sprinkling of the ashes of an Heifer The third terme typified by the Ceremoniall sinne is mans naturall corruption sinnes originall or actuall or sinne of what kind soeuer committed against the morall Law of God The fourth terme is the sacrifice by God appointed to purifie and clense vs from such sinnes and that was the bloody sacrifice of our Lord and Sauiour Christ whereof the legall sacrifices were types or shadowes So that the legall sacrifices had two vses or references the one expiatory for their offring did expiate sins meerly ceremoniall the other sacramentall or prefiguratiue for they did picture out or represent the eternall sacrifice whereby our redemption was fully wrought as the Apostle proues at large in the 10. chapter to the Hebrewes His argument in this place is in effect thus The same efficacie which sacrifices meerly legall offred by the Priest had in cleansing men from sinnes meerly ceremoniall as from touching of the dead or some creeping thing c. the same but much greater efficacy hath the blood of Christ being offred by the eternall Spirit that is by the Godhead personally dwelling in him to cleanse vs from all sinnes against the morall Law of God and to purifie vs from such dead workes as not expiated by his blood would bring forth euerlasting death Now the Apostle takes it as granted that the legall sacrifices did not onely sufficiently cleanse men from such sinnes but withall did legally sanctifie them and so in like manner Christs blood was not onely the full price of our redemption but is withall the fountaine of our sanctification by which we are qualified for admission into the heauenly Sanctuary 4 The first originall of the Iewes hypocrifie and malice was their ignorance in the law of Moses for they thought these legall sacrifices were sufficient to clense them from all sins whatsoeuer And if such sacrifices could haue freed from sinne the Iew had beene most free from sin of any people liuing Most of those that presecured our Sauiour Christ might be as S. Paul was whilest he was a persecutor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without staine or blot in respect of the righteousnesse which is of the Law Phil. 3.6 In presumption of this their integrity with reference to the Law of Ceremonies of their being Abrahams sons not by Agar but by Sarah the better sort of the worser Iewes scorned to heare of being set free by the truth it selfe which they in part beleeued If ye continue in my word then are you my disciples indeed And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free They answered him We be Abrahams seed and were neuer in bondage to any man how saiest thou Ye shall be made free But our Sauiour tells them In as much as they committed sinne they were the seruants of sin being servants they were in the same case with Agar and her son for the seruant abideth not in the house for euer If the son therefore shall make you free yee shall be free indeed Iohn 8. vers 31 32 33 34 35 36. Thus you see that the Apostle Gal. 4. v. 18. c. did teach no other thing thā our Sauiour here doth These Iewes by relying vpon the prerogatiues of the Law became as sons of the bondwoman remaining still slaues to sin Others by adhering to the new Testament which the Son of God ratified by his blood became sons of the freewomā or as this Euangelist elsewhere speaks the sons of God How exactly the present visible Romish Church doth parallel Agar and the Ierusalem which thē was when our Sauiour and S. Paul thus wrote and spake shall by Gods assistance be declared hereafter Let vs now see how ill that Church doth parallel Noahs Arke CHAP. XII The Allegorie or Argument of proportion drawne from Noahs Arke explicated according to the former rules and retorted vpon the Romanist 1 FRom these and the like Arguments drawne from the types to their antitypes we are for conclusion to frame the Argument drawn from Noahs Arke after another fashion and to a better end then the Romanist doth The termes of proportion in this argument are conspicuous First Noah secondly his Arke thirdly the meanes of safety from the flood by his Arke Termes to these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are first Christ 2. his Church and 3. the saluation of such as enter into his Church First to parallel Noah and Christ in some few points The Lord said vnto Noah Gen. 7. ver 1. Thee haue I found righteous before mee in this generation that is as the Apostle saith of Abraham hee had whereof to boast with men but not with God He was righteous not only coram hominibus but prae hominibus coram Deo more righteous than any other man liuing euen in the sight iudgmēt of God yet not perfectly righteous in the sight of God This was Christs peculiar in whō that which was in some measure or cōparatiuely verified in Noah was exactly fulfilled for he onely amongst all the Generations of men was altogether pure and righteous before God Againe Noah was a Preacher of righteousnesse and extraordinarily qualified for this function by the spirit of Christ So much that place of S. Peter proueth in his 1. Epistle 3. chapter verse 18 19 20. For Christ also hath once suffered for sinnes the iust for the vniust that hee might bring vs to God being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the Spirit By which also he went and preached vnto the spirits in prison which sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffring of God waited in the dayes of Noah while the Arke was a preparing Yet Noah had but his portion though a large one of the Spirit sed Christo Deus non admetitur spiritum God giueth not the Spirit by measure to Christ Ioh. 3. verse 34. He spake but the word and great was the number of Preachers and from his inexhaustible fulnesse wee all receiued grace for grace 2 Againe Noah built an Arke by Gods appointment for the safetie of all such as were obedient to his preaching into which whosoeuer would not enter was destroyed by the Floud for disobedience to his preaching All this was fulfilled of the Church which Christ builded for whosoeuer doth not enter into it shall be deuoured by the euerlasting flames for disobedience to this authentique Preacher of righteousnesse The issue then betweene vs and the Romanists is vnto what Church Noahs Arke answers as a figure to the visible Romish Church or onely to the Church before defined which is one Holy and Catholike Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wee say of this later onely not of any visible Church saue onely so farre as it is an introduction to this Church Our reason is this Although it be true that none of the sonnes of men besides such as entred into Noahs Arke were saued from the deluge yet is not this negatiue more vnquestionably true then the affirmatiue That
Church visible or representatiue did first incroach vpon the royall Attributes of the holy Catholike and Apostolike Church For what causes Christians may separate thewselues or suffer themselues to be separated from any visible Church whereof they were sometimes members 111 15. That our Forefathers separation from the Romish Church was most lawfull and iust both in respect of Prince and State and in respect of euery priuate person which feared God or sought to retaine the holy Catholike and Apostolike Faith 118 SECTION III. The visible Church of England retaines the holy Catholike faith which the Romish Church hath defiled 16. That our Chvrch was in the Romish Church before Luthers time and yet in it neither as a visible Church altogether distinct from it nor as any natiue member of it 139 17. That men may be visible members of the holy Catholike and Apostolike Church and yet no actuall members of any present visible Church 149 18. In what sense it may bee granted that the visible Romish Church at the time of our forefathers separation from it was a true Church and yet withall the Synagogue of Sathan the seate of Antichrist and common sinke of heresies 160 19 Whether our Forefathers in separating themselues or suffering themselues to be separated from the Romish Church did any otherwise then Gods Prophets or our Sauiours Disciples had their case and opportunity beene the same would haue done 170 20. Whether the name Catholike can in good earnest bee pleaded or pretended for an vnseparable marke of the true visible Church 21. That the title of Catholike is proper and essentiall vnto the faith professed by the present visible Church of England but cannot truely be attributed to the Faith or Creede of the moderne visible Romish Church 180 22. Of the adinuentions or new Articles added to the Creede by the Romish Church by which shee hath defiled the Holy Catholike and Apostolike faith Of the difference betwixt the Church of Rome and the Church of England concerning the rule of faith What that ecclesiasticke tradition was which Vincentius Lirâ—nensis so much commendeth to what vse it serued in the ancient Councels 185 23. Of the agreement betweene the Enthusiast or some non-conformitants to the Church of England and the Romish Church concerning the manner how the Spirit of truth as they suppose doth lead men into all truth That the true sense of scripture is as determinable by light of reason and rules of art as the conclusions of any other sciences or faculties are A generall suruey of the depraued or more then hereticall or heathenish infidelity of the moderne Romish Church 195 Errata Page 80 lin penult for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A TREATISE of the Holy Catholique Faith and CHVRCH IN the Exposition of the Apostles Creed a worke vndertaken by me long agoe I did sequester foure points from the body of that intended worke now almost finished The first was the doctrine of the holy blessed Trinitie which I reserued for the last part of my labours to be set downe by way of prayer or Soliloquies as being an argument in my iudgement both then and now more fit for meditation then for controuersie or Scholasticke discourse The second point was the Article of the holy Catholike Church The Third the Communion of Saints The fourth the Forgiuenesse of sinnes Points which I knew not how to handle in that ranke and order as they are propounded vnto vs in the Creede without manifest interruption of my intended method which I indeauoured should be continuate each latter part immediately issuing out of the former Nor could I finde a commodious entrance into the Article of Christs comming to iudge as well the dead as the liuing before I had treated of the resurrection of the dead Nor could I finish what I had to say or what was to bee said concerning the last Iudgement it selfe without some explication of the sentence to be awarded and that is life euerlasting to all true beleeuers and euerlasting death to the disobedient and vnbeleeuers So then the articles of the holy Catholique Church of the Communion of Saints of the forgiuenesse of sinnes haue beene out of choice and intended method left altogether vntouched reserued for peculiar Treatises CHAP. I. That it is easier to oppose than to answer a Romanist in this Argument of the Church The Authors method for meeting with wrangling Sophismes FIrst then of the Holy Catholique Church An Argument fitting for these times being specially insisted vpon and inlarged by Priests and Iesuites to our preiudice they well perceiuing their intricate disputes and sophisticall discourses in this point to bee the only net which Peters pretended successors haue left them for catching silly vncatechized soules or for intangling men of deepe vnderstanding but of deeper discontent or dislike with their present Gouernours or Dispensers of preferment For vnto men either not misled by discontented passion or otherwise not vncapable of sound reason it might easily appear that there is no heresie at this day maintained in Christendome at least so generally which doth either so highly offend God and his Christ or so grieuousty disturb the publike peace of Christs Church or so desperately indaÌ„ger the soul of euery one that subscribes vnto it as this heresie concerning the transcendent Authoritie of the visible Romish Church Howbeit I must confesse it is a great deale easier to discouer their blasphemies refute their heresies to pittie the stupiditie of some or to deride the petulancie or rashnesse of others then to auoide the contrary errors into which some reformed Writers of good note haue fallen some through meere eagernesse of opposition others through weakenesse and want of Arts. And no maruell for there is nothing which sooner or faster leades Artists themselues into errour than identitie of names or words including in them diuersitie of significations or importances The diuers significations of one and the same word may be either equiuocall or analogicall or a medly of both Be the diuersitie of this or that kinde or of what kinde it may bee vntill the difference betwixt them be exactly notified or vnfolded by some commodious distinction or artificiall explication they are apt to bring forth seeds of such endlesse quarrels betwixt controuersie-writers as grounds and tenements not well bounded or suruaide alwaies breede betwixt greedy and wrangling neighbours As in the one case each man is prone to trespasse vpon his neighbours possession so in the other each seuerall signification or importance is alwaies incroaching vpon the attributes or prerogatiues which most properly appertaine to some other more prime and principall Now there is no word or terme vsed either in any scientificall morall or popular discourse which hath so many so much different significations or importances as the word Church hath whether we take it in the Greeke Latine or English For preuenting the inconueniences whereunto the multiplicity and diuersitie of its significations or
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vnto them Or as in a teeme or draught of Oxen such as are of the one side are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and with reference to them such as are on the other side are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as are in the same yoke are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Howeuer because Souldiers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is when they march in order hold iust distance and proportion one with another hence it is that in Aristotle and other good writers the seuerall tearmes of any iust proportion are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as two foure eight sixteene 5 The termini 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this Allegorie are not mount Agar but Agar Sarahs Handmaid and her ofspring and the Ierusalem which was in our Apostles time On the other side the termini 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to these or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 betwixt themselues were Sarah Abrahams wife her ofspring and the Ierusalem which was aboue As for Mount Agar or Sinai it is no formall part of the Allegorie no tearme at all in this proportion but onely collaterally or by way of metonymie interserted inasmuch as the old Testament which is one of the formall and primitiue tearmes in this Allegorie was giuen vpon this Mount the old Testament or Couenant it selfe and Ierusalem which then was cannot bee properly tearmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as making but one tearme and diffring onely as homo and rationale So the new Testament and the Ierusalem which is aboue make but one terme whereof the one is as the soule and quidditie the other as the body or compositum vnto which Sarah Abrahams wife is the terminus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnto this or like kindes of arguments drawne from proportion there is alwaies some Common Notion or prolepsis presupposed as a ground to support them The presupposed ground of this argument is that Abrahams family was a type yea more then a type of the militant Church the very roote of that coelestiall Vine which God hauing brought out of Egypt did plant in Iewry This presupposed our Apostles argument may be thus drawne The same proportion which Agar the Handmaid had to Sarah her Mistresse in Abrahams house the same proportion hath the old Testament to the New in the house of God the same proportion which Agars ofspring had to Sarahs the same proportion had the Children of the Law that is the Ierusalem which then was vnto the Ierusalem which is aboue that is to the children of the Gospell or sonnes of promise Now Hagar was sometime a visible and principall member of Abrahams family a kind of second wife to Abraham and Ismael her sonne was for a while Abrahams presumed heire yet after Agar did begin to despise and contest with her Mistresse Sarah and Ismael to flout or persecute Isaac Abrahams heire apparant and Sonne of promise both Mother and Sonne were cast out of Abrahams house and depriued of all hope of inheritance in the land of promise Sarah bearing the type of the true visible Church then on earth did pronounce that sentence of excommunication against them Cast out the Bond-woman and her Son Gen. 21.10 and God ratifying in heauen what shee had bound on earth inioynes Abraham to put her sentence in execution Gen. 21. verse 12. The Couenant likewise which God made with this people vpon Hagar or mount Sinai was as the betrothing of Israel vnto himselfe The Law of Moses whilest it was lawfully vsed was the onely Catechisme or Introduction without which there was no entrance into the Church of God The children of this Couenant did by vertue of it become haeredes praesumpti the presumed heires or children of God 6 But when this deputed or nursing-mother came once to contest with the true Spouse of Christ with the new Testament or Gospell and after her children the Ierusalem which then was began to persecute the children of the Ierusalem which is aboue the mother with her children that is the Law with such as sought to be vnder it were cast out of the true visible Church of God by the Apostles vnto whom our Sauiour had committed the keyes of the Kingdome of heauen There is a speciall Emphasis in that speech of the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is not all one as if he had said the earthly Ierusalem which had continued from Dauids time till Christ but not the same for condition in our Sauiours time as it was in Dauids For it now stood in such opposition to the Gospell as Hagar did to her Mistresse Sarah at the time when she and her Sonne committed those misdemeanours for which both of them were cast out of Abrahams house The Ierusalem which was on earth was sometimes or in some part rather a consort than an opposite or aduersarie to the Ierusalem which was aboue So was the old Testament or the Law and all such as lawfully vsed it rather subordinate allies then foes or aduersaries to the new Testament or heires of promise The occasion which Agar tooke to despise her Mistresse was her barrennesse but the Lord tooke occasion from Agars contempt and scorne to visit Sarah as afterwards he did Hannah with mercy in the middest of griefe and gaue her strength to conceiue seede and she was deliuered of a childe when shee was past age because she iudged him faithfull who had promised Therefore sprang there euen of one and him as good as dead so many as the starres of the skie in multitude and as the sand which is by the Sea shore innumerable Heb. 11. vers 11 12. Nor was Abraham onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as good as dead in respect of procreation but Isaac in whom his seed was to bee called was by him destined to death and in figure or token of the resurrection receiued to life againe before hee became the Father of the glorious ofspring which God had promised to Abraham 7 In like manner the present Ierusalem or Synagogue did deride the new Ierusalem when it first came downe from heauen to abide with men on earth and flouted the promised seede euen whilest they persecuted him to death more bitterly then Ismael had done Isaac He saued others himselfe he cannot saue Thus they did and thus they said not remembring that what had beene said to Abraham and done to Isaac was to be fulfilled in Christ therfore he was not onely to be as good as dead or destinated to death as Isaac was but to tast of death before his glorious seed came to bee multiplied as the starres of heauen Thus much besides the body or embleme exhibited in Isaac was expresly foretold by the Evangelicall Prophet When thou shalt make his soule an offring for sinne he shall see his seed he shall prolong his dayes and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand Hee shall see of the trauell of his soule and shall be satisfied But that which serues best for setting out the
though God wot vpon most dislike occasions in as great execration as those whom the ancient Fathers excommunicated 2 A notable instance to iustifie this assertion wee haue in the seuenth Synod or second Nicene Councell The point in debate was whether such Prelates and other Ministers as had fauoured the Eiconaclastae and withstood the worshipping of Images were to be receiued againe into the Church and to be restored to their dignitie vpon their submission The bookes being produced by which it did appeare that Athanasius Cyrill and other ancient Pillars of the orthodoxall Church had receiued notorious heretikes into their fauour and communion againe a Bishop of the Prouince of Sicilia learnedly puts in this exception or caueat The Canons of the blessed Fathers which hitherto haue beene produced were enacted against the Nouatians the Encratists and Arians But as for the Masters of this present heresie in what ranke shall wee place them Vpon which a Deacon of the same Church and Prouince propounds this question Whether is this new sprung heresie greater or lesse then those heresies which haue beene before it To all which the great Herod of Constantinople Tharasius being reconciled quoad haec to the Romane Pilate Pope Adrian makes this learned answer Euill is alwaies the same alwaies equall This is true saith Epiphanius the venerable Deacon of the most holy Church of Catanes Vicar or Deputie for the most blessed Thomas Archbishop of Sardinia but especially true in causes ecclesiasticall or matters concerning the Church from whose decrees to swarue in matters great or small is all one seeing the diuine Law is violated in both cases And after him one Iohn a venerable Monke Vicegerent for the orientall thrones as if his part had beene to act the Parasite in the Comedie and to turne magnas into ingentes gaue this verdict This heresie is worse then all other heresies and of all euils the very worst c. But was this great Patriarch Tharasius so stoically senslesse as not to be offended with this illiterate rough-shod Asse that thus would claw him like a Spannell For if this heresie were worse then all other heresies or the worst of euils the most excellently illiterate Patriarch and the venerable Deacon were grosly ouerseene in their sentence That all errours or heresies in matters ecclesiastike were equall Or will any Christian be so senselesly partiall as to thinke that this illiterate factious Councell could be Prophets or Doctors infallible in their conclusions when they bewray themselues to be grosse heretikes or more then heathenish Stoicks in the premisses that Malum semper est idem aequale that euill is alwaies the same alwaies equall Thus by the selfe same stroke of Authority by which this Councell did de facto thrust all other out of the visible Church that would not worship Images they haue declared themselues to be excommunicated de iure from the holy Catholike Church 3 In this assertion the ancient Fathers vnanimously accord that defection or swaruing from the Catholike Faith doth exclude men from the Catholike Church and by consequence from saluation but about the extent or precise limits of holy Catholike faith or about the exact list of Articles to be beleeued their concord is not so generall What particular opinions did induce or argue a defection frō Catholike faith or diuorce from the Catholike Church was neuer consented vpon by the ancient Fathers nor could their ioynt authoritie in this case be so great as in the former The latter ages of such as in respect of vs are ancient are in this point various and superstitious But of the vse effects or iust causes of excōmunication we shall haue occasion to speak more particularly hereafter The rules most pertinēt to our present busines which serue as an entry to the main controuersie betwixt vs the Romanists are two 4 The former immediately concernes Prelates or Church Gouernours They are alwaies to remember that this power is giuen them not for destruction or to shew their owne greatnesse but for the edification of others and therefore neuer to be vsed but vpon speciall and weighty occasions Hee that strikes fiercely with his spirituall sword at feathers doth alwaies either wound himselfe or wrest his arme neither is it safe to measure the iustice of Prelates proceedings by the euent or to collect that God doth approue their sentence because the partie sentenced by them may often come to a wofull or feareful end They may dye in their sinnes and Gods iustice may be manifest in the manner of their death and yet for all this their blood may bee required at their hands which did thus rule them with a rod of iron or feede them as the Apostle sayes with the sword when they should haue nourished them with the milke of the Gospell or at least haue vsed salutari seueritate wholesome seueritie towards them The second caueat concernes priuate men and it is that they be more vnwilling to separate themselues from the visible Church then to be cut off from the common-wealth wherein they liue The occasions of voluntary separation ought to be more weighty and hainous in respect of the parties from whom they voluntarily separate themselues then are the causes of excommunication for which inferiours are violently yet iustly separated from the Church by their Gouernours Cato as one saith could not haue committed so hainous a murther by killing another man as by killing himselfe for I thinke it had scarce beene possible for him to haue killed any Romane that had lesse deserued death than himselfe did yet not in this respect onely but simply and absolutely it was a greater sinne in him and is more vnlawfull for any man to kill himselfe then to kill another The rule is as true in this point of spirituall murther that is of vnlawfull separation actiue or passiue from the visible Church Though it be a grieuous sinne in Gouernours to depriue their inferiours of all communion with the visible Church vpon light and vnnecessarie occasions yet it is a greater sinne in inferiours to depriue themselues of the same communion vpon the same or like occasions especially if they bee not certaine elsewhere to inioy the like or equiualent cōmunion without disturbance Such as intend a separation must alwaies respect as well terminum ad quem as terminum à quo whom they goe to as from whom they depart It is a motto better befitting Christians in violent persecutions by heathens then in voluntary separation from Christian Churches Quos fugiam habeo quo fugiam non habeo I know from whom I flye but whither to flye I know not To forsake the Church wherein wee haue beene baptized for the foule abuses that wee know by experience to bee committed in it before we be certaine in what other Church we may be admitted in which there is not in some kinde or other the like or worse abuses or more vnsufferable grieuances were as