stone and setting a watch for feare lest his Disciples should come by night and steale him away and say that hee was risen What these vile miscreants vainely did in Antichristian doe you Right noble Christians in true Christian Policie Pelagius with his late-born brat Arminius hath beene oft times buried by sundry Ancient some Moderne Councels and Fathers of the Church but yet they haue alwaies risen from the dead againe to the great disquiet of all true Christian Churches If then you chance to crucifie them once againe as now wee hope wee pray you may for feare their life proue all our deathes they being the Archest Traitors to our Church our State our soules and sauing Grace you must not only see them intombed for the present though it be in graues of stone but likewise watch and seale their Sepulchres making them sure for all succeding Ages by some inexorable strict and vigilant Acts of Parliament which no Charme no Wile no Force or Policie may euade Else their Disciples will come by night againe as they haue oft times done and steale them quite away and not onely say but to our great disturbance prooue that they are once more risen from the dead So shall their last resurrection be farre worse our second danger your latter Error farre greater then the first which God forbid Now the GOD of grace and wisdome so ayde direct and guide your Honours with his Spirit in this great weighty Worke which needes an heauenly power to accomplish it that wee to our vnutterable ioy and comfort may now at last behold our drooping and declining Orthodox Religion the onely Center Pillar Bulwarke Garrison Honour Treasure and conseruer of our declining State which ebbes and flowes together with it reuiued aduanced established and secured once againe against all Forraine all Domestique hostile Forces all Stratagemes that oppugne it and that all our eyes may see with triâ—mph all Popery all Olde all Newe Pelagianisme with all the grand Fomentors and Master-springs that feede them in despight of all their new-erected and much adored Altar-Idols arraigned at your dreadfull Barre condemned at your great Tribunall executed before your faces layd dead and prostrate at your feet interred in some brasen Dungeon yea sealed vp and strictly watched with such enuironing cautelous ir-repealable and adamantine Lawes as may so presse them downe for all eternitie that they may neuer raise themselues nor yet bee raised in our Church againe Amen Amen Your Honours in all humble seruice whiles you stand for Christ Religion Church or Countrey WILLIAM PRYNNE TO THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHERS IN GOD THE arch-ARCH-BISHOPS and Bishops of the Church of ENGLAND RIGHT Reuerend Fathers in God in whose pious integrity and industrious vigilancie the chiefest safety in whose vnfaithfulnesse negligence or insollidity the greatest hazard the inevitablest danger of our Protestant Church and long professed religion are suspended I here most humbly tender vnto your fatherly and pious considerations an vninterrupted Antithesis of the Church of England from her very first reformation to this present against that most venemous Semi-pelagian heresie and those Arminian Novelties which haue of late invaded yea much endangered her ancient established and professed Doctrines which your Ecclesiasticall Dignities and frequent Subscriptions to the Articles Homilies Tenents of our Church engage you in a more speciall manner to protect It is not yea it cannot be vnknowne to your grauities that olde Pelagius and Faustus who haue lyen dead and rotten in their graues 1100 yeares or more haue by a kinde of Pythagorean Metempsy chosis revived in Arminius and his followers now of late as Origen Priscillian and Iouinian did in them and not onely spoken openly against the grace of God and doctrines of our Church which is miserable but even publikely preached and written against them in our Church without any Ecclesiasticall censure or controll which is farre worse It was the complaint of a Reuerend and learned Prelate of our Church about some ten yeares since in an Epistle Dedicatorie vnto his Maiesty then Prince of Wales That the stinking vapors of Arminius whose heresies hee there learnedly encounters had beene blowne ouer from the Belgique shores vpon our English coast and so infatuated some of our Diuines that leauing the beaten and approued path of faith they betooke themselues vnto the crooked wayes and praecipices of Arminius destroying the Articles of our Religion with their Tenents which they had formerly confirmed by their owne subscription What hee lamented and condoled then we haue much more cause to complaine of now when as these contagious vapours haue not onely dangerously infected many but likewise animated some Goliahs to bid professed defiance to the host of Israel in Arminius his quarrell and to take vp armes in his defence against the oft resolued and subscribed Doctrines of their Mother Church who hath enriched them with sundry fauours and yet alas Ab Ecclesia siquidem haereseos impugnator expellitur et nutriri in sinu Ecclesiae haereticus inuenitur the impugners of Arminius his Champions haue beene questioned and molested when as they were neuer hitherto once publikely conuented by any Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction for these their dangerous Innouations When these Arminian Errours were first broached by Barret and Baro in Queene Elizabeths happy Raigne the zeale of our Reverend Prelates and Vniuersity heads was such that they forthwith proceeded iudicially against them not suffering them to rest or harbour in our Church But alas the cowardice indulgency and luke warmnesse of our age is such that those who haue succeeded them in their Episcopall Dignities not their zeale some few only excepted whose paucity indears theÌ„ more to God to man and adds vnto their praise haue scarce so much as once opened their mouths in publike against those Arminian theeues and robbers who by their secret pollicies and publike writings haue lately preyed vpon the sheepe and Doctrines of our Church But now since our religious Soueraine hath publikely professed in his late Declaration to all his louing Subiects to maintaine the true Religion and doctrine established in the Church of England of which the Anti Arminian Tenents comprised in this Antithesis are the chiefest branch without admitting or conniuing at any backsliding either to Popery or Scisme and hath called God to record that he will never giue way to the authorizing of any thing whereby any innovation may steale or creep into the Church but preserue that vnity of Doctrine and Discipline established in the time of Queen Elizabeth In whose Raigne Arminianisme was particularly exiled â—ndour Anti-Arminian Assertions settled in our Church whereby our Church of England hath stood and flourished ever since Since King Edward the 6. Queene Elizabeth and King Iames of blessed memory an implacable professed Antagonist to Arminianisme to Arminians to his dying day with all our learned Prelates Divinity
will giue according to his purpose and promise that which we require Qu. Doe the Children of God feele the motions aforesaid alwayes alike Ans. No truely for God sometime to prooue his seemeth to leaue them in such sort that the flesh ouermatcheth the Spirit whereof ariseth trouble of conscience for the time yet the spirit of adoption is neuer taken from them that haue once receiued it else might they perish But as in many diseases of the body the powers of the bodily life are letted So in some assaults the motions of spirituall life are not perceiued because they lie hidden in our manifold infirmities as the fire couered with ashes Yet as after sickenesse commeth health and after cloudes the Sunne shiâ—eth cleare so the powers of spirituall life will more or lesse be felt and percieued in the children of God Qu. What if I neuer feele these motions in my selfe shall I despaire and thinke my selfe a castaway An. God forbid for God calleth his at what time he seeth good and the instruments whereby he vsually calleth haue not the like effect at all times yet is it not good to neglect the meanes whereby God hath determined to worke the Saluation of his For as waxe is not melted without heate nor clay hardened but by meanes thereof so God vseth meanes both to draw those vnto himselfe whom he hath appointed vnto Saluation and also to bewray the wickednesse of them whom hee iustly condemneth Qu. By what meanes vseth God to draw men to himselfe that they may be saued Ans. By the preaching of his word and the ministring of his Sacraments thereunto annexed c. These Questions and Answers concerning Predestination which are full and punctuall to our purpose were alwayes Printed at the ende of the olde Testament and bound vp and sold Cum Priuilegio with this Authorized Translation of the Bible till the yeare 1614. since which no Bibles of this sort were printed Wee may therefore vse it as a pregnant testimony and punctuall declaration of the Doctrine of our Church in the particular points of Controuersie hereafter mentioned The Synod of Dort held in the yeares of our Lord 1618. 1619. at Dort in the Netherlands I meane not to recite the seuerall Articles and Conclusions of this late famous Synod conuented by the pious care and prouidence of our late Soueraigne King Iames at which the eminentest Protestant Diuines of most Reformed Churches were assembled and among the rest siue selected English Diuines to wit Dr. Carlton late Bishop of Chichester Dr. Dauenat now Bishop of Salisbury Dr. Belcanquell Deane of Rochester Dr. Samuel Ward publike Diuinity Professor in the Vniversity of Cambridge and Doctor Thomas Goade who not onely as Priuate men but as representatiue persons of the Church of England subscribed the seuerall Articles and Conclusions there resolued witnesse Theologorum magnae Britanniae Sententia in the Acts of the Synod at large The little English Synod of Dort and Dr. Ward his Suffragium Britannorum to which I shall referre you with a bare quotation they being obuious to mens hands and tedious to transcribe A COPPYE OF A RECANTATION OF certaine Errors raked out of the dunghill of Poperie and Pelagianisme publiquely made by Master Barret of Kayes Colledge in Cambridge the tenth day of May in this present yeere of our Lord 1595. in the Vniuersitie Church called Saint Maries in Cambridge which Errors he together with Maister Haâ—rsnet of Penbrooke Hall did rashly hold and maintaine Translated â—ut of Latine into English Anno. 37. Elizabeth PReaching in Latine not long since in the Vniuersitie Church Right Worshipfull many things slipped from me both falsely and rashly spoken whereby I vnderstand the mindes of many haue beene grieued to the end therfore that I may satisfie the Church and the Truth which I haue publiquely hurt I doe make this publique Confession both repeating and reuoking my Errors First I said that no man in this transitorie World is so strongly vnderpropped at least by the certainetie of Faith that is vnlesse as I afterwards expounded it by Reuelation that hee ought to bee assured of his owne Saluation But now I protest before God and acknowledge in my Conscience that they which are iustified by Faith haue peace towards God that is haue reconciliation with God and doe stand in that Grace by Faith therefore that they ought to bee certaine and assured of their owne Saluation euen by the certaintie of Faith it selfe Secondly I affirmed that the Faith of Peter could not faile but that other mens Faith may for as I then said our Lord prayed not for the Faith of euery particular man But now being of a better and more sound Iudgement according to that which Christ teacheth in plaine words Iohn 17. 20. I pray not for these alone that is the Apostles but for them also which shall beleeue in me through their word I acknowledge that Christ did pray for the Faith of euery particular Beleeuer and that by the vertue of that Prayer of Christ euery true Beleeuer is so staied vp that his Faith cannot faile Thirdly touching perseuerance vnto the end I said that that certainetie concerning the time to come is proude forasmuch as it is in his owne nature contingent of what kind the perseuerance of euery man is neither did I affirme it to bee proud onely but to bee most wicked But now I freely protest that the true and iustifying Faith whereby the Faithfull are most neerely vnited vnto Christ is so firme as also for the time to come so certaine that it can neuer bee rooted vp out of the mindes of the Faithfull by any tentations of the Flesh the World or the Diuell himselfe So that hee which once hath this Faith shall euer haue it for by the benefit of that iustifying Faith Christ dwelleth in vs and wee in Christ therefore it cannot but be both increased Christ growing in vs daily as also preseuere vnto the end because God doeth giue constancy Fourthly I affirmed that there was no distinction in Faith but in the persons beleeuing In which I confesse that I did Erre Now I freely acknowledge that temporary Faith which as Bernard witnesseth is therefore fained because it is temporary is distinguished and differeth from that sauing Faith whereby sinners apprehending Christ are iustified before God for euer not in measure and degrees but in the very thing it selfe Moreouer I adde that Iames doth make mention of a dead Faith and Paul of a Faith that worketh by loue Fiftly I added that forgiuenesse of sinnes is an Article of Faith but not particular neither belonging to this man nor to that man that is as I expounded it that no true Faithfull man either can or ought certainely to beleeue that his sinnes are forgiuen But now I am of another minde and doe freely confesse that euery true Faithfull man is bound by this Article of Faith to wit I beleeue the forgiuenesse of sinnes certainely to beleeue that his owne
those of these contradictorie Arminian and Anti-Arminian Assertions which are most consonant to least variant from and best warranted or confirmed by the Articles of England Lambheht and Ireland the Common-Prayer Booke and Homelies of our Church and the Cathechismes and-Recantation fote-recited must needs be the receiued established and professed Doctrine of our English Church 2 Secondly that those and those onely of the here-recorded iarring Positions which were are at first commended and transmitted to our infant Church by our religious and learned Martyrs in the dayes of Henry the VIII who then subscribed them with their hands and Sealed them with their owne blood which were afterward taught and planted in the grouth and reformation of our Church by our learned and eminent Diuinity Professors in the flourishing and religious Raigne of King Edward the VI. which were watered with the fruitfull showers of our blessed Martyrs blood in the fire and fagot-regiment of Queeneâ— Mary through the malice and cruelty of blood-sucking soule-staruing and non-preaching Prelates and haue euer since growne vp and flourished in our spredding Church in the peaceable and happy Raignes of Queene Elizabeth and King Iames of blessed memorie being alwayes publikely constantly vnanimously professedly and vncontrolablie entertained in both our famous Vniuersittes taught in our Diuinitie Schooles iustified in our Academicall Disputes preached in our Pulpits maintained propagated and recorded to posteritie as the vndoubted Doctrine of our Church not by some one or two vnorthodox ambitious time-seruing nouellizing Sycophanticall or romanized Diuines who know no other passage to their owne secure vp-rising but by religions downefall which they enterprise but by the streame current of all our Classicall orthodox eminent approued Writers from the beginning of Reformation to this present must needs be the hereditarie legitimate authorized established and professed Doctrine of the Church of England and the vndoubted truth 3 Thirdly that such of those Tenents now in issue which haue beene constantly oppugned refelled and disclaimed yea positiuely condemnedâ— by all the fore-alledged Articles Common-prayer Booke Homelies Cathechismes Recantation and by all the learned and approued orthodox Authors which our Church hath nourished and produced from her first reformation to this instant cannot bee deemed or adiudged the ancient embraced resolued or vndoubted Doctrine of our English Church These three infallible rules of tryall being thus praemised if I can now but proue that the Articles of England Lambheth and Ireland the Common-prayer Booke and Homelie of our Church the authorized Cathechisme of Edward the VI. the recantation of Barret c. together with our renowned Martyrs Vniuersities Diuinitie Schooles and Professors and the whole succession and series of all our orthodox and approued Writers from the inchoation of reformation to this present haue alwayes constantly professedly and in direct and positiue tearmes maintained iustified and patronized these seuen Anti-Arminian Positions here recorded oppugning reiecting and manifestly condemning the seuen opposite Arminian Tenents as Pelagian Popish erronious and euidently repugnant to the Scriptures and dogmaticall Resolutions of out Church it mâ—st then be forthwith yeelded to me and adiudged foâ— me That these Anti-Arminian not their ad uerse Arminian Assertions are the ancient approued resolued established and professed Doctrine of the Church of England And this by the helpe of God I come now to proue For the first of these Anti-Arminian Positions concerning the aeternity and immutability of Election and Reprobation the vnalterable praecise certaine number both of the Elect the only true Church of Christ and Reprobate in regard of Gods fore-knowledge and Decree and the Election of certaine particular persons not of all beleeuers nor yet generally of all men in the grosse It is directly positiuely and plainely taught confirmed and warranted by the fore-aledged 17. Article of our Church by the Articles of Lambheth Article 1. 3. by the Articles of Ireland Articles 12. 13. 14. 15. by the Booke of Common prayer established by Act of Parliament in our Church Proposition first figure 1. signifying the first of these Anti-Arminian Propositions to which it hath relation by the approued and setled Homelies of our Church figures 1. throughout their seuerall passages here recorded by the Cathechismes of King Edward the VI. figures 1. by Barrets Recantation and the synod of Dort Arti. 1. 2. which are punctuall in it Adde wee to these publicke irrefragable and binding Records the expresse concurrent suffrages of three of our eminent and learned Martyrs whom laborious and studious Master Fox in his Praeface to their workes printed together at London 1563. by Iohn Day which Edition I here follow hath truely stiled the cheife Ring-leaders of the Church of England to wit Master William Tyndale in his Paraeble of the wicked Mommon page 70. 77. 80. In his Answere to Master Moores Dialogue page 250. 257. 268. 290. 292. In his Answere to Master Moores second Booke cap. 3. 4. pa. 293. 294. Answere to his third Booke page 306. 307. Answere to his fourth Booke cap. 10. page 329. and in his Pathway into the holy Scriptures page 380. Master Iohn Frith in his Answere vnto Rastals Dialogue page 10. in his Declaration of Baptisme page 92. 93. and Master Doctor Barnes what the Church is page 248. That Freewill of her owne strength can doe nothing but sinne page 227. 278. 279. Who maintained this Assertion in these workes of theirs and confirmed it with their blood in the dayes of Henry the VIII oppugning and condemning the contrary Descend wee vnto Edward the VI. his pious Raigâ—e here wee shall finde that learned Doctor Peter Martyr a man so eminent and famous in his age that hee was chosen and setled Diuinity Pâ—ofessor in the famous Vniuersity of Oxford my much honored Mother both by the King and State who sent for him from beyond the seas to this very purpose abundantly confirming this truth and for all its fellow Positions and copiously refuting the opposite Assertions in his laborious and learned Commentarie on the Romanes cap. 9. being nothing else as himselfe professeth in his Epistle Dedicatorie but the pâ—blicke Lectures which he read in the Vniuersitie of Oxford whiles hee was there Professor Tiguri 1559. pag 682. to 740. and in his Loci Communes Classis 3. cap. 1. sect 10. to 40. Here we may meete with his learned and intire Friend and fellow Professor of Diuinitie in the Vniuersitie of Cambridge by the States especiall appointment Master Martin Bucer who concurred in all points of Doctrine with him without the least dissent maintaining this and â—ts associated Positions repugning all the contrary in his Commentarie on Rom. 8. 30. cap. 9. 11. to 23. cap. 11. 2. to 6. Dedicated to our Religious Martyr Archbishop Cranmer and in sundry other of his workes both of them planting this first and all its subsequent Anti-Arminian Conclusions in both our famous Vniuersities who together with the whole Church of England as
by diuers Batchellors in Diuinity proceeded in the examination of the cause according to our Statutes and vsuall manner of proceeding in such causes whereby it appeareth by sufficient testimonies that Doctor Baroe hath offended in such things as his Articles had charged him withall There is also since the former another complaint praeferred against him by certaine Batchellors in Diuinity that he hath not onely in that Sermon but also for the space of these 14. or 15. yeeres taught in his Lectures preached in Sermons determined in the Schooles and printed in seuerall Bookes diuers points of Doctrine not onely contrary to himselfe but also contrary to that which hath beene taught and receiued euer since her Maiesties raigne yet agreeable to the Errors of Popery which we know your Lordship hath alwayes disliked and hated So that we who for the space of many yeeres past haue yeelded him sundry benefits and fauours here in the Vniuersity being a stranger and forborne him when hee hath often himselfe busie curious inalienarepublica broached new and strange questions in Religion now vnlesse we should be carelesse of maintaining the truth of religion established and of our duties in our places cannot being resolued and confirmed in the Truth of the long professed and receiued Doctrine but continue to vse all good meanes and seeke at your Lordships hands some effectuall remedy hereof least by permitting passage to these Errors the whole body of Popery should by little and little breake in vpon vs to the ouerthrow of our Religion and consequently the withdrawing of many here and elsewhere from true obedience to her Maiestie May it therefore please your good Lordship to haue an honourable consideration of the premises and for the better maintaining of peace and the truth of Religion so long and quietly receiued in this Vniuersity and Church to vouchsafe your Lordships good ayde and aduice both to the comfort of vs wholy consenting and agreeing in iudgement and all others of the Vniuersity soundly affected and to the suppression in time not only of these Errors but euen of grosse Popery like by such meanes in time easily to creepe in among vs as wee finde by late experience it hath dangerously begun Thus crauing pardon for troubling your Lordship commending the same in prayer to the Almighty God we humbly take our leaue From Cambridge the 8. of March 1595. Your Lordships humble and bounden to be commanded Roger Goade Procan R. Some Thomas Legge Iohn Iegon Thomas Neuill Thomas Preston Humphry Tyndall Iames Mountague Edmund Barwell Iames Chaderton THe seuerall obseruations from this Letter I haue briefely touched in the margent yet giue me leaue to trauerse them once againe since repetition will make them more obseruable First it is euident by this Letter that the Articles of Lambheth are no fained no priuate Articles or priuate spirits as some repute them since not only our two Arch-Bishops and their other Associates but euen the whole Vniuersity of Cambridge concurred in their composition in their two famous Doctors Tyndall and Whitakers men specially chosen by them for this purpose Secondly that the Articles of Lambheth which were afterwards printed at Cambridge by themselues and since that with the last Lectures of Doctor Whitakers were after their constitution approued and receiued by the Vniuersity of Cambridge who inioyed much peace and quiet by them which disproues that forged storie of Coruinus touching the reuocation of the Articles by Queene Elizabeth and of Bishop Whitgifts incurring a Praemunire and the Queenes displeasure by them Thirdly that the Articles of Lambheth containe in them no noualties but only the substantiall points of Religion taught and receiued in the Vniuersity of Cambridge the Church of England and consented vnto by the best approued Diuines both at home and abroad during the whole raigne of Queene Elizabeth Therefore we may safely embrace them as a full declaration of the professed and vndoubted Doctrines of our Church Fourthly that our Anti-Arminian Conclusions directly opposite to Barrets and Baroes Errors which this Letter mentions are the resolued and confirmed truth yea the receiued established and long professed Doctrines of the Chuch of England and the Vniuersity of Cambridge Fiftly that the Arminian Errors for these only were Barrets and Baroes Errors of which this Letter speakes are agreeable to Popery and quite contrary to the Religion taught and receiued in the Church of England euer since Queene Elizabeths raigne Sixtly that Arminianisme is but a Bridge or Vsher vnto grosse Popery yea a meanes to draw away Subiects from their obedience to his Maiestie and to bring in the whole body of Popery into our Church by little and little then all which obseruacions there can be nothing more punctuall or aduantagious for our Anti-Arminian positions more opposite or disaduantagious to these Arminian Errors Compare this Letter and its seuerall passages with the Recantation of Barreâ— with the Vniuersity Order formerly quoted and then it will be vndeuiably euident that our praesent Assertions were formerly held the vndoubted and resolued Doctrines of the Church of England by the whole Vniuersity of Cambridge and dare any of her Heads or members disclaime or disauow them now My second Euidence is the authority and resolution of my much honored Mother the Vniuersity of Oxford who from her Learned Diuinity Professor Peter Martyrs time who planted and propagated our Anti-Arminian Assertions in her in King Edwards dayes by his excellent Lectures on the Epistle to the Romans hath constantly to this very praesent embraced professed and publikely defended our present positions in her Diuinity Schooles as the vndoubted truth and Doctrine of our Church Witnesse the 4th Thesis of her incomparable Reinolds Sancta Catholica Ecclesia quam credimus est â—aetus Vniuersus Electorum Dei. Tractata in Schola Theologica Nouem 3. 1579. The solemne Anti-Arminian Lectures of her Reuerend and learned Regius Diuinity Professor Doctor Robert Abbot late Bishop of Salisbury De Gratia perseuerantia Sanctorum and De Veritate Gratiae Christi read publikely in her Diuinity Schooles in her Act time in the yeeres 1613. 1614. 1615. the professed Anti-Arminian Lectures of her vnparalled praesent Regius Diuinity Professor Doctor Iohn Prideaux De Absoluto Reprobationis Decreto De scientia media De Gratia Vniuersalâ— De Conuersionis modo De Perseuerantia Sanctorum De salutis Certudine and De salute Ethnicorum all which were solemnely read in her Diuinity Schooles at her publike Acts in the yeeres 1616. 1617. 1618. 1619. 1621. 1622. 1623. the publicke Anti-Arminian Lectures of her iudicious and learned late Lady Margaret Professor D. Sebastian Benefield De Sanctorum perseuerantia lib. 2. reade solemnely in her Schooles in the yeere 1617. and since that printed at Franckfort for their better dispersion into the parts of Germany in the yeere 1618. together with the late Act Questions of her proceeding Doctors of
Diuinity in the yeere 1627. which I shall here set downe in briefe as I find them printed QVESTIONES IN SACRA THEOLOGIA DISCVTIENDAE OXONâ—â—IN VESPERâ—S SEPTIMO DIE IVLH AN. DO 1627. Quaestiones inceptoris Accepti Frewen An Praedestinatio ad saluteÌ„ sit propter praeuisam fidem Neg. Praedestinatio ad salutem sit mutabilis Neg. Gratia ad salutem sufficiens concedatur omnibus Neg. Quaestiones inceptoris Cornelij Burges An Veri fideles possint esse certi de sua salute Aff. Fides semâ—l habita possit amitti Neg. Vera sides caedat in Reprobum Neg. Quaestiones inceptoris Christophori Potter An Eâ—â—icatia gratiae pendeat a libero influxu Arbitrij Neg. Christus Diuinae iustitiae vice nostra propriâ— integre satiffecerit Aff. Ipse actus fidei 〈◊〉 credere imputetur nobis in institiam sensu proprio Neg. All these recited testimonies of this my famous Mother Vniuersity who hath constantly bent her selfe against Arminius and his Followers together with the late conuinction of one Brookes a yong vngrounded Diuine before her Heads for broaching some Arminian Tenents in a Sermon at Saint Maries doe vndoubtedly proue our Anti-Arminian Assertions thus constantly defended professed and resolued by her chiefe Professors the vnquaeâ—tionable and receiued Doctrines of our Church That which both our Vniuersities haue constantly embraced professed patronized since the reformation to this preseÌ„t must needs be the ancient receiued and vndoubted Doctrine of our Church But both our Vniuersities haue euer from the beginning of Reformation to this present euen constantly embraced professed and protected our Anti-Arminian positions but oppugned their Arminian opposites this the present with the praecedent and subsequent euidences will infallibly demonstrate Therefore they must needs be the ancient receiued and vndoubted doctrine of our Church My 3. Euidence is the expresse confession of three reuerend Diuines of speciall note and credit in our Church The first of them is famous Doctor Whitakers who informeth vs in his last Sermon That the Church of England euer since the Ghospell was restored to 〈◊〉 hath alwayes held and embraced this opinion of Election and Reprobation which he there and we here maintaines This Bucer saith he in our Vniuersity this Peter Martyr at Oxford haue professed two eminent Diuines who haue most abundantly watered our Church with their streames in the dayes of King Edward whose memories shall be alwayes honourable among vs vnlesse we will be most vngratefull This opinion their Auditors in both our Vniuersities the Byshops Deanes and other Diuines who vpon the aduancement of our famous Queene Elizabeth to the Crowne returned either from exile or were released from the prisons into which they had beene thrust for the profession of the Ghospell or saued from the hands of persecuting Bishops those by whom our Church was reformed our Religion established Popery thrust out and quite destroyed all which we may remember though few of this kinde be yet liuing This opinion I say they themselues haue held and commended vnto vs in this faith haue they liued in this they dyed in this they alwayes wished that wee should constantly continue And shall wee then renounce this Opinion or quaestion whether it be the Doctrine of our Church or no Lastly I appeale saith he to our confession in which I am perswaded the same Doctrine which I haue this day handled is not obscurely deliuered not only because all our Articles were composed by the Disciples of Bucer and Martyr but euen out of the very words and meaning of the Confession and so he proceeds to proue his Doctrine to be warranted by our 17. Article by 5. seuerall Arguments The second Witnesse is Reuerend Bishop Carlton in his Examination of Master Mountagues Appeale cap. 2. where he writes thus The Church of England was reformed by the helpe of our learned and Reuerend Bishops in the dayes of King Edward the sixt and in the beginning of the Raigne of Queene Elizabeth They who then gaue that forme of reformation to our Church held consent in Doctrine with Peter Martyr and Martin Bucer being by authority appointed Readers in the two Vniuersities and with other then liuing whom they Iudged to be of best learning and soundnesse in the reformed Churches and of the Ancients especially with St. Augustine and were carefull to hold this Vnity amongst themselues and with the reformed Churches For that these worthy Bishops who were in the first reformation had this respect vnto P. Martyr and M. Bucer it is apparent both because the Doctrine of our Church doth not differ from the Doctrine that these taught and because that worthy Arch-Bishop Cranmer caused our Leiturgy to be Translated into Latine and craued the consent and iudgement of M. Bucer who gaue a full consent thereto as it appeareth in his workes Inter opera Anglicana And P. Martyr being likewise requested writeth in his Epistles touching that matter his iudgement and consent of the gouerment and discipline of our Church This vniformity of Doctrine was held in our Church without disturbance as long as those worthy Bishops liued who were employed in the reformation For albeit the Puritanes disquieted out Church about their conceiued Discipline yet they neuer mooued any quarrell against the Doctrine of our Church which is well to be obserued For if they had embraced any Doctrine which the Church of England denied they would assuredly haue quarrelled about that aswell as they did about the Discipline But it was then the open confession both of the Bishops and of the Puritanes that both parts embraced a mutuall consent in Doctrine onely the difference was in matter of inconformity Then hitherto there was no Puritane Doctrine knowne The first disturbers of this vniformity in Doctrine were Barret and Baroe in Cambridge and after them Thompson â—arret and Baroe began this breach in the time of that most Reuerend Prelate Arch-Bishop Whitgift Notwithstanding that these had attempted to disturbe the Doctrine of our Church yet was the vniformity of Doctrine still maintained For when our Church was disquieted by Barret and Baro the Bishops that then were in our Church examined the new Doctrine of these men and vtterly disliked and reiected it And in the point of Predestination confirmed that which they vnderstood to bee the Doctrine of the Church of England against Barret and Baro who oppugned that Doctrine This was fully declared by both the Arch-Bishops Whitgift of Canterbury and Hutton of Yorke with the other Bishops and learned men of both Prouinces who repressed Barret and Baro refuted their Doctrine and iustified the contrary as appeareth by that Booke which both the Arch-Bishops then compiled The same Doctrine which the Bishops then maintained was at diuers times after approued as in the Conference at Hampton Court as will be hereafter confirmed And againe it was confirmed in Ireland in the Articles of Religion in the time of our late Soueraigne Articulo 38. The Author of the
Appeale pleadeth against the Articles of Lambheth and iustifieth the Doctrine of Barret Baro and Thomson auerring the same to be the Doctrine of the Church of England This he doth not by naming of those men whose names he knew would bring no honour to this cause but by laying downe and iustifying their doctrines and suggesting that they who maintained the doctrines contained in the Articles of Lambheth are Caluinists and Puritanes So that those Reuerend Arch-Bishops Whitgift and Hutton with the Bishops of our Church who then liued are in his iudgement to be reiected as Puritans The question is Whether of these two positions wee must now receiue for the doctrines of our Church that which Barret Baro and Thompson would haue brought in which doctrines were then refuted and reiected by our Church Or that doctrine which the Bishops of our Church maintained against these men which doctrine hath been since vpon diuers occasions approued If ther were no more to be said I dare put it to the Issue before any indifferent Iudges Thus far this reuereÌ„d Bp. whose testimony alone might sufficiently determine our present Controuersie The third witnesse is Doctor Samuel Ward in his Concio ad Clerum preached in St. Maries in Cambridge Ianuary 12. 1625. page 45. This also saith he I can truely adde for a conclusion that the Vniuersall Church hath alwayes adhaered to St. Augustine in these points speaking before of some Anti-Arminian conclusions all which are fully related in his Suffragium Brittanorum annexed to this Clerum euer since his time till now the Church of England also from the beginning of reformation and this our famous Academie with al those who from thence till now haue with vs enioyed the Diuinity Chaires if we except one forraigne French man to wit Peter Baro one I say who by the vigilancy of our Ancestors and the large authority of the most Reuerend Arch-Bishop Whitgist was compelled to renounce his chaire haue likewise constantly adhaered to him And if to him then certainly to vs as the 2. part of his 7. To me which makes wholy for vs will infallibly euidence By these three seuerall testimonies it is abundantly euident that our Diuinity Professors and first reformers of Religion in King Edward the 6. his dayes our Reuerend and learned orthodox Diuines that either suffered or escaped Martyrdome in Queene Maries dayes our Bishops Diuines and learned Cleargie who composed our Articles in Queene Elizabeths dayes our famous Vniuersities of Oxford and Cambridge with all their Diuinity Professors from the beginning of reformation to this present excepting Baro who was conuented and in a manner expelled for his erronious Tenents together with the whole Church of England from her first reformation to this instant haue constantly approued vnanimously embraced and resolutely maintained our Anti-Arminian conclusions as the vndoubted resolutions and Doctrines of our English Church and will any man now be so audaciously absurd as to call them into question whether they are the Doctrines of our Church or no Not to speake of Master Samuel Ward or Master Carpenter or M. Deubtie or other of our late vnrecited writers who condemne Arminianisme in the grosse not yet to mention any of the fore-quoted Authors my 4th Euidence to proue our Anti-Arminian Tenents the vndoubted Doctrines of our Church is the authorized translating and printing in our English dialect not only of St. Augustines cheife workes against the Pelagians but euen of Caluin Beza Zanchius Bucaniâ—â— Trelcatius Bastingius Vrsin Kimedoncius Piscator Fayus Olenian Iunius Reniger and Moulins workes against the Pseudo-Lutherans and Arminians who passe for orthodox and approued Authors in our Church whom some stile a Caluinist Certainely if the Doctrine of our English Church were various from these Authors Tenents they being the greatest Anti-Arminians this day exstant their names would neuer be so venerable their workes not so highly esteemed in our Church as to be thus englished authorized sold and printed here among vs as we know they are without controll Since then our Church hath thus indenized and adopted these forraigne Authors with their Anti-Arminian Writings since she thus claimes them for and rankes them with her owne her Doctrines questionlesse are the same with theirs and so wholy ours not our Arminian Opposites whom all these pointblancke oppugne You haue seene now pious Readers what plentifull numerous punctuall full and faire Euidences Records and witnesses of all sorts and ages our Anti-Arminian Tenents haue produced to vindicate and proue themselues the ancient established professed resolued and vndoubted Doctrines of the Church of England Let vs now examine on the other side what euidences what testimonies these Arminian Errors can rake vp together to intitle themselues vnto our Church First of all they haue none of the fore-quoted Articleâ— Homâ—lies Common prayer Booke Chatechismes Synâ—d or Recantation no publike record or monument of our reformed Church to iustify them Yea all these as our Church hath alwayes hitherto expounded them doe positiuely condemne them for insufferable and branded Errors Secondly there is neuer a Martyr neuer a Diuinity Professor in either of our Vniuersities Baro a spurious Frenchman excepted neuer an orthodox or approued English Writer that I know off from the beginning of Reformation to this instant that can giue in any euidence in one particular point much lesse in all points on their side being rightly vnderstood where as we haue produced a whole Century of Authors if not more against there The only Authors that they can produce and those but partiall maimed and obscure witnesses not intire or perspicuous are Peter Baro in Queene Elizabeths Thompson in King Iames and M. Mountague and Iackson in King Charles his raigne men branded and condemned in our Church The first of these being an exortique Frenchman was solemnely conuented and censured for his erronious Bookes and Tenents first at Lambeth by the composers of the Lambheth Articles and afterwards in the Vniuersity of Cambridge by all the heads of Houses vpon the complaint of diuers Batchellors of Diuinity vpon which heâ— was forced to forsake that Vniuersity and our Kingdome too This branded and illegall witnesse then being at the very best a forraigner doth only marre not helpe their cause The second was but an Anglo-Belgicus a dissolute ebrious and luxurious English-Dutchman his Booke was denyed Licens here as being contrary to the Doctrine of the Church of England and being printed at Leyden after his death for want of licens here it was presently refelled by a reuerend and learned Prelate of our Church Doctor Robert Abbot Bishop of Salisbury whose Booke now extant was imprinted by authority and dedicated to our royall Soueraigne then Prince of Wales If then the life or posthumus Booke of this second Witnesse be examined his testimony will but cast not further not aduance their right The third of these Witnesses who was lately rumored to disclaime his testimony and
lerem 6. Ambros. De Vocatione Gentium libâ— 2. cap. 9. Folio 267. 5 5 * Part. 1. pag. 7. to 13. * Part. 2. Pag. 167. to 234. * Part. 1. pag. 13. to 29. a Perpetuitic of a Regenerate mans estate Edit 2. p. 322. to 329. b Mr. Wottons Dangerous plot discouered c. 11. sect 8. 9. p. 45. to 49. Mr. Yates Ibis ad Câ—â—sarem 2. Part. p. 133. to 140. 1 1 7 7 1 1 7 7 2 2 1 1 6 6 4 4 2 2 1 1 2 2 2 2 6 6 7 7 1 1 7 7 1 1 1 1 3 3 3 3 2 2 6 6 4 4 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 6 6 * The Heads therefore of the Vniuersity of Cambridge who composed this Recantation were of this opinion that the 17. Article doth make the will of God not sinne the true and primary cause of Reprobation therefore they recited it at large in the Latine Copy * They were vndoubtedly of their opinion in these points now controuersed * Therefore of their opâ—nion in our present Tenents * Allegauit dictas posiâ—â—onessaâ—sas erroneas repugnantesesse religioni in regno Angliae publica legâ—tima authoritate receptae stabilitae These are the words of the Articles exhibited against him by the Vice-chancellor * Habita matura deliberatione necnon visis et diligenter examinatis positionibus praedictis quia manifesto constabat positionesâ— praedictas errorem et falsitatem in se continere necnon aperte repugnare Religionâ— in Ecclesia Anglicana receptae ac stabilitae ideo iudicaberunt c. These are the expresse words of the Order entred in the Vniuersity Register * BB Carlton his Examination of Mr. Mountagues Appeale cap. 2 a Ephes. 1. 4. 2. Tim. 1. 9. ler. 1. 5. c. 31. 3 b Psal. 33. 11. Psa. â—9 28 33 34. Esa. 14. 24. 27. Mal. 3. 6. Rom. 9. 11. 2. Tim. 1. 9. c. 2. 19. Ephe. 1. 9. 11. c Mat. 20. 16. c. 24 40 41. Luke 17. 36. Ro. 9. 27. c. 11. 5 d Ephe. 4. 13. Rom. 8. 30. 2. Tim. 2. 19. Iohn â— 19. Reu. 21. 27. e Heb. 11. 23. and all Protestant 〈…〉 that write of the Church f Roâ— 9. 11 17. Iude 4. Mat. 24. 40. 41. g Exod 33. 19. Iohn 5. 11. Mat. 8. 2 3. c. 11. 27. Luk. 10. 21. Deut 7. 8. Hosea 14. 4. 1. Sam 12. 22. Iames 1. 18. Ro 9 11 to 27. c. 1â— 5. Eph 1 5 9 11. c. 2. 5 8. 2. Tim 1 9. h Deu. 7. 6 7 8 Eze. 16 6. Ro. 9. 11. 16. Mat. 24. 40. 41. Mal. 1. 2 3. i Cor 1. 26. 27 28. Ro. 11. 5 6 Mat. 25. 41 42. Rom. 2. 9. k Mat. 11. 25. c. 24. 40. 41. Luke 17. 38. Ro. 9. 11. 13. 17. to 33. Mal 1 2 3. l Ier 10. 2â— Pro. 16. 1. 9. Isay. 26. 12. Iohn 1â—5 5. 2. Cor. 3. 5. Psal. 2. 1â— Iohn 6. 44 m 1. Ioh. 2 1 2 n Mat 1. 21. Ioh 10â— 11 15 17. Eph. 1. 4 7 c. 5. 25 26. 27. Reu. 5. 1. c 5. 9. 10 see my Perpetuity â— p. 29. o Cant. 1. 4. Ro 8. 30. c. 9. 19 Rom 3. 7 Acts 16. 1. c â—6 1. 9 Eph 1. 10 19 Iohn 6. 37 1. Thes. 1. 4 5 6 9. Iob 9. 4 12. Psalâ— 115. 3. Psal. 135 6. Pro. 21. 1. 30. â—say 54. 21. c. 43. 13 see God no Imposter p 7. q Titus 1. â— Acts 13. 48. Rom. 11 7. r Psal. 37 24 Psal. 145 14 see my Perpetuity of a Regenerate mans estate * Quicquid vel omnes vel plures vâ—o â—odemque sensu manifeste frequenter perseueranter velut quodam sibi con 〈◊〉 Magistrorum Concilio acciâ—â—â—ndo teneÌ„dâ— tradeÌ„do firmauerint id prâ— indubitato certo ratoque habeatur Quicquid â—ero quaÌ„uis ille sanctus doctus quaâ—â—uis Episcopus quarauis Confessor Martyr praeter omnes autetiam contra omnes senserit id inter propriâ—s occultas priuatas opâ—â—â—â—â—culas a communis publicae generalis sententiae autheritate secretuÌ„ sit ne cum â—umo salutis aeternae-pericuâ—o iuxta sacrilegaÌ„ haereticorum scismaticoruÌ„ coÌ„â—uetudinem vniuersalis dogmatis veritate diâ—â—issa vnius hoÌ„inis noâ—itium sectemur errorem Vinâ—eÌ„tius LerineÌ„â—is CoÌ„tra hereses cap. 39. The probate of the first Anti-Arminian position to bee the vndoubted doctrine of the Church of England a 2. 3. Edw. 6 cap 1. 19. 3. 4. Ed. 6. cap. 10. 5. 6. Edw. 6. cap. 1. 1. Eliza. c. 1. 13. Eliz. cap. 12. b See Article 35. Henry the 8. Edward the 6. c See the Oration of his life and death before his Loci communes d Peter Martâ—â— Epistola nuncuÌ„patoria in Romanos Oratio de â—ita morte Petri Martiris prefixed to his Loci Communeâ— accordingly a Cignea Cantio Cantabrigiar Octo. 9. 1595. p. 15. 16. b Concio ad Clerum Cantabrigiae Ianu. 12. 1625. p. 45. c First sermon before King Edward Fol. 58. Queene Eliz. d Cignea Cantio p. 16. King Iames. * See his Meditation on the Lords Prayer his Paraphrase on the Reuelation c. 13. 8. c. 17. 8. * Meaning Pelagianisme * See Pelagiâ—â— Rediuitius Epistle to the Reader and King Iames his Cygnea Cantio newly printed Lâ—n 1619. p. 32. a Quicquid ciuitatis princept in honore habucrit necesse est iâ—sdem rebuâ— consentaneam reliquorum ciuium sententiam esse Aristotle Polit. l. 2. c. 9. p. 140. Nemo suos haet est aulae natura potentis sed Domini mores Caesaria nus habâ—t Martial Epigram l. 9. Epigr. 61. b Honestissimum â—st maiorum vâ—â— stigiasequi recte si praecesserim Plinie Epist. lib. 5. Epist 8. c Bishop Hall Epist. Decad 1. Epist â— * King Charles * See the Authors quoted in the 2. 3. Thesis next ensuing as punctuall to this purpose 2 Anti-Arminian Assertion 2. the constant proued to bee and received Doctrine of the Church of England * Henry the 8. * Edwa. the 6. * Queene Mary * Queene Elizabeth * So is he stiled by â— Hall Epist. decadâ— 1. Epist. 7. * B. B. Hall Epist Decad 1. Epist. 7. * See his Religion professed by the ancient luth p. 8. 9. accordingly The third Anti-Arminian position proued * See page 8. 9. * Lectâ—ra 1. De Absoluto Decreto sect 10 p. 25. * Henry the 8. * Edw the 6â— * Certe Regis auspicijsâ— a quae hic â—eges Oâ—onij postremoeius tempore docuiâ— cumque a menon peteretur tantum â—edessagitaâ—â—tur vtopuâ— extarâ—t acquie i. Queene Eliz. * King Iames. * King Charles The 4th Antâ— Arminian Conclusion ratified Peter Martyr Coment in Ro. 11. p. 96â— c. 5. p. 321. a Rom. 11. 5â— 7. c 9. 11. 13 1. 21. 23. 27 29. Mat. 11. 13 15. 16. Deut. 10. 15. c. 26. 18. Psal. 147. 19. 20. b Quicquid natura tradit aequale est omnibus statim Incertum est inequale quicquid ars tradit ex aequo venit quod natura