by more waies then by Sermons Howbeit I deny not but in some sense it may be truely said where vocall Preaching is not there the people perish not for that they want the Ordinary meanes as long as they haue the written word but because of their negligence and retchlesnesse who of themselues will not search the Scripture nor seeke the truth vntill others bring it home vnto them Thirdly they object that of the Apostle It pleased God by the foolishnesse of Preaching to saue them that beleeue where say they Faith and Salvation are tied vnto Preaching But first I deny that Preaching is here the making of a Sermon for it is not in the Originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports not the act of Preaching but the object or thing preached Hence Whitaker expresseth it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which is preached and Zanchy yet more manifestly by Doctrina Evangelica the doctrine of the Gospell And this indeed seemes foolishnes vnto the naturall man yet being knowne by what way soeuer it worketh Faith and is the power of God to â—alvation Secondly suppose that preaching of Sermons were here meant yet what consequence is this Sermons breed Faith ergo Reading doth not For both may This is their solemne errour they labour to shew what vertue sermons haue but never shew that such vertue belongs to Sermons only Lastly they obiect that of S. Paul to the Romans How shall they call on him in whom they haue not beleeued How shall they beleeue in him of whom they haue not heard And how shall they heare without a Preacher Here Invocation is chained to Faith Faith to Hearing and Hearing to Preaching This is their Achilles and therefore will wee endeauour to giue it full satisfaction First then graunt that Faith dependeth vpon such Preaching as may bee heard yet this lets not but it may be the effect of reading for when the word is publikely read I hope it is heard also But I answere secondly and more roundly to the purpose that Hearing in this place betokeneth not onely the outward act or as Philosophers call it passion of the eare but whatsoever else is analogicall and proportionable therevnto as namely Reading and Seeing and the like And herein least any should thinke me singular or to maintaine a strange Paradoxe it may please you to knowe that I am warranted both by the language of holy Scripture and the judgement of our best Divines In scripture the heavens and the firmament are said to haue a speech and when by seeing and contemplating them we learne the invisible things of God wee are said to heare their voice The word written hath in like manner a mouth a voice a speech giuen vnto it whereby it speaketh it cryeth it testifieth and when we looke vpon it or read if for our instruction we are said to heare They haue Moses and the Prophets let them heare them saith Abraham in the Parable and S. Paul Doe yee not heare the Law Scriptum enim est for it is written And if as Cyprian saith When we read God speaketh vnto vs how can it bee but that in reading we heare the voice of God When we receaue a letter from our friend wee are said to heare from him why not from God also when wee read his letter For so the Fathers stile the Scriptures Certainely our worthiest Divines conceaue of hearing no otherwise in this place Learned Iunius It will bee said Faith commeth by hearing the answer is ready Hearing is of the word whether it be spoken or written And againe As the word spoken and written differ only in this that the one is sounded in the ayre the other is apparelled in white paper and garded with blacke lines to the end one may see it and hold it by the coat which pronounced only would fly away so hearing and seeing in regard of the effect is all one Writing to speaking and seeing the booke to Hearing is analogicall So Iunius Zanchie Legendo Scriptur as audimus In Reading we heare the Scriptures Dr Fulke S. Paul did preach the Gospell also by writing and the people did heare by reading D. Whitaker writing is the imitation of speech auditur ergo therefore it is heard And the same D. Whitaker interpreting these very words Faith commeth by Hearing limiteth it not vnto the outward eare but extendeth it thus ex auditu id est ex sensu Scripturae rectè percepto by Hearing that is by vnderstanding the right meaning of Scripture by what way soever This exposition Wotton approuing he further addes that it is not the Apostles purpose to disable the word Read but partly to shew that the meanes of salvation proceed from God alone partly that no man might excuse himselfe by ignorance God hauing sent his servants into all the world without which sending none might preach either by word or writing and without which preaching no man could beleeue And thus haue you both the true meaning of this place and a full answere vnto the objection Other passages besides these doe they vrge but being either of the same nature or of lesse moment I will not trouble you with them Now it remaineth breefly to resolue and confirme the truth Wherein to the end it may appeare that what I haue often maintained in private I am neither afraid nor ashamed publikely to professe in pulpit I here openly proclaime and confidently affirme that Reading is an ordinary meanes to beget Faith and convert a soule Which that I may the more clearely and distinctly demonstrate giue me leaue in few words to open the tearmes meaning of the Proposition First then by Faith I vnderstand not only that whereby wee yeeld assent vnto Scripture the Principle of Faith that it is Gods word to all those articles of Faith specially fundamentall established by this principle which we call Historicall or Dogmaticall Faith but that Faith also whereby we are justified and by which we accept Christ to be our Mediator King Priest and Prophet together with the effects thereof Repentance from dead workes and new obedience All this I comprehend vnder the name of Faith Secondly by Meanes I vnderstand such middle or secondary causes as come betweene the first cause and the effect for the producing of it And these meanes if they be praeter ordinem besides the perpetuall order placed in things there being no coherence betweene them and the effect or no aptnes in them to produce the effect then doe we call them Extraordinary and such was the feeding of Elias by Ravens and the curing of the blinde man by dawbing clay vpon his eyes But if they be secundum ordinem according to the perpetuall order established in things having in them an aptnesse and fitnesse to produce the effect then are they called Ordinary and such is the nourishing and sustaining of
it is said in expresse words that he tooke Bread and what he tooke he blessed what he blessed he brake and what he brake he gaâ—e to his Disciples and what he gaue he bid them take and eat of what they tooke and eat he said This is my body Of bread therefore he said it there being nothing before spoken of nor nothing else present whereof it could be spoken but only Bread And if our Saviour himselfe made no scruple at all to call his Body bread why should you think it strange if he vouchsafe also to call bread by the name of his body Adde herevnto the testimony of the Fathers Iustin Martyr We be taught that the sanctified food which nourisheth our flesh and bloud and what is that but Bread is the flesh and bloud of that Iesu. Irenaeus How shall it appeare to them that the bread on which they giue thankes is the body of their Lord and the cup his bloud if they grant not Christ to be the sonne of the Creator of the world Tertullian So Christ taught vs calling bread his body And againe Why doth Christ there call bread his body Cyprian Christ called bread made of many graines his body and Wine prest out of many grapes his blood Hierom Let vs learne that the bread which the Lord brake and gaue to his Disciples is the Lords body himselfe saying to them Take yee eat yee this is my body Athanasius or the Comment vnder his name What is the bread The body of Christ. Epiphanius Of that which is oblong or roule figure and senselesse in power the Lord would say by grace this is my body Cyril Christ thus avoucheth and saith of bread this is my body Theodoret In the very giuing of the mysteries he called bread his body Thus the Fathers To whom I may adde some of your owne men also as Gerson Wee must say that the article This doth demonstrate the substance of bread And Stephen Gardiner Christ manifestly saith This is my body demonstrating bread And the Canon Qui manducat bread is the body of Christ. This being so I assume but bread properly and without Figure is not Christs body The reason because Disparates cannot bee so predicated or affirmed one of another An egge is not a stone nor a stone an egg Besides if Bread properly be Christs body then is it of the seed of David conceaued of the Holy Ghost and borne of the blessed Virgin then was it also crucified and died it was buried and descended into hell it rose againe and ascended into heauen and now sitteth at the right hand of God for all these things are truely affirmed of Christ. The grosse absurdity or rather horrible impietie whereof your men well perceauing they are driuen of force to grant vs our Assumption For saith your Canon Law It is impossible that bread should be the body of Christ. Thomas of Aquin It cannot properly be said that of bread the body of Christ is made And Bellarmine It is altogether absurd and impossible for it cannot bee that bread should be the Body of Christ. Out of which Premisses thus I argue That which Christ saith is vndoubtedly true But Christ saith Bread is his body as wee haue shewed Ergo it is vndoubtedly true But it is not literally and in proper signification true as wee haue also demonstrated Ergo after some other manner What manner Let Bellarmine himselfe tell you Either saith hee it is to be vnderstood tropically that Bread is the Body of Christ significatiuely or it is altogether absurd and impossible Now certainly it is absurd and impossible that bread literally should be Christs body Ergo it is so Tropically and Significatiuely And this may yet farther appeare by that which Christ immediatly added This is my body which is broken for you Whence I thus reason As Christs body is broken in the Sacrament so is bread his body But Christs body is broken therein Sacramentally not literally Ergo so is bread Christs body It is farther added Doe this in remembrance of me If the Breaking of Bread be the Remembrance of Christ of his Death then is not bread properly Christ himselfe for nothing is the Remembrance of it selfe Figuratiuely therefore Herevnto the Fathers agree Tertullian Augustine Ambrose Hierome as is already declared With whom I could easily joyne many others but that it is needlesse seeing your selfe confesse that the Fathers call the Sacrament a Figure Signe Representation Similitude of Christs Body If any yet demand why our Saviour then did not rather chuse to say This signifieth my body I answere two things First the language in which he spake knoweth not the word Signifie but alwaies insteed of it vseth the word is as appeareth by these places The seauen fat kine and the seaven full eares of corne are seauen yeares of plenty The seaven leane kine and the seaven empty eares are seven yeares of Famine These bones are the whole house of Israell It is thou o King that art the head of Gold The tree which thou sawest is thou o King The foure great beasts are foure Kings The ten hornes are ten Kings The Ramme with two hornes are the Kings of Media Persia. The goat is the King of Grecia The like Hebraisins haue wee also in the new Testament The Rocke was Christ. Agar and Sara are two Covenants The seaven Heads are seaven hills The woman is the great citty Secondly being about to institute a Sacrament Sacramentall speech was best in which it is vsuall to call the signe by the name of the thing signified as is aboue declared To summe vp all the Article This either demonstrateth bread or doth not If not then can you not hence proue Transubstantiation thereof for that only is Transubstantiated whereof he spake If yea then is the speech Figuratiue and Bread remaines For if it be Sacramentally Christs body then it is and being it is not abolished by Transubstantiation I conclude with the determination of your owne law The Heauenly Sacrament which truly representeth the flesh of Christ is called his Body but improperly not in the truth of the thing but in a signifying mystery Secondly it overturneth the Articles of Faith particularly the verity of Christs Humanity A point so materiall Fundamentall that the razing thereof draweth with it the ruine of the whole Christian Religion For this is the only ground of that great mystery of godlinesse God manifested in the flesh And if Christ be not as well true Man as true God then hath hee not suffered for vs nor redeemed vs then are wee yet in our sinnes and stand liable vnto the eternall wrath of his Father Wherefore according to the counsell of Saint Augustine Wee must carefully beware that wee doe not so maintaine the Divinity of the man Christ as to take from him the truth of his
of Faith because it is not a matter altogether so necessary for all men and because for this reason peradventure it is omitted in the Nicen Creed the knowledge of which Creed seemeth to be sufficient for fulfilling the Precept of Faith Lastly for this cause peradventure Augustine and other of the Fathers expounding the Creed doe not vnfold this mystery vnto the people Thus he But perhaps your Author hath reason for what he saies Certainly none at all Only he rakes together all the vehement and passionate speeches whatsoever hee can finde to haue passed from any of our pens in heat of contention to worke all the disgrace he can vpon vs. And if any of vs for proofe of his Conclusion draw his Argument from an Article of Faith then shall say as sometimes through too much eagernesse men vse to doe the Controversie is about such an Article loe saith your Author by and by a difference in matters Essentiall and Fundamentall whereas notwithstanding we all agree in the Article and the difference lies only in the Conclusion And seeing in all disputations it is the manner to fetch proofs from common Principles assented vnto on all sides what folly is it leaving the Question in debate to make that the matter of controversie wherein we all perfectly accord If any in pursuing their quarrels haue suffered themselues to bee transported with passion farther then becomes Christian charitie I acknowledge humane infirmitie vndertake not to defend them Yet you may knowe that others haue proceeded much farther For in that of Theophilus Patriarch of Alexandria and Epiphanius B. of Cyprus against Chrysostome they grew to such violence that Epiphanius and he cursed one the other many were slaine in taking of parts the Cathedral Church of Constantinople and the Senate house were burned to the groūd Chrysostome himselfe lost both his Bishopricke and life in banishment Which made Baronius beginning to entreat thereof to vse these words A shamefull contention in the Church the lamentable narration whereof I now take in hand wherein shall bee described the bickering and cursed persecution not of Gentiles against Christians or Hereticks against Catholikes or wicked men against good iust men but which is monstrous and prodigious of Saints and holy men one against another But what is there all peace in the Romish Church no quarrell no contention at all So would your lying Masters haue all their credulous schollers to beleeue though all the world knowe to the contrary For haue there not beene therein about thirtie Schismes and some of them continuing many yeares together wherein Pope hath beene against Pope one thundring excommunications against another and by their factions renting the whole Christian world asunder Haue there not beene long quarrells betweene the Franciscans and Dominicans about the Conception of the blessed Virgin Mary Doth the Church of France at this day admit of the Councel of Trent which you count the chiefest stake in your hedge Was there not of late a foule bickering betweene the state of Venice and the Pope about the power hee would haue vsurped over them I suppose you are not such a stranger in England but you may haue heard of the infamous dissentions betweene the Secular Priests and Iesuits Which themselues were not ashamed to publish to the world For a tast thus say the Seculars of the Iesuits and you may assure your selfe they were repaid in their owne coine Howsoeuer Iesuits talke of their perfections holinesse and meditations exercises yet their plat-forme is heathenish tyrannicall satanicall and able to set Aretine Lucian Machiavel yea Don Lucifer in sort to schoole It seemeth impossible for Antichrist to invent a more sleightie plausible and colourable devise nor with greater art more cunning tricks bring it about to make him be credited then the Iesuits haue invented and put in practise Iesuits teach that the Catholique Church must now hang vpon the Monarchie of K. Philip and his heires A Iesuit maintained that a man that is no Christian may be Pope There is not a Iesuit nor a Iesuits fautor any where to bee found but hath a foule tast of Atheisme Iesuits impudence to deny all truths against them as lies obiect any slaunderous lie as a truth The Pope said of them that on the one side they pretended piety and zeale and on the other shewed the very spirit of the Divell in pride contumacy and contradiction c. They haue three maxims times are changed and wee are changed in them all for the time and nothing for the truth divide and rule Of Father Parsons also thus in particular A bastard vnhonestly begot basely borne a Wolsey in ambition a Midas in Mundicity a traitor in action The villany of this bastardly Renegate Parsons cursed be the houre wherein he was borne the sonne of sinne of iniquity of sacrilege of the people of the Divell The great Emperour illegitimate irregular abstract quintessence of all coines coggeries and forgeries Parsons the bastard of Stockersey O monster of mankinde fitter for Hell then middle earth Thou giuest occasion to divers to thinke thou art not a meere man but some Fairy-brat begotten by an Incubus or Aërish spirit vpon the body of a base woman I might be infinite in this kind but this is enough to let you see that all the distemper lies not on our side but that your very ring-leaders can outrage one another and farre exceed vs in bitternesse and tartnesse And least you should thinke that all your quarrells are rather about by matters then in points of Doctrine know that herein also you are miserably distracted and divided Your ancient Schoolemen Thomas Scotus Durandus Occam and the rest what almost doth any one of them say but is straight gainsayed by another Is it not ordinary also with your new writers Bellarmine Suares Gregory of Valentia Stapleton and others one to controll and confute the others opinions Bozius saith Warmington blameth many excellent Divines namely Bellarmine calling them new Divines and teachers of false Doctrine The Vulgar translation of the Bible I suppose is made Authenticall by your Trent Fathers yet saith the Iesuit Mariana there hath beene of Late especially in Spaine such disputation moued about it among Divines and pursued with such heat and eagernesse and implacable hatred on each side that from reproaches and contumelies wherewith they disgraced one the other they came at length vnto the tribunalls and that side which was most confident vexed their adversaries most greevously accusing them in point of religion as wicked proud arrogant such as boldly elevate the authority of the bookes of God and the credit of that interpretation which the Church every where vseth and is tearmed Vulgar preferring and bringing in new interpretations contrary to the Lawes both of God and man and the decrees of the Tridentine Councell not long since published And now at this instant what deadly warres are
warrant it By Scripture You haue barred your selfe from all hope of succour thence For it is obscure equivocall ambiguous every way vncertaine By Naturall Reason The Articles of Faith are aboue Reason and the Naturall Man is not capable of them By the Spirit then That is the thing you so much jest at in others And if by your doctrine you cannot assure your selfe that you are in the present state of Grace neither can you know whether you haue the spirit of God or no. What then may be your last refuge The testimony of the Church touching her selfe Ridiculous for no mans testimony may be admitted in his owne cause And what a reasoning is this You beleeue the Articles of Faith Why Because the Church biddeth you doe so How followeth this Because shee cannot erre And how proue you that Because she saith shee cannot erre If this bee not to expose the Christian Faith vnto the laughter of Atheists and prophane men I know not what it is Will you nill you when you haue said all you can say either you must haue no certaine ground at all for your Faith or you must rest vpon the Scriptures as the finall resolution thereof Returne therefore I beseech in the feare of God returne vnto the sure anchor-hold of your salvation Abandon those frothie generalities of your seducing authors which at the best are but coniecturall and labour to stablish your Conscience vpon the testimony of him that will not that cannot deceiue you Pray vnto him fervently and proceed in a syncere loue of the truth and you shall surely finde that if you be not defectiue to your selfe God will never faile you For my part I haue done what belongs to mee I haue planted I haue watered it is God that must giue the increase And to his mercy in Christ Iesus I commend you An advertisement to the Reader Vnto the Section of Pag. 27. I there freely confessed I could not certainly answere for want of Doctor Mortons booke Since that time I haue met with it and thereby I perceaue that though I answered only by conâ—ecture yet I coniectured not amisse Yet now farther be pleased to vnderstand first that the Doctor citeth not Bibliander as my adversary vntruly chargeth him but only answereth a passage quoted by his adversary Breerly out of him And he answereth in effect as I doe saue that he bringeth in Bellarmine confessing that which to my good man seemeth so strange namely that all Protestants acknowledge in the Eucharist a Sacrifice Eucharisticall or of thanksgiuing Secondly touching those Rabbins R. Cahana R. Iudas and R. Simeon hee belyeth the Doctor it is Breerly that cites them not hee Neither doth he Positiuely say that their testimonies make directly for Transubstantiation But conditionally if they were such Now that they are not such hee proueth For consulting with D. Smith D. Layfield and M. Bedwell very learned Hebricians about this matter they after their painfull and industrious search into the cited places returned vnder their hands this answere R. Cahana in that booke on the 49 of Gen. is not cited nor hath hee there any thing to that purpose R. Iudas in that booke on the 25 of Exod. hath no such thing nor in the whole Parasha Terumah R. Simeon wrote no booke carrying the title of Revelatio Secretorum And thus you see while simple Papists will beleeue nothing but what their guides tell them what pretty tales of Robin Hood they devise for them O that God would be pleased to soften the seared consciences of the one and to open the blindfolded eyes of the other Farewell IOHN DOWNE FINIS A Testimony taken from M. Perkins on Heb. 11. v. 7. to be added to those annexed to the first Sermon But how doth God worke this faith By his word For as God is the author and worker of Faith so God hath appointed a meanes whereby he workes it and that is his word which word of God is the only ordinary outward meanes to worke faith And that word of God is two wayes to be considered either as revealed by God himselfe as to Noah here or else being written by God is either preached by his Ministers or read by a mans selfe in want of preaching and these are all one and are all meanes ordained of God to worke faith and that not only to beginne it where it is wanting but to augment it where it is begunne END So much doth the originall word beare and therefore our last translators haue set it in the Margent M. Smith Preacher at Barstaple Ezech. 14.14 and 28 3. Ver. 1. V. 2. Ioh. 5.28.29 1 Chron. 28.9 ver 13. V. 14. V. 15. V. 16. V. 17. V. 18. 1. Tim. 4 16. Phil. 2.15 psal 34.5 Prov. 4.18 Math. 13.43 43.20 148 36. 2. Cor. 4.17 1. Pet. 5.4 1. Cor. 9.25 Act. 15.5 vers â— vers 4.6 vers 7. c. vers 13.14.15 vers 19.20 Num. 25.1 c Lev. 17.10 In Preachers plea. In Baron â—1 16. n. 23. Duplic cont Stapl. l. 1. c. 6. Act. 13.27 Deut 33.10.11 2 King 23.2 Nâ—h 8.3 Elias Levita Ben. Maimon Apol. against T.C. Eccles. Polit. l. 5. Hom. 1. p. 1. Marâ— 16.15 2. Cor. 2.16 2. Tim. 4.1.2 Defens eccles author l. 3. c. 7. Trois verites l. 3. c. 4. par 3. Confront ibid Canon 4. Can 11. In ans to the Abstract Esa. 29.12 Id. 61.1.2 Paraen ad Gentes l. 17. Strom. l. 1. p. 1. Doct. Christ. Prol. Cont. Bellar. contro 1. Confront l. 3. c. 4. In Rhem. Test Ro. 1. 15. Cont. Bellar. con 1. q. 6. c. 9. De Idol Eccl. Ro. ep ded Advers Cost de Script De S. script Against peril of idol p. 1. Preface to the Reader Rom. 15.4 Preface to the Reader Deut. 13.11 17.1 6.6 Ioh. 5.39 Col. 4.16 1 Thes. 5.27 Act. â— 27.15.21 Mat. 24.15 Eph. 3.4 Confes. l. 8. c. 12. Cont. Lindâ—n In vita sua Acts Mon. Preach plea. Def. of AdmoÌ„ Preach plea. Act. 2.41 Iob. 33.23.24 Contra Char. l. 3. c. 4. Prov. 29.18 Esaiah 1.1 1. Cor. 1.21 Duplic cont Stapl l. 2. c. 10 De S. Script Rom. 10 13.14 Ps. 19.1.2.3 Rom. 1.20 Deut. 17.11 2. Thes. 2.8 Act. 13.27 Rom. 10.8 Ioh. 19.37 Rom. 3.19 Heb. 12.5 Rom. 9.27 Ioh. 5.39 Heb. 4.12 Luc. 16.29 Gal. 4.21.22 Confront l. 3. c. 4. Ibid. De verb. scrip In Rhem. Test. Rom. 1.15 Dupl contr Stapl. l. 2. c 10. De script q. 5. c. 8. arg 2. Cont. A.D. c. 9 1. King 17.6 Ioh. 19.6 Act. 2.4 Act 9.3 c. Gal. 1.12 Dupl cont Stap. l. 2. c. 6. In the way to the true Ch. In Ps. 26. Ep. 3. Dial. cum Try phon L. 7. in Iulian Hom. 1. in Ioh De Script q. 2. c. 14. arg 5. De verb. scrip â—ut 28. Cor. 2.4 Dupl contr Stapl. l. 1. c. 9. 2. Pet. 1.15 Deut. 31.11.12 Ier. 36.2 c. V. 19. V. 5. Ioh. 20.31 Cap. 18. Comment in Psal. initio Ser. 35. Iohn 6.63
daunger in this to they shall be like the elect Angels of God which are now so confirmed by Iesus Christ the head of men and Angels in their blessed estate as they can neuer fall either from grace or glory what a spurre then should this be vnto vs that our paines in teaching and turning men to righteousnesse as also the difficulties and the affronts which many times attend them are for a time only but our reward eternall It is a diâ—ine saying of Seneca Dolor sileuts est feramus non grauis est patientia sigrauis est feramus non leuis est gloria If our burden be light let vs endure it our patience is not great if great let vs endure it our glory is not light I may adde Non breuisest gloria our glory is not short Nay our light afflictions which are but for a moment worke for vs a far more excellent eternall waight of glory our light afflictions which are but for a moment an excellent a more excellent a farre more excellent eternall waight of glory which is therefore called a crowne of life because this life in comparison of it is not Vita vitalis scarce worthy of the name of life euerlasting life the very life and soule the period and perfection of all the Articles of our faith being infinite degrees beyond the longest threede of this present life or the life of the world it selfe should it last many thousand yeares longer then yet it hath done There is not so much disproportion betwixt the life of a gnat and an elephant or betwixt the life of a Methusalem and a Child that is carried from the wombe to the tombe as is betwixt this present life of darknesse and that life of shining for euer and euer betwixt two finites be the one neuer so long and the other neuer so short there is some proportion but betwixt a finite and an infinite be the finite neuer so long there can be no proportion and consequently no comparison In which regard as the shining dazels our eyes so doth the duration thereof infinitely exceede the reach of all mortall vnderstanding and our deepest thoughts are presently lost and swallowed vp therein as in a bottomlesse gulfe or endlesse maze Though then the combate perchance be sharp yet let vs remember that our crowne is immarcessible a crowne that withereth not as those crownes or garlands of oake of ioy of lawrell of myrtle which by the ancients were bestowed vpon the conquerors in the publique games when the cheife sheapheard shall appeare yee shall receaue a crowne of glory that fadeth not away Though the race seeme tedious and wearisome yet let vs remember that the crowne the prize of our running is incorruptible Euery man that striueth for mastery is temperate in all things now they doe it to obtaine a corruptible crowne but we an incorruptible The crownes of the greatest Monarchs in the world though they last long yet are they all but corruptible crownes subiect to wearing to foyling to cracking to stealing and sometimes by iuvasion from abroad or insurrection from at home they are violently taken from their heads or if their crownes be not taken from them long it cannot be in the course of nature before they may and must be taken from their crownes but when this incorruptible crowne shall once be set vpon our heads by the hand of Almighty God it shall neuer it can neuer bee againe taken from vs or we from it as the figure of a crowne is circular having neither beginning nor ending so this crowne of immortality though it haue a beginning yet neuer shall it nor can it haue any ending I haue now done with my text and come to the application though as vnwilling to part from the one as to vndertake the other but both must be done and if I should hold my peace these stones would speake This deare this reverend and worthy brother of ours who hath now resigned vp his soule into the hands of his maker her presents his earthly tabernacle the remainders of his mortality by vs to be interred with Christian buriall in assured hope of a ioyfull resurrection might iustly account it not the least part of his happinesse that he was brought into the light during the raigne of that truely noble and renowned Lady Queene Elizabeth and by that meanes was baptized in the same faith and religion in which he departed this life He was descended of an honest a vertuous and religious parentage brought vp in a liberall and free manner first in the country and then in the Vniuersity where he receaued the highest degree that Mother of his could bestow vpon him saue one but in the iudgment of all that knew him deserued that too better then many who haue receaued it both before him and since him so as whether his degrees more honoured him or he them as well by the exercise he performed for them as by his sweet conversation and abilities in all kind of learning is not easie to determine by the divine Providence he was there incorporated into that seminary which hath yeelded many goodly plants to our Church and among the rest our right reverend Diocesan his contemporarie and ancient acquaintance He had to Vncle by the Mothers side that Iewell of Prelates the mirrour of our age for sanctitie Pietie and Theologie all in one whom he proposed to himselfe as a patterne for imitation He liued to see his Childrens Children and his Elder sisters Childrens Childrens Children to his great comfort and yet by Gods blessing is his Fathers Brother yet living too and present at his funerall Had his meanes been answearable to his worth he had not layen in such obscuritie as he did but had doubtlesse moued and shined in a farre higher and larger spheare then he did yet God so blessed him with competent meanes that he liued contentedly brought vp his Children in a decent manner furnished himselfe with a faire Librarie releeued the poore was not wanting to his kinred that stood in want of his help for hospitality he was coÌ„stant in it entertaining his friends and such as came to visite him in a cheerefull and plentifull manner But vpon these I will not insist chusing rather to come to those which are more proper both to him and my text his intellectuall his morall his civil his spiritual wisdoÌ„e his teaching his turning of many vnto righteousnesse First then for his intellectuall wisdome the sharpnesse of his wit the fastnesse of his memory and the soundnesse of his iudgment were in him all three so rarely mixed as few men attaine them single in that degree His skill in the languages was extraordinary Hebrew Greeke Latin French Spanish and I think Italian His knowledge in the liberall arts and Sciences was vniversall Grammar Logick Rhetorick Poetry History Philosophy Musick and the rest of the Mathematickes in some of which Sciences he so far excelled that I dare say
his glorious estate to make Intercession for vs. Yet this is not all for it is further to be observed that Christ is not Priest as Man only but as Emanuell on God-man This the Apostle to the Hebrewes carefully demonstrateth The law saith he maketh men high Priests which haue infirmity but the wâ—rd of the Oath which was since the law maketh the sonne who is consecrated for ever more And againe Christ saith he by his eternall spirit offered himselfe without spot to God And if he were a Priest after the order of Melchizedecke as he was without Father or Mother without genealogie hauing neither beginning of daies nor end of life as also being Vntithed in the loines of Abraham it cannot be that he should be Priest as Man only for of Man only these things cannot be verified therefore as God also If so then Prayer being an act of Christs Priest-hood it followeth that it is Emanuel God-man that prayeth and that his Prayer is a Theandricall action as Divines terme it Divinely-humane or Humanely-divine This speech haply may sound harshly in some eares there are who sticke not to charge it with â—tat Arrianisme as if thereby we made Christ inferiour to his Father whereas hee himselfe thought it no robbery to be equall vnto him Giue mee leaue therefore to bestow a few words for the clearing of this difficulty the rather because it is being rightly apprehended the ground of singular comfort vnto vs. It is a Fundamentall article of the Christian Faith that in Christ there are two distinct Natures his Divinity his Humanity that both these concurre to the constitution of one Person God-man Whence it followeth that the Agent or Principle which acteth all the workes of Mediation is but one by reason of the Vnitie of the Person even Christ God-man according to that protrite Maxime Actiones sunt suppositorum all actions issue and proceed from the Subiect or person Howbeit seeing the Person alwaies worketh by his Natures and they as wee haue said in Christ are two it followeth by reason of this Dualitie that there are two distinct Principles by which Christ worketh or mediateth according to that other rule in nature Natura est principium motus quietis nature is the principle both of rest and motion This for further illustration may be exemplified in Humane actions For as it is Man or the Person of Man consisting of Soule and Body that vnderstandeth reasoneth moueth speaketh yet it is the Soule by which he vnderstandeth and reasoneth the Body by which he moueth and speaketh so in the actions of Mediation it is Christ God-man that worketh them all yet some by his Godhead and some by his Manhood Here therefore are wee to distinguish The workes of Mediation are either of Soueraignty and Authority or of Subiection and Ministrie Of Soveraignty and Authrity as to send the Holy Ghost to illuminate the Mind to raise from death of Subiection and Ministrie as to suffer to dy to be raised from death All these things did Christ as he was God-man both doe and suffer but yet the former by the Principle of his deity the latter by the Principle of his humanity It is further to be observed that although both the Natures in Christ remaine distinct and consequently their severall operations also yet as Leo truly saith Agit vâ—raque forma cum communione alterius quod cuiusque proprium est both Natures doe that which is proper vnto them but with Communion of each with other This Communion is the concurrence of both Natures in the same Person by their severall proper actions to the producing of one Apotelesma or outward effect pertaining to our Salvation In which concurrence the Deity is ever the principall and the Humanitie is the Organ or Instrument of the Deity so that it never moueth to any thing but as it is acted and moved by the Deity and from it receiues all its value dignity and efficacy as in Man the Body doth from the Soule These things being thus demonstrated let vs in a word applie them to our particular This Prayer of Christ is an act of his Priesthood Heâ— therefore prayes that is the Priest The Priest as we haue shewed is Christ God-man Christ therefore prayeth as God-man But the act is Ministeriall not Soveraigne He prayeth therefore not by the Principle of his Deity but in his Humanitie Howbeit with Communion of the Deity the Instrument partaking with the Principall Agent and deriuing all its vertue and efficacy from the concurrence thereof Which being so the more either ignorant or malitious are our adversaries of the Church of Rome who slander vs as if we held Christ prayed in his Divine nature Nay we know Prayer is a worke of Ministry and implies inferiority whereas the Word is coequall to his Father If may be the dreame of Iewes in their Talmud that God prayes certaine houres every day or of Turkes in their Alcoran that he prayeth for Mahomet But we know that God hath no superiour to whom he should pray and that his will is omnipotent and the effectuall cause of all things so that he needs not pray But it pleased the sonne of God to assume our nature and in the same to make himselfe lesse then his Father and to become obedient vnto him in all things So that although it bee God-man that prayes yet praying non qua Deus sed qua homo not in the forme of the Word but of a Servant it can be no impeachment to his Deity Now if it be God-man that prayes is it possible hee should misse of his suit Surely he himselfe saith I knowe thou hearest me alwaies And the Apostle affirmes that in his Prayers and Supplications he was still heard If hee bee the only Sonne in whom the Father is well pleased will he thinke you deny him any thing Nay if wee that are so vnworthy are yet heard for his sake how can hee that is of such infinite worth but bee heard when as himselfe praies He is therefore alwais heard What is it then he here sues for To himselfe Glorification to his Apostles to know and teach all sauing truth to vs that beleeue through their word Sanctification Vnion with him Perseverance in grace and the blessed-making vision of his Clory Doubtlesse therefore hee himselfe sitteth at the right hand of his Father and swayeth all things both in Heaven and earth to his Churches good His Apostles both knew and taught all the counsells of God and wee may safely build vpon the Foundation they haue laid As for vs all those things shall surely bee made good vnto vs. And though Sathan desire to winnow vs yet Hell gates shall never prevaile against vs. For he that never faileth to be heard hath prayed for our Faith that it faile not then which what surer ground of peace and ioy to the conscience can there be As it is the ground of comfort so is it
Now the power here meant not being that Essential must needs be this Oeconomicall For other power hee hath none and this he hath receiued thereby to giue eternall life But let vs enquire a little farther into the nature of this power There is a double created Power the one Secular and Mundane the other Heavenly and Spirituall Is this Power of Christ Secular and Mundane Surely such a Power the Iewes expected in their Messias and the Apostles themselues were for a while swaied with the like hope concerning Christ. And now also some Papists there are who for the easier advancement of the Pope therevnto would faine haue it so because as here hee saith Power so else where our Saviour saith All power is given vnto me But for these Bellarmine himselfe may suffice to confute them For saith hee every kingdome is acquired by one of these waies either by Inheritance or Election or Conquest or Donation But Hereditary kingdome Christ had none For although he were descended from David and so was of the blood royall yet that he was next of blood vnto the crowne doth not appeare And besides as touching the kingdome the seed of Iecon David had long before determined in Ieconiah neither was any of his race ever after King King also by Election he was none as appeares by that of Iohn that when he perceiued they would come and take him by force to make him a King he departed from them into a mountaine himselfe alone And when he was requested to divide the inheritance betweene two brothers he refused for said he Man who made me a iudge or a divider over you Neither was he so by conquest for he neuer made warre vpon any mortall Prince but only on the prince of darkenesse Nor finally by Donation from God for my kingdome saith he is not of this world and againe my kingdome is not from hence as if he should say a King I am but no secular King Neither did he at any time exercise any kingly power but â—ame rather to minister and to be iudged then to iudge to be ministred vnto Furthermore Kingly authority was neither necessary nor profitable vnto him but superfluous and vnprofitable For the end of his comming was the redemption of mankind wherevnto temporall power was not necessary but only spirituall And whereas it was his office to perswade from the loue of worldly glory wealth and pleasures vnto the contempt thereof temporall power would haue beene not only vnprofitable but also a great let and hinderance therevnto Lastly all the Prophets foretell only of a spirituall and eternall kingdome which should be restored to Israell But temporall is not eternall and how can such a kingdome bee said to be restored seeing it continued still in the hands of the Romans vntill by them they were rooted out from being a nation vpon earth Secular and worldly power therefore our Saviour had none What then Heavenly and Spirituall And this appeareth first by the end of Christs comming and the authority bestowed vpon him For this was Spirituall namely to deliver mankind from spirituall Egypt and Babylon the bondage of Sinne and Satan and to bring them vnto the eternall fruition of God wherein standeth everlasting life Secondly by the meanes appointed for the atchieving of this end For the weapons of his warfare are not carnall but spirituall Outwardly hee worketh through the eare by the preaching of the Gospell inwardly vpon the spirit conscience by the power of his divine spirit wherevpoÌ„ saith the Apostle St Paul The kingdome of God is not meat drinke but righteousnesse and peace and ioy in the Holy Ghost In a word what more frequent in Scripture then to call this power of Christ the kingdome of Heaven Which what other doth it import then that it is no way earthly but altogether heavenly and spirituall But you will say wherein standeth this Spirituall authority of Christ I answere in two things whereof the first is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the enacting of wisdome and good lawes For without lawes no kingdome or state can stand And to him alone it belongs to command lawes who is the soveraigne The soveraigne in this kingdome is Christ. He therefore is Legislator the law maker yea as St Iames saith Vnus legislator the only law maker And by vertue of this power hee prescribeth vnto the subiects of his kingdome both credenda what articles we are by Faith to beleeue facienda what duties we are in life to performe All which least any should pleade ignorance he hath caused publikely to be proclaimed both by word and writing And to perswade the readier obedience to them after the manner of all law-makers he annexeth both promises and threatnings promises of rich and plentifull reward to them that shall be obedient threatnings of rigorous and severe punishment to all that shall be rebellious and disobedient To descend to farther particularity would bee infinite I forbeare therefore and passe to the other part of his power which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 righteous iudgement For lawes without due execution are vaine and to no purpose duly executed they will not be vnlesse there be a superior to looke vnto it As therefore Christ is the Lawmaker so is he also Iudge ordained by God according as we beleeue in the Articles of the Creed to be the Iudge both of quick and dead A soveraigne Iudge from whom lies no appeale A righteous Iudge who accepteth the person or none but pronounceth sentence precisely according to the worke According I say to the worke For herein standeth his power of judicature namely in dispencing rewards and punishments according to the observation of his lawes or the transgression of them which ever he doth vpon due cognizance of the cause and conviction of the party A power farre aboue the reach of any other creature and incident only to him who subsisteth in the person of the sonne and that by vertue of such personall vnion So that as the Priesthood of Christ is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which cannot passe from him vnto another by the same proportion his kingly power is so proper vnto him as it is vncommunicable to any other whatsoever And thus much of the first poynt Quid what is given Whence wee may obserue first seeing the Power of Christ as he is man be farre aboue all created Powers yet is not infinite it makes against all those who either swallow vp the humane nature into the divine and so turne it into God such as were some of the ancient Heretikes and among them the Eutychians or who shed and poure out all the divine attributes and so the omnipotence and infinite power of God into the humanity such as are if yet now adayes such there be some of the rigider divines in Germanie If there be such I say For perhaps all the late quarrell risen betwixt them and vs grew
only vpon misprision as some worthy divines haue obserued not well distinguishing betweene Essence and Subsistence whereof that is finite this infinite For Christs humanity though according to its essence or Naturall being it bee not every where but determined vnto one place yet in respect of his Subsistence or Personall being it is every where and circumscribed in no place For proper Subsistence of its owne and in it selfe it hath none only the Subsistence of the Sonne of God is communicated vnto it which is infinite vnlimited Secondly if this Power of Christ though finite yet be incommunicable and cannot passe from him to any other what presumption what arrogance is it in him who not being Christ yet dares say with Christ Data est mihi omnis potestas in coelo in terrâ all power is given me both in heaven and in earth Who therevpon takes vpon him to forge new Articles of Faith and to obtrude them vpon the Church vnder paine of damnation who also takes authority vnto him to make lawes equally binding the conscience with Gods lawes that without any relation vnto divine law at all Who finally for to reckon vp all the blasphemies of this sort would bee infinite pretends a power to dispence with the law of God to grant indulgences for sin to free men from the punishment inflicted by God vpon them for sinne Certainly whosoever challengeth these things to himselfe can be no lesse then Christi aemulus even Antichrist himselfe whose proud vsurpations vpon the power of Christ shall one day bee recompenced with equall shame and confusion The rather because thirdly whereas the power of Christ is not secular but spirituall hee claymeth both and so assumeth to himselfe more then euer Christ did Ecce in potestate nostrâ imperium vt demus illud cui volumus Lo saith Pope Adrian the empire is in our power to bestow it where we please And hence I suppose it is that insteed of the old style Vicarius Christi the Vicar of Christ they now begin to stile him Vicedeum the Vicar of God for that by this they may perhaps wrench in his temporall power which by the other they could not inasmuch as Christ neuer had it Lastly therefore seeing Christ contented himselfe with his spirituall power only reiecting that which is secular let not vs looke after outward pomp or state in his kingdome nor iudge of the Church by such deceitfull notes Rather let vs iudge of it by the lawes thereof and by the rule of Faith professed therein As the power of Christ is Spirituall so is his kingdome also and therefore by spirituall markes and notes to be discerned But to proceed The second point is in quos ouer whom or how farre his authority extendeth It is saith my text Over all flesh This word Flesh is diuersly vsed in Scripture Among other significations vsually it is put for Mankinde As where it is said that God saw all flesh had corrupted his way vpon earth that is all men And againe All flesh is grasse and all the goodlinesse thereof is as the flower in the field And yet againe Except those daies should bee shortned no flesh that is no man should be saued And so is it to bee vnderstood in this place Christ hath power ouer all flesh that is ouer all mankinde Now he that saith all excepts none All men therefore of what age sexe degree condition or qualitie soeuer are vnder the power and iurisdiction of Christ. And as touching the Saints and those that are members of his mysticall body it is questionlesse For to them he is Caput a head to rule and governe them a Husband to order and direct them a Shepheard to feed and ouersee them Hee hath bought them with his most pretious blood he hath conquered them out of the hands of Satan and all that hated them hee rules by the scepter of his word and guides them by the manuduction of his blessed spirit And as he hath many waies made himselfe Lord ouer them and testified his authority and power by his mighty operations in them so haue they freely and voluntarily submitted and resigned themselues vnto him Power therefore hath he over these as over his obedient and louing subiects But question may be made touching reprobate and wicked men whether hee haue any authority and power over them yea or no. For as the Psalmist saith They band themselues and take counsell together against the Lord and against his anointed saying let vs breake their bands asunder and cast their cords from vs. And our Saviour in the parable Nolumus hunc regnare super nos we will not haue this man raigne ouer vs. But notwithstanding all this reluctation and resistance yet power and authority hath he ouer them still Rebellious subiects they may be yet subiects they are Will they nil they Dominabitur in medio hostium hee shall raigne in the midst of his enimies If they will not submit vnto the gentle scepter of his word he hath an yron rod in his hand wherewith to breake and dash them in peeces like a potters vessell And those his enimies that would not hee should raigne ouer them bring them hither will he say and slay them here before me Authority then he hath though they acknowledge it not and ouerrule them he will resist they neuer so much Overrule them I say either to their salvation by converting them or to their confusion by delivering them vp vnto their owne lusts In a word whether they be good or evill how high or low soeuer they be he is Lord of them all Rex regum dominus dominantium King of Kings and Lord of Lords yea Dominus tum mortuorum tum vivorum Lord both of quicke and dead But what Hath he power only of men and not of other things Yes questionlesse For saith David Omnia subiecisti pedibus eius thou hast put all things vnder his feet And the Apostle applying it vnto Christ addeth In that he put all in subiection vnder him hee left nothing that is not put vnder him Our Saviour Christ also himselfe affirmeth that all things are deliuered him of his Father yea that al power is giuen him both in heauen earth Particularly in heauen ouer the blessed Angels For saith S. Peter he is gone into heauen and is on the right hand of God Angels and authorities and powers being made subiect vnto him Hee is vnto them a Head and Mediator though not of Redemption as vnto man yet of Confirmation in the state of grace and though not to deliuer out of misery yet to preuent their falling into misery Hence it is that they are reckoned in the number of those that pertaine vnto the Church that they minister both to the Head thereof and it also reioycing at the conversion of a sinner and desiring throughly to
obedientia blinde and absolute obedience is as necessary commendable as in Friars to their superiours it is foolish and vnreasonable To this I answere that God indeed had intimated his purpose vnto Abraham but yet in this forme of words Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sinne is exceeding grievous I will goe downe now and see whether they haue done altogether according to that crie which is come vnto me and if not that I may know In these words you see he doth not say that he would destroy the godly with the wicked and by the deliverance of Lot it plainely appeares he never intended so to doe and therefore it could be no arrogance in Abraham to make such a charitable deprecation for them Neither doth that appeare by the words that God had past an absolute and peremptory sentence against the wicked Sodomites for if ten righteous men had beene found amongst them they had beene spared and the threatnings of God ordinarily are to be vnderstood with a condition annexed vnto them if men repent not yea although it be not in plaine tearmes expressed as in that against Niniveh yet forty daies Niniveh shall be destroyed for this notwithstanding vpon their repentance they were not destroyed So that this condition being here also vnderstood what presumption could it be in Abraham to desire favour for the Sodomites at least vpon their repentance Finally had God absolutely threatned without condition yet ought not man so much to attend what God intendeth to doe agreeable vnto his owne will and iustice as what he himselfe is to doe agreeable to the law of God and nature and then shall he find that God in denouncing and executing iudgement wills two things both that they perish and that he greeue God had laid Iudea wast and sent away the inhabitants thereof into captivity yet Ieremy lamented for it Christ knew well that God had absolutely determined to destroy Ierusalem yet hee wept over it a sonne may know by evident symptomes that his Father cannot liue and yet desire the prolonging of his life and all without sinne In like manner might Abraham without offence wish all good vnto the Sodomites notwithstanding Gods will vnto the contrary Now this affection of this holy Patriarch is iustifiable both by the law of God and nature hauing a three fold foundation to support it Humanitie Consanguinitie Piety First Humanity for what heart of flint or adamant would not melt to behold so many thousands so fearfully to perish It is reported of Xerxes a king of Persia that leading into Greece a huge hoast of about a leauen hundred thousand men and being desirous on a time to take a view of them from the top of a hill while he beheld thē he burst forth into weeping and shed many teares and being demanded the reason because quoth hee within one age not one of all these will be left If Xerxes were so affected at the consideration of the naturall death of so many should not Abraham be much more moved at the destruction of the Sodomites so sudden so violent so terrible for the manner of death is far more fearfull then death it selfe Nay if God himselfe pittied the great City of Niniveh in which were sixscore thousand persons that could not discerne betweene the right and the left hand why should not Abraham also commiserate these fiue citties in which without question were many thousands of young tender babes and infants who never partaked in their parents transgressions Aboue all If yee consider that this temporall plague of fire and brimstone from heaven was praeludium aeterni a fore runner of eternall miserie in hell what man is he that hath but a sparke of humanity in him but would wish it to be otherwise and prevent it if he could For one man not to sympathize and compassionate with another in his miseries is meere inhumanity Another ground of this affectio◠in Abraham was Bloud and Consanguinity for there liued among the Sodomites Lot his children and family Now Abraham was vnkle vnto Lot Lot being Harans sonne which Haran was brother vnto Abraham and this is so great a neerenesse in bloud that by the very law of nature marriage betweene vnkle and neece aunt and nephew is interdicted and vnkles are accounted as fathers to their nephewes Betweene these therefore there must needs passe a naturall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and affection more then betweene them and others inasmuch as there is a neerer vnion and coniunction betweene them Others may be glewed together by friendship or alliance but these are of the same peece naturally one bone of bone and flesh of flesh Here there ought to be no difference at all let there bee no strife betweene me and thee saith Abraham to Lot for wee are brethren yea extraordinary loue and amity I behaued my selfe saith David as to my friend or to my brother and the more the loue is the more earnest and vehement will the desire be for the prevention of such evills as doe threaten them The third and last ground of Abrahams affection was Religion and Piety For where there is a profession of the same true religion there is a straiter bond then that of bloud being members of the same mysticall body in Christ Iesus hauing one Lord one Faith one Baptisme one body one spirit one hope one God and Father of all which is aboue all through all and in all And out of this Vnion issueth that holy communion of Saints mentioned in the articles of our Creed in regard whereof we are bound to loue the Saints farre aboue other men according to that of St Paul while we haue time let vs doe good vnto all specially vnto those that are of the houshold of faith Of this family was Lot and his houshold and many others for ought Abraham knew and therefore vnlesse hee would be not only without naturall affection but also without religious sympathie and compassion he must needs stand thus affected towards this mixt company in Sodom and beseech God either to spare the wicked for the godlies sake or to preserue the Godly in the destruction of the wicked that it may not every way be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as to the one so to the other And thus you see the affection of Abraham both what it is and by what grounds it is justified warranted Let vs apply this before we proceede farther As we all professe our selues to be the children of Abraham according to the faith so is it our duty also to be his children in affection And first even towards the wicked ought wee to be tenderly affected and to pittie them more then they pitty themselues Thus doth Abraham in this place thus did David a true son of Abraham when they were sicke saith he I clothed my selfe with sacke cloath and humbled my soule with fasting Thus did Christ a true sonne both of
deserueth with no other then equal disdaine and contempt For it hath abundantly beene manifested to the world that as in the goodnesse of our cause wee are every way superiour vnto you so in all kinde of learning both Humane and Divine wee are no way inferiour to the best of you Howbeit seeing I am put in good hope by some of your best friends that you carry a minde prepared to imbrace the truth if at any time it shall bee discouered vnto you and your selfe haue freely professed vnto mee that your meaning is not any way to contest with me but only to be instructed by me I am content laying aside all advantages whatsoever to enter the lists with you by framing vp a short yet full answere to endeauour your best satisfaction God grant that as it is intended so it may redound first to his glory and then to the reducing of your straying soule from the servitude of Babylon into the liberty of Ierusalem which is from aboue and the right Mother of all true Beleeuers N. N. Catholike grounds for the Article of the Real Presence I. D. This title prefixed vnto your Writing intimateth that you craue resolution in the article as you terme it of the Real Presence and the Grounds thereof For the better performance whereof and to cleare the way of all rubs before vs you may be pleased to know that we denie not either the Presence or the Real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament Not the Presence For seeing therein his Body is delivered receaued eaten as the Scriptures testifie and that can no way be deliuered receaued eaten which is every way absent we cannot but beleeue with the heart confesse with the mouth that Christ is present Nor the Reall presence For seeing Eating betokeneth our Vnion and Incorporation with Christ whereby we are so closely joyned and joynted vnto him that wee are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones certainely vnlesse wee will question either the power of Faith or whether God be able to worke such an effect we cannot well doubt but that the Presence is True and Real not Imaginarie and Fained According herevnto S. Chrysostome Christ offereth himselfe vnto vs in these Mysteries not onely to bee seene but also to be touched and felt And S. Augustin We cannot with our hand feele Christ sitting in heauen but by Faith we may touch him Agreeing therefore in the Thing that there is a Real Presence wherein lies the difference betwixt vs It lies partly in the Manner of Presence and partly in the kinde of Change whereby the Presence is wrought As touching the Manner of Presence wee acknowledge it to bee double the one Sacramentall the other Spirituall The sacramentall is a Relatiue Presence of the thing signified vnto the signes partly for that they are significatiue represent Christ vnto vs even as the word spoken vnto the eare represents the thing signified thereby vnto the minde and partly because they are Exhibitiue God in them offering vs his Sonne vpon condition of Faith And in regard hereof it may also well be called a Pactionall presence The spirituall is a presence of Christ vnto the Faith of the Receauer or which is all one vnto the Receauer by Faith whereby we seeke him not here on earth in with or vnder the Accidents of bread but aloft in heauen where hee sitteth at the right hand of his father For where the carcase is thither saith Christ will the Eagles resort Whence S. Chrysostome He must climbe vp on high whosoeuer commeth to this Body And S. Augustine How shall I convay my hand into heauen that I may hold him sitting there Send thy faith thither and thou holdest him Now if any farther demand how this sacramentall and spirituall presence is wrought I answere it is done by a Change in the Elements of Bread and Wine By a change I say yet not of their Nature and Substance but of their Vse and Vertue For they are now no longer common but consecrated Bread and Wine ordained by Christ to bee effectuall symbols and Pledges of our Vnion and Communion with his Flesh and Bloud So saith Theodoret The visible symbols hath hee honoured with the name of his Body and Bloud not changing their nature but adding grace vnto nature And so the rest of the Fathers But all this little contents you except withall we yeeld you a Corporall and Locall Presence of Christ vnder the Accidents of Bread and Wine and that by way of Transubstantiation Transubstantiation a terme as lately devised so also inconvenient Lately deuised for it is but foure hundred yeares old or thereabouts bâ—ing forged in the Lateran councell vnder Innocent the third Inconvenient for properly it imports a Productiue kinde of Conversion by which one Substance is produced out of another or whereby one Substance is turned into another such as was the turning of Water into Wine by the power of Christ at Cana in Galilee But you vnderstand thereby an Adductiue kinde of Conversion by which as Bellarmine defineth it the Body of Christ which before was only in heaven is now also vnder the Accidents of Bread So that more fitly it might haue beene tearmed Cession or Succession or Substitution or Translocation or some such like rather then Transubstantiation the meaning you giue vnto it being no other then a succeeding of Christs Body into the roome of Bread vpon the abolishing of the Substance thereof Yet is it not so much the Newnesse and Inconvenience of the terme as the Impietie of the Doctrine intended thereby which we condemne For it crosseth the truth of Scripture ouerturneth the Articles of Faith destroyeth the Nature of a Sacrament gainesayeth the perpetuall consent of antiquity and implieth in it innumerable contradictions all which God willing shall in due place be demonstrated In the meane season hauing thus briefly stated the Question I come now to examine the particulars of your Writing and whether the passages you quote in such abundance reach home to that Corporall and Locall Presence which you hold or passe no farther then that Sacramentall and Spirituall Presence which we maintaine N. N. The first ground that Catholike men haue for these and all their mysteries of Christian Faith that are aboue the reach of common sense and reason is the Authority of the Catholike Church by which they were taught the same as Points of Faith revealed from God I. D. If by the first Ground you vnderstand the first introduction vnto Faith I grant the Authority of the Catholike Church to be the first ground that by it wee are taught the same But if thereby you meane as vndoubtedly you doe that highest Principle into which all the Mysteries of Faith are finally resolued and by which the Mind is staied and freed from farther doubting I deny the Catholike Church so to be the first ground For as Bellarmine truly writeth Faith beginneth from
of names only insteed of the Whole ranke of Fathers bearing witnesse and giuing evidence for you I hope as it ought so it will proue a sufficient Retentiue against your Motiue This that it may yet more plainely appeare giue me leaue before I conclude to recapitulate what hath beene said and as it were in a briefe Synopsis to lay before your eyes the weaknesse and impertinence of all your allegations First you vouch the authority of some who are vehemently suspected even by your owne Rabbies not to bee the men whose names they beare and therefore cannot bee very authenticall Such are Ignatius Cyril of Hierusalem in his Catechismes Ambrose de Sacramentis my sterijs initiandis Eusebius Emissenus Cyprian de coenâ Domini the Canon of the Councell of Nice and Magnetes Againe some you alleage who by reason of their nonage deserue not to be reckoned in the number of the Fathers and so are too young to beare witnesse in these businesses Such are Damascen Theophylact Euthymius Nicephorus and Rupertus who besides his minority was also in this point little better then an Heretike Thirdly among the true Fathers some affirme the Sacraments of the old Testament to be Figures of ours Yet thereby they acknowledge no more Transubstantiation of bread into the Eucharist then of Water in Baptisme Fourthly others affirm that Christs true body is in the Sacrament and we affirm the same also But that hee is there corporally in such sort as you imagine they affirme not Fiftly they say that the bread is changed and made the body of Christ wee say the same with them But that it is done by a substantiall change of bread into body they say not Sixtly they forbid vs to doubt of Christs words to enquire the manner How We doubt not of them thinke the manner to be inexplicable But they say not that to reiect your grosse and Capernaiticall manner is to doubt of Christs truth Seauenthly some of them say it is not common Bread nor only a Figuration of Christs body and we readily yeeld vnto it But they say not that whatsoeuer is sanctified and more then figureth is therefore transubstantiated Lastly some say that the Vnion and Coniunction betweene Christ and vs is reall naturall and bodily We hold the same that we are bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh But they say not wee are so vnited by receaving Christs flesh into our mouthes nor deny but that it may be done by Faith without euer partaking of the Sacrament And this is the full summe of all whatsoeuer your witnesses testifie for you besides which they say nothing at all Whereby you may now easily perceaue how sleight and impertinent your Motiues are and how little cause of comfort your Catholikes haue in beholding them Rather you haue great cause to be ashamed confounded that haue suffered your selfe thus to bee deluded by your Author who to proue the subsistence of Accidents without subiect hath brought you nothing else but meere Shewes without substance But alas we poore Protestants are so farre from having the consent of all expositions and the whole ranke of Fathers standing by vs that wee haue not so much as one authority nor can produce any one at this day that expresly saith that Christs Real body is not in the sacrament or that it is only a Figure Signe or Token thereof I beseech you Sir and can you Papists produce any one of the Fathers that expressely saith Bread is transubstantiated into Christs body If you cannot and yet thinke it sufficient to vouch that which you conceaue to bee equivalent why doe you so vrge the word Expressely vpon vs doe not leaue vs that liberty which you assume vnto your selues But to leaue this advantage we freely confesse we cannot produce any one Father who either expresly or by consequence saith so Nay we farther say that they affirme the cleane contrary namely that Christs Real body is in the Sacrament and that it is not only a Figure Signe or Token thereof But be it knowne vnto you that wee affirme the same together with them and it is but your dreame to imagine otherwise For as oftentimes you haue heard we deny not the Presence of Christs Body but that manner of Presence which you obtrude vnto vs. Neither doe wee say that it is only a Figure for besides signification wee acknowledge that it also exhibiteth Christ Iesus himselfe and sealeth vp all his Promises vnto vs. As for those impertinent peeces of some Fathers speeches which you say we now and then pretend to alleadge I hope you shall by by finde them so pertinent and direct that your Author who ever he be with all his learning and skill shall never be able to satisfie them For now hauing fully answered and dispatched all what you haue said for your selfe in behalfe of Transubstantiation it remaineth that I performe the promise made you in the beginning and demonstrate that this Doctrine of yours first crosseth the truth of Scripture secondly overturneth the Articles of Faith thirdly destroyeth the nature of a Sacrament fourthly gainesayeth the perpetuall consent of antiquity and lastly implieth in it infinite contradictions I will finish all in as few words as I can First it crosseth the truth of Scripture I instance only in the words of institution which you so often vrge against vs This is my body Wherein I demand what that is wherevnto the article This hath reference For it must either be something or nothing If nothing as some of you say then is the Proposition thus to bee supplied Nothing is my Body then which what can be more palpably absurd If something I demand what Your common sort of Catholikes answer that which is contained vnder this But so the speech would bee Tropicall the Continent being put for that which is contained which hitherto you could never endure And I thinke neither in Scripture nor in any other writer whether sacred or prophane shall you be able to shew the like example where This is put for that which is vnder This. Yet he it so Then I againe demand what that is which is vnder this If you know it not then neither doe you knowe what it is that is turned into Christs Body If you knowe it let me entreat you to expresse it Certainely it must either bee Christs Body or Bread Christs Body it is not for that is not made vntill the last syllable of those words be spoken and therefore not assoone as the word This is vttered To say nothing that then the Proposition would be very ridiculous This is my Body that is My body is my body It is bread therefore and though your side for the most part will not haue it so yet will they nill they the meaning is and must be this This Bread is my Body for they cannot name at hird This may yet farther be demonstrated by the circumstances of the Text. For
Body And wee are stedfastly to beleeue that the Humane nature was so assumpted by the Deity that although they both constitute but one Person yet they still remaine two distinct Natures and each of them retaineth its Essentiall Properties If then as the Apostle saith Christ be made like vnto vs in all things sinne only excepted and our Bodies cannot bee without Dimension of length breadth and depth together with circumscription proportion and Distinction of parts one from the other and the like then neither can the Manhood of Christ be without them Neverthelesse you fancy vnto Christ in the Eucharist such a Body as is vtterly deprived of them all For thus saith your Angelicall Doctor and what he saith is the generall Tenent of the Church of Rome In the Body of Christ in the Sacrament there is no distance of one part from another as of the eye from the eye or the head from the feete as it is in other organicall bodies For such distance of parts is in the true Body of Christ but not as it is in the Sacrament for so it hath not dimensiue quantity O miserable Christ that art driven into such narrow straits that the whole bulke of thy Body should be emprisond and as it were frapt together in every little crum and point of the hoste And more true and seasonable may the complaint now be then it was of old that the Sonne of man hath not so much as a place wherein to rest his head But seeing as Thomas saith The true body of Christ hath distance of parts and the Body of Christ in the Sacrament hath not distance of parts I marvaile what should let but that I may boldly inferre the conclusion Ergo the Body of Christ in the Sacrament is not his true body Againe it is an Article of the Faith that Christ being ascended into Heauen hath quitted the earth and now sitteth at the right hand of his Father This the Scriptures testifie The poore saith Christ yee shall haue alwaies with you but mee yee shall not alwaies haue And I leuae the world and goe vnto the Father And againe Now am I no more in the world but these are in the world and I come vnto thee Hence saith St Peter The heauens must containe him vntill the time that all things bee restored And then as the Angell said This Iesus that is taken vp from you into Heauen shall so come againe as you haue seene him goe into Heauen The Fathers saith the same Origen According to his divine nature he is not absent from vs but he is absent according to the dispensation of the Body which he tooke As man shall he be absent from vs who is every where in his divine nature For it is not the manhood of Christ that is there wheresoeuer two or three be gathered together in his name neither is it his manhood that is with vs at all times to the end of the world nor is his manhood present in every congregation of the faithfull but the Divine vertue that was in Iesus Tertullian In the very pallace of Heaven to this day sitteth Iesus at the right hand of his Father Man though also God flesh and bloud though purer then ours neverthelesse the same in substance and forme wherein he ascended Ambrose Neither on the earth nor in the earth nor after the flesh are wee to seeke thee if wee will find thee Augustine Mee shall you not alwaies haue He spake this of the presence of his Body For touching his Maiesty providence vnspeakable and invisible grace it is true that he said I am alwaies with you to the end of the world But as for the flesh which the word tooke which was borne of the virgin fastned to the crosse laid in the graue you shall not alwaies haue mee with you And why Because hee is ascended into heauen and is not here there hee sitteth at the right hand of the father Cyril of Alexandria He could not be conversant with his Apostles in the Flesh after hee was once ascended to his Father And Notwitstanding he be absent in the flesh yet by that only meanes the power of his Godhead he is able to saue his Finally Gregory the Great The word incarnate both remaineth and departeth he departeh in Body and remaineth in his divinity Thus the Fathers And hence is it that so often in their writings they exhort vs not to settle our thoughts here on earth but to send vp our Faith into heauen and thither to follow him in heart whither wee beleeue him to be ascenâ—â—d in body Now what you The cleane contrary that the Body of Christ is still present with vs here on earth and as ordinarily as he is aboue in heauen Nay more then so For there he is confined circumscribed to one place as also he was here in the daies of his Flesh when he liued among the Iewes but now by your Doctrine he may be and is in more then a thousand places at once even when and where you will For you haue power to reproduce him as often as you list then to keepe him with you as long as you please at least vntill the mouse devoure him or he begin to corrupt and putrifie But is it impossible will you say for the Manhood of Christ to be present in many places at once Impossible if we may beleeue the Fathers neither can you produce any one of them that saith the contrarie If the argument of the Fathers aboue quoted be good Hee is in heauen Ergo he is not in earth then can hee not at one time bee both here and there too And doth not St Cyril expresly say he could not be coÌ„versant with his disciples in the Flesh after he was once ascended to his Father St Augustine likewise Christ according to his bodily presence could not be at once in the Sunne and in the Moone and on the crosse And againe The Body of Christ in which he rose againe can bee but in one place but his truth is every where diffused Vigilius a blessed Martyr and Bishop of Trent The flesh of Christ when it was in the earth was not in Heaven and now because it is in hauen certainly it is not in earth And by and by Forsomuch as the word is every where and the flesh of Christ is not every where it is cleare that one and the same Christ is of both natures that is every where according to the nature of his divinity and contained in a place according to the nature of his humanity Finally Fulgentius One and the same sonne of God having in â—â—m the truth of the divine and humane nature lost not the properties of the true Godhead and tooke also the properties of the true Manhood one and the selfe same locall by that he tooke of Man aâ—d infinite by that he had of his Father
later shorter and taller broader and narrower thicker and thinner greater and lesser then himselfe and such like of the same garbe But I study to be briefe it is high time to remoue my hand as they say from the Table Onely I must forewarne you that if being vnable to vntie these knots you shall attempt to cut them asunder with the sword of Gods Omnipotence you shall but loose your labour For if they be contradictions as vndoubtedly they are your Angelicall Doctor can tell you that they fall not within the compasse of Divine Power So that of force you must either demonstrate that these things are not contradictorie which I am sure you can neuer doe or as becommeth Christian ingenuity you must for ever bid farewell to Transubstantiation and yeeld vnto the truth discouered vnto you And thus at length by Gods assistance haue I finished the taske you haue laid vpon me fully answered whatsoeuer here you haue alleaged in maintenance of your Reall Presence My desire now is that laying aside all prejudice you will but with indifference read what I haue replied therevnto Which if you shall vouchsafe to doe I perswade my selfe it will make you to remit much of that confidence you had in this cause when first you sent this Schedule vnto me Especially if withall you consider that the wittiest and subtlest heads amongst you could never finde it so clearely and strongly grounded either vpon Scripture or Fathers as you pretend Scotus sirnamed the subtle Doctor affirmeth that there is extant in Scripture no place so expresse as without declaration of the Church can evidently constraine a man to admit of Transubstantiation And this saith Bellarmine is not altogether vnprobable For although the scripture may seeme vnto vs so clear as it may constraine a man that is not froward yet it may iustly be doubted whether it be so seeing most learned and witty men such as Scotus specially was haue thought the contâ—ary The same Scot farther saith that were it not for the authority determination of the Roman Church the words of Christ and of the Fathers might more simply plainely truly be vnderstood and expounded Nay hee yet farther addeth and your Cardinal Bellarmine confesseth it that before the Lateran Councell Transubstantiation was not a doctrine of Faith and he wondreth that being no principle article and such as exposeth the Christian Faith to contempt it could be receaued and beleeued The Cardinall of Cambray also doubteth not to avouch that that manner which supposeth the substance of Bread still to remaine is possible neither is it contrary to reason or the authority of scripture Nay it is easier to conceaue and more reasonable then that which saith the substance doth leaue the accidents And of this opinion no inconvenience doth seeme to ensue if it could be accorded with the Churches determination And he addeth that the opinion which holdeth the substance of Bread not to remaine doth not evidently follow of the Scripture nor to his seeming of the Churches determination Cardinall Cajetan is as peremptory that there appeareth nothing in the Gospell that can force a man properly to vnderstand these words This is my body and that were it not for the interpretation of the Roman Church they might very well admit another sense as that of the Apostle the Rocke was Christ. To these Cardinals may wee ioyne another Cardinall though happily he neuer ware the Cap I mean Fisher Bishop of Rochester who expresly averreth that in that place of Mathew where the institution of the Sacrament is recorded there is never a word whereby it may bee proued that there is made in the Masse the true presence of the flesh and bloud of Christ. Gabriel Biel also The Scriptures may be salved and expounded after a more easie vnderstanding And Occam This doctrine that the substance of bread remaineth is subiect to lesser inconveniences and is not so repugnant to reason the Scriptures And Durand It is great rashnesse to say that the body of Christ cannot by divine power be in the Sacrament but by converting bread into it Howbeit if that way which supposeth bread to remaine were indeed true many doubts which meet vs holding it not to remaine were dissolued The Master of the Sentences also freely confesseth that if it be demanded what that conversion is whether formall or substantiall or of another kinde he is not sufficient to define From these your Iesuits swarue not very much Gregory de Valentia saith that the Fathers spake of Transubstantiation somewhat obscurely simply as thinking they could not be vnderstood of Catholikes but Catholikely and least they should haue exposed the mystery to be laughed at of Infidels if in their popular Sermons they should haue vnfolded their minds Your Secular Priests affirme that it was concluded among the Fathers of the Societie and what Catholike would not beleeue them that the Fathers haue not so much as touched the point of Transubstantiation Finally not to muster vp any more it is well knowne that divers of your Priests being demanded if after sentence of death pronounced vpon them that very morning when they were to be executed they might haue leaue to say Masse to the intent they might be certaine of their owne intention to consecrate and not doubtfully depend vpon anothers whether after consecration for the confirmation of our Faith in the point of Transubstantiation they durst to say thus vnto the multitude Vnlesse that which is now in this Chalice whose Accidents you see be the very selfe same bloud which issued out of the side of Christ hanging on the crosse let mee haue no part either in the bloud of Christ or in Christ himselfe for ever and so with these last words bid farewel vnto the world being I say demanded whether they durst adventure to doe so they all with one voice denied it And Father Garnet in a conference with the Deanes of the Chappell Pauls and Westminster being in particular asked the like answered very perplexedly not daring to hazard his saluation therevpon All these testimonies duly pondered and considered you must needs acknowledge vnlesse you see better then these quick-sighted Eagles that you haue not so strong hold either in Scripture or Fathers or right reason as you imagined and that not only the name but the Doctrine also of Transubstantiation hath beene but of late created an article of your Faith It remaineth that I entreat you these things vndoubtedly being thus that you suffer not your selfe any longer to be beguilded with novelties vnder pretence of antiquitie but rather that you open your eyes and stretch forth your armes to embrace the truth now that she offereth her selfe so manifestly vnto you And this I intreat the more earnestly because of the great danger that followeth vpon this errour For if Christ bee not present in the Sacrament in such sort as you hold there
Conversion Mutation and the like I. D. Had you attentiuely read my Answer you would never haue said I excepted to two or three Passages only For I excepted to all the passages of Ignatius Cyril of Hierusalem in his Catechismes Ambrose de Sacramentis and Mysterijs initiandis Eusebius Emissenus Cyprian de caena Domini the Canon of the Nicen counsell and Magnetes as suspected by your owne Rabbies not to be the men whose names they beare Againe of Damascen Theophylact Euthymius Nicephorus and Rupertus as being Punies and too young to be Fathers besides those many Passages which are miserably either curtald or rackt or falsely alleaged Neither are their words so plain for you as you pretend For I haue made it to appeare that some of them say nothing at all for you some speak rather against you then for you and to those that seeme to say any thing I haue opposed a whole grand Iury speaking farre more plainely on our side For what words can be more plaine then these This is my body that is the figure of my Body that Christ said This bread is my body which your owne men grant cannot bee true vnlesse figuratiuely vnderstood that Bread and Wine still are what they were that the Nature of bread continues that the nature of bread and wine cease not to be but continue in the propriety of their nature that the signes after consecration depart not from their proper nature but remaine in their former substance figure and forme and suchlike many But perhaps your Fathers speake as plainely Let vs try that They say that the Body flesh and bloud of Christ is truly in the Sacrament Ergo a Reall Presence Who denies it Transubstantiation is that which you should proue which Reall Presence inferres not This you say you vnderstand not The more is your dulnesse For Really and Corporally are not all one and that which is Spiritually present is Really present vnlesse you will say that a spirit is Nothing Is not the Bloud of Christ really present in Baptisme to the washing away of sinne Is hee not Really also present to the Faith of every true beleever even out of the Sacrament Doubtlesse he is and none will deny it but he that never felt the vertue and efficacy thereof What should let then but the Flesh of Christ may bee present in the Eucharist Really and yet not after the Corporall manner Nay what if I should yeeld you a corporall presence Would that necessarily inferre a Transubstantiation Nothing lesse For it may be by consubstantiation the flesh being there together with the Bread without turning the Bread into Flesh. Neither may you deny this to be possible vnlesse you will deny the Omnipotency of God and your Transubstantiation withall for therevpon doe you build it Transubstantiation therefore and the Reall presence are not all one Yea but the Fathers vse the tearmes of Conversion Mutation What then Ergo Transubstantiation A pittifull consequence For this is to argue from the Generall to Speciall as if you should say It is a colour therefore it is blacke there being many colours besides blacke Learne then that Change is a generall word and there are divers kindes thereof of Substance by Generation and corruption of Quality by Alteration of Quantity by Augmentation and Diminution of Place by Lation Now he that affirmeth a Change doth not presently affirme Change of Substance for it may be some other either of Quality or Quantity or Quantity or Place The Fathers therefore speaking of a Change in the Sacrament may as well meane a Change of Alteration in the Vse and Uertue of the Elements as of Substance by way of Transubstantiation And so for ought the Fathers say Transubstantiation may still be a brat of the Lateran Councells disputed of perhaps before but neuer beleeved as an Article of Faith till then N. N. I allow no authority after 600. yeares Ergo I acknowledge the next 1000. to be contrary in this and all other controversies betwixt vs. I. D. To speake plainely I allow no Authority at all as Infallible but only that of Christ and his Apostles Those that afterwards succeeded were all of them subiect vnto errour and cannot be the ground of our Faith as I haue elsewhere answerably demonstrated Howbeit those of the first 600 yeares wee reverence more and rather admit then those of the 1000 following because they were freer from errour as liuing neerer the Apostles times and before the first discouery of Antichrist which was about the yeare 607. when Boniface the third purchased of that bloudy tyrant Phocas the title of Vniversall Bishop and with it the supremacy over all Churches Whereof his predecessor Gregory the great seemed to prophecy when writing against Iohn B. of Constantinople for vsurping that title he gathereth from thence that the times of Antichrist are at hand After which discouery although errours every day crept in apace yet wee yeeld you not that all your opinions instantly and at once leapt into the Church For as Rome it selfe was not built in a day so neither was that huge heape of Romanish impieties raised in one age It was a good while after this before Transubstantiation began to appeare Damascen in the East not contenting himselfe with the old language of the Church fell a coyning of new Phrases yet reached not home to Transubstantiation A hundred yeares after Amalarius in the west maintained in plaine tearms that the simple nature of Bread and wine is turned into a reasonable nature to wit of the body and bloud of Christ. And herein was he seconded by Paschasius Radbertus and others Yet could they not carry it so clearly but that they were mightily opposed by the most famous writers in their times whose names you haue in mine Answer But specially by Bertram vnder Carolus Calvus of whom Turrian the Iesuit thus to cite Bertram what is it other then to say the heresie of Calvin is not new And a good time afterwards againe by Berengarius on whose side many disputed both by word and writing and those not of one nation only but English French and Italians as Mathew of Westminster saith But all these Antichrist who was now in his height bare downe and at length anno 1215. vnder Innocent the third in the Lateran Councel was the Idol set vpon its base and adored So lately with so much adoe was your doctrine of Transubstantiation brought in and established N. N. For 900. yeares was no outward face of a Church in England but the Catholike In which it were vncharitable to say that none knewe the meaning of Scriptures and Fathers as well as we or all liued in ignorance till the true light came in with Luther Yet in this last age England hath yeelded many learned men among others an vnkle of yours and Master of Arts who left all his hopes for his conscience and would not bee perswaded to returne to his great possibilities which
tradition of the Fathers was no more but Memoriam facite keepe the memory as we may see evidently in Cyprian Nothing of all which I trow maketh any whit for your meaning N. N. Dr Morton citeth out of Bibliander that it was a most common opinion among the Iews that at the comming of the Messias all the legall sacrifices should cease but the sacrifice of Thoda in Bread and Wine should not cease Wherevpon he is forced against Mason and his directors to say The Protestants acknowledge in the Eâ—charist a sacrifice Eucharisticall He might as well haue acknowledged with those of Basil Frankford and Stancarus what this Sacrifice should be For they cite these words of the Rabbins the sacrifice that shall be made of wine shall not only be changed into the Substance of the bloud of the Messias but also into the substance of his Body And in the sacrifice that shall be made of bread notwithstanding it be white as milke the substance shall be turned into the Substance of the body of the Messias Thus R. Cahana who liued long before Christ and so R. Iuda R. Simeon and others whose testimonies saith Dr Morton are so direct for Transubstantiation as no Romish Doctor for a 1000 yeares after Christ is so expresse yea they are more pregnant then the sayings of Transubstantiaâ—ors themselues I. D. I am very sory that I haue not Dr Mortons booke now at hand by me For I am very confident that where your Author found his Obiection there I should also meete with a full solution In the meane season till I haue procured it which I hope will be ere long briefly thus First the Passage cited out of Bibliander maketh against you not vs. For if it be Bread and Wine which is sacrificed then they remaine after Consecration which overthroweth Transubstantiation If they doe not remaine and the Body and Bloud of Christ only be offered then were those Iewes false Prophets and foretold nothing but lies Secondly the Doctor acknowledging an Eucharisticall Sacrifice neither is forced therevnto by any such testimony nor is against Mason or any other Protestant for they all acknowledge the same together with him But I thinke you knew not that Eucharist signifieth Thankesgiuing or else you would never haue thought it strange he should acknowledge a Sacrifice of Thanksgiuing Lastly I am strongly perswaded that when these testimonies of R. Cahana R. Iuda R. Simeon and the rest shall come to the ripping they will proue Hippocentaurs and meere fictions For supposing you are in the right is it likely that such fellowes as these should either know or speake more clearly of the mysteries of our Faith then any of the ancient Prophets inspired of the holy Ghost and sent of purpose to foretell to them Or is it probable that your greatest Rabbins and among them Cardinall Bellarmine searching curiously into every corner to find witnesses of all sorts would yet carelesly omit these if they were so plaine and pregnant for you as you pretend Verily when the Doctor saith that no Doctor for a 1000 yeares after Christ no nor Transubstantiator almost ever spake more plainely it is a meere flout and argues how lightly he esteemes of the authority But of this enough vntill I bee more certainly informed Only thus to alleage Iewes is not to approue your sense of the Fathers N. N. The now Archb. of Canterbury saith and with him Midleton agreeth that Berengarius was called into question for denying Transubstantiation and he yeelded once or twice to recant and abiure the Doctrine he held Ergo hee assureth vs Transubstantiation was the Doctrine of the Church constant and generall hundreds of yeares before the Lateran councell defined it yea farther hee assureth vs that to deny it was Heresy to be recanted I. D. Had not your Author wanted or forehead or braine or both he would never haue made such a shamelesse senselesse inference If he had said Ergo many beleeued Transubstantiation before the Lateran councell hee had kept his tongue within compasse but saying Ergo it was the constant and generall doctrine for hundred of yeares before his mouth overfloweth it is a lye with a latchet For be it knowne vnto you the Church of England held it not as I haue already proued out of the Homily of Abbat Aelfrick Neither did the Waldenses hold it whose number yet was very great and they dispersed through all the countries of Christendome And if you thinke that Berengarius stood single by himselfe in this point you are much deceaued for hee had as many for him as were against him and it was nothing but the tyranny of the B. of Rome that bare him down Howbeit the French Churches still resisted both him and his Synods divers meeting together in Anjow and Turon resolue against him and subscribe vnto Berengarius But to put the matter out of all doubt it is reported of Pope Hildebrand that he appointed a Fast of three daies together with a solemn Procession to entreat of God some signe from heaven whereby he might be assured what he was to determine in this businesse If at that time the head of the Church himselfe staggered and doubted which way to resolue is it credible that the rest of the body could bee so setled therein as generally constantly for hundreds of yeares to maintaine it Apellas the Iew may beleeue it if hee list not I. Breefly Transubstantiation might well be disputed of some while before the Lateran Councell but held for an Article of Faith it was not vntill then as I haue elsewhere shewed out of Tonstal and Scotus N. N. The same Bishop and Dr Field tell vs that the Greeke Church is a true Church Yet their Patriarch Ieremie saith It is the iudgement of the Church that in the holy supper after consecration and benediction the bread passeth and is changed into his Body and the Wine into his Bloud I. D. Yet the same Bishop and Doctor tell you also that a true Church may erre so that Transubstantiation might be an errour though the Grecians held it But the truth is that the Greeke Church never held it as I haue aboue shewed out of the same Ieremie the Councell of Florence which you are bound to beleeue For though the Patriarch say Bread is changed into Body yet hee addeth by and by the flesh of the Lord which he carried about him was not giuen to the Apostles to eat nor his bloud to drinke nor is now in the divine celebration of those mysteries which directly overturneth your Change by Transubstantiation But of this see more aboue And thus much in answer vnto your first reason which before I passe vnto the next I must craue leaue to retort vpon you If you may not yeeld vnto the sense I giue the Fathers because some Protestants allow your sense neither may I yeeld to the sense you giue because many Papists allow mine For there is the same law
for Titius as well as for Seius I assume but many Papists allow the sense I giue This if I would follow your course I might easily proue by all those Popish writers who acknowledge those words of the Fathers which we obiect against you without mentioning any of their Answers But so doing I should shew my selfe as ridiculous and vnconscionable as your Author Thus therefore Scotus Cameracensis Caietan Roffensis Biel Occam Durand Peter Lombard with some Iesuits and the Canon Law professe some of them that they could not finde Transubstantiation in the Scriptures and some that they could not in the Fathers Their expresse words you haue in mine Answere whether I referre you for it would be too long to transcribe them If so and all these were grand Papists I haue no reason to beleeue you or your Author rather then them nay great reason haue I to cleaue the faster vnto my opinion as better according both with Scripture Fathers N. N. Your second reason There are amongst vs differences even in many essentiall and fundamentall points as namely betweene Protestants and Puritans whatsoever D. Abbat Doue Willet Powel Sr Edward Hobby Rogers others say to the contrary And this you proue by Rogers Covel Ormrode Parks Willet Powel and sundry others I. D. That there are differences and dissentions amongst vs is too true and cannot bee denied This therefore wee grant But the Consequence which you inferre therevpon Ergo you may not yeeld vnto my iudgement or any of our side I deny For to make this follow you must of necessitie hold that where there are dissentions there you may not harken to any side A dangerous and desperate Position and the very Objection of the Iewes against Christianitie We may not beleeue because of your distractions By which reason as you may not heare vs so may not we you nor Turks and Infidels any of vs all how Orthodoxe soeuer because the Christian world is still full of contentions A man would thinke that diversitie of opinions especially in matters concerning soule and Salvation should rather quicken and stirre vp the minde diligently among all to search which is the truest then to cause it sit still and forbeare assent vntill all sides be accorded Neither let any pretend inabilitie for as Chrysostome saith Seeing we acknowledge the scriptures which are so true and plaine it will be an easie matter for to iudge And tell me hast thou any wit or iudgement For it is not a mans part barely to receaue whatsoever hee heareth Say not I am a learner and may be no iudge I can condemne no opinion this is but a shift c. And Gerson rendreth the true reason hereof The triall and examination of doctrines concerning Faith belongeth not only to the Councell Pope but also to every one that is sufficiently learned in the scriptures because every man is a sufficient iudge of that hee knoweth But ô yee miserable servitude and slauery of you the common sort of Papists your eyes are puld out of your heads neither are you allowed the vse of common sense and reason The Scriptures by which you should see are wrested out of your hands as a dangerous booke If you will see it must be by another mans eyes Your Faith must depend vpon the warrant of some equivocating Priest And whatsoever is said to the contrary though never so soundly proued you may in no case harken to it for why there are dissentions among you This reason being thus fully answered I might without more adoe passe on to the next but that I see by your spinning it to such a length you make great store of it Let vs therefore bestow a word or two more vpon it There are say you dissentions amongst vs. True And was there ever or will there ever be a Church so happy as to be altogether free of them If not why doe you vpbraid them vnto vs Is it because notwithstanding them we count one another brethren members of the same Church That is an Argument of our charity and that we dare not cut off and condemne as Hereticks every one that differeth though never so little from vs in opinion whereas you presently condemne to the pit of Hell all Christians whatsoever wheresoever and how many soever that will not vaile bonnet vnto the Popes Miter and beleeue all to bee true that hee resolues vpon But what May not brethren disagree and yet continue brethren Or doth every quarrell exclude out of the Church of God I trow not For then Paul and Barnabas Peter and Paul Victor and Polycrates Cyril and Theodoret Chrysostome and Theophilus Epiphanius and Chrysostome Hierome and Ruffin and sundry others should not be brethren Nay the East and West Churches dissenting about Easter and the Roman and African about Rebaptization should be no true Churches Yea but our differences are not in pettie matters but essentiall fundamentall points And such were also in the Churches of the Corinthians and Galathians for in the one they differed about the Resurrection of the dead in the other about the necessary observation of the law of Moses together with the Gospell And yet saith Bellarmine they were true Churches and they that so erred if they were ready to learne the truth and to beleeue it being taught were true members of them also But by your leaue sir your Author overlashes when he saith we differ in points Essentiall and Fundamentall neither doe our Divines only say it as you beare vs in hand but clearely demonstrate it also And indeed all the quarrell is rather about the shell then the kernell that is the outward gouernment ceremonies of the Church rather then the Faith of the Church or at the most it is rather about some deductions and conclusions in Divinitie then the Principles themselues and those truths that are necessary vnto salvation For as for the Article of Christs descent into Hell though your Author would insinuate the contrary yet there is not one of vs but willingly subscribes vnto it and acknowledgeth that Christ hath spoiled Hell and triumphed over Principalities and Powers and all the enimies of our salvation But whether he did this by descending locally in soule into the Hell of the Damned or Virtually and by the power of his Godhead is all the Question amongst vs whereby for ought I see we neither overturne the Article nor dissolue brotherhood And your selfe must needs confesse so much vnlesse you will disclaime brotherhood with Durandus and condemne him of a Fundamentall errour together with vs. For hee held that the soule of Christ descended into Hell not in the substance thereof but by certaine effects And heare the resolution of Suares the Iesuit touching this Article If by an article of faith saith he we vnderstand a truth which all the faithfull are bound explicitly to knowe and beleeue so I doe not thinke it necessary to reckon this among the Articles
vehemently as justly they might if this were his Tenet But there are who defend him affirming that it was but out of a mistake For acknowledging in Christ a threefold Righteousnesse Actiue passiue Essentiall of the Word for the Righteousnesse of God is not Accidentall but his very Essence hee holdeth that we are justified not only by the imputation of the Actiue and Tassiue Righteousnesse of Christ vnto vs but also by the admission of vs vnto the participation of the Divine nature as St Peter speaketh that is of his Essentiall Righteousnesse to the end that receiuing of his fulnesse wee might be replenished with all divine qualities and graces The reason why he so much vrged this doctrine was because he had obserued that many out of a perswasion they had to be justified and saved by the merits and obedience of Christ imputed to them cared not to haue any righteousnesse in themselues and vtterly neglected the practise of holy duties Wherefore hee taught that the Actiue and Passiue Righteousnesse of Christ imputed availed not either to the remission of sinnes or the purchasing of Gods favour vnlesse they were also made partakers of the divine nature for the avoiding of sinne and the leading of a holy and vertuous life This as it seemes was all Hosiander held If he held farther then this and his adversaries vnderstood him aright I am no Patron for him The last quarrell is touching our English translations of the Bible Wherein that divers things were amisse it was never denyed of vs. For being an humane act and humanity being subiect vnto errour it could not bee avoided but that some faults what through ignorance what through negligence what through other infirmities might passe vnheeded and vnobserved If the former translations had beene faultlesse the Church of England would never haue thought of setting forth a new as now it hath done Which it did not as if those aberrations were so dangerous and prejudiciall vnto the substance of Faith but out of a holy desire that our English streames as neere as may be might runne with the same purity that is found in the Hebrew Greeke fountaines So that her meaning was not as our late learned Translators say of a bad Translation to make a good for this had beene in a manner to acknowledge that our people hitherto had beene fed rather vpon husks and akornes then the flower of wheat but to make a good one better or out of many good ones to make one principall good one not justly to be excepted against But tell me in good sooth you that so busily object vnto vs our quarrels in this point is your Vulgar translation even that which your Trent Councell hath made authenticall and is every where read in your Churches free from errour Or are there no bickerings and contentions among you concerning it If it be faultlesse what needed other translations as that of Pagnine Vatablus and Arias Montanus How cometh it to passe that Valla Stapulensis Erasmus Vives Budaeus others finde so great fault with it wishing it were amended or another made in roome of it Nay that Isidorus Clarius a Spanish Monke should finde to the number of eight thousand faults and euery one as hee professeth changing the meaning of the text Pope Sixtus the fift did not thinke all was well when he went about to correct the faults thereof with his owne hand And who would haue thought but all had beene well when he set it forth so corrected charging that none should afterwards be published with any change addition or detraction of the least particle And yet some two or three yeares after this Pope Clement the eight finding all not perfectly amended alters addes detracts yea contradicts his predecessors edition For example where Sixtus saith there was not a citty which did not yeeld Clement saith which did yeeld Againe where Sixtus hath They built vpward to the horse-gate Clement hath from the horse-gate And where Sixtus reads iustice Clement reads Vniustice This for a tast whereof whosoever will haue his fill let him see Doctor Iames who hath written at large of this argument Wherevnto I might adde the barbarismes and solecismes of that translation together with those knowne and manifest faults which yet they suffer to passe in every print as Evertit for Everrit she overturned â—he house for she swept the house consum masset had perfected for consumpsisset had wasted or consumed Saeculi of this world for Sacculi of the bagge praescientiam foreknowledge for praesentiam presence sixe hundred like or worse errors But I forbeare for brevities sake only I cannot but acquaint you with the reasons hereof for they are feriall and pleasant Faults saith the Iesuit Mariana are still left in the vulgar edition first because there is no danger in them to faith and good manners Secondly least the novelty of an exact amendment should offend the eares of them that were enured vnto them Lastly that they might reverence the old edition and tread in the steps of their Ancestors who out of a holy kind of piety tolerated those errors Heare also what the same Mariana saith touching your bickerings about this matter Some Catholikes and those also in Spaine taxe the vulgar edition as defiled with many foule faults appealing every foot vnto the fountaines whence those rivers haue issued vnto vs contending that as often as they differ from them they are to be corrected by comparing them with the Greeke and Hebrew bookes men puffed vp with the skill of languages making a mocke of Ecclesiasticall simplicity whose boldnesse and temerity in pronouncing deserueth to be curbed On the contrary side others more in number through the hatred of their adversaries thinke it great sinne once to touch the vulgar edition and count them in the number of impious ones who adventure to correct the least word or to expound any place otherwise then the vulgar interpretatioÌ„ will beare whom certainly wee are not to follow men of little spirit filled with darknesse conceiuing too narrowly of the Maiesty of our religion who while they defend the block-houses as it were of opinions as articles of faith seem to me to betray the chiefest tower it selfe most shamfully to violaâ—e brotherly charity Therefore avoiding these extreames and by-waies which lead vnto a downe-fall wee haue resolved to hold the midle way c. Thus you see that there are as violent contentions among your selues about translation as there is amongst vs and that wee may justly say vnto you Physitian heale thy selfe before you haue to doe with the diseases of others N. N. Good Mr Downe calling to mind that you told me craving some certaine rule to know the true sense of Scripture that the true sense of Scripture is easy to bee vnderstood as much as appertaineth to Salvation I demand then if the doctrine of Baptisme be necessary If so then is some part hard
the bookes de Sacramentis was wont to say thus If there bee so great force in the speech of our Lord Iesus that the things which were not began to be how much more operatiue is it that things still be what they were and yet bee changed into another things But now because that clause that things still bee what they were make sore against Transubstantiation in the Roman Edition and that of Paris an 1603. that clause is cleane left out and S. Ambrose must no longer say so S. Chrysostom or the Author of the imperfect worke vpoÌ„ Mathew was wont to haue these words If it be so dangerous to transferre vnto private vses those holy vessels in which the true body of Christ is not but the mystery of his body is contained how much more c. But what is become of them now In the edition printed at Antwerp by Ioannes Steelsius anno 1537. at Paris by Ioannes Roigny 1543. and by Audoenus Parvus 1557. not a syllable of those words in which the true body of Christ is not but the mystery of his body is contained appeares Why Because they make so strongly against your Reall Presence So likewise where he vsed in the elder impressions to say the sacrifice of bread and wine now in these latter editions hee is forced to change his language and to say the sacrifice of the body and bloud of Christ. More examples I might easily produce but these are sufficient to shew that Vincentius Lirinensis had good reason when hee gaue this Caveat But neither alwaies nor all kind of heresies are to bee impugned after this manner but such only as are new and late when they first arise while by straightnesse of time it selfe they be hindred from falsifying the rules of the ancient Faith and before that their poison spreading farther they attempt to corrupt the writings of the Ancient But farre spread and inveterate heresies are not to be set on this way forasmuch as by long continuance of time a long occasion hath layne open vnto them to steale away the truth But returne we againe to the matter from which we haue a little digrest The Fathers say you differed not in points essentiall True Neither doe we as is aboue shewed yet by your leaue their differences were not alwaies in petty matters vnlesse Rebaptization Communicating of infants the Popes vniversall iurisdiction and the like bee of small consequence with you Their differences were not so bitter as ours No were When they proceeded not only to curse one another but to fire bloudshed and banishment also And when casting off the rule of pietie they did nothing but increase strife threats envy and quaâ—rels every man with all tyranny pursuing his ambition whereby as S. Basil saith the Church of God was vnmercifully drawne in sunder and his flock troubled without all care or pittie Lastly say you they differed in matters vndecided by a generall Councell What then No danger No danger Then belike a man may safely beleeue all he lists before a Councell determine it The very high way to Atheisme For so the very Articles of the Creed during the first three hundred yeares after Christ should be but disputable points and not necessary For vntill Constantine the great there were no generall Councels By the same reason your Adoration of Images was no matter of Faith till the second Councel of Nice about 800 yeares after Christ nor Transubstantiation till the Councell of Lateran some 1200 yeares nor Merit nor Iustification by workes nor the most of your Tenents till the Trent Councell aboue foureteene hundred yeares after Christ. If they were I require you to shew what generall Councell had before determined them If you cannot then are you but novellers and hold not the ancient Faith The truth is Councells cannot make that an Article which was not but whether they decree or not decree whatsoever God affirmeth in his word as soone as it commeth to our knowledge is absolutely and vpon paine of damnation to be beleeued And it is horrible sacriledge and impiety to thinke that it is not necessary to beleeue God vnlesse a Councell of the Pope say Amen vnto it Yea but say you we nor haue nor can haue generall Councels No more can you nor any Church in Christendome without the generall consent of Christian Princes Synods of our owne Churches we may haue and haue had by the indulgence of our Princes More then this you cannot haue For you are but a handful of the Christian world and the greatest part thereof neither is nor will bee subject vnto you When you can get the Greek Church and that in Prester Iohns countrey with the Armenians and others to submit themselues vnto the Popes omnipotent and vbiquitaâ—y power then may you peradventure haue hope to call a generall Councell But that I think will be at the Greek Kalends that is in plaine English at Nevermasse Howsoever say you if you may not relie on the Fathers because of their differences neither may you on vs because of ours If this be a sound reason as I confesse it is neither may you rely on the Church of Rome because of theirs But you mistake the matter much if you thinke wee require men to relie on our bare authoritie That privilege belongs vnto Christ only and vnder him to those holy Pen-men of the Bible that wrote by inspiration To vs appertaineth to proue what we say by their authoritie and when wee haue so done to require assent and not before If Scripture and sound deduction from it according to the art of reasoning together with the proofe of the sense thereof by the circumstances of the place and the analogie of Faith will not moue you we can but pittie your wilfulnesse and leaue you vnto God till he turne your heart and haue mercy vpon you For certainely miserable is the case of that man who knowing the Scriptures to be Gods word and hauing the vse of right reason shall refuse triall both by the one and the other preferring therevnto the authoritie of man which may erre it selfe and lead others into errour N. N. Your conclusion is you meane not to forsake the religion taught in that Church which is descended from Christ and his Apostles by succession but with Litinensis to preferre it before all things That you will follow vniversality Antiquitie and consent in your beleefe that faith which hath beene held from time to time in all places in all seasons by all or the most Doctors of Christianity That Church which as S. Augustine saith had her beginning by the entring of nations got authority by miracles was increased by charity and established by continuance and hath had succession from S. Peters chaire to our time That church which is knowne by the name of Catholike both to friends and foes even Heretikes tearming her so calling themselues for distinctions sake Reformers Illuminates Vnspotted brethren In
were crept into the Church as needed Reformation and many worthy men that feared God earnestly wished and longed for it yet because it could not be obtained at the hands of those that then swayed in the Church it is true some Heroicall spirits of our side not without the singer of God attempted it and by Gods blessing effected that which the Saints of God reioyce to see and none but Superstitious and Idolatrous Papists greeue and repine at Howbeit they never tooke vnto themselues the name of Reformers but ascribed the whole worke vnto God and wee blesse his holy name for vsing them as instruments therein In regard whereof I see no reason why wee hauing reiected and pared off all those errours wherewith you had corrupted the true religion may not tearme our selues Reformed Catholikes as well as you still retaining them and resoluing to settle vpon your dreggs call your selues by the name of Roman Catholikes But a Roman Catholike you say you meane to keepe your selfe during life and it is likely you will doe so indeed First to avoide the imputation of inconstancie if you should returne to vs againe secondly because I see how obstinately you refuse to beleeue whatsoever wee say though never so strongly proved You adde that so doing if otherwise your life hinder not as you hope it shall not you shall enioy everlasting life after this Wherein I Will not be your Iudge You are servant vnto another and for me you shall stand and fall to your owne Master Only I would advize you not to be too confident For first whatsoever your life bee as I haue said it is as hard for you to attaine everlasting life in a Church so fearfully infected with so many pestilent and deadly heresies as it is for a man to escape with his life in a pest-house Secondly adhering vnto the Church of Rome conforming your selfe vnto the practise thereof you must needs make your selfe guilty of horrible idolatries many waies Whereof vnlesse you timely repent it cannot be but such a life must needs hinder your salvation Lastly although perhaps to many simple people that liue in Spaine or Italy where such meanes of knowledge cannot so well be had it may please God to be mercifull and gracious if they hold the Foundation and bee willing to know if they had the meanes yet I feare much of our English Recusants who liue in the bright sunshine of the Gospell and haue the meanes daily offered vnto them least their obstinacy in reiecting thereof and refusing to see worke vnto them in the end everlasting destruction Certainly if any of you be saued it is not by those doctrines wherein you differ from vs but those only which you hold in common with vs. Especially for that when you lye vpon your death-beds and perceiue that shortly you must yeeld an account of all whatsoever you haue done in the flesh you then thinke it good with all speed to turne Protestants that is to renounce all your owne works as insufficient to iustify you before God and to put your whole affiance vpon the mercies of God through the merits and obedience of Christ alone both for Iustification and Salvation For indeed this is a sure and a safe way even by the confession of Bellarmine himselfe By reason saith he of the vncertainty of our owne righteousnesse and the danger of vaineglory it is the safest course to set our whole affiance on the mercy and goodnesse of God alone And the like safety doe others of your side yeeld vs in other things also as namely in forbearing to make any image of God in worshipping none but the holy Trinity in praying vnto none saue only God in Christ in the marriage of Ministers and other such things as it is easy to demonstrate but that it is now high time to come to a conclusion Only I would haue you carefully to obserue that even they who perswade you to stick close vnto the Popish Faith sticke not themselues to acknowledge the Protestants Practise both in life and death to be many waies the more safe And thus much in Answere vnto this second Schedule It remaineth that I earnestly intreat you in the name of the Lord Iesus and as you tender the everlasting salvation of your soule that you would please to bethinke your selfe a little better of your present estate then heretofore you seeme to haue done You haue suffered your selfe now a long time to be lead vp and downe in the mist of I know not what generalities a path which they that loue to deceiue vse much to tread in They tell you of Vniversality Antiquity Succession Consent and the like and you presently beleeue them But what security haue you in so doing for infallible they are not If they bee matters of so great consequence it were good you knew thē yourselfe that you need not trust the vncertaine reports of others Know them your selfe you cannot vnlesse you acquaint your selfe with all the records of former times and search into them with much diligence and attention for otherwise you may herein also soone bee deceiued But this would proue too long and tedious a course for you and alas the well is deepe and you haue not wherewith to draw What then Surely you haue a shorter way if you would follow it For as Moses saith The commandement is neither too high for you nor farre off You need neither to mount vp into heaven nor to passe beyond the seas for it It is very neere vnto you For you haue at hand the Scriptures of God search them and therein shall you surely finde eternall life By them and no other did the ancient Fathers confute all the heresies of their times vnlesse happily they had to deale with such Hereticks as reiected the Scriptures And to this end were they written that the man of God might bee made perfect and wise vnto salvation Yea but they are obscure darke equivocall ambiguous subiect to divers constructions and each sect pretendeth to confirme their errours by them Strange that they should be the testament of our Father and the instrument of contract betweene Christ and his Spouse and yet they should bee drawne vp so perplexedly and doubtfully that by them neither can the children certainly know what legacies are bequeathed to them nor the Spouse what conditions are agreed vpon betwixt her and her husband But marke what farther followeth hereof For if the Scriptures bee indeed such as you say then haue not Papists any certain ground at all for their Faith Yes will you say the Church But shee speaketh not by her selfe but her heralds and particular messengers and I would faine know what assurance you can haue that they passe not beyond their commission or deliuer not some other errant besides that they are charged withall The Authority also and Vnerring power of this Church had neede to bee most soundly demonstrated I doubt of it how can you