Apostles because they spake immediatly by the direction of the spirit and therefore could not possibly erre in any point whereas all other men are subiect to error and their doctrine to examination ere it need be credited Secondly we must remember it doth not follow that if our Sauiour said whosoeuer beleeued not the Apostles should be damned then he that beleeues not the Ministers now in all they propound to be beleeued should be therefore liable to condemnatiō I haue stood the more vpon this proposition because the consequence being true may breed an error in the conceit of many if the reason of it be not truly vnderstood Your Assumption or minor is thus to be limited according to that which I before deliuered He that beleeues the Apostles spake immediatly by the inspiration of the spirit of God and yet doubts of the truth of some things they preached cannot without reforming this error be saued because he holds that the holy Ghost may inspire an vntruth No more can he that doth not beleeue they spake by such inspiration For of them our Sauiour hath absolutely said He that despiseth you despiseth me The second limitation is about the things themselues The ignorance of some points deliuered by the Apostles vtterly excludes a man out of heauen some other again may be vnknowne and a man notwithstanding that his ignorance be saued Therefore though our Sauiour except no point nor distinguish betwixt matters of doctrine yet the not beleeuing of some is no farther damnable then a man doth wilfully refuse to beleeue that which he confesseth to be truth in his heart or at the least in which he thinkes the Apostles were deceiued or which he despiseth as needlesse and so condemnes the wisedome of God in propounding it to be beleeued A. D. §. 3. And this not without reason for not to beleeue any one point whatsoeuer which God by reuealing it doth testifie to bee true and which by his Church he hath commaunded vs to beleeue must needs be damnable as being a notable iniurie to Gods veritie and a great disobedience to his will But all points of faith are thus testified by God and commaunded to be beleeued otherwise they be not points of faith but of opinion or some other kinde of knowledge Therefore all points of faith must vnder paine of damnation be beleeued beleeued I say eyther expresly and actually as learned men may doe or implicite and virtually as vnlearned Catholicks commonly doe who beleeuing expresly those articles which euerie one is bound particularly to know doe not in the rest obstinately doubt or hold some errour against the Church but haue a minde prepared to submit themselues in all things to the authoritie of the Church which they are sure is taught and directed by the spirit of God and doe in generall hold for vndoubted truth whatsoeuer the Catholicke or vniuersall Church doth beleeue A. W. Now followeth the second proofe of your assumption in this manner Euerie notable iniurie to Gods veritie and disobedience to his will is damnable But misbeleeuing or absolutely not beleeuing any one point reuealed by God and propounded by his Church to be beleeued is a notable iniurie to Gods veritie and a great disobedience to his will Therefore misbeleeuing or obstinately not beleeuing any one point reuealed by God and propounded by his Church to be beleeued is damnable To let passe this craftie conueyance whereby you still shuffle in the Church whereas without it the matter is as true and the proposition as perfect I answer to your assumption that all misbeleeuing or obstinately not beleeuing is not a notable iniurie to Gods truth nor a great disobedience to his will where it proceeds simply of ignorance and not of wilfulnesse except in such cases as I shewed in the end of the last section which I speake not to excuse any man as if he did not sinne in misbeleeuing or as if there were some sinne not deadly according to your erroneous conceit but onely to distinguish notable iniuries and great disobedience from some kinde of misbeleeuing The conclusion is thus to be conceiued That misbeleeuing is in it selfe damnable not that no man can be saued which misbeleeueth This distinction of beleeuing expresly and implicitly as you terme it confirmes part of that which I haue hitherto said for by your confession there are some points to the beleefe whereof a general faith will not serue the turne but a man must know the particulars and assent actually to the truth of them For example it is not enough for a man to beleeue in grosse that he must be saued by such meanes onely as God hath reuealed and the Church hath propounded to be beleeued but it is absolutely necessarie to saluation that he know what the Church holdeth in this case concerning redemption by our Sauiour Christ and in his heart acknowledge the truth thereof Againe there are many other points which so a man neglect not the meanes to know them may be vnknowne and beleeued onely in generall without danger of damnation by reason of such ignorance Now this generall beleefe is not as you falsely say to be folded vp in the faith of the Church but to be tied to the Scripture all things wherein I acknowledge to be most true and beleeue all points whatsoeuer as they are eyther expressed or contained in Scripture howsoeuer I be ignorant what is true touching perhaps very many particulars To the authoritie of the Church I willingly submit my selfe thus farre as that I hold it a sinfull presumption for me or any man eyther to compare my priuate opinion with the generall iudgement of other Christians especially Ministers or to condemne or suspect that of falshood which they deliuer vnlesse I haue apparent proofe for the one and great likelihood for the other In which cases I set not my owne conceit against the doctrine of the Church but preferre the truth of God before the opinions of men As for any infallible authoritie in the Church vpon supposall of such a certaine direction by the spirit of God I hold it neither for true nor probable as shall appeare hereafter In the meane while I desire the Reader to consider these few testimonies cōcerning the authority of men Other writers saith Austin I reade with this prouiso that be their learning or holinesse neuer so great I will not thinke a matter true because they haue thought so but because they haue bene able to perswade me eyther by other Canonicall writers or by some likely reason In an other place We may not consent to Bishops though they be Catholicke if at any time they be deceiued so that they iudge contrarie to the Canonicall Scripture of God Of necessitie saith Origen must we call for the testimonie of the Scriptures for our senses and declarations without them as witnesses haue no credit And this charge Basil layeth vpon vs that when we heare we examine
beleeue a simple husbandman a child or an old woman rather then the Pope and a thousand Bb. if these speake against the Gospell and the other with it Then belike a priuate man may see some truth which is not generally discerned The place of Austin you bring doth not condemne all interpretations or opinions which some one man findeth out and holdeth but onely reproueth them who in expounding the places of Scripture which wil beare a diuers sense vrge one onely not because it is truth but because they like it best His example is out of Genesis concerning the sense of those words In the beginning God created heauen and earth They know not which of those diuers senses that may be Moses did intend saith Austin but they loue their owne opinion not because it is true but because it is their owne What doth this concerne vs who as we giue euery man of iudgement leaue to propound his interpretation to be examined so permit no man to thrust any exposition vpon the Church which he cannot make euident proofe of by sound reason Neither is it then taken as his priuate conceit but acknowledged as the truth of God manifested by his industrie In doubtfull places we follow the likeliest sense without any resolute determining what is true what false therefore cannot with any shew of reason be charged to appropriate the knowledge of Gods truth to our selues where it hath pleased his Maiestie so to propound it that of diuers senses a man cannot certainly affirme that this or that is true A. D. CHAP. X. That the doctrine and teaching of the true Church is the rule of faith A. W. If you had mentioned nothing but the doctrine of the true Church we might haue vnderstood you without any cause of doubting but now you ad teaching to doctrine we are enforced to enquire farther into your meaning For we are vncertaine whether by those words you meane one and the same thing or no. The doctrine of the Church is that which the Church propoundeth to be beleeued whether by word of mouth or in writing Teaching if we make it differ from doctrine is that onely which is deliuered by voice to the eare If we vnderstand you in the former sense for teaching by writing as well as by word of mouth the latter word was needlesse if in the latter of writing onely then the same doctrine written is not the rule of faith which vttered by a teacher will become such a rule not because it is true but because it is taught by authoritie A. D. §. 1. The fourth conclusion is that this infallible rule which euery one ought to follow in all points of faith is the doctrine and teaching of the true Church or companie of the true faithfull of Christ A. W. That we may the better vnderstand what you say and how you proue your saying there are a few things to be considered in this fourth condition First by the faithfull of Christ you must meane those that professe Christian Religion whether they beleeue as they professe or no as I haue shewed out of Bellarmine who doubtlesse knoweth what the Church is as well as you If you be of any other opinion by your owne rule we may reiect it for the priuatnesse thereof Secondly where you say the true faithfull it is not your purpose to speake as we for whom you writ this commonly doe of them that haue a true iustifying faith but of them that professe the doctrine of the Gospell according to the true sense and meaning of it whether they haue any iustifying faith or no. Thirdly by this companie or Church whom vnderstand you If the whole number of the beleeuers as well Laitie as Cleargie I oppose the iudgement of your owne Doctours against you who speaking of the Churches doctrine and teaching restraine the word onely to the Pope and Bishops The spirit saith Bellarmine is certainly found in the Church that is in a Councell of Bishops confirmed by the chiefe Pastor of the whole Church or in the chiefe Pastor with a Councell of the other Pastors If you follow Bellarmine I demaund whether your Laity be none of the true faithfull of Christ nor parts of the Church But to leaue this doubt wee are thus to conceiue your meaning that the doctrine which the Pope and other Pastors of the Church namely Bb. deliuer in a Councell is the rule of faith Now let vs propound your reason and examine it but first I confesse that I dare not resolutely determine whether it be brought in by you for a proofe of any thing that hitherto hath bene spoken or intended onely as a discourse concerning the authoritie of the Church If we apply it to any matter alreadie past as farre as I am able to conceiue it must be a second proofe of the proposition or maior of your maine Syllogisme in this manner If the doctrine and teaching of the true Church be the infallible rule which all men ought to follow then the faith which the authority of the true Church commends to vs is to be holden for the true faith But the doctrine and teaching of the true church is the infallible rule that all men ought to follow Therfore the faith which the authoritie of the true Church commendeth to vs is to be holden for the true faith This reasonable coherence we may make betwixt this Chapter and your former course without changing or weakning any part or point of your proofe which is applied to the confirming of this last minor the argument of this Chapter A. D. §. 2. This I proue by this reason If our Sauiour Christ hath promised to any company of men the presence of himselfe and the assistance of his holy spirit of purpose to instruct and teach them all truth giuing withall peculiar charge and commission to them to teach all nations and to preach to euery creature giuing also warrant to all that they may safely heare them giuing also commandement whereby he bindeth all to do in all things according to their saying and threatning greatly those who will not heare and beleeue them then certainly the doctrine and teaching of these men is in all points most true and infallible and such as if the other conditions required in the rule of faith be not as they are not wanting may well be proposed to all sorts as an assured ground whereupon they may safely build an infallible Christian faith For looke what our Sauiour Christ hath promised must needs be performed and whatsoeuer he warranteth or commandeth may safely and without danger of error be done nay must of necessitie be done especially when he threatneth those that will not do it and consequently if he haue promised to send his holy Spirit to teach any companie of men all truth it is not to be doubted but that he sendeth this his holy Spirit and by it teacheth them all truth and fith the teaching of his
not perceiue those things which are of the Spirit of God For sith none by the onely power of naturall wit which in vnderstanding vseth the helpe of outward senses can obtaine the supernaturall knowledge of diuine mysteries which we beleeue by our faith neither doth the Spirit of God who as the principall cause infuseth this gift of faith into our soules ordinarily instruct any man in the knowledge of true faith immediatly by himselfe alone or by an Angell sent from heauen we must needs if we will haue true faith seeke first for that which it pleaseth Almightie God to vse as the ordinarie instrument and as a necessary meanes by which men may learne true faith the which is no other but the preaching and teaching of the true church according to that saying of S. Paul Quomodo credent ei quem non audierint quomodo audient sine praedicante quomodo praedicabunt nisi mittantur How shall they beleeue him whom they haue not heard how shall they heare without a Preacher how shall they preach vnlesse they be sent Therefore the true Church which only hath preachers truly sent of God must first be found out that by it we may heare and know which is the true faith Therefore of the two the true Church is rather a mark whereby we may know the true preaching and consequently the true doctrine of faith then contrarie that as heretickes say the doctrine should be a marke whereby all men must know which is the true Church A. W. Belike as you had good cause you suspected your abilitie to proue simply that the true preaching of the word in all matters fundamentall and the right administration of the sacraments are not a good marke of a true Church And therefore you rather chose to proue by way of comparison that the true church is rather a marke to know true doctrine then true doctrine a marke to know the true Church by For so runs your conclusion directly If the end of seeking the true Church say you be principally that we may by it as a necessarie and infallible meanes learne true doctrine in all points to which otherwise we cannot attaine then the true Church is rather a marke to know true doctrine then true doctrine a marke to know the true Church by But the end of seeking the true Church is principally that we may by it as a necessarie and infallible meanes learne true doctrine in all points which otherwise wee cannot attaine to Therefore the true Church is rather a marke to know true doctrine then true doctrine a marke to know the Church by Though the conclusion as I said be not directly to the question which is not comparatiue but simple whether true doctrine be a good mark to discerne a true Church by or no yet I will take it as it is and answer to the parts of it Your maior in the antecedent may haue a double meaning First that we cannot in any point learne true doctrine but by the Church and then I denie the consequence For true doctrine in the fundamentall points of Religion may be a good marke of the true Church though we seeke the true Church because there are many points which we cannot learne without it But howsoeuer you vnderstand the maior the minor is euidently false First because the principall end of seeking the true Church is that we may truly worship God in the assembly of his children to his greater glorie and our farther assurance of his loue to vs as we may see euery where in the booke of the Psalmes Secondly because we are not to learne of the true Church as a necessarie and infallible meanes but of the ministers thereof who are appointed by God to giue vs knowledge of the meanes of saluation by expounding the word of God to vs not to binde vs to beleefe by their authoritie Your minor you offer to proue in this maner If no man without faith can obtaine the supernaturall knowledge of diuine mysteries and faith be not to be had but by the teaching of the true Church then the end of seeking the true Church is principally that we may learne by it as a necessarie and infallible meanes true doctrine in all points to which otherwise we cannot attaine But no man without faith can obtaine the supernaturall knowledge of diuine mysteries nor faith be had but by the teaching of the true Church Therefore the end of seeking the true Church is principally that we may by it as a necessary and infallible meanes learne the true faith in all points to which otherwise we cannot attaine The consequence of your maior is naught It doth not follow that we seeke the true Church to learne of it as a necessary and infallible meanes because we cannot know the mysteries of Religion without faith which commeth by the teaching of the true Church For there may well be teaching and learning without any such authoritie in the Church that teacheth Your minor is very doubtfull as I will shew in answering seuerally to the parts of it First then whereas you say that no man without faith can obtaine the supernaturall knowledge of diuine mysteries if you meane that a man cannot acknowledge the truth of such mysteries without faith your minor in that part is true but if your meaning be that a man cannot vnderstand what the meanes of saluation appointed by God are without faith I take your minor to be false For though those meanes be indeed such as no discourse of man euer could deuise or thinke on being vtterly supernaturall yet it is possible for a meere naturall man to learne what they are out of the Scriptures and that without faith because the Scriptures may be vnderstood by such helpes of the tongues and arts as humane learning doth affoord vs though to the sauing knowledge thereof the especiall grace of God be absolutely necessarie The other point that faith cannot be found but by the teaching of the true Church may also haue a double sense The first that faith cannot be wrought in any mans heart but by the preaching of some man authorized to that purpose by the true Church and this as I shewed before is not alwayes true for faith may be and hath bene begotten in some by the reading of the Scriptures where the ministery of the word was not to be had and by the teaching of ordinarie Christians not set apart to preach the Gospell The other meaning is this that faith cannot be attained to but by our hearkning to the voyce of such a Preacher as we alreadie know to be sent by the true Church And this indeed specially fits your purpose but hath no likelihood of truth in it For they that came to faith by the Apostles preaching did not beleeue them as men autorized for their instruction by the true church but as being conuinced in their consciences by the euidence of the truth they deliuered without
Leo faith that is true is a strong bulwarke to which faith nothing may be added by any man from which nothing may be taken because vnlesse it be one it is not faith sith the Apostle saith one Lord one faith one baptisme Is it not euident that he speakes of the points of faith that are to be beleeued For to them may a man adde I speake of power not of lawfulnesse from them may he take wheras the qualitie of faith seated in the soule is free from all such danger The learned father had found by experience that hereticks from time to time tooke vpon them to diminish and augment the faith of the Church that is the articles of religion and therefore denieth them to haue any faith that hold not firmly and onely the truth of doctrine according to the faith of the Church agreeable to Scripture A. D. §. 3. Omni studio saith S. Hierome Laborandum est primùm ocurrere in fidei vnitatem We must labour with all diligence first to meete in the vnitie of faith A. W. Ieroms testimonie wherein either the printer or you reade vnitatem for vnitate which is also the word in the text is to the same purpose that Leos was There are saith Ierome many winds of doctrine and by their blast when the waues are raised men are caried hither and thither in an vncertaine course and with diuers errors then follow the words you alledge Therefore we must labour with all diligence first to meete in the vnitie of faith then in the same vnitie to haue the knowledge of the sonne of God Which last point is added because of Sabellius who denied the distinction of the persons and against whom Ierome speaketh professedly in that chapter as also against Arius Macedonius and Eunomius about the holy Ghost and our Sauiour Christ A. D. §. 4. Hanc fidem saith Irenaeus ecclesia in vniuersum mundum disseminata diligenter custodit quasi vnam domum inhabitans similiter credit ijs quasi vnam animam habens vnum cor consonanter haec praedicat docet cradit quasi vnum possidens os Nam quamuis in mundo dissimiles sint loquelae tamen virtus traditionis vna eadem est This faith the Church spread ouer the whole world doth diligently keepe as dwelling in one house and doth belieue in one like manner those things to wit which are proposed for points of faith as hauing one soule and one heart and doth preach and teach and deliuer by tradition those things after one vniforme manner as possessing one mouth For although there be diuers and different languages in the world yet the vertue of tradition is One and the same Thus saith this Father By whose words we may vnderstand not onely that there is but one faith but also how it is said to be one which might seeme not to be one considering there are so many points or articles which we beleeue by our faith and so many seuerall men who haue in them this faith yet One saith this Father it is because the whole Church doth beleeue those points in one like manner That is to say because the beliefe of one man is in all points like and nothing different from the beliefe of another or because euery faithfull man beleeueth euery point or article for one and the like cause or for mall reason to wit because God hath reuealed it and deliuered it to vs by his Catholicke Church to be beleeued For which reason euery one should beleeue whatsoeuer he beleeueth as a point of Christian faith A. W. Irenaeus as the two former speaketh of the articles of religion many wherof he had recited in the next chapter before whereupon he infers the words you set downe The Church saith he hauing receiued this doctrine or preaching of this faith though it be spread ouer the whole world keepes it diligently c. And this your selfe acknowledge in these words To wit which are proposed for points of faith whereby you expound that which Irenaeus said The Church beleeues those things which is all one with his former words in sense This faith the Church holds So doth Feuardentius one of your learnedst Fryers vnderstand Irenaeus telling vs that he sets the consent of all Churches as a brasen wall that cannot be ouerthrowne against hereticks Of the same things saith Feuardentius they thinke beleeue write and teach the same By this place it is manifest that you take faith as it is a qualitie because you distinguish the points we beleeue from our faith by which we beleeue and so speaking of faith in that sense neuer a one of your proofes is either plaine or certaine But let vs see how you interprete Irenaeus He saith The whole Church doth beleeue alike meaning that all beleeue the same things not that the habit by which they beleeue is of like force like strength in euery particular Church or man which neither belongs to his purpose nor is true The intention or inward strength euen of the Catholick faith may be greater in one mā saith Domingo à Soto then in another and according to that increase our faith Therefore your former reason which you giue why faith is said to be one namely because the beleefe of one man is in all points like the beleefe of another must be vnderstood of likenesse in regard of the articles they beleeue not of any equalitie in the habit or qualitie it selfe and in that sense onely doth Irenaeus say that faith is one Which saith he no man by his eloquence maketh greater no man by his weaknes in speaking of it lesse We see saith Feuardentius that Irenaeus vehemently vrgeth the vnitie of doctrine and consent of faith which we affirmed to be one of the notes of the true Church Therefore whereas you said of Irenaeus that he affirmes faith to be one because the whole Church doth beleeue those things points of faith in one like manner you mistake his meaning and auow that which is vntrue It is great pitie but that such as you are coming in the name and by the authority of the Church should haue absolute credit giuen to that you teach without doubting or examining it at all Your second reason why faith is said to be one neither agrees with Irenaeus meaning as appeares by that which hath bene alreadie said and in the latter part is false too for both it is a fansie of yours that God hath deliuered it to vs by the Catholicke Church since the Prophets Apostles and Ministers are not the Catholicke Church but members of it the last all of them seuerally and ioyntly subiect to many errors though not fundamentall And the reason of beleeuing is simply and onely the authoritie and will of God made knowne to vs by the ministerie of men the holy Ghost enlightening our vnderstanding and enclining our hearts to beleeue But
exposition of that which is read giue me some reason why reading should not be more sufficiēt since he that readeth may easier vnderstand and better weigh that he readeth then he that doth onely heare an other reade But of this point I shall haue occasion to say more hereafter Now for the second point that we cannot heare vnlesse some lawfully sent that is as you vnderstand it vnlesse some sent by the authority of the Church do preach vnto vs first how shal this warrant the Apostles preaching of which S. Paul here speaketh For who knowes not that they were sent immediatly by our Sauiour not by any ordinary course in the Church Secondly it seemes you fortet what is written in the Ecclesiasticall histories of a captiue maid that conuerted the queene of Iberia she the king he his countrey What is recorded of Aedesius Frumentius by whom the Indians were brought to the knowledge of the Gospell How Alexander Bishop of Ierusalem and Theoctistus Bishop of Caesarea defend Origens preaching publickly when as yet he was not allowed by the Church for a minister Which fact of his they maintaine by the like examples of Euelpis Paulinus and Theodorus who had preached without any ordinarie sending And it is verie likely say they that the same hath beene done in other places though we know it not How little care you had of writing plainely any man may guesse by this one sentence wherein this needlesse word infallible is vsed in two diuers senses for certainty of truth where you speake of that we are to beleeue for assurance of beleefe without doubting where you meane faith it selfe A. D. §. 2. Fides saith S. Basile est eorum quae dicta sunt assentiens approbatio sine vlla haesitatione cum animi persuasione de eorum veritate quae Dermunere praedicata sunt Faith is a consenting approbation of those things which are said an vndoubted perswasion of minde of the truth of those things which are preached by the gift of God Fides saith Saint Chrysostome dici non potest nisi circa ea quae non videntur ampliùs quà m circa ea quae videntur certitudinem quis habeat It cannot be called faith vnlesse one be more certaine of those things which are not seene then of those things which are seene The reason whereof the same Saint Chrysostom declareth in an other place saying Superet sensum rationem nostram sermo ipsius Dei nam verbis eius fraudari non possumus sensus verò noster deceptu facillimus est Let Gods word saith he surmount our sense and reason for we can not be deceiued by his words but our sense is most easily deceiued A. W. These testimonies are more for ostentation to shew your learning then for necessitie to confirme a matter not doubted of Yet I must put you in minde that these descriptions and commendations of faith are not brought by the authors to condemne all as cast-awaies that sometimes doubt but to declare what faith is in it owne nature A. D. § 3. Sith therefore our faith is grounded on the word of God reuealed to vs by Iesus Christ our Lord speaking by the mouth of the Church as he saith himselfe Qui vos audit me audit he that heareth you heareth me we ought to receiue the word of faith preached by the true Church not as the word of man but as it is truely the word of God and consequently we must account it a thing most certaine and absolutely infallible A. W. Our Sauiour Christ doth no farther speake by the mouth of the Church then the Church speakes according to the Scripture whom so speaking whosoeuer heareth without doubt he heareth God both because it is the word of God that is spoken and because God hath commaunded vs to heare them that so speake But here againe for a shew the name Church is brought in whereas the testimonie belongs onely to the Apostles if you take it for them that must absolutely be heard without all doubting of that they deliuer and to euery one of them seuerally who doubtlesse is not the Church or else to all Ministers of the gospell from time to time but not without that restraint I mentioned before of speaking agreably to the word If you will stretch the place to other beside the Apostles in that point of being absolutely heard shew some reason why euery Pastor and licensed Preacher may not claime the same priuiledge of being heard and beleeued whatsoeuer he teach But that this is absord it may appeare because our Sauiour Christ foretold that there should come false prophets who alwaies are to be discerned by their doctrine And who is ignorant that the greatest hereticks had many of them lawfull calling in the Churches and yet ranne into monstrous heresies Doth not our Sauiour also will the Iewes to heare the Scribes and Pharisies what absolutely If they will teach their owne deuises saith Austin heare them not do not as they say But what name I Austen Doth not Christ himselfe giue the same charge Take heed and beware of the leuen of the Scribes and Pharises And what is their leuen but their doctrine by the holy Ghosts owne exposition Iansenius Bishop of Gant expounds the place of the Apostles and though he gather from thence the power of the Ecclesiasticall gouernours yet he restraineth it to their inioyning of that which is right Wee are to note saith he how great the authoritie of Ecclesiasticall gouernours is since we must obey them no otherwise then we must Christ when they commaund those things that are right Doe you not see your owne Bishops limitation vpon this verie place you alleage The ancient writers expound the place of the Apostles Your glosse requires deuotion and reuerence to the hearing of Christs Disciples for the reuerence of God whose doctrine principally it is which they deliuer So that they which preach not Christs doctrine cannot looke for so much as reuerence There fore true doctrine is alwaies to be receiued whosoeuer deliuer it whether he be lawfully sent or no and false doctrine neuer though it be preached by a Pope who being no Apostle can shew no charter for his being kept from error though his priue and your flatterie exalt him aboue all saue Peter A. D. CHAP. IIII. That this one infallible faith necessary to saluation must also be entire A. W. Whereas you say obscurely in your title Faith must be entire your meaning is that a Christian must beleeue all things appointed by God propoūded by the Church to be beleeued Wold you not haue said so if you had loued plainnesse What if I should ask you a reason why the title of this Chapter is not set downe in the same forme the rest are Faith is necessary Chap. 1. is one Chap. 2. is infallible Chap. 3. But in this 4. Chap.
in a matter of such weight The conclusion is that howsoeuer it is indeed a sinne and so in it selfe damnable to misbeleeue or not beleeue all and euery thing which God hath reuealed yet a man may be in the state of grace and saluation though he misbeleeue or through ignorance obstinately not beleeue something so reuealed In a word Not right beleeuing is neuer able to depriue a man of saluation but when that we beleeue amisse is a maine point of saluation obstinately not beleeuing onely then shuts vp heauen against vs when either the points we will not beleeue are fundamentall or our refusing to beleeue is against our owne iudgement and conscience If you had no further reach in this Chapter we were of the same mind with you but in propounding the reason of your assertion you bewray a further matter then at the first a man would imagine A. D. §. 2. The reason of this is because euery point of doctrine yea euery word that almightie God hath reuealed and by his Church propounded vnto vs to be beleeued must vnder paine of damnation be beleeued as we may gather out of Saint Marke where when our Sauiour had giuen charge to his Disciples to preach the Gospell to euery creature the which charge he also gaue in Saint Mathew saying Docete omnes gentes c. docentes eos seruare omnia quaecunque mandaui vobis Teach all nations c. teaching them to obserue all things whatsoeuer I haue commaunded you he pronounceth indefinitely Qui non crediderit condemnabitur He that shall not beleeue shall be condemned not excepting or distinguishing any one point of doctrine as needlesse to be beleeued or which a man might at his pleasure misbeleeue or doubt of without danger A. W. Your first reason lieth thus If euery point and word reuealed by God and propounded by his Church to be beleeued must vnder paine of damnation be beleeued then faith must be entire But euery word so reuealed and propounded must vnder paine of damnation be beleeued Therefore faith must be entire The conclusion of this Syllogisme is acknowledged by vs for a certaine truth Faith must be entire but the premisses seeme liable to iust exception For first the antecedent and the consequent of the proposition are all one and so the proofe and that which is proued differ not What is it to say euery word reuealed by God must be beleeued but to affirme that faith must be entire Indeed if the questiō were of faith as it is a quality then the consequent might be inferred vpon the antecedent but since we speake of the things to be beleeued both are one If euery such word must be beleeued then we must beleeue euery such word It is the same faith by which all and by which some is beleeued but as the obiect or things beleeued make a difference which reacheth not to the faith it selfe within the soule Secondly the Assumption though it be true yet doth it containe something that had need to be warily considered First you so couple the reuealing by God and the propounding of a thing to be beleeued by the church as if the latter were no lesse necessary then the former to make a matter of faith wheras al things that God hath reuealed ought to be beleeued whether the Church propoūd them for such or no. For the reason why they are to be beleeued is that they proceed from God who must needs be credited in whatsoeuer he shal say in respect both of his truth in speaking and his authoritie in commaunding obedience But you Papists make the authoritie of the Church the very foundation of our beleefe The Scripture you say is in it selfe the word of God and so worthy of all credit but to vs it is not so but by the authoritie of the Church vpon the credit whereof we take it for the word of God Yea farther you limit faith in particular points by the determination of the Church so that no man shall be bound to beleeue as a point of faith any doctrine neuer so certainly proued out of Scripture vnlesse the Church haue resolued of it that it is true and whatsoeuer is by the Church concluded for true must be acknowledged for such by faith though it be beside or against the Scripture which as Cardinall Cusan is not ashamed nor afraid to say is fitted for the time and diuersly vnderstood So that it may at one time be expounded one way according to the generall current order of the Church and the same order being changed the Scripture also is changed And why should it not if as another Papist saith the holy Scripture take strength and authoritie from the doctrine of the Church and Bishop of Rome The Apostles saith Pighius haue written certaine things not that their writings should be aboue our faith but that they should be vnder it But what should I stand to recite your blasphemies in this kind which are many and monstrous That which is not to day a point of faith shall be one to morrow if it please the Pope to propound it to be beleeued It is farther to be considered in your Assumption that although whatsoeuer God reuealeth is to be beleeued vpō paine of damnation yet a man may be saued without beleeuing euery thing so reuealed alwayes prouided that he do not against his conscience obstinately refuse to acknowledge any truth If our Sauiour haue said that he which beleeueth not all that his Apostles teach shall be condemned then euery word so reuealed and propounded must be beleeued vnder paine of damnation But our Sauiour hath said so Therefore euery word so propounded must be beleeued vnder paine of damnation This is a proofe of your Assumption wherein for the consequence of your proposition I would haue all men vnderstand that although you craftily imply therein a comparison of equalitie betwixt the charge of beleeuing the Apostles and all other Ministers allowed by you whom you call by the name of the Church to deceiue simple people with so glorious a title yet the truth of that proposition depends not thereupon but onely vpon the necessitie of beleeuing that which God hath reuealed It is a certaine truth that God is to be beleeued in all things he hath reuealed by whom soeuer he propound it in this respect the consequence of your proposition is true That if it were damnable not to beleeue the Apostles deliuering that which God had reuealed it is also damnable not to giue credit to Ministers now when they propound that to be beleeued which God hath reuealed because the reason of beleeuing is that God hath reuealed the things that are deliuered But yet here are two differences to be obserued first that it is lesse sinne to doubt of that which any man besides the Apostles deliuers though it be the word of God then to make question of the same matter vttered by the
setting downe what cōditions or properties this rule of faith must haue afterwards by proouing particularly that neither Scripture alone not any natural wit or humane lerning nor priuat spirit can be this rule of faith And finally that this rule which all mē may safely must necessarily follow can be no other but the teaching of the Catholicke Church A. W. It is onely thus farre agreed betwixt vs that there must needs be meanes appointed by Almightie God whereby all sorts of men may come to such a measure of knowledge and faith as is necessarie to saluation not wherby euery man may be infalliblie instructed in all points of religion that he need neuer make more question in any matter of faith though we grant that there is such a meanes prouided by God howsoeuer we in our weaknesse cannot make such vse of it But that we may vnderstand matters aright as we go forward I must intreate the Reader to remember that if all things to come in this your Treatise be sufficiently prooued yet you faile much of your maine purpose For this last Syllogisme is the foundation of all yet behinde concerning one of the principall points which you propoūded in the beginning viz. That it was necessarie to admit such an infallible authoritie in the Catholicke Church Now the proposition of this Syllogisme I haue denied and refuted Therefore if the assumption therof were most certainly true as it is vndoubtedly false yet could your conclusion be nothing sure because the syllogisme failes in the proposition but let vs see how you prooue the assumtion If neither the Scripture alone nor naturall wit or learning nor a priuate spirit can be such a rule then God hath prouided no such rule vnlesse we admit an infallible authority in the Catholicke Church But neither the Scripture alone nor naturall wit or learning nor a priuate spirit can be such a rule Therefore God hath prouided no such rule vnlesse we admit an infallible authority in the Catholicke Church This proposition is not set downe by you in plaine termes but necessarily and certainly gathered out of the course you hold in the fiue next chapters wherein the assumption and conclusion are manifestly contained that in the foure former this in the tenth The consequence of your proposition is verie weake For what if none of these seuerally be such a rule may not all these together be Sure there is nothing brought by you to the contrary But if all these faile what can you say to the contrarie why a generall Councell without the Popes authority should not be such a rule Or to goe farther doe you not thinke that the Pope alone may serue the turne And yet in your opinion neither the Councell nor the Pope seuerally considered are the Church Therefore it seemes there may be such a rule though there be no companie of men that hath any such authoritie as you speake of Secondly your consequence is but feeble in an other respect For it presumeth that if there be such an authoritie there is such a rule Whereas many thousands in the world may be vtterly without meanes of knowing that there is such an authoritie and so the meanes as in regard of them insufficient Adde hereunto that although it were possible and easie for euery man to know and see the Church yet the meanes might be insufficient because there is no certaine reason to perswade them that they must beleeue this Church in all things so that still according to your doctrine the Lord must needs haue failed much in his prouidence though he haue giuen this authority to the Church because he hath prouided no meanes whereby euery man may certainly be perswaded that the Church hath such authoritie Will you say He hath appointed that all men should beleeue the Church What can that helpe when he hath not prouided meanes for all men to know that they must beleeue her Must we not come now to a priuate spirit that is to the teaching of Gods spirit in the hearts of particular men And if this must needs be in this one case how prooue you it may not be so in other To answer we must beleeue the Church is to beg the question against all reason A. D. CHAP. VI. VVhat conditions or properties must be found in the rule of Faith THis rule which Almightie God hath prouided as a sufficient meanes to direct men to the knowledge of true faith necessarie to saluation must haue three conditions or properties First it must be certaine and infallible for otherwise it cannot be a sufficient foundation whereupon to build faith which as is proued before is absolutely infallible Secondly it must be such as may be certainly and plainly knowne of all sorts of men For if to any sort it could not be knowen or not certainly knowen it could not be to them a rule or meanes whereby they might direct themselues to the certaine knowledge of the true faith Thirdly it must be vniuersall that it may not onely make vs know certainly what is the true faith in some one or two or moe points but absolutely in all points of faith For otherwise it were not a sufficient meanes whereby we may attaine to an entire faith which integritie of faith is necessarie to saluation in such wise as hath bene declared and prooued before A. W. Your assumption had three points and as it were parts making three seueral sentences or propositions which for the more plainnesse I will handle seuerally as you haue done First of the Scripture The rule of faith must be certaine and infallible certainly and plainly knowen and vniuersall The Scripture alone is not so Therefore the Scripture alone is not the rule of faith Ere I come to answer your Syllogisme giue me leaue to shew how obscurely and doubtfully these properties are deliuered by you First infallible is taken in two diuers senses Faith must be infallible The rule must be infallible In the former we must needs expound infallible not being deceiued by holding any errour or nor doubting of that which it beleeueth In the latter what can infallible signifie but either that which is certainly true or that which may not be doubted of Is it plaine dealing to speake so doubtfully Or is it a good kinde of reasoning to runne the ring and to dispute in a circle as they speake in the Schooles Before you would prooue the infallibility of faith by the infallibility of the word of God which it must beleeue now you conclude the infallibility of the rule from the infallibility of faith Is not this to trifle rather then to reason Would you not laugh at vs if we should dispute thus The elect cannot fall away because the holy Ghost that vpholds them is true God The holy Ghost is true God because the elect whom he vpholds cannot fall away View your selfe in this glasse Secondly what would a reasonable man conceiue by these words The rule must be
intēded by the holy Ghost at the least in many places it cannot be the Apostles meaning that no man knoweth the sense of our Lord in the Scripture But the more you mistake the sense of the holy Ghost in Scripture the better you proue your opinion that no naturall wit or learning can bring a man to the vnderstanding thereof onely you must take heed of ouerweening your owne wit and learning and so of erring by drawing a generall conclusion against all men from your owne defect which also perhaps is not so much for want of wit or learning as for lacke of paines taking and because of a preiudicate conceit against the truth A. D. §. 4. Hence I inferre that those who for matters of faith relie wholy either vpon their owne priuate opinion or iudgement of the sense and meaning of Scripture or vpon the learning and iudgement of others who are but men not infallibly assisted by the holy Ghost nor by him vnfallibly preserued from errour as many or rather all Protestants do those I say cannot haue diuine and Christian faith but onely fallible opinion and humane faith As before I granted your conclusion that naturall wit and learning cannot be the rule of faith so I now acknowledge the truth of your illation which you bring in thereupon that he which relieth wholly vpon his owne priuate opinion or any other mans iudgement can haue no true faith Yet must I again remember that to rely vpon such opinion or iudgement is to take that for truth which is taught barely vpon the credit of the teacher For otherwise a man may haue a true faith that is a certain and infallible assent to the truth though he beleeue vpon euident reason those points interpretations which are proued to him by men without any infallible authoritie of the Church But whereas you charge many or rather all Protestants to rely so vpon the iudgement of men I hope you do it without the authoritie of your Church that cannot erre for I am sure you do it without any shew of truth No Protestant of any discretion not onely not all beleeueth the doctrine of the Gospell in generall or any one particular interpretation as a matter of faith vpon any mans credit whatsoeuer This reuerence indeed we giue to our teachers that we rather trust their iudgement then our owne and dare not dissent from them but where we haue great likelihood of reason at least to the contrary Howsoeuer we ground no point of faith vpon any interpretation which is not plaine and euident to any man that will take paines to examine it according to true reason A. D. CHAP. IX That a priuate spirit cannot be the rule of faith A. W. A man may easily perceiue that you chuse to say any thing rather then nothing and therefore you make your selfe worke Chapter after Chapter I shall not need to repeate that which I haue noted before this Chapter giueth sufficient euidence of that I say What a strange kind of speech is this that a priuate spirit is the rule of faith No spirit neither priuate nor publick is ordinarily the rule of faith no not the most holy spirit of God but onely as he speaketh in the Scripture who alwayes teacheth one and the same truth publickly and priuately A. D. §. 1. The third conclusion is that no priuate man who perswadeth himselfe to be singularly instructed by the spirit can be this rule of faith especially so farre forth as he beleeueth or teacheth contrary to the receiued doctrine of the Catholicke Church A. W. This is the interpretation of the title of your Chapter No priuate spirit that is no priuate man who perswadeth himselfe to be singularly instructed by the spirit c. I cannot tel whether I shold thinke you haue forgotten to speake English or purposely affect as strange doctrine so strange speech also To be singularly instructed with vs plaine Englishmen is to be taught in rare and excellent sort not to be apart or seuerally alone instructed which is your meaning I grant mens priuat opinions are called singular and the men themselues that haue such conceits are also so termed but he that professeth plainnesse to teach all kind of men should labour to speake so that all might vnderstand him But to the matter Whose opinion is it that any such man as you conceit or any man at all can be the rule of faith Sure not ours who as it hath often bene said giue this honour only to the word of God If any man hold that opinion vnlesse perhaps the senslesse Anabaptists with whom we haue nothing to do you are they who as it seemeth by the exception you adde grant that with limitation a man may be the rule of faith For you say he cannot be the rule of faith especially so farre forth as he beleeueth or teacheth contrary to the receiued doctrine of the Catholicke Church Do you not imply in this speech that so farre forth as he agreeth with the doctrine of the Catholick Church he may be the rule of faith But I obserue one rare thing in your course of disputing that you ordinarily propound your matter in such sort that you are faine presently after to make one exception or other Scripture alone say you cannot be the rule of faith is this all you meane No a limitation followeth Especially as it is translated by Protestants into English No naturall wit or learning can be the rule of faith What by no meanes except they be infallibly assisted by the holy spirit of God In this Chapter we haue the like course held by you But leaue we this and be take our selues to consider your proofe A. D. §. 2. This I proue first because Saint Paul saith Si quis vobis euangelizauerit praeter id quod accepistis Anathemasit pronouncing generally that whosoeuer teacheth or preacheth contrary to the receiued doctrine of the Catholicke Church should be held Anathematized or accursed A. W. Your reason is thus to be framed He that must be accursed for his teaching cannot be the rule of faith But a priuate spirit that teacheth contrary to the receiued doctrine of the Catholicke Church must be accursed for his teaching Therefore a priuate spirit that teacheth contrary to the receiued doctrine of the Catholicke Church cannot be the rule of faith First I desire all men to obserue that this argument of yours doth not proue that a priuate spirit cannot be the rule of faith but onely so farre forth as he doth disagree from the doctrine of the Church otherwise for all this reason he may be Wherein you speake absurdly and falsly Absurdly in propounding such a question to refute as neither we whom you professe to refute nor any reasonable man would euer once imagne viz. that a priuate spirit teaching an vntruth might be the rule of faith For how can that be but an vntruth which is contrary to that the Apostle deliuered by his preaching
Spirit is vnfallible we are not to doubt but that this companie is in all points infallibly taught the truth If also the same our Sauiour gaue warrant and commandement that they should teach vs and that we should heare them and do in all things according to their saying we may not likewise doubt but that they shall be able to teach all sorts of men in all points the infallible truth and that all sorts of men may if they will learne of that companie what in all points is the infallible truth For otherwise by this generall commaundement of hearing them and doing according to their saying we should be bound somtime to heare and beleeue an vntruth and to doe that which were not vpright and good which without blasphemie to Christ his veritie and goodnesse can no way be thought A. W. 1 If our Sauiour Christ say you hath promised to any companie his presence and assistance of his spirit of purpose to instruct and teach them all truth 2 If he haue giuen them charge and commission to preach to euerie creature 3 If he haue giuen warrant to all that they may safely heare them 4 If he haue giuen commaundement to all to doe in all things according to their saying 5 If he haue threatned them who will not heare and beleeue them 6 If the other conditions required in the rule of faith be not wanting then the doctrine and teaching of the true Church is the rule that all men ought to follow But our Sauiour Christ hath so 1. promised 2. charged 3. warranted 4. commaunded 5. threatned and 6. the other conditions required are not wanting Therefore the doctrine and teaching of the true Church is the rule that all men ought to follow I haue propounded this Syllogisme as your selfe haue set it downe saue onely that I haue endeuored to make it somewhat shorter keeping your sense whole and full Now for the proposition I grant the consequence vpon all those conditions ioyntly considered to be sound and good Howsoeuer some of them might well haue bene omitted for example 1 If our Sauiour haue promised his presence and assistance of his spirit of purpose to teach a certaine companie of men all truth then the doctrine of the Church is the rule of faith This consequence is but weake for Christ may affoord such presence and assistance to such a purpose and yet the effect not ensue by reason that those men faile in some duties required on their part Do not you affirme in this Treatise that God hath appointed meanes of saluation for all men with a true will to haue them saued and yet verie many yea the greatest part are not saued 2 If he haue giuen them charge and commission to preach to euerie creature then their preaching is the rule of faith Their commission is not simply to teach but to teach those things that our Sauiour himselfe commaunded and therefore their doctrine can be no farther the rule of faith then they preach according to their commission If I or an Angell from heauen saith the Apostle preach vnto you otherwise then that you haue receiued let him be accursed The same may be obiected against the third and the fifth points It doth not follow that their doctrine is the rule of faith because all men haue warrant to heare them safely or because they are threatned who will not heare and beleeue them For first they may be free from danger of erring and yet not know all points of faith which is made by you one condition of the rule Secondly vnlesse you enlarge the warrant as farre as the commaundement in the fourth point which is in a manner to confound them so that they may safely heare them in all things your consequence will still be naught Thirdly they may heare them safely though the other may erre if they haue means affoorded to examine that they deliuer skill and care to vse those meanes Fourthly the threatning for not beleeuing is to be restrained to their teaching as they ought Are not they threatned by our Sauiour who beleeue not any Minister lawfully authorised and preaching the truth Yet doth it not follow hereupon that they cannot erre or that their preaching is simply the rule of faith But these feeble consequences might all haue bene omitted by you and your matter as fully prooued if you had set downe none but the fourth and sixth points thus If God haue commaunded all men to doe in all things as the Church teacheth and the other conditions required in the rule be not wanting then their preaching is the rule that all men ought to follow This consequence is true and sufficient for your purpose the other serue for number to make a shew rather then for substance of weight But of your Maior this may be sufficient especially since I acknowledge the truth thereof A. D. §. 3. But so it is that Christ our Sauiour hath in holy Scripture promised giuen commission warranted commaunded and threatned in manner aforesaid Therefore we cannot doubt but that there is a certaine company the which is called the true Church of Christ which both is in all points of faith infallibly taught by the holy Spirit and is likewise to teach all sorts of men in all points of faith what is the infallible truth and therefore the teaching of this companie may well be assigned and proposed to all men as an vndoubted sufficient rule of faith A. W. I denie your Minor first in generall because our Sauiour did not so promise charge warrant commaund threaten in regard of any companie of men as if there had bene some ioynt teaching appointed by him but in respect of his Apostles and Ministers seuerally who in their proportion haue as much authoritie for necessitie of being beleeued seuerally one by one as iointly all together though such a ioynt consent is the more to be reuerenced and respected Secondly I denie it also in the fourth point which is the strength of it There neuer was since the Apostles any man or any companie of men according to whose saying we were commaunded to doe in all things Lastly I say the conditions required in the rule of faith are wanting in the teaching you vnderstand This conclusion of yours giueth me occasion to speake somewhat at large of the Church with the name whereof applied to your Pope alone or Pope and Cleargie you daily seduce many vnsetled and ignorant people The word Church in our English tongue seemeth first of all to haue bene applied to the Temple or place of Gods seruice as if it were called Kyrke of the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as you would say the Lords house But the Hebrew Greek words which must be the Iudges in this matter signifie a Companie Congregation or Assemblie The Hebrew words are two the Greeke as many the Latin besides the two Greeke made Latin are diuers Populi people Coetus
contempt Secondly in Saint Mathew the same our Sauiour expresly saith Si Ecclesiam non audierit sit tibi sicut Ethnicus publicanus If he will not heare the Church let him be to thee like an Ethnicke and a Publican Finally in Saint Marke after he had giuen charge and commission to preach the Gospell to euerie creature he pronounceth this threat to those that will not beleeue saying Qui non crediderit condemnabitur He that will not beleeue shall be condemned A. W. This is the last point in your Assumption and thus it is to be concluded He that despiseth our Sauiour that is to be accounted as an heathen or Publican that shall be condemned is greatly threatned in Scripture But he that will not heare the Church and doe in all things according to the saying thereof despiseth our Sauiour c. Therefore he that will not heare the Church and doe in all things according to the saying thereof is greatly threatned in Scripture I denie your Minor and will answer to the seuerall proofes of it To the first whereof I shall need to say little because I spake sufficiently of the former part of that text at the third point The summe is that this threatning as the warrant is not vttered in respect of any Church or companie but of seuerall teachers and preachers and therefore if we may not conclude from hence that he which heareth not euery minister and doth in all things according to his saying is guiltie of these crimes no more is he that performeth not the like dutie to a cōpany of Pastors or bishops assembled together Secondly if it were spokē of the Church yet were not any man to be held faulty in such a measure but he onely that refuseth the ministerie of the Gospell and embraceth not the doctrine thereof as the onely way of saluation Therefore said our Sauiour in the same chapter and matter Into whatsoeuer Citie ye shall enter if they will not receiue you go your waies out into the streets of the same and say euen the verie dust which cleaueth on vs of your Citie we wipe off against you So did the Apostles against the Iewes of Antioch in Pisidia for their contempt of the Gospell They shooke off the dust of their feet against them Thus as I signified before your glosse vnderstandeth it He that despiseth you so that he will not beleeue in Christ Is it all one to despise a man and not to assent to the truth of whatsoeuer he speaketh This may proceed and doth ordinarily from an error of iudgement that commeth alwaies from a resolute determination of the will Thirdly as hearing so despising must be vnderstood not simply but when the parties to be heard or despised preach the truth of Iesus Christ according to his word For there is no commaundement as I shewed in handling of the last point that bindeth vs any farther to obedience or makes vs liable to punishment then the things deliuered are agreeable to the word of God vnlesse we do against our conscience Therefore your speech of your Catholicke Church is but idle there being no speech nor thought of it in this place but onely a charge to heare the Apostles simply because they could not erre other teachers iointly or seuerally though the latter be properly intended so farre forth as they speake agreeably to the Scriptures and so do not erre First I say this place is not to purpose because it speaketh of a man alreadie in the Church a beleeuer by profession whereas your question is of him that is no Christian but to be made a beleeuer by giuing credit to that which shall be preached to him That it is to be vnderstood of beleeuers onely the text it selfe speaketh If thy brother If anie man that is called a brother Thy brother that is a Christian saith Theophylact For our Lord hath appointed no such course to be taken saith Chrysostome with them that are out of the Church But this is meant of him that vnder the name of a beleeuer saith Ierome plaieth the Infidell A brother saith Iansenius is here vnderstood not to be euerie neighbour or euerie man but he that is a Christian of the same religion with vs. His reasons are first because our Sauiour saith Tell the Church but the Church hath nothing to doe in such cases with those that are not members of it What haue I to do saith Paul to iudge them that are without Secondly because an Heathen and Publican are alreadie out of the Church and so the censure here appointed cannot concerne them Secondly by not hearing the Church our Sauiour doth not meane not beleeuing all points of doctrine the Church deliuereth of which there was no occasion for him to speake at that time but refusing to be ordered by the Church and despising the admonition thereof So is hearing and not hearing there to be vnderstood If he heare thee what is that If he beleeue the doctrine thou teachest No such matter But if he take thy admonition in good part and accordingly reforme himselfe So afterwards If he refuse to heare the witnesses This refusall hath a kinde of contempt ioyned with it If he contemne the Church saith Cyprian Despising the commaundement of his prelate saith Lyra. Thirdly by Church no man in this place can reasonably vnderstand a generall Councell either without or with the Pope For questionlesse our Sauiour would neuer speak so obscurely to the Iewes for whom it was impossible to vnderstand his meaning and whom that matter did not concerne But he speaketh either of the gouernours of seuerall Churches or of the congregatiōs gouernors which are properly the Church in those places where they liue In the former sense do Chrysostome and Theophylact take it and your Rhemists by Chrysostomes authority Tell the Prelates and gouernours Tell them saith Bellarmine that are publicke persons in the Church And in an other place Euerie mans Prelate or a companie of Prelates is meant The latter opinion your Bishop Iansenius maintaines He saith tell the Church not tell the Bishops and gouernours of the Church though they especially are to be told the Church is not to be told but in their presence as a company of beleeuers is not to be called a Church if the gouernours thereof be not present He saith tell the Church that he may reuerence the agreement of the multitude That the reproofe by many may correct him To this purpose Ierome saith It must be told to many And therefore if any man thinke that by telling the Church it is meant we should tell the Pope besides the absurdity of the interpretation the Pope being but one and the Church by your owne definition a Company both our Sauiour Christs course is peruerted Tell him alone thē with one or two witnesses lastly tel one againe Iansenins Ierom
Let vs therefore proceede in examining this discourse A. D. §. 1. Hitherto I haue shewed that the rule of faith which all men ought to seeke that by it they may learne true faith is the doctrine of the Church of Christ and that this Church doth continue and is alwayes visible that is to say such as may be found out and knowne Now the greatest question is sith there are diuers companies of them that beleeue in Christ euery one of which challenge to themselues the title of the true Church how euery man may come to know assuredly and in particular which companie is indeed the true visible Church of Christ whose doctrine we must in all points beleeue and follow To this question I answer that euery companie which hath the name of Christians or which challenge to themselues the name of the Church are not alwayes the true Church For of heretickes we may well say as S. Austin doth Non quia Ecclesiae Christi videntur habere nomen idcirco pertinent ad eius consecrationem They doe not therefore pertaine to the consecration of the Church of Christ because they seeme to carry the name of the Church of Christ. For as the same S. Austin saith in another place heretickes are onely whited ouer with the name of Christians when indeed Si haeretici sunt as Tertullian sayth Christiani esse non possunt If they be heretickes the cannot be true Christians The reason whereof the same Tertullian insinuateth to be because they follow not that faith which came from Christ to his Apostles and Disciples and which was deliuered by them from hand to hand to our forefathers and so to vs but they follow that faith which they chose to themselues of which election or choise the name of hereticke and heresie did arise A. W. Hitherto you haue laboured to proue the maior of your maine syllogisme propounded in your preface namely that the faith which the authoritie of the true Catholick Church commends vnto vs is to be held for the true faith What successe you haue had in this proofe let them say that haue compared your arguments and my answers together Now you are to proceed to the proofe of your maine assumption that they onely are the true Church which make profession of the Romane faith Your syllogisme is thus framed They onely are the true Church to whom the certaine marks by which the Church is to be knowne belong But they that professe the Romane faith are they to whom those markes belong Therefore they onely that professe the Romane faith are the true Church The proposition or maior of this Syllogisme is not exprest by you but necessarily implied in this thirteenth Chapter where you say that the way to discerne which is the true Church is first to set downe which be the certain marks whereby all men may easily know the Church The assumption or minor you endeuour to proue in the fiue Chapters following by a Syllogisme thus concluded They onely who are one holy Catholicke Apostolicke Church are they to whom the certaine markes of the true Church belong But they that professe the Romane religion are they who are one holy Catholicke Apostolicke Church Therefore they onely that professe the Romane faith are they to whom the certaine markes of the true Church belong Your proposition or maior is in the two next Chapters your assumption or minor in the sixteenth In handling the proposition first you labour to disproue the markes of a true church which we assigne and that in Chapt. 14. then you assay to propound and confirme other of your owne as we shall see hereafter if God will when we come to Chap. 15. Whereas you expound what you meane by a visible Church viz. such a one as may be found out and knowne you straighten the question and auow that which no man denieth For the question betwixt vs is not whether the Church may be found out or no but whether it be so visible and famous a congregation that it may at all times be knowne of all men If this be not that you should proue what will become of your grand reason that therefore there must alwayes be a knowne Church the doctrine whereof euery must rest vpon in all matters of faith because otherwise it cannot be vniuersally true that God will haue all men to be saued It is indeed a matter worth the enquiring which companies of them that professe Christian Religion are the true Churches of Christ For that all are not it is apparent by your Antichristian Synagogue and that all true Christians are bound as much as lieth in them to become members of some true church of Christ it is manifest because else they cannot ordinarily performe the duties of his true outward worship which are no where done but in his true churches If the choise of any doctrine not receiued from Christ be sufficient to make men heretickes and churches hereticall what may the world thinke of your synagogue which is not ashamed openly to professe that she holdeth many points of doctrine which haue not proofe out of the written word of God For whereas to shift off the matter you come in with deliuerie of I know not what from hand to hand by the Apostles and your forefathers who sees not that this conceit of yours both condemneth the Scriptures of insufficiencie and maketh the reports of men the rule of the true faith and openeth a wide gate to let in all deuices of mans corruption What auailes it to know that all doctrine is heresie which comes not from our Sauiour Christ if we must beleeue that all came from him which your Pope and his Councell tell vs they haue receiued by tradition why should we not rather hearken to your Occham who truly affirmed that heresy is an opinion chosen by a man contrary to the holy Scripture Surely there is great cause to suspect them of heresie who refuse to make triall of their doctrine by Scripture whatsoeuer they talke of tradition from the Apostles by their forefathers A. D. §. 2. The way therefore to discerne which is the true Church is irst to set downe which be the certaine markes by which all men may easily know the Church and then to examine to whom these markes doe agree The which that I may the better performe in the Chapter following here I thinke good first briefly to note what belongeth to the nature of a good and sufficient marke Note therefore that two things are required in euery sufficient marke The first is that it be not common to many but proper and onely agreeing to the thing whereof it is a marke As for example it is no good marke whereby to know any particular man to say he hath two hands or two eares because this is common to many and therefore no sufficient note or marke whereby one may be distinguished or knowne from all other But a marke whereby we may discerne
that in time of persecution many true Christians may be without opportunitie of meeting together for the true worship of God in hearing his word and calling vpon his name which alwaies accompanieth true preaching and yet still continue true members of Christs mysticall bodie the Church But we say that these men cannot be truly called such a visible Church of Christ as we now seeke for Yet if these men shall ordinarily assemble themselues together to offer vp praier to God and by mutuall conference to edifie each other in knowledge and obedience thogh they haue no certaine minister appointed for the performance of these duties there can no reason be alledgd why they should not be held for a true Church though not perfect complete or why men should not ioine with them hauing no means to become members of any complete congregation properly being a Church The word then in our opinion is simply necessarie and of it selfe sufficient as Luther truly saith where no other signe of a Church can be discerned to conuince a mans conscience that there is a true Church where he findeth the word truly preached Now the administration of the Sacraments is not so necessarie but that there may be a true Church without it vpon occasion as the Iewes had no circumcision amongst them all the fortie yeares when they trauelled through the wildernesse The reason of this difference is assigned to be this that the word is as it were the cause efficient of the Church so that without it there can be no Church but the Sacraments are only seals of Gods mercies and helps for the increasing of those graces which are receiued by the ministerie of the word Now these seales and helpes are not requisite simply to the being of that they seale helpe vs in but onely to the better being and increase of them But if I may be bold with reuerence of other mens iudgement to speake my poore opinion I think this reason sheweth the different necessitie of the word and the Sacraments rather to the making of particular men true Christians thē to the giuing of this or that companie the true being of a visible Church And therefore vnder correction I would rather say that the truth of doctrine deliuered in the ministery of the word and praier are absolutely necessary the administration of the Sacraments not so altogether because the former are such parts of Gods seruice as may and must alwaies be performed when the Church is assembled but the Sacraments neither can alwaies nor need at all such meetings to be administred Which we speake not as if the true vse of the Sacraments were not a necessarie part of Gods seruice to be done vpon all opportunities with reuerence and willingnesse but for that as before I noted there cannot be at all times such opportunitie Yea it may fall out that in some true Church of Christ there shall be no occasion to administer the Sacrament of Baptisme in many yeares This then is that which we hold concerning the markes of a true Church First that wheresoeuer we see the word of God truly taught and the Sacraments truly administred there we may be sure there is a true Church of Christ Secondly that wheresoeuer the former of these is wanting there is no true Church whatsoeuer shew or marke otherwise there be Thirdly that wheresoeuer the word of God is truly preached and accordingly professed there is a true Church though the Sacraments vpon occasion as is aforesaid be not there administred so that they be not neglected vpon any contempt or erroneous conceit of their not being necessarie To disprooue our doctrine concerning the markes of the or rather of a Church you bring this reason If true doctrine be a marke of a true Church then either true doctrine in some pointes or true doctrine in all But neither true doctrine in some points nor true doctrine in all is a marke Therefore true Doctrine is not at all a marke of a true Church I denie you Minor True doctrine in all points is so certaine a marke of a true Church that wheresoeuer we finde that we may be sure there is a true Church But because we enquire after such a marke as may not onely assure vs which is a true Church but also teach vs to know euerie true Church I answer more particularly that true doctrine in some pointes viz. such as are fundamentall is so necessarie a marke as that there is no where any true Church but where there is such true doctrine and that there is vndoubtedly a true Church wheresoeuer that truth is taught and held Your Minor you prooue thus first that true doctrine in some points is no good marke That which is not proper to the true Church but agrees rather to heretickes is no good marke of the true Church But true doctrine in some points onely is not proper to the true Church but agreeth rather to heretickes Therefore true doctrine in some points onely is no good marke of the true Church Againe I denie your minor taking it in the best sense for if I should take it in the worst your whole syllogisme would be nothing to the purpose My answer shall I trust make both these points plaine to euery man I say then that true doctrine in all the fundamentall points of religion is proper to the Church so that no hereticks hold all such points though some haue held many of them Or if any companie do hold them all and yet for some error in other points of lesse moment be counted and be hereticall their heresie is not such as may make them cease to be members of a true Church Thus much of your assumption in the best sense By true doctrine in some points onely you may meane that it is not a propertie belonging to the true Church to beleeue truly some points onely and not all and this indeed is rather proper to heretickes then the true Church because it is the dutie of all true Churches to beleeue all things that the Lord hath taught in the holy Scriptures whereas hereticks take vp conceits of their owne which they mingle with the truth of God either ignorantly or deceitfully I haue reason to suspect this meaning because you thrust in this word onely In this sense your conclusion fighteth with a shadow For we do not make it a marke of a true Church to beleeue some points onely but say it may be and is a true Church though it erre in some points so it hold the fundamentall points soundly and truly This is the proofe of the second part of your minor that true doctrine in all points is not a good marke of the true Church and it is thus concluded Euery good marke of the true Church is apparent or easie to be knowne of all those who should seeke out the true Church But true doctrine in all points is not apparent or easie to be known of
of the Church so that we cannot see it vnlesse she open her mouth and deliuer it to vs nor certainely know it to be true but by giuing credit to her testimonie of it is not a good marke to know the true Church by But true doctrine is so shut vp in the belly of the Church that we cannot see it vnlesse she open her mouth and deliuer it to vs nor certainly know it to be true but by giuing credit to her testimonie of it Therefore true doctrine is no good marke to know the true Church by Your Minor is false in both parts of it First it is vntrue that true doctrine is so shut vp in the belly of the Church yea many a true Church may hold some errors and many an hereticall Church some truth onely the fundamentall points are necessarie to the being of a true Church Secondly though true doctrine be in the belly of the Church as indeed there is no true Church in which it is not yet is it not so shut vp in it as you imagine For it is first and principally in the Scriptures where it may be found without any such authoritie of the Church as you dreame of yea I haue shewed that the Apostles themselues did not beget faith in the hearts of them to whom they preached by any authoritie of the Church but by euidence of the truth it selfe which they taught Concerning your proofe from Austins authoritie I first answer that he expoundeth not that place according to the literal meaning of the Prophet who speaketh not of any belly of the Church but saith that those lewd men of whom he speaketh haue alwaies bene giuen to naughtinesse from their mothers wombe These wicked ones saith Vatablus haue gone astray euer since they came forth of the womb they they haue erred euer since they were borne Yea Austin himselfe as your Glosse saith sometimes expoundeth it otherwise then here God saith Austin foreknew sinners euen from the wombe as he said to Rebecca So doth Ierome also vnderstand it so Theodoret. But let vs take it as Saint Austin doth here mystically expound it what will you prooue by it That truth is so shut vp in the belly of the Church that we cannot see it vnlesse she deliuer it by her mouth There is no such word in him no such thing to be gathered out of him His conclusion is that therefore they which differ from the true Church in doctrine are in error which is certainly true concerning fundamentall points and verie probable in all other points whatsoeuer The other part of your Minor is that true doctrine is so shut vp within the Church that we cannot certainly know it to be true but by giuing credit to her testimonie of it For the disproouing whereof it shall be sufficient to call to minde that which I haue often answered concerning those who beleeued by the Apostles ministerie without any consideration or thought of their being sent by the true Church but onely being conuinced by the manifest truth of that which they deliuered concerning forgiuenesse of sinne by our Sauiour Iesus Christ Your proofe out of Austin is insufficient as it may appeare in this sort If Austin say that he should not beleeue the Gospell vnlesse he were mooued by the authoritie of the Church then true doctrine is so shut vp within the Church that we cannot certainly know it to be true but by giuing credit to her testimonie of it But Austin saith so Therefore true doctrine is so shut vp in the Church that we cannot certainly know it to be true but by giuing credit to her testimonie of it I denie the consequence of your Maior First because as Austin himselfe saith of Cyprian we are not bound by the authoritie of Austins iudgement as if his writings were Canonicall We do Cyprian no wrong saith Austin when we distinguish his writings whatsoeuer they be from the Canonicall authoritie of the diuine Scriptures And againe I take not Cyprians writings for Canonicall but consider of them according to the Canonicall and allow of that with his commendation which agreeth to Scripture but by his leaue refuse that which disagreeth from Scripture This minde carried Austin to other mens writings this minde he desired other men should carrie to his Secondly I denie the same consequence because Austin might be mooued by the authoritie of the Church to acknowledge the Gospell for true and yet without the same authoritie learne out of the Gospell so acknowledged which is true doctrine which false Concerning Austins testimonie first it is manifest that he deliuereth not a rule for all men to follow as if by should not beleeue he meant that a man ought not to beleeue the Gospell nor sheweth an impossibilitie of beleeuing it vnlesse a man be moued by the authoritie of the Church but at the most declareth that the authoritie of the Church preuailed with him so farre as to make him acknowledge the Gospell for true which else he had either not knowne or doubted of Secondly it is obserued according to the rest of his writings that the Latine word he vseth in the African dialect signifieth Had not beleeued so that the sense is I had not beleeued the Gospell as the truth of God if the authoritie of the Church had not moued me thereunto The first motiue was the authoritie that is the learning consent holinesse of so many worthie men as from time to time had held and did hold the Gospell to be the truth of God Vpon this ground Austin gaue himselfe to the studie of the Scriptures and by the euidence of truth deliuered in it discerned that it was the word of God according to the report and reputation commonly held of it This sense agreeth with Austins purpose who to refute the Manichees that tooke their master Manes for the Apostle of Christ thus reasoneth against them I beleeue not saith Austin that he is Christs Apostle and then demaundeth of the Manichee what course he would take to prooue it to him Perhaps saith he you will read the Gospell to me and assay to prooue Manichaeus person out of it But what if you should light vpon one that doth not yet beleeue the Gospell Then follow the words alledged by you I truly had not beleeued the Gospell if the authoritie of the Church had not moued me This is yet more cleare by that which Austin writeth afterward First saith he we beleeue that which yet we cannot discerne that being made stronger in faith we may attaine to the vnderstanding of that we do beleeue not men now but God himselfe confirming enlightening our minde within But howsoeuer we vnderstand it Austin speaketh not of true doctrine shut vp in the Church so that it cannot be knowne to be true but by giuing credit to the Churches testimonie which is the point in question but onely of acknowledging the Gospell to be the word
Church of God But it is absurd both in reason and religion to preferre the iudgement of any priuate man be he neuer so wittie and learned or neuer so strongly perswaded in his owne minde that he is taught by the Spirit before the iudgement and definitiue sentence of the Church of God the which is a companie of men many of which both are and alwayes haue bene vertuous wise and learned and which is chiefe is such a companie as according to the absolute and infallible promises of our Sauiour hath vndoubtedly the holy spirit among them guiding them and teaching them all truth and not permitting them to erre as before hath bin proued A. W. There is the same fault in this fift argument which was in the former that it is brought to proue a proposition which we denie not If before we giue absolute credit to the Church we must iudge whether euery particular point it holdeth be true or no then we may make our selues iudges ouer the true Church But we may not make our selues iudges ouer the true Church Therefore we must not iudge whether euery particular point the Church holdeth be true or no before we giue absolute credit to the Church This conclusion supposeth that which can neuer be proued that we are first or last to giue absolute credit to the Church whereof in this Chapter there is no question The point you vndertake to disproue is that the true doctrine of faith in euery particular point is a good marke of a true Church This therfore you should haue concluded though indeed it make nothing against our opinion who require not for a marke of the true Church truth of doctrine in euery point but in all points fundamentall Your proposition is deceitfully propounded as if we granted a companie to be the true Church and yet would take vpon vs to receiue and reiect what we list whereas we hold that we cannot acknowledge any true Church but we must withall yeeld that it maintaineth all substantiall points of Religion from which we may not vary Secondly for a man to make himselfe iudge ouer the Church is to take authoritie vpon him to censure reproue and condemne the Church wheras all that we desire is that it may be free for vs to discerne that the doctrine held by this or that Church is agreeable to the Scriptures before we acknowledge it to be a true Church It is meere absurd and vnreasonable to prefer any priuate mans iudgement before the definitiue sentence of the church of God But it is agreeable both to reason and Religion that euery priuate man whose saluation lieth vpon his true or false beleeuing should consider whether that which he is enioyned by men to beleeue be warrantable by the word of God or no. The Scribes and Pharises were the leaders of the people in the matters of Religion yet were they blinde guides and the blind people by depending vpon their iudgement were caried headlong into the same pit of destruction with them Were not the men of Beroea commended by the holy Ghost for searching the Scriptures that they might see whether the doctrine deliuered by Paul were agreeable thereto or no And yet shall it be a fault in vs to enquire of the same Scripture concerning the doctrine of your Apostaticall synagogue I say farther it is against reason and Religion to prefer any one mans iudgement before the definitiue sentence of many wise vertuous and learned men such as the Church hath vsually some amongst the members thereof But it is most reasonable and religious to prefer the truth of God manifested by one simple man before the contrary determination of all that euer haue bin or shal be of the Church though neuer so wise vertuous and learned This is that which we teach concerning this matter First that no man is bound to take any thing for a matter of faith but that which is proued to him by the Scriptures the rule of faith Secondly that no man is to condemne any thing held by the Church vnlesse he haue euident proofe on his side out of the Scriptures Thirdly that euery man in matters not determinable by Scripture none of which are necessarie to saluation should yeeld to the iudgement of the Church whereof he is a member and euery Church to the iudgement of the Christian Churches other where vnlesse there be some good reason to the contrary It is very possible for wise vertuous and learned men to erre for your priuiledge of not erring hath bin found to be counterfait who oftentimes follow the opinion of some one man whose learning and pietie they cannot chuse but admire Domingo à Soto affoords vs an example of this matter where hauing alledged a sentence out of Austin he addeth these words By reason of this saying of Austin quoth Soto all the Fathers afterward and the whole multitude of Diuines haue by good right deliuered it as a truth that the glorious Virgin neuer committed any actuall sinne though Chrysostome auncienter then he were of another opinion Let it be then vnlawfull as it is for a priuate man to prefer his owne opinion before the iudgement of a whole Church and in this sense I graunt your minor yet is it not vnlawfull for him to examine what any or all Churches teach or to dissent from it if he haue the Scripture for his warrant A. D. §. 7. But you may perhaps say that in Scripture we are willed not to beleeue euery priuate spirit but to trie spirits whether they be of God or no and that therefore we must examine and trie the spirit of the Church by looking into euery particular point of doctrine which it teacheth I answer that in that place of Scripture it is not meant that it belongeth to euery particular man to trie all spirits but in generall the Scripture giueth the Church warning not to accept euery one that boasteth himselfe to haue the Spirit and willeth that they should trie those spirits not that euery simple or priuate man should take vpon him to trie them but that those of the Church to whom the office of trying spirits doth appertaine to wit the Doctors and Pastors which Almightie God hath put in his Church of purpose Vt non circumferamur omni vento doctrinae that we may not be caried away with euery wind of doctrine and Vt non simus paruuli fluctuantes that we may not be little ones wauering with euerie blast of those that boast themselues to be singularly taught by the spirit So that this trying of spirits is onely meant of those spirits of which men may well doubt whether they be of God or no and then also this triall belongeth to the Pastors of the true church But when it is certaine that the spirit is of God we neither neede nor ought doubtfully to examine or presumptuously to iudge of it but submitting obediently the iudgement of our owne sense
and reason we must beleeue the teaching of it in euery point Now it is most certaine that the spirit of the true visible Church is of God as out of holy Scripture hath bene most euidently prooued And therefore our onely care should be to seeke out those markes by which all men may know which particular companie of men is the true Church of Christ whose doctrine we neither need nor lawfully may examine and trie in doubtfull manner but must obediently and vndoubtfully in all points beleeue as the onely assured and infallible truth A. W. For the better strengthening of your minor you assay to make and answer an argument which our Diuines vse to alledge against it and this it is They that are willed in Scripture not to beleeue euery spirit but to trie the spirits whether they be of God or no may iudge whether euery particular point the Church holdeth be true or no. But euery Christian is willed in Scripture not to beleeue euerie spirit but to trie the spirits whether they be of God or no. Therefore euery Christian may iudge whether euery particular point the Church holdeth be true or no. The Assumption of this Syllogisme we proue by that place of Iohn Dearly beloued beleeue not euery spirit but trie the spirits whether they are of God To this our proofe you answer two wayes First concerning the spirits to be tried then concerning them that are to make triall Of the former your answer is that this trying of spirits is onely meant of those spirits of which men may well doubt whether they be of God or no. First this answer cannot be warranted by the text which is generall Trie the spirits that is all spirits that come to preach vnto you if we apply it to the teachers rather then to the doctrine they deliuer And surely if the Apostle had meant as you expound him he would not haue said Trie the spirits but trie some of them Beleeue not euery spirit but trie those of which you may well doubt but he saith generally the spirits Secondly what may we imagine to be a cause of doubting If want of lawfull sending which is the great point you alwayes vrge either we must know the spirits we may doubt of to be vnlawfully sent and then by your doctrine we must vtterly reiect them without any farther triall or else the triall we are to make if we doubt is whether they be lawfully sent or no for till that appeare we may not heare them But our Apostle appointeth vs to make triall by their doctrine Thirdly the reason and end of this exhortation is that we might take heede of false Prophets and false Apostles which were crept into the Church Many false Prophets were stirred vp by the diuell faining that they had Apostolicall doctrine to deliuer Therefore saith Didymus the gift of discerning spirits is necessary Now these false apostles were not such as came without any calling for the diuell must needs haue knowne if he had bene then acquainted with your doctrine that it was not possible for him to preuaile by men not authorised by the Church but as the Apostle teacheth vs they were such as had gone frō amongst the true Christiās not by schisme in refusing communion with them so much as by heresie in departing from the truth of doctrine in maine points of religion Fourthly false teachers do so nearely resemble true and come many times with such shew of holinesse that a man cannot tell whom he should trust or suspect but as he findes his doctrine to be sutable or contrarie to the word of God Therefore Ferus a writer of your owne and one of no meane account vnderstandeth by spirit doctrine The Apostle warnes vs saith Ferus that we beleeue not euery spirit that is euery doctrine and perswasion To which purpose he alledgeth also that of Saint Paul Trie all things hold fast that which is good alledged by Thomas in the same matter To make this your answer the more likely you tell vs that when it is certaine that the spirit is of God we neither need nor ought doubtfully to examine or presumptuously to iudge of it as if we thought any such doubtfull or presumptuous course lawfull Yet in this case there is a difference to be obserued If we know the preacher to be sent of God in such sort as the Apostles were that he cannot erre then euery least doubt of that which he deliuereth is presumption and sinne But otherwise though it appeare to vs that he be authorised by God we may safely take liberty to examine whatsoeuer he teacheth without any presumption to iudge or needlesse doubting of that he deliuereth In a word if we heare such a man it is our dutie not to suspect his doctrine but where we haue some good apparence of Scripture for our suspicion In which case we are to search the word of God and to open our doubts to him that we may be satisfied If the matter be such as we cannot clearely prooue to be false by Scripture we are with all reuerence and humilitie to suspect our owne iudgement rather then his whom God hath appointed and authorised to be our teacher so farre must we be from presumption Your second exception is against them that are to trie the spirits who are not say you euerie simple or priuate man but the Pastors of the Church to whom the office of trying spirits doth appertaine as being put by God in his Church of purpose that we may not be carried away with euerie winde of doctrine That this exhortation belongeth to all Christians it may appeare by these reasons First we haue the like generall admonitions in other places of Scripture to all Christians not onely to Pastors and Doctors Beware of false Prophets saith our Sauiour to all men which come to you in sheeps cloathing Trie all things saith the Apostle and hold fast that which is good which latter place as before I noted is brought by Thomas of Aquin and Ferus to expound this text of Saint Iohn Secondly the whole Epistle is written to all in generall without any particular instruction or exhortation to this or that kinde of Christians as teachers learners masters seruants or such like Thirdly it is the course of the Apostles where they descend from generals to particulars to giue some speciall notice of that change by naming seuerally the estates to which they speake and not continuing onely the common titles of beloued or brethren as the Apostle in this place doth Fourthly himselfe professeth that his Epistle is written in generall to all men yea euen to young men and babes in Christ Neither doth he in this exhortation restraine his words to them that are teachers Fiftly if it be not lawfull for priuate men to trie the spirits then are they to receiue whatsoeuer is taught by any particular Doctor or Pastor and so be bound to beleeue meere
did borrow the propagation of faith and seeds of doctrine I make bold to alter your translation let the skilfull Reader iudge whether I haue cause or no. But what of all these Tertullian doth not say that no Church is to be accounted Apostolicke but that which can without interruption shew her descent from the Apostles nor that euery Church is true that can make such proofe of her original But whereas the hereticks against whom he there dealeth reiected and receiued Scripture at their choise and would neuer leaue wrangling Tertullian appeales to the iudgement of those Churches which were knowne to be founded by the Apostles and in which the truth was most likely to be found As for your argument of succession you shall heare Tertullians iudgment of it Let hereticks saith Tertullian in the same book faine a succession from the Apostles they shall get nothing by it For their doctrine compared with that the Apostles taught by the diuersitie and contrarietie thereof will declare that it came not from any Apostle or Apostolicke man because as the Apostles would not teach contrary one to another so Apostolick men would not deliuer doctrine contrary to the Apostles vnlesse they were such as were fallen away from the Apostles to preach otherwise then they did So then the chiefe triall of a true Church is by the doctrine of the Apostles and their successors in the truth because it is possible for hereticks to shew their descent from the Apostles or some Churches which had their beginning from the Apostles or Apostolicke men Yea it is manifest that the greatest heresies as the foure maine ones condemned in the foure first generall Councels had their beginning of them who could shew their pedegree step by step from the Apostles in respect of outward succession We haue soone how weakly you haue proued that personall succession is a thing belonging to the true Church it remaines that you proue it to be proper to the church and not common to it with heretickes To which purpose you thus reason No vpstart noueltie contrary to the former faith of the Church can haue any Apostle or Apostolicke man for founder thereof Euery heresie is an vpstart noueltie contrary to the former faith of the Church Therefore no heresie can haue any Apostle or Apostolicke man for the founder thereof How much more truly and reasonably spake Tertullian of the like matter when he said that no Apostolicke man taught contrary to the Apostles vnlesse he were such a one as was fallen from the Apostles He saw and acknowledged that it was possible for a man instructed by the Apostles themselues to forsake the truth of doctrine and become an author or maintainer of heresie Doth not Saint Iohn speake of some who being bred vp in the church by heresie departed from it What should I name Hymenaeus Alexāder Phygellus Hermogenes Nicolas and such like Hardly can you name me any heresie that euer tooke rooting but the first plant of it sprung vp in the nursery of the Church Therefore your maior is altogether vntrue being vnderstood as it is of Apostolicke men in respect of personall succession not of succeeding the Apostles in truth of doctrine But you thinke to make good your proposition by Tertullians authoritie who challengeth the heretickes to shew the beginning of their Churches from some Apostolicke men Is it possible you should either write or reade that sentence of Tertullian and not perceiue that it cuts the very throate of your cause Doth not Tertullian in the sentence alledged by you directly confirme our opinion and ouerthrow yours Let them shew vs their beginning saith Tertullian from some Apostolicke man Is that enough I if we beleeue you who define Apostolicknes by personal succeeding the Apostles But what saith Tertullian He in plaine termes requires such an Apostolicke man as perseuered with the Apostles and forsooke them not Now that by this perseuering with the Apostles and not forsaking them he meanes agreement in doctrine I proue it euidently by that which followeth in the same Chapter First Tertullian shewes that it is in vaine for them to pleade succession in place if their doctrine be found contrary to that which the Apostles deliuered I set downe the sentence before Secondly he doubts not to say that by the hereticks disagreeing from the Apostles in doctrine those Churches which cannot proue themselues to be Apostolicke by naming any Apostle or Apostolicke man as the first founder of them may yet conuince them not to be Apostolicke and are themselues to be counted Apostolicke because of their consent in doctrine with the Apostles This is the summe of Tertullians words the words themselues run thus To this triall namely by doctrine as the next sentence before sheweth shall the hereticks be called by those Churches which though they cannot alledge any Apostle or Apostolicke man for their founder as being of late and now daily planted yet agreeing in the same doctrine are neuerthelesse counted Apostolicke by reason of their agreement in doctrine Do you not see that Tertullian disputeth for vs against your pretended succession That he confesseth heretickes may alledge personall succession That he acknowledgeth those Churches for true which cannot deriue their pedegree from the Apostles or any Apostolicke man That he maketh the truth of doctrine agreeing with the Apostles a certaine and necessarie marke of the true Church And are you not ashamed for all this to bring Tertullian for an author of so grosse an error VVere you so blinde that you discerned not this your selfe or did you so despise your Readers that you presumed they would neuer haue the wit to see your ignorance or craft It is now discouered sufficiently and yet this one point more must be added that Tertullian requireth this shew of their Churches beginning not of all heretickes as you deceitfully alledge him if you read him your selfe and tooke him not vpon credit at some other mans hands but onely of those who pleade their continuance from the time of the Apostles If any heresies saith Tertullian dare fetch their continuance from the Apostles time that therefore they may seeme Apostolicke because they were while the Apostles liued we may say let them shew the beginning of their Churches let them vnfould the succession of their Bishops c. With such learning and conscience doe you Papists alledge the Fathers that he must needes be honester and wiser then you that will not beleeue you vpon your bare word VVe see then that to be Apostolicke in your sense is no good marke of a true Church because Hereticall Churches may so be Apostolicke and true Churches not Apostolicke and contrariwise that to be Apostolicke in doctrine as we expound it is a most certaine note whereby a true Church may be knowne and the same that we onely allow of A. D. §. 7. It appeareth therefore plaine enough that these foure properties One Holy
which we pleade not guiltie and looke to heare what euidence commeth against vs to proue the enditement But you rather like the foreman of the grand enquest then the plaintiffe that endites vs instead of prouing come in with I find that the Protestants Church is not perfectly one This will not serue the turne we must know how you finde it or at least be assured that you haue found it Who would not laugh at such an euidence But though you leaue the two former points to the credulousnesse of your Popish followers yet you attempt the proofe of the last by this Syllogisme They that admit no rule of faith but onely Scriptures and allow no infallible interpreter thereof to whose iudgement they will stand haue no meanes to end their controuersies and returne to vnitie But the Protestant Churches admit no rule of faith but onely Scriptures and allow no infallible interpreter thereof to whose iudgement they will stand Therefore the Protestant Churches haue no meanes to end their controuersies and returne to vnitie I denie your maior for the Scripture alone containes all truth necessarie to be beleeued and that so plainly that without any such soueraigne iudgement of any man it is possible for a reasonable man to discerne truth from falshood But if any man will be contentious we haue the sword of the magistrate and the censure of excommunication to bring him into order or to cut him off if he be incurable that the vnitie of our Churches be not dissolued either by heresic or schisme But to confirme your proposition you alledge Ieromes authoritie that there must be a head or chiefe ruler that occasion of schisme may be taken away The danger of schisme that Ierome speakes of in his first booke against Iouinian not as your Printer quotes it in the second was not in respect of doctrine but of outward peace Neither was this course held from the beginning as Ierome saith but in discretion appointed vpon occasion Before that by the malice of the diuell saith Ierome the Church was deuided into factions and one man held of Paul another of Apollo another of Cephas Churches were gouerned by common consent of the Presbyters but after that euery man began to thinke that those which hee had baptized were his and not Christs it was decreed ouer all the world that one chosen from among the Presbyters should be set ouer the rest to whom the whole care of the Church should appertaine and that the seeds of schismes might be taken away Out of which sentence of Ierome we may obserue these points First that this meanes of procuring vnitie belongeth not necessarily to the nature of the Church for then it must needs haue bene as auncient as the Church But Ierome telleth vs that there was a time when the Church was without it and that in her best estate while the Apostles liued By little and little saith Ierome afterward that the plants of dissention might be plucked vp the whole care was layed vpon one Secondly whereas in the place alledged by you Ierome acknowledgeth such a superioritie in Peter aboue the other Apostles in respect of age for which as he saith he was preferred before Iohn yet there is more heede to be taken to his iudgement in this place where he disputes the question without all passion then to that which hee speakes in the heate of disputation against Iouinian But what neede we any better proofe of this point then Saint Paul affoords vs He blameth the Corinthians because some held of Paul some of Apollos some of Cephas Cephas or Peter is the last why not the first rather if he were as you say the head Or why should the Corinthians be reproued for cleauing to him especially if he were appointed to be the chiefe It might be a fault to depend on Paule or on Apollos who were in your iudgement vnderlings but it was a great vertue to hang vpon Cephas the head How forgetfull was the Apostle Paul both of his dutie to Peter his head and of so readie a meanes to end that schisme that would not tell them that Peter was appointed head to the end all occasion of schisme might be taken away Thirdly we are not so to vnderstand Ierome as if he had said that there was one head appointed ouer the whole world but that in all places where there were multitudes of Presbyters order was taken that some one chosen from among the rest should be chiefe and principall in that Diocesse as I may speake and ouer all them which were in some sort accounted to be but one bodie This agreeth with the practise of those times and with that of Cyprian Here of spring heresies and schismes arise that the Priest of the Lord is not obeyed Which Cyprian speakes of euery seuerall Bishop in his Diocesse Whereunto also belongs that of Ierome There be seuerall Bishops of Churches seuerall Archbishops and seuerall Archdeacons and all the Ecclesiasticall order is stayed by the gouernours Whereby saith the Glosse Ierome proueth that there may not be two or more Bishops in one Church but that there must be a seuerall Bishop in euery seuerall Church To which purpose I may farther alledge another place of Ierome Vnlesse saith Ierome the Bishop haue a speciall power aboue other there will be as many schismes in the Church as there be Priests This course then of authorizing some one of the Presbyters aboue the rest was for the preseruing of order and keeping out of schisme not for the determining of controuersies in Religion as if all must haue stood to one mans iudgement in questions of Diuinitie which either may be ended by the authoritie of the Scriptures if they be necessary to be determined or if they be not may be forbidden to be proceeded in without any danger to the Churches libertie So that the Protestant Churches fully agree in matters of substance and want not meanes to settle peace in questions of lesse importance or if they did might easily haue as good meanes as your Church by appointing a Pope ouer themselues as in policie you haue done But as yet they finde no such need especially where the remedie is worse then the disease as it must needs be in so lawlesse a tyrannie Is it not more for the glory of God good of the Church as I haue said otherwhere that there should be continuall disagreement in some matters of Religion then that all should beleeue maintain false doctrine Were not our Sauiour Christ better haue a troubled church thē none at all Honorable war is to be preferred before dishonorable peace in the iudgement of any wise states-man And can it be more glorious to God to haue outward quietnesse in the Church with heresy yea with Antichristianisme then truth with contention True Christian vnitie consists principally in truth of religion without which the greatest agreement is but a conspiracy against God
or dreame but that the like would haue bene set out about the alteration of religion if it had happened And that if any such Historie reporting any true accident of alteration or change of religion had come out it should partly by Gods prouidence partly by humane diligence haue bene preserued till these our daies especially considering that such records had bene so requisite for discerning the ancient vnchanged true Christian Religion from vpstart noueltie which must needs be false So that we may well conclude that if Christian Religion had since the Apostles time altered in Rome it would haue bene recorded in histories as other things and especially such notable alterations are recorded and those histories would haue bene preserued till this day as other Christian monuments haue bene preserued euen in time of persecution yea euen then when the persecutors made particular enquirie for Christian bookes to burne or consume them But in those ancient Histories there is no mention made of any such alteration of Religion in Rome Wherefore it followeth that there was no such alteration or change at all No such alteration being made it is euident that the same faith and Religion which was in Saint Paules time hath alwaies continued and is there now That which was there then was the true faith and Religion as appeareth by that high commendation which Saint Paule hath left written of it Therefore that which is there now must needs be the onely true holy and Catholicke faith and that companie which professeth it must needs be the Onely true Holy and Catholicke Church Neither can I see what answere can with any probabilitie be forged against this reason For to say that the errours of the Church of Rome crept in by little and little and so for the littlenesse of the thing or for negligence of the Pastours were not espied is an idle fiction alreadie refuted For first those matters which the Protestants call errours in the Romane Church be not so little matters but that lesse euen in the like kinde are ordinarily recorded in stories Nay some of them are in the Protestants conceits and consequently if men of old time had bene Protestants they would haue bene also in their conceits as grosse superstition as Paganisme it selfe namely to adore Christ our Sauiour as being really and substantially present in the Blessed Sacrament the which Sacrament Protestants hold to be really and substantially but a bare peece of bread Also the Protestants account the vse of the Images to be Idolatrie and say verie ignorantly or maliciously that we adore stockes and stones as the Paynims did The which things could not so haue crept in by little and little but they must needs be espied Neither could the Pastours of the Church at any time be so simple and ignorant so sleepie and negligent but they must needes haue seene and seeing must needes in some sort haue resisted as before I haue said For to imagine all the Pastours of any one age to haue bene in such a deepe Lethargicall and deadly sleepe that they could not onely not perceiue when the enemie should ouer sow Cockle in the hearts of some but also when this Cockle of false beleefe should grow to outward action and especially to publicke practise the which could not be but most apparent to imagine I say all the Pastors to be so simple and sleepie not then to marke or not to resist is rather the dreame of a proud man in his sleepe who is apt to thinke all men fooles beside himselfe then a iudictall conceit of a waking man of any vnderstanding who ought to thinke of things past either according to the veritie recorded in stories or when this faileth by comparing the likelihood of that which hee thinketh was done by men of that time with that which most men of their qualitie would do in like case Finally if these things were so that the church did by this means for so long space in such important matters vniuersally erre Neglexerit officium Spiritus sanctus as Tertullian speaketh refuting the like cauill of heretickes the holy Ghost should haue neglected his office which is as I haue proued before out of Scripture not to permit the vniuersall Church to fall into error but to suggest vnto it all things that Christ said vnto it and to teach it all truth A. W. Catholicknesse especially as you vnderstand it is not such a propertie of the Church but the Church may be without it as it is plaine by that Church which was in our Sauiour Christs time onely in the land of Iewrie and after his death till the Church was scattered abroade in the world Yet let vs see what you bring to prooue that our Church is not Catholicke If there cannot be assigned a visible companie of men professing the same faith which the Protestants do euer since Christs time continuing without interruption till now then the Protesiants Church is not Catholicke But there cannot be such a companie assigned Therefore the Protestants Church is not Catholicke I denie the consequence of the maior First because that may be Catholicke which is not visible as the Church of the elect is dispersed in all places and yet no where to be seene Secondly because Catholicknesse belongs neither to time nor doctrine but to place and persons Thirdly because it is not required that the same faith in all points should be professed which you meane by the same faith but onely the same in matters fundamentall I grant your minor that we cannot assigne you any such companie though we doubt not but that there was alwayes such a companie greater or lesse as appeares by them which from time to time haue by their writings or sufferings maintained the substance of that doctrine which we now professe To proue that our doctrine is not vniuersal you say it chiefly consisteth of negatiues whereas you cannot be ignorant that we hold all the articles of the creed and that in the same sense as you do saue onely in some few differences about the vnderstanding of beleefe what it is to beleeue in the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost and what it is to beleeue the Church and in what respect the Church is called holy and Catholicke and what the Church is that we beleeue But we denie some things that some auncient writers haue held Doe you follow them in all points You will not say so for very shame But our Church is truly Catholicke because it is not tied to the Iewes or Ierusalem no nor to any other place or persons but common to all that will beleeue in Iesus Christ VVhat get you if you proue your Church to be Catholicke since that alone without the two former points alreadie disproued cannot make any companie a true Church But neither can you proue your Church to be Catholicke let your argument speake That Church which is vniuersall in time place and doctrine of the
ipsa sede Petri Apostoli cui pascendas oues suas Dominus commendauit vsque ad praesentem Episcopum successio Sacerdotum The succession of Priests from the very seate of Peter the Apostle to whom our Lord commended his sheep to be fed vntill this present Bishop doth hold me in the Catholicke Church See the same S. Austin Epist 150. Optatus li. 2. cont Parmen S. Epiphani haeres 275. S. Cyprian lib. 1. epist 6. S. Athanas Orat. 2. cont Arianos who pronounceth them to be hereticks qui aliunde quà m à tota successione Cathedrae Ecclesiasticae originem fidei suae deducunt who deriue the beginning of their faith from any other ground then from the whole succession of Ecclesiasticall chaire And this saith he is eximium admirabile argumentum ad haereticam sectam explorandam an excellent and admirable argument wherby we may espie out and discerne an hereticall sect The which argument these Fathers would neuer haue vrged and extolled so much if they had not thought that this succession was an vndoubted good marke of the Church and that with this lawfull vninterrupted Apostolicall succession of Doctours and Pastors the true Apostolicke faith and doctrine was always conioyned The which to be conioyned we may easily proue out of S. Paul himselfe who saith Dedit Pastores Doctores ad consummationem sanctorum in opus ministerij in aedificationem corporis Christi donec occurramus omnes in vnitatem fidei agnitionis Filij Dei in virum perfectum in mensuram aetatis plenitudinis Christi Signifying that Christ our Sauiour hath appointed these outward functions of Pastors and Doctors in the Church to continue vntill the worlds end for the edification and perfection thereof and especially for this purpose vt non simus paruuli fluctuantes circumferamur omni vento doctrinae that we may not be litle ones wauering and caried about with euery wind of doctrine Wherefore that this ordinance and appointment of Pastors and Doctors in the Church made by our Sauiour Christ may not be frustrate of the effect intended by him we must needs say that he hath decreed so to assist and direct these Pastors in teaching the doctrine of faith that the people their flocke may alwayes by their meanes be preserued from wauering in the auncient faith and from being caried about with euery wind of new doctrine The which cannot be vnlesse with succession of Pastors be alwayes conioyned succession in true doctrine at least in such sort that all the Pastors cannot at any time vniuersally erre or faile to teach the auncient and Apostolicke faith For if they should thus vniuersally erre then all the people who do and ought like sheepe follow the voice of their Pastor should also generally erre and so the whole Church which according to S. Gregorie Nazianzen consisteth of sheepe and pastors should contrary to diuers promises of our Sauiour vniuersally erre So that we may be sure that the ordinary Pastors shal neuer be so forsaken of the promised Spirit of truth that all shall generally erre and teach errors in faith or that there shall not be at all times some sufficient companie of lawfull succeding Pastors adhering to the succession of S. Peter who was by our Sauiour appointed chiefe Pastor of whom we may learne the truth and by whom we may alwayes be confirmed and continued in the true auncient faith and preserued from being caried about with the wind of vpstart error The which being so it followeth that the true Apostolicke doctrine is inseperably conioyned with the succession of lawfull Pastors especially of the Apostolick sea of Rome Wherefore we may against all heretickes of our time as the ancient fathers did against heretickes of their time vrge this argument of succession especially of the Apostolicall succession of the Bishops of Rome We may say to them as S. Augustine saith to the Donatists Numerate sacerdotes ab ipsa sede Petri in illo ordine Patrum quis cui successit videte Number the Priests from the seate it selfe of Peter and in that order or row of Fathers see which succeeded which We may say with Irenaeus Hac ordinatione successione Episcoporum traditio Apostolorum ad nos peruenit est plenissima ostensio vnam eandem fidem esse quae ab Apostolis vsque nunc confirmata est By this orderly succession of Bishops the tradition of the Apostles hath come vnto vs and it is a most full demonstration that the faith which from the Apostles is confirmed euen vntill now is one and the same We may tell them with Tertullian Nos communicamus cum Ecclesijs Apostolicis quod nulla aduersa doctrina facit hoc est testimonium veritatis We do communicate with the Apostolick Churches which no contrary doctrine doth and this is a testimony of the truth A. W. That Apostolicknesse which is a marke of the true Church is as I shewed Chap. 15. an agreement and sucession in doctrine with and to the Apostles not as you would haue it a personall descent from them And therfore your reason against our Churches is naught Euery Apostolicke Church say you can deriue the pedegree of their preachers lineally without interruption from the Apostles The Protestant Churches cannot so deriue their pedegree Therefore the Protestant Churches are not Apostolicke Your maior is euidently false because otherwise some church professing the true faith and not keeping record of the succession of their teachers might be held not to be Apostolicall But Tertullian affirmeth the contrary directly that those Churches which agree with the Apostles in faith though they can alledge no Apostle or Apostolicke man for their first founder yet are neuer the lesse to be counted Apostolicall because of their consent in doctrine And indeed it is both impious and absurd to denie any Church to be Apostolicall that holdeth that faith by the preaching whereof the Apostles planted Churches Your minor also is vntrue because it is wel known that if you haue any such succession amongst you we haue it too For Luther Caluin and some other of our Diuines were ordered by bishops of your church Concerning Luther what reasonable mā can be so absurd as to think that Luther wold make any mā beleeue that the Gospel was first preached by himself whereas he continually appeals for the proof of his doctrine to the writings of the Prophets and the Apostles But Luther might truly say that he was the first which had in those times published Christ especially in the chiefe point of the Gospell which is iustification by faith in Christ And in this respect it is an honor to Luther to haue bin a son without a father and a disciple without a master and no more glory to your Popish Bishops and Priests to haue had so long a succession in error and heresie then for the Arians to haue bene able to reckon vp
this possibilitie tooke effect in me I may thanke my selfe more then God so that by this doctrine the glorie of euerie particular mans saluation is more due to the partie saued then to God the Sauiour Now on the contrarie side if that we teach be true the losse falles on mans part and not vpon Gods Is any man drawne out of the Iawes of hell and damnation The whole glorie redounds to God It was he that prouided meanes of saluation it was he that gaue me in particular knowledge of that meanes It was he that when I was as vntoward and vnwilling to be saued as the most damned reprobate wrought me to beleeue can I euer be vnmindfull or vnthankfull by inclining my heart to like and accept of his grace and faith in Christ But in the meane while I loose the commendation and the glory of vsing the grace of God well by my free-will O Adam Adam earth and ashes how fast doth that pride of nature whereby thou wast destroyed in thy selfe though in thee it were not naturall cleaue to euerie one of thy posteritie We had rather be thought able to gouerne our selues then be gouerned by God It is more pleasing to vs to hazard our saluation vpon the nice choise of our owne free-will then to be assured of it by the mercie of God working in vs this choise to will O that as we are all partakers of Adams pride so we might also partake with his repentance and faith Would Adam trow ye if it might be put to his choise againe venture vpon his owne free-will though he were as pure as euer he was rather then rest secure vpon Gods almightie and most certaine protection No no blessed soule he knoweth by wofull experience though by Gods vnspeakable goodnesse to his and our greater glorie that he and he only is out of danger who resignes himselfe into Gods hands to be disposed of at his gracious pleasure Why refuse we to be like to Adam in this Will we follow him in that onely of which onely he is ashamed Is it not more glorie to arise with him then to haue fallē with him O why do we euery day renew the memorie of his fault by committing the like Doth the brightnesse of the truth in these points dazle your eies Me thinks I see many of you offering to presse forward as it were to take the kingdome of heauen the doctrine of the Gospell by violence why recoile you Why quaile you on a sodaine The bare name of the Church not onely stayeth you but beateth you backward The Romish Church cannot erre VVho telleth you so Surely they that can erre your Priests and Iesuits Giue me leaue I pray you to question with you a little and for a minute of an hower be content to make vse of that reason and knowledge which God hath giuen you without forestalling your iudgements by preiudice of the authoritie of the Church Doth it not appeare to you by the light of naturall reason that the maine end of all religion is the glorie of God Do not your owne consciences testifie in the simplicitie of your hearts that it maketh more for the glorie of God that men should be beholding to his Maiestie for their saluation then that they should procure it to themselues Is it not also apparent to you in the secret of your owne soules that our doctrine by beating downe the pride of mans free-will aduanceth the glorie of Gods mercie and yours by hoysing vp the conceit of mans good choise presseth downe the estimation of Gods vnspeakable goodnesse And shall an idle sound weigh more with you then sound reason Consider I beseech you what weake grounds you build this opinion of the Church vpon I will point at that which in my answer I haue handled Can you in any sort compare the opinion of the Churches authoritie with the euidence of those matters wherewith before I pressed you Is it as cleere that there are certaine men whom I must beleeue whatsoeuer they teach as it is that I must seeke the aduancing of Gods glory more then of mine owne pride Are you as sure that these Priests and Iesuits which are your teachers be sent by the true Church and deliuer nothing but the doctrine of the true Chruch as you are that they who perswade you to rest wholy vpon God and not at all vpon your selues shew you the right way to procure Gods glory and your owne saluation Tush say you all is nothing vnlesse I beleeue it vpon the credit of the Church Alaste how did the first Christians who neuer thought on the authoritie of the Church when they heard and beleeued the Apostles doctrine Looke ouer all the Historie of the Actes peruse the Sermons of Peter and Paule and tell me whether you finde that euer they pleaded the authoritie of the Church to procure beleefe of their doctrine After men are conuerted the authoritie of the Church hath her due place and must beare sway in matters in different but for the auowing of truth her bare word is neuer of sufficient importance It was the doctrine of the Apostles that wrought vpon the hearts of men by the cleare euidence of it through the power of the Spirit wherewith it was accompanied What that doctrine was where should we learne but in the scriptures wherein they haue written what they preached These you say giue such authoritie to the Church This were somewhat if you made not their authoritie in respect of vs to depend vpon the Church The scriptures say your Doctors haue in themselues authoritie as being from God but they are not of authoritie to vs but onely by the authoritie of the Church I perceiue you are ashamed of these absurdities The Church must be beleeued vpon her word Why so The Scripture saith so How shall I know that these bookes are scripture The Church saith so The Church and the scripture prooue each other by their mutuall testimonie they giue each of other I beleeue the Church because the scripture biddeth me I beleeue the scripture because the Church biddeth me If these things seeme to be absurd as indeed they are most absurd blinde not your selues any longer with such mists of errour but come out of them to the cleare light of the scriptures reade them diligently meditate in them carefully call vpon God for his grace earnestly resigne your selues and your free-will to him sincerelie and the Lord that is most readie to blesse them that vse the meanes of knowledge and faith in humilitie and singlenesse of heart will assuredly enlighten your vnderstanding and incline your affections that you shall discerne like of and embrace the true doctrine of Iustification by faith in Iesus Christ and shall renounce your owne righteousnesse and free-will to the glorie of his grace and the present comfort and euerlasting saluation of your bodies and soules through the same his sonne to whom with the Father and the holy Ghost be all
5. 6. pa. 379. 1. 18. p. 142. 2. 12. p. 336. 2. 21 p. 340. 3. 6. p. 128. Col. 1. 2. p. 349. 1. 6. pa. 278. 290. 292. 1. 24. p. 129. 3. 18. 19. p. 142. 3. 20. p. 144. 1. Thess 1. 8. pag. 379. 5. 21. p 253. 2. Thess 2. 4. pag. 292. 2. 3. p. 290. 413. 2. 7. p. 382. 2. 9 10 11 12. p. 19. 72. 114. 115. 205 247. 352. 383. 1. Tim. 1. 5. p. 334. 1. 20. p. 300. 2. 2. p. 312. 2. 3. 4. p. 53. 55. 57. 180. 185. 3. 15. pa. 128. 151. 161. 4. 10. p. 53. 58. 2. Tim. 1. 15. p. 300. 2. 19. p. 265. 3. 9. p 278. 279. 3. 16. 17. p. 96. Tit. 2. 4. pa. 257. Hebr. 2. 14. p. 257. 216. p. 257. 2. 17. p. 3â—6 415. p. 326. 54 5 6. p. 411. 10. 38. p. 268. 351. 11. 6 p. 23. 24. 157. 178. 13. 17 p. 143. 13. 20. p. 412. Iames 4. 6. p. 268. 1. Pet. 1. 25. p. 114 2. 13. p. 268. 275. 2. 18. p. 254. 3. 1. 7. p. 254. 2. Pet. 1. 10. p. 115. 1. 19. p. 74. 39. p. 53. 58. 59. 1 Iohn 2. 18. 19. p. 300. 4. 1. p. 109. 251. 274. 4. 6. p. 109. 112. 5. 3. p. 334. 363. Iude vers 3. p. Reuel 1. 20. p. 216 2. 5. p. 216. 2. 6. p. 300. 126 p. 171. 205. 293. 17. 1. p. 205. 17. 2 p. 114. 247. 21. 14. p. 297. A Table of the Authors alledged A An. Dom. RObert Abbot An Dom. 1596 Adrian 6. 1522 Cornelius Agrippa 1550 Albertus Magnus 1220 Alexander Alexand. Episcopus 320 Alphonsus a Castro 1546 Alphons Tostat Abulens episc 1430 Guliel Altissiodorensis 1320 Ambrosius Mediolan episc 380 Anselmus Cantuariens episc 1080 Antoninus Florentin episc 1450 Athanasius Alexandr episc 340 Augustinus Hippon episc 400 Azorius 1580 B Iohn Bule 1560 Sebastianus Baccadius 1597 Bartholomaeus de Pisis 1500 Basilius magnus 370 Basiliense Consilium 1430 Beda 700 Bellarminus 1575 Bellum papale 1600 Bernardus 1130 Thomas Bilson 1587 VVilliam Bishop 1603 Gabriel Biel 1449 Bolsec 1565 Breidenbacchius 1580 Bridget 1518 Bonauentura 1260 Boccacio 1375 Bucchingerus 1542 Burdegalens monachi 1585 C Thomas de vio Caietanus 1520 Melchior Canus Canar-episc 1560 Edmundus Campianus 1570 Ioannes Capreolus An. Dom. 1415 Carthagin Concil 3 400 Catechismus Trident. Concil 1565 Catharina Senensis 1370 Catharinus 1550 Cassianus 430 Cassander 1530 Daniel Chamierus 1605 Chalcedon Concil 455 Girolamo de Catena 1586 Christophor de Capite fontium 1570 Chrysostom Constantinop episc 400 Clemens P P. 1342 Clemens Alexandrinus episc 200 Cochlaeus 1519 Codex Iustinian 529 Constantiens Concil 1417 Ianus Cornarius 1540 Cornelius Bitontinus episc 1545 Cyprianus Carthag episc 250 Cyrillus Alexandr episc 430 Cyrillus Hierosolymit episc 370 Nicol. Cusan 1464 D Ioan Damascenus 700 Declaratio motuum VVisbic 1601 Decretorum liber 1151 Didymus Alexandr 360 Dionys Areopag noth 100 Dionys Carthusian 1460 George Downam 1598 Guliel Durand 1236 E Epiphanius Salam episc 390 Erasmus Roterodam 1528 Eugenius 4. 1430 Eusebius Caesariens episc 320 Extra Ioan. 22. 1315 F Iohn Field An. Dom. 1606 Ioan. Fernelius 1547 Ioan. Ferus 1554 Francisc Feuardent 1584 Ioan. Fisher Roffens episc 1530 Ioan. Foxe 1567 Fulgentius 500 VVilliam Fulk 1576 G Galfridus Momunet 1152 Gaudentius 400 Gerson 1429 Genebrardus 1530 Glossa interlin Ansel Laud. 1100 Gloss ordin Strab. Fulden 840 Goulartius 1590 Gregorius P P. 1. 590 Gregor de Valentia 1580 Gregor Nazianzen episc 380 H Haymo Halberstadt 820 Heruaeus 1560 Hieronymus Stridon 390 Hilarius Pictauien episc 350 Holinshead 1570 Holcot 1350 Booke of homilies 1560 Hosius Cardinall 1530 Hugo Cardinal 1240 Lady Hungerfords medita 1605 I Ignatius 100 Illyricus 1540 Irenaeus 180 Isidorus Clarius 1540 Iansenius Gandau episc 1581 Iesuits Catechisme 1590 Iesuiticae Constitut 1573 Iustinus Martyr 160 L Petrus Lombard episc 1140 Leo P P. 1. 450 Lucas Brugens 1530 Martin Lutherus 1520 Nicolaus Lyranus 1320 M Maccdonius 500 Maffaeus An. Dom. 1590 Maldonatus 1572 Marsilinus Patauin 1324 Martialis Burdeg 100 Gregory Martin 1582 Philippus Melanchth 1530 Arias Montanus 1570 Philippus Mornaeus 1580 Mileuitan Concil 407 O Guliel Occham 1320 Oecumenius 1050 Opus imperf in Math. 450 Optatus Mileu episc 380 Origines Adamant 200 P Pacianus Barcel episc 380 Pagninus 1532 Panormitanus 1470 Paphnutius 320 Paschasius 500 Petrarcha 1330 Petrus de Alliaco 1400 Philo Carpath episc 410 Picus Mirandula 1494 Pius P P. 5. 1566 Pighius 1525 Pizamanus 1497 Platina 1451 Polycarp Smyrnen episc 140 Polydorus Virgil. 1525 Prateolus 1568 Prierias 1530 Proclus Constantinop episc 430 Prosper Aquitan 450 Psellus 400 R Rhabanus Maurus 850 Reuelation of Religion 1605 Rhemish Testam 1582 Iohn Reynolds 1580 Ruffinus Aquileiens 390 S Alphonsus Salmero 1597 Nicolaus Sanderus 1569 Ioan. Scotus 1308 Sixtus Senensis An. Dom. 1570 Smidelinus 1560 Dominicus Sotus 1554 Sozomenus 430 Speculum exempl 1605 Staphylus 1560 Didacus Stella 1560 Mathew Sutcliffe 1590 T Tertullianus 200 Theod. Cyrens episc 440 Theophylact. Bulgar episc 900 Thomas de Aquino 1260 Trident. Concil An. Dom. 1545 Turrianus 1580 Ioan. de Turrecremata 1460 V Vatablus 1545 Vega 1568 VVhitaker 1586 Anno Mundi Aristoteles 3640 M. Tullius Cicero 3980 Homerus 3003 Virgilius 3998 A TABLE OF THE CHIEFE MATTERS contained in the Treatise and Answer A THe Academickes denied that there is any truth to be knowne pag. 80. All often was put for euery kind p. 57. Allegories are not fit to prooue points of doctrine p. 264. Boniface 3. the first reuealed Antichrist p. 330. Antichrist reuealed bare sway ouer all men and their writings p. 387. The Apostles were absolutely to be heard as well seuerally as ioyntly p. 36. 43. 44. 112. 127. 137. 177. No ioynt coÌ„sent in teaching required of the Apostles or any Ministers p. 127. Sought to many natioÌ„s were not sought to by them p. 179. 186. Were the light of the world p. 181. Seuerally euery of them p. 182. Did not enlighteÌ„ the world by any ioint act of them all together p. ead Were not beleeued because they were sent by the Church but for their doctrine p. 185. 235. 239. 240. 243. Might and did flie in time of persecutioÌ„ p. 190. Looked for an earthly kingdome p. 39. Yet were in the state of grace by resting vpon Christ for saluation p. ead Thought it vnlawful to impart the Gospell to the Gentiles p. 311. Were ouer come by the gates of hell according to the doctrine of Popery p. 166. Apostolicknesse what it is according to the Papists 297. Apostolicknesse of a Church not easie to be knowne to all men p. 296. Vnpossible to be known but by report p. ead True Apostolicke succession is in Apostolicke doctrine p. 298. 292. 293. Arianisme was very vniuersall and of very long continuance p. 292. Aristotles Physicks set out as if they had not bin set out p. 81. The maine Assumption of the general Syllogisme p. 218. Answer to the generall Analysis p. 6 7. Our answers are commonly
of Idoll and Image p. 386. Papists worship the Image it selfe p. 386. No religious vse of any Image to be allowed p. 360. Ignorance the strength of Poperie p. 4. 70. All ignorance is not heresie p. 50. How it shuts men out from saluation p. 40. 44 49. 50. 274. Ignorance can excuse no man the Gospell being preached euerie where p. 113. Ieconiah childlesse p. 39. K 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 283. The keyes and power to bind and loose common to all the Apostles p. 325. 326. Why kings are called humane creatures p. 274. He refuseth not to be subiect to the king that doth not absolutely obey him in all things p. 275. L The Lawe cannot be kept perfectly p. 363. How it is not gricuous p. 363. One learned mans iudgement oftentimes drawes many to it p. 250. The Leuen of the Pharisies what it is p. 37. 141. No life but in the bodie of Christ p. 273 The light must shine to them that are in the house p. 182. The loue of God whence it ariseth p. 20 Is not alike to all p. 257. M Gregory Martins eauils were answered long since p. 69. Markes of the Church p. 221. 222. 226. 259. Must be proper to it always p. 222. 280. Easier to be knowne then the Church it selfe p. 222. 223. True doctrine in the fundameÌ„tal points is a sure marke of the Church p. 228. 229. 301. 374. 375. The Masse was brought in by peece meale p. 384. Ouergreat zeale of Martyrdome p. 189 Messiah not Salomons sonne p. 39. The ministery not the authority of men is vsed to beget faith p. 6. 19. 234. 243 244. Needful for the instruction of the ignorant p. 98. No charge practise or warrant for any vniuersal ministery since the Apostles time p. 179. Luthers preuailing in his ministery and his preseruation wanted litle of a miracle p. 355. Ministers to be heard so farre as they speake according to the Scriptures p. 36. 112. 137. 142. 146. Yet lesse danger not to heare them so speaking then not to heare the Apostles p. 43 112. Origen preached before he was a Minister p. 35. Antichrists miracles p. 114. 352. Miracles are often counterfetted p. 352. 358. Preferred before the authoritie of the Church p. 114. The vse of miracles is to confirme doctrine not to testifie of holinesse pa. 172. 351. There neuer was any true miracle wrought for confirmation of false doctrine p. 115. Miracles are not to be beleeued for any doctrine against Scripture p. 115. False miracles cannot alwayes be discerned by men p. 115. 352. 353. Luther and Caluin did not attempt the working of miracles p. 355. N A naturall man what he is p. 61. 236. Absurdly called sensuall pa. 60. 61. 236. 237. May vnderstand the Scripture though not beleeue it to saluation p. 236. Necessitie not constraint taught by Protestants p. 344 345. P Papists treason Nouemb. 5. 1605. pa. 8. 346. 347. 379. The wickednesse of Papists testified by their owne writers p. 340. 346. Papists rest vpon the Pope and Councels p. 51. 312. Are Pharisaicall boasters p. 338. 363. No Papist holding the authoritie of the Church and the impossibilitie of the Popes erring can be a good Christian or a faithfull subiect p. 72. Papists not sonnes of God but seruants of the law p. 343. 364. Papists count murdering of Princes a meritorious worke p. 361. Outward peace is not so tâ—â—ch worth as that for it the Church should be corrupted with errors p. 312. Must be prouided for by the ciuill magistrate p. 312. Saint Peter the Popes Lord. p. 388. Why our Sauiour prayed especially for him p. 326. Why hee asked him thrice if hee loued him p. 327. Peters accepting of the soueraigntie a poore proofe of his loue to Christ p. 327. His superioritie was in respect of age p. 315. It is vncertaine whether euer he were at Rome or no. p. 328. 393. The Pope the Papists Lord God p. 112. How he came to his height p. 382. Head of the Church though he beleeue not in heart p. 23. He that is no Christian may be Pope of Rome 23. 111. The Pope cannot erre p. 71. Can shew no charter for his not erring p. 37. 71. 72. May erre by the iudgement of Papists p. 323. Euen with a generall Councell p. 330. 331. It is not determined that the Pope alone cannot erre p. 320. Pope Iohn 22. doubted of the immortalitie of the soule p. 111. Pope Leo 10. counted the historie of Christ a fable p. 111. Many Popes haue bene found to be Apostataes from the faith p. 323 324. Many decrees of Popes are contrarie one to another p. 324. Pius 5. and Clement 8. â—â—â—olue concerning the words of consecration contrary to the Councell of Trent pag. 324. Popish religion cannot hold vp the head without the Popes authoritie p. 108. The Pope appoints the holy Ghost an office of his owne deuising p. 388. Our Sauiour and his Apostles hid themselues from persecutors p. 186. No necessitie to worship God publikly in time of persecution p. 190. 191. The Pharises were blind guides p. 249. To what purpose our Sauiors perpetual presence serueth p. 132. Predestination doth not take away free will p. 361. Without true beleefe of predestination and iustification there can hardly be any true religion p. 290. Prayer for the dead p. 96. How euery one that prayeth receiueth p. 116 117. Preaching the ordinarie means of faith p. 113. 409. No man might haue preached the Gospell without warrant from God pag. 113. How Luther may bee said to haue first preached Christ p. 392. Pride in opposition against a matter of doctrine is sometimes in a sanctified man p. 274. What outward profession of religion is how farre necessarie p 188 189 192. What it is to confesse with the mouth p. 191. False Prophets to be knowne by their doctrine p. 36. How all prophesies in the scripture are alwayes true p. 206. Purgatorie ends with the world p. 365 Q Questions of religion how to be decided pag. 61 R Reason how farre it may be required in points of diuinitie p. 16. 17. 18. Light of reason caÌ„not find out all things necessarie to saluation p. 25. The reason of Gods counsel and doings is oftentimes hid from men p 204. Nothing against reason is to be beleeued without warrant froÌ„ God p. 244. The religion of the Popish Church at this day is fetched from the Councell of Trent p. 358. 377. Our Sauiour did not pray that the reprobate might be one with his father and him p. 264. Reuelation of the spirit required by the Papists to beleeue that the Scriptures are the word of God p. 245. The Church of Rome sometimes a true Church p. 338. Rome was not built in a day p 382. S What is absolutely necessary to saluatioÌ„ p. 46. 55. 59. 65. 77. 188. 243. 319. Assurance of saluation p. 150. 354. Sufficient meanes of saluation prouided for euery man p. 53. 55. 58. Euery man hath not the meanes p. 57.
of the fifth to the end of the sixteenth containe the antecedent or first part of his reason and the proofes thereof The seuenteenth addeth and enforceth the maine conclusion The assumption of the second syllogisme That it is necessary to admit c. is handled from the fourth Chapter to the tenth The proposition of the first syllogisme That the faith which the authoritie of the true Catholique Church commendeth to vs ought without doubt to be holden for the true faith is proued by another reason from the ninth Chapter to the thirteenth The assumption of the third syllogisme That those onely which professe the Romane faith are the true Catholique Church is debated from the twelfth Chapter to the seuenteenth This is the generall frame of the whole Treatise as farre as I am able to conceiue of it Now let vs examine the truth therof Wherein that I may proceed the more orderly and plainely I wil first speake a word or 2. of some matters that seeme fit to be vnderstood ere I answer particularly to the seueral propositiōs What the diuerse significations of this word faith are and how many sorts of faith there be I will inquire as farre as it is needfull for this Treatise in my answer to the first Chapter onely we are now to know that by faith and beliefe this Papist vnderstands the matter or doctrine which is to be beleeued This appeares in the rest of this Preface and namely at these words Fourthly because these few plaine points c as also euery where in his Treatise though sometimes as I will shew in due place he take it otherwise The like I say of the word Church which being diuersly taken in Scripture is here to be restrained to a certaine cōpany of men vpon earth as this Author himself shewes in this Preface at the place aforenamed Now then to answer directly to his principall syllogisme I deny the whole antecedent therof Because it takes some things for a knowne truth which are either false or at least full of doubt As for example that the true Catholique Church is a company of men vpon earth whereas who knowes not that the saints that haue bene are and shal be in all ages are members of the true Catholique Church which consists of them all ioyntly That all the seuerall congregations which hold the true doctrine of the Gospell are one and the same Church A doctrine in his meaning without anie warrant of Scripture as it shall be shewed hereafter That there is authoritie in a certaine company of men vpō earth to require that whatsoeuer they deliuer be held for an vndoubted truth vnder paine of damnation to all that wil not so beleeue them whereas God vseth not the authoritie of men but their ministerie to the begetting of faith in them that shall be saued In particular I denie the proposition because all the Churches in the world may erre either in some one point not fundamentall or some in one some in another And therefore some things may be propounded by the true Church of Christ which notwithstanding are not vpon any authoritie of theirs to be held for true To the proofe of the proposition set downe in the second syllogisme I answer by denying the assumption That it is necessary to admit such authoritie in the Church The reasons of my deniall are 1 That God hath giuen no such authoritie to anie companie of men since the Apostles or besides them who had it seuerally euery one in his owne person 2. That there is no necessitie of anie such authoritie for the saluation of the elect or damnation of the reprobate 3. That the Scriptures are left vnto vs for an absolute rule whereby all things that are to be beleeued must be tried I denie also the assumption of the first principall syllogisme and to the proofe of it contained in the third syllogisme I say further that they which professe the doctrine that the Church of Rome now teacheth in many points are members of the Church of Antichrist vnder the Pope the head thereof But if as you say Those that professe the Romane faith are the true Catholique Church how ignorantly and absurdly do your Monkes of Bourdeaux write in their solemne profession of religion where they say that the holy visible catholique and Apostolike Church dispersed ouer the whole world hath communion in faith manners with the Church of Rome If the Catholique Church haue communion with the Church of Rome sure the Catholique Church and the Church of Rome are not all one A. D. §. 4. Vpon which points when he had heard my discourse he desired me for his better remembrance to set downe in writing what I had said The which I had first thought to haue done briefly and to haue imparted it onely to him but by some other friends it was wished that I should handle the matter more at large they intending as it seemed that it might not only do good to him but to others also that should haue need of it as well as he Of which sort of men standing in this need as I could not considering their miserable case but take great pitie so I was easily moued especially at my friends request to be willing to do my endeuour which might be for their reliefe and succour and to take any course which might turne to their helpe and profite A. W. The title of your booke professeth breuitie here you say that you had thought to set downe your discourse briefly but haue handled the matter more at large Either your Title or your Preface is to blame Your Title is iustified afterward where you say that your course of writing is very briefe and compendious Papists talke of pitie who without mercie or conscience wold haue murdred so many thousāds by treason as they thought haue sent them almost quicke to hell soules and bodies together It is not anie pitie of vs but your slauery to the Pope and proud conceit of I know not what merite with hope of making your part strong for rebellion or massacre that drawe from you these goodly treatises A. D. §. 5. Now of all other courses which haue bene and might be vndertaken that which in my speech I did chuse as most expedient for him with whom I did conferre seemed best also for me to prosequute in this my writing for the benefite of him and others and this for foure reasons A. W. I know not what he was with whom as you say you did conferre but I am sure his iudgement was at the most but indifferent good if such a course as begs the question would be any way liked of him You vndertake to shew That it is necessary to admit an infallible authority in the true Catholique Church which you expound to be A companie of men vpon earth VVhat Protestant is there of any knowledge but vnderstands that by Catholique Church we meane ordinarily not any companie in
must be entire Can you giue me a sufficient reason of this difference A. D. §. 1. This one infallible faith without which we cannot please God must also be entire whole and sound in all points and it is not sufficient to beleeue stedfastly some points misbeleeuing or not beleeuing obstinately other some or any one A. W. There are two things to be considered in your propounding of this questiō concerning the entirenesse of faith in what sense all points must be beleeued and what it is to misbeleeue or obstinately not to beleeue Whatsoeuer is deliuered in Scriptures is a matter of faith because it is the word of God who can neither deceiue nor be deceiued and hath propounded it to men for a truth to be beleeued But yet there is a great difference betwixt things set downe in Scripture and that difference is in 2. respects For neither are all points therein true in the like sense neither is there like necessitie of beleeuing euery particular Concerning the former the generall reason why all things in the Scriptures are true is this because all things therein are recorded deliuered by God for true therfore questionles they are true yet as once before I noted onely so farre forth true as they are intended to be held for true by the holy Ghost the author of the Scripture Whatsoeuer is registred therein by vvay of report as a story is to be taken as true onely in respect of story that we may not doubt whether such or such things were done and said or no. There is no doubt to be made but that the fiue bookes of Moses the bookes of Iosua Iudges Ruth Samuel Kings Chronicles c. containe a true and certaine story of those things whereof they intreate But in these bookes we haue some worthy and holy speeches of godly men some leud and blasphemous words of profane wretches The former are to be acknowledged for the truth of God euery way As for example it is true that Iacob vttered those prophesies of the twelue Patriarks his sonnes and it is also true that those prophesies of his were the very truth of God It is as true that Rabshaketh deliuered those blasphemous threanings against the Lord and his people but it is not true that those words came from God as Iacobs did so Iacobs were to be taken as euery way true Rabshakeths onely as truly reported from his mouth Now that all points are not alike necessary to saluation no man can make any question if he remember that a man may be saued though he haue neuer heard of many things that are recorded in the Scripture which is the case generally of the greatest part both of Protestants and Papists and hath alwayes bene the case of Christians in all ages As for misbeleeuing or not beleeuing obstinately one of these differs a great deale from the other and the latter of the two was needlesse if the former can be proued For if mistaking some point of doctrine be damnable it is out of doubt that obstinate refusing to beleeue the same point must needs make a man much more liable to damnation But indeed misbeleeuing is not in all points so dangerous though of it selfe as a sinne it is subiect to be punished with the eternall wrath of God in hell fire To make plaine that I say A man may misunderstand diuers places of Scripture and thereupon hold that to be true which is false and yet be saued for all this error For example that I may giue instāce in a matter of no small importance How many Christians yea how many great Diuines haue bin deceiued in the vnderstanding of our Sauior Christs genealogie and by their misconceiuing of the Euangelists haue fallen into no smal error that Salomon was the father of the Messiah By which opinion to omit many other things that I may not be too long the truth of a prophesie vttered by Ieremy which makes Ieconiah childlesse hath bin ouerthrown from whom our Sauiour must needs haue descended if he had bene the sonne of Salomon as some erroneously gather out of Saint Mathew and not of Nathan as it is manifest by S. Luke he was Shall I exemplifie this matter in another point The Apostles themselues for a long time euen til after the ascension of our Sauiour into heauen and till the comming of the holy Ghost vpō them looked for the establishing of an earthly kingdome in this world by their Lord and maister Did they not slip into this error by misbeleeuing the prophesies of the old testament concerning the Messiahs kingdome yet were they out of danger of damnation and in the state of grace all that time because they rested on our Sauiour Christ as the spirituall Sauiour of their soules that should tak away their sinnes and bring them to euerlasting life in heauen though they erroneously hoped for a temporall kingdome also The other branch of this distribution which concernes obstinately not beleeuing though it be a farre greater sinne then the former yet it is not such that it doth absolutely cut a man off from saluation This obstinate refusall to beleeue is either of ignorance or of wilfulnesse if a Christian stand stifly in some false opinion which he certainly holdeth to be true in his error the fault of his iudgement may continue without the damnation of his soule If wilfully he refuse to beleeue that truth of God which he discerneth no man can promise him any hope of saluation without true repentance This I speake vpon a supposition that it is possible for a man not to beleeue that which he perceiueth to be true though indeed there is a contradiction implied herein For to beleeue is to assent to the truth which a man cannot chuse but do that sees it that is no man can think the same thing in the same respects true and false But this not beleeuing in such a case is a frowardnesse of the heart not yeelding to acknowledge that he knowes rather then a false opinion in the braine by which a man is misled We are further to obserue that there is a second difference in this point in regard of the matter which is not beleeued If a man in his ignorance deny to beleeue that there is but one God that there are three persons that Iesus is the Messiah that we are redeemed by him that we are iustified by faith without workes or any other fundamentall point of religion he doth thereby shut himselfe out from all possibilitie of saluation as long as he continues in these errors or any of them But other points there are and those many more in number which a man by reason of his ignorance may obstinately refuse to beleeue and yet not be excluded out of heauen for such his error Let the former examples serue for breuities sake I haue bene longer then I would or meant to be but I was desirous to speake plaine
Peter as we heard Bellarmine say signifieth no more but that God keepes no man from being saued but hath vouchsafed the word and sacraments in common to all Your Glosse restraines that Any to them that are to be conuerted that is to the elect That other which are to be conuerted may be conuertea Thomas and Holkot interprete it de voluntate signi of that wil of God which we may gather by the signes he sheweth as for example God calleth all men from danger of damnation by precepts counsels threatnings rewards These are signes to vs that God would haue all men to be saued but there is another will called volunt as beneplaciti the good pleasure of God which is indeed truly that which God intendeth Thomas addeth also a second exposition out of Damascen but it can proue nothing because it cannot be necessarily enforced out of the text rather then the other which is also more warrantable for the truth of it as I will shew another time vpon more iust occasion if it please God Caietan alledgeth three seuerall interpretations that of Damascens a second of All kind of men whereof before and a third of the elect which also he doth exemplifie in the person of Peter Thus I haue shewed that the maine foundation you build vpon is but weak wanting ground of warrant from the word of God But admit it were neuer so true that God would haue euery man to be saued which in some sense as I haue said indeed is most true yet were not the consequence of your proposition proued For there might be sufficient meanes for euery mans saluation though there were no meanes to bring him to that same one infallible entire faith which you conceit but onely to so much faith and knowledge as is necessary to saluation by which he might be sufficiently instructed in matters of faith which is all that you craftily seeme to require in the conclusion of this section whereas before in your proposition no lesse would serue the turne then infallible instruction in all points questions and doubts of faith A. D. §. 2. To this purpose saith S. Austin Si Dei prouidentia praesidet rebus humanis non est desperandum ab eodem ipso Deo auctoritatem aliquam constitutam esse qua velut certo gradu nitentes attollamur in Deum If Gods prouidence saith he rule and gouerne humane matters as he proueth that it doth we may not despaire but that there is a certain authoritie appointed by the same God vpon which staying our selues as vpon a sure step we may be lifted vp to God Saint Austin therefore doth acknowledge some authoritie to be needfull as a meanes whereby we may be lifted vp to God The which lifting vp to God is first begun by true faith And because this authoritie is so needfull a meanes he would not haue vs doubt but that God whose prouidence stretcheth it selfe to all humane matters hath not failed to prouide this meanes for vs it being a principal matter and so principall as vpon which according to the ordinary course dependeth the summe of our saluation We are not therefore I say to doubt but that Almghtie God hath prouided a meanes whereby Animalis homo qui non percipit ea que sunt spiritus Dei a sensuall man who hath no vnderstanding of the diuine mysteries of faith may come to know them by a firme and infallible beleefe A. W. To what purpose doth Saint Austine bring this To proue that God hath appointed a rule by which all men may come to your infallible faith Nothing lesse but to shew that where truth is not euident as to men ordinarily it is not there God hath prouided meanes to stirre them vp to a diligent enquiry after it or rather as he plainly affirmeth to a ridding of themselues of the cares and pleasures of this life which he cals purging of the soule that so they may be fit to embrace the truth Authoritie saith Austin is at hand for a man that is not able to discerne the truth that he may be fitted to it and suffer himselfe to be purged What is this authoritie what is the vse of it Miracles multitude make vp this authoritie whereby men not able to see truth in it self are moued to a reuerend respect of the Church so to an examination of the doctrine which vpon triall is found true Thus doth the wisedome of God prouide for mens ignorance that authoritie of miracles and multitude may draw them to a consideration of the truth which whensoeuer it shewes it selfe so plainly that it cannot be doubted of is to be preferred before all other meanes of perswading a man to beleeue or holding him in beleefe whatsoeuer as the same Austin saith we denie not these to be good helpes and strong meanes to the searching and finding of the truth but to be sufficient and infallible grounds of religion that a man should relie vpon them without trying the doctrine by the truth of God reuealed in the Scriptures It is indeed out of doubt among Christians that God hath prouided some meanes by which a naturall man whom you absurdly call sensuall whereas the Apostle meaneth a man in his best natural estate since his fal who cānot discerne of Gods truth nor admit of it may come to the knowledge thereof Because it was impossible saith Irenaeus to learne God without God he teacheth men by his word his sonne to know God It is he that hath vouchsafed vs this knowledge by the ministery of men worke of the spirit in their hearts that beleeue according to the word of God in the Scriptures Let vs not heare saith Austin This I say This thou sayest but let vs heare This saith the Lord there are the Lords bookes extant to the authoritie whereof both of vs consent both of vs giue credit both of vs obey there let vs seeke the Church there let vs discusse our question Other meanes of triall then by the Scripture he accounteth and calleth deceitfull The Scriptures are the bounds of the Church beyond which she may not wander Whatsoeuer any man since the Apostles hath seene without warrant of Scripture let him be neuer so holy neuer so eloquent it is of no authoritie but onely to mooue vs to a consideration of that he saith A. D. §. 3. Onely the question is what manner of thing this meanes must be and where euerie man must seeke and finde it that hauing found it he may as S. Austen speaketh stay himselfe vpon it as vpon a sure step thereby to be lifted vp to a true faith and by faith to God The which question being of so great consequence that it being well determined a man need neuer make more question in matters of faith I wil God willing in the chapters following endeuor to resolue it as clearely as I can And this I purpose to do first by
no man euer dreamed of viz. that we commonly build our faith vpon our English translation So that the Scripture may well be the rule of faith for ought that you haue said against it concerning the first propertie of certaine truth which it were blasphemie to denie of the scripture For the second that the rule must be easie to vnderstand I haue shewed that there is no necessitie of that condition and that the scripture is easie in matters necessary to saluation In the last point of the scriptures defect touching many things that must needs be beleeued you do both wrong God in making his word writtē so vnperfect and by a foolish craft insteed of proouing that the scripture containeth not all matters of faith needfull to saluation vndertake to shew that which no man denieth that all points of beleefe are not expresly set down and determined by scripture And lest we should forget your shuffling in this point you offer new proofe of a needlesse matter from the authoritie of Austin Basil and Epiphanius whose testimonies I alledged before to prooue the sufficiencie of the scripture in all matters necessarie to saluation The places by you alledged are not of such matters neither speake of things not expresly contained but onely shew that for matters of fact ceremonie the Apostles haue not determined al particulars The Apostles saith Austin haue commaunded nothing touching not rebaptising them which haue bene baptised by hereticks but the custome which was pleaded against Cyprian is to be beleeued to haue had beginning from their tradition as there are many things which the Church euery where holdeth that we wel beleeue therefore to haue beene enioyned by the Apostles though they are not found written What is this to prooue that there are matters necessarie to be beleeued to saluation which are not exprest in the scriptures Basil was not the the author of that Treatise at the least of the latter part of it from about the 17. chapter and so forward That appeareth first by obseruing the difference of style being neither like Basils writing nor in one place like an other as Erasmus hath truly obserued who translated it Secondly by the fond discourse he maketh propounding one thing handling an other and concluding a third which not onely Basil would neuer haue done but no man of any discretion Last of all he bewraieth himselfe to be a counterfeit by speaking of Meletius as one dead long before who liued in his time ouerliued him as it is manifest by the Ecclesiasticall historie But admit the booke were Basils what is there in it to proue that all points of doctrine which appertaine to true Christian faith are not expresly set downe in Scripture This Author saith that we must beleeue oraditions VVhat In matters of doctrine There is no such word in him He speaketh of outward carriage in ceremonies and phrases of speech The question in that part of his Treatise is of the preposition with that is to speake that euery man may vnderstand whether it be lawfull to say in the Church seruice and otherwise Glorie be to the Father and to the Sonne with the holy Ghost or whether we must needs say and to the holy Ghost not with For this speech that author pleades tradition Do we denie any such matter Or do we not acknowledge the libertie and authoritie of the Churches in such matters Who sees not that our custome now is to say Glory be to the Father to the Sonne and to the holy Ghost Not that thereby we condemne the other kind of speech but because in matters left to our libertie we take that which seemeth fittest Epiphanius speaking of praier for the dead which hath no warrant of Scripture is glad to helpe himselfe with the authoritie of tradition telling vs that some things must be held by tradition and not all taken out of the scriptures But Epiphanius doth not say that this is a doctrine or action necessarie to saluation A. D. §. 6. Some obiect against this conclusion that place of S. Paul Omnis Scriptura diuinitùs inspirata vtilis est ad docendum c. vt perfectus sit homo c. But this place prooueth nothing against that which I haue said For it saith not that scripture alone is sufficient to instruct a man to perfection but that it is profitable for this purpose as it is indeed and the rather because it commendeth vnto vs the authoritie of the Church which as I shall afterwards proue is sufficient Now it is certaine that to be profitable and to be of it selfe alone sufficient be farre different things Stones and Timber be profitable to the building of an house yet they alone without a worke-man to square them and set them in order be not sufficient for this purpose A. W. Of this place I haue spoken sufficiently otherwhere and shewed that the Scriptures are able to make vs wise to saluation and therefore sufficient to that purpose Now the Apostle hauing giuen that commendation to the scripture vers 15. proceedeth in the next to exemplifie that in particular which he had before said in generall It is able to make thee wise to saluation it is able to fit thee to teaching reproouing correcting instructing Can any reasonable man thinke that the Apostle deliuering by way of amplification his former commendation of the scripture that he might the rather stirre vp Timothie to the studie of it would say lesse then he had done before But it is a great deale lesse to say no more but the scripture is profitable to such purposes then to commend it as able to make a man wise to saluation Therefore though the word indeed doe not expresly signifie sufficiencie yet it cannot be doubted but the profit mentioned implieth such a sufficiencie especially since he addeth perfection which must arise from this word of God And so as I haue shewed elsewhere do Chrysostome and Theophylact vnderstand it who make the Apostle speake to Timothie to this effect that he being now to be offred vp leaueth the scriptures in his steed of which he may in all things take aduise and counsell as if the Apostle himselfe were present with him But you forsooth would make vs beleeue that the scripture is indeed profitable to this end but not sufficient Is not the knowledge of arts tongues philosophy and history of verie good vse also to this purpose Slender then too slender is the commendation our Apostle giueth the scriptures if it be of no greater excellēcy then these humane furtherances but only in a certain degree of profit To helpe the matter you propound one particular for which the scripture is profitable namely to commend vnto vs the authority of the Church But neither doth it cōmend to vs any such authority as you imagin if that be the rule of the scripture one sentēce had bin as good better then
the whole volume of the Bible which to say were no lesse thē blasphemy But I am afraid the scriptures that Paul there speaks of which were the books of the old Testamēt are rather vnprofitable thē profitable to that purpose For they often amplify magnify the word of God written in so plaine termes that eueuery man may vnderstand them as for the authority you fancy to your selfe they speake either nothing or little and that very obscurely thereof But we shall see in the rest of your Treatise what proofe you can finde of this authoritie in Moses and the Prophets and the writers of the olde Testament Now at the last you remember your selfe againe and returne to your old shift of Scripture alone Which you deuised of your owne head that you might haue somewhat to confute It is not all one say you to be profitable and to be of it selfe alone sufficient And you tel vs This is certaine Who euer denied it Or who but he that wanted matter to replie against would cast such doubts Especially who would haue wasted time and paper to prooue or declare a thing so certaine and cleare by a needlesse comparison The scripture without any doctrines of men call them what you will imagine what assistance of the spirit you list is sufficient to teach all men the true certaine way to saluation This is that we affirme not as you ridiculously slander vs that there needs no ministerie of man for the instructing of any one in the vnderstanding of any place of scripture or knowledge of any point of religion These are your owne fancies or mōsters rather with which like bugbeares you scare your poore seduced followers and bleare the eies of the ignorant that they may not enquire what we teach indeed but hate our doctrine before they any way vnderstand it But they that haue any care of their owne saluation will not suffer themselues to be led by you hoodwinkt to destruction if any man will needs be wilfully ignorant the Lord shall require his blood at his owne hands we haue done our duetie in teaching and proouing the truth A. D. CHAP. VIII That no naturall wit or learning can be the rule of faith A. W. If you had bestowed that paines and time in confirming your proposition which you waste needlesly in proouing that which no man denieth you might perhaps haue spoken somewhat more to the purpose but it is lost labour to go about the refutatiō of that which besides your selfe no body euer thought on That naturall wit or learning should be the rule of faith is a conceit amongst Christians neuer heard of yet this haue you propounded for to exercise your strength vpon A. D. §. 1. The second conclusion is that no one mans naturall wit and learning neither any company of men neuer so learned onely as they are learned men not infallibly assisted by the holy Spirit of God can either by interpreting Scripture or otherwise be this rule of faith A. W. Here you set out the former proposition more at large in respect of the Antecedent or first part of it Neither any one mans naturall wit nor many mens ioyned together whatsoeuer their learning be or what course soeuer they take as naturall men can be the rule of faith either for any doctrine they shal deliuer or for any interpretation they shall make of Scripture But what needeth all this adoe you do but fight with your owne shadow yet let vs se how you haue bestirred your selfe A. D. §. 2. This I prooue Because all this wit and learning be it neuer so exquisite or rare is humane naturall and fallible and therefore it cannot be a sufficient foundation whereupon to build a diuine supernaturall and infallible faith This reason I confirme Because whatsoeuer a man neuer so wittie and learned propoundeth to others to be beleeued vpon the onely credit of his word wit or humane studie and learning it can haue no more certaintie then is this his word wit and learning But these being all naturall and humane are subiect to errour and deceit For Omnis homo mendax there is no man but he may both deceiue and be deceiued and may if he haue no other helpe but of nature and industrie both be deceiued in thinking that to be Gods word which is not or that to be the true meaning and sense of Gods word which is not and may also deceiue others whilest being too confident of his wit and learning he presumeth to teach others these his erroneous opinions Therefore the beleefe which shall be built vpon such a mans word and teaching is or may be a false beleefe and alwaies is vncertaine and fallible and therefore can neuer be a true Diuine and Christian faith which alwaies is most certaine and infallible And this which I haue said of the wit and learning of one particular man may also be applied to prooue against the wit and learning of any companie of men hauing no assistance but their owne naturall gifts and industrie of studie or reading A. W. No humane naturall and fallible thing can be the rule of faith Naturall wit and learning though neuer so exquisite are humane naturall and fallible Therefore no humane wit nor learning can be the rule of faith I grant this reason and conclusion to be sound and true onely in the confirmation of it I finde some occasion to note one thing for the better vnderstanding of the matter we haue in hand If any man would speake for naturall wit and learning in this question he would not say as the matter is here propounded that any mans wit or learning were the rule of faith but that the wit and learning of man might finde out somewhat at least in the Scripture whereupon faith might safely be grounded For example as I said once before though it be not written any where in the Scripture that there are three persons distinct each from other and all these three but one God yet may a man by naturall wit and learning gather this out of the Scripture and confirme it thence so plainely and certainly that any Christian may holde those points as Articles of faith Not that they are to be taken for such vpon the onely credit of his word which is a second thing wherein you mistake the matter but because though euerie man be a lier yet a man may see and shew a truth which cannot nor may be suspected of falshood or errour And a beleefe builded vpon Doctrine so taught shall be free from possibilitie of erring and as you speake infallible This I thought good to obserue by occasion of your confirmation where you suppose that a man deliuereth matters to be beleeued vpon the bare credit of his word by reason of his wit and learning In this sense it is out of all question that no naturall wit or learning of any many or all the men in the world can be the rule of faith but
their exceeding great harme And at least how soeuer their priuate affection selfe-loue encline them to think well of themselues and of that spirit which they permit to teach them those singuler points of new strange doctrine yet sure it is that this their perswasion of the goodnesse of their spirit is not infallible as the rule of faith must be sith diuers now adaies perswade themselues in the same manner to be taught by the holy spirit and yet one of them teaching against another it is not possible that all that thus perswade themselues should be taught by this spirit sith this spirit doth neuer teach contrarie to it selfe And therefore some in this their perswasion must needs be deceiued And therefore who hauing no testimonie of euident miracle or some other vndoubted proofe dare arrogantly affirme that he onely is not deceiued especially in such sort as to condemne all other and to propose himselfe to himselfe and others as the onely sufficient rule of faith considering that others who presume perswade themselues altogether in like manner are in this their perswasion deceiued A. W. I must againe put the Reader in minde that no Protestant maintaines that a priuate spirit is the rule of faith neither will I vndertake the defence of any such matter but onely examine his reasons against it as I haue done in the former chapters in the like case His reason is thus to be concluded The rule of faith must be infallible plaine knowne to all sorts of men and vniuersall A priuate spirit is not such Therefore a priuate spirit is not the rule of faith Of the proposition I spake at the sixth chapter and shewed the fault of it in respect of the second propertie which is easinesse to be vnderstood of all men as it is expounded by your selfe All the doubt now is in the assumption of the three points wherin you go about to prooue but only the first of infallibility It should seeme your stomacke is greater against the scripture then against either natural wit learning or priuate spirit For you disprooue the abilitie of these two but in respect of one property namely the first as if for the other two they or either of them were sufficient enough But you allow the Scripture neuer a one of the three you condemne it of obscuritie you accuse it of defect for wanting diuers points necessarie to saluation And although you do not simply denie the infallibilitie of it yet you make all knowledge that can be had out of our English translation verie vncertaine so that none of our people can haue any benefite by the scripture as by the rule of faith or word of God but onely some few that vnderstand Hebrew or Greeke But I perceiue you were more afraid that the scripture would be taken for the rule of faith then you were that either of the other would Let vs see how you proue your assumption since you wil needs put your selfe to more paines then was looked for He say you that cannot assure himselfe and other men that he is taught by the holy Ghost cannot be the rule of faith But a priuate spirit cannot assure himselfe and other men that he is so taught Therefore a priuate spirit cannot be the rule of faith There is some cause to doubt of your maior For it is not necessarie that the rule of faith should know it selfe to be the rule The Pope you thinke is the rule of faith Put case that some Pope should doubt whether himselfe were infallibly directed in all his determinations by the holy Ghost or no should he by reason of this doubting cease to be the rule of faith I dare say you thinke not so Neuer vrge me with the impossibilitie of this matter For both it is possible if he that is no Christian may be Pope of Rome If Iohn the 22 doubted of the immortalitie of the soule if Leo 10. counted the history of our Sauiour Christ a fable and it is all one to my answer whether it may be or no it is enough for me if the Pope may be the rule though he should so doubt You should haue done well if you had kept your former warie course of adding some exception to your assumption It had not bene altogether without need For out of question a priuate spirit may be so assured by reuelation as the Prophets and Apostles were And by such meanes a man may come to assurance for all the subtiltie of Sathan the Lord being able to make the motions of his spirit knowen to whom he please what shift soeuer Sathan vse to the contrarie The Minor therefore without this exception be either expressed or vnderstood is vntrue otherwise it is true As for the triall you propound by the touchstone of the true pastors of the Catholicke Church it is vtterly insufficient in this case It may be and is indeed a meanes of great authoritie and vse to direct a man in finding out and holding the truth but it is no certaine proofe that a man hath found or doth hold the truth in all points because those pastors as in due place shall appeare may all be deceiued without the Popes especiall direction But admit their iudgement or authoritie were in the matter infallible yet could no man thereby be assured that himselfe is taught particularly by the holy Ghost For many men hold the truth of God as the true Church doth and yet haue no such teaching by the spirit since it is certaine a man may deliuer truth and he himselfe not beleeue Of your testimonies out of scripture touching the Pastors of the Church I will say onely thus much by the way that the Pastors can speake neither of those sentences truely of themselues but in a measure They know the deuises of Sathan but in part not wholy He that knoweth God heareth them not simply in all points for he that knoweth God may doubt of some point deliuered by the true Pastors of the Church who also are no farther to be heard then they can shew that they speake to be from God The Apostles euerie one of them seuerally knew all things which the Lord thought fit to make knowen to men and were to be heard without any doubting of that they deliuered with them that priuiledge died and all men now are tied to the triall of their doctrine by the scriptures The conclusion of this discourse concerneth either no man in the world or if any the Pope of Rome your Lord God For the Anabaptists themselues are not so absurd and shamelesse as to make any one of their sect the onely sufficient rule of all mens faith but euerie man claimeth though falsly and lewdly a priuiledge of not erring for himselfe Onely your insolent Pope will haue all men to depend vpon his iudgement and in comparison of himselfe disdaineth all writers and all Councils whatsoeuer What promises he hath
whereupon he beareth himselfe so high and stout I make no doubt but we shal heare of you in this Treatise till when I forbeare to say anie more A. D. §. 4. But suppose one could assure himselfe that he were taught by Gods Spirit immediately what is the true faith in all points in such sort that he could erre in none as it is not the manner of Almightie God to teach men immediately by himselfe alone or by an Angell but rather as the Scripture telleth vs Fides ex auditu Faith is bred in vs by hearing and is to be required ex ore Sacerdotis out of the mouth of the Priest and is to be learned of Pastors and Doctors whom God hath appointed in his Church of purpose to instruct vs and continue vs in the ancient faith But suppose I say that one could assuredly perswade himselfe to be immediatly taught of God what is the truth in all points how should he without testimonie of miracle giue assurance to others that he is thus taught Especially when he teacheth quite contrarie to the Catholicke Church which by plaine promises and testimonies of Scripture we know to be taught of God A. W Hitherto you haue prooued that a man cannot assure himselfe that he is infallibly instructed by the holy Ghost Now you are to shew that howsoeuer the point might be cleere to him yet he hath no meanes to perswade other men thereof but that still there will be cause of doubting whether he be so taught or no. But by the way you tell vs that it is not Gods manner to teach vs immediatly by himselfe alone or by an Angel but rather as the scripture telleth vs faith is bred in vs by hearing For the generall that God teacheth not immediately we are wholy of your opinion and that the ordinarie meanes of faith is preaching but we see no sufficient reason to disable the word of God in the scripture as if it were not of force to bring forth the same effect where Gods ordinance of preaching cannot be had or is not neglected For since the matter deliuered in true preaching and reading the scripture is all one vnlesse it be verie apparent that the holy Ghost wil not giue a blessing to him that readeth hauing not opportunitie to heare out of question faith may come by reading Faith saith Bellarmine cannot arise in the heart but by diuine reuelation which is either immediately from God alone or by the instrument of the word preached or read And whereas the Apostle speaketh in that place of preaching and hearing it is not his purpose to disable the word read but to shew partly as otherwhere that the meanes of saluation were not nor could be deuised by man but proceed wholy from God partly that no man may excuse himselfe by ignorance because God hath sent his seruants into all parts of the world to giue notice of the way of saluation without which commaundement of his no man might haue vndertaken the office of preaching the Gospell either by word of mouth or writing and without the Gospell had bene published no man could haue beleeued For as it is in the same chapter a little before How shall they beleeue in him of whom they haue not heard and how shall they heare without a preacher And how shall they preach except they be sent Faith then is by hearing that is as one rightly expoundeth it by the sense of the scripture truly vnderstood I do not equall reading to preaching nor promise any blessing but rather threaten a curse where men refuse to heare the Pastors and Ministers of the seuerall congregations wherein they liue or any other that by lawfull authoritie preach truly and faithfully but I would haue no man by any conceit weaken the power of God speaking in his word to all that can and will reade and heare Now to your argument He that hath not testimonie of miracles cannot giue assurance to others that he is infallibly taught by the Spirit of God But a priuate spirit hath not testimonie of miracles Therefore he cannot giue assurance to others that he is infallibly so taught First I note two things in the propounding of this reason the one that you adde an exception according to your custome the other that you seeme to giue ouer great force to miracles Your exception is that he can giue no assurance if he teach contrarie to the Catholicke Church why so Because we know that she is taught of God Suppose that to be true yet may he giue assurance to them that know no such thing of the Church and so be to them the rule of faith But it is worth the marking that you preferre miracles before the authoritie of the Church For by them a man in your opinion may haue assurance to others that he is taught by the holy Ghost though he teach quite contrarie to the Catholicke Church But the Apostle hath accursed them that receiue any other doctrine then he taught though it be preached by an Angell from heauen What will become of the faith of such men when Antichrist comes with signes and lying wonders But why should I aske that question Your selfe and the rest of your popish brood haue answered it alreadie For you are made drunke with the cup of fornication of the whore of Babylon and bewitched with the miracles of that great Antichrist the Pope of Rome to beleeue lies against the manifest truth of God in scripture But we haue a most sure word of the Prophets confirmed expounded by the Apostles contrarie to which or without warrant of which we will beleeue nothing as necessarie to saluation for all the miracles that your Antichrist or the Diuel himselfe can worke For mine owne part vnder correction I speake it I am not perswaded that euer any true miracle was or shall be wrought for confirmation of false doctrine how soeuer the Diuel may serue his turne by a shew of such matters But it is all one to the moouing of a man whether the thing done be in truth a miracle or onely such in his opinion Be it neuer so true it may bring no credit to any point of doctrine contrarie to the word of God in the scripture Yet since false shewes will worke the same effect in their hearts whom God hath giuen ouer to the beleeuing of lies that true miracles will me thinkes I see no sufficient cause to imagine that God will employ his infinite power to the countenācing of any vntruth where no such thing is needfull I say then for your proposition that no assurance can be giuen either without or with neuer so many miracles if a mans doctrine be contrarie to the teaching of the Church when the Church teacheth according to the Scripture But in those points wherein the Church shall faile of her dutie the exposition of the word may giue assurance of truth spoken by
him that deliuereth the contrarie But this I speake by way of explication not of refutation For I grant your proposition So reuelation be excepted as before If you meane that euerie priuate spirit hath not miracles to testifie of him or that none hath true miracles to avow false doctrine by I grant your Minor But if you wold haue vs beleeue that no man hath power by the diuels assistance to make shew of such matters as cannot by man be discerned from true miracles I denie your assumption and refute it by that former instance of Antichrist VVhose comming is by the effectuall working of Sathan with all power and signes and lying wonders A. D. §. 5. Perhaps he will alledge that generall promise of scripture Omnis qui petit accipit assuring them thereby that euerie one that praieth for any thing receiueth it and that he hath earnestly praied for the spirit therefore he must needes haue it But to this argument we may easily answer that this promise of our Sauiour is not so vniuersally to be vnderstood as though euerie one that praieth for a thing shall infallibly obtaine it without any condition at least in the manner of praying required of our part For we reade euen in Scripture Petitis non accipitis eo quòd malè petatis You aske or pray and receiue not the thing requested because you aske amisse By which place we learne that to obtaine any thing by praier requireth a condition of praying well or in such sort as is fit the which condition doth as learned men obserue include many circumstances for fault of the due obseruance whereof it may and doth often happen that our praier is not well made nor in such sort as is fit and is consequently frustrate of the efficacie which otherwise by the promise of our Sauiour it should haue had Now these circumstances being many and diuers of them verie inward it is not verie easie for any man to be absolutely sure that he hath obserued them in such sort as is fit and therefore he cannot be absolutely sure that his praier hath taken effect and therefore it is not sufficient proofe whereby one may perswade others that he hath the Spirit of God to say he hath praied for it especially considering that we may finde very many most contrarie in religion one to another who notwithstanding will say that they daily pray for the holy Spirit and I doubt not but many of them in some sort yea earnestly after their manner doe pray for it yet sure it is that all these being thus contrarie haue it not How shall we then be assured that this or that man who presuming vpon the assistance of this Spirit which he thinketh he hath obtained by praier setteth abroach a singular and new inuented doctrine how shall we be sure I say that such a man hath the Spirit of God indeed A. W. This obiection you make is so void of all likelihood that I perswade my selfe no man would euer be so foolish as to alledge it in this question For who can chuse but see at the very first reading of it that if it may be had by praier one may haue it as well as another and therefore there is little reason why all should rely vpon any one in such a matter Besides what a ridiculous thing is it for me to imagine that euery body wil beleeue me on my word when I tell them that I haue prayed earnestly for the spirit and therefore must needs haue it Wherefore your obiection and answer are not worth the considering or reading Onely of the place you alledge in a word thus much may be said that our Sauiour by it encourageth and perswadeth vs to pray assuring vs of gracious acceptance by God his Father in all our petitions so farre forth as the obtaining of them shall make for his glory the good of his Church and our owne spirituall and bodily comfort And though it be most true that we can neuer pray as we ought yet may we be assured to haue our requests granted the former conditions remembred whensoeuer we pray for any thing belonging to the generall estate of Christians or our particular callings with a true acknowledgement of Gods power feeling of our owne wants and resting vpon his promise to vs in Iesus Christ Particularly concerning the vnderstanding of Scripture for any thing belonging to the generall estate of Christians or our particular callings which belongeth to the question we haue in hand thus speaketh Chrysostome of this place If you will perswade your selues saith he to reade the Scriptures diligently and carefully there is nothing farther to be required of you for the vnderstanding of thē His reasō followeth For Christ hath truly said Seeke and you shall find knock and it shall be opened to you A. D. §. 6. Some will perchance say that we may safely beleeue them because they preach nothing but pure Scripture while as for euery point of their doctrine they cite still sentences of Scripture But this answer will not serue First because for and in the name of Scripture they bring forth their false and corrupt translations which do differ in some places euen in words from true Scripture Secondly supposing that they did alwayes cite the true words of Scripture yet they may easily apply them to a wrong sense or meaning to wit to that which they falsly imagine being seduced by their owne appetite or by their owne former error to be the true sense For as Saint Austin saith Ad imagines phantasmatum suorum carnalls anima conuertit omnia sacramenta verba librorum sanctorum a carnall and sensuall mind such as hereticks are not without sith heresie it selfe is accounted by Saint Paul a work of the flesh doth conuert or turne all the mysteries and words of holy books vnto his owne imaginations and fantasies Whereupon it commeth to passe that as the same Saint Austin saith Omnes haeretici qui in authoritate Scripturas recipiunt ipsas sibi videntur sectari cum suos sectentur errores All heretickes that receiue and admit the authoritie of the Scriptures seeme to themselues to follow the onely Scriptures when they follow their owne errors And as they may seeme to themselues to follow onely the Scriptures when they follow their owne errors so they may seeme especially to the simple people or to those who being seduced by them wholy build their beleefe vpon them to preach nothing but pure Scripture when indeed they preach their owne erroneous opinions coloured and painted with words of Scripture as it is the manner of euery sect maister to confirme his errour with words of Scripture yea the diuell himselfe doth sometime for his purpose alledge words of Scripture A. W. It appeareth by this second obiection that this discourse was intended against vs who call you for the triall of all questions of Religion to the Scripture of God But how
the Church to preach to all nations For your Church is as I haue said your Bb. assembled in Councel not your Clergie men seuerally one by one And it is not our Sauiors meaning to haue such a kind of teaching A. D. §. 6. The warrant we haue in S. Luke Qui vos audit me audit He that heareth you heareth me By which words appeareth plainly that our Sauior Christ would haue vs to heare and giue credit to his church no lesse then to himselfe A. W Our Sauiour by this place hath warranted all men to heare them that teach those things which hee commaunded to be taught besides which if any man teach his owne fancies for matters of faith that of the Apostle belongeth to him Let him be accursed The Apostles were absolutely to be heard without exceptiō as Christ himself all other teachers only so far as they speake according to the word of God He teacheth by this saith Cyril that whatsoeuer the holy Apostles deliuer is to be receiued because he that heareth them heareth Christ Our Sauiour addeth this in the end saith Lyra to shew that the doctrine of his disciples is deuoutly and reuerently to be heard at the least for reuerence of God whose principally that doctrine is But what doth this concerne the church Surely if it may be enforced to make vs heare any besides the Apostles without limiting of our hearing we are bound so to heare at the least euery B. These words saith Bellarmine belong properly to the Apostles and to their successors neither may it be said that this was spoken to all of them ioyntly and not to euery one seuerally Now if it be absurd and worse to hold that we haue warrant to heare euery B. whatsoeuer he teach doubtlesse this place proueth nothing for hearing the Church For by vertue of this speech the Apostles were to be heard without any exception If then it belong to their successors which are as you say Bb. as fully as to them euery B. must be heard and beleeued teach he what he wil. I wil yet say more our Sauior speaketh this of the 72. disciples and of euery two of them at the least Now your opinion is that your ordinary Priests succeed them as Bishops do the Apostles Hence it will follow that whatsoeuer any two Priests preach that must be holden for as certaine a truth as if Christ himselfe had spoken it Do you not see then that this must needs be restrained either to the Apostles or to the doctrine taught He that heareth you preaching that which I haue charged you to preach heareth me So doth your Glosse limit the latter part of the sentence He that despiseth you that is He that will not beleeue in Christ Indeed he that refuseth to beleeue in Christ by the ministerie of men refuseth Christ himselfe whose doctrine it is that we should beleeue in him Therfore your minor is false also in regard of the third part thereof We haue no warrant to heare any man the Apostles being dead but so farre onely as he agreeth with the Scriptures A. D. §. 7. The commandement is expressed in S. Mathew Super Cathedram Moysi sederunt Scribae Pharisaei Omnia ergo quaecunque dixerint vobis seruate facite The Scribes and Pharisies haue sitten vpon the chaire of Moses All things therefore whatsoeuer they shall say vnto you obserue and do Out of which words we may gather that we are bound in all points to do according to the doctrine of the Prelates of the Catholicke Church yea although it should happen that their liues were not laudable but bad For although our Sauiour in this place doth onely in expresse words make mention of the chaire of Moses in which the Priests of the old Law did sit yet he is to be vnderstood to speake also of the chaire of S. Peter his owne Vicegerent in which the Priests of the new law do succeed And this à fortiori because we haue greater reason to thinke that our Sauiour intended in his doctrine to giue rules to the Priests and people of his new law which was presently to begin and to continue till the worlds end then onely to giue documents to those of the old Law considering he knew that it should so shortly cease Wherefore the auncient fathers do vnderstand that place to be meant of the Priests of the new Law and namely S. Augustine who saith thus In illum ordinem Episcoporum qui ducitur ab ipso Petro ad Anastasium qui nunc in eadem Cathedra sedet etiamsi quisquam traditor per illa tempora subrepsisset nihil praeiudicaret Ecclesiae innocentibus Christianis quibus prouidens Dominus ait de praepositis malis quae dicunt facite quae faciunt facere nolite Into that order of Bishops which is deriued from S. Peter himselfe vnto Anastasius who now sitteth vpon the same chaire although some traitor had crept in in those times he should nothing hurt the Church and the innocent Christians for whom our Lord prouiding saith of euill Prelates What they say do what they do do not A. W. This is the only point which is able to make good the consequence of your proposition and therefore if you faile in the proofe of this all is naught But out of doubt you faile here exceedingly and so your reason comes to nothing He that commaunds the Iewes to do whatsoeuer the Scribes and Pharisies who sit vpon Moses chaire say bindeth all to do in all things according to the saying of the Church But our Sauiour so commandeth the Iewes Therefore he bindeth all to do in all things according to the saying of the Church First I say of this syllogisme as of the two last points that if it giue any authoritie to your Church it giueth the same to euery particular teacher For the Scribes and Pharises did expound the law of Moses not in Councels onely but euery one seuerally in the synagogues where they were appointed to teach Therefore if it be absurd to conclude vpon this text that euery Scribe and Pharisey was then and euery Preacher lawfully called is now to be heard whatsoeuer he teach sure no such matter can be wrung out of this place for the Church Secondly this reason maketh the Scribes and Pharises the Church shutting out the high Priest himselfe and all other priests that were not either Scribes or Pharises yea it presumeth which is vtterly false that the Scribes and Pharises were successors to Moses in an ordinarie course of authoritie as you say your Church that is your Pope and Bb. succeed Peter and the rest of the Apostles Can such an argument proue a matter of such importance and doubt Your proposition implieth that our Sauiour intended to giue rules concerning Saint Peters authoritie whom you call his Vicegerent Who wold trifle so in a questiō of such weight First proue his office and your Popes
right to it and then frame such arguments otherwise any man of neuer so little iudgment may find more cause to pity or disdaine your proofe or presumption then to stagger at the force of your reason All things in the Scripture were indeed writtē for our learning and therfore belong to vs so far as the general doctrine reacheth the particular circumstances are alike Wherefore I grant your proposition not because of any succession which could not be in those Scribes and Pharises being of diuers tribes and as your Genebrard saith hauing thrust themselues into the chaire of Moses being empty but because they expoūded the law of Moses among the Iewes as the Ministers of Christ do the Gospell at this day to the Christians Ere I answer to your Assumption I must speake a word of your translation haue sitten The Greeke indeed is so but as Vatablus noteth the praeter tense is put for the present tense Therefore Pagnine doubteth not so to translate it sedent sit Which must needs be our Sauiours meaning For how were it agreeable to reason that he should charge vs to heare the Scribes and the Pharises because they did sometimes sit vpon Moses chaire if now they sit beside it It is our Sauiours purpose to signifie that the expositions of the former Pharisies and of those that taught in his time were not to be reiected or rather it is al one as if he had said do sit But let vs reade the place which way we list it is all one to your minor which I denie To the proofe of it out of the text I answer First the sitting vpon Moses chaire signifieth not succession but teaching the law of Moses For Moses calling was altogether extraordinarie from God both for gouerning and teaching In the former Iosua and the Iudges succeeded him till the people were wearie of Gods ruling of them The other part of his office was to be discharged ordinarily by the Priests and Leuits That ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath commaunded them by the hand of Moses The Priests lips should preserue knowledge and they should seeke the Law at his mouth Ieshua and Bani c. and the Leuites caused the people to vnderstand the law And they read in the booke of the Law of God distinctly and gaue the sense and caused them to vnderstand the reading It was one thing to succeed Aaron another to sit on Moses chaire The chaire of Moses saith Cyril signifieth power of doctrine They sit in Moses chaire saith Origen which interprete Moses sayings well and according to reason And a little after The Scribes and Pharises sit naughtily vpon Moses chaire they sat wel that well vnderstood the law What is the meaning of that saith Ambrose The Scribes sat but because letters are written whereupon the Scribes in Greeke are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 following the interpretation of the letter not the sense of the spirit And afterward Therefore they teaching those things that Moses wrote c. So doth Theophylact expound it They that sit in Moses chaire that is that teach the things that are in the law And immediately before They that exhort to euill life do not then teach out of Moses chaire nor out of the Law Therefore to sit vpon Moses chaire is nothing else but to haue authoritie to expound Moses Law as he himselfe did expound it So the Ministers of the Gospell may be said to sit vpon the Apostles chaire because they haue authority to interpret the Gospel which the Apostles themselues preached Secondly I denie that our Sauiour commanded the Iewes or doth now charge vs to beleeue whatsoeuer they that haue authority to teach vs deliuer or to do whatsoeuer they enioyne This is apparent because himselfe refuteth condemneth their interpretations and doctrines many times as Mat. 5. In many points of which that one is most cleare Ye haue heard that it hath bene said thou shalt loue thy neighbour hate thine enemie but I say vnto you loue your enemies c. In vaine do they worship me teaching for doctrines mens traditions And in the same place he calleth them blinde leaders of the blind and addeth further that if the blinde lead the blinde both fall into the ditch Now can any man be so impious I might say blasphemous as to say that our Sauiour commaunded the Iewes to take such a course as should certainely bring them to destruction Nay rather he warneth them to take heed of their doctrine Take heed and beware he doubleth his admonition to make them more carefull of the leauen of the Pharises And what was this leauen The doctrine of the Pharises saith the Euangelist But what need we go out of this chapter for the point in question Doth he not afterwards call them blinde guides vers 16. 24. fooles blind vers 17. 19 Doth he not in the same places condemne and confute their absurd and lewde doctrine of swearing A man would wonder that euer any man professing himselfe a scholler or teacher should bring such miserable proofes in matters of so great weight But alasse we must beare with you you bring such as you haue if you knew any better we should be sure to haue them But these serue to deceiue your deuoted followers who wilfully shut their eies against the truth The iudgements of God are past searching out and his mercie in opening our eies to see your grossnesse greater then we are able to conceiue Well yet perhaps you haue some colour from antiquitie to countenance your exposition withall You quote Austin what None but Austin in a matter of so great doubt But let vs see why you quote him If to prooue that the Pharisies were to be heard and obeyed in all things there is no such word in his sentence alledged by you For he saith no more then we grant that Our Sauiour prouided before hand that we should not refuse good doctrine because it was deliuered by wicked men Indeed that was the verie purpose of our Sauiour and to that doth Austin apply it otherwhere according to the true sense of it What saith he else but heare the voice of the sheepheard though by hirelings such as Austin in that place saith the Pharifies and Scribes were and such as our Sauiour proueth them to be by their hypocrisie ambition couetousnesse The Apostle sheweth saith Austin in an other place that men without charitie may teach somewhat that is wholsome of such our Lord speaketh They sit vpon Moses chaire c. Whereupon also the Apostle speaking of enuious and malitious men yet such as preached saluation by Christ saith Whether by occasion or in truth Christ be preached Ireioice And in a third place He that speaketh wisely and eloquently but liueth wickedly teacheth many that are desirous
is not ordained to be such a light rule and meanes To your proofe touching the light I answer with diuers of the auncient that our Sauior speaketh to and of the Apostles not of the Church in succession from time to time All the Apostles saith Chrysostome are the light to whō he said Ye are the light of the world These were the light of the eyes of the two testaments the Law and the Gospel For they by the light of our Lord enlightened for vs the old and new testaments He that reproueth those things that are done secretly is the light quoth Theophylact. For all that maketh any thing manifest is light But they the Apostles enlightned not one nation but the world So doth Austin somtimes expound it So Ierom Hilary Remigius Lucas Brugensis a learned Papist not onely applieth this text to the Apostles but also affoords vs a second answer You are that is saith he you must be or ought to be the light of the world that you may carry the light of the Gospel into the world he set round about with darknesse And thus in a manner do Austin and Hilary expound it But let vs vnderstand it of all teachers that they are the light of the world as indeed they are in a certaine proportion What then Will it follow hereupon that therefore the Church is at all times visible to al men The Apostles themselues whom this doth especially concerne were not so For many thousands in the world died after the generall commission giuen to the Apostles before it was any way possible for them to take any knowledge of such Preachers or of the Gospell Your great Cardinall Bellarmine will needs haue the place expounded not of the Apostles doctrine but of their conuersation which is not so easie and readie to be knowne as their preaching was Tertullian applieth it to the behauiour of all Christians Why hath our Lord saith he compared vs to a light and a hill if we shine not in the midst of the darknes if we hold not vp our heads in the middle of them that lie drowned But out of question this holinesse of true Christians is not alwayes visible to all men neither can it belong to your Church the members whereof may be vtterly void of true faith and loue saue onely in the outward profession Take it how you will for doctrine or manners or both you are neuer a whit the nearer If I would presse the words I could say that our Sauiour requires no more in this place of the light but that it giue light to all them that are in the house that is to all in the Church or at the most to them that are neare neighbours thereunto For what candle is there so bright that the light of it can be seene ouer all the world What though our Sauiour call his Apostles the light of the world doth he meaue that they all ioyntly together considered as a companie are so or that euery one of them seuerally is the light of the world If you will haue it spoken of them as the Church and else it cannot serue your turne to proue the perpetuall visiblenesse of the Church I doubt how you will be able to shew that they were the light of the world For they did not enlighten the world by any ioynt act of them all together but by their seuerall preaching in seuerall places Neither did they perswade men to beleeue because they were such or such a company but euery one of them taught the doctrine of the Gospell and was of himselfe without relation to all or any of the rest the light of the world in that part where it pleased God to blesse his labours to the begetting of faith If you say that euery one of them was the light of the world as doubtlesse euery one was then will it not follow that because the Church is the light of the world therefore it must be at all times visible to all men For neuer any one of the Apostles was so no nor all of them as I said before many thousands being taken out of the world after the Apostles began to preach ere they could possibly haue any glimpse of such a light To conclude the Apostles were and the Ministers in some sort now are the light of the world because by their preaching it pleaseth Almightie God to open the eyes of worldly men that they may turne from darknes to light and from the power of Satan to God that they may receiue forgiuenesse of sinnes and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith in Christ not as if any or all these must at all times be visible to all men but that there may be meanes for the saluation of those whom the Lord of his infinite loue hath chosen out of the world to be heires of his endlesse glory By all men we may vnderstand either euery particular man or all sorts of mē If you wold proue that which you vndertake you must meane euery particular man as I haue shewed in answering the fifth Chapter and as it is apparent in this afterward where you repeate that which before you had deliuered concerning Gods will to haue euery man saued one and other But I know not how in the proofe of your proposition you seeme to expound all men by all sorts of men How can it be a meanes say you by which at all times the infallible truth may be made knowne to all sorts of men if it selfe at any time could not be knowne of men In this sense if I should grant your whole fyllogisme yet would the point in question remaine still vnproued For the Church may be ordained for the light of the world and for a rule or means whereby all sorts of men may come to faith and saluation and yet at no time be visible to euery particular man To speake more plaine your proposition may be vnderstood two seueral ways first thus that all men shall be taken in the one part of it namely in the antecedent or former part for euery particular man in the other for all sorts of men If it be thus vnderstood I say the consequence is naught Secondly those words All men may haue the same signification in both parts of the proposition yet in two diuers senses For they may be taken either for Al sorts of men and then as I haue shewed the syllogisme proueth not that which is in question or for euery particular man in which sense onely I allow of the proposition as true and to the purpose It had bin better therefore that you had spared the proofe of it especially vnlesse you could haue done it better The light which is not put vnder a bushel is not the church but the apostles He teacheth them saith Theophylact to endure the trial and to haue great care of their conuersation as they
the iudgement of the learned who teach that profession of faith is sometimes necessarie to saluation Now for answer to your proofes I say as before that the two former concerne especially the denying either of religion in generall or some speciall truth in question when the Lord as it were calleth vs out to professe and auouch it as he did the Apostles in that place by sending them abroad to preach the Gospell If you saith our Sauiour in effect or any other minister shall forbeare to discharge your duties by preaching my truth and maintaining it if you be called in question for it I will neuer acknowledge you for mine in the kingdome of heauen The Apostles calling necessarily required preaching of the word and for them to haue failed in that dutie for feare or shame or otherwise had bene to denie their Lord and master Yet were they not so tied to this dutie that they must needs continue their publicke preaching in those places where persecution was raised against them but they might flee from one Citie to another and yet not be counted to denie the Lord Iesus As for the Churches that were gathered by the Apostles preaching there is neither charge nor reason to be shewed why they should bewray themselues to their persecutors by open practise of religion in the eies of the world Indeed the worship of God is not to be neglected though we cannot performe it without manifest daunger of our liues but there is no necessitie to worship God publickly where the truth is persecuted Therefore did the anciēt Christiās in such places assemble as secretly as they could neither leauing the exercises of religion for feare nor by an incōsiderate zeal hazarding their own liues To denie Christ is not to conceale himselfe frō persecutors but being found by them to renounce his profession and so is the place ordinarily applied by Cyprian the Clergie of Rome and Tertullian men enough fauouring martyrdome Yea Tertullian in that verie booke wherein he labours to prooue that it is not lawfull for a man to flie in time of persecution yet aduiseth men to hold their assemblies for the exercises of religion in the night time if they cannot haue them conueniently in the day Theophylact expoundeth this confession and deniall of acknowledging or denying Christ to be God Brugensis somewhat more particularly He that denieth me to be his Lord and Sauiour that he beleeueth in me that he sticketh fast to me and my doctrine So doth Iansenius vnderstandit though he stretch it also to the denying of Christ by wicked conuersation The denying of Christs name saith Lyra is alwaies a mortall sinne Not to confesse or be silent concerning it is sometimes a mortall sinne As if a man be silent when he is asked of it If he professe it being not asked it is a worke of supererogation Doth any of these or any man else conclude the visibilitie of the Church from these or the like places of Scripture No man is to denie our Sauiour nor to be ashamed of his truth What then Therefore must they that beleeue in Christ openly make profession thereof at all times without any wisedome of the Serpent for their owne preseruation or else can they not be saued A cruell and foolish conceit This proofe is to as little purpose as the former Confession by mouth is required to saluation therefore outward profession of faith is at all times necessarie Who sees not the weaknesse of this cōsequence Doth not he confesse with mouth that ioynes himselfe to some knowen Church of Christ and communicates with them ordinarily in the outward worship of God though all the world know not there are any such beleeuers professors yea though the people among whom they liue be not priuie to their meetings and profession There may be occasion for a man or a Church to manifest themselues vnto the world and they that in such a time shall faile can looke for no mercie at the hands of God without true and earnest repentance But this prooues not that therefore the Churches must make such publicke profession that they may at all times be knowen to all men To perswade vs of the former wherein there is no doubt you tell vs that Learned men autors in the aire as one of your side saith in the like case interprete this place to signifie that profession of faith is sometimes necessarie Who euer denied it But doth any learned man say that therefore the Church must alwaies make such profession That is the point in question and of that you are as dumbe as a fish yea do you not perceiue that your learned men refute that conceit Doth not he that expoundeth that place of necessitie at sometimes denie that it requireth such necessitie at all times It is necessarie saith Frier Soto for a righteous man that he may obtaine euerlasting life to confesse his faith with his mouth wheresoeuer the time necessarily required by this precept offers it selfe Catharin your Bishop speaketh yet more plaine Such confession namely that a man confesse with his mouth that which he beleeueth in his heart as he expounded himselfe a little before is not alwaies required but as Thomas saith according to the time and place And indeed so Thomas saith adding withall that Affirmatiue commaundements binde at all times but require not performance at all times Your interlinear and ordinarie Glosses and Lombard restraine it to the time of persecution or at least when the truth is called in question Caietan makes this when more generall but signifieth that this confession is not at all times necessarie As for the times when it is to be held for necessarie your learned men do somewhat more particularly deliuer the point then you report it Confession of Gods truth quoth Sotus and therein he followth Thomas is necessarie vpon paine of losing saluation either when it is required by a persecutor of the faith which confession the martyrs made with their bloud or when it is necessarie for those that belong to our charge by danger of heresie likely to ensue which dutie of confession properly concerneth Prelates c. These occasions haue many times bene offered and accordingly many professors of that truth which wee now maintaine haue with the shedding of their bloud giuen testimonie of the Gospell against the errours and tyrannie of your Antichristian Prelates Those holy martyrs who from time to time haue bene butchered by your Synagogue of Sathan were of the same Church with vs howsoeuer they saw not the truth of God in many points so clearely as it hath pleased him to reueale it to vs by the ministerie of his seruants in these latter dayes If they vsed their best discretion and endeuours to hide themselues as much as might be from your furie they did no more then the light of nature and
thy name prophecied and by thy name cast out diuels and by thy name done many great workes And then will I professe to them I neuer knew you depart from me ye that worke iniquitie But it is strange that you should make true inward sanctitie the marke of the true Church and so confidently affirme that no doubt in the Church there are alwaies some holy when as you maintaine that it is enough to make a man a true member of the true Church that he professe outwardly though he haue no one vertue within him at all If all the members of the Church may be void of holinesse how is holinesse a good marke of the Church Certainly it is at the most but accidentall and such as the Church may haue or lacke without being or ceasing to be a Church thereby He is well holpe vp no doubt that must learne how to know the true Church of such teachers You haue prooued after your fashion that the Church is holy now you will prooue that no companie but the Church is holy No sect of heretickes is truly holy All companies of Christians besides that of the true Church are sects of hereticks Therefore no companie of Christians besides that of the true Church is truly holy If by hereticks you vnderstand onely those that erre in some fundamentall points of religion I grant your Maior and Minor As for the conclusion I am resolued of the truth thereof without any proofe from you But if you acount all hereticks who in the error of their iudgement dissent from other Churches of Christ in matters not fundamentall though true I denie your said Maior and affirme that diuers Churches may differ in opinion one from another and continue in that difference maintaine it confidently so they do it not against their knowledge and conscience and yet all of them be true Churches of Christ and truly holy For as long as the opinions a man holds do not cut him off from being a true member of the mysticall bodie of Iesus Christ they make him not cease to be a true Christian truly iustified and sanctified But he that beleeueth truly in Iesus Christ and holds no fundamentall error continues by faith a member of our Sauiours mysticall bodie For as the iust liues by faith so wheresoeuer there is true faith there is life also but there is no life out of the bodie of Christ because the spirit of Christ is not to be had but in his bodie And therefore he that by faith remaineth a member of Christs bodie is a true Christian truly iustified and sanctified though not perfectly holy Here we haue the proofe of your Maior such as it is If the doctrine it selfe of euerie heresie be opposite to true Christian faith and humilitie the rootes of true sanctitie then no sect of heresies is truly holy But the doctrine it selfe of euerie heresie is opposite to true Christian faith and humilitie the roots of true sanctitie Therefore no sect of hereticks is truly holy If by true Christian faith you meane any particular truth as a Christian ought to beleeue euerie truth of God though not so as that ignorance or misbeleeuing of euerie point can make him cease to be a true Christian I denie the consequence of your Maior I denie your Minor Not euerie heresie but that which is against the foundation onely is opposite to true Christian faith humility vnderstanding by Christian faith such a faith as is necessarily required that a man may be a true Christian by which onely he liues not by beleeuing euerie truth though that be required of him as a dutie of sanctification And so your proofe also is answered A man may haue that faith by which a Christian must liue though he be ignorant or misinstructed in diuers points of doctrine I haue seuered this part concerning humilitie from the former because it seemeth you tooke it to be of more importance and therefore labour more in the proofe of it He that doth not humble himselfe to euerie humane creature for Gods sake but proudly opposeth himselfe against the vniuersall Church cannot be holy But no hereticke doth so humble himselfe and euerie hereticke so oppose Therefore no hereticke can be holy I shewed before that there is no such vniuersall Church as you often name but neuer prooue and therefore this argument grounded vpon opposing against that which is not in regard of such a commaundement as God neuer gaue is idle and vaine More particularly I answer concerning your Maior that although pride be alwaies a sinne yet it may sometimes be found in in a man truly sanctified that in opposition against men in a matter of doctrine But your proposition in regard of the former part of it as you vnderstand it is vtterly false For it is no way against holinesse for a man not to beleeue euery doctrine that men will propound If I or an Angell from Heauen preach any otherwise to you then we haue preached let him be accursed Trie the spirits whether they be of God or no. As for that place of the Apostle which you alledge your owne interpreters expound it not of the Church but of the ciuill Magistrate He cals the office of a King a humane creature saith Caietan because a King is created by the voices or consent of men and he addeth euery that he might take away all distinction betwixt Heathen and Christian kings in respect of obedience to them The Rhemists are yet more against you So he calleth the temporall magistrate say they elected by the people or holding their soueraigntie by birth and carnall propagation ordained for the Worldly wealth power and prosperitie of the subiect to put a difference directly against your interpretation betwixt the humane superioritie and the spirituall Rulers and regiment guiding and gouerning the people to a higher end But what need we any other expositor since the Apostle in the next words directeth vs how to vnderstand it Whether it be vnto the King as vnto the superiour or vnto gouernours as vnto them that are sent of him for the punishment of euill doers and for the praise of them that do well But let vs take it as generally as you will if it be against humilitie not to be subiect to the Church it is also against it not to be subiect to the King Yet I hope no man is so mad as to say that he refuseth to be subiect to him that doth not absolutely obey him in all things How then can this place proue that it is against true Christian humilitie not to beleeue the Church whatsoeuer she propound to be beleeued None but hereticks do so humble themselues and many dissenting from their brethren in diuers opinions neither deserue to be counted hereticks though they cannot be reclaimed from their errors nor to be held for schismaticks as long as they breake not off communion
come This is S. Austins discourse by which he proueth that the true Church of Christ is not contained in a corner of the world but must be dilated and spread in a sort ouer the whole world On the contrary side the congregation of hereticks is not Catholicke neither in time nor place And first for time it is euident because true doctrine was first preached and beleeued as the good seed was first sowne in the field and afterward the cockle that is false doctrine was ouer sowed Saint Paul did for three yeares space teach the Ephesians the true doctrine of faith and had conuersed among them like a lambe seruiens Domino cum omni humilitate seruing our Lord with all humilitie but after his departure he said he knew that rauenous wolues would enter in among them not sparing the flocke and that euen out of their owne company there would arise viriloquentes peruersa vt abducant discipulos post se men speaking peruerse things that they may leade away disciples after themselues And as this happened at Ephesus so doubtlesse in all other places where there hath bin any alteration of Christian doctrine first the true faith was planted by some Apostle or Apostolicke man and afterward the contrary was brought in by some speaking peruerse things thereby leading away disciples after themselues So that it is certaine that no heresie is so auncient as the true faith neither is any one of them of so long continuance for the time to come as S. Paul signified when hauing described heretickes of the latter dayes he addeth sed vltra non proficient insipientia enim eorū manifesta erit omnibus but they shall prosper no further for their folly shall be manifest to all The same doth S. Austin aptly expresse expounding those words of the Psalme Ad nihilum deuenient tanquam aqua decurrens Non vos terreant fratres saith he quidam fluuij qui dicuntur torrentes hyemalibus aquis implentur nolite timere post paululum transit decurrit aqua ad tempus perstrepit mox cessabit diu stare non possunt Multae haereses iam emortuae sunt c. My brethren let not certaine floods called land-brookes terrifie you they are filled with winter waters feare them not after a while the water doth passe and runne downe for a time it maketh a noise but it will cease by and by those flouds cannot stand long Many heresies are now already dead c. Now if we will haue respect of place it is certaine that no heresie is by processe of time to spread it selfe absolutely ouer the whole world as I haue proued that the true Church shall do and the reason hereof may be assigned because as S. Austin saith diu stare non possunt they cannot continue so long as were needfull to get them so vniuersally spred ouer the whole world especially considering that as S. Paul saith when they haue continued a while Insipientia earum manifesta fit omnibus their foolishnesse is made manifest to all and so no maruel si vltra non proficiant if they prosper not nor make no further progresse Neither ordinarily in any one age is heresie so vniuersall in place as the true Catholick religiō but for the most part it is cōtained in one or two countries as it were in a corner of the world So that of hereticks we may wel say as S. Austin doth that they are those which say Ecce hic est Christus ecce illic Behold Christ is here behold he is there that is to say the true doctrine of Christ is onely truly preached in this countrey or that countrey of which kind of people our Sauiour giueth vs warning and biddeth vs saying nolite credere beleeue them not We may wel say also of these as the same S. Austin doth Quaecunque congregatio cuiuslibet haeresis in angulis sedet concubina est non matrona Whatsoeuer congregation of what heresie soeuer sitteth in corners that is to say is but in few prouinces and in the rest of the Christian world either is not at al or at the least is not manifestly knowne to be is a concubine not a matron to wit it is not the spouse of Christ nor the lawfull mother of the children of God Wherefore sith there is this difference betwixt heresie and true Christian religion that as the same Saint Austin saith Singulae haereses in multis gentibus vbi Ecclesia est non inueniuntur Ecclesia autem quae vbique est etiam vbi illae sunt inuenitur Heresies are not found in many nations where the church is but the Church which is euery where is found in those nations where heresies are This difference I say being betwixt heresie and the true religion we need not doubt but that to be Catholicke or vniuersally receiued in the Christian world especially at all times is a note of the truth And that therfore the companie which professeth the faith which at all times and in a sort in all places hath bin receiued of Christians is vndoubtedly the true Church of Christ A. W. What if the true Church be proued to be Catholicke will it follow therupon that therfore it is alwayes Catholick so that a man cannot know which is the true Church but by knowing which Church is Catholick For such must euery good mark be proper to and al times present with that wherof it is a mark But let vs see a little better what Catholicknesse this is which you deliuer for a marke of the Church If you meane by the name Catholicke as if that were the true Church which cals it selfe the Catholicke Church what is more easie then for any false church to take vnto it selfe that name Did not Theudas and Iudas professe themselues to be the Messiah Hath not our Sauiour forewarned vs that there should arise false Christs and false Prophets Yea the Donatists who shut vp the church in a corner of Africa were not ashamed to call themselues the Catholicke Church And as Austin saith All hereticks would be called Catholicks If you vrge the thing signified by the name first not one of your Papists among a thousand vnderstands what this word Catholicke meanes but onely that it is the name of euery one that holdeth of the Church of Rome Secondly if by Catholick Church you meane such a church as hath bin euer since the comming of our Sauiour Christ and shall be at all times and ouer all the world as you expound your selfe how can it be a good marke of the true Church when as it is an impossibilitie that euery man should be able to search and know which church hath alwayes bin which hath not which hath bin euery where which onely in some places and much more vnpossible is it if there be degrees of impossibilitie that euery either learned or vnlearned man shold certainly know which church shal alwayes continue till the end of
the latter part of that you should proue is quite omittted that it is no hard matter for any simple man to discerne which Church is Apostolicke which is not If you make not this cleare you proue nothing and yet euery man may see that it is a matter of no small studie nor short time to examine what Churches were first founded by the Apostles and haue had an orderly succession without interruption from time to time yea when a man hath made the best search he can what hath he to rest himselfe vpon but the report of men who might deceiue and be deceiued And yet this ado euery poore soule must haue before he can tell to what Church he may ioyne himselfe for his spirituall instruction in matters concerning euerlasting life You will aske what course we take for a mans direction in this case Surely the very same which the Scriptures testify we ought to follow We propound out of the Scriptures the meanes of saluation we giue our people libertie to examine that we deliuer by the touchstone of truth the same Scriptures of God we desire not to haue any credit giuen to that we teach as a matter of faith but so far forth as we can proue it manifestly by the word of God Thus we begin with men thus we continue leauing the successe of our poore ministery to the blessing of Gods Spirit in the hearts of them that vouchsafe vs the hearing But for better direction in the triall of our doctrine wee giue this rule that true religion first respects the glory of God and then the present comfort and euerlasting saluation of them that professe it Whether course yours or ours be more reasonable and more agreeable to Scripture I leaue it to the consideration of al men whom it doth concerne and returne to the examining of your proofe whereof there are these two parts that the true Church is Apostolicke that no conuenticle of heretickes can be Apostolicke Of the former thus you dispute If euery true Church must haue such a foundation as the Church of the Ephesians had and she had her foundation from the Apostles then euery true Church must haue her foundation from the Apostles But euery true Church must haue such a foundation as the Church of the Ephesians had and she had her foundation from the Apostles Therefore euery true Church must haue her foundation from the Apostles I would make no question of any part of your Syllogisme if by foundation from the Apostles you vnderstood nothing but Apostolicall doctrine which is indeed the maine foundation of all true Churches but you afterward expound your meaning and acknowledge no foundation from the Apostles but by the ministery of such as can deriue their succession from the Apostles without any interruption In this sense therefore I denie your minor because the former part of it is false For euery true Church hath not nor need haue to make it a true Church such foundation as the Church of the Ephesians had Yea though we doubt not but that the Ephesiās were conuerted to the faith by some of the Apostles and perhaps by the Apostle Paul yet we doe not beleeue that the Apostle in the place alledged by you speakes of any such foundation but of the truth of doctrine taught by the Apostles This may appeare because the Apostle makes the Prophets their foundation as wel as the Apostles But certaine it is that neither the Prophets nor any by succession from them laid the foundation of the Gospell amongst the Ephesians He meanes saith Theodoret the Prophets of the old Testament not of the new lest you should cauill about the name Prophets Besides the foundation of the Apostles must be conceiued as our Sauiour Christ is the corner stone to the Ephesians not because he preached to them but for that they rested vpon him as a corner stone the doctrine of the Apostles being the foundation And if we will tie this to the persons that deliuer the doctrine then to be the foundation is so proper to the Apostles as that it cannot agree to any other man whatsoeuer how Apostolicke soeuer he may be imagined to be For this was their speciall honor aboue all other Christians Thus doe the best interpreters expound the place Vpon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles that is saith Ambrose vpon the new and old Testament For that which the Apostles preached the Prophets foretold As for the Prophets of the new Testament They saith Ambrose are for the ordering of the Church founded and not for the founding of it Vpon Christ saith your Glosse or vpon the doctrine of the Apostles So Lyra Vpon the doctrine of the new and old Testament With whom Lombard agreeth though he expound it also of Christ So doth Thomas Vpon their doctrine So doth Caietan vnderstand it that a man may wonder at your ignorance or boldnesse in going against the streame of your owne Doctors without any shew of reason for it Wherefore if your minor intend no more but that euery true Church is builded vpon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles in respect of their doctrine no exception could be taken against it For other foundation no man can lay but Iesus Christ according to the preaching and prophesying of the Apostles and Prophets This foundation had the Church of Ephesus and in this must euery true Church agree with it But you apply this to I know not what dependance of succession which hath no kinde of warrant from that place of the Apostle To supply your want of proofe from the Scriptures that euery true Church must haue her foundation from some Apostle or some man who can fetch his pedegree without interruption from the Apostles you seeke to draw in Tertullian for a witnesse of your error Let vs heare his depositiō The Apostles saith Tertullian founded Churches in euery citie Here to helpe your selfe you adde this glosse To wit either immediatly by themselues or by meanes of other What reason is there that he that is a partie in the suite should haue the expoūding of the witnesses meaning Tertullian saith the Apostles founded Churches you tell vs he meanes they did so by themselues or by others How shall we know that you are so priuy to his meaning If you ground your exposition vpon those words in euery citie whereas the Apostles came not in diuers cities that were then in the world I pray remember that there were at that time many cities into which we are not sure that the Gospell had before Tertullians time bin receiued The learned man may speake in generall and yet with speciall relation to those places which were then knowne to be Churches founded by the Apostles as Ierusalem Antioch Rome Alexandria Ephesus c. He addes farther that From these Churches founded by the Apostles other Churches afterward had borrowed and in his time dayly
magis auari magis ab omni misericordia remoti magis immodesti indisciplinati multoue deteriores quà m fuerunt in Papatu Men are now more reuengefull more couetous more vnmercifull more vnmodest and vnruly and much worse then when they were Papists The like testimonie you may find giuen by another of their Doctors called Smidelinus which for breuitie sake I omit But chiefly their company is not holy because there was neuer yet Saint or holy man of it neither is their doctrine such as may of it selfe leade the most precise obseruers of it to holinesse but doth by diuers points which haue bin taught rather incline men to libertie and loosnesse of life As for example it inclineth them to breake fasting dayes and to cast away secret confession of sinnes to a Priest both which are knowne to be soueraigne remedies against sinne Also it inclineth them to neglect good workes for they hold them either not to be necessary or not meritorious of life euerlasting which must needs make men lesse esteeme the practise of them Also it maketh men carelesse in keeping Gods commaundements because diuers Protestants if not all hold them vnpossible to be obserued and as it is said impossibilium non est electio No man chooseth or laboureth to atchieue that which he thinketh to be altogether vnpossible It maketh men also not to feare or not to be carefull to auoid sin because it is held among them that whatsoeuer we do is sinne and that we cannot chuse but continually sinne and that all sinnes are of themselues mortall which whosoeuer thinketh how can he be afraid to sinne sith stultum est timere quod vitari non potest it is foolishnesse to feare that which no way can be auoided Finally their doctrine of predestination is able to make men carelesse or desperate in all actions and consultations sith some of them hold all things so to proceeds of Gods eternall predestination that man in matters of Religion at the least hath no free-will to do well or to auoid ill but that God himselfe is author and moueth them effectually and forcibly not only to good works but in the same sort vnto the act of sinne Lo whither this doctrine leadeth a man which giueth grounds which of themselues incline a man to neglect all indeuour in the studie and practise of vertue and to cast away care of auoiding sinne and vice and consider whether this can be a good tree which of it owne nature bringeth foorth so badde fruite And see whether this companie which teacheth and beleeueth such pointes of vnholie doctrine can possiblie be a Holy Church In the Romane Church I confesse there be some sinfull folke all in it are not good For the Church is called nigra formosa blacke and faire in it are mixed good and bad as out of diuers parables of our Sauiour I prooued before But there are two differences betwixt the sinfull which are in the Romane Church and those which are among Sectaries The first difference is that among hereticks there are none which we may call truly holy of which as of the better or more worthie part their congregation may be termed Holy as the Romane Church may It may be perhaps that one may finde diuers of them who abstaine from grosse outward sinnes as stealing swearing c. And that some of them do many workes morally good as to giue almes to the needie and that they liue at least in outward shew in vpright moderate sort But alasse these be not sufficient or certain signes of sanctitie all this and perhaps farre more we may reade of heathen Philosophers These outward actions may proceed of naturall and sometime of sinfull motiues and consequently they may be verie farre from true holinesse which must be grounded in true charitie for as Saint Paule saith to distribute all that one hath to feed the poore or to giue ones bodie to burne doth nothing auaile without charitie which charitie must proceed de corde puro conscientia bona fide non ficta out of a pure heart and a good conscience and an vnfained faith The which things being most inward and consequently hidden in secret cannot sufficiently be shewed to others by those outward actions which may come from other causes as soone as from these Nay they cannot be knowen certainely of the partie himselfe For nescit homo vtrùm odio vel amore dignus sit a man knoweth not whether he be worthie of hate or loue and quis potest dicere mundum est cor meum Who can say my heart is cleane but these things are reserued to him onely qui scrutatur corda who searcheth the hearts to with Almightie God and it cannot be perfectly knowne of men who haue them truly and consequently who be truly Saints vnlesse it please him to reueale it by miracle or some other certaine way vnto vs. But hitherto it was neuer heard that Almightie God did by miracle or any such certaine way giue testimony that either Luther or Caluin or any of their fellowes or followers had in thē this true holinesse or that they were saints but rather while as they presumptuously attēpted to work miracles it hath pleased God by giuing either none or euill successe to testifie that they were not Saints Whereas on the contrarie side it hath pleased God to giue testimonie by miracles of the faith and holinesse of life of diuers which professed the Romane faith of which sort I might bring in many examples but I will at this time onely name Saint Bernard Saint Dominicke Saint Francis who on the one side were certainly knowne to haue bene professors of that religion which was then and is now professed at Rome as may appeare both by that which is left written of their liues and also by this that they were chiefe fathers and founders of certaine Religious orders of Monkes and Friers which yet continue there and on the other side they are certainly knowne to be holy men partly by their sober chast and vertuous life partly by the gift of miracles in so much that euen Luther himselfe and other of our aduersaries confesse them to haue bene Saints The which being confessed of these must needs inferre the like confession of the sanctitie of mante other who were also professors of the same Romane faith whose names we may finde registred in the Calender euen in bookes set out by Protestants and whose vertuous life holie death and miraculous deeds we may finde in good Authors See Saint Athanas in vita S. Antonij apud Surium S. Bernard in vita S. Malachiae S. Antoninus 3. parte hist titulo 23. 24. Surius throughout his large volumes of the liues of Saints and others Now this being confessed that diuers whom we know to haue bene members of the Romane Church are Saints we may well inferre that at least some part of this Church is holy and
vpon the answerer whose person in this case I sustaine Besides I bring you the same proofe that Bellarmine bringeth for himselfe that is I say they were all of our Church If it be absurd to do so let your Cardinall learne to dispute better It were long to enter into particulars yet if I had brought the argument I would for shame haue said some what in proofe of it but let it passe as it comes for this once Against whom make you all this discourse to prooue that it is not possible to know certainly who are holy and who are not Surely not against the Protestants who confesse as much If hereupon you conclude that our Church hath had none holy because it hath had none certainly knowne to be holy the Maior of your syllogisme will be false as before viz. That Church which hath had no members of it reuealed to be holy by miracle or anie other certaine way from God hath had no members of it holy and I will answer to your Minor as I did that the Patriarkes Prophets and Apostles were members of our Church certainly knowne to be holy by reuelation from God But whereas you say that no man can tell whether himselfe be truely sanctified or no you affoord me proofe of that which before I affirmed that the Apostles were of our Church Prooue your selues saith the Apostle Paule whether you be in the faith examine your selues know ye not your owne selues that Iesus Christ is in you except you be reprobates And how doth the spirit of God beare witnesse to our spirit that we are the children of God if it be not possible to discerne his voice from the delusion of Sathan God hath giuen saith Bernard certaine manifest signes and tokens of saluation that it cannot be doubted but that he is in the number of the elect in whom those signes continue And in an other place whatsoeuer soule among you sath the same man hath at any time felt in the secret of his conscience the spirit of the Sonne crying Abba Father let that soule presume that he is loued with a fatherly affection which feeleth himselfe indued with the same spirit which the Sonne had Be confident whosoeuer thou art be confident nothing doubting By the spirit of the Sonne know thou art the daughter of the Father the spouse and sister of the Sonne Do you name Bernard for a principall Saint of your Church and go so directly against his doctrine As for that place of Ecclesiastes what prooueth it but onely that no man can truly iudge whether he be in Gods fauour or no by the outward things of this life or at the most that an ordinarie naturall man can giue no true iudgement of the matter This place saith Alfonsus Salmero no meane Iesuite doth not prooue that which some men draw from it that a man knoweth not the loue of God toward him because it followeth in the text he knoweth not whether he be worthie of hatred But the wicked know that they are most worthie of Gods hatred by reason of their grieuous sins The other place that No man can say his heart is cleane maketh nothing against the point you would disprooue For what though euerie man be tainted with naturall corruption which hath euen the nature of sinne in it may be not haue withall assurance according to his measure of Gods loue in Christ Yet if want of a pure heart be all the hindrance your doctrine teacheth vs that the partie baptised before he fall into some deadly sinne is wholly cleane originall sinne hauing lost in him the nature of sinne But the knowledge of the fauour of God dependeth not vpon the measure of our holinesse but vpon the truth of it Wheresoeuer the spirit of God hath begotten true faith there he hath begun true sanctification which according to his diuine power and pleasure be will in time bring to full perfection As if our Church had bene begun with Luther and not rather with Adam and the world continued in the Patriarches and Prophets and at last shewed most gloriously in the Apostles and Disciples of our Sauiour Christ As long as God hath giuen testimonie of the holinesse of these worthies our Church cannot be said to haue had none certainly knowne to be holy But though we builde not vpon any such ground tel me what it wanted of amiracle that a poore Frier should set himselfe against the Pope and the whole state of your Church and for all the malice persecution of the Pope the Emperor and generally all the estates of these westerne parts as well ciuill as Ecclesiasticall except a Prince or two in Germany conuerted by him continue and grow so many yeares and leaue behind him after a peaceable and godly death so many heires of his doctrine daily increasing and multiplying It is enough that the word of God beareth witnesse to the truth of his doctrine though we haue neither miracle nor reuelation of his holinesse But you would make the world beleeue that he and Caluin attempted to worke miracles If it had bene so it was not to breed an opinion of their holinesse but to auow the truth of their doctrine But to whom can it seeme likely that they which denied that any miracles were to be looked for and taught that Antichrist should come with signes and wonders would go about such a needlesse and doubtfull peece of worke What tell you vs of the Apostata Bolsec or Staphylus who solde themselues to lie for the Popes aduantage At the least name some likely men though partiall and not such knowne enemies and Sycophants I maruell you prooue not this point of holinesse by the examples of your Popes in whose persons holinesse is inuested and from them deriued to all other as honour is in and from temporall Princes If the Popes holinesse be not extraordinarily holy what should a man looke for of inferiour Papists Who would not rather name the Sunne then any starre of the first magnitude or the Moone her selfe to prooue that there is light in the skie But you knew how filthie that fountaine of your holinesse is Well let them go as they are you haue named vs three the ancientest of whom is not yet six hundred yeares old What say you of them First that they were certainly knowne to haue bene professors of that same Religion which was then and is now professed at Rome To whom is this certainly knowne How many of our men haue shewed that the Religion of the Church of Rome is altered in diuers points since Bernards time The Councell of Trent is the pit out of which the religiō of your present Church is digged I referre the Reader for this point to a Treatise lately written by a learned Diuine wherein many particulars to this purpose are deliuered Bernard was indeed a member of the Church of Rome as then it was yet either he dissented from
iustification and free-will other then that which Bernard taught For though I haue followed you in saying their holinesse yet I acknowledge none of the three to haue bene holy but onely Bernard Neither are our Kalenders any euidence to proue the holines of the rest of your Saints though their names are continued by Almanacke writers because many old deeds and euidences are dated by their names and not by the dayes of the moneth The Saints Athanasius and Bernard write of were none of your Church and yet by your iudgement both of them might be deceiued in determining who were Saints As for Antoninus and Surius two of your Popes vassailes their testimonie is little worth in any indifferent mans opinion Your latter conclusion is that some part of your Church is holy and that therefore the whole may be termed holy But as I haue said whatsoeuer holinesse was in any of the professed members of your Church it sprung from another roote then growes in your church Neither is there any reason to terme your whole companie holy because a few among them are holy who in regard of their holinesse are indeed none of your company That which they haue common with the rest of you makes them not holy but rather vnholy namely their profession of subiection to your sea of Rome and their erring with you in diuers points of doctrine their holinesse growes from a true acknowledgement of saluation by faith onely and a resting vpon Iesus Christ accordingly without any opinion of merit in their owne actions either before or after grace together with a beleefe and feeling that not they themselues by their free will enlightened but God by his mercy and grace made difference betwixt them and other vouchsafing them the gift of faith and not bestowing it vpon other Your similitude of painting painteth out the fondnesse of your conceit For being a Christian answers to being a painter in this similitude and being holy to being skilfull Now as euery man that is free of that Companie is by his freedome a painter but not thereby skilfull so all that professe Christian Religion are thereby Christians but not therefore holy Neither if one or two or a few of these painters were skilful would any discreet man say that the whole company might be termed skilfull because all make profession of the same art of painting wherein some of them are skilfull How falsly our doctrine was slaundered by you with inducing men to libertie I shewed in my answer to your accusation now let vs see wherein yours is better First you propound two general points that it forbids expresly all vice and prescribes lawes contrary to libertie And are you able to charge vs with the contrary Doe we not more strictly interprete the lawes of God then you do Are we not further from idolatry allowing no religious vse of any image Do we not more abhorre swearing and expound the third commandement against your prophane othes of Masse Marie Ladie and all your Saints which you account matters of smal moment Who teach men to keepe the whole Sabbath you or we Who make a maine point of Gods law the loue of our enemies a counsell and not a commaundement we or you Who maintaine aequiuocation officious lies but you Are not you they that hold murdering of Princes yea euen of your owne Soueraignes to be meritorious workes What should I name particulars You are the men that make the corruption of our nature to be nothing else but the want of righteousnesse that ought to be in vs. You are the men who teach vs that originall sinne in the regenerate is not properly sinne that vncleane vnnaturall vnruly ambitious couetous murderous and such like thoughts and motions are no sinnes vnlesse we yeeld to them or delight in them Doe not you perswade men that many sinnes are not mortall but veniall and so make men rush into them without feare or shame Your second point is that your religion containes most soueraigne meanes to incite men to perfit vertue and holinesse of life What more soueraigne then God hath appointed in his word You will not dare to say so for very shame of the world It remaines then that you shew what meanes we neglect of al them that God hath commaunded vs to vse Do we not minister the sacraments to our people Do we not offer vp prayers supplications and intercessions to God for them But that I may not runne through all particulars at once let vs see what you bring peece by peece This first point giueth a tast of that maine difference which may be obserued betwixt your Religion and ours You so carie the matter that you alwayes prouide for the freedome of mans will whatsoeuer become of the glorie of God We make it our chiefe care to aduance Gods glorie though thereby we take somewhat from the pride of man Let vs make this manifest in the particular question we haue in hand Wherein first wee graunt as much as you affirme that Gods predestination doth not take away mans free will But herein lies the difference betwixt you and vs you teach that God doth onely giue a man abilitie to beleeue and doe good workes leauing it to himselfe to beleeue or not to beleeue to do good or not to do good We contrariwise auouch that God besides this abilitie doth also incline our hearts to beleeue and do according to his owne holy purpose yet doe we not any way imagine that a man is forced to beleeue but onely teach that whereas any man beleeueth it was fore appointed by God that hee should beleeue neither could it in the euent otherwise fall out though he did beleeue willingly and by his owne choise Your doctrine maketh a man more beholding to himselfe then to God for his faith and good workes because God did no more for him then he doth ordinarily for many other men who are yet vtterly cast away God indeede gaue him abilitie to beleeue if he would but for all that he might haue refused to beleeue and so haue bene damned Therefore whereas he doth beleeue and is saued he may thanke himselfe and not God Thus you prouide for mans free will with the impeachment of Gods glorie We on the other side acknowledge that as we haue power to beleeue from the grace of God so it is he that worketh our hearts to beleeue and certainly and necessarily in regard of the euent though freely in respect of our will brings vs to beleeue in Iesus Christ So that you by this opinion giue man the glorie of his saluation wee leaue it wholly to God Now for the despaire of shunning euill and doing well which in your conceit ensueth vpon our opinion there is no such matter Who shall be in despaire of shunning sinne by this doctrine No man that hath grace For with him the spirit of God is alwayes present to prouoke and incline him to well doing And this must needs encourage him
sed ascendit aliunde ille fur est latro He that entreth not in by the doore into the sheepfold but ascendeth by some other way he is a theefe and a robber who commeth not to feed the sheepe but to steale kill and destroy them So that we haue not I say to expect any to be sent of God to feed vs with the food of true doctrine of faith but such onely as come in this ordinarie manner as it is certaine that Luther and Caluin when they left their former profession and tooke vpon them to preach this new faith did not come visibly called consecreated and sent for this purpose by any lawful authority according to the ordinary manner or if it should please God to send any one in extraordinary manner it appertaineth to his prouidence to furnish him with the gift of miracles as he did his Sonne our Sauiour Christ or with a miraculous conceptiō with strange and extraordinary sanctity of life as was seene in S. Iohn Baptist or finally with some euident token that it may be plainly knowne that he is assuredly sent of God Otherwise the people should not be bound to beleeue him but might without sinne reiect his doctrine according as our Sauiour said of himselfe Si non facio opera patris mei nolite credere mihi If I do not the works of my Father do not beleeue me And againe Si opera non secissem in eis quae nemo alius fecit peccatum non haberent If I had not done works among them that no other hath done they should not haue sinned to wit in not beleeuing Nay the people should now an ordinary course being by our Sauiour set downe to continue till the worlds end as before hath bene prooued the people I say should now sinne in beleeuing any one that shall come and tell them that he is extraordinarily sent of God if he teach contrarie to that doctrine which by ordinarie Doctors and Pastors of the Catholicke Church is vniuersally taught For although it should happen that the liues of these Pastors should not be so commendable or be sometimes euidently bad yet their doctrine must alwaies be regarded and obserued according to that saying of our Sauiour Super Cathedram Moysisederunt Scribae Pharisaei omnia ergo quae cunque dixerint vobis seruate facite secundū verò opera eorum nolite facere Vpon the chaire of Moses the Scribes and Pharisees haue sitten all things therefore whatsoeuer they say to you obserue ye and do but according to their workes do ye not By which saying we are assured that notwithstanding the Pastors of the Catholicke Church should at any time in their liues be like Scribes and Pharisies yet we may alwaies safely yea we must necessarily follow their doctrine and must not in any wise admit any that shall offer to teach vs a contrarie doctrine according as we are willed by Saint Paule who saith Si quis vobis euangeliz auerit praeter id quod accepistis anathema sit If any shall euangelize or preach vnto you beside or contrarie to that which you haue alreadie receiued be he anathema So that sith the people did once receiue from the ordinarie Pastors that doctrine which hath descended from hand to hand from Christ and his Apostles themselues according to that of Saint Austin Quod inuenerunt in Ecclesia tenuerunt quod didicerunt docuerunt quod à patribus acceperunt hoc filijs tradiderunt That which they found in the Church they held that which they learned they taught that which they receiued from their fathers that they deliuered to their children whosoeuer he be that shall euangelize any thing opposite to this receiued doctrine whether he seeme to be an Apostle or an Angell and much more if he be another to wit one of these new masters who faile very much to say no more from Apostolicall perfection and Angelicall puritie of life according to Saint Paule anathema sit be he anathema Yea such a one that doth not onely not bring this Catholicke or generally receiued doctrine but bringeth in a new and contrary doctrine we should not according to Saint Iohn salute him vnlesse vpon some need or some good respect or say Aue vnto him and much lesse should we giue credit to his words or vse him as a rule of our faith or preferre his teaching before the teaching of the Catholicke Church And surely me thinkes though there were none of these euident proofes which I haue brought out of Scripture yet euen reason it selfe would teach that we ought to giue more credit to the vniuersall companie of Catholickes which haue bene at all times and are now spred ouer all the Christian world then to any particular priuate man or some few his fellowes and followers It is a prouerbe common amongest all men Vox populi vox Dei The voice of the people or whole multitude is the voice of God that which all men say must needs be And on the contrarie part to that particular man or his priuate company which will oppose themselues against this generall voice of all like Ismael of whom it is written Manus eius contra omnes manus omnium contra cum his hands are against all men and the hands of all are against him it may well be obiected that which Luther who was the first in this our age which did so cōfesseth was obiected to himself by his owne conscience or rather principally by the mercy and grace of the Almightie God seeking to reclaime him from his errour while there was any hope Num tu solùm sapis Art thou onely wise Luthers words be these Quoties mihi palpitauit tremulum cor reprehendens obiecit fortissimum illud argumentum Tu solus sapis Totne errant vniuersi Tanta secula ignorauerunt Quid si tu erres tot tecum in errorem trahas damnandos aeternaliter How often did my trembling heart pant and reprehending me did obiect to me that most strong and forcible argument Art thou alone wise haue there so many vniuersally erred haue so many ages bene blinde and liued in ignorance What rather if thou thy selfe erre and drawest so many after thee into errour who therefore shall be damned eternally This did Almightie God obiect to Luther the which might doubtlesse haue done him good but that he presuming vpon his owne vnderstanding of Scripture and preferring his owne iudgement before the iudgement of the Church hardened his heart against such heauenly inspirations which he tearmed Papisticall arguments And this same may well be obiected to any priuate man or any few who leauing the Kings broad street or beaten hye way of the Catholicke Church will seeke out a by-path as being in their conceit a better easier more direct way to heauen To them I say wel may be said Are you only wise are all the rest in former ages fooles haue you onely after so many hundred
yeares after Christ found out the true faith and the right way to heauen haue all the rest liued in blindnesse darknesse and errour consequently are you onely they that please God and shall be saued for as I haue prooued before without true and entire faith none can be saued and were then all the rest so many millions your owne forefathers and ancestors many of which were most innocent men and vertuous liuers and some of which shed their bloud for Christs sake were I say all these hated of God did all these perish were they all damned shall all these endure vnspeakable paines in hell for euer O impious cruell and incredible assertion Nay surely I am rather to thinke that you are vnwise who pretending to trauell toward the happie kingdome of heauen and to go to that glorious citie the heauenly Ierusalem wil leaue the beaten street in which all those haue walked that euer heretofore went thither who by miracles sometimes as it were by letters sent from thence haue giuen testimonie to vs that remaine behind that they are safely arriued there You I say are vnwise that will leaue this way and will aduenture the liues not onely of your bodies but of your soules in a path found out of late by your selues neuer tracked before in which whosoeuer haue yet gone God knowes what is become of them sith we neuer had letter of miracle or any other euident token or euer heard any word from them to assure vs that they safely passed that way me thinks I may account you most vnwise men that will aduenture such a precious iewell as your soule is to be transported by such an vncertaine and dangerous way I must needs thinke that sith there is but one right way and that the way of the Catholicke Church is a sure and approued safe way you are very vnaduised who with the aduenture of the irreparable losse of your dearest and peerlesse treasure your soule will leaue this safe and secure way to seeke out a new vncertaine and perillous way I must needs think sith the Catholick Romane Church is as I haue proued the light of the world the rule of faith the pillar sure ground of truth that you leauing it leaue the light and therefore walke in darknesse forsaking it forsake the direct path of true faith and therefore are misled in the mist of incredulitie into the wildernesse of misbeleefe and finally that you hauing thus lost the sure ground of truth do fall into the miry ditch of many absurdities and must needs be drowned in the pit of innumerable errors and erring thus from the way the veritie and the life which is Christ Iesus residing according to his promise in the Catholicke Church must needs vnlesse you wil which I hartily wish returne to the vnitie of the same Church incur your owne perdition death and damnation of body and soule from which sweet Iesus deliuer you and vs all to the honor and perpetuall praise of his holy name Amen A. W. To these idle questions of yours I answer first in generall that we may with reason enough perswade our selues that we haue the true faith and true Churches because we see that the very quintessence of Bellarmines sophistry distilled againe in your limbeck is of no force to purge out or alter such perswasion This appeares in the particulars viewed and examined To which I answer seuerally in a word The doctrine of the true Church we gladly admit and receiue yet not vpon the authoritie thereof but because it is agreeable to the Scriptures If you ask vs then why we are perswaded that we haue true faith we returne you answer that we are therefore so perswaded because we finde that which we beleeue auowed in Scripture and confirmed in our hearts by the witnesse of the holy Ghost Hereupon we conclude as well we may that we are members of the true Church our congregations true Christiā churches For wheras you charge some of vs but craftily forbeare to name them with chalenging to our selues the title of the true Church it is a slaunder of yours and no challenge of ours saue only thus far that we affirme there is no true Church which agreeth not with vs in the fundamentall points of the Gospell But we are far frō appropriating the Church to our congregations as if all true Churches depended vpon vs according to that you teach of your Romish synagogue And whereas you condemne vs for no true Churches because we want the markes of true Churches we say that you take those for markes which are not so as you vnderstand them and farther that euery one of them rightly conceiued is to be found in our seuerall congregations It is one because it holdeth that one meanes of saluation preached by the Apostles euen faith in Iesus Christ without mingling of any workes therewith of the ceremoniall or moral law before or after grace to deserue iustification of congruitie or euerlasting life of condignitie The contrary errors held by your synagogue make and proue it to be no true Church But how foolish is the reason you bring against vs The Protestants Church is not one because it hath no meanes to keepe vnitie It hath meanes sufficient viz. the truth of the Scriptures and teaching of the spirit of God Put case it wanted meanes to continue vnitie would it follow thereupon that it is not One Surely no more then that a man is not aliue because he hath not means to keepe himselfe aliue Our Church hath had and by the blessing of God hath many holy men and women whose workes haue giuen and dayly do giue cleare testimonies of their inward graces Indeed we want vnholy legendaries to deuise and publish monstrous lies for miracles by which you haue gotten the aduantage of vs in the conceits of them to whom God hath sent strong delusions that they might beleeue lies But wisedome is iustified of her children though you proud Pharises despise her Our doctrine teacheth nothing but holinesse that we were chosen to be holy that we are freed from our sinnes to the end we might sinne no more that we are washed iustified and sanctified by the bloud of Christ buried with him in baptisme that we might die to sinne raised from sinne to righteousnesse by the power of his resurrection that holines of life is a part of our glorie without which no man shall euer see God that he which saith he is iustified and shewes himselfe to be vnsanctified deceiues his owne soule and is in the state of damnation Onely we neither giue the glorie of our saluation to our selues as if by the power of our freewill without speciall inclination thereof by the holy Ghost we had receiued faith which other men haue refused though they might haue embraced it as well as we for ought God did for or to vs more then for or to them nor looke to merit heauen by the worthinesse of our workes as
of some men for the worke of the ministerie by prayer and laying on of hands Your example of Oziah is little to the purpose For it had not bene lawfull for him to offer incense though he had bene consecrated with all the ceremonies that belong to the office of the priesthood because the office of offring incense was appropriated by God to the house of Aaron as Azariah signifieth in his speech to Vzziah This appointment of God was their calling the outward ceremonies were but to shadow forth the excellencie of our Sauiour Christs priesthood Neither doth the Apostle prooue the lawfulnesse of Christs priesthood by his consecration answerable to Aarons as your alledging of the place intends but onely by the Lords authorizing of him to that office Christ tooke not to himselfe the honour to be made the high Priest saith the Apostle but he that said vnto him Thou art my sonne this day begat I thee gaue it him As he also in an other place speaketh Thou art a Priest for euer after the order of Melchisedech what word is there here of our Sauiours consecration You proceed to heape error vpon error to the preiudice of Gods truth and destruction of his people If euery man be to be held for a true Pastor and as such a one to be beleeued if he haue an orderly admission and allowance to teach had not Arius Nestorius Eutyches Macedonius and many other heretickes lawfull ordination according to the custome of the Churches in those times Yea were not Luther Bucer Martyr authorized by your Church and Caluin too as you say afterward when you accuse Luther and him for leauing their former profession Come no hirelings in by the doore if lawfull outward admission be the doore How many that enter lawfully become wolues afterward I know this saith Saint Paul to the Ephesians that after my departure grieuous wolues shall enter in among you not sparing the flocke Moreouer of your owne selues shall men arise speaking peruerse things Who can doubt but some of these might be euen of the number of them who were lawfully admitted by imposition of hands and prayer the onely meanes of consecration in those times before your shauing and greasing was heard of in the Church But you ignorantly or wilfully abuse that place of the Euangelist by applying it to the ordinary ministerie of the Gospell whereas it belongeth to the office of the Messiah and the calling that hee had from God to bee the great shepheard of our soules All that came before him professing themselues to be the Messiah as Iudas and Theudas did were theeues and robbers entring not in by the doore that is by commission from God but coming in another way by their counterfetting of a pattent from God Neither was the preseruation of the people but their owne aduancement the marke they shot at But the true shepheard Iesus Christ came to giue his life for his sheepe that they might be saued This is the true sense of that worthy sermon which if we will apply to ministers they must be held for true Pastors which being authorized thereunto do preach Christ Iesus truly without mingling any such doctrines as may by any meanes draw vs from the acknowledging or resting vpon him for saluation He that so teacheth and is authorized thereunto commeth in by Christ the doore especially if he haue withall a true desire to feed the flock committed to him in the sinceritie of his heart But if you stand onely vpon outward calling the Priests and Leuits wanted it not who yet were theeues because they endeuored to steale away the hearts of the sheepe from Christ the true shepheard That which followeth of the necessitie of miracles or extraordinarie sanctitie concernes not vs who pleade not any extraordinarie sending Luther was appointed by your Church to preach the Gospel That duty according to his calling he faithfully performed neuer requiring to be credited because he was extraordinarily sent by God but because he taught that which God had left in the Scriptures for the instruction and edification of his Church in all ages till the end of the world What neede was there now of miracles or any other extraordinarie course The places you bring wee answered before The vniuersall consent of Pastors and Doctors in that they teach hath bene found to be but a crooked rule to measure truth by though we are perswaded that the world was neuer without some that held and taught so much of the truth as is absolutely necessary to saluation But that is vniuersally or generally taught which is the common doctrine of ordinary teachers howsoeuer some one or two here and there may be of a contrarie opinion How farre the Scribes and Pharisies were to be heard it appeared before where this place was alledged and answered Surely he that charged his Disciples to take heede of the leauen of the Pharisies and called them fooles and blinde would neuer commaund them to take their doctrine for the rule of truth Neither could Saint Paule meane that euerie man should be accursed who taught at any time otherwise then men commonly beleeued he speaketh not a word of any common consent in teaching and he knew that there was to be a generall Apostacy but his meaning was that they should hold him for accursed that deliuered any other doctrine of saluation how generally so euer it were taught then that which he himselfe had preached to thē But of this also before I hope you are not so mad as to imagine that any man will beleeue that Saint Austin so many hundred yeares ago prophesied that your Pastors and Doctors should from time to time teach nothing else generally but that which had in his daies descended from hand to hand from Christ and his Apostles Or do you thinke it would prooue a good reason to say Austin affirmeth that Ambrose and other learned men who liued in the first 400. yeares held that which they found in the Church and taught that which they had learned Therefore it cannot be that since his time other men haue preached or written otherwise But be like this place was alledged by you rather for ornament and shew then for proofe or vse and so let it passe Though there were no other reason to make vs mislike your Church yet this were cause enough of doubt that the foundation whereon you build it in this Treatise and the like is so weake and vncertaine We must beleeue you because you are the Church Who saith so Your selues But you will prooue it by Scripture How shall I know that you bring to be Scripture The Church telleth you so Shall I laugh at you or pitie you You are the Church because the Scripture saith so The Scripture is Scripture to vs because you say so Were the Galathians so senslesse as they that beleeue such absurd fooleries Or is it possible that any
thereto much more because he is the abler to performe any good action As for him that is still in his naturall estate I hope you graunt that there is no good to be looked for at his hands I meane such good as may further him to euerlasting life But say you he can haue no hope to obtaine faith and grace because it is not within the compasse of mans free will to make choise of it when it is offered What though it be not Do not we teach withall that euerie man to whom God affoordeth the meanes of faith that is the ministerie of the word may and ought to assure himselfe that the spirit of God will be get faith in him if he will shew himselfe willing to be instructed and inclined as he may doe if he will aduisedly consider what his estate is by nature and what offer is made him by God onely he cannot feede his naturall pride with a conceipt of being the chiefe procurer of his owne felicitie It is not vnpossible to obserue the law but to keepe it perfectly so that a man cannot be charged with the breach of it in any point Why doth Dauid crie out Enter not into iudgement with thy seruant O Lord for in thy sight shall none that liueth be iustified Why doth Daniel confesse his sinnes to God It is verie like that many of your Friers are able to performe that in which these worthies of the Church failed The commaundements of God indeed are not grieuous to anie man regenerate by Gods spirit because as the Apostle saith he delighteth in the law of God and by reason of his loue to God thinketh nothing too heauie or too hard as Oecumenius expoundeth the place of Iohn But it doth not follow thereupon that therefore the whole law may be perfectly kept Yea Ierome vpon that place of Mathew directly affirmes that many things are commaunded in the law which saith he the Apostle most fully teacheth vs cannot be fulfilled Bede maketh this burden and yoke not the commandements of the law but the doctrine of the Gospell What cannot a man haue any heart to do well vnlesse hee puffe vp himselfe with a proud conceit of being able perfectly to fulfill the whole law How did Dauid and Daniel These are the Pharisaicall thoughts of you Papists who thinke scorne to be beholding to God for his mercie in forgiuing your sinnes after baptisme without your owne satisfaction and who will haue all of desert in the rigour of iustice Is it not enough for a poore soule who is priuie to his owne grieuous infirmities many slips and great corruptions that the Lord vouchsafeth to accept of his weake endeuours and will crowne them with reward of glorie for all their imperfections but that he must also presume of his power to keepe the whole law You are the men that valew the pride of your corrupt nature at an higher rate then the glorious riches of Gods mercy in Iesus Christ Here you manifestly bewray the pride of your hearts and your seruile nature who will do nothing in thankfulnesse to God but vpon perswasion of meriting by that you do We acknowledge that our vnperfect obedience is acceptable to God and that he will certainly reward euery least good worke of any of his children with a great measure of glorie in heauen Only the doctrine of the scriptures the knowledge of our owne imperfections and our desire to giue all glory to God makes vs to renounce all opiniō of merit to appeale to Gods gracious promise onely for our reward If these respects be not of sufficient force with any man as with none of you that are grounded Papists they are but that he can contemne or loathe doing of good for all them what should I say but that he shewes himself to be a seruant and not a son and therefore can haue no claime to the kingdome of heauen which is the inheritance of children VVhereas to deceiue your owne hearts with an opinion of desert you ascribe the merite of your workes to the merits of Christ and teach that they are meritorious by being dipped in his bloud you shew either your ignorance or your dallying If you thinke as you speake you bewray your ignorance if otherwise you dally with our Sauiour and his bloud Are you able indeed to keepe the commaundements perfectly what need haue you then of Christs bloud to dip your workes in For the perfect obseruation of the law brings of it selfe euerlasting life without any merit of Christ Let it be from his merits that you haue this abilitie to performe the law Vpon the performance of it the hire of eternall happines is absolutely due vnto you VVhy do you then trifle thus with our Sauiour as if you would make him beleeue that you thinke your selues more beholding to him then indeed you can do If you need Christs bloud your works are vnperfit if they be perfit you need it not Leaue this halting betwixt Christ and your selues lest he be auenged of your dallying To what purpose do you mention this your teaching that exceeding punishment is due to sinne in the next life Doe not we teach this more effectually then you We make the least sinne liable to euerlasting condemnation you teach that there are many veniall sinnes which deserue little or no punishment in so much that a knocke on the breast or a sigh or the saying of one Aue-Marie maketh satisfaction to God for it But the point is that you perswade men there is no assurance to be had of any forgiuenesse of sinnes committed after baptisme We teach the contrarie that as many as in the sight of their sinnes with true sorrow for them cast themselues vpon Christ by faith to be iustified by him both obtaine pardon of all their transgressions and also receiue euerie one in their measure and time assurance that they are pardoned Your doctrine you say maketh men warie not to fall into sinne It restraineth mortall sinne onely For veniall sinne cannot be punished but in Purgatorie vnlesse a man be guiltie of mortall also and if a man can make friends to the Pope as it is no hard matter to do especially if he be well monied he may easily auoid all those exceeding great punishments Or if he can but haue a Priest to sing masse for him euerie day and masses are not verie high rated he shall be sure to be deliuered within a short space If the worst come to the worst Purgatorie cannot out last the world and then he goeth vp to heauen without any more ado But yet men are kept in awe from committing of deadly sinnes Neuer a whit For it is generally preached by your Friers and Priestes that confession purgeth all sins and your people ordinarily are not so skilfull no not one among a thousand as to distinguish betwixt sinnes in this sort but they beleeue that vpon their confession and
absolution if they doe the pennaunce appoynted by their ghostly Father they are as free from all their sinnes as when they were newly baptised Now concerning our doctrine though we teach men that assurance is to be had yet we withall instruct them that it is neuer in this life absolutely without doubting at all times and that no man can be assured that his sinnes are forgiuen but he that with feare and trembling maketh conscience of falling into sinne which are especiall meanes prouided by God to keepe men from sinning and without which sinne will so ouertake vs and the sense of Gods wrath so follow vexe vs that a man were better frie a yeare in your Purgatory knowing that he shall one day get out of it then lie one moneth vnder the heauie hand of God pressing him with the remembrance of his sinne and for the time hiding his gracious countenance from him If you neuer fealt this offer not to iudge of the extremitie thereof for you will neuer come to giue any reasonable gesse of the terriblenesse of it To prescribe lawes of fasting and praier as you do that A man refraine vpon such and such daies from flesh or patter ouer a number of Paternosters Aues and Creeds is so farre from teaching men to auoid sinne that it thrusts them necessarily into it For both the opinion and doing of it as a seruice of God is a grieuous sinne as if the Lord hated flesh more then fish or cared for such vaine lip-labour and also the verie conceit that men haue of doing such extraordinarie seruice maketh them presume that God will beare with them though they chance to sinne against him The like I say of confession but of these two I spake before in defence of our doctrine With what fitnesse your remedies are applied or rather penance is inioyned the veriest child may see when for the most part they are such as I named ere while abstaining from flesh mumbling vp a certaine number of praiers going on pilgrimage to some shrine or such like As for true comfort in affliction of conscience or good direction in time of temptation or wise instruction for a mans spirituall behauiour few of your ordinarie Priestes Sir Iohns Lacke-Latine haue any knowledge or care of them This last point concerneth you no more then vs. For who knoweth not that we continually teach that God hath called Christians to holinesse whereof they make profession and wherein if they do not daily exercise themselues they can haue no sufficient assurance nor reasonable perswasion that they are iustified by the bloud of Christ Because as many as haue any part of redemption by him haue receiued his spirit and If the spirit of him that raised vp Iesus from the dead dwell in vs our mortall bodies shall be quickened by the spirit dwelling in vs. Onely it may seeme that your disgrace and danger should be the more if you liue not holily because you brag that you are able perfectly to keepe the Law and your Plea for heauen is the desert of your good works together with the inward grace of faith hope and charitie Because there is nothing in this glorious conclusion but a heaping vp of those false assertions which I haue alreadie confuted I will neuer make the Reader more worke then needs by repeating of that which hath bene formerly deliuered A. D. §. 6. § III. That the Romane Church onely is Catholicke Thirdly I finde that the Protestants companie is not Catholicke that is to say vniuersall neither in time nor in place for it came vp of late and is but in few places of Christendome neither in points of doctrine for their doctrine consisteth chiefely of negatiues that is to say in denying diuers points which haue bene generally held in former ages as appeareth by the Chronicles of the Magdeburgenses their owne Doctors who confesse that the ancient Fathers held this and that which they now denie And there is no learned Protestant vnlesse he be too too impudent but he will confesse that there cannot be assigned a visible companie of men professing the same faith which they do euer since Christ his time continuing without interruption till now And therefore will he nill he he must confesse that the Protestants Church is not vniuersall and therefore not Catholicke as out of Scripture I shewed Christs true Church must be But the Romane Church is Catholicke For first it hath bene continually without ceasing since Christ and his Apostles time still visibly though sometimes in persecution professing the same faith which is receiued from the Apostles without change till this day It is therefore Catholicke or vniuersall in time It hath also had and hath at this day some in euerie countrey where there are any Christians which is almost if not absolutely euerie where that communicateth and agreeth with it in profession of faith Therefore it is also Catholicke or vniuersall in place It teacheth also an vniuersall and most ample vniforme doctrine of God of Angels of all other creatures and specially of man of mans first framing of his finall end of things pertaining to his nature of his fall by sinne of his reparation by grace of lawes prescribed vnto him of vertues which he ought to embrace of vices which he ought to eschew of Christ our Redeemer his Incarnation life death resurrection ascension and comming againe to iudgement of Sacraments and all other things that any way pertaine to Christian religion Neither doth it at this day denie any one point of doctrine of faith which in former times was vniuersally receiued for a veritie of the Catholicke Church The which if any man will take vpon him to gainesay let him shew and prooue if he can what point of doctrine the Romane Church doth denie or holde contrarie to that which by the Church was vniuersally held before as we can shew diuers points that the Protestants so hold or denie Let him I say shew and prooue by setting downe the point of doctrine the author the time the place and what companie did oppose themselues against it and who they were that did continue as the true Church must still continue in the profession of the former faith lineally without interruption till these our daies as we can shew and prooue against them Let him also shew what countrey there is or hath bene where Christian faith either was first planted or afterwards continued where some at least haue not holden the Romane faith as we can shew euen at this day diuers places where their religion is scarce heard of especially in the Indian Iaponian and China countries which were not long since first conuerted to the Christian faith onely by those who were members of the Romane Church and chiefly by Iesuites sent thither by the authoritie of the Pope And to go no further then our deare countrie England we shall finde in the Chronicles that it was conuerted by Augustine a Monke sent
Aposiles without change is Catholicke The Romane Church is vniuersall in time place and doctrine of the Apostles without change Therefore the Romane Church is Catholicke If to make a Church Catholicke it be required that she continue in the doctrine of the Apostles how did you before denie that the doctrine of the Apostles is a necessary and certaine marke of the true Church But if you leaue this out and affirme that Church to be Catholicke which is vniuersall in doctrine and thinke it not needfull that the doctrine professed be the Apostles I denie your maior The reasons of my deniall I deliuered in the former Chapter when I shewed that truth of doctrine was the most proper and true marke of the Church But whatsoeuer your maior be your minor is euidently false in euery part of it The very foundations of the doctrine of the Apostles are ouerthrowne by your Church in the heresies you hold concerning predestination iustification free will the insufficiencie of the Scriptures and the headship of Antichrist your Pope Neither do you onely faile in the doctrine of the Apostles but in your vniuersalitie of time For how can that doctrine be said to haue bin always which was not taught by our Sauiour and his Apostles As for vniuersalitie in regard of the ample vniformitie of your doctrine if you speake of your Churches determination many points of great moment are not as yet defined by it for example take those maine questions whether the Pope be aboue the Councell or no whether he haue without a Councell priuiledge of not erring or no whether there be any merit of congruitie or no and such like Yea your Church denieth the chiefe point of all which in the Apostles time was held by all true Christians that iustification is by faith without the workes of the law I forbeare to shew the reasons of that I affirme because any man may setch them out of my former answer in this and the last Chapter I looked for proofe of your minor but you were too wise to vndertake a matter so vnpossible and therefore in stead of that you challenge vs to shew and proue the contrarie forgetting that it is the repliers part to proue and not the answerers But I pray you tell me in earnest did you neuer heare of any particulars whereby we except against your doctrine as none of the Apostles What a vaine flourish is this then to demaund new proofes of vs and neuer once assay to answer those we haue alreadie brought But I haue made answer to your challenge in my refutation of your proofe that your Church is one Yea our mens bookes are full of these points and proofes both out of Scriptures and Fathers As for your brag of being able to shew diuers points that we hold or denie otherwise then the true Church did in the time of the Apostles it is well knowne that in most controuersies betwixt vs you are faine to flie from the Scriptures of God to the writings of men and deuise interpretations to serue your turne In some points we denie not but that we dissent from the opinion of some writers of former ages but that we go against the iudgement of the whole Church before it became Antichristian neither we graunt nor you can proue And euen for those times of error we want not the testimonie of learned men to auouch our doctrine against your heresies But you call vpon vs to set downe the point of doctrine the author the time the place what companie did oppose themselues against it and who they were that did continue in the profession of the former faith What needs all this ado Wil it not serue the turne if we make it manifest that your doctrine is contrary to that the Apostles taught vnlesse we can shew you when euery one of your errors was first hatched What if the Scribes and Pharises had demaunded the like questions of our Sauiour Christ touching their errors reproued by him There is no doubt but that as he was God he could haue declared euery one of these particulars but do you thinke he would haue fed their foolish humor in this case and not haue contented himselfe with shewing that it was not so from the beginning Some of our Ministers haue truly and wittily refuted this conceit of yours by shewing how absurd it is for a man that is sicke of the plague a surfet or any such disease to denie that he is so diseased because the Physition cannot tell him at what time and in what place vpon what occasion in what companie he first tooke the infection or distempered his bodie by ill diet Is it a good plea against plaine and sound euidence whereby I proue that such a Lordship ought to be mine that I cannot shew when and how I lost the possession of euery seuerall close and meadow farme and cottage But to take away all iust excuse from you our writers haue shewed the first beginnings of many of your errors and might haue done of more if al were extant that hath bin written and your inquisitors and censurers had not as you call it purged indeed corrupted and maimed the writings of former ages wheresoeuer they made against you if you could light on them before they were too well knowne in the world This challenge hath as much reason as the former We must proue that there haue not bene some in euery countrey where the Gospell hath bene professed that haue held your Romane faith Or rather must not you proue your Catholicknesse by such induction But we confesse it to be likely that the diuell hath from time to time sowed some of your tares amongst the Lords wheate But that your whole faith as now you hold it was euer maintained any where till the last Councell of Trent we challenge you to proue if you can Surely the Greeke Church euen till this day dissenteth from you in many and some no small matters as your Popes supremacie that I may not name those Christians who are in precious Iohns countrey in Armenia and other parts of the world to whom your doctrine is as little knowne in a manner as ours is to those Indians you spake of Amongst whom for ought you can proue or know to the contrary there may be and in all liklihood are some to whom the Lord hath giuen grace to rest wholly vpon Iesus Christ for pardon of their sinnes without any mingling of their owne workes with Christs to procure them the inheritance of heauen All such we challenge to be of our Church though they agree with you in many of your errors through their ignorāce of the Scriptures As for our countrey of England which like that harlot you call deare as oft as you conceiue hope of bringing it into subiection to the Pope but otherwise wish it wholly destroyed as shee did the child it neither was conuerted by your proud Monke Austine but peruerted rather