TWO DISCOURSES THE FIRST Concerning the SPIRIT of MARTIN LUTHER and the ORIGINAL of the REFORMATION THE SECOND CONCERNING THE CELIBACY OF THE CLERGY Printed at OXFORD An. 1687. CONSIDERATIONS Concerning the SPIRIT of M. LUTHER and the ORIGINAL of the REFORMATION CONTENTS PRoperties of the good and evil Spirit § 1. By which the spirits of New Teachers are to be try'd Luther's Holy life whilst a Monk § 2. The several degrees of his fall § 3. n. 1. The first degr his taking up a new doctrine whilst yet a Monk as more consolatory of Justification by Faith alone Ib. And devising new Comments on the Epistle to the Romans and Galatians prejudicial to good works proceeding from Grace § 4. Where 1. That the Church'es doctrine concerning Justification was much mistaken or much mis-related by him § 6. 2. That his new opinion concerning it is detested by many judicious Protestants § 7. 3. Void of Consolation and contradicting it self § 8. The 2d degree upon the former doctrine his holding a parity of all justified as to their future reward § 9. And vilifying Religious vows and works of Mortification and Penance especially Celibacy § 10. Writing against Monastick Vows § 11. n. 2. And much recommending the state of Marriage vilifying Celibacy § 11. n. 3.4 5 6 7. Throwing off his Monks Hood and marrying a Nun. § 12. Leaving off his Canonical hours of Prayer § 13. The 3d. deg His rejecting the authority of the present Church § 14. The 4th deg His denying the then present to be a true Church or the Clergy thereof a true Ministery affirming the Pope to be Antichrist amp c. § 15. n. 1. and § 16 17 18. The 5th deg His rejecting the authority also of the former and ancient Church Councils and Fathers § 15. n. 2. and § 19 20. Some instances and testimonies 1. Concerning his rejecting the present Church-authority § 16. 2. Maintaining the Pope to be Antichrist § 17 3. The former Ordinations of Clergy invalid § 18. 4. His rejecting Councils § 19. 5. And Fathers § 20. The 6th deg His setting up his own authority and maintaining his own doctrines as certain and infallible truths § 21. n. 1. and § 24. n. 1. Tho these in his former and latter time much varying ib. The 7th deg Impatiently suffering opposition excommunicating and anathematizing any others tho Reformed that contradicted his doctrines § 22. and § 25. The 8th deg His altering the publick Service ordaining a new Ministry Abrogating and burning the former Canon Law § 23. Instances and Testimonies for these 1. Concerning his certainty of the truth of his own doctrines § 24. n. 1. Of those also that he maintained against other Reformed § 24. n. 3. 2. Concerning his censuring and condemning those of the other Reformed opposing him § 25. Where also of their reciprocal censures of him for it § 26. 3. Concerning the instability of his doctrine § 27 9th deg His fierce contentious and railing spirit discovered in all his controversy-writings § 28. Some instances thereof 30. 10th His frequent Communications with the Devil acknowledged by himself § 32. Where Of the great variety and subtilty of Satan's temptations § 34. When this Tempter is undiscovered § 35. When this Tempter is discovered § 37. And that Luther had no secure ground to rely on that he was not by him most miserably deluded § 38. 11. In particular concerning Satan's famous disputation with him touching the Mass Nullity of the present Clergy Justifying Faith c. and Luther's behaviour therein § 39 Remarks upon it and the invalidity of those Arguments of Satan that prevailed with Luther § 40. amp c. Of Zuinglius his being in like manner deluded by Satan § 44. c. 12. That probably Luther discovered not these wiles of Satan but served him ignorantly § 46. And therefore was a more dangerous instrument of his § 47. And that there wanted not specious pretences for several things in his Reformation § 49 Nor some personal qualities that rendred him acceptable to his sect § 50. 13. The resemblance of Luther's change of Religion in several particulars to that former of Mahomet 14. The Trial of Luther's spirit as before described whether this were good or bad by the properties of these two spirits mentioned in the begnning of the Discourse § 58. Where 1. That Truth and Holiness Error and Vice have a necessary connexion § 60. 2. That where more corrupt doctrines are believed and taught there for the general must be found more dissolute lives § 61. The several bad fruits springing from Luther's doctrine that presently appeared and were confessed in his own time § 62. 15. The manner of his Death § 64. Conclusion Where concerning the just limits of blaming or censuring other mens lives and actions CONSIDERATIONS Concerning the SPIRIT of MARTIN LUTHER and the Original of the REFORMATION Properties of the good § 1. THE Spirit of God is described by the Apostle 1 Cor. 13. in its properties to be long-suffering kind not envying nor vaunting it self not puffed up not easily provoked thinking no evil bearing all things c. and the fruits thereof to be love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness meekness continency temperance Gal. 5.22 And the wisdom that is from above to be pudica pacifica modesta suadibilis chast pacific modest easie to be intreated Jam 3.17 And the Spiritual man to be Non litigans mansuetus ad omnes docibilis patiens cum modestia corripiens c. No wrangler mild towards all men docible patient correcting with modesty 2 Tim. 2.24 25. When he is reviled to bless when he is defamed to intreat when persecuted without resistance to suffer it 1 Cor. 4.12 Is described to wage a continual war against the flesh in watchings in fastings in various castigations subjections and mortifications of the body 1 Cor. 9.27 2 Cor. 11.27 These are the Properties of the good Spirit And evil Spirit On the contrary the Spirit of Satan and of this world and those acted therewith are described by the Apostle Rom. 1.29 to be Pleni invidia contentione malignitate detractores contumeliosi superbi parentibus superioribus non obedientes inventores malorum incompositi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 full of envy contention malignity detractors contumelious proud disobedient to parents superiours inventers of evil unsettled and dissolute without natural affection without fidelity And 2 Tim. 3.1 to be seipsos amantes elati superbi parentibus superiorbus non obedientes sine pace incontinentes tumidi voluptatum amatores pietatis speciem habentes virtutem ejus abnegantes lovers of themselves haughty proud disobedient to parents superiours unpeaceable incontinent puffed up lovers of pleasures having an appearance of piety but denying the virtue of it And by St. Jude v. 8. c. to be carnem maculantes dominationem spernentes Majestatem blasphemantes in via Cain abeuntes Defilers of the flesh despisers of Dominion blasphemers of Majesty who
and indeed all things to God and nothing to men for who sees not that too much honour goodness c. can never be attributed to God These words of his comforted and strenthned me extreamly Much safer is it to give too much to God than men For then I may boldly say let the Church and St. Augustin with the rest of the Doctors let St. Peter the Apostle nay an Angel from Heaven teach otherways yet certain it is that my Doctrine of Justification by faith alone without our works is of that nature that it illustrates and extolls the grace and glory of God alone and condems in the matter of salvation whatsoever wisdom and righteousness of men Here I cannot be mistaken c. A second time he renews the Objection At ais Ecclesia est sancta Patres sunt sancti But you tell me the Church is holy the Fathers are holy and answers it thus Bene sed Ecclesia quamlibet sancta tamen cogetur orare Remitte nobis debita nostra Ergo neque mihi neque Ecclesiae neque Patribus abque Apostolis neque Angelo e Coelo credendum est si quid contraverbum Dei docemus Alioquin hoc argumentum Pseudo-apostolorum maxime valuisset contra Pauli Doctrinam Quia profecto magna magna inquam res fuit opponere totam Ecclesiam cum toto choro Apostolorum Galatis contra Paulum unicum eum recentiorem minimum authoritatis habentem nec enim libenter dicit Ecclesiam errare tamen necesse est dicere eam errare si extra vel contra verbum Dei aliquid docet Petrus Apostolorum summus vivebat docebat extra verbum Dei c. Well but tho the Church be never so holy yet she is fain to pray forgive us our trespasses Therefore there is no believing either me or the Church or the Fathers or Apostles or an Angel from Heaven if we teach any thing against God's word Otherways this argument of the false Apostles would have run down St. Paul's doctrine For believe me to the Galatians it was no small difficulty to oppose the whole Church with all the Apostles against St. Paul alone and him the latest and of least authority amongst ' em Neither was he willing to say the Church erred yet t is necessary to say she errs if she teaches any thing besides or against the word of God Peter the chief of the Apostles did live and teach otherways than he ought by the word of God therefore he erred Taught and erred false his Example not Doctrine was false Neither did Paul then connive at his error tho it appeared slight because he well saw the evil that might thence arise to the whole Church Therefore neither Church nor Fathers nor Apostles nor Angels are to be believed unless they teach the pure word of God Yet still the Objection will not be thus satisfied but returns on him again Hoc argumentum saith he hodie maxime praegravat causam nostram Nam si neque Papae neque Patribus neque Luthero c. cedendum est nisi doceant purum Dei Verbum cui tum credendum est Quis interim certas faciet Conscientias utri purum Dei verbum doceant nos an adversarii nostri Non ipsi jactant se purum Dei verbum habere docere Nos Papistis non credimus quia verbum Dei non docent neque docere possunt Econtra ipsi acerrime nos oderunt insectantur ut pestilentissimos Haereticos seductores Quid hic faciendum Num cuivis fanatio spiritui permittendum ut doceat quae velit This argument saith he even at this present time does much molest our party For if we must neither believe Pope nor Fathers nor Luther c. unless they teach the pure word of God who then shall we believe who will be able to assure our hearers whether I or rather my adversaries stick to the pure word of God for do not they also boast that they have and teach it We reject the Papists because they neither do nor can teach the pure word of God and they on the other side mortally hate and persecute us as pestilential Hereticks and seducers What can be done in this case Must every fanatical spirit be licens'd to teach what he pleases whereas the world can neither hear nor endure my doctrine any better than theirs For tho we openly profess with Paul that we preach the pure Gospel of Christ it avails us nothing and we are forced to hear that this profession of ours is not only proud temerarious and vain but blasphemous also and diabolical on the other side to submit our selves and yeild to the fury of our enemies is to make both Papists and Fanaticks grow proud and insolent these by bringing up and teaching what the world never heard before those by obtruding again and confirming their old abominations To this again he briefly replies Quisque igitur videat ut certissimus sit de sua vocatione doctrina ut cum Apostolo certissime ac securissime ausit dicere Etiamsi vos aut Angelus e Coelo c. Let every one therefore take great care to be most certain and secure of his vocation and doctrine alluding to what the Apostle saith Gal. 1.8 15. that with all security he may venture to say with the Apostle Tho an Angel from Heaven c. The fuâ—r me of which triple Reply is agreeable to our former observation Certissimus sum de mea vocatione doctrina I am most certain of my vocation and doctrine And Hoc certe scio quod humana non suadeo sed divina ' This I certainly know that the things I teach are not humane but divine and the applying to himself against the Fathers the answer of St. Paul against St. Peter and others Etiamsi vos aut Angelus de Coelo c. Tho an Angel from Heaven c. as if like this Apostle he also had some extraordinary calling to his Ministery or as if his opinions were like his faith that being assured of their truth makes them truth § 24. n. 3. Of those also that hâ— mâ—iâ—â—â—â—â—â—d agâ—â—â—st other Refâ—rmed And this presumptive certainty and plerophory this man had not only of those tenents of his maintained against the Papists but in those also maintained against any other Reformed In his greater Confession answered by Zuinglius wherein he maintains Consubstantiation he saith Si incertus obscurus contextus sensus omnino habendus illum potius habere velim quem ex Dei ore progressum certe scio If it be necessary to have some context or sense that is obscure above all others let me have that which I am certain comes out of God's mouth The Landgrave of Hasse calling the assembly at Marpurg of the Saxon and Helvetian reformed Divines chiefly inviting Luther to it he returns this answer Nihil fructus ex Colloquio sperandum nisi pars adversa accedat animo cedendi
receive it with him For himself hath a share therein and benefit therefrom as well as others nor doth their foregoing this benefit infer or necessitate his In his angustiis saith Luther in hoc agone §. 〈◊〉 n. â— contra Diabolum volebam retundere hostem armis quibus assuetus eram sub Pâ—patu objiciâ—bamque intentionem fidem Ecclesia scil Quod Missas privatas in 〈◊〉 intentione Ecclesiae celebrassem Etiamsiego inquam non recte eâ—â—didi aut sensi tamen hoc recte credidit Ecclesia Verum Satan e contrae Age inquit prome ubi scriptum est Quod homo impius incredulus possit assistere Altari Christi consecrare conficere in fide Ecclesiae c. ubi jussit aut praecepit hoc Deus Si nunc verbum Dei non habes sed homines hoc docuerunt sine verbo tunc tota Doctrina haec est mendacium Intentio Ecclesiae non est contra clara verba intentionem Christi Ergo saith Satan non consecrasti sed solum panem vinum ut Ethnici obtulisti In these streights in this agony saith Luther as I was contending with the Devil I thought to have vanquished this great enemy with those weapons I was wont to make use of whilst a Papist I urged therefore to him the Intentention and Faith of the Church viz. That in virtue of the Church's Faith and Intention I had celebrated private Masses If I did not said I rightly believe and intend yet the Church always rightly believes But the Devil on the contrary said Shew me if you can in Scripture where it is written that a wicked faithless man may assist at Christ's Altar and consecrate and make the Sacraments in virtue of the Church's faith c. where hath God commanded or enjoyned any such thing If now you have not the word of God for it but men have traditionally taught you this without God's word then this whole doctrine is a Lye The Intention of the Church if the true Church cannot be contrary to the plain words and intention of Christ Therefore saith Satan you did not consecrate but only offer as Heathens might do the naked bread and wine There is more such like stuff Here for what the Devil would perswade Luther that Nullus impius aut incredulus potest consecrare c. no impious or unbelieving person can consecrate c. it hath bin an opinion always exploded by the Church and affirmed that Gratiae gratis datae ' extraordinary gifts and graces are communicable to wicked persons and the Augustane Confession made before Luther writ this book Art 8. granteth Licere uti Sacramentis quae per malos administrantur That it is lawful to communicate of those Sacraments which are administred by evil men quoting Matt. 23.2 3. Sedent Scribae Pharisaei in Cathedra Moysi c. ' In the chair of Moses have sate the Scribes and Pharisees c. And Sacramenta Verbum propter ordinationem mandatum Christi esse efficacia etiamsi per malos exhibeantur ' the Sacraments and Word of God are efficacious altho by evil men dispensed As for any intention of the Church it is only to confer the Sacrament according to what it believes to be the Ordination and Institution of our Lord. And that its intention and faith is contrary to the Word of God and Institution of Christ is a thing said here by Satan but not proved to Luther nor ought he to have yeilded the matter till a further evidence of it nor ought he to prefer Satan's or his own sense of Scripture before the Church's nor to account his sense clearer where so many against him think another so Mean-while here again we see from whom the first Reformer learnt such language Vbi scriptum est ubi jussit aut prâ—cepit Deus Where is it written where hath God commanded or enjoyn'd it And to plead Verbum Dei against the Church i.e. their own sense thereof against the Church's for what the word 's of Scripture be both are agreed and this with an addition of clara verba Scripturae ' plain words of Scripture on their side when a thousand men to one think the contrary when as no words of Scripture how clear soever are interpretable so as to contradict any other Scripture and the Clarum Verbum ' plain Text must comprehend not one sentence affirming what we would have but the whole word of God as no where gain-saying it And then who so fit to judge of the whole as the Church § 40. n. 9. This Encounter of Satan discovering as he imagined so much new Truth to him and so many of his former Errors but with this ill design as he imagined the intending thereby to cast him into despair for no man can think Satan to treat with him on any other termes than to deceive and do him mischief only his frauds are very various and we may fancy he proposeth one when he doth another put him as he saith into a great sweat and anguish of spirit as hath bin related before § 32. According therefore to this suspicion of his but quite mistaken in Satan's design after the relation of this Colloquy in his Book de Privata Missa he goes on thus Hic respondebunt mihi sanctissimi Patres An ignoras Diabolum esse mendacem ' Here the Holy Fathers the Popish Bishops will answer me Who doth not know that the Devil 's a Lyar To which he answers Verum quidem hoc est quod mendax sit sed ejus mendacia non sunt simplicis artificii sed longe callidiora instructiora ad fallendâ—m Ille sic adoritur ut apprehendat aliquam solidam veritatem quâ— negart non potest atque eam adeo callide versute urget acuit adeo speciose fucat suum mendacium ut fallat vel cautissimos Vti cogitatio illa quae Judae cor percâ—ssit vera erat Tradidi fanguinem innocentem hoc Judas negare non poterat Sed hoc erat Mendacium Ergo est desperandum de gratia Dei Non mentitur Satan quando accusat aut urget magnitudinem peccati c. sed ibi mentitur Satan quando ultra urget ut desperem de Gratia In summa saith he nos ab ipsorum privatis Missis ab unctione Episcoporum liberati sumus Viderint ipsi quomodo sua Pergama defendant It is true that the Devil 's a Lyar but then his Lies are not of the common make but far more subtle and abler to deceive He so accosts as to gain some solid and undeniable truth on his side and that he so craftily and acutely urges and so speciously colours over his lies as almost to deceive even the most cautious As when Judas's heart smote him that Thought of his was true I have betrayed the just blood this Judas could not deny but that was a Lie I must therefore despair of the grace of God The Devil doth not lie when
next year after a married man See Melch. Adams vita Luther p. 128. 131. And it appears by what is objected to him by the Devil in his book de Missa angulari or privata unctione Sacerdotum that for fifteen years after his entry into the Priesthood which was in 1507. a year before his remove to Wirtenberg he ceased not almost daily saying Mass against the idolatry of which he afterward so much enveighed Audisne Excellentissime Doctor saith Satan here num ignoras te quasi per annos quindecim privatas Missas quotidie fere celebrasse Hear you this most excellent Doctor Don't you know there was scarce for fifteen years together a day in which you miss'd saying private Mass Luther having begun thus in the works of the Spirit §. 3. n. 1. The several degrees of his Faâ—â— if shutting out the cares of this life chastity temperance fasting and most strict obedience to his Superiours which usually is joyn'd with great humility and low esteem of our selves may be called so now see how by gentle degrees he fell from them and finished his course in the liberties of the flesh Which thing came to pass in this manner Melancthon relates of him Praefat. in 2. tom Luth. Saepe eum cogitantem intentius de ira Dei mirandis poenarum exemplis subito tantos terrores concussisse ut pene exanimaretur That oft-times whilst meditating intently on God's wrath and wonderful examples of judgments against sinners on a suddain such terrors struck him that he was left almost dead And in this desolation saith he Senis cujusdam sermonibus in Augustiniano Collegio Erphordiae saepe se confirmatum narrabat cui cum consternationes suas exponeret audivit eum de fide multa disserentem seseque deductum aiebat ad Symbolum in quo dicitur Credo remissionem peccatorum Hunc Articulum c. He us'd to tell how he had been confirm'd by the words of an old Fryer of the Monastery at Erford whom upon his relating to him his consternations he often heard discoursing many things about Faith and was at length brought by him to that article of the Creed in which it is said I believe the forgiveness of sins This Article the old man expounded thus That it was not enough to believe only in general as the Devils also do the remission of sins to others but that God commands every one to believe his own sins remitted to him in particular True we performing some conditions besides only believing this but these are not spoken of The â—â—degree of his fall his taking upa new Doctrine whilst yet a Mâ—nk as more consolatory of Justification by Faith alone Thus the old man taught him and this as himself saith de Missa privata the Devil also urged to him and he believed him Primum nosti nullam tunc i.e. when a Monk and a Roman Catholick habuisti cognitionem Christi nec veram fidem quod ad fidem attinet nihilo melior fuisti quovis Turca c. First you know you had then i.e. when a Monk and a Roman Catholick no knowledge of Christ nor true faith in point of which you were no better than any Turk For the Turks and even the Devils themselves believe the history of Christ's Nativity Passion c. but Turks and we damned Spirits do not trust in God's mercy i.e. towards our selves And in the same manner teacheth he himself in Peter 1.2 Cognitio Dei veraea est quod sentias Deum Christum tuum esse Deum tuum Christum id quod Diabolus falsi Christiani non possunt credere Hujusmodi fiduciam nequeunt habere malae conscientiae i.e. saith he expounding malae conscientiae sincera fide vacantes The true knowledge of God is this That you believe God and Christ to be your God and your Christ which thing the Devil and false Christians cannot do Such a firm confidence as this guilty consciences cannot have guilty consciences i. e. saith he expounding himself void of true faith Accordingly he saith in his 11th Article asserted by him against the condemnation of Pope Leo. Crede fortiter te absolutum absolutus vere eris quicquid sit de contritione Do but stoutly believe that you are absolv'd and absolv'd you will be whether you have contrition or no. Where if he say that none not-contrite can possibly credere se absolutum whence gathers he this For in other things we often believe or are strongly perswaded of things not true Again if he hold every one so believing to be necessarily contrite why saith he quicquid sit whether contrite or no and not rather quoniam sic constat de contritione from your contrition it must be so Again in his 15th Article Magnus error saith he est eorum qui ad Sacramentum Eucharistiae accedunt huic innixi quod sint confessi quod non sint sibi conscii alicujus peccati mortalis quod praemiserint orationes suas praeparatoria omnes illi judicium sibi manducant bibunt c. They erre greatly who come to the Sacrament of the Eucharist relying on this that they have confess'd to a Priest that they are conscious to themselves of no mortal sin that they have said their prayers and done other preparatories thereto All such eat and drink damnation to themselves But if they did but believe and were confident that they should obtain grace there this faith alone were sufficient to render them clean and worthy Again Article the 6th Contritio quae paratur per discussionem collectionem detestationem peccati qua quis recogitat annos praeteritos vitae suae c. The contrition that is got by examining recollecting and detesting ones sins whereby a man calls to mind his whole life past in the bitterness of his soul pondering on the hainousness the multitude and the filth of his sins the loss of eternal bliss and condemnation to everlasting woe this contrition I say makes a man a hypocrite nay even a greater sinner than he was before Of which being questioned he expounds himself Se loqui de contritione naturali impia extra fidem that he speaks of a contrition natural and impious without faith But why so freely then condemneth he such a contrition as he describes with facit hypocritam c. as if these are not or cannot be consistent with faith unless he means with his faith believing our sins are forgiven for this cause only on our part because we believe they are so So in Captiv Babyl cap. de Baptismo he saith Quam dives est homo Christianus vel baptizatus qui etiam volens non potest perdere salutem suam quantiscunque peccatis nisi nolit credere O the riches of the grace of a Christian or one baptiz'd who cannot if he would loose his salvation tho by never so great sins unless he obstinately refuse to believe As if this his sort of faith were the only condition
I have not contrition I never do or can with a true faith strongly believe that I am absolved from my sins § 9 But these were secrets not observed by many well pleased with his doctrines The 2d upon the former doctrine his holding a parâ—ty of all just sâ—ed as to the future reward Luther having made this progress in discovering a new Evangelical Faith whereby he placed man's Justification only in it obtaining the application of Christ's merits and the imputation of his righteousness unto us and on the other side much vilified the righteousness inherent in the regenerate by infused Grace yet which Grace also was obtained for them through Christ's merits he proceeded to hold a kind of equality in dignity and honour and celestial reward amongst all that are once justified notwithstanding the great difference of their works and inherent holines to which purpose on 1 Pet. 1.3 he saith Quia vero renati sumus Filii atque Haeredes Dei pares sumus in dignitate honore Divo Paulo Petro Deiparae Virginia ac Divis omnibus Habemus enim c. Forasmuch as being regenerate we are thereby the sons and heirs of God we are also equal in dignity and honour to St. Peter St. Paul the Bl. Virgin and all the Saints But we have the same treasure and all good things from God in as large a measure as they since it is requir'd that they be regenerate too as well as we Wherefore they have no more than any other Christians And Fidei simplicitas saith he nos omnes ante conspectum Dei pares facit Exeg in 1 Cor. 7 i. e. the simplicity of saith makes us all equal in the sight of God And on 1 Pet. 1.2 In sanctificatione Spiritus Cogita saith he te ideo sanctum esse quod Verbum Dei habeas quod regnum Coelorum tuum sit quod solide justus ac sanctus per Christum evaseris Reckon your self therefore holy because you have the Word of God because yours is the Kingdom of Heaven because you are become truly justified and sanctified by Jesus Christ Which all the faithful partake alike And Quod super terram vivimus saith he nulla alia fit causa quam ut etiam aliis adjumento simits ut ad fidem alios adducamus That we are continued alive still after thus sanctified by faith it is for no other reason but that we may help others and bring them to the faith § 10 Upon this principle also he began much to disrelish and vehemently to oppose all Counsels of perfection humane Ordinances â—nd vilifying religious Vâ—ws and works of Mortification and Penance especially Celibacy and religious Discipline instituted for withdrawing souls from temptations and occasions of sin Vows of Poverty or not retaining more than necessaries Obedience to Superiors Commands i. e. in all things not unlawful retiredness Canonical hours of Prayer fastings disciplines c. used in Religious houses as being the seeking of Justification or Salvation per opera legis per legem factorum traditiones inventiones hominum justitias carnis c. by the works of the Law the law of Works Traditions and huma mane inventions carnal righteousness c. To which purpose he saith Adversus falsum nominatum Ordinem Episcoporum Illi insani ignarique fidei prorsus Spiritus imperiti prorsus rerum c. in his Tract intitled Against the Episcopal Order falsly so call'd Those mad ignorant fellows as to faith and the spirit knowing nothing at all what belongs to spiritual things seek to further and advantage them by their pitiful sorry little good works forsooth their fasts hair-cloths scraps of prayers confining themselves to such a part of the Monastery Thus also he in his Comment on 1 Pet. 1.5 Qui in virtute Dei custodimini per fidem in salutem Ratio huc atque illuc ducitur de uno opere in aliud quippe quae cupiat suis operibus in coelum conscendere hinc illa tot Collegiorum Monasteriorum Altarium c. On those words Who in the virtue of God are kept by faith unto salvation Reason says he is toss'd this way and that way from one work to another as seeking to scale heaven by its own works Hence such an inundation of Colledges Monasteries Altars Priests Monks but in us who believe God keeps a right mind in all things c. For many seek to take heaven by force as St. Paul 1 Cor. 9. I chastise my body and bring it into servitude and strait break in upon it And therefore voluntarily they lay a cross upon themselves So impossible is it for humane reason not to boast of its own works but those things God condemns And thus he writes in an Epistle to Stanpitius an encourager of his for some time but afterwards alienated from him who in his advice to him told him that Poenitentia vera non est nisi quae ab amore justitiae Dei incipit That is not true repentance that does not spring from the love of rightness and of God Words most true indeed for without the love of God and righteousness or holiness can be no acceptable Repentance Haesit saith he hoc verbum tuum in me sicut sagitta potentis acuta his inhaerens ausus sum putate eos falsos esse qui operibus poenitentiae c Those words yours were to me as the sharp arrow of the mighty and whilst I thought on them at length I was so bold as to dare to think those deceiv'd who attribute so much to works of repentance that they have scarce left us any thing at all thereof of besides certain formal satisfactions and most dull tedious Confession c. As if these did not proceed from the love of God and of holiness and the greatest mortifications usually were not of those who more fervently love God and virtue or mortifying the flesh and having or being led by the Spirit were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inconsistent And in his Colloquies c. 37. p. 392. That no man ought to lay a Cross upon himself or to make choice of a Tribulation as is done in Popedom but if a Cross or Tribulation cometh upon him then let him suffer it patiently and know that it is good and profitable for him for we must learn saith he that Satan is a lyar and a murtherer and that heaviness of spirit cometh of the Devil who out of meer hatred wisheth that we might not enjoy so much as one hours solace or comfort He adviseth his also to shun solitariness ' The Papists saith he p. 406. do teach it that if we intend to know Christ and to keep our hearts pure then we should covet to be solitary and alone and not amongst much fellowship a man should be a Nicholas-brother c ' The same saith he is a Devilish perswasion directly against the first and second Table of God's commandements which teach that we should do good to our neighbours
rites of the Church the doctrine of the Fathers approv'd Legends and most ancient custom That I will hear none of these things Be it known to the ignorant Popes wicked Priests sacrilegious Monks c. that we are not baptiz'd nor do believe in the name of Augustin Bernard Gregory c. Tell not me Bernard liv'd and wrote so and so but so he ought according to the Scriptures to have liv'd and writ Concerning the chief Controversy that of the Mass being pressed by King Henry the 8th with the authority of the ancient Church concurring with the present that it is a Sacrifice and using it as such he answers thus Vltimo dicta Patrum inducit Rex pro Missario Sacrificio ridet meam stultitiam quod solus vellem sapere prae omnibus Hoc est quod dixi c. Lastly the King alledges the Fathers for the Sacrifice of the Mass laughing at my folly that would be wiser than all the world besides Is it not as I said these block-headed Thomists have nothing to produce for themselves but a multitude of Authors and ancient custom And Captiv Babylonica he resolves Si nihil habetur quod dicatur satius est omnia negasse quam Missam Sacrificium esse concedere Is there nought to be reply'd i. e in answer to the Fathers Better however to deny all than grant the Mass to be a Sacrifice And on the same matter in Missa privata Hic non moramur saith he si clamitent Papistae Ecclesia Ecclesia Patres Patres quia ut dixi hominum dicta aut facta nihil in tam magnis causis curamus Scimus enim ipsos Prophetas lapsos esse adeoque Apostolos c. Here we value not the Papists crying the Church the Church Fathers Fathers because as I said what men say or do in such cases as these it matters not For we know the very Prophets nay even the Apostles themselves have err'd By the words of Christ i. e. by that which he apprehends to be the sense thereof wherein why may not he be mistaken if others are we judg the Church the Apostles nay even the Angels Lastly see his Colloquies c. 27 29 30. what a character he gives of the Fathers to his companions That God's Word of it self pure bright and clear through the doctrines books and writings of the Fathers like milk streined through a Coal-sack is very sorely darkned falsified and spoiled That there is great darkness in the Books of the Fathers concerning Faith That Austin wrote nothing to the purpose concerning Faith For he was first rouzed up and made a man by the Peâ—agians That at the first he willingly read Austin but when the door of St. Paul was opened unto him insomuch that he knew what was the righteousness of faith then he had done with St. Austin and that the Fathers were of very small value That Chrysostom was only a talker Bazil meerly a Fryer Cyprian a weak Divine Tertullian amongst the Church-teachers a meer Carolostadius That Bernard did nimium tribuere praeceptis libero arbitrio attribute overmuch to precepts and free-will That Macarius Antonius and Benedictus brought apparent mischief to the Church with their Monkery that they lead a private grizly kind of life far from a Holy That he knew none among the ancient Teachers of the Church that he hated like Jerom for he writeth only of fasting of victuals of virginity c. teacheth nothing neither of faith nor hope nor love nor of the works of faith That the Fathers stumbled oft-times and mingled in their books many impertinent and Monkish things That the Apology of P. Melancthon surpasseth all the Fathers of the Church yea St. Austin And in his Preface to his Works he saith Non in omnibus omnium Patrum scriptis tantum reperiri Eruditionis Theologiae quantum in locis hisce Communibus Et si omnia illorum Scripta conflentur colliquescant non tamen Locos Philippi inde prodituros More learning to be found in those Common-places than in all the Fathers which all melted in one lump together would not make one such book as Melancthons Such stuff as this it seems he usually vented and his friends Aurifaber and others who heard them from him had not the discretion to conceal them and to cover his shame and nakedness § 21. n. 1 The 6th his setting up his own authority and maintaining his own doctrines as certain and infalâ—â—ble truth This his contempt and low esteem of all other humane authority and of their doctrines was accompanied as usually with a most high esteem of his own so greatly liable to mistakes and errors he thought others so little himself and how much uncertainty he put in their opinions so much certainty in his own confidently stiling by the name of God's word his Expositions and sense thereof tho these contrary to that formerly delivered using frequently such expressions That if an Apostle or an Angel from Heaven should come and teach contrary to such his Expositions let him be Anathema and That if he was deceived God had deceived him and such things he said not only of those Expositions of his against the Church of Rome but those made against other Protestants those made against Zuinglius Oecolampadius c. and of the contrary of which his Protestant-posterity think themselves most certain equally certain always of his being in the right and having no less affirmed his certainty even in those things wherein himself afterwards changed his opinion who is much noted both by his enemies and friends to have contradicted in his latter many things in his former Works as better discerning truth say the one as more still departing from it say the other and to have contradicted those Expositions of Scripture concerning the Lord's Supper in his latter writings against Carolslad and Zuinglius which he delivered for certain in his former against Catholicks See the particulars shewed by Hospinian hist Sacram. 2. part fol. 8 9 12. and so of many things whereof he was once certain he became afterwards as certain of the contrary § 21. n. 1 Tho these in his latter and former times much varying For example see in his doctrine of Consubstantiation wherein he was opposed by other Protestants he pretended as much certainty and as clear revelation thereof in God's word as in any of those wherein he opposed the former Church Si quisquam mihi persuadere potuisset saith he Ep. ad Argent in Sacramento praeter panem vinum esse nihil magno beneficio me sibi devinctum reddidisset gravibus enim curis anxius in hac excutienda materia multum desudabam omnibus nervis extensis me extricare expedire conatus sum c. Could any man have perswaded me these was nothing but bread and wine in the Sacrament he had much oblig'd me For being in great perplexity I took great pains in discussing this point I endeavoured with all my might to
have no force in them besides strong calumnies and merciless reprehensions but also out of his citations and perverse using of Scripture that he is not grounded upon any solid foundation For he brings so many weak and absurd sentences to confirm his doctrine that if they were true and infallible all the knowledg we have of God would become obscure all the authority of Scripture would be called in question § 27 3. Concerning the instability of his doctrine Concerning the instability and fluctuation of his doctrine notwithstanding that whatever he held for the present of that he was most certainly assured thus Hospinian Histor Sacram. parte altera fol. 4. Per totam vitam tam varius sibi dissimilis fuit in Articulo de persona Christi praesertim autem de sacra ejus Coena ut minimum quinque sententiae de illa in scriptis ipsiusreperiantur through his whole life he was so various and contrary to himself in that Article concerning the person of Christ especially touching his last Supper that you may see in his writings at least five different opinions about it And so 12. Eadem varietas inconstantia crebra tanquam tempestatum sic sententiarum commutatio in aliis quoque de Sacramento Eucharistiae articulis apud Lutherum in suis scriptis invenitur The same variety and inconstancy and change of doctrines as of the winds may be found in Luther's other writings concerning other articles of the Sacrament of the Eucharist So fol. 8 9. he observes that he persecutes those Expositions of our Lord's words Jo. 6. Caro non prodest quidquam ' the flesh avails nothing and of St. Paul 1 Cor. 10. Panis quem frangimus the bread which we break when these brought against him by his Reformed adversaries Carlostade and Zuinglius which himself formerly gave against the Papists and so he observes fo 12. that when he was in contention with the Sacramentaries tanto impetu ab illis quibus indignabatur deflexit utâ—rursus ad ipsam usque Transubstantiationem quam sub Papatu approbarat postea de ea dubitarat tandem abjecerat tanquam fluctus marinus ad scopulos allisus revolveretur Cum autem urgebatur c. Corporis Christi tum demum potius quam se victum fateretur in mediam paludem ubiquitariam se praecipitem dabat from those he was incensed against he flung away with that violence that he even cast himself again upon Transubstantiation which when a Papist he had approved afterwards called in question and lastly thrown away tossed thus to and fro like the waves of the Sea rolling to and dashed from the rocks And again when he was urged with Christ's body c. rather than seem overcome he would cast himself headlong into the abyss of the Ubiquitarians The same thing Zuinglius complains of in his Preface to his answer to Luther's Confession Contentionis aestu eo se abripi patitur ut ea quae ante pie simul bene tradita ab ipso sunt potius subvertere velit negare quam ab instituto suo vel latum unguem cedere He suffers himself to be so carried away with the spirit of contention that rather than yeild a hairs breadth he would deny and subvert what he had well and piously established before This from § 21. of Luther's great confidence or certainty in his own opinions attempting upon it such bold Reformations and of his violent condemning of all Adversaries and Anti-doctrines whatever and of the small reason which his own fellow-Reformers conceived he had for either of these § 28 9th His fiâ—rce contentious â—rd railing spiriâ— discovered in all his controversy-writings From this Self-presumption of his also is discovered in all his writings that amaritudo ira indignatio clamor mentioned by the Apostle Eph. 4.31 a most strange quarrelsom reviling stile fierce and impatient of any coercion or contradiction not sparing his Spirituâ—l Mother the Church that brought him forth nor his Spiritual Fathers that made him a Christian a Priest He the first that so openly pronounced the present Catholick Church the Whore of Babylon and the Bishop of Rome the prime Patriarch therein Antichrist the Bishops Antichrist's Apostles the Universities Stews See the railings of his Book entitled Contra falso-nominatum Ordinem Episcoporum Not sparing the Supream Civil Magistrates not Kings See the Railings of his book written against Hen. 8th not sparing his younger brethren of the Reformation and his own disciples when they modestly taking that liberty in some things to dissent again from him which himself formerly had taken to dissent from the whole Church-Catholick and excepting their difference in judgment as to some points otherwise by all possible means courting his friendship See the Railings of his Confessio magna and parva written against them Above all not sparing his brethren the Religious into whose bosom and education very pious if we may believe himself he was so charitably received in his youth In whom notwithstanding he censures and every where declames against actions and works externally good as their fastjngs watchings Single life strict obedience to their Superiours commands often reiterated prayers c. as done out of hypocrisy with much inward diffidentia dubitatione pavore odio blasphemia Dei to use his own words and this because they wanted his new faith done with an intention of meriting their salvation by them and not expecting as the Remission of their other sins so of the imperfections of these very works through Christ's passion and merits their Celibacy as lived-in with all uncleanness of spirit tho he confessed his own when a Monk void of any such stain their prayers as said or repeated by rote without any inward attention of mind accompanying them things of which he could have no knowledge and out of charity ought to have judged the contrary or if by some outward circumstances he might discover the intentions of some yet from this could have no sufficient ground to charge all and to inveigh as he doth at a Monastick life in general upon this score that their good works yet were not well or rightly done by them § 29 For this great fault when much reproached by his Enemies and often admonished by his friends instead of amending it sometimes he justified it by the example of our Lord calling the Jews an adulterous generation a generation of vipers children of the Devil and of St. Paul calling his Adversaries Dogs foolish talkers seducers unlearned imo qui saith he Act. 13.9 10. sic invehatur in Pseudoprophetam ut videri possit insanus So sharply enveighs he against the false Prophet Act. 13.9 10. that one would think him mad vid. Melch. Adams vit Luther p. 191. and opera Luth. tom 1. Ep. p. 291. That is a private Presbyter when reproaching all his Superiours and Governours the Bishops and Fathers of the Church justifying it by the Lord of heaven and earth and who seeth
persecuting the Church of God and its former truth as the Jews in persecuting our Lord and his Doctrine thought he did God good service and therefore the Devil great disservice and that he really took God for his friend and the Devil for his enemy as they also did of whom nevertheless our Lord declared that they were the Devil's Children and he their Father and that they did the works of this their Father and spake his words Jo. 8.41 44. But neither do I apprehend this gross misperswasion of his to have excused him any more than theirs did since he wanted not sufficient testimony and evidence on every side especially from the voice of the whole Church Catholick that he was deceived and the merciful God without his own first shutting his eyes and hardening his heart would not have given him up to such a blindness and strong delusion § 47 And therefâ—re was a more dangerous instrument of his Mean-while a great advantage this is to Satan and therefore he labours it much when they that do his business do not know so much For such persons do it much more zealously resolutely and without all remorse whilst they fancy themselves Saints and Martyrs and not them but their adversaries the instruments of the Devil whereas he acts but timorously whose Conscience mean-while trembles and is continually questioning his endeavours and recalling him from his work And the Devil well sees that Hypocrites and dissemblers tho these are a higher sort of his servants yet do not do his business half so well For in some thing or other these flag at length and detect themselves at least they will hardly be Martyrs for him As therefore this evil spirit in other things emulates and strives to resemble the Good so in this that as the Holy Ghost inspires into God's Ministers a very great boldness Act. 4.29 31. and confidence and full perswasion in delivering of divine truths and undergoing any sufferings in testimony thereof even so this evil spirit instils also a strange plerophory of blindness and delusive credulity into his Ministers in the believing and teaching a lye not to be discerned from the other many times even when it comes to laying down of lives Which we may be certain of as often as we see truth being but one some dye at Smithfield by fire and others at Tiburne by suspension with an externally appearing equal resolution and courage for two contradictories one therefore dying for a lye And this is the more remarkable in that even in defence of Atheism some doubtless strongly deceived by the Devil have sacrificed their life as that desperate person Vaninus in France meerly out of love to this doctrine as a truth for he who held no God looked for no future reward of his Martyrdom nor feared any future punishment for his disavowing such Atheism and so saving of his life And this strange confidence Luther himself meeting with and admiring in some Protestant sects that opposed him readily acknowledged it in them a bewitchment of the evil spirit yet in himself he as also his followers took this confidence for a signal operation of the good § 48 To this end also the Devil is glad to maintain several virtues in his servants tho this in other respects much against his will so to make their bad wares salable and some small stock of good his instruments commonly have which he leaves undefaced and diligently mixeth with that evil which he hath planted in them so to make this the more current and all easily swallowed down together by the imprudent and credulous For all men avoid those in whom appears no good and the wolves that raven most put on sheeps-cloathing Even Satan to set off himself he is so ugly a creature is forced tho he hates such a habit partly to dress himself like a good Angel who if he should always wear horns and cloven feet he could get few or none to follow his colours Had Luther bin a much worse man than he was he had done less mischief and Satan less service and had this Fiend handled him so roughly at his death as some tell us perhaps his Reformation by the world's being frighted thereat would have bin strangled and deserted in its birth whereas now the shew of some Christian virtues lest in him his inveighing every where against Satan as his sworn enemy his protestation of all sincerity and conscientiousness in his discourses and dealing his confidence or as he calls it certainty that his doctrine came from above his justly blaming as also did the Catholick Doctors several corruptions of manners in the Church c. drew many aster him unawares into the same nets of the Tempter and propagated his errors to posterity § 49 And that there wanted not specious pretences for several things in his Reformation Very speciously therefore I grant this man began to rail at the Pharisaical humour of many Religious and perhaps some such Religious there were who relied on the purity and merits of their own works and holiness against whom he preached Christ's Merits and our Justification in remission of our sins Speciously afterward he preached and writ against Indulgences and perhaps rightly as to several abuses wherein they were by some misunderstood and practised and this perhaps done by him not out of any emulation or envy of some benefit thereof accruing to another Religious order the Dominicans but out of conscience tho this his action free from envy or avarice might be stained with some tickling of vain-glory fed by the popular applause that followed him So at the first he did not cast off all obedience to his Superiours or intended it as himself often professeth nor yet intended at the first a Reformation of the Church's doctrines in so many points as he invaded afterward but some amendment in manners rather and afterward when time and company had emboldened him to do this yet he still supported such fact with this pious intention that he did it for defending the truth and that he only disobeyed his other Superiours to obey God the Supreme Neither is it likely that he ever intended by his preaching down he Evangelical Counsels of perfection the three vows of Religion Sacramental Confession Penances c. to introduce such a licentiousness of life as he saw afterwards followed upon it nor by his throwing off the yoke of authority to lay the open for so many Sects as he saw crowded in suddenly after it besides his own Such might be the Devil's designs from the first but not Luther's and had Satan pulled off his Mask and discovered to Luther at the beginning all the evil he meant to make of him or introduce by him doubtless this man would have startled and recoiled and this subtle enemies plots are sooften spoiled and frustrated as they are fully discovered § 50 Nor some personal qualities that tender'd him acceptable to his sect And as I esteem Luther from the beginning
fruits i.e. their doctrines ye shall know the persons whether they be true or false prophets or teachers or by their doctrines ye shall know whether they teach false doctrines for so still I have no direction lest me whereby to know their doctrines to be false yet for which their false doctrines â—am warned chiefly to be aware of these false teachers But the meaning thereof in reason must be that by their fruits of an holy or bad life by the fruits of the Spirit or of the flesh which they bear which fruits the sheep do see and can judge of when they cannot so well of the doctrines by these both the good or bad Spirit of the Doctor and the truth or falsity of his doctrines may be known § 58 First the Teachers Spirit whether it be of God or of the flesh and the Devil may be discerned by these fruits For if this Spirit be of God the Apostle hath told us Gal. 5.22 that the fruits thereof are love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness continency or temperance if of the flesh and Satan the works or fruits are fornication uncleanness lasciviousness drunkenness revellings hatred variance emulation wrath strife sedition envyings c. Now Christians having once discerned thus by these fruits the Spirit of the Teachers where they have ground of presumption that it is a bad one have all reason to suspect his doctrine and his reasons and arguments and his expositions of God's word in confirmation thereof to be so too To be so too I say where ever the Church doth not authorize and secure such doctrine to them for the Scriptures are of no private interpretation i. e. not of every private man's interpretation out of his own brain because they are dictated by the Holy Ghost and by the Holy Ghost the meaning of the Holy Ghost in them can only be expounded By the Holy Ghost I say either in the private Expositor or the Church in which the Spirit of God for ever resides and guides it into all truth from which Church he must learn such Exposition or with which Church he will concur in it if he learn it from God's Spirit But this man's new Doctrine entered into the world neither with Miracles nor if we consider all said with the signs of a good Spirit nor yet owned or defended nay also rejected and condemned by the Church § 59 Where 1. That truth and holiness error and vice have a necessary cenrexâ—â—n 2ly By their fruits of a strict and holy or of a corrupt and dissolute life are the truth and falsity also of Doctrines discovered For first as truth and goodness so error and vice have a most intimate and natural connexion so that I may say if there be any doctrine that really and naturally tendeth to produce in us more sanctity and purity of life than the contrary that most certainly is truth and the contrary error and therefore is an orthodox faith so much laboured for because it is the foundation of a good life and therefore Satan becomes the Father of all evil in us because he is first the Father of lyes to us Tho then it be not here denied but that a teacher of something that is false may bring forth the fruits of a good life and contrary the teacher of truth the fruits of a bad yet 1. here the fruit of good life can never proceed from the false doctrine taught by the one nor the fruit of a bad life from the truth that is taught by the other But the teacher of truth brings forth bad fruit from his lusts carrying him against the truth known by him and again the teacher of some errors brings forth good fruit from the truth which he possesseth mingled indeed with error but yet predominative thereof But if he be such a Teacher of errors as that the truths he holds as none err in every thing are in the operation which they might have upon his manners mastered and seduced by them here his life also must needs be corrupt whether he be supposed to practise according to his errors as if he indulged some forbidden lusts because conceived lawful or whether he practise contrary to them for so he doth what is right indeed but against his conscience all acting against which tho when it errs becomes evil Again if he be a teacher of such errors as are expresly condemned by the Church or at Jeast as he knows to be so whatever truths he may hold or some kind of virtues practise according to those truths yet his life in general can never be stiled holy or himself good because he wants the two fundamental and cardinal virtues of Obedience and Humility Lastly neither can a good man teaching some errors be so good as if rectified in these he might have bin but that he must also be so far faulty and defective in his manners as his false opinion any way tendeth to the depraving and leavening thereof This of the natural connexion of error and vice as of truth and goodness § 60 〈◊〉 That where more corrupt doctrines â—re believed and taught there for the general are â—ound more dissolute 〈◊〉 2ly Hence it will follow That tho as hath bin said it may not be affirmed that where ever a dissolute and bad life is seen in a teacher or others there it ariseth from their false opinions or doctrines because many times our life is evil where our tenents are generally orthodox and true Catholicks are sometimes bad men from our lusts warring and carrying us headlong against our knowledge and our faith yet in any Sect wherein more erroneous and corrupt doctrines are believed and maintained especially such as give more manifest liberty to the flesh there for the general must needs be more carnal corrupt and dissolute lives seeing that there are here both the same lusts warring against the Soul which are also tempting the Catholick and Orthodox to an evil life and moreover many gross mis-perswasions and pernicious doctrines siding with and countenancing such lusts or at least not curbing them For if our lusts even against knowledge are so powerful over us how swiftly will they move us when our errors go along with them and blow these Sails This I say for the general For as to particulars I do not deny but that the life of some persons labouring under many erroneous principles yet may be very regular both by reason of other truths believed which tho this not observed by them do contradict the other false ones and may suspend the bad influences of them upon their practice as also by reason of an extraordinary good inclination of their nature and helps also of God's restraining grace for even amongst the Heathen-errors have bin some persons of an external virtuous and unreproachable conversation and therefore much more may they be so amongst any Sect of Christians who cannot but have many Catholick truths mingled with their errors and yet much more
enim Phase hoc est Transitus Domini Protinus ut hoc phantasma visum est simul expergefio e lecto exilio locum apud Septuaginta primum undique circumspicio ac de eo coram tota Concione pro viribus dissero qui Sermo ubi acceptus est omnibus sacrarum literarum Candidatis qui adhuc nonnihil propter Parabolâ— obstaculum haerebant omnem nebulam dicussit When the 13th of April drew near what I tell you is true nay so true that tho I would willingly have conceal'd it yet my Conscience forced me to utter what the Lord hath imparted to me notwithstanding the many scoffs and jeers to which I know I shall expose my self thereby the night I say before the 13th day I dream'd that I had a hard tug with the Scribe my Adversary one that had disputed before in the Assembly against his new Opinion and was so struck dumb that my tongue refusing to do its duty I was not able to speak what I knew to be true At which me thought as in ones dreams such thoughts are not unusual for also what I relate for my own part I take it to be no better than a dream though what I lean'd by it is no small matter thanks be to God for whose glory alone I now declare this I was exceedingly troubled and perplexed when lo a Monitor whether black or white I now remember not as it were sent from above to assist me seem'd to say to me Why Dullard dost not answer him what is written Exod. 12. It is the Lords Passeover As soon as this Phantasm appear'd to me I awoke leap't out of bed look'd out the place in the Septuagint and the next day discours'd thereon before the whole Assembly to the great satisfaction of all the young Students in Divinity who before stuck a little by reason of the Parable Here Zuinglius the Head of the Sacramentarians we see had a spiritual Monitor to instruct him as well as Luther and in the same manner after he saw his Opinion take he confessed it and if we may believe of this Monitor Luther who writ an Answer to Zuinglius called Defensio Verborum Domini in Coena and among other Texts gives one to this of Exodus he saith It was no better than the Devil deluded him Luce meridiana clarius est hanc Haeresin nihil aliud esse quam acerbam effraenem Diaboli petulentiam ludibrium qui prae nimia securitate studio id sibi habeat ut nos suis frigidis versutis glossematis interpretationibus indignis modis irrideat It is as clear as the Sun at Noon-day that this Heresy so he calls that of Zuinglius is nothing else but the bitter and unruly petulancy and mockery of the Devil who by reason of too much security our not being cautious enough to observe his frauds makes it his business basely and unworthily to shamm us with his sorry but crafty glosses and interpretations This Account I thought fit to give the Reader of Luther's Relation of his Colloquy and Disputation with the Devil who therein delivered to him the seeming truths of the Reformation § 45 Tho indeed the Arguments wherewith he perswaded him are very frivolous and many of them also now laid aside by the Reformed his followers As 1. the Nullity of Luther's faith whilst yet a Roman-Catholick urged by Satan in order to the verity of the Solifidian Tenent now by learned Protestants much exploded 2. The Nullity of his Holy Orders and Priesthood whereby his Consecration of the Eucharist is argued defective But the Reformed grant the Holy Orders conferred in the Roman Church and such as Luther received valid and good and from these would secure their own 3ly His using the Eucharist not only as a Sacrament but Sacrifice and his Ordination thereto But this use of the Eucharist as such as it occurs every where in the Fathers so is justified by learned Protestants Of which Mr. Mede his Sermon on Malachy 1.11 hath treated copiously Where p. 475. he saith That as Praise and Prayer may be called the sacrificium quod the sacrifice which is offered by Christians so the Commemoration of Christ's sacrifice on the Cross is the sacrificium quo the sacrifice whereby the other is accepted And p. 495. saith That our Blessed Saviour ordained this Sacrament of his Body and Blood as a Rite to bless and invocate his Father by instead of the manifold and bloody Sacrifices of the Law And afterward that Instead of the slaying of Beasts and burning of Incense whereby they called upon the name of God in the Old Testament the Fathers I say believed our Saviour ordained this Sacrament of Bread and Wine as a Rite whereby to give thanks and make supplication to his Father in his Name The mystery of which Rite they took to be this That as Christ by presenting his death and satisfaction to his Father continually intercedes for us in Heaven so the Church on Earth semblably approaches the Throne of Grace by representing Christ unto his Father in these holy Mysteries of his Death and Passion Quoting also Perkins in his Demonstratio Problematis de Sacrificio Missae where he saith ' Veteres Coenam Domini seu totam Coenâ—e actionem formulam vocarunt Sacrificium tum aliis de causis tum quia est Commemoratio adeoque Repraesentatio Deo Patri sacrificii Christi in Cruce immolati The Ancients called the Supper of our Lord or the whole Action and Canon of the Mass a Sacrifice as for other reasons so also because it is a Commemoration and consequently Representation to God the Father of the sacrifice of Christ offer'd upon the Cross Lastly p. 504. contends That there may be a Sacrifice which is a representation of another and yet a Sacrifice too And such is this of the New Testament a sacrifice wherein another sacrifice that of Christ's Death upon the Cross is commemorated And whereas the same Mede would relieve himself and the Reformed in denying the Eucharist to be a Sacrifice really and properly so called for something must be said to free themselves from Popery yet he sticks not to grant the former Sacrifices under the Law proper and real notwithstanding that they were commemorative of another that on the Cross and this Sacrifice of the Eucharist to be ordained in their stead whilst the Caholicks on the other side do also make this Sacrifice on the Altar a commemoration of that of the Cross I have set down this to shew how different the Sons are to their first Father as to this point of the Christian sacrifice of the Altar and how false in this Satan was to Luther § 46 12. That probably Luther dâ—scovered not these wiles of Satan but served him ignorantly In all this said of Luther's communication with the Devil I do not make Luther any confederate with him but only a person miserably deceived by him I do believe that he in