have gone in the way of Cain departing out of the Church Gen. 4.19 And Errore Balaam effusi have poured out themselves in the error of Balaam cursing the Church and people of God Num. c. 22. And in contradictione Core theuntes Perished in the contradiction of Corah opposing Moses the Law-giver and Aaron the High-Priest Num. c. 16. And much-what the same by St. Peter 2 Ep. 2.10 c. to be Dominationem contemnentes audaces sibi placentes Sectas non metuentes introducere blasphemantes or Majestates non metuentes blasphemare Contemners of Dominion bold self-pleasers not fearing to introduce Sects blasphemers or not fearing to blaspheme Majesties I recite so many places to shew the unanimous consent of the Holy Scriptures and writers in describing the qualities of this evil Spirit reduced principally to these two 1. Fleshly Lusts 2. Contention and disobedience These are the properties of the evil Spirit by which the Spirit of new Teachers is to be tryed Now so often as the Teachers of new and strange Doctrines come into the world professing opposition to those received from our present Superiours and to the common tenents of the Church Christians are directed by St. John c. 4. v. 1. to try such Spirits whether they be of God And are instructed by our Lord Mat. 7.16 that they shall know and discern them by their fruits and then by the Apostles as you have seen what in particular these fruits are Dr. Luther then being one of these and the last that hath appeared when the Church of God was at peace and unanimous in her doctrine and discipline to have broached new ones and departed out of this fold and become the Founder of another Model of Religion it seems reasonable and of much concernment that all Christians so soon as any is acquainted herewith do put themselves in the same posture now as they should have bin in had they lived at the first appearance of Luther when all remain'd in the bosom communion and faith of that Church which he opposed and first try his new Spirit by the marks or fruits here premised before they any longer follow it or stray from the fold of this Church to hearken to the voice of that Stranger Which trial the more to facilitate to them it seemeth to me no uncharitable act having heretofore for my own satisfaction made some search into this man's writings opinions and actions to present them with a brief relation of such passages of his Life and branches of his Doctrine drawn chiefly from his own Testimony or those of his Friends and fellow-Reformists i.e. the persons most favourable to his good reputation as I esteem to serve best to this purpose I pray God it may any way serve for advancing his glory and his truth for which it is intended Amen § 2 This man then after having taken his degree of Master of Arts at Erford an University in Germany 〈◊〉 holy 〈◊〉 wâ—â—â—st 〈◊〉 being much terrified by the sudden death of an intimate friend and companion slain some say by a thunderbolt put himself into a Monastery of the Augustine Fryers there against his Parents consent and after his Probationer-ship ended took the three Vows of Religion Poverty Celibacy and Obedience about the 22th year of his age See Melancthon in praefat 2. tom op Luther Luther de votis Monastic praefat ad Patrem where he saith Se terrore agone mortis subitae circumvallatum vovisse c. That being surrounded with the terror and agony of a sudden death he had vowed c. Here for some time he lived in his profession a very strict chast and sober life and most obedient to his Superiours Himself several times professeth so much of it Vixi Monachus saith he De votis Monasticis non sine peccato quidem sed sine crimine I liv'd whilst a Monk tho not sinless yet without grievous crime And on Gal. 1.14 in imitation of the great Apostle Si quisquam alius certe ego ante lucem Evangelii pie sensi zelavi pro Papisticis legibus Patrum traditionibus saith he Qua potui diligentia conatus sum eas praestare plus inedia vigiliis orationibus aliis exercitiis corpus macerans quam omnes illi qui hodie tam acerbe oderunt persequantur me c. Before the light of the new Gospel if ever any certainly I had pious sentiments and was zealous of the Papistical laws and traditions of my Fathers I endeavoured to keep them as diligently as I could macerating my body with fastings watchings prayers and other spiritual exercises more than they all who at this day so bitterly hate and persecute me because I now detract from those good works the glory of justifying For in the observation of them I was so over-diligent and superstitious that I laid a greater burden on the body than without endangering its health it could well bear I reverenc'd the Pope out of pure conscience not for the sake of preferments Again ibid. on vers 15. Ego in Monachatu externe non eram sicut caeteri homines raptores injusti adulteri â—â—sed servabam castitatem obedientiam paupertatem denique liber a curis praesentis vitae totus eram deditus jejuniis vigiliis orationibus legendis Missis c. Whilst a Monk I was not outwardly as other men extortioners unjust adulterers but I observed chastity obedience and poverty and lastly dis-engag'd from the cares of this present life I wholly gave my self up to fastings watchings prayers saying Mass c. And Tanta erat autoritas Papae apud me ut vel in minimo dissentire ab Ipso putarem crimen aeterna damnatione dignum So great with me was the authority of the Pope that in the least to dissent from him I judg'd a crime worthy of eternal damnation And thus Melancthon of him Praefat. in 2. tom Luther Receptus in Monasterium jam non solum acerrimo studio doctrinam Ecclesiae discit sed etiam summa disciplinae severitate se ipse regit omnibus exereitiis lectionum disputationum jejuniorum precum omnes longe superat Vidi continuis quatuor diebus cum quidem recte valeret prorsus nihil edentem aut bibentem Being admitted into the Monastery he not only learns by very hard study the doctrines of the Church but practises her discipline also with the utmost rigor and severity in all exercises of lectures disputations fasts prayers c. surpassing all others I have known him when in perfect health neither eat nor drink for four days together For there was also a Monastery of Augustine Fryers at Wirtenberg wherein Luther lived for many years after he was removed from Erford to that new-founded Vniversity for his pregnant parts and learning Neither did Luther leave off his Monks hood till 1524. sixteen years after his coming thither after which the means of this Monastery was given to the Elector and he became a private House-keeper and the
rites of the Church the doctrine of the Fathers approv'd Legends and most ancient custom That I will hear none of these things Be it known to the ignorant Popes wicked Priests sacrilegious Monks c. that we are not baptiz'd nor do believe in the name of Augustin Bernard Gregory c. Tell not me Bernard liv'd and wrote so and so but so he ought according to the Scriptures to have liv'd and writ Concerning the chief Controversy that of the Mass being pressed by King Henry the 8th with the authority of the ancient Church concurring with the present that it is a Sacrifice and using it as such he answers thus Vltimo dicta Patrum inducit Rex pro Missario Sacrificio ridet meam stultitiam quod solus vellem sapere prae omnibus Hoc est quod dixi c. Lastly the King alledges the Fathers for the Sacrifice of the Mass laughing at my folly that would be wiser than all the world besides Is it not as I said these block-headed Thomists have nothing to produce for themselves but a multitude of Authors and ancient custom And Captiv Babylonica he resolves Si nihil habetur quod dicatur satius est omnia negasse quam Missam Sacrificium esse concedere Is there nought to be reply'd i. e in answer to the Fathers Better however to deny all than grant the Mass to be a Sacrifice And on the same matter in Missa privata Hic non moramur saith he si clamitent Papistae Ecclesia Ecclesia Patres Patres quia ut dixi hominum dicta aut facta nihil in tam magnis causis curamus Scimus enim ipsos Prophetas lapsos esse adeoque Apostolos c. Here we value not the Papists crying the Church the Church Fathers Fathers because as I said what men say or do in such cases as these it matters not For we know the very Prophets nay even the Apostles themselves have err'd By the words of Christ i. e. by that which he apprehends to be the sense thereof wherein why may not he be mistaken if others are we judg the Church the Apostles nay even the Angels Lastly see his Colloquies c. 27 29 30. what a character he gives of the Fathers to his companions That God's Word of it self pure bright and clear through the doctrines books and writings of the Fathers like milk streined through a Coal-sack is very sorely darkned falsified and spoiled That there is great darkness in the Books of the Fathers concerning Faith That Austin wrote nothing to the purpose concerning Faith For he was first rouzed up and made a man by the Peâ—agians That at the first he willingly read Austin but when the door of St. Paul was opened unto him insomuch that he knew what was the righteousness of faith then he had done with St. Austin and that the Fathers were of very small value That Chrysostom was only a talker Bazil meerly a Fryer Cyprian a weak Divine Tertullian amongst the Church-teachers a meer Carolostadius That Bernard did nimium tribuere praeceptis libero arbitrio attribute overmuch to precepts and free-will That Macarius Antonius and Benedictus brought apparent mischief to the Church with their Monkery that they lead a private grizly kind of life far from a Holy That he knew none among the ancient Teachers of the Church that he hated like Jerom for he writeth only of fasting of victuals of virginity c. teacheth nothing neither of faith nor hope nor love nor of the works of faith That the Fathers stumbled oft-times and mingled in their books many impertinent and Monkish things That the Apology of P. Melancthon surpasseth all the Fathers of the Church yea St. Austin And in his Preface to his Works he saith Non in omnibus omnium Patrum scriptis tantum reperiri Eruditionis Theologiae quantum in locis hisce Communibus Et si omnia illorum Scripta conflentur colliquescant non tamen Locos Philippi inde prodituros More learning to be found in those Common-places than in all the Fathers which all melted in one lump together would not make one such book as Melancthons Such stuff as this it seems he usually vented and his friends Aurifaber and others who heard them from him had not the discretion to conceal them and to cover his shame and nakedness § 21. n. 1 The 6th his setting up his own authority and maintaining his own doctrines as certain and infalâ—â—ble truth This his contempt and low esteem of all other humane authority and of their doctrines was accompanied as usually with a most high esteem of his own so greatly liable to mistakes and errors he thought others so little himself and how much uncertainty he put in their opinions so much certainty in his own confidently stiling by the name of God's word his Expositions and sense thereof tho these contrary to that formerly delivered using frequently such expressions That if an Apostle or an Angel from Heaven should come and teach contrary to such his Expositions let him be Anathema and That if he was deceived God had deceived him and such things he said not only of those Expositions of his against the Church of Rome but those made against other Protestants those made against Zuinglius Oecolampadius c. and of the contrary of which his Protestant-posterity think themselves most certain equally certain always of his being in the right and having no less affirmed his certainty even in those things wherein himself afterwards changed his opinion who is much noted both by his enemies and friends to have contradicted in his latter many things in his former Works as better discerning truth say the one as more still departing from it say the other and to have contradicted those Expositions of Scripture concerning the Lord's Supper in his latter writings against Carolslad and Zuinglius which he delivered for certain in his former against Catholicks See the particulars shewed by Hospinian hist Sacram. 2. part fol. 8 9 12. and so of many things whereof he was once certain he became afterwards as certain of the contrary § 21. n. 1 Tho these in his latter and former times much varying For example see in his doctrine of Consubstantiation wherein he was opposed by other Protestants he pretended as much certainty and as clear revelation thereof in God's word as in any of those wherein he opposed the former Church Si quisquam mihi persuadere potuisset saith he Ep. ad Argent in Sacramento praeter panem vinum esse nihil magno beneficio me sibi devinctum reddidisset gravibus enim curis anxius in hac excutienda materia multum desudabam omnibus nervis extensis me extricare expedire conatus sum c. Could any man have perswaded me these was nothing but bread and wine in the Sacrament he had much oblig'd me For being in great perplexity I took great pains in discussing this point I endeavoured with all my might to
and indeed all things to God and nothing to men for who sees not that too much honour goodness c. can never be attributed to God These words of his comforted and strenthned me extreamly Much safer is it to give too much to God than men For then I may boldly say let the Church and St. Augustin with the rest of the Doctors let St. Peter the Apostle nay an Angel from Heaven teach otherways yet certain it is that my Doctrine of Justification by faith alone without our works is of that nature that it illustrates and extolls the grace and glory of God alone and condems in the matter of salvation whatsoever wisdom and righteousness of men Here I cannot be mistaken c. A second time he renews the Objection At ais Ecclesia est sancta Patres sunt sancti But you tell me the Church is holy the Fathers are holy and answers it thus Bene sed Ecclesia quamlibet sancta tamen cogetur orare Remitte nobis debita nostra Ergo neque mihi neque Ecclesiae neque Patribus abque Apostolis neque Angelo e Coelo credendum est si quid contraverbum Dei docemus Alioquin hoc argumentum Pseudo-apostolorum maxime valuisset contra Pauli Doctrinam Quia profecto magna magna inquam res fuit opponere totam Ecclesiam cum toto choro Apostolorum Galatis contra Paulum unicum eum recentiorem minimum authoritatis habentem nec enim libenter dicit Ecclesiam errare tamen necesse est dicere eam errare si extra vel contra verbum Dei aliquid docet Petrus Apostolorum summus vivebat docebat extra verbum Dei c. Well but tho the Church be never so holy yet she is fain to pray forgive us our trespasses Therefore there is no believing either me or the Church or the Fathers or Apostles or an Angel from Heaven if we teach any thing against God's word Otherways this argument of the false Apostles would have run down St. Paul's doctrine For believe me to the Galatians it was no small difficulty to oppose the whole Church with all the Apostles against St. Paul alone and him the latest and of least authority amongst ' em Neither was he willing to say the Church erred yet t is necessary to say she errs if she teaches any thing besides or against the word of God Peter the chief of the Apostles did live and teach otherways than he ought by the word of God therefore he erred Taught and erred false his Example not Doctrine was false Neither did Paul then connive at his error tho it appeared slight because he well saw the evil that might thence arise to the whole Church Therefore neither Church nor Fathers nor Apostles nor Angels are to be believed unless they teach the pure word of God Yet still the Objection will not be thus satisfied but returns on him again Hoc argumentum saith he hodie maxime praegravat causam nostram Nam si neque Papae neque Patribus neque Luthero c. cedendum est nisi doceant purum Dei Verbum cui tum credendum est Quis interim certas faciet Conscientias utri purum Dei verbum doceant nos an adversarii nostri Non ipsi jactant se purum Dei verbum habere docere Nos Papistis non credimus quia verbum Dei non docent neque docere possunt Econtra ipsi acerrime nos oderunt insectantur ut pestilentissimos Haereticos seductores Quid hic faciendum Num cuivis fanatio spiritui permittendum ut doceat quae velit This argument saith he even at this present time does much molest our party For if we must neither believe Pope nor Fathers nor Luther c. unless they teach the pure word of God who then shall we believe who will be able to assure our hearers whether I or rather my adversaries stick to the pure word of God for do not they also boast that they have and teach it We reject the Papists because they neither do nor can teach the pure word of God and they on the other side mortally hate and persecute us as pestilential Hereticks and seducers What can be done in this case Must every fanatical spirit be licens'd to teach what he pleases whereas the world can neither hear nor endure my doctrine any better than theirs For tho we openly profess with Paul that we preach the pure Gospel of Christ it avails us nothing and we are forced to hear that this profession of ours is not only proud temerarious and vain but blasphemous also and diabolical on the other side to submit our selves and yeild to the fury of our enemies is to make both Papists and Fanaticks grow proud and insolent these by bringing up and teaching what the world never heard before those by obtruding again and confirming their old abominations To this again he briefly replies Quisque igitur videat ut certissimus sit de sua vocatione doctrina ut cum Apostolo certissime ac securissime ausit dicere Etiamsi vos aut Angelus e Coelo c. Let every one therefore take great care to be most certain and secure of his vocation and doctrine alluding to what the Apostle saith Gal. 1.8 15. that with all security he may venture to say with the Apostle Tho an Angel from Heaven c. The fuâ—r me of which triple Reply is agreeable to our former observation Certissimus sum de mea vocatione doctrina I am most certain of my vocation and doctrine And Hoc certe scio quod humana non suadeo sed divina ' This I certainly know that the things I teach are not humane but divine and the applying to himself against the Fathers the answer of St. Paul against St. Peter and others Etiamsi vos aut Angelus de Coelo c. Tho an Angel from Heaven c. as if like this Apostle he also had some extraordinary calling to his Ministery or as if his opinions were like his faith that being assured of their truth makes them truth § 24. n. 3. Of those also that hâ— mâ—iâ—â—â—â—â—â—d agâ—â—â—st other Refâ—rmed And this presumptive certainty and plerophory this man had not only of those tenents of his maintained against the Papists but in those also maintained against any other Reformed In his greater Confession answered by Zuinglius wherein he maintains Consubstantiation he saith Si incertus obscurus contextus sensus omnino habendus illum potius habere velim quem ex Dei ore progressum certe scio If it be necessary to have some context or sense that is obscure above all others let me have that which I am certain comes out of God's mouth The Landgrave of Hasse calling the assembly at Marpurg of the Saxon and Helvetian reformed Divines chiefly inviting Luther to it he returns this answer Nihil fructus ex Colloquio sperandum nisi pars adversa accedat animo cedendi
Melancthon Praefat in 2. tom Luther who also was translated to the new-founded University of Wirtenberg some years after Luther for his famed learning in the Greek tongue Eruditis gratum erat quasi ex tenebris educi Christum Prophetas Apostolos conspici discrimen legis Evangelii promissionum legis promissionis Evangelicae quod certe non exstahat in Thoma Scoto similibus The Learned were well pleased to see the doctrine of Christ the Prophets and Apostles as it were brought to light and the difference betwixt the Law and Gospel the Legal promises and the Evangelical one now cleared to 'em which in the writings of the Schools Thomas Scotus c. were not at all or but obscurely to be met with Concerning which error in Justification the chief matter surely in all our Christianity he there also saith That Origenica aetas effudit hanc persuasionem mediocrem rationis disciplinam mereri remissionem peccatorum esse justitiam de qua diceretur Justus ex fide sua vivet Haec aetas pene amisit totum discrimen Legis Evangelii sermonem Apostolicum dedidicit In Origen's time first arose that perswasion That a little disciplining of reason was sufficient to merit remission of sins and was that Righteousness whereof it is said The Just shall live by faith We of this age have well nigh lost all distinction of law and gospel and unlearnt the doctrine of the Apostle O ridiculous pride and self-conceit § 5. n. 2. Hence Luther also proceeded to such bold speeches both concerning the Fathers and also in comparing the writings of the New Testament in order to his doctrine of sole Justification by Faith of which in his Preface to his Enarrations on Pet. he saith Qui hoc potissimum majori prae caeteris studio tractarunt quod sola in Christum fides justificet ii omnium optimi sunt Evangelistae c. Those that more particularly and diligently than the rest treat of this doctrine That Faith alone justifies they are the best Evangelists of all Hence may you more properly say The Gospel of St. Paul than of Matthew Mark Luke these latter being little more than a bare Historical narration of the works and miracles of Christ What not of his Doctrines and Sermons also and of the way to salvation he taught us And afterwards censuring the Fathers on c. 1. v. 8. Benedictus Deus c. O Deus saith he quam parum de hac praedicatione viz. Omnia nobis dona a Patre donata ex mera misericordia citra nostrum meritum in omnibus libris invenitur etiam iis qui optimi habentur c. O God! How little of this doctrine viz. All our Gifts bestow'd on us by the Father out of his meer mercy without our merits is there to be found in all even reputedly the best books In all the writings of St. Hierome and St. Augustine how is there nothing at all not so much as the words i.e. his sense of the words of St. Peter a sufficient autocatacrisis We ought thus to preach Jesus Christ viz. That he dyed and rose again and why he dyed and why he rose again that men mov'd by such preaching may believe in him and believing be sav'd Here must be interpos'd his solum else what more frequent in St. Austine and St. Hierome This is indeed preaching the true Gospel and whatsoever by whomsoever is preach'd otherwise Gospel it is not And a little below Inde facile discitur Epistolam Divi Jacobi nomine scriptam haud quaquam Apostolicam esse Epistolam c. Thence may we easily learn that to be no Canonical Epistle that is ascrib'd to St. James this makes sufficient way for his straminea arida worthleâ—s and dry as a straw there being scarcely the least tittle of this doctrine in it But then how much do we read there contrary § 5. n. 3. Yea so strangely affected was Luther himself also with this his new invention That abstracting from this device he most impiously makes bold much to prefer the Mahometan and Turks religion as to good life and practice before the Christian It is necessary I set you down his words that what I say here may be believed Thus then he in an Epistle before a Treatise De Moribuâ— Religione Turcarum joyned with the Alcoran and some other Treatises against the Alcoran published by him as he saith on purpose because those who had writ against the Alcoran concealed the good things of the Mahometan Religion but mentioned and confuted the odious but that Author had declared it with much integrity Now Ex hoc libro saith he videmus Turcarum seu Mahometi religionem caeremoniis poene dixerim moribus esse multo speciosiorem quam nostrorum etiam Religiosorum omnium Clericorum Nam ea modestia simplicitas victus vestitus c. By this book we see the Religion of the Turks or Mahomet is much more plausible for shew and ceremony I had almost said and for good life too that word stuck a little with his modesty at first than that even of our Religious nay all the Clergy put together For no where amongst us are to be seen that modesty and simplicity of diet apparrell houses all things or the like fasts prayers public conventions of the people as this book recounts Then the miracles and the prodigious abstinencies and severities of their Religious whom of our Monks do they not quite put down and shame And this is the reason why from the Christian faith so many revolt and so pertinaciously adhere to Mahometanisme Again Christiana Religio longe aliud sublimius aliquid est quam Ceremoniae speciosae rasura Cucullus pallor vultus jejunia horae Canonicae universa illa facies Ecclesiae Romanae per orbem c. Christian Religion is quite another and far more sublime thing than a few specious ceremonies shaven crowns cowls pale countenances fastings Canonical hours of prayer and all that outward pomp of the Roman Church all the world over for in all these the Turks infinitely go beyond us Will he stay here No. Christiana religio longe aliud est quam boni mores seu bona opera Nam in his quoque ostendit is liber Turcas longe superiores esse Christianis nostris Christianity is quite another thing than a good life now without a paene dixerim or good works for even in these also as this book shews the Turks far out-do us Christians And Nunc video quid causae fuerit quod a Papistis sic occuleretur religio Turcica cur solum turpia eorum narrarunt sc Quod senserunt id quod res est si ad disputandum de religione veniatur totus Papatus cum omnibus suis caderet c. Now I see the reason of the Papists concealing many things of the Turkish Religion and relating only the deformities thereof viz. because they were sensible which is the plain truth of
and his followers is more tolerable c. In Assert Art 28. concerning the Church'es Laws in things indifferent Sive Papa sive Patres siue Concilium sic aiunt sic sentiunt nemini debent c. For the Pope or Fathers or Councils saying or thinking this or that it ought to prejudice no man but let every one in things not necessary to salvation abound in his own sense And de abrog Miss Quod sine verbo Dei ordinatur non ab Ecclesia sed a Synagogo Satanae sub Ecclesiae nomine ordinatur What is ordained without the word of God not the Church but the Synagogue of Satan under her name ordains it And in the distractions of the new Reformation some motioning a Synod to be called amongst them as necessary for setâ—ling them he gives his grave judgment of Synods thus in tom 2â— p. 243. Quantumvis bono zelo tentata est res mali exempli ut probant omnia Ecclesiae Concilia ab initio A thing however zealously attempted yet of ill example as all the Councils of the Church do shew So far as not to spare that of the Apostles Act. 15. Ita ut in Apostolico Concilio fere de operibus traditionibus magis quam de fide c. In the Synod of the Apostles was treated in a manner of works and traditions rather than of faith but in all others since never at all of faith but always of opinions and questions Insomuch that I begin to suspect and hate as much almost the name of Councils as of Free-wil Whence we may gather that a Council was appealed to by him only because he hoped none would be called or assembled and that he was content to stand to a Judge that would never hear his cause and that this was like the thief's appeal from God and the Country to be judged by Christ and his twelve Apostles At length when he saw that a Council was already called and likely would be convened he to prevent the damage it might do to his new Religion which he well fore-saw took his pen and writ a book of Councils A. D. 1539. five years before the Council of Trent began and before that he could raise any particular quarrel against it wherein he forbears not to asperse even the most sacred and famous Councils that ever were the Apostolical Act. 15. and the first Nicene arguing from the in junction of the first to abstain from blood and things strangled which was only temporary that it is lawful not to obey the decrees of Councils and saying of the second That its Canons are foenum stramen ligna stipulae ' Hay straw wood stubble And concerning the third Canon prohibiting the Clergy Ne haberent secum mulierem extraneam nisi forte sit mater aut soror aut avia aut amita aut matertera That they should not have with them in their ' house any woman that was a stranger unless their Mother Sister ' Grandmother or Aunt se non intelligere Sanctum Spiritum in hoc Concilio That he did not understand the Holy Ghost in this Council Again An vero nihil aliud est negotii Spiritui Sancto in Conciliis quam ut impossibilibus periculosis non necessariis legibus suos ministros obstringat oneret Has the Holy Ghost nothing to do but to bind and burden its Ministers with impossible dangerous and unnecessary laws Lastly affirming Majus lumen accedere Doctrinae Christianae ex Catechismo puerili quam ex omnibus Conciliis That the Christian doctrine received more light from the Childrens Catechism than all the Councils Not considering the end of these great meetings not to prescribe Catechisms or known Principles but to decide matters controverted and to support the Church'es Doctrine or Discipline where some pertinacious adversaries or corrupt manners have invaded them Lastly we may judg how he would have received the sentence of another Council aganst himself by his censure of the Council of Constance its condemnation of J. Husse concerning which he useth this language c. Assert Art 30. Omnes articulos Johannis Huss Constantiae esse damnatos ab Antichristo suis Apostolis in Synagoga illa Satanae ex sceleratissimis Sophistis congregata in faciem tuam sanctissime Vicarie Christi tibi libere dico omnia damnata Johannis Huss esse Evangelica Christiana tua autem omnia prorsus impia Diabolical All John Huss'es Articles were condemned at Constance by Antichrist and his Apostles in that Synod of Satan made up of those wicked Sophisters and I tell you plainly to your very teeth you most holy vicar of Christ That all John Huss'es condemned doctrines are Evangelical and Christian but all yours altogether impious and Diabolical § 20 Come we now to the ancient Church and to the Fathers to see what price he sets on them 〈◊〉 Aâ—d Fatherâ— In the conclusion of his book contra Regâ—m Angliae he saith Non ego quaero quid Ambrosius Augustinus Concilia Vsus saeculorum dicunt Miranda est stultitia Satanâ— quae iis me â—mpugnat quae ipse impugno perpetuo principium petit Pro libertate ego pugno Rex pro captivitate I care not what Ambrose Augustin Councils and the practice of Antiquity says A strange folly of Satan thus to oppose me with those very aâ—guments I impugn and always beg the question I fight for libâ—rty the King for slavery Slavery in submitting to the Fathers 〈◊〉 In assâ—rtione Articul Jam quanti errores in omnium Patrum scriptis inventi sunt Quoties sibi ipsis pugnant Quis est qui non saep us Scripturas torserit In the writings of every one of the Fathers how great errors are there How oft do they contradict themselves Who is there of them who does not very many times wrest the Scriptures And in the beginning Primum scire contâ—statosque cos volo me prorsus nullius sancti Patris authoritate cogi velle nisi quatenus judicio divinae Scpipturae fuerit probatus c. I will have 'em know and do take 'em to witness That I will stand to no Father further than he shall be allow'd by the Word of God i. e. his own sense of it which thing I know they will take very ill And they say the Holy Scriptures are not to be interpreted by a private spirit And Cur non liceat hodie aut solum aut priâ— um sacris literis studere sicut licuit primitivae Ecclesiae Why may we not now as well as they of the primitive times study only or chiefly the Scriptures as if nothing desended by Tradition In his Protestation before his book De abrogatione Missae Protestor imprimis saith he adversus eos qui insanis vocibus in me sunt clamaturi quod contra ritum Ecclesiae contra statuta Patrum contra proâ—atas Legendas c. First of all I protest against those who shall furiously cry out of me for teaching contrary to the
fruits i.e. their doctrines ye shall know the persons whether they be true or false prophets or teachers or by their doctrines ye shall know whether they teach false doctrines for so still I have no direction lest me whereby to know their doctrines to be false yet for which their false doctrines â—am warned chiefly to be aware of these false teachers But the meaning thereof in reason must be that by their fruits of an holy or bad life by the fruits of the Spirit or of the flesh which they bear which fruits the sheep do see and can judge of when they cannot so well of the doctrines by these both the good or bad Spirit of the Doctor and the truth or falsity of his doctrines may be known § 58 First the Teachers Spirit whether it be of God or of the flesh and the Devil may be discerned by these fruits For if this Spirit be of God the Apostle hath told us Gal. 5.22 that the fruits thereof are love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness continency or temperance if of the flesh and Satan the works or fruits are fornication uncleanness lasciviousness drunkenness revellings hatred variance emulation wrath strife sedition envyings c. Now Christians having once discerned thus by these fruits the Spirit of the Teachers where they have ground of presumption that it is a bad one have all reason to suspect his doctrine and his reasons and arguments and his expositions of God's word in confirmation thereof to be so too To be so too I say where ever the Church doth not authorize and secure such doctrine to them for the Scriptures are of no private interpretation i. e. not of every private man's interpretation out of his own brain because they are dictated by the Holy Ghost and by the Holy Ghost the meaning of the Holy Ghost in them can only be expounded By the Holy Ghost I say either in the private Expositor or the Church in which the Spirit of God for ever resides and guides it into all truth from which Church he must learn such Exposition or with which Church he will concur in it if he learn it from God's Spirit But this man's new Doctrine entered into the world neither with Miracles nor if we consider all said with the signs of a good Spirit nor yet owned or defended nay also rejected and condemned by the Church § 59 Where 1. That truth and holiness error and vice have a necessary cenrexâ—â—n 2ly By their fruits of a strict and holy or of a corrupt and dissolute life are the truth and falsity also of Doctrines discovered For first as truth and goodness so error and vice have a most intimate and natural connexion so that I may say if there be any doctrine that really and naturally tendeth to produce in us more sanctity and purity of life than the contrary that most certainly is truth and the contrary error and therefore is an orthodox faith so much laboured for because it is the foundation of a good life and therefore Satan becomes the Father of all evil in us because he is first the Father of lyes to us Tho then it be not here denied but that a teacher of something that is false may bring forth the fruits of a good life and contrary the teacher of truth the fruits of a bad yet 1. here the fruit of good life can never proceed from the false doctrine taught by the one nor the fruit of a bad life from the truth that is taught by the other But the teacher of truth brings forth bad fruit from his lusts carrying him against the truth known by him and again the teacher of some errors brings forth good fruit from the truth which he possesseth mingled indeed with error but yet predominative thereof But if he be such a Teacher of errors as that the truths he holds as none err in every thing are in the operation which they might have upon his manners mastered and seduced by them here his life also must needs be corrupt whether he be supposed to practise according to his errors as if he indulged some forbidden lusts because conceived lawful or whether he practise contrary to them for so he doth what is right indeed but against his conscience all acting against which tho when it errs becomes evil Again if he be a teacher of such errors as are expresly condemned by the Church or at Jeast as he knows to be so whatever truths he may hold or some kind of virtues practise according to those truths yet his life in general can never be stiled holy or himself good because he wants the two fundamental and cardinal virtues of Obedience and Humility Lastly neither can a good man teaching some errors be so good as if rectified in these he might have bin but that he must also be so far faulty and defective in his manners as his false opinion any way tendeth to the depraving and leavening thereof This of the natural connexion of error and vice as of truth and goodness § 60 〈◊〉 That where more corrupt doctrines â—re believed and taught there for the general are â—ound more dissolute 〈◊〉 2ly Hence it will follow That tho as hath bin said it may not be affirmed that where ever a dissolute and bad life is seen in a teacher or others there it ariseth from their false opinions or doctrines because many times our life is evil where our tenents are generally orthodox and true Catholicks are sometimes bad men from our lusts warring and carrying us headlong against our knowledge and our faith yet in any Sect wherein more erroneous and corrupt doctrines are believed and maintained especially such as give more manifest liberty to the flesh there for the general must needs be more carnal corrupt and dissolute lives seeing that there are here both the same lusts warring against the Soul which are also tempting the Catholick and Orthodox to an evil life and moreover many gross mis-perswasions and pernicious doctrines siding with and countenancing such lusts or at least not curbing them For if our lusts even against knowledge are so powerful over us how swiftly will they move us when our errors go along with them and blow these Sails This I say for the general For as to particulars I do not deny but that the life of some persons labouring under many erroneous principles yet may be very regular both by reason of other truths believed which tho this not observed by them do contradict the other false ones and may suspend the bad influences of them upon their practice as also by reason of an extraordinary good inclination of their nature and helps also of God's restraining grace for even amongst the Heathen-errors have bin some persons of an external virtuous and unreproachable conversation and therefore much more may they be so amongst any Sect of Christians who cannot but have many Catholick truths mingled with their errors and yet much more