their dwelling places Monasteries Whereby it is apparant that the Church of beleeuers in Christ at the first was such as moonkes endeuour and seeke to be now that nothing is any mans owne in proprietie none is rich amongst them none poore their patrimonies are distributed to the needy they giue them selues wholy to prayer and to singing of Psalmes and to learning and to continencie of life such as S. Luke also doth write that the beleeuers were first at Ierusalem And this booke of Philo touching the life of our men that is of men Apostolike is entitled of the contemplatiue life of men that pray because they did contemplate studie and meditate heauenly things and prayed to God alwayes Thus farre S. Ierom. Wherein that the pointes of contemplation and prayer being somewhat like in them whom Philo wrote off and in the Christian Church did make him to mistake the one for the other as likenes they say is the mother of error but that they were not Christians whom Philo meant in that booke it may appeere by foure circumstances of names of deedes of times and of places For they of whom Philo doth write were called Essees which was a sect of Iewes of whom some liued in action and some in contemplation The Christians were neuer knowne by name of Essees either contemplatiue or actiue Againe they in Philo did leaue their goods and substance to their sonnes or daughters or kinsemen or if they had no kinsemen to their friendes The Christians gaue them to the poore and such as stood in need of succour Moreouer the solemne day which they in Philo did meete together publikely to heare the word of God taught was the seuenth day of the weeke which was the Sabbat of the Iewes the saterday as we cal it The Christians were wont to meete on the first day of the weeke that is sonday the Lordes day as S. Iohn termeth it Finally they whom Philo discourseth of did liue in no towne or citie but without in gardens and solitarie places The Christians liued in cities Euen they who are namely mentioned by Ierom I meane the Christian Church placed by S. Marke in Alexandria were planted in the citie Alexandria it selfe whereas it is precisely noted by Philo that his Iewish moonkes did dwell about it and without it Wherefore it is manifest that Ierom did mistake or had forgot the wordes of Philo. Howbeit if he had both well conceiued and remembred them yet he thereof inferred amisse that the moonkes in his time were such as S. Luke doth write that the beleeuers were first at Ierusalem For the beleeuers at Ierusalem might keepe their owne if they listed as Peter saith to Ananias while it remained perteined it not to thee And when it was sold was it not in thine own power But Ierom saith that his moonks may not haue proprietie in any thing of their owne Beside the moonkes of Ierom did liue in continencie The beléeuers at Ierusalem had wiues vsed them for any thing that S. Luke sheweth Though by the way to note the difference betwéene the Iewish moonkes the Christian who els would be too like some of the Christian moonks in Ieroms time had wiues did beget childreÌ„ which I haue not read that anie of the Iewish did Last of all the moonkes whom Ierom doth meane as he must néedes by Philo were moonkes according to their
of the state of the Church both in generall and particular the Roman and the reformed Churches of sundry nations it commeth first to be declared what is the holy catholike church whereof we professe in our Creede that wee beleeue it And hereof I say the holy catholike church is the whole company of Gods elect and chosen Which is termed a Church that is a company ofmen and an assembly of people called togither holy because God hath chosen this company and sanctified it to him selfe Catholike for that it consisteth not of one nation but of all spred through the whole world For God to the entent that he might impart the riches of his glorious grace vnto mankinde did choose from euerlasting a certaine number of men as a peculiar people who should possesse with him the kingdome of heauen prepared for them from the foundations of the world And although this people be sundred by the distance of places and times for the seuerall persons and members thereof yet hath hee ioyned and knit them all togither by the bond of his holy spirit into the felowship of one body and a ciuill or rather a spirituall communion as it were into one citie The name of which citie is the heauenly new and holy Ierusalem the citie of the liuing God the king is God almightie who founded establisheth and ruleth the citie the lawes are Gods word which the citizens heare and folow as sheepe the voice of the shepheard the citizens are the Saintes euen all and singular holy men who therefore are called felow-citizens of the Saintes and men of Gods houshold the register wherein their names are enrolled is called the booke of life finally the liberties and commoâ—ities which they enioy are most ample benefites both of this life and of the life to come to wit the grace of God the fountaine of goodnes the treasures of Christ who is heire of all things the forgiuenes of sinnes the peace of conscience the giftes of righteousnes of godlines of holines one spirit one faith one hope of our calling and sacraments which are the seales of our hope in a worde all thinges which are expedient for vs to the necessarie maintenance of our earthly life and after this life the inheritance of life eternall in heauen with endlesse blisse and glory But because the citizens of this citie of God hauing disobeyed rebelled against him had lost their fréedom through their treason and being put therby from euerlasting life wâ—re to suffer death in the chaines of darkenesse God the father of infinite mercy and compassion did send his onely begotten sonne into the world that he being appointed king of Gods citie should redéeme the citizens from the powerof darkenesse out of the thraldom of the diuell and translating them a fresh into his kingdom should blesse them and endow them with all the priuileges and liberties of the citizens of God And so it pleased him though we had played the traitors in reuolting from him to his and our enimie yet of his frée fauour to make a league with vs enter into couenant Which couenant being one and the same in substance yet diuersly considered and by reason of this diuersitie diuided into two the one called olde grounded on Christ being promised to come the other new on Christ being come into the world God hath set it downe in the instruments of his câ—uenant wherein he hath said I will be your God and ye shall be my people What is the tenour how greate the vse how vnspeakable the benefit of this holy couenant made with the Patriarkes the Prophets the Apostles and all the Saintes of God it is recorded in the sacred instruments of the olde and new testament or couenant An abridgement whereof containing the summeof the Apostles doctrine is deliuered in the articles of our Christian faith or Creede as we terme it gathered out of Gods worde Wherefore as the couenant consisteth of two branches so the Creede expressing it conteineth two partes One of them instructeth our faith touching God who saide to his seruants I will be your God the other touching the people of God that is the Church to whom God saide you shall be my people Touching God it teacheth vs to beleeue in him who is one God in nature distinct in three persons the Father the creator the Sonne the redéemer the holy Ghost the sanctifier Touching the people of God it teacheth vs to beleeue that they are a Church holy and Catholike which hath communion of the Saints to whom their sinnes are forgiuen whose bodies shal be raised vp againe from death and being ioyned with their soules shall liue euerlastingly Now to make the matter more euident and plaine that this citie of God and company of the chosen is the holy Catholike Church first it is certaine that the people of God is called effectually out of the filth of other men to know and serue him by Christ who doth lighten their mindes and moue their hartes through the power of the holy Ghost and ministerie of the word And the whole company of them who are so called is named the Church by an excellencie not a common one but a passing eminent and most noble Church as wherein the faithfull all are comprehended that eyther be or haue béene or shal be to the end from the beginning of the world Which is termed in scripture the Church of the first borne who are writen in heauen Which God did predestinate to be adopted in him self according to the good pleasure of his wil. Which Christ being giuen to it by his Father as a head to the body loued as his spouse redeemed it from Satan and quickneth it with his Spirit hauing suffered death him selfe to deliuer vs from the gulfe of death Moreouer as it is cleere that this Church is called out of the rascall sort of the world to be partaker of the inheritance of the kingdom of heauen so is it cléere too that it ought to be holy For the holy one of Israell can not abide them who are workers of iniquitie neither shall any Cananite be in the house of the Lord of hostes and into the heauenly citie there shall enter no vncleane thing nor whatsoeuer worketh abomination or lye Christ therefore the Sauiour of the Church his body who as he called them whoÌ„ he predestinate so iustified them whom he called hauing clensed the Church from her sinnes by his blood renueth her from the filth of the flesh vnto holinesse which he beginneth in this life and perfitteth in the life to come when he shall present her without spot and wrincle a glorious spouse vnto him selfe So that both the Church may well be termed holy and the communion of Saintes the Churches communion which militant on earth is holy in affection triumphant in heauen is holier in perfection both militant and triumphant is in
of her also of whom our Sauiour tooke flesh and was brought foorth into the world Rainoldes So we doo the feastes of the annuntiation of the blessed virgin and the purification Hart. Nay the dayes of other Saintes which you celebrate as namely of Peter Paul and Iohn are the dayes of their death and so are proper vnto them Wherefore you should of reason at the least celebrate our ladies assumption as the day of her death For though you beléeue not that her bodie is assumpted yet you wil not we trow deny that she is dead and her soule in glory But you doo neither celebrate that nor any other of her proper feastes For as for the dayes of her purification and annuntiation they be not proper to our Ladie but the one to Christes conception the other to his presentation So that she by this meanes shall haue no festiuitie at all Rainoldes No festiuitie at all What a foolish fansie is this of your Rhemists As though the blessed virgin were like to Diana and the Saintes of Christ to the Paynim-gods who euerie one must haue his feast and if you forget or passe ouer any their honour is attainted in it But by this sentence you iustifie the reformed Churches both the rest and ours The rest in that you thinke the holy dayes of Saintes are instituted to their honour which corrupt opinion and superstition growing of it might be a sufficient cause to abolish them Ours in that you say that the annuntiation and purification of the virgin are not proper to our Ladie as you cal her but to Christ. Wherein you acknowledge that the holy dayes of Saintes which we keepe are kept to Christes honour and not to theirs For as the annuntiation of the blessed virgin is proper vnto Christ conceiued and the purification to Christ presented in the temple so the day of Peter is proper vnto Christ professed the day of Paul to Christ preached the day of Iohn to Christ published by the writing of the Gospell And this of them is as cléere as is the other of the virgin by the prayers which we make and the partes of scripture which wee reade on those dayes Wherefore although we celebrate the memorie of these thinges touching the Apostles on those daies on which they dyed perhaps for neither are you sure of that though you celebrate them in memorie of their death yet we do it not in respect of their death so to honour their assumption but in respect of those thinges which Christ did by them while they liued And by the same reason you may proue that we keepe no holy day to any Saint by the which you gather â—hat the annunciation and purification of the virgin are not proper vnto her Which in deed you say not because you thinke it or haue cause to thinke it but to make vs odious by bearing men in hand that we despise the blessed virgin For both your selues doo count them and call them her feastes as well as anie other of those that beare her name and the common people when they cal the annuntiation day our Ladie day by your corrupt custome thinke it as proper vnto her as S. Peters is to him and the reformed Churches which disallow the feastes of Saintes haue disalloweâ— these amongst them where yet they allow the feastes that doo belong to Christ his natiuitie circumcision passion resurrection ascension and sending of the holy Ghost Hart. But if your reformed Churches thinke it dangerous to kéepe anie feast of the blessed virgin why doo you retaine two of them in your Church and not the rest as we doo Rainoldes You may learne the reason hereof in your Portesse reformed lately by the Pope In your olde Portesse there was this prayer to the Popes martyr S. Thomas Becket of Canterbury Christe Iesu per Thomae vulnera Quae nos ligant relaxa scelera By Thomas woundes O Christ Iesus Loose thou the sinnes which do binde vs. Or if you will haue better ryme with as bad reason Tu per Thomae sanguinem quem pro te impendit Fac nos Christe scandere quo Thomas aâ—cendit By the blood of Thomas which he for thee did spend Make vs O Christ to clime whether he did aâ—â—end Hart. This is your common obiection against our prayers to Saintes but an obiection for a Cobler and not for a Diuine as D. Harding told Iewell For Christ in this prayer is vsed as the onely mediator of saluaâ—ion S. Thomas a mediator of intercession to Christ. Rainoldes Good words M. Hart. Your plaister of mediators of intercession and saluation is too narrow for this soare Your pang doth make you not to sée it Hart. Nay no whit to narrow For the mediation which we giue to Saintes is so farre inferiour to the diuine and singular mediation of Christ that whereas we say to them Pray for vs we say not so to him we doo not thinke of him so basely but wée desire him to haue mercy vpon vs. Wherefore we make him onely mediatour of saluation and them of intercession Rainoldes Yet is your plaister too narrow for the soare which you apply it too For the blood and woundes of Thomas are presented in the prayers that I spake off And although you thinke not of intercession generally as the scripture doth which maketh it proper to the only mediatour betweene God and man the man Christ Iesus yet I hope you thinke of that intercession by the blood and woundes that it is his alone who gaue him selfe a raunsome for vs and redeemed vs with his pretious blood But if it were so that Thomas might bée made a mediatour of intercession in this preeminent sort that can not heale your Portesse For it doth make him â—latly a mediatour of saluation not onely to pray for vs but to haue mercy vpon vs. Opâ—â— nobis ô Thoma porrige Rege stantes iacentes erige Mores actus vitam corrigâ— Et in paciâ— nos viam dirige Salue Thoma virga iustitiae Mundi iubar robur ecclesiae Plebis amor cleri deliciae Salue gregis tutor egregie Salua tuae gaudentes gloriae O Thomas reach thy helpe to vs Stay them that stand raise them that lie Correct our maners deedes life Guide vs into the way of peace All haile ô Thom the rodde of right The worldes light the churches strength The peoples loue the clergies ioye All haile braue patrone of the flocke Saue them who in thine honour glee This praier which giueth the honour of God to a creature is not in your reformed Portesse where yet there is a prayer which giueth as great honour to an other creature euen to a woodden crosse O â—rux â—â—e ipes vnica Hoâ— passionis tempore Auge piis iustitiam Reisque dona veniam All haile ô crosse our onely hope In this time of the passion Encrease thou iustice to
of the bodie of Christ in the sacrament as I shewed which the Iewes must not behold They might behold his body vpon the crosse and did so Rainoldes But the holy Apostle him selfe doth vnderstand it of the bodie of Christ as it was offered on the crosse And that is manifest by the wordes he addeth to shew his meaning touching the Iewes and the altar For saith he the bodies of those beastes whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high Priest for sinne are burnt without the campe Therefore euen Iesus that he might sanctify the people with his owne blood suffered without the gate Which wordes are somewhat darke but they will be plaine if we consider both the thing that the Apostle would proue and the reason by which he proueth it The thing that he would proue is that the Iewes can not be partakers of the fruite of Christes death and the redemption which he purchased with his pretious blood if they still retaine the ceremoniall worship of the law of Moses The reason by which he proueth it is an ordinance of God in a kinde of sacrifices appointed by the law to be offered for sinne which sacrifices shadowed Christ and taught this doctrine For whereas the Priestes who serued the tabernacle in the ceremonies of the law had a part of other sacrifices and offeringes and did eate of them there were certaine beastes commanded to bee offered for sinne in special sort and their blood to be brought into the holy place whose bodies might not be eaten but must be burnt without the campe Now by these sacrifices offered so for sinne our onely soueraine sacrifice Iesus Christ was figured who entred by his blood into the holy place to clense vs from all sinne and his body was crucified without the gate that is the gate of the citie of Ierusalem and they who keepe the Priestly rites of Moses law can not eate of him that by his death they may liue for none shall liue by him who séeke to be saued by the law as it is writen if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing The Apostle therefore exhorting the Hebrewes to stablish their hartes with grace that teacheth them to serue the Lorde in spirit and truth after the doctrine of the gospell not with meates that is to say with the ceremonies of the law a part whereof was the difference betweene vncleane and cleane in meates doth moue them to it with this reason that if they serue the tabernacle and sticke vnto the rites of the Iewish Priesthood their soules shall haue no part of the foode of our sacrifice no fruit of Christs death For as the bodies of those beastes which were offered for sinne and their blood brought into the holy place by the hye Priest might not be eaten by the Priestes but were burnt without the campe so neither may the keepers of the Priestly ceremonies haue life by feeding vpon Christ who to shew this mystery did suffer death without the gate when he shed his blood to clense the people from their sinne And thus it appeereth by the text it selfe that the name of altar betokeneth the sacrifice that is to say Christ crucified not as his death is shewed foorth in the sacrament but as he did suffer death without the gate Whereby you may perceiue first the folly of your Rhemists about the Greeke worde as also the Hebrew that it signifieth properly an altar to sacrifice on as though it might not therefore be vsed figuratiuely where yet them selues must needes acknowledge it to be so too Next the weakenes of your reason who thereof doo gather that by the sacrifice which that worde importeth in the Apostle is meant the cleane offering of which the Prophet speaketh For the cleane offering of which the Prophet speaketh is offered in euery place the sacrifice meant by the Apostle in one place onely without the gate Wherefore the name of altar in the epistle to the Hebrewes doth neither signifie a Massing-altar nor proue the sacrifice of Massing-priests Hart. That which you touch as foolishly noted by our Rhemists about the Greeke and Hebrew worde is noted very truly For you can not deny your selfe but that it signifieth properly an altar a materiall altar to sacrifice vpon and not a metaphorical and spirituall altar Whereby as they conclude that we haue not a common table or prophane communion boord to eate meere bread vpon but a very altar in the proper sense to sacrifice Christs body vpon so for proofe hereof they adde that in respect of the saide bodie sacrificed it is also called an altar of the Fathers euen of Gregorie Nazianzene Chrysostome Socrates Augustine and Theophylact And when it is called a table it is in respect of the heauenly foode of Christes body and blood receiued Rainoldes The note of your Rhemists about the Greeke Hebrew word is true I graunt yet foolish too though true in the thing yet foolish in the drift For to the intent that where the Apostle saith we haue an altar it may be thought hee meant not that word spiritually or in a figuratiue sense as we expound it of Christ but materially of a very altar such as is vsed in their Masses they say that the Greeke word as also the Hebrew answering thereunto in the olde testament signifieth properly an altar to sacrifice on and not a metaphoricall and spirituall altar Which spéech how dull it is in respect of the point to which they apply it I will make you sée by an example of their owne Our Sauiour in the gospell teacheth of himselfe that he is the true bread which giueth life vnto the world the bread which came down from heauen that whosoeuer eateth of it should not die if any man eate of this bread he shall liue for euer Your Rhemists doo note hereon that the person of Christ incarnate is meant vnder the metaphore of bread and our beleefe in him is signified by eating Wherein they say well But if a man should tell them that the Greeke word as also the Hebrew answering therevnto in the old testament doth properly signifie bread which we eate bodily and not a metaphoricall or spirituall bread were not this as true a speech as their owne Yet how wise to the purpose who is so blinde that séeth not Yea to go no farther then the very word whereof by their Hebrew and Greeke they séeke aduantage them selues vpon that place of Iohn that he saw vnder the altar the soules of them who were killed for the word of God doo affirme expressely that Christ is this altar Christe say they as man no dout is this altar They meane it I hope in a metaphoricall or other figuratiue spéech For they will not make him by transsubstantiation to be an altar properly Yet here it is as
true and proper sacrifice wherby you meane that Christ is killed there indeede and sacrificed to God But the Fathers named their offering a sacrifice not properly but by a figure meaning the death of Christ our onely very soueraigne true and proper sacrifice to be represented there in a mysterie not exequuted in deede For as in the Scripture sacraments are noted by the names of thinges whereof they are sacraments that men may lift their eyes from the outward signes to the things signified so because we are willed to celebrate the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ in his remembrance and to shew his death that shewing of his death and remembring of his sacrifice is called by the Fathers his sacrifice and death So doth Cyprian treate of the offering of Christ. For teaching that we mention his death in all sacrifices he geueth this as a reason of it for the death of Christ is the sacrifice which we offer So doth Chrysostome open his meaning of the sacrifice For he affirmeth it to be a signe of Christes death and hauing said that we offer the very sacrifice that Christ did he correcteth his spéech thus or rather we worke a remembrance of that sacrifice So the same Ambrose who speaketh of sacrificing to God in Christes steede dooth expound it too euen with Chrysostomes words So Austin saith that Christ although he were sacrificed but once in himselfe is sacrificed euery day to Christian folke in a sacrament or mysterie nether is he falsly said to be sacrificed For sacraments haue a certaine resemblance of those things whereof they are sacraments and for that resemblance they take the names commonly of the things themselues as the sacrament of the body of Christ is Christs body after a certaine sort and the sacrament of the blood of Christ is Christs blood Finally Eusebius who may serue also to declare the iudgement of the Councell of Nice whereof he was a part doth by the very name of vnblooddy sacrifices witnesse his agréement therein with the rest For he calleth our remembrances and representations of the death of Christ in celebrating the sacrament of his body and blood though sacrifices for the lykenes yet vnbloody for the difference to shew that Christ is not sacrificed in them truly and properly for then must his blood be shed as it was when he suffered death but onely by the way of a sacrament mystery wherein the true sacrifice is set foorth before vs and remembred by vs. And this he maketh plainer other where by saying that Christ hauing offered him selfe for a soueraine sacrifice vnto his â—ather ordeined that we should offer a remembrance thereof vnto God in steed of a sacrifice Which remembrance we celebrate by the signes of his body and blood vpon his table and pleasing God well we offer vnbloody sacrifices and reasonable and acceptable to him Hart. Nay Eusebius calleth our sacrifices vnbloody in respect of the maner and not of the thing For they are true sacrifices of Christ and therefore bloody but Christ who was offered vpon the crosse blooddily is offered in the Masse vnblooddily Rainoldes That is your Trent-doctrine but it will not cleaue with the wordes of Eusebius For he calleth them vnblooddy sacrifices not bloody sacrifices offered vnblooddily but vnbloody sacrifices And adding that we celebrate the remembrance therein of the sacrifice of Christ by the signes of his body and blood he sheweth that they are not in déede bloody sacrifices but mysteries of the bloody Hart. Nay the blood of Christ the very sacrificall blood as we terme it which Christ did shed vpon the crosse is in the blessed chalice of the altar at the sacrifice of the Masse For Chrysostome in that notable worke of the Priesthood saith that Christ is seene there by all the faithfull and mentioneth his blood too Rainoldes Yea and that is more he saith that Christ is held there in all their handes and all are made redde with that pretious blood The Fathers delite much in such effectuall spéeches which néede wiser readers then many bee who light on them But if your selfe know that the whole people which cometh to your Masse is not made redde with the sacrificall blood you may learne thereby that Chrysostome speaking of blood in the sacrifice doth consider of it as bloody in a mystery but in déede vnbloody Hart. Nay it is called vnbloody by the Fathers as D. Allen noteth not because the blood in deed is not in it but to distinguish it froÌ„ the same sacrifice of Christ vpon the crosse which was made and offered not without blood shedde Rainoldes The blood is not shed then in this sacrifice And therefore it is neither propiciatorie for sinnes are not remitted without shedding of blood nor the true and soueraine sacrifice of Christ for that is the onely true and soueraine sacrifice wherein his blood was shed for vs. Hart. Yes the blood is shedde in the sacrifice of the Masse but it is shedde vnblooddily Rainoldes Blood vnblooddily shedde You speake monsters M. Hart vnlesse you meane by vnblooddily not truly and in déede but sacramentally For then you say well that his blood is shedde when we shew his death and remember the shedding of it But as S. Austin writeth that the flesh and blood of the sacrifice of Christ was promised by sacrifices of resemblance before he came was performed in truth and in deede when he suffered is celebrated by a sacrament of remembrance since he ascended so when the blood of Christ is shedde in this sort by the sacrament of remembrance it is not shedde in deed for that was doon at his death onely And this is the most that you can make of the Fathers although it be graunted that they called their celebrating of the Lordes supper an vnbloody sacrifice in respect of the blooddy sacrifice of Christ which hee offered on the crosse Much lesse make they for you if they called it not so in respect of his sacrifice but of the sacrifices of the Iewes Which it is the more likely that they did because they called their prayers and their very worship of God vnblooddy too no doubt to distinguish it from the Iewish worship which offered bloody sacrifices For as S. Paul treating of our seruing of God calleth it reasonable because we do sacrifice our selues spiritually not bruite beastes and senselesse thinges with carnall ceremonies as the Iewes did so the Fathers called it reasonable and vnblooddy to the same effect And Eusebius namely saith that we offer vnblooddy and reasonable sacrifices to God as long as we liue meaning all spirituall sacrifices thereby which euery Christian offereth as a Priest to God Yea euen in that place which D. Allen chose as making
called out of the refuse and filth of mankinde to this state and honour are not of one sort all For same of them are called effectually and doo come some that are called doo not yéeld them selues obedient to the calling They whom God hath chosen are called and doo come they who being called come not are not chosen That spéech of our Sauiour Christ doth touch them both many are called but few are chosen The many that are called are named the Church but to speake distinctly for instructions sake the visible Church because we sée the companies of men which are called to the faith of Christ which professe that they would enioy eternall life The few that are chosen are named the church also but the church inuisible not for that we sée not those whom God hath chosen but because we can not discerne by sight who be the chosen only the Lord knoweth who are his Now of this Church which we call inuisible parte is in present possession of heauenly glory part not hauing yet attained thereunto abideth on the earth That part which is entred into the ioy of their Lord is commonly termed the triumphant Church the other which lyeth in campe and wayteth for the victory is called the Church militant But as it falleth out in campes of worldly warfare that eyther for couetousnes or feare or fauour there are with faithfull souldiers such as are vnfaithfull some who neuer minde to come into the field some who will betray their felowes to their foes some readie to stirre vp the souldiers to mutinies some perhaps that traiterously will set vpon their owne captaine so the militant church which hath none but faithfull souldiers of Christ in that respect that it is matched with the Church triumphant yet while it abideth in the campe of warfare there hang about it slippâ—ry marchants who pretend that they also are of Christes souldiers but vnder souldiers coates they beare the heartes of enimies being such as they of whom Bernard saith They are in Christes liuery but they do seruice vnto Antichrist Sith therefore to discerne the faithfull souldiers from vnfaithful it belongeth to him alone who shal one day seuer the shéepe froÌ„ the goats we measuring a souldier by the profession that hée maketh othe that bindeth him to warfare call that the militant Church which is inrolled billed to serue vnder Christ part wherof doth faithfully sight the Lords battailes part making shew to serue him doo fight the battailes of the deuill And this is the militant Church which I meane in the point proposed the militant Church may erre both in maners and in doctrine To the ripping vp whereof we must obserue that it is proper to God alone by nature to be holy true perfit and free from errours as contrari-wise man by nature is vncleane a lyer vnperfit prone to deceiue and be deceiued For euery man is a lyer God alone is true And none is good but God he is naught therefore that is a méere man But of grace God bestoweth vpon man the gift of perfection holines and truth as it were a beame of the sunne shining into a house of clay to giue vs light and warmth Howbeit this beame though the more the sunne of righteousnes asceÌ„deth and cometh daily néerer vs the greater light and warmth it yeldeth neuerthelesse it shal not ouershine vs with full light of truth and warmth of holines vntill we be taken out of our houses of clay and go into the open heauen vnto God The militant Church hath the beames of the sunne but as in a house not in the open heauen sometimes it is shadowed and made dimme with darknes sometimes it waxeth faint through cold The triumphant Church hath the sunne it selfe not within doores but a broad not on earth but in heauen where neither any darknes doth hinder the light nor any cold abate the warmth Thus it is made proper to the Church triumphant to be without all spot as the spowse is told in the song of Salomon by her welbeloued speaking thus vnto her thou being all faire my loue and no spot in thee shalt come with me from Lebanon O spouse with me from Lebanon For thereby wée learne that as soone as the Church being fully cleansed from spot of all errours shall haue attained that excellent fairenesse and perfection whereto she is fyned by litle and litle in this life she is taken out of Lebanon as you would say the forest of this world and ioyned to her bridegrome in that blessed mariage to enioy eternall glory with God But that excellent fairenesse she atteineth not while she warfareth on the earth The militant Church therefore is not fully cleane from spot of all errours Shée shall be a Church not hauing spot or wrincle when shée shall be glorious as Paul declareth to the Ephesians Wherefore sith to promise that gloriousnesse in this life is to sound the triumph before the conquest be gotten it foloweth that the Church shall haue spot and wrincle so long as she doth liue in warfare But ouer and besides all this because the Church while it is in warfare hath vnfaithfull souldiours in it amongst the faithfull who as they are vnlike either to other so is their case vnlike too therefore as the men that are in the Church so the kindes of errours must be discerned and distinguished that it may the better appéere to what errours what part of the Church is subiect To erre then is to swarue and turne out of the way which God by the word of life the holy scripture hath willed vs to walke in Which way sith it containeth soundnes of doctrine and godlines of maners as I haue shewed before therevpon it foloweth that they who offend either in maners or in doctrine doo erre and go out of the way Wée erre in maners therefore when we doo ill we erre in doctrine when we iudge falsely Now these errours of the minde are of like condition in comparison of life eternall as are diseases of the body in comparison of life temporall So that as amongst diseases of the body some are curable some are deadly curable I call them whereof we recouer deadly whereof we dye in like sort amongst the errours of the minde some are curable which doo not bereue vs of saluation some deadly which bring vs to euerlasting death In the Church militant they whom God hath chosen may erre in maners and doctrine but their errour is curable they can not erre to death But they who are called onely and not chosen may erre in maners and doctrine euen with a deadly errour which neuer shall be cured That the chosen may erre in maners and doctrine it is euident by the Apostles For they did erre in maners when they forsooke Christ at the time that Iudas the renegate betrayed him They did erre in doctrine when they thought the kingdome of Christ to be not heauenly
to harten them against all dangers and deceites of enemies with the skill of warfare and sure hope of victorie he bindeth them with sacraments as with bonds of obedience and pledges of his grace he willeth them to call for his helpe in distresses promiseth it if they call for it he appointeth them warlike discipline to kéepe them selues in order and gard them safer from their enemies to be short be deliuereth them the whole trade of warfare opened by himselfe the Generall of the armie and writen in his word To the intent then that all the souldiers of God who be sent at diuers times into diuers countries to serue him in this warfare might learne it practise it he hath ordeined as ciuill assemblies societies for the mainteinance of this life so likewise for the next ecclesiasticall In which ecclesiasticall societies and assemblies it is his will pleasure that there should be captaines to teach and souldiers to learne both of them warriours faithfully to practise and wage the warre of the Lord. And these are called churches but particular churches to distinguish them from the catholike because they are diuers partes of the catholike that is the whole church diuers members of one body diuers bandes of one army Which for the diuers regard of place and time wherein they go to warfare are specified by diuers names In regard of place the church which serued God at Ierusalem is called the church of Ierusalem that which at Samaria the church of Samaria that which at Ephesus the church of Ephesus that which at Rome the church of Rome they which in England in France in Germany are called the English the French the Dutch churches In regard of time wée say the Iewish church in the dayes of Moses of Dauid of Ezekias the Roman vnder Nero Constantine Boniface the English in King Henries raigne King Edwardes Queene Maries or how soeuer els the difference of times be noted Now the rule of reason and honestie would that euery one of these churches ordeined by God to that end should bring foorth the children of God as a mother yeld dutifull honour to God as a spouse and fight the spirituall battailes of God as a valiant and faithfull army But the deuill the enemy of the chosen woman in nature a Satan in subtletie a serpent in fiercenes a dragon which furiously pursueth the woman her seede soweth rares among the wheate in the field of the Lord that is to say he mingleth his souldiors with the souldiours of God in the campe and amongst the godly he foysteth in hypocrites that they being felow-souldiors in shew but traitours in déede may corrupt the army And him selfe prouoketh the faithfull to reuolt from God by all his practises open and secret force and fraude some time by fyer and sword of tyrantes some time by baites of pleasures and wealth some time by the pretense of religion and charitie By the which meanes he procureth often partly through the craft and cunning of hypocrites chiefly when they are made captaines of some band partly through the frailtie and infirmitie of the elect whom flesh and blood doo weaken that the church which is billed to the warfare of Christ knoweth not or careth not for the trade of warfare and serueth perhaps vnder her captaines banner but retchlessely and loosely perhaps is betrayed to the enemy by her watchmen while either they doo fall a sleepe or deale falsely And so commeth that to passe at the length which the Prophets lament in the church of the Iewes too many churches since Christes time haue felt that the church which should be a mother is a stepmother shée whose faith is plight to Christ becometh an adulteresse bands of souldiers breaking their promise yea their oth doo rebell against the Highest So the churches of Galatia when they had beléeued the Gospell of Christ and their names were billed by their owne consent to serue in his warres were remoued away by such as troubled them to an other Gospell So S. Paul feareth for the Church of Corinth least as the serpent beguiled Eue through his suttletie so their minds should be corrupted and seduced from the simplicitie that is in Christ. So Christ him selfe teacheth vs that the church of Pergamus was stayned with the filth of the Nicolaitans that the church of Laodicea was blind naked luke-warme neither hot nor cold that the church of Sardis was in part dead in part readie to dye though aliue in part The assemblies therefore of the churches militant called visible churches which doo containe the good togither with the bad the chosen with the reprobate the faithfull with the treacherous the holy with the hypocrites chaffe with corne tares with wheate wooden and earthen vessels with vessels of gold and siluer some of them for honour and some vnto dishonour I say these visible churches may doo their dutie faintly may leaue it altogither vndoon may be discharged of their oth and dismissed from souldiers seruice they may be sicke of lesser diseases and infirmities they may be of a deadly pestilence they may lose the spirit of Christ and so dye Furthermore to make it easier to be séene what churches ought to be accounted dead what churches sicke what churches whole and sound we haue to consider the causes of death of sicknesse and of health The causes of these things do come in mens bodies as Physicians teach partly from the seede that wee are begotten of partly from the foode wherewith wee are nourished Whereof the one appeereth in sicknesse and diseases that come by inheritance such as are deriued from the parents to the children the other as it hath a great force in all men so experience sheweth that it hath greatest force in armies For the souldiors who serued Marcus Antonius being faine to eate rootes for want of corne fell vpon an herb which brought them first to madnesse and afterward to death and Vegetius a writer of the trade of warfare geuing charge that souldiers drinke not of marish waters saith that naughty water is like vnto poyson and doth breede the plague in them who drinke of it Not vnlike is the case of spirituall death diseases and health in the bodies of Churches For they doo either liue in pâ—rfit good health or fall into sicknes or come to their death according to the nature of their seede and foode Now the seede whereof and foode with the which they are wont and ought to be begotten anew and nourished is the word of God as S. Peter witnesseth preached by the seruants and ministers of Christ. Therefore in what Churches the ministers doo preach the word of God pure sincere and vncorrupt that it may bréede good iuyce and blood in them through the inward woorking of the holy Ghost those churches must we count to be â—ound and whole some of them
indeede more sound then other some according as the word is more purely preaâ—â—ed and the spirit worketh more effectually but all of them sound But where the word of God either is not preached so that there groweth a famine or is preached corruptly mixt with mans word as it were with leauen or darnell or poyson as they who receiue no foode are like to dye through hunger such as eate bread made of corne and â—â—rnel doo fall into a light frenâ—â—â— so must we néedes iudge that churches whose foode is either none or naught are apt to diseases and neere to their deathe For Amos declareth that men are cast away through want of the word in that he telleth Israel that God will send a famine and a thirst of hearing the word of the Lord which when they shall seeke for to and fro and finde no where it shall come to passe that virgins and young men shall faint with thirst and fall and neuer rise againe Now that the corruption of the worde doth hurt too the Apostle noteth in aduertising Timothee that they who teach other doctrine and consent not to the wholesome wordes of Christ and to the doctrine which is according to godlines are sick and do dote about noysome folies which edifie not to godly faith in so muâ—h that their word doth fret as a kinde of canker which hauing taken hold of one part of the body doth eate out the next partes by litle litle vntill the whole body at last be cleane consumed Which if it come to passe as it must of necessitie vnlesse the better remedy be spéedily prouided for healing of the body that which was a body doth become a carkasse and is no longer a church it is left destitute of the spirit of God which is the soule thereof and of the soules instrument that is the word of God And this death is threatned by Christ to the Iewes in the old church refusing him their Messias therefore shal the kingdome of God be taken from you and geuen to a nation which shall bring foorth the fruites of it and in the new church to the EphesiaÌ„s hauing left their first loue I wil come against thee shortly wil remoue thy candlestick out of his place except thou amend Which two things foretold by our sauiour Christ were fulfilled in the destruction of the two churches of the church of the Iewes within a few yeares when the gospel was remoued from them to the Gentiles of the church of Ephesus many ages after when hauing béen sick first of sundrie heresies it died a while ago of the plague of Mahomet Thus I haue declared as briefly as I could how particular churches are called members of the catholike how they are ordeyned to learn and practise Goâ—s seruice how the good in them are intermingled with the bad the godly with hypocrites finally what their health is what their diseases be and when they must be counted sound when vnsound Which pointes being marked my paines wil be the lesser in opening the Conclusion the two stemmes whereof on what rootes they grow you perceiue already The church of Rome is not the catholike church it is no sound member of the catholike church The church of Rome is not the catholike church What can be more cléere For the catholike church is the church vniuersall the church of Rome is particular So that in my iudgement the Papistes speake monstrously when they call the Romane church the catholike church and make them all one Some will say perhaps that when they call it catholike they meane it to be sound and of a right beleefe such as doth hold the catholike faith as the ciuil law doth terme the right beléeuers catholike Christians and the church of Afrike is named catholike by Cyprian Yet that is false too For they geue the title of catholike church of Rome that they may put into the heads of the vnskilfull that that is the church out of which there is no saluation But out of the church of Rome there haue beene saued innumerable shall be out of the catholike church not one But let it be graunted that they meane by catholike a church holding the right faith I deny that the church of Rome doth hold the right faith and that is the other part of my Conclusion it is no â—ound member of the catholike church Now when I deny it to be a sound member of the catholike church I meane not that it languisheth of a litle sicknes or disease not dangerous which may seeme rather to haue abated somewhat of exquisite health then haue bereft her of all health For as Galen teacheth of the health of the body that it hath a reasonable bredth as you would say and certaine degrees as it were of perfitnes that they who are able to go about their businesse and doo affaires of life are to be counted whole though they enioy not a most perfit health so in the health of churches I déeme there are certaine degrées of sinceritie that they who doo the functions of spirituall life reasonably well are to be counted â—ound although they attaine not to a most absolute soundnesse And for that cause as we iudge our owne churches to be sound although there remaine some distemper in them by the relikes of those diseases wherewith the contagion of the church of Rome had cast them downe so that they could not yet be recouered fully in like sort we iudge of the churches of Germanie which are troubled with the errour of consubstantiation as it were with the grudging of a litle ague if other wise they holde Christian faith and loue soundly and sincerely But the church of Rome is not distempered with a litle ague such as hindereth not the functions of life greatly but is sicke of a canker or rather of a leprosy or rather of a pestilence in so much that she is past hope of recouery vnlesse our Sauiour Christ the heauenly physician doo giue her wholesome medicins to purge her of pernicious humours And therefore I pronounce that the church of Rome is no sound member of the catholike church Which I will proue by two reasons the one of the causes the other of the effectes whereof from the one diseases doo arise in the other they shew them selues by them both they are surely proued I would to God I might discourse hereof at large according as the weightines of the thinges requireth But we must be content to doo as time wil license vs. You wil pardon me therefore I trust if I runne them ouer somewhat hastily and as they say touch and go I will hold out my finger toward the well head gesse you the lion by his pawes Concerning the causes which doo bréed diseases and sicknesse in the church it is as I haue touched already cléere and certaine that they are either the want of food of Gods word