that the Elect may fall away finally from grace because Christ said Haue not I chosen you twelue Iudas then saith he was one of the Elect. But as Saint Augustine answereth well it is one thing to be elected to the office of Apostleship another to the fellowship of the Saints For there is as a twofold vocation so a twofold election externall and internall temporary and eternall Iudas was of the externall and temporary but not of the internall and eternall election For of this Christ said elsevvhere I speake not of you all I know whom I haue chosen There Christ puts a plaine difference between Iudas an elect Apostle the rest who were also elect Saints But how came Iudas an elect Apostle to fall away hee was a theefe and bare the bagge Yet he bâ—ught not his Apostleship he was elected by Christ. He had a faire and lawfuâ—l calling Yet his coueteousnesse brought him to Apostacy and euen to betray the innocent blood of the Lambe of God Then wonder not at the Church of England The saâ—e Rebecca brought forth as well a rough Esau as a smoâ—th Iacob And as Tertullian saith to the same purpose Of the kernell of the milde and fat and vsefull oliue doth spring the rough wilde oliue and of the most pleasant and sweete figges seede doth grow the windy and empty wilde figtree So heresies saith hee haue fructisied of that which was ours but they are not ours being degenerate from the graine of truth and by lyes become wilde They went out from vs but they were not of vs. What then if wee shall see some of the Apostles or such as would bee accounted Apostolicall to proue Apostaticall from the faith shall this stumble Gods Saints Or shall an impotent admiration of their persons draw beliefe to their heresies God forbid For as the same Tertullian for I finde not an acuter authour for this purpose comparing champion-like hereticks to wrastlers or sword players which many times ouercome not by their owne strength but by the others weaknesse no otherwise saith he doe heresies preuaile ouer the infirmities of men but haue no power at all vpon a sound faith Yea of what qualitie or dignity soeuer hereticks be whether for personall or politicall respects the holy Ghost warnes the Saints to auoid and contemne them Auoide an hereticke saith the Apostle And St. Iohn If there come any vnto you that brings you not this Doctrine receiue him not to your house neither bid him God-speede for hee that biddeth him God-speede is partaker of his euill deedes And Saint Paul doubles his admonition If an Angel from heauen preach vnto you any other Gospell then that which we haue preached vnto you let him be accursed which is not another Gospell but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the Gospell of Christ. Into this condemnation be the new Pontifician Arminian shall I say Hereticks I need not if they persist I will not if they recant and desist Approvers of the Councel of Trent fallen the doctrine whereof is a fowle and flat Apostacy from the Mystery of godlines They would bring in another Gospell though no Gospell but they would obtrude it far the true and only Gospell of the Grace of God And if the Galatians were said to be fallen from Christ onely for mingling Circumcision with the Gospel as requisite with faith to their iustification how fearefull is that Apostacy from Christ which quite ouerthroweth the effectuall and free grace of God excluding yea accursing the true sauing faith in our iustification as the Doctrine of Trent doth so dangerous it is to be any way accessary by yeelding the least assent vnto it And what execrable heresies will these proue to be that goe about to pluck vp the tree of life by the roote out of the Paradise of Gods Church and would plant instecde thereof the forbidden tree of knowledge teaching and perswading the eaters that they are made thereby as Gods selfe-sufficient selfe-wise selfe-able to saue themselues not onely in their receiuing but retaining grace which worke of their owne wills being foreseene of God was say they the first mouing cause of electing and praedestinaring them to saluation which what is it else but a meere making voide of Gods vnchangable Decree of Praedestination and free grace of Election no farther fixed and certaine but as mans receiuing and retaining of grace and perseuering therein is certaine which say they is vncertaine Pardon my zeale gentle Reader Impute it not to any bitternesse of spleene I beare it not to any mans person liuing God is my record much lesse to the Authours of the Appeale and the Approbation I know none whom I hate more then my sinfull selfe But the Lord knowes it is no small greife to me that I am thus forced to sharpen my style Which if it seeme tarter to thy Palate then may sure with Christian moderation and modesty examine I pray thee whether the long custome of Court-smoothing and eare-pleasing specially in Diuine matters haue not bred such a delicacy in the soules tast as that downe right zeale for Gods glory can hardly finde a slomack to take it downe or digest it but is reiected as a bitter pill or potion of such Patients as account the remedy worse then the disease Zeale will not passe now but for fury or rude incinility at the best But ab initio non erat sic In old time it was lawfull to call a spade a spade Saint Peter dealt roundly with Simon Magus for his Simony Thy money perish with thee How sharpe was Paul with Elimas the Sorcerer for going about to turne away the Deputy fioÌ„ the faith O full of all subtilty and all mischiefe thou child of the Deuill thou enemy of all righteousnesse c. And what would he haue said trow we to those men who goe about to turne away not a Deputy but a whole kingdome a well settled flourishing Church from the faith What if they were graue learned Diuines So much the worse If an enemy had done this it had ben more tolerable but it was euen thou my guide and familiar freind I will not adde Dauids imprecation but rather aduise them as Peter did Simon to pray that if it be possible the sinne not of their heart onely but of their hand may be forgiuen How did Paul though but a young Apostle reproue the prime Apostle Peter onely for a matter of dissimulation in his conuersation not any default in his preaching And shall wee not zealously resist those to the face that noâ— now dissemblingly anymore but with opeÌ„ profession approue auow stafly maintaine grosse and greiuous heresies deuised by the Deuil to betray Gods glory and mans saluation That sticke not to call the Doctrinas of Pradestination freewill and the like Scholasticall speculations meerely questions of obscurity not fit for pulpits and popular eares but procuring rather discord and troubles in
Church and State then serue to edification c. Appeale pag. 42. 78. 80. Which speeches and the like whether doe they tend but to suppresse those Doctrines of the Gospell whereby God is most glorified and man most humbled shall we spare such When Policarpus met Marcion the hereticke casually and neglecting him was asked of him Dost thou not know vs He replyed I know thee for the Diuels eldest childe Such was the zeale of holy men in times past against not onely those that were Hereticks but hinderers of the truth The Apostle wished that those false teachers of legall righteousnesse were euen cut off which troubled the Church of Galatia Therefore what cause any faithfull Minister of Christ hath to vse sharpnesse of stile to seditious seducers and troublers of Church and State in so famous a Kingdome in so perilous a season too let any indifferent man iudge And consider iudicious Reader if we had not a King seasoned from his very cradle with the knowledge of the true faith of Christ hauing now growne vp therein to a goodly ripenesse in regard whereof we haue small cause to suspect his constancy herein iâ—to what danger were we and Gods religion brought when such kind of Ministers are not wanting to helpe forward the reerecting of the Romish Baal in our Land had they but a young Manasses to restore the Altars and Groues which the good King Ezechiah his Father had pulled downe But to conclude sith these two fore named Worthies worthy to be named againe the Reuerend Bishop of Chichester Dostor Carlton and the Worshipfull Maister Francis Rovs haue so learnedly and zealously confuted some materiall points in the Appeale which like expert archers making speciall choyse of for their marke they haue hit home although I could haue wished that they had with no lesse felicity coped with the rest of the materialls in the booke yet sith they haue ben pleased to leaue behind them some liberall gleanings yea some whole ricks of tares to be cut vp and carried away from Gods wheat field I will craue leaue to shew at least my good will in all hoping my defects will finde pardon of all them who though they can yet forbeare to make their best supply The blasphemer was to be stoned of the whole Congregation some hitting one part some another till he were beaten downe and buried vnder the heape Yet in this Impression the Plea reacheth no farther then the first part of the Appeale Which if it finde courteous intertainment the other part is forth comming and wants but time to helpe the slownesse of the Presse to bring it forth Farewell Thine in the Lord H. B. Good Reader correct these faults with thy pen with others of smaller note The rest are noted in the end of the booke Amend first then reade Page 7 line 19 reade scantling l. 28 r. Doctrines p. 51 l. 13. r. preuifion p. 52 l 6 r. â—ssâ—s p. 54. l. 21. r. 4. 5. l. 29 r. sâ—â—scos p. 82. l. 3 1. â—â—â—â—â—ude 10. l. 9 1. vn 〈◊〉 c. Whence l. 13 1. anima l. 24 1. prâ—â—â—ceth p. 83 l. 15 r. the beginnâ—ng p. 84. l. 35 1. into him p. 85 l. 24 r. quomodo p. 87 l 13 1. â—xecrated p. 91 l. 30 1 ground of hope l. 35 r. his Maiesties A PLEA TO AN APPEALE Asotus Babylonius Orthodoxus ASotus Master Babylonius you are well met Babylonius And you Master Asotus Asotus Sir I thanke you for your last good company at the Ordinary and especially for your both merry and learned discourse wherein among other passages you wittilie disciphered the nature of a Puritan that common opposite to vs both I was much delighted to heare you and haue often thought of you since and shall loue you the better for it for of all men I cannot away with these Puritans a precise sect crosse and contrary to all other men A man may not sweare an oath forsooth nor play the good fellow a little in drinking a cup or two more then needs for good fellowship-sake nor loue a wench and the like but wee must passe their most sharpe censure Nay hauing deeply waighed the matter I am perswaded that were it not for these Puritans wee and you should agree together as louing brethren and Countreymen Babylonius Are you aduised of that friend Asotus you haue hit the very nayle on the head and herein you discouer your wisdome and judgement For it were no hard matter I wis to reconcile you and mee and such as wee are as well in Religion and opinion as we are already in affection were it not for these make-bate Puritans And you haue well said in saying we and you for howsoeuer the Puritans both in England and beyond the seas I meane the Caluinists and Hugenots are called Protestants yet betweene them and vs Romane Catholicks there is a great Gulfe set so that there is no hope of reconciliation betweene vs. And indeed for those ciuill and good fellow Protestants whom I know you meane that hold of the Church of England and of the Doctrine of the Church for the prop and piller of their Faith there is great hope that they will ere long be reconciled to the holy mother Church of Rome for he that beleeueth as the Church beleeueth is not farre from the kingdome of God But these Puritans they will not acknowledge any rule of faith from the Church but are all for Scriptures Scriptures so that so long as they are of that minde there is no hope of reconciliation betweene vs and them vnlesse they will yeeld to this Manime That the Church is the Iudge and interpreter of the Scriptures which they most obstinately deny Asotus But by your leaue Master Babylonius I neuer vnderstood but that the Doctrine of the Church of England was all one with the Doctrine of the Scriptures as I euer haue ben taught Babylonius I will not take vpon me now to dispute that point but haue you not seene an excellent Booke set out of late by one of your most learned Ministers which he calls his Appeale to Caesar. Asotus I haue heard of it the Author is highly commended by some for a great Scholler but a great many on the other side and especially those we call Puritans doe very much condemne the booke saying it is written in the gall of bitternesse and with the spirit of sedition enough to set all in a combustion if his books should passe for currant Babylonius In the gall of bitternesse That was the doome of Saint Peter vpon Simon Magus but by such like puritanicall censures you may the better judge of the worthinesse of the booke which is both learnedly and wittily pend Asotus You say well I thinke neuer a whit the worse of the booke for the Puritans taxing of it nor the Author the lesse learned when you Master Babylonius sticke not so to commend him Babylonius I must needs ingenuously confesse that I like the booke the better
answere then hee did to them and so to all aduersaries of this Doctrine of the grace of God Nuâ— propter malos c Is the truth of this Doctrine to wit of praedestination to be forsaken or shall it bee thought worthy to bee cancelled out of the Gospell because of those that are wicked cold Let the truth be spoken especially where any question doth require it to be spoken that they may receiue it who are capable of it least haply while it is concealed in regard of those that are not able to receiue it they who are capable of the truth wherby falshhood may bee detected bee not onely defrauded of the truth but may be ouertaken with falshood And a little after Nonne potius est dicendum verum c. Is not the truth rather to be spoken that he which can receiue may receiue it than to be suppressed that not onely neither can receiue it but also he that is more intelligent may be made worse The enemy of grace is importunate and vrgeth by all meanes that it might be beleeued that it is giuen vnto vs according to our merits and so grace should now be no more grace and yet we will not speake that which by the testimonie of the Scriptures wee may speake for we feare forsooth lest if wee speake hee that cannot receiue the truth be offended and we feare not lest while we are silent he which is able to receiue the truth may be deceiued by error For either is praedestination so to be preached as the holy Scripture doth euidently declare it that in those that be praedestinate the gifts calling of God may be without repentance or else we must confesse that the grace of God is giueÌ„ according to our merits which is the opinion wisdome of the Pelagians And againe cap. 2 1. ibid. he saith Nimiae coÌ„tentionis est c. Itis too much peruersues to contradict praedestinatioÌ„ or yet to doubt of it Babylonius But you know that the late wise and judicious King IAMES of famous memory did inhibite and restraine the preaching of the Doctrine of Praedestination and Election Orthodoxus But in what respect His Maiestie did not restraine Preachers from the liberty of preaching the Doctrine of Praedestination it being a speciall part of the Gospell but rather to giue caution and direction at least to yonger Ministers and Diuines lest through want of mature judgment in the manner of opening that mystery and applying of it they might haply put a stumbling blocke before the inâ—udicious and ignorant hearer or those of weake consciences As Saint Aug. denies not but wisdome and discretion is to bee vsed in the preaching of it For saith he it is not so to be preached to the ignorant multitude as that the preaching of it may seeme worthy of reproofe Nam dolosi vel imperiti medici est c. It is the propertie of a deceitfull or an vnskilfull Physitian so to apply euen a wholesome plaster as that either it doe no good or else hurt This was the minde of his Excellent Maiestie of blessed Memory in that his iniunction to aduise all Ministers to play the faithfull and skilfull Physitians in in the applycation of so wholsome profitable and comfortable a plaster and Doctrine as the Church of England calls it Art 17 though the Appealer doth flout his Informers and those which call Praedestination a comfortable doctrine Appeale pag. 39. But otherwise his Maiestie himselfe of blessed Memory hath left His royall record of this Diuine Doctrine in his learned and Diuine Paraphrase of the Reuelation the 20 chap. in the latter end in these words The Booke of life was opened to the Elect that all those those whose names were written into it to wit Praedestinated and Elected for saluation before all beginings might then be selected for eternall glory Babylonius Neither doth the Authour here simply oppose or question the Doctrine of Praedestination and Election but as it is deliuered by the new Diuines as hee calls them to wit Caluin and his fellowes whom he chargeth with a two-fold error as touching Praedestination The first is that they teach especially Caluin that Gods eternall election and praedestination was irrespectiue and absolute without any respect or reference to Adams fall The second error of Caluin is in deliuering the doctrine of praedestination in such a rigid manner as he doth Orthodoxus For Master Caluin there needeth none other Apologie then his owne Workes or Writings which shall euer praise him in the gate For his workes and in summe his Institutions if a man snatch at them as the Aegyptian dog doth at Nilus for feare of the Crocodile not obseruing his grounds taken from Scripture nor well waighing his reasons no maruell if such snatchers prepossessed with a preiudicate opinion can as easily opeÌ„ their mouths against such famous Authours as the Dog can barke at the Moone-shine But perhaps hee had no more quarrel to holy Caluin then that fellow had to just Aristides who not knowing Aristides by face but onely by fame that he was a just man came to him vnwittingly to craue him to write downe his name for him that hee might with the rest of the enuious Citizens consent to his banishment by their law of Ostracismon because he so much excelled others in honesty It may be he neuer read Caluins workes much lesse his Institutions to catechise him in the grounds of religion Or perhaps hee hates Caluin as Ahab did the Prophet Micaiah because his Doctrine is altogether against his Interim-religion with all his confederate Intermiists Orwhatsoeuer is the cause Thus did Heretickes by catching at the outward rinde and barke of some one part of Scripture maintaine their Heresies But I maruell what the Appealer could reade or heare of Master Caluin that hee should write so contemptuously of him sauing that he was a holy man faithfull and painfull in his calling exercised with continuall preaching writing watchfull prouidence in gouerning a man of great learning dexteritie of wit sincerity of judgment of great piety equity and sobriety of life a true patterne and precedent of vertue Therefore as Christ said Many good workes haue I done among you for which of these doe yee stone me so for which of Caluins vertues doth this Authour tongue-smite him The most noble and judicious King IAMES of happie Memory thought not so slightly of that learned Diuine while he prefered his Commentaries vpon the Scriptures before all others It were to be wished that the Authour going about to oppose such a worthy and famous man had imitated the heathen Academicke Carneades who intending to write against the positions of Zeno the Stoicke did first purge his stomacke and pectorall parts with white hellebore lest some malignant humour possessing the stomacke might distemper and imbitter his style which is no lesse a disparagment to a professed Christian Diuine than was wont to be of old to the Heathen
lost nature but grace this seemes to imply that Adam in his innocency had grace For else no man can be said to loose what he neuer had But what grace The grace that comes by Iesus Christ which is the onely grace the Scripture speaketh of Surely that he had not for before his fall he needed not Christ as Augustine saith yet he addeth Adam non habuit gratiam imo habuit magnam sed disparem Had not Adam grace yes great grace but farre vnlike that which commeth by Iesus Christ. He might be saide rather to haue naturall graces that is all ornaments and endowments of an absolute and compleat naturall man as hee was then simply that which the Scriptures calleth grace for grace came by Iesus Christ. But this by the way The two principall things I note is first his allegation of the Councell of Trent touching freewill the second his approbation of it seconded with his owne dâ—finiâ—iue sentence tanquam in Cathedra So that howsoeuer he seeme to hold with the Church of England and of Protestants in the point of freewill yet the whole concatenation of his other Doctrines with this as of falling from grace totall or finall praedestination vpon a Preuision of mans willingnesse to receiue grace vniuersally offered and the like doth necessarily conclude that he holds the very freewill of the Pelagians not only that of the Pontificians For all these Heresies are so combined together as so many members compact in one inâ—â—re body or as so many wheeles in a rack each receiuing motion from other But for breuitie because he makes no difference betweene the Decree of the Councell of Trent and his owne yea and the Tenent of the Protestants Church therefore it shall suffice to touch vpon the Councel of Trent onely and so if that proue sound well and good For then the Protestant Church holding therein with the Councel of Trent will proue to be beholden to the Appealer else but a little for shuffling vs in the same pack of Trents freewill I take his words pag. 98. quoted out of his former booke of the Gagge for which he is taxed Our conclusion saith he to the Popish Gagger and yours is all one wee cannot we do not deny freedome of will in man whose doth so is no Catholicke I adde no nor Protestant These bee his words Now all the controuersie about freewill is it not in regard of the grace of Christ with relation vnto it Else what needes all the stirre about it For that is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therein lyes the state of the Question For all confelle as well Protestants as Papists that the naturall man hath some reliquâ—eâ— left of Adams naturall freewill we yeeld it not to bee altogether extinct no more then his other faculties of the soule But the Protestant Church the Church of England denyeth that by nature we haue any freewill dispositiue to grace But this is the marke which the Councell of Trent the standard rule of the Romish Church shoote at namely to aduance mans naturall freewill vnto grace onely confessing it is so weakened maimed by the fall of Adam that it needeth some diuine helpe to enable it the better to receiue grace As St. Augustine noteth of some more refined Pelagians who though they will not confesse that those are Praedestinate which by Gods grace are made obedient and permanent yet they confesse a kinde of preuenting grace But how Ideo vtique c. No otherwise but least grace should be thought to be giuen gratis as the truth speaketh but rather according to the merits of mans precedent will as the Pelagian error gainsayeth against This being also the Doctrine of the Councell of Trent howsoeuer the Appealer iumpe with them and ioyne the right hand of fellowship yet for ought I know hee must goe alone with them for any consent or countenance the Church of England will giue him in this his confederation For all orthodox true Protestants deny disclaime any freewill at all in a naturall or vnregenerate man vnto grace I meane the sauing grace of Christ. Naturall men haue it not no nor Adam in his purest naturalls euer had such a freewill For the will must follow the vnderstanding seeing it cannot affect good vnlesse first the vnderstanding apprehend it For Ignoti nulla cupido That which a man knowes not he desires not That the eye seeth not the heart sueth not after To this purpose Aquinas saith well that Those things which pertaine to faith doe exceed humaine reason And Man by assenting to those things which are of faith is eleuated aboue his nature And againe Hoc est ex institutitione diuinae prouidentiae c. This is by the appointment of diuine prouidence that nothing should worke beyond its proper vertue But eternall life saith he is a certaine good exceeding the proportion of created nature because it also transcendeth the knowledge and desires of it And hee concludeth that not euen Adam could attaine to eternall life without a supernaturall grace What needes then all that adoe about the quantity and measure of naturall freewill remaining â—n man when it wants the qualâ—â—y and property to qualifie it any way towards grace There is in vs as naturall men a naturall freewill still it is no more lost then other naturall faculties the poore reliques of Adams perfections but this will is but naturall it reacheth no higher then to naturall obiects So that while the Church of Rome or the Councel of Trent so much adoring her Goddes Freewill yet withall is forced to acknowledege a debility and lamnesse in it they would faine perswade the world that there is yet in our nature some antique venerable reliques of freewill disposing vnto grace Hence it is that they haue a whole chapter of Preparation vnto grace wherein they touch vpon freewill as being the ground sandy though it be of their preparatory workes vnto faith and iustification as also of all their meritorious workes And therefore are they so eager to maintaine and treasure vp at least some Reliques of Adams freewill least all should be attributed to Grace and nothing to Nature and then farewell all Merit either of congruity by preparation to grace or of condignity to glory So that for this very reason they anatheâ—ze all those that say Freewill is altogether lost Wherein if they will not confesse that they which say so meane that a man vnregenerate hath no freewill vnto grace then they cunningly equiuocate But the case is plaine all that their Doctrine driueth at is to aduance mans naturall freewill vnto grace as much as is possible Therefore they say that these remaines of freewill in man though much lessened and sore bruised with Adams fall yet neede but a kinde of stirring vp and awakning as it were oriogging on the elbow or helping vp being downe So that it shares stakes with their first grace as they tearme it though in hypocrisy