the Sacred Authority of Scriptures ever sithence the first publication thereof even till this present day and hour And that they all have always so testified I see not how we should possibly wish a proof more palpable than this manifest received and every where continued Custom of Reading them publickly as the Scriptures The Reading therefore of the Word of God as the use hath ever been in open Audience is the plainest evidence we have of the Churches assent and acknowledgement that it is his Word 3. A further commodity this Custom hath which is to furnish the very simplest and rudest sort with such infallible Axioms and Precepts of Sacred Truth delivered even in the very letter of the Law of God as may serve them for Rules whereby to judge the better all other Doctrins and Instructions which they hear For which end and purpose I see not how the Scripture could be possibly made familiar unto all unless far more should be read in the Peoples hearing than by a Sermon can be opened For whereas in a manner the whole Book of God is by reading every year published a small part thereof in comparison of the whole may hold very well the readiest Interpreter of Scripture occupied many years 4. Besides wherefore should any man think but that Reading it self is one of the ordinary means whereby it pleaseth God of his gracious goodness to instill that Celestial Verity which being but so received is nevertheless effectual to save Souls Thus much therefore we ascribe to the Reading of the Word of God as the manner is in our Churches And because it were odious if they on their part should altogether despise the same they yield that Reading may set forward but not begin the work of Salvation That Faith may be nourished therewith but not bred That herein mens attention to the Scriptures and their speculation of the Creatures of God have like efficacy both being of power to augment but neither to effect Belief without Sermons That if any believe by Reading alone we are to account it a miracle an extraordinary work of God Wherein that which they grant we gladly accept at their hands and with that patiently they would examine how little cause they have to deny that which as yet they grant not The Scripture witnesseth that when the Book of the Law of God had been sometime missing and was after found the King which heard it but only read tare his Cloaths and with tears confessed Great is the wrath of the Lord upon us because our Fathers have notâ— kept his Word to do after all things which are written in this Book This doth argue that by bare reading for of Sermons at that time there is no mention true Repentance may be wrought in the hearts of such as fear God and yet incurr his displeasure the deserved effect whereof is Eternal death So that their Repentance although it be not their first entrance is notwithstanding the first step of their re-entrance into Life and may be in them wrought by the Word only read unto them Besides it seemeth that God would have no man stand in doubt but that the reading of Scripture is effectual as well to lay even the first foundation as to adde degrees of farther perfection in the fear of God And therefore the Law saith Thou shalt read this Law before all Israel that Men Women and Children may hear yea even that their Children which as yet have not known it may hear it and by hearing it so read may learn to fear the Lord. Our Lord and Saviour was himself of opinion That they which would not be drawn to amendment of Life by the Testimony which Moses and the Prophets have given concerning the miseries that follow Sinners after death were not likely to be perswaded by other means although God from the very Dead should have raised them up Preachers Many hear the Books of God and believe them not Howbeit their unbelief in that case we may not impute unto any weakness or insufficiency in the mean which is used towards them but to the wilful bent of their obstinate hearts against it With mindes obdurate nothing prevaileth As well they that preach as they that read unto such shall still have cause to complain with the Prophets which were of old Who will give credit unto our Teaching But with whom ordinary means will prevail surely the power of the World of God even without the help of Interpreters in God's Church worketh mightily not unto their confirmation alone which are converted but also to their conversion which are not It shall not boot them who derogate from reading to excuse it when they see no other remedy as if their intent were only to deny that Aliens and Strangers from the Family of God are won or that Belief doth use to be wrought at the first in them without Sermons For they know it is our Custom of simple Reading not for conversion of Infidels estranged from the House of God but for instruction of Men baptised bred and brought up in the bosom of the Church which they despise as a thing uneffectual to save such Souls In such they imagine that God hath no ordinary mean to work Faith without Sermons The reason why no man can attain Belief by the bare contemplation of Heaven and Earth is for that they neither are sufficient to give us as much as the least spark of Light concerning the very principal Mysteries of our Faith and whatsoever we may learn by them the same we can only attain to know according to the manner of natural Sciences which meer discourse of Wit and Reason findeth out whereas the things which we properly believe be only such as are received upon the credit of Divine Testimony Seeing therefore that he which considereth the Creatures of God findeth therein both these defects and neither the one nor the other in Scriptures because he that readeth unto us the Scriptures delivereth all the Mysteries of Faith and not any thing amongst them all more than the mouth of the Lord doth warrant It followeth in those own respects that our consideration of Creatures and attention unto Scriptures are not in themselves and without-Sermons things of like disability to breed or beget Faith Small cause also there is why any man should greatly wonder as at an extraordinary work if without Sermons Reading be sound to effect thus much For I would know by some special instance what one Article of Christian Faith or what duty required unto all mens Salvation there is which the very reading of the Word of God is not apt to notifie Effects are miraculous and strange when they grow by unlikely means But did we ever hear it accounted for a Wonder that he which doth read should believe and live according to the will of Almighty God Reading doth convey to the Minde that Truth without addition or diminution which Scripture hath derived from
were at their Coronation so you also were sworn before all the Nobility and Bishops then present and in the presence of God and in his stead to him that anointed you to maintain the Church Lands and the rights belonging to it and this testified openly at the holy Altar by laying your Hands on the Bible then lying upon it And not only Magna Charta but many Modern Statutes have denounced a Curse upon those that break Magna Charta And now what account can be given for the breach of this Oath at the last Great Day either by your Majesty or by me if it be wilfully or but negligently violated I know not And therefore good Madam let not the late Lords Exceptions against the failings of some few Clergie-men prevail with you to punish Posterity for the Errors of this present Age let particular Men suffer for their particular Errors but let God and his Church have their right And though I pretend not to prophesy yet I big Posterity to take notice of what is already become visible in many Families That Church-land added to an ancient Inheritance hath proved like a Moth fretting a Garment and secretly consumed both Or like the Eagle that stole a Coal from the Altar and thereby set her Nest on fire which consumed both her young Eagles and her self that stole it And though I shall forbear to speak reproachfully of your Father yet I beg you to take notice that a part of the Churches Rights added to the vast Treasure left him by his Father hath been conceived to bring an unavoidable Consumption upon both notwithstanding all his diligence to preserve it And consider that after the violation of those Laws to which he had sworn in Magna Charta God did so far deny him his Restraining Grace that be fell into greater sins then I am willing to mention Madam Religion is the Foundation and Cement of Humane Societies And when they that serve at Gods Altar shall be exposed to Poverty then Religion it self will be exposed to scorn and become contemptible as you may already observe in too many poor Vicaridges in this Nation And therefore as you are by a late Act or Acts entrusted with a great Power to preserve or waste the Churches Lands yet dispose of them for Iesus sake as the Donors intended Let neither falshood nor flattery beguile you to do otherwise and put a stop I beseech you to the approaching ruines of Gods Church as you expect comfort at the last great day For Kings must be judged Pardon this affectionate plainness my most dear Soveraign and let me beg to be still continued in your Favor and the Lord still continue you in his The Queens patient hearing this affectionate Speech and Her future care to preserve the Churches Rights which till then had been neglected may appear a fair Testimony that he made Hers and the Churches good the cheifest of his cares and that She also thought so And of this there were such daily Testimonies given as begot betwixt them so mutual a joy and confidence that they seemed born to believe and do good to each other She not doubting his Piety to be more then all his opposers which were many and those powerful too nor his Prudence equal to the cheifest of Her Council who were then as remarkable for active Wisdom as those dangerous times did require or this Nation did everenjoy And in this condition he continued Twenty years in which time he saw some flowings but many more ebbings of Her Favor towards all men that opposed him especially the Earl of Leicester So that God seemed still to keep him in Her Favor that he might preserve the remaining Church Lands and Immunities from Sacrilegious Alienations And this good man deserved all the honor and power with which She trusted him for he was a pious man and naturally of Noble and Grateful Principles He eased Her of all Her Church cares by his wise menage of them he gave Her faithful and prudent Counsels in all the extremities and dangers of Her Temporal Affairs which were very many he lived to be the cheif comfort of Her life in Her declining age to be then most frequently with Her and Her assistant at Her private Devotions to be the greatest comfort of Her Soul upon Her Death-bed to be present at the expiration of Her last breath and to behold the closing of those eyes that had long looked upon him with reverence and affection And let this also be added That he was the chief Mourner at Her sad Funeral nor let this be forgotten that within a few hours after Her death he was the happy Proclaimer that King Iames Her Peaceful Successor was Heir to the Crown Let me beg of my Reader that he allow me to say a little and but a little more of this good Bishop and I shall then presently lead him back to Mr. Hooker and because I would hasten I will mention but one part of the Bishops Charity and Humility but this of both He built a large Alms-house near to his own Palace at Croydon in Surrey and endowed it with maintenance for a Master and Twenty eight poor Men and Women which he visited so often that he knew their names and dispositions and was so truly humble that he called them Brothers and Sisters And whensoever the Queen descended to that lowliness to dine with him at his Palace in Lambeth which was very often he would usually the next day shew the like lowliness to his poor Brothers and Sisters at Croydon and dine with them at his Hospital at which time you may believe there was joy at the Table And at this place he built also a fair Free-School with a good accommodation and maintenance for the Master and Scholars Which gave just occasion for Boyse Sisi then Ambassador for the French King and Resident here at the Bishops death to say The Bishop had published many Learned Books but a Free-School to train up Youth and an Hospital to lodge and maintain aged and poor People were the best evidences of Christian Learning that a Bishop could leave to Posterity This good Bishop lived to see King Iames settled in Peace and then fell sick at Lambeth of which the King having notice went to visit him and found him in his Bed in a declining condition and very weak and after some short discourse the King assured him He had a great affection for him and high value for his Prudence and Vertues which were so useful for the Church that he would earnestly beg his life of God To which he replied Pro Ecclesi◠Dei Pro Ecclesiâ Dei Which were the last words he ever spake therein testifying That as in his Life so at his Death his chiefest care was of Gods Church This Iohn Whitgift was made Archbishop in the Year One thousand five hundred eighty and three In which busie place he continued Twenty years and some moneths and in which time you may
believe he had many Tryals of his Courage and Patience but his Motto was Vincit qui Patitur And he made it good Many of his many Tryals were occasioned by the then powerful Earl of Leicester who did still but secretly raise and cherish a Faction of Non-conformists to oppose him especially one Thomas Cartwright a Man of noted Learning sometime Contemporary with the Bishop in Cambridge and of the same Colledge of which the Bishop had been Master In which place there began some Emulations the particulars I forbear and at last open and high oppositions betwixt them and in which you may believe Mr. Cartwright was most faulty if his Expulsion out of the University can incline you to it And in this discontent after the Earls death which was One thousand five hundred eighty and eight Mr. Cartwright appeared a cheif Cherisher of a Party that were for the Geneva Church-Government and to effect it he ran himself into many dangers both of Liberty and Life appearing at last to justifie himself and his Party in many Remonstrances which he caused to be Printed and to which the Bishop made a first Answer and Cartwright Replied upon him and then the Bishop having rejoyned to his Reply Mr. Cartwright either was or was perswaded to be satisfied for he wrote no more but left the Reader to be judge which had maintained their Cause with most Charity and Reason After some silence Mr. Cartwright received from the Bishop many Personal Favors and retired himself to a more Private Living which was at Warwick where he was made Master of an Hospital and lived quietly and grew rich and where the Bishop gave him a Licence to Preach upon promise not to meddle with Controversies but incline his hearers to Piety and Moderation And this promise he kept during his life which ended One thousand six hundred and two the Bishop surviving him but one year each ending his days in perfect charity with the other And now after this long digression made for the information of my Reader concerning what follows I bring him back to venerable Mr. Hooker where we left him in the Temple and where we shall finde him as deeply engaged in a Controversie with Walter Travers a Friend and Favorite of Mr. Cartwrights as the Bishop had ever been with Mr. Cartwright himself and of which I shall proceed to give this following account And first this That though the Pens of Mr. Cartwright and the Bishop were now at rest yet there was sprung up a new Generation of restless Men that by Company and Clamors became possest of a Faith which they ought to have kept to themselves but could not Men that were become positive in asserting That a Papist cannot be saved Insomuch that about this time at the Execution of the Queen of Scots the Bishop that Preached Her Funeral Sermon which was Dr. Howland then Bishop of Peterborough was reviled for not being positive for Her Damnation And beside this boldness of their becoming Gods so far as to set limits to his Mercies there was not onely Martin Mar-Prelate but other venemous Books daily Printed and dispersed Books that were so absurd and scurrilous that the Graver Divines disdained them an Answer And yet these were grown into high esteem with the common people till Tom Nash appeared against them all who was a man of a sharp wit and the master of a scoffing Satyrical merry Pen which he imployed to discover the absurdities of those blinde malicious sensless Pamphlets and Sermons as sensless as they Nash his Answers being like his Books which bore these Titles An Almond for Parroâ— A Fig for my God-son Come crack me this Nut and the like So that his merry Wit made such a discovery of their absurdities as which is strange he put a greater stop to these malicious Pamphlets then a much wiser-man had been able And now the Reader is to take notice That at the Death of Father Alay who was Master of the Temple this Walter Travers was Lecturer there for the Evening Sermons which he Preached with great approbation especially of the younger Gentlemen of that Society and for the most part approved by Mr. Hooker himself in the midst of their oppositions For he continued Lecturer a part of his time Mr. Travers being indeed a Man of competent Learning of a winning Behavior and of a blameless Life But he had taken Orders by the Presbytery in Antwerp and if in any thing he was transported it was in an extream desire to set up that Government in this Nation For the promoting of which he had a correspondence with Theodore Beza at Geneva and others in Scotland and was one of the cheifest assistants to Mr. Cartwright in that design Mr. Travers had also a particular hope to set up this Government in the Temple and to that end used his endeavors to be Master of it and his being disappointed by Mr. Hookers admittance proved some occasion of opposition betwixt them in their Sermons Many of which were concerning the Doctrine Discipline and Ceremonies of this Church insomuch that as St. Paul withstood St. Peter to his face so did they For as one hath pleasantly exprest it The Forenoon Sermon spake Canterbury and the Afternoons Geneva In these Sermons there was little of Bitterness but each party brought all the Reasons he was able to prove his Adversaries Opinion erroneous And thus it continued a long time till the oppositions became so high and the consequences so dangerous especially in that place That the prudent Archbishop put a stop to Mr. Travers his Preaching by a positive Prohibition against which Mr. Travers appealed and petitioned Her Majesty and Her Privy Council to have it recalled where he met with many assisting powerful Friends but they were not able to prevail with or against the Archbishop whom the Queen had intrusted with all Church Power and he had received so fair a Testimony of Mr. Hookers Principles and of his Learning and Moderation that he withstood all Sollicitations But the denying this Petition of Mr. Travers was unpleasant to divers of his party and the reasonableness of it became at last to be so magnified by them and many others as never to be answered So that intending the Bishops and Mr. Hookers disgrace they procured it to be privately Printed and scattered abroad and then Mr. Hooker was forced to appear as publickly and Print an Answer to it which he did and dedicated it to the Archbishop and it proved so full an Answer to have in it so much of clear Reason and writ with so much Meekness and Majesty of style that the Bishop began to wonder at the Man to rejoyce that he had appeared in his Cause and disdained not earnestly to beg his Friendship even a familiar Friendship with a Man of so much quiet Learnning and Humility To enumerate the many particular Points in which Mr. Hooker and Mr. Travers dissented all or most of which I have seen written
George Cranmer of whom I have spoken and shall have occasion to say more was one of the Witnesses to it One of his elder Daughters was married to one Chalinor sometime a Schoolmaster in Chichester both dead long since Margaret his youngest Daughter was married unto Ezekiel Chark Batchelor in Divinity and Rector of S. Nicholas in Harbledown near Canterbury whoâ— died about 16 years past and had a Son Ezekiel now living and in Sacred Orders being at this time Rector of Waldron in Sussex she left also a Daughter with both whom I have spoken not many months past and find her to be a widow in a condition that wants not but far from abounding and these two attested unto me that Richard Hooker their Grandfather had a Sister by name Elizabeth Harvey that liv'd to the Age of 121 years and died in the moneth of September 1663. For his other two Daughters I can learn little certainty but have heard they both died before they were Marriageable and for his Wife she was so unlike Iepthaes Daughter that she staid not a comely time to bewail her Widdow-hood nor liv'd long enough to repent her second Marriage for which doubtless she would have found cause if there had been but four months betwixt Mr. Hookers and her death But she is dead and let her other infirmities be buried with her Thus much briefly for his Age the year of his Death his Estate his Wife and his Children I am next to speak of his Books concerning which I shall have a necessity of being longer or shall neither do right to my self of my Reader which is chiefly intended in this Appendix I have declared in his Life that he proposed eight Books and that his first four were Printed Anno 1594. and his fifth Book first printed and alone Anno 1597. and that he liv'd to finish the remaining three of the proposed eight but whether we have the last three as finisht by himself is a just and Material Question concerning which I do declare That I have been told almost forty years past by one that very well knew Mr. Hooker and the affaires of his Family that about a moneth after the death of Mr. Hooker Bishop Whitgist then Archbishop of Canterbury sent one of his Chaplains to enquire of Mrs. Hooker for the three remaining Books of Polity writ by her Husband of which she would not or could not give any account and I have been told that about three moneths after the Bishop procured her to be sent for to London and then by his procurement she was to be examined by some of her Majesties Council concerning the disposal of those Books but by way of preparation for the next days examination the Bishop invited her to Lambeth and after some friendly questions she confessed to him that one Mr. Charke and another Minister that dwelt near Canterbury came to her and desired that they might go into her Husbands Study and look upon some of his Writings and that there they two burnt and tore many of them assuring her that they were writings not fit to be seen and that she knew nothing more concerning them Her lodging was then in Kingstreet in Westminster where she was sound next morning dead in her Bed and her new Husband suspected and questioned for it but was declared innocent of her Death And I declare also that Doctor Iohn Spencer mentioned in the Life of Mr. Hooker who was of Mr. Hookers Colledge and of his time there and betwixt whom there was so friendly a friendship that they continually advised together in all their Studies and particularly in what concern'd these Books of Polity this Doctor Spencer the three perfect Books being lost had delivered into his hands I think by Bishop Whitgift the imperfect Books or first rough draughts of them to be made as perfect as they might be by him who both knew Mr. Hookers hand-writing and was best acquainted with his intentions And a fair Testimony of this may appear by an Epistle first and usually printed before Mr. Hookers five Books but omitted I know not why in the last impression of the eight Printed together in Anno 1662. in which the Publishers seem to impose the three doubtful as the undoubted Books of Mr. Hooker with these two Letters I.S. at the end of the said Epistle which was meant for this Iohn Spencer in which Epistle the Reader may find these very words which may give some Authority to what I have here written And though Mr. Hooker hastened his own Death by hastening to give Life to his Books yet he held out with his eyes to behold these Benjamins these Sons of his right Hand though to him they prov'd Benonics Sons of pain and sorrow But some evil disposed minds whether of Malice or Covetousness or wicked blind Zeal it is uncertain as soon as they were born and their Fathers dead smother'd them and by conveying the perfect Copies left unto us nothing but the old imperfect mangled droughts dismembred into pieces no favour no grace not the shadow of themselves remaining in them had the Father lived to behold them thus defaced he might rightly have named them Benonies the Sons of Sorrow but being the learned will not suffer them to die and be buried it is intended the world shall see them as they are the learned will find in them some shadows and resemblances of their Fathers face God grant that as they were with their Brethren dedicated to the Church for messengers of Peace so in the strength of the little breath of Life that remaineth in them they may prosper in their work and that by satisfying the Doubts of such as are willing to learn they may help to give an end to the calamities of these our Civil Wars I. S. And next the Reader may note that this Epistle of Doctor Spencers was writ and first Printed within four years after the death of Mr. Hooker in which time all diligent search had been made for the perfect Copies and then granted not recoverable and therefore indeavoured to be compleated out of Mr. Hookers rough draughts as is exprest by the said Doctor Spencer since whose death it is now fifty years And I do profess by the Faith of a Christian that Doctor Spencers Wife who was my Aunt and Sister to George Cranmer of whom I have spoken told me forty years since in these or in words to this purpose that her Husband had made up or finisht Mr. Hookers last three Books and that upon her Husbands Death-bed or in his last sickness he gave them into her hand with a charge they should not be seen by any Man but be by her delivered into the hands of the then Archbishop of Canterbury which was Doctor Abbot or unto Doctor King Bishop of London and that she did as he injoyn'd her I do conceive that from Doctor Spencers and no other Copy there have been divers Transcripts and wereto be found in several places as namely
in Sir Thomas Bodlies Library in that of Doctor Andrews late Bishop of Winton in the late Lord Conwayes in the Archbishop of Canterburies and in the Bishop of Armaghs and in many others and most of these pretended to be the Authors own hand but much disagreeing being indeed altered and diminisht as Men have thought fittest to make Mr. Hookers Judgment suit with their Fancies or give authority to their corrupt designs and for proof of a part of this take these following testimonies Doctor Barnard sometime Chaplain to Doctor Usher late Lord Archbishop of Armagh hath declar'd in a late Book called Clavi Trabales Printed by Richard Hodgkinson Anno 1661. that in his search and examination of the said Bishops Manuscripts he there found the three written Books which were the supposed sixth seventh and eighth of Mr. Hookers Books of Ecclesiastical Polity and that in the said three Books now printed as Mr. Hookers there are so many Omissions that they amount to many Paragraphs and which cause many incoherencies the Omissions are by him set down at large in the said Printed Book to which I refer the Reader for the whole but think fit in this place to insert this following short part of them First as there could be in Natural Bodies no Motion of any thing unless there were some first which moved all things and continued Unmoveable even so in Politick Societies there must be some unpunishable or else no Man shall suffer punishment for sith punishments proceed always from Superiors to whom the administration of Iustice belongeth which administration must have necessarily a Fountain that deriveth it to all others and receiveth not from any because otherwise the course of Iustice should go infinitely in a Circle every Superiour having his Superiour without end which cannot be therefore a well spring it followeth there is a Supreme head of Iustice whereunto all are subject but it self in subjection to none Which kinde of Preheminency if some ought to have in a Kingdom who but the King shall have it Kings therefore or no man can have lawfull power to Iudge If Private men offend there is the Magistrate over them which Iudgeth if Magistrates they have their Prince if Princes there is Heaven a Tribunal before which they shall appear on Earth they are not accomptable to any Here says the Doctor it breaks off abruptly And I have these words also attested under the hand of Mr. Fabian Phillips a man of note for his useful Books I will make Oath if I shall be required that Doctor Sanderson the late Bishop of Lincoln did a little before his Death affirm to me he had seen a Manuscript affirmed to him to be the hand-writing of Mr. Richard Hooker in which there was no mention made of the King or Supreme Governors being accomptable to the People this I will make Oath that that good Man attested to me Fabian Phillips So that there appears to be both Omissions and Additions in the said last three printed Books and this may probably be one Reason why Doctor Sanderson the said Learned Bishop whose writings are so highly and justly valued gave a strict charge near the time of his Death or in his last Will that nothing of his that was not already Printed should be Printed after his Death It is well known how high a value our Learned King Iames put upon the Books writ by Mr. Hooker as also that our late King Charls the Martyr for the Church valued them the second of all Books testified by his commending them to the reading of his Son Charls that now is our Gratious King and you may suppose that this Charls the First was not a stranger to the pretended three Books because in a discourse with the Lord Say when the said Lord required the King to grant the truth of his Argument because it was the Judgement of Mr. Hooker quoting him in one of the three written Books the King replyed they were not allowed to be Mr Hookers Books but however he would allow them to be Mr. Hookers and consent to what his Lordship proposed to prove out of those doubtful Books if he would but consent to the Iudgment of Mr. Hooker in the other five that were the undoubted Books of Mr. Hooker In this Relation concerning these three doubtful Books of Mr. Hookers my purpose was to enquire then set down what I observ'd and know which I have done not as an engaged Person but indifferently and now leave my Reader to give Sentence for their Legitimation as to himself but so as to leave others the same Liberty of believing or disbelieving them to be Mr. Hookers and 't is observable that as Mr. Hooker advis'd with Doctor Spencer in the design and manage of these Books so also and chiefly with this dear Pupil George Cranmer whose Sister was the Wife of Doctor Spencer of which this following Letter may be a Testimony and doth also give authority to some things mentioned both in this Appendix and in the Life of Mr. Hooker and is therefore added GEORGE CRANMERS LETTER UNTO Mr. RICHARD HOOKER February 1598. WHat Posterity is likely to judge of these matters concerning Church Discipline we may the better conjecture if we call to mind what our own Age within few years upon better Experience hath already judged concerning the same It may be remembred that at first the greatest part of the Learned in the Land were either eagerly affected or favourably inclined that way The Books then written for the most part savoured of the Disciplinary Stile it sounded everywhere in Pulpits and in common phrase of mens speech the contrary part began to fear they had taken a wrong course many which impugned the Discipline yet so impugned it not as not being the better form of Government but as not being so convenient for our State in regard of dangerous Innovations thereby like to grow one man alone there was to speak of whom let no suspition of flattery deprive of his deserved Commendation wâ—o in the defiance of the one part and courage of the other stood in the gap and gave others respite to prepare themselves to the defence which by the sudden eagerness and violence of their Adversaries had otherwise been prevented wherein God hath made good unto him his own Impress Vincit qui patitur for what contumelious indignities he hath at their hands sustained the world is witness and what reward of Honour above his Adversaries God hath bestowed upon him themselves though nothing glad thereof must needs confess Now of late years the heat of men towards the Discipline is greatly decayed their Judgements begin to sway on the other side the Learned have weighed it and found it light wise men conceive some fear left it prove not only not the best kind of Government but the very bane and destruction of all Government The cause of this Change in Mens Opinions may be drawn from the general nature of Error disguised and
rest their manner was to term disdainfully Scribes and Pharisees to account their Calling an Humane Creature and to detain the people as much as might be from hearing them As touching Sacraments Baptism administred in the Church of Rome they judged to be but an execrable Mockery and no Baptism both because the Ministers thereof in the Papacy are wicked Idolaters lewd Persons Thieves and Murderers cursed Creatures ignorant Beasts and also for that to baptize is a proper action belonging unto none but the Church of Christ whereas Rome is Antichrists Synagogue The custom of using God-fathers and God-mothers at Christnings they scorned Baptism of Infants although confest by themselves to have been continued even sithence the very Apostles own times yet they altogether condemned partly because sundry errors are of no less antiquity and partly for that there is no Commandment in the Gospel of Christ which saith Baptize Infants but he contrariwise in saying Go Preach and Baptize doth appoint that the Minister of Baptism shall in that action first administer Doctrine and then Baptism as also in saying Whosoever doth believe and is baptized be appointeth that the party to whom Baptism is administred shall first believe and then be baptized to the end that Believing may go before this Sacrament in the Receiver no otherwise then Preaching in the Giver sith equally in both the Law of Christ declareth not onely what things are required but also in what order they are required The Eucharist they received pretending our Lord and Saviour example after Supper And for avoiding all those impieties which have been grounded upon the Mystical words of Christ This is my Body This is my Blood they thought it not safe to mention either Body or Blood in that Sacrament but rather to abrogate both and to use no words but these Take eat declare the death of our Lord. Drink shew forth our Lords death In Rites and Ceremonies their Profession was hatred of all Conformity with the Church of Rome For which cause they would rather endure any torment then observe the solemn Festivals which others did in as much as Antichrist they said was the first inventer of them The pretended end of their Civil Reformation was That Christ might have dominion over all that all Crowns and Scepters might be thrown down at his feet that no other might raign over Christian men but he no Regiment keep them in aw but his Discipline amongst them no Sword at all be carried besides his the Sword of Spiritual Excommunication For this cause they labored with all their might in over-turning the Seats of Magistracy because Christ hath said Kings of Nations in abolishing the execution Iustice because Christ hath said Resist not evil in forbidding Oaths the necessary means of Iudicial tryal because Christ hath said Swear not at all Finally in bringing in Community of Goods because Christ by his Apostles hath given the World such example to the end that men might excel one another not in Wealth the Pillar of Secular Authority but in Vertue These men at the first were onely pitied in their Error and not much withstood by any the great Humility Zeal and Devotion which appeared to be in them was in all mens opinion a pledge of their harmless meaning The hardest that men of sound understanding conceived of them was but this O quam honestâ voluntate miseri errant With how good a meaning these poor Souls do evil Luther made request unto Frederick Duke of Saxony that within his Dominion they might be favorably dealt with and spared for that their Error exempted they seemed otherwise right good men By means of which merciful Toleration they gathered strength much more then was safe for the State of the Commonwealth wherein they lived They had their secret Corner-meetings and Assemblies in the night the people flocked unto them by thousands The means whereby they both allured and retained so great multitudes were most effectual First A wonderful shew of zeal towards God wherewith they seemed to be even rapt in every thing they spake Secondly An hatred of sin and a singular love of integrity which men did think to be much more then ordinary in them by reason of the custom which they had to fill the ears of the people with Invectives against their authorized Guides as well Spiritual as Civil Thirdly The bountiful relief wherewith they eased the broken estate of such needy Creatures as were in that respcit the more apt to be drawn away Fourthly A tender compassion which they were thought to take upon the miseries of the common sort over whose heads their manner was even to pour down showres of tears in complaining that no respect was had unto them that their goods were devoured by wicked Cormorants their persons had in contempt all Liberty both Temporal and Spiritual taken from them that it was high time for God now to hear their groans and to send them deliverance Lastly A cunning slight which they had to stroke and smoothe up the mindes of their followers as well by appropriating unto them all the favorable Titles the good words and the gracious promises in Scripture as also by casting the contrary always on the heads of such as were severed from that retinue Whereupon the peoples common aeclamation unto such deceivers was These are verily the Men of God these are his true and sincere Prophets If any such Prophet or Man of God did suffer by order of Law condign and deserved punishment were it for Fellony Rebellion Murder or what else that people so strangely were their hearts inchanted as though Blessed St. Stephen had been again Martyred did lament that God took away his most dear servants from them In all these things being fully perswaded that what they did it was obedience to the Will of God and that all men should do the like there remained after speculation Practice whereby the whole World thereunto if it were possible might be framed This they saw could not be done but with mighty opposition and resistence against which to strengthen themselves they secretly entred into a League of Association And peradventure considering that although they were many yet long Wars would in time waste them out they began to think whether it might not be that God would have them do for their speedy and mighty increase the same which sometime Gods own chosen people the people of Israel did Glad and fain they were to have it so which very desire was it self apt to breed bâ—th an opinion of possibility and a willingness to gather Arguments of likelihood that so God himself would have it Nothing more clear unto their seeming then that a New Jerusalem being often spoken of in Scipture they undoubtedly were themselves that New Jerusalem and the Old did by way of a certain Fegurative resemblance signifie what they should both be and do
endless thanks must have their beginning in a state which bringeth the full and final satisfaction of all such perpetual desires Again because our common necessities and the lack which we all have as well of ghostly as of earthly favors is in each kinde so easily known but the gifts of God according to those degrees and times which he in his secrets wisdom seeth meet are so diversly bestowed that it seldom appeareth what all receive what all stand in need of it seldom lieth hid we are not to marvel though the Church do oftner concur in suits then in thanks unto God for particular benefits Nevertheless lest God should be any way unglorified the greatest part of our daily Service they know consisteth according to the â— Blessed Apostles own precise rule in much variety of Psalms and Hymns for no other purpose but onely that out of so plentiful a treasure there might be for every mans heart no chuse out his own Sacrifice and to offer unto God by particular secret instinct what fitteth best the often occasions which any several either Party or Congregation may seem to have They that would clean take from us therefore the daily use of the very best means we have to magnifie and praise the Name of Almighty God for his rich Blessings they that complain of out reading and singing so many Psalms for so good an end they I say that finde fault with our store should of all men be least willing to reprove our scarcity of Thanksgivings But because peradventure they see it is not either generally fit or possible that Churches should frame Thanksgivings answerable to each Petition they shorten somewhat the reins of their censure there are no forms of Thanksgiving they say for release of those common calamities from which we have Petitions to be delivered There are Prayers set forth to be said in the common calamities and Universal scourges of the Realm as Plague Famine c. And indeed so it ought to be by the Word of God But as such Prayers are needful whereby we beg release from our Distresses so there ought to be as necessary Prayers of Thanksgiving when we have received those things at the Lords hand which we asked in our Prayers As oft therefore as any Publick or Universal scourge is removed as oft as we are delivered from those either imminent or present Calamities against the storm and tempest whereof we all instantly craved favor from above let it be a Question what we should render unto God for his Blessings universally sensibly and extraordinarily bestowed A Prayer of three or four lines inserted into some part of our Church Liturgy No we are not perswaded that when God doth in trouble injoyn us the duty of Invocation and promise us the benefit of Deliverance and profess That the thing he expecteth after at our hands is to glorifie him as our mighty and onely Saviour the Church can discharge in manner convenient a work of so great importance by fore-ordaining some short Collect wherein briefly to mention thanks Our custom therefore whensoever so great occasions are incident is by Publick Authority to appoint throughout all Churches set and solemn Forms as well of Supplication as of Thanksgiving the preparations and intended Complements whereof may stir up the mindes of men in much more effectual sort then if onely there should be added to the Book of Prayer that which they require But we err in thinking that they require any such matter For albeit their words to our understanding be very plain that in our Book there are Prayers set forth to be said when common calamities are felt as Plague Famine and such like Again that indeed so it ought to be by the Word of God That likewise there ought to be as necessary Prayers of Thanksgiving when we have received those things Finally that the want of such Forms of Thanksgiving for the release from those common calamities from which we have Petitions to be delivered is the default of the Book of Common Prayer Yet all this they mean but only by way of supposition if express Prayers against so many Earthly miseries were convenient that then indeed as many express and particular Thanksgivings should be likewise necessary Seeing therefore we know that they hold the one superfluous they would not have it so understood as though their mindes were that any such addition to the Book is needful whatsoever they say for Arguments sake concerning this pretented defect The truth is they wave in and out no way sufficiently grounded no way resolved what to think speak or write more then onely that because they have taken it upon them they must no remedy now be opposite 44. The last supposed fault concerneth some few things the very matter whereof is thought to be much amiss In a Song of Praise to our Lord Jesus Christ we have these words When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death thoâ— didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers Which maketh some shew of giving countenance to their Error who think that the faithful which departed this life before the coming of Christ were never till then made partakers of joy but remained all in that place which they term the Lake of the Fathers In our Liturgy request is made that we may be preserved from sudden death This seemeth frivolous because the godly should always be prepared to die Request is made that God would give those things which we for our unworthiness dare not ask This they say carrieth with it the note of Popish servile fear and savoreth not of that confidence and reverent familiarity that the children of God have through Christ with their Heavenly Father Request is made that we may evermore be defended from all adversity For this there is no promise in Scripture and therefore it is no Prayer of Faith or of the which we can assure our selves that we shall obtain it Finally Request is made That God would have mercy upon all men This is impossible because some are the Vessels of Wrath to whom God will never extend his Mercy 45. As Christ hath purchased that Heavenly Kingdom the last perfection whereof is Glory in the life to come Grace in this life a preparation thereunto so the same he hath opened to the World in such sort that whereas none can possibly without him attain salvation by him all that believe are saved Now whatsoever he did or suffered the end thereof was to open the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven which our iniquities had shut up But because by ascending after that the sharpness of death was overcome he took the very local possession of glory and that to the use of all that are his even as himself before had witnessed I go to prepare a place for you And again Whom thou hast given me O Father I will that where I am they be also with me that my glory which thou hast given me they may
respect of their bad qualities their wickedness in it self a deprivation of right to deal in the affairs of the Church and a warrant for others to deal in them which are held to be of a clean other Society the Members whereof have been before so peremptorily for ever excluded from power of dealing for ever with affairs of the Church They which once have learned throughly this Lesson will quickly be capable perhaps of another equivalent unto it For the wickedness of the Ministery transfers their right unto the King In case the King be as wicked as they to whom then shall the right descend There is no remedy all must come by devolution at length even as the Family of Brown will have it unto the godly among the people for confusion unto the wise and the great by the poor and the simple Some Kniper doling with his retinue must take this work of the Lord in hand and the making of Church-Laws and Orders must prove to be their right in the end If not for love of the truth yet for shame of grosse absurdities let these contentions and stifling fancies be abandoned The cause which moved them for a time to hold a wicked Ministery no lawful Ministry and in this defect of a lawful Ministery authorized Kings to make Laws and Orders for the Affairs of the Church till it were well established is surely this First They see that whereas the continual dealing of the Kings of Israel in the Affairs of the Church doth make now very strong against them the burthen whereof they shall in time well enough shake off if it may be obtained that it is indeed lawful for Kings to follow these holy examples howbeit no longer than during the case of necessity while the wickednesse and in respect thereof the unlawfulness of the Ministery doth continue Secondly They perceive right well that unlesse they should yield Authority unto Kings in case of such supposed necessity the Discipline they urge were clean excluded as long as the Clergy of England doth thereunto remain opposite To open therefore a door for her entrance there is no remedy but the Tenet must be this That now when the Ministery of England is universally wicked and in that respect hath lost all Authority and is become no lawful Ministery no such Ministery as hath the right which otherwise should belong unto them if they were vertuous and godly as their Adversaries are in this necessity the King may do somewhat for the Church that which we do imply in the name of Headship he may both have and exercise till they be entered which will disburthen and ease him of it till they come the King is licensed to hold that Power which we call Headship But what afterwards In a Church ordered that which the Supream Magistrate hath to do is to see that the Laws of God touching his Worship and touching all matters and orders of the Church be executed and duly observed to see that every Ecclesiastical Person do that Office whereunto he is appointed to punish those that fail in their Office In a word that which Allain himself acknowledgeth unto the Earthly power which God hath given him it doth belong to defend the Laws of the Church to cause them to be executed and to punish Rebels and Transgressors of the same on all sides therfore it is confest that to the King belongeth power of maintaining the Laws made for Church-Regiment and of causing them to be observed but Principality of Power in making them which is the thing we attribute unto Kings this both the one sort and the other do withstand Touching the Kings supereminent authority in commanding and in judging of Causes Ecclesiastical First to explain therein our meaning It hath been taken as if we did hold that Kings may prescribe what themselves think good to be done in the service of God how the Word shall be taught how the Sacraments administred that Kings may personally sit in the Consistory where the Bishops do hearing and determining what Causes soever do appertain unto the Church That Kings and Queens in their own proper Persons are by Judicial Sentence to decide the Questions which do rise about matters of Faith and Christian Religion That Kings may excommunicate Finally That Kings may do whatsoever is incident unto the Office and Duty of an Ecclesiastical Judge Which opinion because we account as absurd as they who have fathered the same upon us we do them to wit that this is our meaning and no otherwise There is not within this Realm an Ecclesiastical Officer that may by the Authority of his own place command universally throughout the Kings Dominions but they of this People whom one may command are to anothers commandement unsubject Only the Kings Royal Power is of so large compass that no man commanded by him according to the order of Law can plead himself to be without the bounds and limits of that Authority Isay according to order of Law because that with us the highest have thereunto so tyed themselves that otherwise than so they take not upon them to command any And that Kings should be in such sort Supream Commanders over all men we hold it requisite as well for the ordering of Spiritual as Civil Affairs in as much as without universal Authority in this kinde they should not be able when need is to do as vertuous Kings have done Josiah parposing to renew the House of the Lord assembled the Priests and Levites and when they were together gave them their charge saying Go out unto the Cities of Judah and gather of Israel money to repair the House of the Lord from year to year and haste the things But the Levites hastned not Therefore the King commanded Jehoida the Chief-priest and said unto him Why hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and Jerusalem the Tax of Moses the Servant of the Lord and of the Congregation of Israel for the Tabernacle of the Testimony For wicked Athalia and her Children brake up the House of the Lord God and all the things that were dedicated for the House of the Lord did they bestow upon Balaam Therefore the King commanded and they made a Chest and set it at the Gate of the House of the Lord without and they made a Proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem to bring unto the Lord the Tax of Moses the Servant of the Lord laid upon Israel in the Wilderness Could either he have done this or after him Ezekias the like concerning the celebration of the Passeover but that all sorts of men in all things did owe unto these their Soveraign Rulers the same obedience which sometimes Iosuah had them by vow and promise bound unto Whosoever shall rebel against thy Commandments and will not obey thy words in all thou commandest him let him be put to death only be strong and of a good courage Furthermore Judgement Ecclesiastical we say is
that he denieth us not no not when we were laden with Iniquity leave to commune familiarly with him liberty to crave and intreat that what Plagues soever we have deserved we may not be in worse case than Unbelievers that we may not be hemmed in by Pagans and Infidels Ierusalem is a sinful polluted City but Ierusalem compared with Babylon is righteous And shall the Righteous be over-born shall they be compass'd about by the Wicked But the Prophet doth not onely complain Lord how commeth it to passe that thou handlest us so hardly of whom thy Name is called and bearest with the Heathen-Nations that despise thee No he breaketh out through extremity of grief and inferreth violently This proceeding is perverse the Righteous are thus handled therefore perverse judgment doth proceed 9. Which illation containeth many things whereof it were better much both for you to hear and me to speak if necessity did not draw me to another task Paul and Barnabas being requested to preach the same things again which once they had preached thought it their Duty to satisfie the godly desires of men sincerely affected to the truth Nor may it seem burdenous for me nor for you unprofitable that I follow their example the like occasion unto theirs being offered me When we had last the Epistle of St. Paul to the Hebrew in hand and of that Epistle these words In these last dayes he hath spoken unto us by his Son After we had thence collected the nature of the visible Church of Christ and had defined it to be a community of men sanctified through the profession of the Truth which God hath taught the World by his Son and had declared That the scope of Christian Doctrine is the comfort of them whose hearts are over-charged with the burden of sinne and had proved that the Doctrin professed in the Church of Rome doth bereave men of comfort both in their lives and in their deaths The conclusion in the end whereunto we came was this The Church of Rome being in Faith so corrupted as she is and refusing to be reformed as she doth we are to sever our selves from her the example of our Fathers may not retain us in communion with that Church under hope that we so continuing may be saved as well as they God I doubt noâ— was merciful to save thousands of them though they lived in Popish Superstitions inasmuch as they sinned ignorantly but the Truth is now laid before our Eys The former part of this last Sentence namely these words I doubt not but God was merciful to save thousands of our Fathers living in Popish Superstitions inasmuch as they seemed ignorantly This Sentence I beseech you to mark and to fist it with the severity of austere judgement that if it be found to be gold it may be suitable to the precious foundation whereon it was then laid for I protest that if it be hay or stubble my own hand shall see fire on it Two questions have risen by this speech before alledged The one Whether our Fathers infected with Popish Errours and Superstitions may be saved The other Whether their ignorance be a reasonable inducement to make us think they might We are then to examine first what possibility then what probability there is that God might be merciful unto so many of our Fathers 10. So many of our Fathers living in Popish Superstitions yet by the mercy of God be saved No this could not be God hath spoken by his Angel from Heaven unto his People concerning Babylon by Babylon we understand the Church of Rome Go out of her my People that ye be not Partakers of her Plagues For answer whereunto first I do not take the words to be meant onely of Temporal plagues of the Corporal death sorrow famine and fire whereunto God in his wrath had condemned Babylon and that to save his chosen People from these Plagues he saith Go out with like intent as in the Gospel speaking of Ierusalem's desolations he saith Let them that are in Judea flye unto the Mountains and them that are in the midst thereof depart one or as in the former times to Lot Arise take thy Wife and thy Daughters which are there lest thou be destroyed in the punishment of the City but forasmuch as here it is said Go out of Babylon we doubt their everlasting destruction which are Partakers therein is either principally meant or necessarily implyed in this Sentence How then was it possible for so many of our Fathers to be saved since they were so farr from departing out of Babylon that they took her for their Mother and in her bosome yielded up the Ghost 11. First for the Plagues being threatned unto them that are Partakers in the sins of Babylon we can define nothing concerning our Fathers our of this Sentence unless we shew what the sins of Babylon be and what they be which are such Partakers of them that their everlasting plagues are inevitable The sins which may be common both to them of the Church of Rome and to others departed thence must be severed from this question He which saith Department of Babylon lest ye be partakers of her sons sheweth plainly that he meaneth such sins as except we separate ourselves we have no power in the World to avoid such impieties as by their Law they have established and whereunto all that are among them either do indeed assent or else are by powerful means forced in shew and appearance to subject themselves As for example in the Church of Rome it is maintained That the same credit and reverence that we give to the Scriptures of God ought also to be given to unwritten verities That the Pope is Supream head ministerial over the Universal Church-militant That the Bread in the Eucharist is transubstantiated into Christ That it is to be adored and to be offered up unto God as a Sacrifice propitiatory for quick and dead That Images are to be worshipped Saints to be called upon as Intercessors and such like Now because some Heresies do concern things only believed as the transubstantiation of the Sacramental Elements in the Eucharist some concern things which practised and put in ure as the adoration of the Elements transubstantiated we must note that erroneously the practice of that is sometime received whereof the doctrine that teacheth it is not heretically maintained They are all partakers of the maintenance of Heresies who by word or deed allow them knowing them although not knowing them to be Heresies as also they and that most dangerously of all others who knowing Heresie to be Heresie do notwithstanding in worldly respects make semblance of allowing that which in heart and judgment they condemn But Heresie is heretically maintained by such as obstinately hold it after wholsome admonition Of the last sort as of the next before I make no doubt but that their condemnation without an actual repentance is inevitable Lest any man therefore
behold saith the Apostle I Paul say unto you that if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing Christ in the work of mans salvation is alone the Galathians were cast away by joyning Circumcision and the other Rites of the Law with Christ the Church of Rome doth teach her children to joyn other things likewise with him therefore their saith their belief doth not profit them any thing at all It is true that they do indeed joyn other things with Christ but how Not in the work of Redemption it self which they grant that Christ alone hath performed sufficiently for the salvation of the whole world but in the application of this inestimable treasure that it may be effectual to their salvation how demurely soever they confess that they seek remission of sins no otherwise then by the blood of Christ using humbly the means appointed by him to apply the benefit of his holy Blood they teach indeed so many things pernicious in Christian Faith in setting down the means whereof they speak that the very foundation of Faith which they hold is thereby plainly overthrown and the force of the blood of Jesus Christ extinguished We may therefore disputing with them urge them even with as dangerous sequels as the Apostle doth the Galatians But I demand If some of those Galatians heartily embracing the Gospel of Christ sincere and sound in Faith this one only error excepted had ended their lives before they were ever taught how perillous an opinion they held shall we think that the danger of this error did so over-weigh the benefit of their faith that the mercy of God might not save them I grant they overthrew the foundation of Faith by consequent doth not that so likewise which the Lutheran Churches do at this day so stifly and so firmly maintain For mine own part I dare not here deny the possibility of their salvation which have been the chiefest instruments of ours albeit they carried to their grave a perswasion so greatly repugnant to the truth Forasmuch therefore as it may be said of the Church of Rome she hath yet a little strength she doth not directly deny the foundation of Christianity I may I trust without offence perswade my self that thousands of our Fathers in former times living and dying within her walls have found mercy at the hands of God 18. What although they repented not of their errors God forbid that I should open my mouth to gain-say that which Christ himself hath spoken Except ye repent ye shall all perish And if they did not repent they perished But withall note that we have the benefit of a double Repentance the least sin which we commit in Deed Thought or Word is death without Repentance Yet how many things do escape us in every of these which we do not know How many which we do not observe to be sins And without the knowledge without the observation of sin there is no actual Repentance It cannot then be chosen but that for as many as hold the foundation and have holden all Sins and Errors in hatred the blessing of Repentance for unknown Sins and Errors is obtained at the hands of God through the gracious mediation of Jesus Christ for such suiters as cry with the Prophet David Purge me O Lord from my secret sins 19. But we wash a wall of lome we labour in vain all this is nothing it doth not prove it cannot justifie that which we go about to maintain Infidels and Heathen men are not so godless but that they may no doubt cry God mercy and desire in general to have their sins forgiven them To such as deny the foundation of Faith there can be no Salvation according to the ordinary course which God doth use in saving men without a particular repentance of that Error The Galathians thinking that unless they were circumcised they could not be saved overthrew the foundation of Faith directly therefore if any of them did die so perswaded whether before or after they were told of their Errors their end is dreadful there is no way with them but one death and condemnation For the Apostle speaketh nothing of men departed but saith generally of all If ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing Ye are abolished from Christ whosoever are justified by the Law ye are fallen from grace Gal. 5. Of them in the Church of Rome the reason is the same For whom Antichrist hath seduced concerning them did not S. Paul speak long before they received not the word of truth that they might not be saved therefore God would send them strong delusions to beleeve lies that all they might be damned which believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness And S. Iohn All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of life Apoc. 13. Indeed many in former times as their Books and Writings do yet shew held the foundation to wit salvation by Christ alone and therefore might be saved God hath always had a Church amongst them which firmly kept his saving truth As for such as hold with the Church of Rome that we cannot be saved by Christ alone without works they do not only by a circle of consequence but directly deny the foundation of Faith they hold it not no not so much as by a thred 20. This to my remembrance being all that hath been opposed with any countenance or shew of reason I hope if this be answered the cause in question is at an end Concerning general Repentance therefore what a Murtherer a Blasphemer an unclean person a Turk a Iew any sinner to escape the wrath of God by a general Repentance God forgive me Truly it never came within my heart that a general Repentance doth serve for all sins it serveth only for the common over-sights of our sinful life and for the faults which either we do not mark or do not know that they are faults Our Fathers were actually penitent for sins wherein they knew they displeased God or else they fall not within the compass of my first speech Again that otherwise they could not be saved than holding the foundation of Christian Faith we have not only affirmed but proved Why is it not then confessed that thousands of our Fathers which lived in Popish Superstitions might yet by the mercy of God be saved First if they had directly denied the very foundations of Christianity without repenting them particularly of that sin he which saith There could be no salvation for them according to the ordinary course which God doth use in saving men granteth plainly or at the least closely insinuateth that an extraordinary priviledge of mercy might deliver their souls from Hell which is more then I required Secondly if the foundation be denied it is denied for fear of some Heresie which the Church of Rome maintaineth But how many were there amongst our Fathers who being seduced by the common Error of
Faith as we trust by his mercy we our selves are I permit it to your wise considerations whether it be more likely that as frenzy though it take away the use of reason doth notwithstanding prove them reasonable Creatures which have it because none can be frantick but they So Antichristianity being the bane and plain overthrow of Christianity may neverthelesse argue the Church where Antichrist sitteth to be Christian Neither have I ever hitherto heard or read any one word alledged of force to warrant that God doth otherwise than so as in the two next Questions before hath been declared binde himself to keep his Elect from worshipping the Beast and from receiving his mark in their foreheads but he hath preserved and will preserve them from receiving any deadly wound at the hands of the Man of Sinne whose deceit hath prevailed over none unto death but onely unto such as never loved the Truth such as took pleasure in unrighteousnesse They in all ages whose hearts have delighted in the principal Truth and whose Souls have thirsted after righteousness if they received the mark of Errour the mercy of God even erring and dangerously erring might save them if they received the mark of Heresie the same mercy did I doubt not convert them How farr Romish Heresies may prevail over God's Elect how many God hath kept falling into them how many have been converted from them is not the question now in hand for if Heaven had not received any one of that coat for these thousand years it may still be true that the Doctrine which this day they do professe doth not directly deny the foundation and so prove them simply to be no Christian Church One I have alleadged whose words in my ears sound that way shall I adde another whose speech is plain I deny her not the name of a Church saith another no more than to a man the name of a man as long as he liveth what sicknesse soever he hath His Reason is this Salvation is Iesus Christ which is the mark which joyneth the Head with the Body Iesus Christ with the Church is so cut off by many merits by the merits of Saints by the Popes Pardons and such other wickednesse that the life of the Church boldeth by a very thred yet still the life of the Church holdeth A third hath these words I acknowledge the Church of Rome even at this present day for a Church of Christ such a Church as Israel did Jeroboam yet a Church His reason is this Every man seeth except he willingly hoodwink himself that as alwayes so now the Church of Rome holdeth firmly and stedfastly the Doctrine of Truth concerning Christ and baptizeth in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost confesseth and avoucheth Christ for the onely Redeemer of the World and the Iudge that shall sit upon quick and dead receiving true Believers into endless joy faithless and godless men being cast with Satan and his Angels into flames unquenchable 28. I may and will rein the question shorter than they doe Let the Pope take down his top and captivate no more mens Souls by his Papal Jurisdiction let him no longer count himself Lord Paramount over the Princes of the World no longer hold Kings as his Servants paravaile Let his stately Senate submit their Necks to the yoke of Christ and cease to die their Garments like Edom in Blood Let them from the highest to the lowest hate and forsake their Idolatry abjure all their Errours and Heresies wherewith they have any way perverted the truth Let them strip their Churches till they leave no polluted ragg but onely this one about her By Christ alone without works we cannot be saved It is enough for me if I shew that the holding of this one thing doth not prove the foundation of Faith directly denied in the Church of Rome 29. Works are an addition Be it so what then the foundation is not subverted by every kinde of addition Simply to adde unto those fundamental words is not to mingle Wine with Water Heaven and Earth things polluted with the sanctified blood of Christ Of which Crime indict them which attribute those operations in whole or in part to any Creature which in the work of our Salvation wholly are peculiar unto Christ and If I open my mouth to speak in their defence if I hold my peace and plead not against them as long as breath is within my Body let me be guilty of all the dishonor that ever hath been done to the Son of God But the more dreadful a thing it is to deny salvation by Christ alone the more slow and fearful I am except it be too manifest to lay a thing so grievous to any man's charge Let us beware lest if we make too many ways of denying Christ we scarce leave any way for our selves truly and soundly to confess him Salvation only by Christ is the true foundation whereupon indeed Christianity standeth But what if I say You cannot besaved only by Christ without this addition Christ believed in heart confessed with mouth obeyed in life and conversation Because I adde do I therefore deny that which I did directly affirm There may be an additament of explication which overthroweth not but proveth and concludeth the Proposition whereunto it is annexed He which saith Peter was a Chief Apostle doth prove that Peter was an Apostle He which saith Our Salvation is of the Lord through Sanctification of the Spirit and Faith of the Truth proveth that our Savation is of the Lord. But if that which is added be such a privation as taketh away the very essence of that whereunto it is added then by the sequel it overthroweth it He which saith Iudas is a dead man though in word he granteth Iudas to be a man yet in effect he proveth him by that very speech no man because death depriveth him of being In like sort he that should say our Election is of Grace for our Works sake should grant in sound of words but indeed by consequent deny that our Election is of Grace for the Grace which electeth us is no Grace if it elect us for our Works sake 30. Now whereas the Church of Rome addeth Works we must note further that the adding of Works is not like the adding of Circumcision unto Christ Christ came not to abrogate and put away good Works he did to change Circumcision for we see that in place thereof he hath substituted holy Baptism To say Ye cannot be saved by Christ except ye be circumcised is to adde a thing excluded a thing not only not necessary to be kept but necessary not to be kept by them that will be saved On the other side to say Ye cannot be saved by Christ without Works is to add things not only not excluded but commanded as being in their place and in their kinde necessary and therefore subordinated unto Christ by Christ himself by whom