of the blisse of the life to come CHAP. XIIII That the Epistles of St. Paul are loosely and impertinently alleaged by the Papists for proofe of their Popery as namely for Iustification before God by workes for Free-will against certainty of saluation and particular Faith for the Merit of single life for Monkish vowes for Purgatory and prâ—yer for the Dead for Images and inuocation of Saints for the Masse and Reall presence for the Authority of thâ— Church of Rome for Pardons for Traditions for the perpetuall visibility of the Church for Satisfactions and workes of supererogation for seuen Sacraments c. THE TRVE ANCIENT ROMANE CATHOLICKE CHAP. I. That the Church of Rome doth vainely and absurdly challenge to it selfe the name of the Catholicke Church Answere to Doct. BISHOPS Epistle Sect. 3. HEre M. Bishop propoundeth briefely to his Maiestie the summe of his Petition c. to It is therefore a meere Vsurpation c. Doct. BISHOPS REPROOFE Pag. 89. §. 1. MAster Abbot is now at length come from his extrauagant rouing narrations vnto some kind of argumentation Here he will giue a proofe of his valour here we shall soone trie whether he come so wel furnished into the field that he neede not to doubt of the victory as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he 〈…〉 ed of himselfe on whether his speciall skill and force die not rather lie in râ—â—ling at vs and in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reader then in any sound kinde of re 〈…〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of St. Aug 〈…〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the â—ord Catholike we â—â—llingly â—â—mit off to wit That religion is Catholike that faith is Catholike which is spread ouer all the world and hath beene alwaies imbraced and practised euen from the Apostles time to our daies and such is the religion which I would haue perswaded his Maiesty to receiue into his Princely protection To this what saith M. Abbot marry that his Maiesty hath already receiued it How doth he proue that not by any one plaine and round argument directly to the purpose but from the Catholike religion falleth to the Catholike Church and so spendeth the time in most friuolous arguing against the Roman Church of which I made no mention at all Doth he not deserue a Lawrell garland for the worshipfull ranging of his battell and is he not like to fight it out valiantly that thus in the beginning flyeth from the point of the Question Proue good Sir that his Maiesty imbraceth and maintaineth that religion which is spread ouer all the world and that hath continued euer since the Apostles time and then you may iustly say that he vpholdeth the Catholike religion according to your owne explication out of the ancient Fathers But because Mr. Abbot saw this to be impossible he gaue it the sâ—ippe and turneth himselfe to proue the Roman religion not to be the Catholike and perceiuing that also as hard to performe as the other he shuffles from the religion and faith of which the Question was vnto the Roman Church that is from the faith professed at Rome to the persons inhabiting the City of Rome whom he will proue not to be Catholikes and the Roman Church not to be the Catholike Church Doe you marke what winding and turning and what doubling this simple Minister is driuen vnto ere he can come to make any shew of a silly argument R. ABBOT I Doe not maruell that my narrations seeme to M. Bishop to be extrauagant and rouing who hauing set vp his owne marke thinketh all to be extrauagant and rouing that flyeth not by his aime Albeit he is beholding to me for those extrauagant and rouing narrations because they haue ministred him matter towards the making vp of a prety handsome booke which must haue beene much shorter if he had beene tyed to the substantiall points of his owne defence As for the victory that I ominated to my selfe thanks be to God I haue obtained it being become Master of the field and M. Bishop enforced to leaue the maine battell contented now only out of a corner to thrust an ambush that he may make some shew that he is not quite spent I triumph ouer him in his owne conscience being priuy to himselfe what desperate shifts he hath beene faine to vse to how cruell a racke he hath beene forced to put himselfe to make men beleeue that he hath strength enough left to saue himselfe It is but risus Sardonius whereby he iesteth at the simple Minister driuen to winding and turning and doubling it is indeede for his behoofe to haue it taken so but the Ministers proceeding is direct and orderly familiar and sensible to euery mans vnderstanding inferring by due course the very point that doth require proofe The Minister is not so simple but that he can easily discerue the pittifull case of a Popish Masse-monger who being troubled with a vertigo or some other distemperature of the braine thinketh all to be winding and turning about him when there is no turning at all but in his owne head The issue betwixt him and me was Whether his Maiesty doe 〈◊〉 and maintâ—ine the only true Catholike and Apostolike faith To proue that he doth so it was necessary first to explicate what is meant by the Catholike and Apostolike faith Of the Catholike Church it is that the faith is called The Catholike faith For there hath beene one and the same faith from the beginning as shall afterwards appeare but it could not be called the Catholike faith till the Church became the Catholike Church If of the Catholike Church the faith be called the Catholike faith then to shew what is meant by the Catholike faith I was first to shew what is meant by the Catholike Church This I did and 〈◊〉 occasion thereof taxed as due order required the 〈…〉 of the Pope and his complices in vsurping to themselues the name of the Catholike Church and thence terming themselues Catholikes that hauing destroyed their ridiculous and foolish claime there might be thereof no let to the collection whereat I aimed that the Catholike faith is the faith of the Catholike Church that the Catholike Church though becomming Catholike by being spred ouer the whole world yet containeth as a part thereof euen * Aug. de Catechiz rudib c. 19. Velut totus homâ— dum nascitur etiamsi manum in nascendo praemittat tameÌ„ vniuerso corpori sub capite coniuncta atque compacta est quem admodum etiam nonnulli in ipsis Patriarchis in buius ipsius rei signum manu praemissa nati sunt c. as an arme or hand come out of the wombe before the rest of the body the whole Church of God from the beginning of the world that of this whole body of the Church from the beginning to the end there is in substance but one faith and religion towards God that therefore what was the faith of the Patriarks and Fathers from the beginning the sâ—me and no other is now the Catholike faith whence it
followeth that seeing we retaine the same saith and religion whereby the Patriarks and Prophets and other Fathers from the beginning serued God which the Papists doe not as by instance and comparison I then declared and remaineth now to be made good therefore not the Popish faith but our faith must needes be holden to be the Catholike faith This processe is cleare the Reader seeth in it neither winding nor turning and therefore it was but a simple shift of so learned a Doctor against a simple Minister to mocke his Reader with a tale of flying the point in Question where it hath so direct and expresse conclusion He saith that they willingly admit of St. Austins doctrine that that religion and faith is Catholike which is spred ouer all the world c. but I brought nothing out of Austin concerninâ— Catholike faith and religion I only noted out of him why the Church is called the Catholike Church And therefore preposterously and idlâ—ly doth he here vrge me in that sort Proue good Sir that his Maiesty imbraceth and maintaineth that religion which is spred ouer all the world c. and then you may iustly say that he vpholdeth the Catholike religion For of the Catholike faith and religion the conclusion followeth after in due place why then doth he thus preuent the time and like Dauus disorder ali but that he loueth to fish in troubled waters where his deceiptfull baites may be the lesse seene But if we must needes speake here of Catholike faith I will returne to him his owne question Proue good Sir that the Pope imbraceth and maintaineth that religion that is spred ouer all the world that Christians throughout the world are perswaded of that which you call the Catholike faith Bellarmine hath said it and Bellarmines ghost maintaineth it that the supremacy of the Pope for the deposing of Kings and Princes is a Bellar. epist ad Archipreâ—b apud Mat. Tort. Vnum ex praecipuis fidei nostrae capitibus ac religionis Catholicae fundamentis one of the chiefe points of your faith and of the very foundations of Catholike religion Proue now I pray you and bring vs hands and seales for it that we may beleeue you that the Christian Churches throughout Grecia Armenia Aethiopia Russia Palestina and such like are all become drunke and haue entertained this for a point of Catholike faith You will falle M. Bishop in this proofe and therefore why would you so much preiâ—â—iâ—ate your selfe to require the same of vs But Bellarmine himselfe shall free vs from any neede to trauell for this proofe who saith that b Bellar. de notis Eccles cap. 7. Si sola vna Prouincia retineret veram fidem adhuc vere proprie diceretur Ecclesia Catholica dummodo clare ostéderetur â—am esse vnam eandem cum illa quae fuit aliquo tempere vel diuersis in toto mundo Though one only Prouince or Country did retaine the true faith yet the same should truly and properly be called the Catholike Church and therefore their faith the Catholike fa 〈…〉 so long as it could be cleerly shewed that the same is one and the same with that which at any time or times was ouer the whole world To proue then that our faith is the Catholike faith it shall be sufficient to proue that it is that which once was spred ouer the whole world Now with the proofe thereof M. Bishop is choked already and all that we see from him now is but a vaine and bootlesse strugling to recouer his breath againe But yet he saith M. Abbot gaue this the slippe and turneth himselfe to proue the Roman religion not to be the Catholike And was not that M. Bishop a shreud turne for you to proue the Roman religion not to be the Catholike and was it not very pertinent for me so to doe when you exhorted the Kings Maiesty to the Roman religion vnder pretence of that name Yea but he shuffles from the religion and faith of which the question was vnto the Roman Church But what will he haue vs thinke that there is a Roman Church without faith or religion that a man must shuffle from religion and faith to goe to the Roman Church forsooth he shuffles from the faith professed at Rome to the persons inhabiting the City of Rome to proue that they are no Catholikes and that the Roman Church is not the Catholike Church And doth not he shuffle amisse for you M. Bishop that can shuffle you from being Catholikes and the Roman Church from being the Catholike Church And he that shuffleth you from being Catholikes doth he not also shuffle the saith professed at Rome from being the Catholike faith Are these things so diuided each from other as that they cannot in their order be incident to the same discourse Surely M. Bishop my shuffling will yeeld but a bad game to you vnlesse you can cut more wisely for your selfe theâ— hitherto you haue done If you haue no better cardes then yet we see you will certainly loose all W. BISHOP §. 2. BVt let vs giue him leaue to wander whither his fancy leadeth him that we may at length heare what he would say It is forsooth That the Church of Rome doth absurdly call her selfe the Catholike Church and that Papists doe absurdly take to themselues the name of Catholikes because the Catholike Church is the vniuersall Church but the Church of Rome is a particular Church therefore to say the Roman Catholike Church is all one as to say the vniuersall particular Church Here is a well shapen argument and worthy the maker it consists of all particular propositions which euery smatterer in Logicke knowes to be most vitious besides not one of them is good but all are sophisticall and full of deceit First concerning the forme if it were currant one might prouely it that no one Church in the world were Catholike take for example the English congregation which they hold to be most Catholike and apply Mr. Abbots argument to it thus The Catholike Church is the vniuersall Church but the Church of England is a particular Church wherefore to say the English Church is Catholike is to say a particular Church is an vniuersall His first fault then is in the very forme of reasoning which alone is sufficient to argue him to be a Sophister and one that meaneth to beguile them that will trust him now to the particulars His first proposition the Catholike Church is the vniuersall Church is both absurd because the same thing is affirmed of himselfe for vniuersall is no distinct thing but the very interpretation of the word Catholike and also captious as hauing a double signification For the Catholike Church doth signifie both the whole body of the Church compacted of all the particular members vnited and ioyned together in one in which sense no one particular Church can be called the Catholike Church because it is not the whole body spred ouer all
M. Bishop shew you selfe a man of your word let vs see that which you say is deduced out of Gods word for as for the exposition of the Fathers it auaileth not if it be not deduced out of the word of God Hee is dumbe and can say no more if you will take the Fathers exposition for a deduction out of Gods word be it so otherwise deduce he that can for M. Bishop can deduce nothing Albeit let vs aske him who be those ancient Fathers that haue expounded the Roman Church to be the Rocke vpon which the Church is built What M. Bishop are you afraid to name them Though you set not downe their words yet did not leisure serue you to quote them in the margent of your book that we might take knowledge of them It is true that St. Peter is sometimes termed the Rocke vpon which the Church was built but who euer said that the Rock is the Church of Rome or that the Church is built vpon the Roman Church The truth is that he belieth the Fathers and fathereth vpon them that which they neuer meant The Rocke vpon which Christ would build his Church is often by the Fathers expounded to be Christ himselfe and the true faith confession of Christ e Aug. de verb. Dom. serâ— 13. Super hanc Petram quam confessus es super hanc petraÌ„ quam cognouisti diceâ— Tu es Christus c. adisicabâ— Ecclesiam med id est super meipsum fiâ—ium Dei viui c. Vpon this Rocke which thou hast confessed saith Austin vpon this Rocke which thou hast acknowledged saying Thou art Christ the sonne of the liuing God I will build my Church that is vpon my selfe being the sonné of the liuing God f Hilar. de Trinit lib. 6. Super banc confessionis Petram Ecclesiâ— aedificatiâ— est c Haec fides Ecclesiae fundamentum est per hanc fidem infirma aduersus cam sunt portae inferorum hâ—c fides regni câ—lestis babet â—lâ—ues c. Vpon this Rocke of confession faith Hilary is the building of the Church This faith is the foundation of the Church by this faith the gates of hell preuaile not against it this faith hath the keyes of the Kingdome of heauen c. Chrysostome saith g Chrysost in Math. hom 56. Super hanc Petram id est fideÌ„ confessionem Vpon this Rocke that is this faith and confession Theodoret likewise expoundeth it h Theodor. in Cant. l. 2. PetraÌ„ appellat fidei pietatem veritatis professionâ— c. the piety of faith the profession of truth Anâ—brose saith i Ambros in Ephâ— c. 2. Super hanc petram c. id est in hac Catholicae fidei confessione statuam fideles ad vitam Vpon this Rocke will I build my Church that is in this confession of the Catholike faith will I stablish the faithfull vnto life and againe that those wordes of the Apostle k Ibid. In quo omnis structura c. Hic sensus est vnde Dominus aâ—t super hanc petram c. In him that is in Christ all the building is coupled together c. are the sense and meaning of that which the Lord saith vpon this Rocke will I build my Church And thus the whole number of the Bishops of Palestina in the Councell of Chalcedon vnderstood it l Epist Iuuenal Episc Palest in append Concil Chalced. Super hanc confessionem roberata est Ecclesia Dei Vpon this confession the Church of God is confirmed and strengthened By many other such like expositions of the ancient Fathers it may appeare that Christ Iâ—SVS euen the true faith of Christ for Christ is nothing to vs but by faith is the true Rocke whereupon the Church is builded that the gates of hell may not preuaile against it And to this St. Iohn accordeth m 1. Iohn 5. 4. 5. This is the victory that ouercommeth the world 〈◊〉 our faith for who is it that ouercommeth the world but he that beleeueth that Iesus is the sonne of God If Christ then be the Rocke by faith in him how falsly doth M. Bishop deale to foist in the Roman Church in steede of Christ or of the faith of Christ Now if Christ properly and truly be the Rocke then it can be but accidentally and vnproperly that Peter is so called only in respect of his doctrine and example of faith expressed and vttered in his confession n Math. 16. 16. Thou art Christ the sonne of the liuing God As Abraham is o Esa 51. 1. the Rocke from whence we are hewed so is Peter the Rocke whereupon we are built not for that either of them conferreth any thing to vs but only for that they stand before vs for patternes of imitation whereto we are to conforme our selues that togither with them we may be builded vpon the true Rocke p 1. Cor. 3. 11. that foundation beside which no other may be laid which is Iesus Christ. But in this Peter was not alone the rest of the Apostles as well as hee q Iohn 6. 69. beleeuing and knowing that Iesus was Christ the sonne of the liuing God Yea and in the place where Peter vttereth that confession as the question was asked of all the Apostles Whom say yee that I am so we must vnderstand also and so St. Austin affirmeth that r Augustin in Psal 88. Respondens Petrus pro omnibus vnus pro vnitate Peter answered for all one for vnity and consequently that all being in the like case the wordes which Christ returneth though in token of vnity vttered to one yet in that vnity did appertaine to all Therefore by the words there spoken to Peter Hiâ—rome concludeth that Å¿ Hieron in Amos lib. 3. c. 6. Petra christus est qui donauit Apostolis suiâ— vt ipsi quoque Petra vocentur Tu es Petrus super hac petram c. Christ the Rocke gaue not to one only Apostle but to his Apostles that they also should be called Rocks And in like sort Origen conceiueth it when he saith t Origen in Math. cap. 16. Quod si super vnum illum Petrum tantum existimas â—dificari totaâ— Ecclesiam quid dicturus es de Ioanne filio tonitrâ—i Apoâ—lolorâ—â— vnâ— quoque Quin alioqui num audebimus dicere quòd aduersus Petrum vnum noÌ„ prâ—ualiturâ— sinâ— portâ— inferorâ— aduensus caeleros auâ—â— Apostolos praeualiturae sinâ— ac noÌ„ potius in omnibus singuliâ—â—orum fit illud quod dictum est super 〈◊〉 Petram c. Quòd si dictum hoc Tiâ—i dabo claues c. câ—teris quoque commune est cur non simul omnia quae prius dicta sâ—nt quae sequuntâ—r 〈◊〉 ad Petrum dicta sunt omnium communia If thou thinke that the Church was built vpon Peter only what wilt thou say of Iohn the sonne of thunder euery of the Apostles shal we dare
I will take it here in his due place making it to appeare that this mistaking in a circumstance altereth nothing of the substance of that comparison which I had there in hand The first branch then of the comparison shall bee this The Donatists did set vp a particular Church to be the Catholike Church all of them first in the south of Africa some of them afterwards namely the Rogatists at Cartenna in Mauritania and so haue the Papists done at Rome in Italie Against this branch as it was before set downe hee giueth two exceptions First that they doe not hold it so to be at Rome aâ— the Rogatists did at Cartenna And what is the difference Marry they hold it to be so at Rome as that it is dispersed also all the world ouer but the Rogatists held it to be wholly included in the bounds of Cartenna and confines thereof The first part of which answere on their owne behalfe is false and the second part thereof concerning the Rogatists is vaine For it is false that hee saith that their Romish Church is dispersed all the world ouer and hee knoweth well that the Churches of Greece and all the Easterne Churches are holden by them to be Schismatikes because they disclaime subiection to the Church of Rome True it is they would haue it all the world ouer and they make simple fooles beleeue that it is so but they themselues know that the skirts of it are too short to reach so farre and that a huge part of the Church there is that will haue nothing to doe with them And this drew from Bellarmine that caution that I before mentioned in the first Chapter that a Supra cap. 1. §. 1. though one only Prouince did imbrace the true faith yet the same should truly and properly be called the Catholike Church so long as it could bee plainly shewed that it is one and the same with that which at any time or times was ouer the whole world Now hereof it followeth that the other part of his exception concerning the Rogatists is vaine For although the communion of the Church of Rome be farre larger then that was of the Rogatists at Cartenna yet doth neither of them containe any more but a part and their doctrine as touching their communion sorteth all to one For whereas M. Bishop saith that the Rogatists included the Church within the bounds of Cartenna and the Countrey thereabout it was not by position of doctrine that they so included it as if it could not be any where else but because they pretended that the Church was only in their communion and there were none in any other part of the world that tooke part with them it followeth of this defect that they so included it But though there were now not aboue b Aug. Epist 48. Tu cum decem Rogatistis quâ— remansistis c. ten or eleuen Bishops of them remayning as Saint Austin obiecteth to them yet by that hee vpbraideth them with this number remayning it appeareth that they had beene of greater number and extent and wee cannot doubt but that they would as willingly haue had the whole world to ioyne with them as the Church of Rome would Now inasmuch as they held themselues only to bee the Catholike Church And there were none of them otherwhere to bee found to Baptise and reconcile peâ—itents but only within the confines of Cartenna Saint Austin rightly obiecteth it as an absurdity ensuing thereof that c Ibid. Quisquis fâ—â—rit hac praedicatione commotus in qualibâ—t paâ—te orbis terâ—arum nisi quaesierit inuenerit latentâ—m in Mauritania Caesariensi Cartennensem Vincentium aut aliquem ex cius nouâ—m aut decem conâ—ortibus dimitti ei peccata non posâ—int c. Nisi Cartennas venerit aut in viâ—â—iam Cartennensium mundari omninâ—â— delictis suis non potâ—rit then whosoeuer there were in any part of the world that were moued with the preaching of the Gospell vnlesse he did seeke and finde out Vincentius Bishop of Cartenna lurking in Mauritania Caesariensis or some one of his nine or ten consorts he could not haue remission of sinnes or as otherwise hee expresseth it except hee came to Cartenna or into the Countrey neare adioyning hee could not bee clensed from his sinnes Now although the Roman Church as M. Bishop vnderstandeth it is of much larger extent and stretcheth it selfe into sundry Countries and Nations yet being but of small compasse in comparison of the whole world the exprobration of the same madde fancy lyeth vpon it that whosoeuer in the further parts of the world shall be moued with the preaching of the Gospell and conuerted thereby vnlesse hee come to Rome or into some part of the world where he may meete with a Popish Priest hee cannot bee baptised or reconciled to God hee cannot obtayne the remission of his sinnes it being by them resolued of themselues as by the Rogatists of themselues that out of their particular communion there is no saluation Therefore both Rogatists and Papists let them goe together and the truth is that in this behalfe there is no difference betwixt them As touching his second exception although it bee not generally true of the Donatists that they placed the Catholike Church at Cartenna yet it is not altogether vntrue because the Rogatists were Donatists d August vt supra Vos qui non solum cum illis communiter Donatistae a Donato verumetiam propriè Rogatisâ—â— a Rogatâ— appâ—llâ—nuâ— being in common with the rest called Donatists of Donatus as Saâ—nt Austin noteth and by a more proper name Rogatists of Rogatus For although they had in some spleene and vpon some peâ—uish quarrell diuided themselues from the rest yet the substance of their doctrine was still the same as before as appeareth by St. Austin who disputing against Vincentius the Rogatist chargeth him in effect with nothing else but the common positions of the Donatists and therefore they were all at once coÌ„monly comprehended vnder the name of Donatists The Donatists then though not all the Donatists but of them the Rogatists only placed the Catholike church at Cartenna and to the Rogatists then being a part of the Donatists the Papists are like who doe in the same sort place the Catholike Church at Rome Yea and although the Donatists in generall did not seate the Church at Cartenna yet M. Bishop is not ignorant that they in generall before some quarrelling fell amongst them did in effect the same thing by designing the place thereof in Africa properly so called so as that none should be called Catholikes in any part of the world but such as did communicate with that African Church of theirs For although they acknowledged that the Church by the preaching of the Apostles had beene dispersed ouer the world according to the manifold testimonies and prophecies of holy Scripture in that behalfe which they professed to beleeue â—et they said that c Aug. de
likewise hold that there is no saluation but in communicating with the Church of Rome Forsooth we must vnderstand that the Rogatists and Donatists spake falsly concerning their Church but most sure it is saith he that there is no saluation out of the true Church of Christ. It is sure indeede and will not both Rogatists and Donatists and all manner Heretiks say the some as well as he They all confesse that out of the true Church of Christ there is no saluation and therefore doe euery sort of them take vpon them to be the true Church of Christ that so they may perswade men that there is no saluation but with them But M. Bishop inferreth Wherefore whosoeuer doth not communicate with the Church of Rome which is the chiefe member thereof is out of the state of grace and saluation And would not a Donatist as well inferre Wherefore whosoeuer doth not communicate with the Church of Africa which is the chiefe member thereof is out of the state of grace and saluation Indeed he should haue said somewhat to the purpose if he had made it good that out of the communion of the Church of Rome there is no communion of the Church of Christ but if he cannot make this good then full simply doth he conclude There is no saluation out of the true Church of Christ therefore there is no saluation out of the Church of Rome But he telleth vs that the Church of Rome is the chiefe member of Christs Church Be it so and so was the Church of Ierusalem the chiefe member of the Church of the Iewes and yet the Church of Ierusalem put to death the Prophets and Christ himselfe and in that communion there could be no saluation Is not a chiefe member of the same substance as is the rest of the body and what hindereth then but as the other members so the chiefe member may be wounded and corrupted and cause annoyance to other members that adioyne vnto it Albeit we desire him to proue to vs that the Church of Rome is the chiefe member of the Church of Christ I regard not what humane estimation hath attributed vnto it for the renowme and eminency of the place but I require some diuine institution whereby it hath beene founded the chiefe member of the Church We say that with God there is no more respect of the Church of Rome then of any other Church if they will haue vs to beleeue more we put them to that for their Roman Church which St. Austin required of the Donatists for proofe of that which they said for their African Church a August de vnit Eccles c. 6 Legite nobis hoc de Lege de Prophetis de Psalmis de Euangelio de Apostolicis literis legite credimus Reade vs this out of the law out of the Prophets out of the Psalmes out of the Gospell or Writings of the Apostles reade it to vs and we beleeue it namely that Christ abideth no where heire vpon the earth but where he can haue the Pope to be b Ibid. Quare superordinatis dicendo in nullis terris haeredem permanere Christum vbi non pâ—tuerit cohâ—redem habere Donatli his fellow heire as the Donatists said of their Pope Donatus or that the Roman Church is such a chiefe member of the Church as that no man can liue but by the breath that he draweth from thence or obtayne forgiuenesse of sinnes but in the society and fellowship thereof I know I trouble M. Bishop now he loueth not to be called vpon for Scripture for the proofe of this matter for hee knoweth well that the Scripture hath nothing at all to giue testimony thereof Well though hee bring nothing out of Scripture yet he hath that out of Hierome that will serue his turne c Hieron ad Damas Ego nullum primum nisi Christum sequens beatitudini tuae id est Cathedrâ— Petri communione consocior super illam petram aedificatam Ecclesiam scio quicunque extra hanc domum agnum comedcrit prophanus est siquis in Arca Noe non fuerit peribit regnante diluâ—iâ— I following no chiefe but Christ saith he to Damasus Bishop of Rome ioyne my selfe to your blessednesse that is to the communion of Peters chaire vpon that Rocke I know the Church to be built whosoeuer eateth the Paschall Lambe out of this house he is prophane whosoeuer is not in the Arke of Noe shall perish by the floode By these wordes M. Bishop would beare vs in hand that Hierome beleeued a perpetuall necessity of hauing communion of faith with the Bishop and Church of Rome But tell vs M. Bishop in good sooth doe you thinke that Hierome not long before would haue said the same to Liberius that here he saith to Damasus He saith of Liberius that d Idem in Catalog Liberium Romanae vrbis Episcopum pro fide ad exilium pergentem primus solicitauit fregit ad subscriptionem haereseos compulit by the perswasion of Fortunatianus he was ouercome and brought to subscribe the heresie of Arius and would he then haue ioyned in communion with him If he would in this case haue disclaimed Liberius then certainly he could not meane to Damasus that it standeth for a perpetuall rule in the Church that who so will be saued must ioyne in communion with the Bishop of Rome But Hierome dealt aduisedly by expounding himselfe in his first wordes though M. Bishop list not to take knowledge of it He professeth to giue primacy to none but to Christ himselfe to make none the Authour or Lord of his faith but only Christ Notwithstanding in communion and fellowship of faith he professeth to ioyne with Damasus But how farre or in what sort I ioyne in communion with your blessednesse that is with Peters chaire Not simply then with Damasus Bishop of Rome but with Damasus sitting in Peters chaire Now as e Mat. 23. 2. the sitting in Moses chaire importeth the teaching of the doctrine of Moses so the sitting in Peters chaire importeth the teaching of the doctrine of Peter Damasus at that time did so and maintayned against the Arians the confession of Peter f Mat. 16. 16. Thou art Christ the sonne of the liuing God This Hierome well knew and therefore what hee would not haue yeelded to Liberius though Bishop of Rome because hee sate not in Peters chaire that hee yeeldeth to Damasus because he did so and desireth by him to be instructed whether the vse of the word hypostasis might stand with the truth of the confession of Peter It is therefore communion with Peters chaire which Hierome commendeth that is with the faith and doctrine which therein Peter taught but he doth not tell vs that the Bishop of Rome doth alwaies and infallibly sit in Peters chaire For of Peters chaire at Rome we deeme the same as of Peters chaire at Antioch and Alexandria both which Gregory Bishop of Rome maketh
vaine collections meere mockeries of simple and credulous persons very vnfit to stablish and resolue the conscience of any sober or aduised man CHAP. III. That the name of Catholikes is abused by the Papists and is in their abuse a Donatisticall and hatefull name of faction and schisme ANSWERE TO THE EPISTLE THere was reason why Austin should be moued with the name of Catholike c. to Now as of this Catholike Church c. W. BISHOP §. 1. SAint Augustine indeede was so much moued with the name of Catholike that he alleageth Cont. Epist Fund c. 4. De vera Relig. c. 7. it to haue beene one principall cause which kept him in the lappe of the Church And elsewhere very often exhorteth all Christians To hold the communion of that Church which both is Catholike and knowne also by that very name not only to her owne followers but also to others And the selfe same reason alleaged by M. Abbot himselfe which caused that most holy wise and learned Father to esteeme so highly of that title Catholike is now of great force to perswade all reasonable men to make themselues members of the Roman Church for by ioyning in society of faith with the Church of Rome they shall communicate with the Church spred ouer the whole world because the faith and religion of the Church of Rome hath beene generally receiued all the world ouer as our aduersaries themselues doe confesse The name Catholike is by the Protestants Donatistically applied to their schismaticall congregation that neither are nor euer were scattered all the world ouer but be inclosed and confined within certaine Countries of Europe is the Donatists were within the bounds of Afrike Most sottishly then to vse his owne wordes doth M. Abbot affirme the name Catholike to be applyed by vs of the Roman religion vnto the particular Church of Rome when as we call all other Churches of what Countrey soeuer that with the Church of Rome keepe intirely the same faith Catholike And men of all other nations doe we call Catholikes as well as those who are Romans borne because they all beleeue and confesse the same one Catholike faith that is extended ouer all the world R. ABBOT THe name of the Catholike Church might iustly moue St. Austin to continue in the society thereof when vnder that name a August coÌ„t Epist Fundam cap. 4. Tenet ipsum Catholica nomen quod non sine causa inter tam multas hâ—rescs ista Ecclesia sola obtinuâ—t Catholike he saw the communion of a Church successiuely continued from the time of the Apostles throughout the world and that only communion euery where termed by that name There was reason for him to exhort men b Idem de vera relig cap. 7. Tenenda est eius Ecclesiae communicatio quae Catholica est Catholica nominatur non solum à suis verumetiam ab omnibus inimicis to hold communion with that Church which was thus Catholike or Vniuersall and so called both of the friends and of all the enimies thereof and thereby to be fortified against all hereticall distractions and separations as knowing that to draw them away from this communion should bee to draw them away from the Church of Christ The appellation of Catholikes according to the originall of it as I haue c Chap. 2. § 4. before noted importeth an interest holden by them that are so called in this vniuersall communion without renting themselues by heresie or schisme from the common society and fellowship of the Church In this only meaning is it rightly vsed and they are meere vsurpers of it who take it to themselues without this or in any other sense Now whereas M. Bishop according to that sense as he pretendeth telleth vs that that name is of great force to perswade all reasonable men to make themselues members of the Roman Church he is greatly deceiued himselfe and doth but seeke to deceiue others therein because they wholly faile in the ground of it the Church of Rome being neither Catholike indeede as St. Austin requireth nor so called by any other but only by it selfe Who is there in the world so madde as to call the Roman Church the Catholike Church but only they that are drunke by drinking of the same cup He saith that we confesse that the faith and religion of the Church of Rome hath beene receiued all the world ouer but that is both waies a lye because neither doe we confesse so much neither was it euer so And therefore whereas he saith that by ioyning in society of faith with the Church of Rome we shall communicate with the Church spred ouer the whole world hee againe abuseth his Reader there being at this day no Church in Asia or Africa that holdeth communion with the Church of Rome to say nothing of the Greeke Church and sundry other in Europe that doe detest the fellowship thereof I am not ignorant how they seeke to gull the world in this behalfe and what goodgeons they giue men by telling and writing tales from Rome of d Gentillâ—t in Exam. Concil Trident. Patriarches and Metropolitans of the Aegyptians the Assyrians the Armenians the Aethiopians and such other like comming to Rome to submit themselues and to be reconciled to the Pope these iests are now growen stale these suborned and counterfait Patriarkes haue beene discryed and were they not men absurdly impudent they would neuer practise the like cosenage againe And yet my friend e And. Eudoem adu R. Abbat Respon lib. 3. sect 6. Aegyptius Câ—phtorum Patriarcha à quâ— Aethiopia petit pracepta fidei ad communionem Catholicam nuper Clemente octauâ— Pontifice redijt Cacâ—daemon telleth vs in sadnesse of the Aegyptian Patriarch vpon whom all the Churches of Aethiopia depend his name is neither knowen to him nor me that now very lately in the time of Clement the eight he returned to the communion of their Catholike Church the wise man not considering that thereby he doth intimate vnto vs contrary to other fables and tales which they haue giuen out before that therefore before that time he was a stranger to them Thus by reason that these submissions and reconciliations are still to seeke and the world seeth no appearance nor effect of them they are euery while put to their shifts to deuise new rumours hereof and to stuffe the old coate of some Gibeonite with straw setting him vp vpon a poles end vnder the name of the Patriarch of some farre Countrey so to feede the humours and fancies of them that doe yeeld themselues content to be gulled and deluded by them But against this foolery the Catholike Bishops truly noted against the Donatists that f Collat. Carthag 1. cap. 55. Non in vnum aliquem terra locum ex alijs locis ad Deum gentes venturas esse praedictum est sed in ocis suis â—um adoraturas it was not foretold by the Prophets that the nations should
which he seldome vseth But hee saw that to bee a worke too hard for Hercules and therefore to delude his Reader and to leade him from the matter he flieth vp to the old farne-daies of Abel Noe Abraham c. as though they had reuealed vnto them all those particular points of faith which Christ taught his Apostles and the same religion and manner of worshipping God that wee Christians haue which is flatly opposite to the doctrine of S. Paul who testifieth That the mistery of Christ vnto Ephes 3. vers 4. other generations was not knowne vnto the sonnes of men as now it is reuealed vnto his holy Apostles and Prophets in the spirit Those ancient Patriarkes as men looking a farre off at the dayes of Hebr. 11. v. 13. Christ the light of the world did not discouer so distinctly the mysteries of the Christian faith as the Apostles who were * Ioh. 6. v. 45. taught by his owne mouth and made to know a Ioh 15. v. 15. all his Fathers secrets and had b Rom. 8. v 23. the first fruits of the spirit in best sort to vnderstand them and carry them away To be short our Sauiour hath decided this question and saith in expresse words Many Prophets and iust men haue Math. 13. v. 17. desired to see the things that you see and haue not seene them and to heare the things that you heare and haue not heard them Obserue then how absurdly M. Abbot behaueth himselfe in this matter First he vseth tergiuersation in leaping so farre backe from the point of the question seeking communion with the Catholike Church some thousands of yeares before there was any Church Catholike Secondly in auouching the ancient founders of the first world to haue beleeued clearly and particularly all the articles of faith that we beleeue or else why doth he conclude that the Roman faith is not Catholike because in that old and hoare-headed world some branches of their faith were not sprong vp and of full growth They did not saith he worship Idols and Images they did not pray to Saints c. But good Sir did they beleeue that all their children were to be baptised and that all persons of riper yeares among them were to receiue the holy Sacrament of Christs body yea can M. Abbot demonstrate that they had perfect faith of the most holy and blessed Trinity beleeuing distinctly in three Persons and one God or that the Redeemer of the world Christ Iesus was to be perfect God and perfect Man the nature of man in him subsisting without the proper person of man in the second person of the Trinity which are the most high misteries of our Christian faith I am not ignorant that albeit those ancient Patriarkes and Prophets had not cleare and distinct knowledge of many articles which we are bound to beleeue yet they beleeued some few of them in particular and had a certaine confuse and darke conceit by figures and tipes of most of the rest R. ABBOT I Was neither deceiued my selfe M. Bishop neither did I goe about to deceiue others the case being so plaine as that a man of vnderstanding cannot easily be deceiued therein If the Catholike Church be but one from the beginning to the end and of this Church from the beginning to the end there be but one faith as hath beene shewed who is so blind as that he seeth not that the Catholike faith now must be the same with the faith of all the Patriarchs and Fathers since the world beganne It was not Catholike then because it was peculiar only to some few whom God enlightened or to one only nation which he specially selected but it was the very same which afterwards became Catholike by being preached and spred ouer the whole world Now then most cleare it is that if our faith be the same with the faith of Abel of Enoch of Abraham and the rest of those times then our faith is the Catholike faith euen the faith which the Apostles preached through the world and if the faith of Popery be not the same then is Popery falsly termed the Catholike faith M. Bishop blameth me for recoiling to the beginning of the world and telleth me what it is that I should haue proued when by recoiling if I must so call it to the beginning of the world I proue that which he requireth howsoeuer he vnder pretence of calling for proofe would make his Reader beleeue that he seeth no proofe But he well enough seeth the worke too hard for Hercules as he calleth it by this proofe very readily dispatched for if there be but one faith of the Church from the beginning to the end and our faith be that which was in the beginning then is our faith that which was spred ouer the world and shall continue to the end As though saith he they had reuealed vnto them all those particular points of faith which Christ taught his Apostles and the same religion and manner of worshipping God that wee Christians haue I answere him that all particular points of faith were reuealed vnto them but not all circumstances of all particular points nor so clearly as to vs and the same religion and manner of worshipping God in substance was deliuered vnto them though in outward rites and ceremonies we differ from them Christ was a Apoc. 13. 8. the Lambe slaine from the beginning of the world b Aug. Epist â— ChristuÌ„ DeuÌ„ in carne venturum morituruÌ„ resurrecturum in coelum ascensuruÌ„ c. inque illo remissionem peccatorum salutemque aeternam credentibus futuram esse omnia gentis illius promissa omnes prophetiae Sacerdotia Sacrisicia templâ— cuncâ—a omninò Sacramenta sonuerunt All the promises of that time saith St. Austin all the Prophecies the Priest-hood the Sacrifices the Temple and all the Sacraments did tell them that Christ should come God in the flesh that he should die that he should rise againe and ascend into heauen and that all that beleeue should haue remission of sinnes in him These are particular points of faith and these they beleeued albeit the manner and circumstances of the Birth the Life Death Resurrection and Ascension of Christ were not reueiled vnto them as they are in the Gospell liuely described and set forth to vs. For as in the first draught of the painter there is to be discerned the whole feature proportion and parts of the body which he hath in hand to paint which remaine afterwards by filling and garnishing to bee brought to full and perfect forme so the whole frame of Christian faith was in the beginning made knowen to the Patriarchs and Fathers of the first world though the same remained more and more clearly to be reueiled vntill by the comming of Christ it should receiue full and perfect light It skilleth not therefore which he saith that those ancient Patriarchs did not so distinctly discouer the mysteries of Christian faith as the Apostles
the Catholike Church as well as we what tergiuersation doe I vse or how doe I leape backe from the point in question when by affirming our communion with them I affirme consequently our communion with the Catholike Church Forsooth the Church was not then Catholike Bee it so but it was then the same Church which was afterward to become Catholike a part of the Catholike Church and in com 〈…〉 nicating with a part of the Catholike Church we communicate with the whole because of the whole there is but one and the same saith Secondly if they were Christians by the same faith whereby we are so what absurdity do I commit in saying that they beleeued all the articles of faith that we beleeue so clearly I doe not say because they beleeued them not in those particular circumstances which by the story of the Gospell are knowen to vs but yet all the same and as clearly as wee beleeue those points of faith which are of those things that are yet to come And if they did so what hindereth but that we rightly conclude that those branches of the Roman faith which were not then sprung vp are only Romish additions and not any parts of the true Catholike faith Against this M. Bishop excepteth But good Sir did they beleeue that all their children were to be baptized and that all persons of riper yeares among them were to receiue the holy Sacrament of Christs body I haue answered him before that as touching outward signes and Sacraments there is difference betwixt them and vs and I now answere him further that as touching the power and effect of Sacraments they were in their Sacraments spiritually baptized as well as we and spiritually partakers of Christs body and bloud as well as we For u Leo in Natiu Christi ser 3. Verbi incaâ—natio haec contulit facienda quae facta c. Hoc magna pietatis Sacramentum quo totus iam mundus impletus est tam potens etiam in suis significationibus fuit vt non minùs adepti sine qui in illud credidere promissum quà m qui suscepere donatum the incarnation of Christ being yet to come saith Leo yeelded the same that it doth now being done and the great mysterie of godlinesse whereof now the whole world is full was so powerfull in the significations of it as that they attamed no lesse who beleeued therein being promised then they did who haue receiued it now giuen and performed And againe x IdeÌ„ de Pass Dom. ser 13. Sanguis vnius iusâ—â— quem nobis pater donauitqui â—um pro reconciliatione mundi credimus fusum hoc contulit patribus qui similitèr credidere fundâ—â—dum The bloud of one iust one which the father hath giuen vnto vs who beleeue the same to haue beene shed for the reconciliation of the world yeelded the same benefit to the Fathers who did beleeue that it should be shed Therefore we see that the Apostle as on the one side he saith of vs that we are y Col. 2. 11. circumcised because the effect of circumcision is with vs so saith of them also that they were z 1. Cor. 10. â— baptised because the grace and effect of baptisme was with them And thus Gregory saith that a Greg. Mor. l 4. c. 3. Quod apud nos valet aqua baptâ—matis hoc eâ—â—t apud veteres vel pro paruulis sola fides vel pro maioribus virtus sacrificij vel pro his qâ—i ex Abrahae stiâ—pe prodierant mysterium circumcisionis what the water of baptisme auaileth with vs the same with 〈◊〉 old Fathers did either faith only for infants or for them of elâ—â—â— yeares the power of Sacrifice or for them that came of the stocke of Abraham the Sacrament of circumcision And thus of their Sacraments whereto now answereth our Sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ the Apostle saith that therein b 1 Cor. 10. 4. they did eate the same spirituall meate and drinke the same spirituall drinke For their Sacraments and ours c August in Ioan. tract 26. Sacramenta illa fuâ—runt in signis diuersa sunt sed in re quae significatur pariâ— sunt in signes are diuers faith St. Austin but in the thing signified they are both alike They that did eate Manna aright d Idem de vtil poâ—â—it cap. 1. Quicunque in Manna ChristuÌ„ intellexerunt â—undem quem nos cibum spirituilem manducauerunt did vnderstand Christ therein and thereby did eate the same spirituall meate that we doe euen the flesh of Christ and they that did drinke of the Rocke aright did therein also drinke of Christ euen the bloud of Christ for the Rocke was Christ that is e IdeÌ„ de TeÌ„p sor 108. Petra illa typum habuit corporis Christi c. Quod vtique non ad dâ—uinâ—tatem 〈◊〉 sed ad caraâ—m relatum est quae siticntium corda populorum perenni riuâ— sangâ—â—nis sui inundauit was the type or figure of the body of Christ saith Austin againe the same not being referred to his Deity but to the flesh which watered the hearts of the thirsty people by the euer-flowing riuer of his bloud f Idem de vtilit Poenit. cap. 1. Eundem â—rgò cibum eundem pâ—tum sed intelligentibus credentibus Non intelligentibus autem illud solum Manna illa sola aqua ille cibus esurienti potus iste sitienti nec ille net iste credenti credenti autem â—dem qui â—â—â—c There was saith he the same meat and the same drinke to them that had vnderstanding and faith but to them that vnderstood not the one was only Manna the other was only Water the one foode for the hungry the other drinke for the thirsty neither the one nor the other meate or drinke for the beleeuer but he that beleeued had the same that we haue now And if they had so if by Manna they did eate the body of Christ and by the Water of the Rocke they did drinke the bloud of Christ what hindereth then but that wee may say that though not by outward signe yet as touching inward grace and effect they were partakers of the Lords Supper Whereas he further asketh Can M. Abbot demonstrate that they had perfect faith of the Trinity beleeuing distinctly in three persons and one God I answere him that it may bee to him in â—ade of a demonstration that they did so because sundry Heathen Philosophers as g Cyril cont lulian lib. 1. Ex Hermete Orpâ—â—â— Porphyrio c. Vide Phil. Morn Plessi de verit Christ relig cap. 6. Cyril at large sheweth were not ignorant of this secret of the diuine nature who had no otherwise knowledge thereof but by some kinde of Tradition from the Fathers who had beene so instructed from God himselfe For can we thinke that it could be knowen to Philosophers and Pagans and that it was vnknowen to the Patriarchs
borne of him and for that when his study and diligence was acceptable to thee thou saiedst thou would raise vp his stocke and Kingdome therefore we now desire of thee the things which thou hast couenanted and promised Albeit if we grant M. Bishop his owne translation and that here Salomon mentioneth the mildnesse and goodnesse of his father Dauid yet shall it auaile him nothing because God being stiled c 1. Kingâ— 8. 23. the God that keepeth couenant and mercy with his seruants that walke before him with all their heart the commemoration of Dauids vertues shall be but a describing of him to be one of those seruants to whom God keepeth couenant and mercy not any allegation of his merit whereby he should stand as a Mediatour for them Therefore the Greeke Fathers who follow the translation of the Septuagint and doe reade the mildnesse of Dauid doe notwithstanding make the promise of God the maine ground of all this prayer and request Thus Theodoret though misapplying the Psalme to the people of the captiuity of Babylon giueth the briefe therof thus that d Theodoret. in Psal 131. Captiui qui Babyloni crant vniuersorum Deum obsecrant promissiones magno Dauidi ab ipso factas pro precibus assâ—rentes vt veniam consequantur precantes they besought God bringing the promises made by him to Dauid in steede of prayers that they might obtaine pardon And so Basil and Chrysostome comming to those wordes of the Psalme The Lord hath sworne vnto Dauid c. doe note therein the principall point whereupon Salomon relyed e Basil in psaâ— cund Quoniaâ—a Dauidis virtutisque ac studij illius circa Templum meminit priscarum narracionâ—m mentionem secit hoc quod maximum crat huius reicaput testameÌ„tum scilicet Dei relegens praetexit Idem habet Chrysost ibid. Hauing made mention say they of Dauid and his vertue and care concerning the Temple and of other ancient narrations he now alleageth that which was the chiefest ground of this matter rehearsing the testament and couenant of God In all this let M. Bishop take it how he will we see no bloud alleaged for remission of sinnes no merit for obtaining the Kingdome of heauen but all is for stablishing a stocke and Kingdome which God had promised vpon the earth If he can shew vs any promise made to Thomas Becket concerning forgiuenesse of sinnes and eternall life to be obtained by his bloud hee shall say somewhat to the purpose but sith hee cannot doe so little reason had he and lesse conscience to alleage the example of that prayer of Salomon for defence of such a prayer or rather such a blasphemy as theirs is whereof he himselfe is so ashamed as that euen here where he defendeth it he seemeth loth to vtter it repeating in Latin only the wordes Tu per Thomae sanguinem and whereas the prayer is by the bloud of Thomas to be brought to heauen setting downe in steede thereof take compassion vpon vs. Now although he haue thus shewed himselfe a monstrous man in defending this horrible impiety of mingling the polluted bloud of a vile traitour with the sacred and innocent bloud of the vnspotted Lambe of God yet to make the matter very goodly for himselfe he passeth from it with a Rhetoricall extenuation thus I will not dwell vpon these impertinent and loose follies which all that be not babes may of themselues easily descry Indeede he may well call them on his owne part impertinent and loose follies which are no otherwise tyed togither but with such slender knots which are so palpably impious as that there is no babe so simple that hath any common vnderstanding of Christian faith but seeth the grossenesse and absurdity thereof But herein he followeth the steps of his companions whose manner it is where they are most wounded to make shew to laugh most and namely of M. Harding who being pressed with this sacrilegious prayer answered that it was an obiection meete for a Cobler so very a trifle is it with them to abase the merit of the Sonne of God by matching with it the demerit of a wicked and wilfull man Vpon this transition he inferreth out of the premisses two cruell conclusions First that no religion was to be called Catholike before the Gospell was preached vnto all nations True but yet the same faith and religion was before though it were not as yet called Catholike til it were preached vnto all nations f Aug. cont Faust l. 16. cap. 28. Non diuersa doctrina est sed diuersum tempus There was no difference of the doctrine saith St. Austin though there were difference of the time Secondly saith he that the Roman faith and religion is very conformable to that of the Patriarchs and Prophets as the verity is to the figure But we see not the premisses whence this conclusion should follow hauing hitherto heard of nothing pertaining to that purpose but only a ridiculous imitation of old shadowes and figures which we rather hold for a deformity of the Church that is then any conformity with the Church that was Our conformity with them must not be in shadowes and figures which were no longer to continue but g Heb. 9. 10. vntill the time of reformation should come but in the substance and truth which those pictures and shadowes for the time helped them to vnderstand that they might beleeue and which Christ hath taught vs now to beleeue without any of their helps To cleaue to the shadow still when the body is in place what is it but to play with a shadow and to neglect the body The figure whereof M. Bishop speaketh is outward and corporall the verity and truth is inward and spirituall The resembling then of those outward figures in Popish outward ceremonies is not a conformity betwixt the verity and the figure but rather that that is betwixt figure and figure betwixt one picture and another As for vs we hold that due correspondence with that old church which God requireth who wholly without those figures hold that spirituall truth which they beleeued therein He goeth on and saith that he hath already confuted my assertion that Christ at his comming confirmed the faith and religion of the Iewes without any additions of his owne and commended it simply and nakedly only stripping it of types and shadowes to be preached to the nations Where note I pray thee gentle Reader that whereas I say that Christ confirmed the same faith and religion and no other he setteth downe of his owne deuice the same faith and religion without any additions of his owne which although it be true as touching substance of faith and religion for therein Christ added nothing yet it sheweth his lewd minde for that he hath done it to euill purpose that he might giue way to himselfe with some colour to cauill against me as presently after he doth that Christ added other signes and Sacraments which the
z Aug. cont Faust Manich. l. 15. c. 2. Vetus testamentum recte intellâ—gentibus propheâ—a est noui testamenti the old Testament to them that rightly vnderstand it is a prophecie of the new that a Idem de Catechiz rudib c. 4. In veteri testamento est occultatio noui in neuo testamento est manifestatio veteris in the old Testament is the hiding of the new and in the new the manifesting of the old To be short Leo faith b Leo in Natiuitat Dom. serm 3. Quod praedicauerunt Apostoli hoc annunciauerunt Prophâ—tae c. quod semper est creditâ—m What the Apostles preached the same the Prophets haue declared and the same hath alwaies beene beleeued Now if the Apostles receiued the whole faith of the Prophets and the same haue alwaies beene beleeued if the preaching of the Prophets and Apostles be the same if the two Testaments differ in nothing one from the other and the new be contained and hidden in the old then haue I rightly affirmed that the words of St. Paul are generally true that in preaching the Gospell he said no other things but those which the Prophets and Moses did say should come In the rest of this diuision we may thinke that M. Bishop was scant sober when he wrote it or else wrote in a dreame when he neither knew what was said to him nor what he was to say The Apostle saith not that he taught any one article which the common sort of the Iewes did beleeue And what then To what end M. Bishop doe you here tell vs a tale of the common sort of the Iewes Who spake of them or gaue you occasion to make any mention of them The matter is what the Prophets taught and the elect of God beleeued not what the common sort of the Iewes beleeued who commonly beleeued not the Prophets but killed and stoned them when they were sent vnto them How many saith he beleeued that their Messias should die so shamefull a death or that Moses law should be abrogated by the same Messias or that the Gospell of Christ should be preached vnto all nations All say I that vnderstood and beleeued the Scriptures of Moses and the Prophets in which they were forewarned of these things The vnbeliefe or ignorance of the rest I trow hindereth not but that these things were then contained in the faith of the Church and in the doctrine of that time vnlesse M. Bishop will say that in Popery those are no articles of faith which the common sort of their Christians doe not conceiue who haue only the Colliars faith to beleeue iust as the Church beleeueth when they neither know what the Church beleeueth nor what they themselues ought to beleeue In a word the Prophets then foretold nothing for matter of faith which was not matter of faith then as well as now W. BISHOP §. 6. MAster Abbot runneth like a wandering Planet to a third that all which the Apostles taught they committed to writing which is notwithstanding as false as any of the former for many of them who neuer ceassed to preach left not one sentence in writing behinde them and he that wrote most did not write the hundreth part of that which he taughtly word of mouth We know well that they left the Gospell in writing and many other most diuine and rare instructions in their Epistles wherfore he needed not cite Ireneus to witnesse that which no man is ignorant of but that they wrote all which they preached or all things necessary to saluation Ireneus saith not a word but plainly signifieth the contrary where he most sagely counsaileth all men when any controuersie in religion ariseth to make their recourse to Euseb 〈◊〉 Eccles lib. 5. c. 19. the most ancient Churches where the Apostles had conuersed amongst which he commendeth the Roman for principall of all the rest and from them to take their resolution he then was of opinion that the decision of all controuersies were not to be searched out of the written word but rather to be taken from the resolution of the Church Oh but Tertullian saith That beleeuing De Praescriptionibus this we desire to beleeue no more because we first beleeue that there is nothing else for vs to beleeue Beleeuing this beleeuing what the written word only nothing lesse for in that very Treatise his principall drift is to proue that Heretikes cannot be confuted out of the written word but by ancient customes and traditions which he calleth Praescriptions but saith he when we beleeue the whole doctrine of Christ both written and deliuered by Apostolicall tradition then we desire to beleeue no more of any vpstart Heretikes new deuices To S. Augustine I answere first that those be not his formall wordes which he citeth Secondly admitting the sense if it be rightly taken I say that these wordes If Galat. 1. any man or Angell shall preach any thing besides that which is written where he alludeth to the Apostles like wordes are to be vnderstood as S. Augustine himselfe expoundeth those of the Apostle that is If any man shall preach contrary to that which is written For this is his owne interpretation The Apostle saith not Aug. lib. 17. cont Faust cap. 3. more then you haue receiued but otherwise then you haue receiued for if he had so said he had preiudiced himselfe who desired to come to the Thessalonians to supply what was wanting to their faith He that supplies addeth that wanted but doth not take away any thing that was before so that you see when he saith that nothing is to be preached besides that which is written his meaning is nothing which is contrary to it allowing withall that much more conformable to it may be added for a supply to make it full and perfect R. ABBOT THe Planets though in respect of other Starres they seeme to wander because in their orbe they change their place yet in their wandering and change doe alwaies obserue a certaine and constant course I seeme to M. Bishop to wander by going from a Prosyllogisme to a Syllogisme and from a maior to a minor but yet he seeth to his griefe that I inferre a direct and certaine conclusion as I haue before briefly declared in the first Chapter I came by processe of speech to shew that our faith and not Popery is the Apostolike faith To proue this I alleaged that what faith and Gospell the Apostles taught they committed the same to writing and because ours accordeth fully with that which they wrote therefore ours is the Apostolike faith It offendeth M. Bishop that it should be said that all which the Apostles taught they committed to writing Well what is his instance to proue the contrary Forsooth many of them who neuer ceased to preach left not one sentence in writing behinde them and he that wrote most wrote not the hundreth part of that which he taught Where we see the
him bring in Iacob 5. v. 14. the Priests of the Church and let them pray ouer them anoiling them with Oile in the name of our Lord c. Confesse therefore your sinnes one to Ibidem 16. another These and an hundred more plaine texts recorded in that fountaine of life wherein our Catholike Roman doctrine is deliuered in expresse tearmes to wit Thereall presence of Christs body in the Sacrament That Priests haue power to pardon sinnes That Christ built his Church vpon S. Peter That good workes doe in iustice deserue eternall life That we are iustified not by faith alone but also by good workes That in extremity of sicknesse wee must call for the Priest to anoile vs with holy Oile That we must confesse our sinnes not to God alone but also vnto men these and diuers such like heads of our Catholike faith formally set downe in holy Scripture the Protestants will not beleeue though they bee written in Gods word neuer so expresly but doe ransacke all the corners of their wits to deuise some â—dde shift or other how to flie from the euidence of them Whereupon I conclude that they doe not receiue all the written word though they professe neuer so much to allow of all the bookes of Canâ—nicall Scripture For the written word of God consisteth Lib. 2. de Trinitate ad Const not in the reading but in the vnderstanding as S. Hierome testifieth that is it doth not consist in the bare letter of it but in the letter and true sense and meaning ioyned togither the letter being as the body of Scripture and the right vnderstanding of it the soule spirit and life thereof he therefore that taketh not the written word in the true sense but swarueth from the sincere interpretation of it cannot be truly said to receiue the written word as a good Christian ought to doe Seeing then that the Protestants and all other sectaries doe not receiue the holy Scriptures according vnto the most ancient and best learned Doctors exposition they may most iustly be denyed to receiue the sacred written word of God at all though they seeme neuer so much to approue all the Bookes Verses and Letters of it which is plainly proued by S. Hierome vpon the first Chapter to the Galathians R. ABBOT I Haue noted a §. â— before in this Chapter that St. Austin faith of the Prophets and faithfull of the people of the Iewes that though not in name yet in deede they were Christians as we are As they were Christians then with vs so are we now Iewes with them not according to M. Bishops vnderstanding of the name of Iewes to whom I may well say as Austin said to Iulian the Pelagian b August coÌ„â— Iulian. l. 4. c. 3. Cùm insana dicis rides phrenetico es similis When thou speakest madly and laughest thou art like to a frantike Bedlem but according to the Apostles construction thereof c Rom. 2. 29. He is a Iew which is one within and d Phil. 3. 3. we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and reioyce in Christ Iesus and haue no confidence in the flesh We must be Iewes by vnity of faith with them as they were Christians with vs because they with vs and wee with them make but one body and one Church whereof though there be diuers Sacraments yet there is but one faith from the beginning to the end receiued first by the Patriarches written afterwards by the Prophets written againe more clearly by the Apostles so that e Ephes 2. 20. vpon the foundation not foundations but one foundation because one euen one written doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets the houshold of God are built and our faith resteth wholly thereupon I haue walked no rounds I haue broken through no brakes of thornes but haue kept a direct and euen way and haue so strongly builded all this as that I scorne M. Bishops poore paper-shot as much too weake to throw it downe To him I know these things are rounds and mazes he knoweth not which way to get out of them they are brakes of thornes he lyeth fast tyed in them God giue him grace to yeeld to that which he seeth himselfe vnable to reproue He is very angry it seemeth as touching the last point that I should say that the Protestants receiue and beleeue all the written word He saith that therein I begge that which is principally in question and thinketh that I haue little wit or iudgement to thinke that they would freely grant me that But our vsage and debating of questions with them is sufficient to put that out of question We vse the Scriptures our selues we translate them for common vse we reade and expound them publikely in our Churches we exhort men to reade them priuately in their houses wee instruct them to receiue no doctrine but what they see there wee make the same written word the soueraigne Iudge of all our controuersies wee defend the authority and sufficiency thereof against the impeachments and disgraces which Papists haue cast vpon it What may we doe more to make M. Bishop beleeue that we receiue and beleeue the written word Surely if I tell him that the Sunne shineth at noone day he will not beleeue it if it seeme to him to sound any thing against the Pope But he will giue instance to proue that we doe not so first for that we reiect diuers bookes of the old Testament Wherein he saith vntruly for the bookes of the old Testament are the bookes of Moses and the Prophets the Psalmes f August coÌ„t Gaudent lib 2. cap. 23. Non habent Judaei sicut legem Prophetas Psalmos quibus Dominus testimonium perhibet tanquam testibus suis To which saith Austin our Lord Iesus gaue testimony as his witnesses of which we reiect none the other bookes that are adioyned to these we doe not reiect but we reade them and commend them yea we say as much of them as M. Bishop vouchsafeth to say of Pauls Epistles and the rest that they contayne many most diuine and rare instructions but yet we giue them no authority for confirmation of matters of faith because Christ and his Apostles haue giuen no testimony or witnesse of them and the primitiue Church in that respect hath expresly disclaimed them as I haue shewed at large g Of Traditions sect 17. before and resteth hereafter in this booke to bee shewed againe Secondly he bringeth sundry texts of the new Testament to proue that we doe not rightly vnderstand and beleeue all that is written in Gods word wherein he saith their Catholike Roman doctrine is deliuered in expresse termes First to proue the reall presence of Christs body in the Sacrament he citeth the wordes This is my body which shall be giuen for you c. But if the Romish doctrine be here deliuered in expresse termes how is it that their owne Scotus saith that
and dignity to the King and yet preferre the things that are managed by the Priest before those things that are managed by the King Albeit I alwaies adde that to the King as without the Church belongeth the care and ouersight of those things that pertaine to the sauing of soules and to the furthering of his subiects in the grace of God and in the way to heauen so as that in this respect there is no cause why the Priest should be accounted superiour to the King And this our Princes haue done and still doe and yet the world with vs thanks be to God is not turned topsie-turuy but our state standeth vpright and prospereth maugre the hearts of all Romish malignant traitours and enemies that haue sought the ruine and ouerthrow thereof CHAP. V. That faith and religion cannot be safely grounded on the example of Fathers and forefathers and that the Popish factours notwithstanding doe in this behalfe abuse the credulity of ignorant men ANSWERE TO THE EPISTLE NOw whereas he alleageth that all his Maiesties most royall Progenitours to sect 4. You talke M. Bishop of many vrgent c. W. BISHOP §. 1. PAgans and Heretikes doe now and then like Apes counterfait true Christians And no maruaile for their great Master Sathan doth transfigure himselfe sometimes into 2. Cor. 11. vâ— â—4 an Angell of light and did alwaies and yet doth labour to be like vnto the Highest but it is easie to espie their Esay 14 v. 14. apish tricks and to returne their fond subtleties vpon their owne heads Simmachus played but the part of a foolish sophister when he pleaded so with the Emperour Valentinian We are to follow our Fathers for the Emperours father and nearest Predecessors were no Pagan Idolaters but professed Christians as all men know who are conuersant in those ancient histories To the point of the proofe I answere in briefe that it is a most found inducement among vs Christians and to be dearely regarded of all To follow the foote-steps of our fore-fathers in beleeuing if they before haue not degenerated from their Ancestors The base and ground of it is this As God is more ancient then the Diuell and Christ Iesus then all Heretikes so was the true seruice of God and the right faith of Christ planted sowne and tooke fast roote before Heresie and Idolatry sprong vp which hath firme testimony from our Sauiour who teacheth That the good seede was first sowne by the Father Mat. 13. v. 24. of the houshold and the cockle after and ouersowne by the enemy Whence it followeth perspiculously that they who doe hold the same doctrine inuiolably which was embraced by them of that stocke who were first conuerted to the Christian faith are true and sincere Christians Those children then who follow the holy steps of their Catholike Progenitors ascending from Sonne to Father succâ—ssiuely till they arriue at the first Christians in that Country are true Christians and they that doe not succeede their Predecessors in their faith and religion but either are fallen themselues or doe follow others who before fell from the faith of their fore-fathers are vndoubtedly slipt into errour and infidelity By which discourse it is euident that I tendered a most reasonable request vnto his Maiesty that he would imbrace and countenance that religion which all his Progenitors euen to the first Christian among them had liued and dyed in because they were all Catholike and not one of them can be named who changed the religion of his fore-fathers yet this notwithstanding Simmachus the Pagan vsing the like argument in shew was not to be heard the difference is because his fore-fathers for whose Idolatry he pleaded had before forsaken the true and sincere worship of the one liuing God and therefore their children were not to continue in their Idolatry but to returne vnto their former Ancestors true piety So were the Donatists children of whom S. Augustine cited by M. Abbot speaketh not to follow their Fathers in that sect and heresie but to leaue their late corrupted parents in their new doctrine and to looke backe vnto their grandfathers ancient faith and religion from whose integrity their Fathers were degenerated Euen as now a-daies we exhort men that had or haue parents turned Protestants not to be led away with their erring Parents opinions but happily to receiue their forefathers ancient faith from which their Fathers reuolted vnaduisedly And so shall they returne vnto the roote and originall of our Lords tradition as S. Cyprian speaketh because they shall returne to that saith which was receiued from hand to hand euen from the Apostles our Lords most trusty and sacred messengers and cleauing fast to that shall not need to regard what any man hath thought fit to be done or said against it R. ABBOT PAgans Idolaters and Heretikes and of Heretikes the Papists namely are in this pretence of their Fathers and forefathers all alike and doe alike alleage the example of their fathers for warrant of irreligion and apostasie from God M. Bishop to make good their vse of it taketh vpon him to rectifie the rule and so to propound it as that it shall serue for a most sound inducement among vs Christians and to be dearely regarded of all And how is that Marry to follow the footesteps of our forefathers in beleeuing if they before haue not degenerated from their Ancestours Which if of his breaketh the force of his rule and is so farre from giuing a carefull man any sound inducement for setling his conscience in religion as that it casteth him rather into a further perplexity whilest he cannot but be in doubt whether those fathers whom he is wished to follow haue degenerated from their Ancestours or those Ancestours from other or those other from other that were before them In the iudgement and triall whereof if men haue not some certaine rule to be directed by they are easily blinded and led into errour whilest all Pagans and Heretikes and Papists pretend each for themselues that all their forefathers euen from the beginning were such as they are and haue their colours and shewes of antiquities whereby to perswade that they were so But yet to explicate and strengthen his rule he layeth this for the ground of it that as God is more ancient then the Diuell and Christ Iesus then all Heretikes so was the true seruice of God and faith of Christ before heresie and Idolatry Which ground of his we willingly admit and are most well content to build vpon it We hold it for certaine and infallible which Tertullian prescribeth against Heretikes that a Tertul. de Praescript Ex ipso ordine maniâ—estatur id esse Dominicum verum quod sit prius traditum id autem extraneum â—aâ—sum qâ—od sit posterius immissum that is of the Lord and the very truth which was first deliuered that strange and false which is afterwards brought it and b Idem cont Marc.
after the old and new Testament written and the Canon of the Scriptures established and confirmed there bee any thing further to bee receiued for doctrine of faith and truth appertaining to saluation that is not contained in the Scriptures Tradition as he here speaketh thereof is confounded with Scripture because it is one and the same doctrine first preached by word of mouth and afterwards committed to writing in the Scripture but Tradition as we question it is diuided against Scripture and importeth doctrine ouer and beside that which is now taught vs by the Scriptures We know well that the doctrine of saluation vntill the time of Moses was only taught by word of mouth but is that an argument to proue that now that wee haue the Scriptures we must also receiue vnwritten Traditions besides the Scriptures Nay when it seemed good to the wisedome God to commit his word to writing hee would not doe it in part only but fully and perfectly so that a Exod. 34. 4. Moses wrote all the wordes of the Lord and said of that which he wrote b Deut. 12. 32. What I command thee that only shalt thou doe vnto the Lord thou shalt put nothing thereto nor take ought therefrom Therefore although the word of God were afterwards also deliuered by word of mouth in the Preachings and Sermons of the Prophets yet were they in their Sermons to preach no other doctrine neither did they but what had authority and warrant by Moses law Now their Sermons being also written for exposition and application of the law of Moses and a further supply added of the Scriptures of the Apostles and Euangelists how much more ought we to content our selues with the Scriptures without adding to them or taking from them receiuing and beleeuing only those things that we are taught thereby as being assured of that which the Scriptures themselues teach that c 2. Tim. 3. 15. the Scriptures are able to make a man wise vnto saluation through the faith which is in Christ Iesus Hereby then appeareth M. Bishops fallacy in the citing of those texts which he hath here alleaged St. Paul willed the Romans d Rom. 16. 17. to marke and auoide them that made dissensions and scandals contrary to the doctrine which they had learned True it is and what then But the doctrine saith he which they had then learned before St. Paul sent them this Epistle was by word of mouth and Tradition for little or none of the new Testament was then written Marke what he saith before St. Paul sent them this Epistle for hereby hee in a manner acknowledgeth that St. Paul comprised in this Epistle the doctrine which they had before learned by Tradition The Apostles intendment then appeareth plainly to be this that they should shunne those which dissented from the doctrine which they had hitherto learned by Tradition that is by preaching and word of mouth the summe whereof he had now sent them written in this Epistle that they might henceforth learne to shunne them that dissented from the same doctrine deliuered to them in the Scriptures How ill-fauouredly then doth M. Bishop argue out of these wordes that we are now to receiue other doctrines then are contained in the Scriptures There can no argument be rightly framed out of that text whereof it can be any harme to vs to grant the conclusion If he will set it in due order it must be this The doctrine which the Romans had learned they had learned hitherto by Tradition but the Apostle teacheth them to auoide such as dissented from the doctrine which they had learned therefore he teacheth them to auoide such as dissented from the doctrine which they had hitherto learned by Tradition This we grant and what will he conclude thereof Surely if he will inferre any thing against vs hee must goe on and say But they learned somewhat then by Tradition which is not since deliuered in the Scriptures Which if hee will say wee require proofe of it and the text which he here alleageth will yeeld none We say that the whole doctrine which the Apostles first deliuered by Tradition and word of mouth they committed afterwards to writing ech his part as God inspired and directed for comprehending of the whole Seeing therefore they were tyed to shunne all that dissented from the doctrine receiued by the Tradition and Preaching of the Apostles wee hauing the same doctrine contained in the Scriptures are likewise tyed to shunne all doctrine that hath not testimony of the Scriptures Albeit it is here further to be noted how rashly M. Bishop saith that the doctrine which the Romans had learned they learned only by Tradition and word of mouth inasmuch as the Apostle telleth vs that the Gospell as it e Rom 1. 2. was promised in the Scriptures of the Prophets so was also f Rom. 16. 26. preached by the Scriptures of the Prophets so that St. Luke telleth vs that the noble Iewes of Berhea hearing the Apostles preaching g Acts 17. 11. searched the Scriptures daylie whether those things were so and that our Sauiour Christ when he sent them forth to preach h Luke 24. 45. opened their vnderstanding that they might vnderstand the Scriptures that so they might be enabled for their preaching I haue i Chap. 4. §. 5. before shewed out of Gregory and others that the whole faith which the Apostles preached they receiued from the Scriptures of the Prophets and therefore they deliuered not the Gospell only by Tradition but what they taught they confirmed by the Scriptures So then the Apostles admonition to the Romans will fall out to be this that they should auoide them that dissented from the doctrine which they had learned by the Scriptures though not yet by the Scriptures of the new Testament yet by the Scriptures of the old k Luke 24 27. 44. the law of Moses the Prophets and the Psalmes l Aug. cont 2. Gaudent lipist l. 2. cap. 23. Quibus Dominus testimonium perhibet tanquam testibus suis which Christ named for his witnesses and whereof he said m John 5 39. Search the Scriptures for in them yee thinke to haue eternall life and they are they that testifie of me The two next proofes which hee bringeth are such as that he iustly deserueth to be dubbed for them It is of record saith he how St. Paul n Acts 15. 41. walking through Syria and Cilicia confirming the Churches commanded them to keepe the precepts of the Apostles and of the Ancients and o Acts 16. 4. when they passed through the Cities they deliuered vnto them to keepe the decrees that were decreed by the Apostles and Ancients which were at Hierusalem and the Churches were confirmed in the faith And what hereof It appeareth saith he that those decrees were made matter of faith and necessary to be beleeued to saluation before they were written Yea were But did not you know M. Bishop that
thee gentle Reader how warily M. Bishop speaketh Hee saith that he could in most controuersies adde the like confirmation willing hereby to haue thee vnderstand that as all his confirmations hitherto haue beene nothing worth so all the rest should bee starke naught And that thou maiest beleeue him herein hee taketh course presently to giue thee assurance of it St. Paul saith a 1. Tim. â— 15. The Church is the pillar and ground of truth Wherefore any man saith he may most assuredly repose his faith vpon her declaration Well but aske him hereupon Why then doe not you M. Bishop repose your faith vpon the declaration of the Church of England Not so will he say for this is the proper priuiledge and prerogatiue of the Church of Rome Wisdome and how commeth this to be proper to the Church of Rome Doth your booke tell you so Doe you not see that the Apostle vseth those wordes namely of the Church of Ephesus where Timothy was Bishop and therefore leaueth them appliable in the like sort to euery particular Church and therefore as well to the Church of England as to the Church of Rome And what exception hath he to the contrary but that as the Church of the liuing God hath beene from the beginning of the world so it hath beene from the beginning of the world the pillar and ground of truth and can hee make it good that there hath beene from the beginning a Church priuiledged thereby from being ledde into errour that all men might alwaies infallibly rest themselues vpon the sentence of that Church If not how can hee vpon this ground conclude that now which was not then and what he cannot finde to haue been in the Church of Hierusalem what likely-hood is there that it should be now found in the Church of Rome But it hath beene sufficiently declared before that b Part. 3. Confutation of Doctor Bishops Answer to Master Perkâ—ns Aduertisement c. sect 2. to be the pillar and ground of truth is the common duty of euery Church not any prerogatiue of the Roman Church and noteth what the Church alwaies by calling ought to be not what in act and performance it alwaies is Therefore this first confirmation of M. Bishops is but a paper shot it maketh a great noise but woundeth not The second is like the first c Ephes 4. 11. Christ gaue some Apostles some Prophets some Euangelists some Pastors and Doctors for the gathering togither of the Saints for the worke of the Ministery and for the edification of the body of Christ till we all meete together in the vnity of faith and knowledge of the sonne of God c. Hence he inferreth thus therefore the Church shall not faile in faith vntill the day of iudgement nor bee inuisible that hath visible Pastors and Teachers Vrge him here a little further as touching this not sailing in faith and thou shalt see how he will goe from the Church to the Church of Rome and from the Church of Rome to the generall Councell and from the generall Councell to the Pope and all both Pastors and Doctors and Church and Councell serue but for a saddle whereon the Pope rideth in his royaltie saying as a Councell of old vpbraided him d Auent Annal l. 7. In cuius fronte nomen contumeliae scriptum est Deus sum errare non possum Synod Reginoburg I am God and cannot erre They rest the priuiledge of not erring in the Pope and may we not thinke this text well alleaged to proue that the Pope cannot erre who is in truth neither Pastor nor Doctor but a Hireling and a Theefe The wordes of the Apostle serue to instruct vs that Christ Iesus being ascended vp on high prouideth for his Church raising vp Pastors and Doctors for the ends which he there expresseth but hee doth not say that Pastors and Doctors are alwaies answerable to those ends God gaue the Priests and Leuites for the like blessing vnto Israel and it was said of them e Deut. 33. 10. They shall teach Iacob thy iudgements and Israel thy law And yet there was a time when it was said of them f Ierem. 2. 8. The Priests said not Where is the Lord and they that should minister the law knew me not the Pastors offended against me and the Prophets prophesied in Baal and went after things that did not profit And againe g Malach. 2. 7 The Priests lips should preserue knowledge and they should seeke the law at his mouth for he is the messenger of the Lord of hostes but yee are gone out of the way yee haue caused many to fall by the law c. And againe h Osâ— 9. 8. The watchman of Ephraim should be with my God but the Prophet is the snare of a fowler in all his waies and hatred in the house of his God And is it not so also many times in the state of the Church of Christ Is it not so often times that they whom he hath giuen for Pastors and Doctors to his Church become i Apoc. 6. 13. starres fallen from heauen to earth voide of true light themselues and therefore giuing no light to others Haue there not beene infinite complaints hereof in the Church of Rome of the negligence and ignorance and inability of them who haue sitten in place of Pastors and Doctors in the Church Did M. Bishop neuer reade in Matthew Paris an Epistle deuised as sent from hell k Math. Paris in Wil. Conq. Satanas omne contubernium infernorum omni Ecclesiastico coetui gratias eâ—â—sit quòd cum in nullo voluptatibus suis deessent tantum numerum subditarum sibi animarum suae praedicationis incuria paterentur ad inferna descendere quaÌ„tum secula nunquam retroacta viderunt wherein Satan and all the company of hell did send thanks to the whole Ecclesiasticall order for that whereas in nothing they were wanting to their owne pleasures they suffered by their neglect of preaching such a great number of soules vnder them to goe to hell as no ages past had seene the like Was there in this meane time no failing in faith when Clemangis as Espencaeus witnesseth complaining of the want of the knowledge and reading of Gods word said l Claud EspeÌ„c Digress in 1. Tim. l. 1. c. 11. Vbi id nec legitur nec auditur fidem perire labefactari necesse est vt hodie proh dolor omnibus ferè locis cernimus vt ad teÌ„pora propinquare videamê° de quibus Dominus putas filius hominis c. ex Clemang Where the word of God is neither read nor heard needes must faith perish and decay as now a daies alas in all places almost we see so as that we see it approcheth to the times whereof our Sauiour saith Thinke yee when the sonne of man commeth he shall finde faith vpon the earth or when things m Ibid. ex Agobert Antiphonarium correximus
Rome keepâ— entirely the same faith In which sort the Donatists also would not haue denyed all other Churches to be called Catholike that with their Church of Africa kept entirely the same faith and therefore I said rightly before that the name is now by the Papists Donatistically applyed not only to one particular Church of Rome as M. Bishop falsly repeateth to put the sot if he could from himselfe to me but also as I added to men bearing the name of Catholikes only for communicating with that Church As for vs we apply the name Catholike no more to the congregations of the Protestants then we doe to all that professe in truth the communion of one vniuersall Church The name of Protestants being casuall and arising by occasion in these Northerne parts may haply be inclosed and confined within the bounds of Europe but the Church of Christ cannot be so inclosed and o Aug. Epist 48. Erit Anathema quisquis annunciauerit Ecclesiam praeter communionem omnium gentium cursed is he saith St. Austin that preacheth the Church otherwise then in the communion of all nations No otherwise doe wee preach the Church wee limit it not to our selues wee say the Papists ought not to limit it to themselues There are questions betwixt them and vs but how many Christian Churches are there in the world which neither know them nor vs nor haue euer heard any thing of the quarrels that are betwixt vs How many Churches are there in the East which haue heard of the Pope and his proceedings and will by no meanes endure to hold communion with him He will say that those Churches doe not accord with vs in iudgement of all points of faith Be it so no more did Cyprian and p Aug. cont Gaudent lib. 3 art 10. Quando rebaptizabat Cyprianus ab hâ—reticis venientes Ecclesia CarthagineÌ„sis Episcopus tunc Ecclesiâ— Romanae Stephanus Episcopus in â—odem baptismâ— quem foris accepâ—raÌ„t suscipiebat â—aereticos ambo haec diuersa facienâ—es in vnitate Catholica permanebant Stephanus Bishop of Rome agree in all points and yet they were both members of one Catholike Church How many differences of opinions are there found amongst the Fathers and yet we doe not therefore diuide them into many Churches They may erre and we may â—rre but we beleeue that wheresoeuer the Gospell of Christ is read and published there Christ hath a people to whom hee reuealeth all truth that shall be necessary vnto eternall life In a word they professe the same Christ they reade the same Gospell and Scriptures that we doe and therein our faith both hath beene from the beginning and doth now continue dispersed and spread ouer the whole world W. BISHOP §. 2. SEcondly M. Abbot is much mistaken in his comparison of the name of Iew with the name Catholike for â—o omit first that such examples proue nothing but doe only serue for shew or explication and moreouer that it can hardly be shewed that the name of Iew was a name of such honour at any time for that peoples honourable name was Israelites and were not called Iewes till towards the declination and wane of their estate Neither was it euer any peculiar and proper title of the people of God for God had many good seruants that were neuer called Iewes as may be gathered by Iob the Husitâ— Naaman the Syrian the widdow of Sarepta a Sydonian and by a great number Luc. 4. vers 16. of Prosilites and finally by that which the Apostle teacheth Many Gentiles were saued without the law Rom. â— vers 14. Lastly most vncertaine it is of what name the Prophet Isay speaketh when he saith It shall be left for a name cap. 65. vers 13. of curse All these impertinencies of his example being too too many I doe remit him but cannot pardon his grosse fault in the maine point of the comparison for the name Iew according to the vsuall signification of the word being the name of a certayne people of one race and kindred and hauing a law giuen them by Moyses which should continue only for a prescript time and end at the coÌ„ming of Christ is not like the name of Catholike which is no speciall name of the people of any one Countrâ—y but is attributed and doth agree to all sorts of men of what Countrey or nation soeuer that do embrace the true Christian faith And is inseparably linked and so fast ioyned and riueted with the Christian profession and religion that it shall neuer faile fall or be separated from it so long as Christs faith standeth nor euer be contemned of the faithfull whiles Christs true religion flourisheth which is proued inuincibly out of the very Etymologie of the name Catholike and that according to M. Abbots owne interpretation in the same place who doth expound it to signifie that Church which is through the whole world and shall be to the worlds end If the name Catholike shall continue to the worlds end the true title of the Church who then but miscreants and Heretikes can take it for a name of curse reproch and shame Is it not vntill this day set downe in the Apostles Creede as the honourable title and epithite of the true Church I beleeue the holy Catholike Church Must he then not be rather an Apostata then a Scholler of the Apostles that blusheth not to anouch the very name Catholike to be the proper badge of Apostataes and Heretikes which the Apostles ascribe and appropriate vnto true Christianity If any proude and false fellowes doe vsurpe that name and challenge it to themselues wrongfully as many did euen in S. Augustines time when M. Abbot confesseth it to haue beene in greatest estimation let such vsurping companions be rebuked sharply and conuicted of their insolent and audatious folly but the name Catholike which the Apostles thought worthy and fit to be placed in the articles of our Creede and principles of our religion must alwaies remaine and be among true Christians a name very glorious and desireable We therefore say with S. Augustine We receiue Tract 32. â—â— Iohannem Lib. 1. coâ—t Gaudent c. 33. the holy Ghost if we loue the Church if we be ioyned togither by charity if we reioyce in the Catholike name and faith And they that doe not ioy in that name but mocke at it doc blaspheme as the same most holy Authour intimateth The name Iew being taken in the Apostles sense for one of what nation soeuer that fulfilleth the iustice of the law neuer was nor neuer shall be a name of reproch so that M. Abbot is driuen to hop from one sense of that name to another to make it applyable to his purpose R. ABBOT SVch examples saith he proue nothing but serue only for explication And what of that As though it were vnlawfull for me to vse explication and I were bound to proofe only His first exception then is wholly idle and of no effect
habent neque ille suis nomen indit aut à suis recipit sed omnes vt antea consuetâ— more Christiani nominantur Neuer any people tooke name of their Bishops but of the Lord in whom they beleeued We haue not taken names from the holy Apostles our Masters and Ministers of the Gospell of our Sauiour but of Christ we both are and are called Christians but they who deriue the originall of their faith from any other doe worthily beare the names of their authours as to whom they doe belong When as therefore we all were and were called Christians of Christ Marcion the inuentor of heresie was worthily exploded The other which remained with him by whom Marcion was exploded retayned the name of Christians but they who followed Marcion were no longer called Christians but Marcionites And thus Valentinus Basilides Manicheus and Simon Magus gaue names to their followers and thence it came that some were called Valentinians other Basilidians other Manichees other Simonians other Cataphrygians of their Countrey Phrygia other Nouatians of Nouatus Thus Meletius being eiected by Peter a Bishop and Martyr named them that followed him not any more Christians but Meletians In the same sort when Alexander eiected Arius they who cleaued to Alexander remayned Christians but they who went away with Arius leauing the name of Christians to Alexander and his were thenceforth called Arians Moreouer euen now after the death of Alexander they who are of the same communion with Athanasius the successor of Alexander and with whom Athanasius himselfe is ioyned in communion they all still keepe the same marke he neither giueth any name to them nor they to him but all as before according to the accustomed manner are called Christians This place I haue set downe at large that the Reader may see that Athanasius here could not haue omitted the name of Catholikes there being such occasion to draw it from him if it had been then in vse and that the common names of opposition were then not Catholikes and Heretikes but Christians and Heretikes euen as Cyprian also vseth it saying of Stephanus x Cyprian ad Pompeium Qui haeretâ—coruÌ„ causâ—m contra Christianos contra Ecclesiam Dei esscrere conatur He goeth about to maintaine the cause of Heretikes against Christians and against the Church of God the word Catholike being neuer found in either of them personally taken or substantiuely as before was said but only that Athanasius mentioneth one surnamed y Athanas Epist ad solitariam vitam agentes Faustinus Catholicus homo genere Bithyâ—us opinionibus haereticus Catholicus an Arian Heretike and a persecutor of the faith We may therefore well thinke that there was little discretion riueted to M. Bishops head that would tell vs that the name so taken is so fast ioyned and riueted with Christian profession and religion as that it cannot be separated from it for if it were not so riueted then how commeth it to passe that it is so now The originall thereof was as we may well coniecture by occasion of the heresie of the Donatists who challenged the name of the Church to a part in Africa or elsewhere which were followers of Donatus against whom they that defended the Church Catholike were thereof in processe of time termed by the name of Catholikes The first vse then of the name of Catholikes stood in opposition betwixt Catholikes and Donatists albeit custome soone transported it to make a generall opposition betwixt Catholikes and Heretikes Now the name thus arising accidentally and only by occasion who doubteth but that without preiudice of Christian profession it may by occasion be let fall againe And what greater occasion can there be then the Popish abuse thereof who make a Catholike to import the same in effect now that a Donatist did then For with them a Catholike is no otherwise taken but for a Roman Catholike and because the whole Church is not Roman but a part only what is this Roman Catholike but one who vnder the false name of a Catholike diuideth himselfe from the whole Church as the Donatists did to cleaue to a part thereof What is the name of a Catholike then with them but a Donatisticall name schismaticall and factious and therefore wicked and hatefull and in their sense wholly to be abandoned out of the Church of God Hereby it may appeare how idlely M. Bishop saith that the Apostles did ascribe and appropriate the name Catholike to true Christianity for although they taught vs to beleeue the Church to be Catholike that is vniuersally extended through the world yet did they neuer teach neither was it for a long time after them accustomed that true Christians were called by the name of Catholikes and therefore without wrong to any thing which the Apostles taught we may rightly say that the name according to the Popish abuse thereof is become the proper badge and marke of Apostataes and Heretikes And therefore although if we had beene in the time of Austin we would with him z August in Ioan. tract 32. Catholico nomine fide gaudemus haue reioyced in the Catholike name and faith yet now we cannot with the Papists reioyce in the name of Catholikes and without any blasphemy we reiect it because vnder that name they haue diuided themselues from the Catholike Church and haue destroyed the true Catholike faith Who though they be no other but proud and false fellowes as M. Bishop speaketh and meere vsurping companions and their insolent and audacious folly haue beene both rebuked and conuicted yet doe still impudently and infinitely persist in their absurd claime and doe leaue vs no way but only to desist from the communion of the name which we cannot free from that abuse Now whereas I say further that a Rom. 2. 28. the Apostle denyeth the name of Iewes to them who yet according to the letter were so called because of the circumcision of the flesh and applyeth the truth of the name to them who were so according to the spirit albeit according to the letter they were not so named M. Bishop very discreetly answereth that the name Iew being taken in the Apostles sense for one of what nation soeuer that fulfilleth the iustice of the law neuer was nor shall be a name of reproch But what is this I pray to that that I say Doe my words import that the name of a Iew in that sense is or hath beene a name of reproch When I say that the Apostle applyeth the truth of the name to the faithfull would he conceiue me that the Apostle applyeth to them a name of reproch My words plainly signifie that the name in vulgar and literall construction applyed to them who by propagation of nature are the seede of Abraham is become a name of reproch and shame but that as it hath implication of spirituall circumcision and conformity with Abraham it is a name of honour though they to whom it
did they did discouer them though not so distinctly they saw them though it were as it were c Hebr. 11. 13. a farre off Euen as we see those things that are taught vs concerning the end of the world the resurrection of the dead the day of iudgement and the life to come which yet distinctly we doe not see so did they see those things which since by the effecting of them in Christ are become distinct and plaine to vs. Therefore St. Austin saith d August de nat grat c. 44. Ea sides iustos sanauit antiquos quae sanat nos id est mediatoris Dei â—emiâ—um hominis Jesâ— Christi fides sanguinis eius sides crucis eius sides mortis resurrectionis 〈◊〉 The same faith saued the iust of old that saueth vs the faith of the Mediator betwixt God and Man euen the man Iesus Christ the faith of his bloud the faith of his crosse the faith of his death and resurrection hereby signifying that they beleeued all these points of faith as well as we though being things to come they were not as yet so cleare and manifest vnto them As for the Scriptures which he alleageth because they make nothing against this therefore they make nothing against vs. He bringeth the Apostle saying that e Ephes 3. 5. the mysterie of Christ in other generations was not knowen vnto the sonnes of men as now it is reueiled vnto his holy Apostles and Prophets Be it so it was knowen then but it was not so knowen as it was reueiled and made knowen to his Apostles Let him take this from Thomas Aquinas so expounding the words f Tho. Aquin. in Ephes cap. 3. lect 1. â—â—et mysteria Christi Prophetis Patriarchis fuerint reuelata non tamen it a clarè sicut Apostolis Nam Prophetis Apostolis fuerunt reuelata in quadam generalitate sed Apostolis manifestata sunt quantum ad singulares determinatas circumstantias Though the mysteries of Christ were reueiled to the Patriarchs and Prophets yet not so clearly as to the Apostles for to the Prophets and Patriarchs they were reueiled in a kinde of generality but tot he Apostles they were manifested as touching particular and definite circumstances And hereby the answere is ready to the words of our Sauiour Christ g Mat. 13. 17. Many Prophets and iust men haue desired to see the things which yee see and haue not seene them and to heare those things which yee heare and haue not heard them For h Aug. cont lit Petil. l. 2. c. 37. Omnes superiorum temporum iusti Prophetae cupicbant videre coplâ—tum quod reuelante spiritu futurum esse cernebant vnde ipse Dominus ait Quoniam multi iusti c. they desired clearly and perfectly to see those things which they beleeued and with their eyes to behold the promised Sauiour in whom all their hope and ioy was fixed and to heare the gracious words that should issue from his mouth which notwithstanding they obtayned not i Iohn 8. 56. Your father Abraham saith our Sauiour elsewhere desired to see my day and he saw it and reioyced He saw it and yet still desired to see it because as yet he saw it not as he did desire to see He desired to see with his eies Christ come in the flesh but so he saw him not yet by faith he so foresaw his comming as that it was great ioy and gladnesse to him Three other Texts he quoteth not to proue his purpose but only to let vs see that he is able for a neede to cite the Scripture Two of those he appropriateth to the Apostles which appertaine to all the faithfull To shew that the Apostles were taught by Christs owne mouth he alleageth the wordes of Christ citing a sentence of Esay the Prophet k Iohn 6. 45. It is written in the Prophets And they shall be all taught of God whereas it is plaine that the words are spoken not of being outwardly taught by the mouth of Christ but of being inwardly taught by l Mat. 16. 17. the reuelation of the Father nor contayne any thing peculiar to the Apostles but common to all the Elect as both by the course of Christs speech appeareth and by the words themselues as they are set downe by the Prophet m Esa 54. 13. All thy children shall be taught of the Lord. So to the Apostles also he referreth the words of St. Paul of n Rom. 8. 23. hauing receiued the first fruits of the spirit whereas to be partaker of the first fruits of the spirit is the condition of euery regenerate man in which manner St. Austin generally applyeth it o August de Peccat Merit Remiss l. 2. c. 7. Nunc ei similes esse iam coepâ—mus primitias habentes spiritus Wee haue now begunne to bee like him by hauing the first fruits of the spirit and not only in the new but in the old Testament also because of vs both the Apostle witnesseth as we haue heard before that p 2. Cor. 4. 13. * John 15. 15. we haue the same spirit of faith In the third place Christ saith to his Apostles â— I haue called you friends for all things that I haue heard of my Father haue I made knowen to you But what will M. Bishop conclude hereof Will he argue that because Christ taught his Apostles all points of faith more plainly and clearely therefore the ancient Patriarchs knew not all points of faith Nay we will argue to the contrary that sith Christ maketh knowen to his friends all his fathers secrets as M. Bishop speaketh therefore God made knowen all those secrets to Abraham because Abraham was q Esa 41. 8. Iames 2. 23. called the friend of God and such a friend as that he saith of him r Genes 18 17. Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I will doe And seeing Abraham is called Å¿ Rom. 4 11. 12. the Father of all that beleeue as in the steps of whose faith we are to walke how can we doubt but that God reueiled vnto him all that faith which concerneth vs vnto eternall life In a word St. Austin saith againe of all those fathers and of vs t Aug. cont 2. Epist Pelag. l. 3. c. 4. Eadem sides in illis qui nondum nomine sed reipsa fucrunt Christiani in illis qui non solum sunt sed â—â—cantur in vtrisque eadem gratia per Sp. Sanâ—um There is the same faith both in them who before-time not yet in name but indeede were Christians and in them who not only are but also are called so and in both the same grace by the holy Ghost From which words it may be obserued what will become of those two absurdities which M. Bishop hath taken vpon him to obserue in me For first if those old Fathers were indeede Christians and therefore members of
and godly Fathers Nay it is a certaine demonstration that they had this knowledge of the God-head because out of those Scriptures wherein their knowledge and faith is set forth vnto vs wee haue testimony and proofe thereof though not so formall and cleare as in some few places of the new Testament is expressed yet such as from whence this point of faith is most certainly and vndoubtedly to be conceiued For when we finde on the one side h Deut. 6. 4. The Lord our God is one Lord and on the other side doe reade i Psal 2. 7. The Lord hath said vnto me Thou art my sonne this day haue I begotten thee and againe k Psal 110. 1. The Lord said vnto my Lord sit thou on my right hand c. and againe l Esa 48. 16. The Lord and his spirit hath sent me m Esa 61. 1. The spirit of the Lord God is vpon me with infinite other places to like effect how can we doubt but that in vnity of the God-head they saw distinctly three persons the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost And thus Gregory resolueth that n Gregor in Ezech. hom 16. Siâ—e hi qui elects in testameÌ„to veteri fuerunt siue hi qui in nouo testamento secuti sunt â—imirum constat quia omnes ex amore Trinitatis accensi sunt c. Ad veram speciem ex Trinitatis sunt cognitione decorats whether the elect in the old Testament or they that followed in the new they were all enkindled with the loue and adorned to true beauty with the knowledge of the holy Trinity As touching the last point which he mentioneth of Christ in vnity of person being both God and Man I answer him by St. Austin that they did so beleeue for o Aug. Epist 157. Cuius hominis eiusdemque Dei saluberrima fide â—tiam illi iusti salui facti sunt qui priusquam in carne vemret crediderunt illâ—m in carne centurum by the most wholsome beleefe saith he of Christ both God and Man euen those iust were saued who beleeued that hee should come in the flesh before that hee did come And in another place hee saith yet more expresly concerning Abraham p Idem cont Pelag. Celest lib. 2. c. 27. Nunquid il lud quod iubet Abraham ponere mark seruum suum sub semore suo iurare per Deum coeli alitèr quisquam rectè intellecturus est nisi Abraham scisse in qua vâ—ntuâ—us esset Deus coeli carnem de illo semore propagari When Abraham bid his seruant put his hand vnder his thigh and sweare by the God of heauen can any man otherwise vnderstand it aright but that Abraham knew that from that thigh should be deriued that flesh wherein the God of heauen should come If Abrah 〈…〉 knew that the God of heauen should come in flesh taken of his flesh hee could not bee ignorant I trow that when hee should bee come hee should bee in the flesh both God and Man To be short the same St. Austin presently after saith q Ibid. cap. 28. Nondum factum sed adhuc futurum eadem tamen ipsa patrum quae nostra est sides vna caÌ„tabal Tues Sacerdos in aternum c. The faith of the Fathers all one with our faith did sing that which then was not done but was as yet to come Thou art a Priest fâ—r euer after the order of Melchisedec Where we cannot doubt but their faith obserued as ours doth from the beginning of the Psalme that it was Dauids Lord to whom this was said and therefore that he was very God and because he could not be a Priest after the order of Melchisedec except he were man therefore that he was truly man and because God notwithstanding speaketh vnto him as only one therefore that in vnity of person he should be both God and man For conclusion M. Bishop granteth that they beleeued some few points of faith in particular and had a certaine confuse and darke conceipt by figures and types of most of the rest but inasmuch as he instanceth against me the most high mysteries of our Christian faith and yet it appeareth that they had the beleefe and knowledge thereof we doe not doubt but that they had likewise knowledge though not so easily as we but with more labour attained vnto yet they had knowledge not only of the most but also of all the rest W. BISHOP §. 3. TOuching these very points whereof M. Abbot would haue them wholly ignorant if his bare word without any manner of proofe were so powerfull I affirme that they held the most of them which I will not stand here to proue at large for that were Protestant-like to runne from one question to another without order but I will only giue a touch to euery one of his instances referâ—ing the Reader for more full satisfaction to the proper place of those head controuersies First no Catholike euer taught any man to worship Idols let that then passe as a Protestant slander but that Images are to be placed in Churches the examples recorded in the old Testament of hauing them both in their Tabernacle and in the Exod. 25. v. 18. Temple of Salomon and this sentence of the Psalmist 3. Reg 6. v. 23. Adore his foote-stole and many such like places and Psalm 98. v. 5. resemblances doe argue very strongly that Images are to be worshipped Secondly inuocation of Angels is most plainly practised by the holy Patriarke Iacob the Father of all Israelites God c. and the Angell that hath Genes 48. v. 16. deliuered me from all euill blesse these children The example of so religious a person is our sufficient warrant to pray to Angels and Saints for Saints in heauen are equall Luc. 22. to Angels as our Sauiour himselfe assureth vs and Iob was counsailed to pray and call for aide vnto some of the Saints Ad aliquem Sanctorum conuerte Thirdly Iob 5. vers 1. they of the old Testament knew good workes to merit life euerlasting and had by Gods grace free-will to doe them which I adde because by the same sentences I will proue both togither God said vnto Cain If thou doe Genes 4. v. 7. well shalt thou not receiue if euill thy sinne will be at the dore but the appetite or pange of it shall be vnder thee and thou shalt haue dominion ouer it see both power giuen to the wicked to doe well if they will and recompence promised therefore Againe in the law Moyses hauing propounded to the Israelites Gods Commandements exhorting them thereunto saith Consider Deut. 30. v. 15. that I set before you life and good and contrariwise death and euill if you loue God and will walke in his Commandemens life or else death c. choose therefore life c. Must they not be very dull Vers 19. that hence cannot gather the keeping of Gods
from that imputation Well and what of that Marry Chrysostome and Hierome do argue saith he that euen so in the law of grace men infected with the soules leprosie are either to be bound and declared obstinate by the Priest if they will not repent or repenting and confessing the same are to be cleansed therefrom by the Priests absolution First Chrysostome in the place by him alleaged saith nothing either of confession or absolution but noting by occasion what grace is administred by Priests in baptisme that u Chrysost de Sacerdot lib. 3. Authores nobis sunt natiuitatis eius quam à Deo habemus c. atque adeò adoptionis eius qua nos per gratiam silij Dei sumus effecti Corporiâ— lepram purgare seu verius dicam haud purgare quidem sed purgatos probaâ—e Iudaeorum Sacerdotibus solis licebat c. At verò nostris Sacerdotibus non corporis lepram verum animae sordes non dico purgatas probare sed purgare prorsus concessum est they are as he speaketh authours of our new birth and of that adoption whereby we are made the sonnes of God he addeth further thereof thus Only the Priests of the Iewes might purge the leprosie of the body or so speake more truly not purge it but giue warrant of them that were purged but to our Priests it is granted I will not say to approue such as are purged but to purge not the leprosie of the body but the vncleannesse of the soule This the Priest doth sacramentally and ministerially in baptisme when he x Acts 2. 38. baptizeth in the name of the Lord Iesus Christ to the remission of sinnes and what is this to M. Bishops turne As little is there in the words of Hierome who saith that y Hieron in Mat. c. 16. Quomodo ibi Sacerdoâ— facit leprosum mundâ— vel immundum non quò Sacerdotes leprosos faciant immundos sed quò habeant notitiam leprosi vel non leprosi possint discernere qui mundus quiuè immundus fit sic hic alligat vel soluit Episcopus Presbyter noÌ„â—os qui insontes sunt vel nâ—xij sed pro â—fficio suo cum peccatorum audierit varietates scit qui ligandus sit qui soluendus as the Priest in Moses law did make the leaper cleane or vncleane not for that he did so indeede but only tooke notice who was a leaper and who was not and did discerne betwixt the cleanâ— and the vncleane so here the Bishop or Priest doth binde or loose not binde them which are innocent or loose the guilty but when according to his office he heareth the variety of sinnes he knoweth who is to be bound and who to be loosed We see here the office and duty of the Priest to discerne betwixt man and man to acquit the innocent to bind the guilty by the publike censure of the Church to decide who is to be holden for loosed with God who for bound all which belong to the outward and publike discipline and gouernement of the Church but as for auricular confession or priuate absolution and pâ—nance thereto appertayning there is not so much as one word spoken thereof It is plainly here to be seene why M. Bishop quoted the authours only but did not set downe their wordes because the Reader would haue discerned his folly that would set downe such impertinent stuffe nothing at all concerning the point in hand Yet he hopeth that he hath said that that may suffice for answere to my particulars whereas he hath brought no tollerable proofe or probability for any one particular and therefore leaueth vs to resolue that none of those points of religion by me mentioned were euer knowen to the old Fathers W. BISHOP §. 4. I Might easily adde how the Sacrifice of the body and bloud of Christ vnder the formes of bread and wine were both prefigured by Melchisedechs Host in bread and Genes 14. wine and fore-told by the Prophet Malachy and what a Malach. 1. liuely type Manna that Angelicall and delicate foode was of Christs body in the Sacrament And how the supreme authority of one headouer all the whole Church and that to belong to a Bishop and not to the lay Magistrate was not obscurely shadowed but liuely represented by the Soueraigne power that the high Priest of the old Testament had ouer all the rest To determine and end all doubts Deuter. 17. and controuersies arising about any hard point of the law As for consecrating of Priests and hallowing of Churches and Altars with all Vestiments and Ornaments thereunto appertaining and for the seuerall feasts and fasts there is so great resemblance betweene them and vs that Protestants commonly cry out against vs for the ouer great affinity that is betwixt the old law and our religion But as they are to be reproued of indiscreet zeale against the rites of Moyses law which were of God and good for the time and most of them figures and types of the law of grace according to that of the Apostle All 1. Cor. 10. things chanced to them in figure and were written for our correction and instruction so on the other side some strange defluxion and dâ—stillation of corrupt humours maruailously darkned M. Abbots sore eyes that he could not discerne nor find in the whole law of Moises any one shadow of that which we now practise May not these worthy words which S. Paul pronounced of the blinded Iewes in his time be verified of him Their senses 2. Cor. 3. were dulled vntill this day when Moyses is read a veile is put vpon their heart that is they reading and hearing the law of Moyses doe no more vnderstand it then doth a man hoodded or that hath a veile before his eyes see what is before him or else M. Abbot reading the old Testament could not choose but haue seene much of our religion and many articles of our faith there recorded And albeit we teach most mysteries of our faith to haue beene in the law of Moyses prefigured and foretold yet is it very absurd to say as M. Abbot doth that we beleeue no more articles of faith then they did for we were by the Sonne of God our blessed Sauiour giuen to vnderstand many high points of beliefe which were not reueiled vnto them as hath beene before declared R. ABBOT ANd I might as easily answere that the Popish Sacrifice of the body and bloud of Christ as they call it vnder the formes of bread and wine is an absurd nouelty neither prefigured by Melchizedecke nor fore-told by Malachy the Prophet nor euer knowen to any ancient Father of the Christian Church Strange it is that a reall propitiatory sacrifice of Christs body and bloud vnder the formes of bread and wine should bee deriued from Melchizedecke with whom we see no token or semblance thereof of whom it is not said that he offered bread and wine but only that
grace the substance and truth being reueiled they ought to cease This was the very reason why the Apostles taught the Church x Col. 2. 17. 20. to be disburdened of those rites because they were shadowes of things to come the body whereof is in Christ. But M. Bishop telleth vs by another spirit that therefore the Church of Rome reteineth them because they were shadowes of things to come because they were types and figures of the law of grace and reproueth them of vndiscreet zeale that are minded otherwise Sith then he can obserue vndiscreet zeale in the Apostles I may not maruell that he deemeth my sore eyes darkened with strange defluxion and distillation of corrupt humours but such indeede is the case of mine eyes that in the law of Moses and in the Prophets I cannot see that religion which we call Popery which standeth in those points of faith whereof the question is betwixt them and vs. The rest of his wordes I passe ouer as idle talke What hee hath declared wee see and we see so much folly in it and so little weight as that we cannot but aduise him to take longer time and goe ouer the same againe W. BISHOP §. 5. ANd much more reprâ—chfull is it to hold as he doth That we worship God after the same manner as they did for then should we sacrifice to him Beefs Muttons Calues and Lambs and our sacrificers should be of Aarons issue and order and we all circumcised I omit all their ceremonies because M. Abbot excepteth them And if the Protestants doe altogether pray as they did and in the same termes as M. Abbot affirmeth them to doe they sometimes then doe pray vnto God to remember Exod. 32. v. 13. Abraham Isaac and Iacob and for their sakes to make mercy on them for to that effect and in those termes prayed the Prophet Moyses and that according vnto those Patriarkes expresse order and commandement Genes 48. v. 16. Whereunto if it please the Protestants to ioyne that other prayer of the Psalmist Remember O Lord Dauid Psal 131. and all his mildnesse let them tell mee whether this small prayer with which they finde so great fault Tu per Thomae sanguinem c. Thou O Lord for that blouds sake which thy seruant shed in defence of thy holy Church take compassion vpon vs be not warranted for good by example of the like recorded in the old Testament For if they then did desire God to remember the excellent vertues of his seruants and for their sakes to shew mercy to others why may not we doe the same now why may we not as well beseech God to remember the constant fortitude of S. Thomas as they did the mildnesse of Dauid I will not dwell vpon these impertinent and loose follies which all that be not babes may of themselues easily discry but doe out of the premises inferre first that no religion was to be called Catholike before the Gospell of Christ was preached or to be preached to all nations and therefore the law of Moyses being peculiar to one people and countrey could not be called Catholike secondly that the Roman faith and religion is very conformable to that of the Patriarks and Prophets as the verity is to the figure whence it followeth that the Protestants new deuices hold no due correspondence with them I haue already confuted this his assertion That Christ at his comming confirmed the faith and religion of the Iewes without any additions of his owne and commended it simply and nakedly only stripping it of types and shadowes to be preached to all nations And here I adde that then Christians may yet haue many wiues together as the Iewes had or giue their wiues vppon any displeasure a libell of diuorse for these were no shadowes nor ceremonies And briefly it should follow thereof that all that part of their law that doth belong to iustice and iudgement stands still in full force and vertue among vs Christians which is most opposite to the determination of the Apostles in the first Councel holden at Hierusalem where it was plainly decided that we Christians Act. 15. vers 28. were not bound to keepe the old law Againe if the Apostles were simply and nakedly to preach vnto the Gentiles the law of Moyses stript of types and shadowes why were they commanded to preach vnto them the Sacrament of baptisme or of our Lords Supper which are no where commanded in the law of Moyses Well let this then passe as a most notorious and grosse ouersight But the Apostles saith he added nothing of their owne which is very false for many things were left by our Sauiour to their disposition whereupon Saint Paul saith Caetera cum venero disponam I will dispose 1. Cor. 11. v. 3â— of the rest when I come and was further bold to say Haec dico ego non Dominus For the rest I say 1. Cor. 7. v. 12. not our Lord. M. Abbot goes on belying the Apostle and saying And they preached only the Gospell Rom. 1. promised before by the Prophets where he corrupteth the Text by adding the word only and weaueth into that Text to the Romans these wordes out of the Acts of the Apostles saying none other things then those Act. 26. v. 22. which the Prophets and Moyses did say should come where he both mangleth the Text and also breaks off in the middest of a sentence that it might seeme applyable to all points of the Apostles preachings which the Apostle applyeth only to Christs death and resurrection and the preaching and carrying of light vnto the Gentiles It is a peece of strange alchymie to distill out of these wordes of the Apostle that they preached nothing but the same faith and religion which the Iewes embraced S. Paul saith that he had preached nothing of Christs death and resurrection and that he was the light of the Gentiles but that which the Prophets did speake should come to passe M. Abbot of his owne head enlargeth this his speech to all other points of our faith Againe all is besides the purpose for the Apostle saith not that hee taught any one article which the common sort of the Iewes did beleeue but such things as the Prophets said should come to passe Who knowes not that they foresaw and fore-told many things that were no articles of faith in their dayes and touching these very particulars how many of the Iewes did beleeue that their Messias should die so shamefull a death or that Moyses law should be abrogated by their Messias and that the Gospell of Christ should be preached vnto all nations all these were great nouels and exceeding scandalous to the body of the Iewes wherefore though some better learned among them and more religiously affected might vnderstand the Prophets speaking of those points yet were they farre from the common reach and perswasion of that people of the Iewes from these points that the Iewes beleeued
all that Christ taught and all that he commanded his Apostles to deliuer to all nations R. ABBOT THe wordes of mine answere are As they worshipped God so sauing ceremoniall obseruations we also worship him Consider now I pray thee gentle Reader from what braine M. Bishops illation proceedeth Then should we sacrifice to him Beefs Muttons Calues Lambs and our sacrificers should be of Aarons issue and order and we all circumcised Why M. Bishop are not all these in the number of ceremoniall obseruations Forsooth no I omit all their ceremonies saith he because M. Abbot excepteth them But did not M. Abbot in excepting all their ceremonies except circumcision and sacrifices and the whole Priest-hood of the law What is M. Bishop ignorant that circumcision and sacrifices and the whole rites and rules of the Leuiticall Priest-hood doe all belong to the ceremoniall law and that our Sauiour Christ in abrogating the ceremoniall law is vnderstood to haue abolished all these Is he to be set to schoole againe to learne what is meant by the name of ceremonies It were a shame to send a Doctor of Diuinity to his Catechisme for his credits sake I will referre him to a greater booke of Thomas Aquinas where he saith that a Tho. Aquin. sum 12. q. 101. art 4. Per tot In veteri lege singula praedicta Sacrificia Sacramenta sacra obseruantiae ceremoniae vocantur in the old law Sacrifices Sacraments sacred vtensils and implements and obseruances of singular or speciall conuersation are all called ceremonies and this I would haue him learne against the next time His next exception is against that I say As they prayed so and in the same wordes we also pray Then saith he they doe sometimes pray vnto God to remember Abraham and Isaac and Iacob and for their sakes to take mercy on them as Moses did Which in part we acknowledge and professe to doe to pray God in like manner as Moses did to remember Abraham and Isaac and Iacob and for their sakes to take mercy vpon the seede of Abraham but not to take mercy vpon vs. God bound himselfe to the seede of Abraham b Genes 17. 7. by an euerlasting couenant to be their God by reason whereof we beleeue that in this forlorne estate wherein they now be God still standeth entirely respectiue to the preseruation of that nation and though c Rom. 11. 28. as touching the Gospell they be enimies for our sakes yet as touching the election as the Apostle faith namely whereby God of old elected them to be his people they are beloued for their Fathers sakes Their present infidelity then is an interruption only not any finall reiection of them and the time will come when the effect of that loue will appeare by restoring that nation againe to the society and fellowship of the Church of Christ What hindereth then but as they are beloued for their Fathers sakes so we may pray God to remember their Fathers Abraham and Isaac and Iacob and for their sakes to shew his loue and to returne vnto them in mercy and compassion d 2. Cor. 3. 15 16. To take away the veile that is laid before their hearts that they may bee turned to the Lord Which notwithstanding we say not for our selues because God hath made no promise to vs properly and personally in Abraham but only e Genes 22. 18. 〈…〉 ls 3. 25. in the seede of Abraham f Gal. 3. 16. which is Iesus Christ by whom and in whom it is and not by Abraham himselfe that we are become the children of Abraham As for the text which he alleageth to proue that it was the expresse order and commandement of the Patriarchs that their posterity should so pray hee sheweth his ignorance in the abusing of it because no otherwise did Iacob say g Genes 48. 16. Vulg. Innocetur super cos nomen meam Let my name be named vpon them and the name of my Fathers Abraham and Isaac then as seuen women in a time of desolation are brought in by the Prophet saying to one man h Esa 4 1. Vulg. Innocetur nomen tuum super nos Let thy name be named vpon vs these women hereby crauing that they might be called the wines of such a man and the Patriarch desiring that Ephraim and Manasses should be seuerally reckoned for Tribes of the seed of Abraham and Israel as if they had beene immediately descended from him euen as Iacob himselfe a litle before expresseth his owne meaning saying i Genes 48. 5. Thy two sonnes Manasses and Ephraim which are borne vnto thee in the land of Aegypt before I came to thee into the land of Aegypt shall be mine as Ruben and Simeon are mine But now vpon this that hath beene said that they prayed God for those Fathers sakes to be mercifull to them M. Bishop being resolutely impudent to make all good that is starke naught groundeth a defence of a diuellish and horrible blasphemy which the Church of Rome had brought of old into the seruice of the Church Concerning Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury in the time of King Henry the second slaine then without due and lawfull proceeding but yet dying no other but an insolent rebell and traitour to his Prince they haue beene wont to pray thus k Breuiar in trāslat S. Thomae Cantuar. Jesu Christe per Thomae vulnera Quae nos ligant relaxa scelera Tu per Thomae sanguinem quem pro te impendit Fac nos Christe scandere quò Thomas ascedit O Iesus Christ by Thomas his wound Release the sinnes wherewith we are bound By the bloud of Thomas which for thee he did spend Make vs O Christ to climbe whither Thomas did ascend In which prayers wee see how by the wounds and bloud of this holy Saint of theirs they aske at Gods hands remission of sinnes and euerlasting life which Christian faith abhorreth to aske by any other but only the bloud of Iesus Christ Yea so harshly it soundeth in Christian eares and so contrary is it to the common sense of Christian profession as that the Rabbines of the Roman Synagogue were content euen for very shame to blot it out of their Portesse thereby acknowledging that it was by apostasie and errour that it came first in But M. Bishop a man more wise and learned or rather a man of harder fore-head then they were taketh vpon him to assure vs that there was nothing amisse in that praier and that it might very conueniently and lawfully haue beene retayned still And why Marry because of old time they prayed thus Remember Abraham and Isaac and Iacob and againe Lord remember Dauid and all his mildnesse For saith he if they did then desire God to remember the excellent vertues of his seruants and for their sakes to shew mercy vpon others why may not we doe the same now why may we not as well beseech God to remember the constant fortitude
will teach you when I come some new doctrine and points of faith which Christ hath not taught or commanded me to teach but I haue added of mine owne If he thinke so let him tell vs that we may wonder at him If he doe not thinke so to what end is it that he alleageth those wordes Surely he who a little before so religiously telleth them that o Vos 23. he receiued of the Lord that which he deliuered to them should not seeme likely presently after to say that he would hereafter teach them other matters of his owne which he had not receiued of the Lord. M. Bishop therefore should haue vsed his discretion to put a difference betwixt matter of order and matter of faith so to vnderstand that though the Apostles might as the Church alwaies may prescribe orders for decency and conueniency in the publike assemblies and gouernement of the Church yet that in doctrine and faith neither they then nor the Church now may adde any thing to that which Christ our Lord commanded and deliuered both to them and vs. Of the same kinde is his other proofe out of that which the Apostle faith for aduice to the vnmarried so still to abide concerning which he professeth to haue receiued p 1. Cor. 7. 12. 25. no commandement from the Lord for what is this to shew that the Apostle hereby added a new point of faith when as whether the married or the vnmarried whether they that follow his aduise or they that follow it not all are saued by the same faith Aduise is of things arbitrary to be done faith is of things necessary to be beleeued The Apostle therfore might giue wholsome aduise without coÌ„mandement of the Lord and yet cannot hereupon be said to teach a new article of faith I said further in my answere that the Apostles preached only q Rom. 1. 2. the Gospell promised before by the Prophets in the holy Scriptures M. Bishop telleth me that I belye the Apostle and corrupt the text by adding the word only But I set downe the word only in a letter distinct from the wordes of the text as appeareth in my booke though he would not obserue it but hudleth all together and therefore there was no cause for him to charge me with corrupting the text And what will he say notwithstanding that it was not meant that they preached only the Gospell promised in the Scriptures Surely the Apostle noteth his calling and seruice to haue bin to preach the Gospell of God This Gospell of God he saith God had promised before by his Prophets in the holy Scriptures Now if M. Bishop will say that though the Gospell were there promised yet the whole Gospell was not promised he wrongeth the Apostle by making his wordes partly true and partly false true in one part of the Gospell because one part was promised false in another part because that other part was not promised Which to auoide he must confesse that the whole Gospell was promised in the Scriptures of the Prophets and because the Apostles preached only the Gospel of God therefore they preached only the Gospell promised in the Scriptures And thus in the end of the same Epistle the Apostle speaketh againe to the same effect that r Rom. 16. 26. the myslerie of the Gospell was published amongst all nations by the Scriptures of the Prophets We doe not thinke he dallied in so saying as to meane the Gospell is published that is to say a part thereof but not the whole but the Gospell entirely and perfectly is preached by the Scriptures of the Prophets Therefore elsewhere he professeth that in preaching the Gospell f he said no other things but what the Prophets and Moses did Acts 26. 22. say should come But here M. Bishop saith I mangle the text and breake off in the midst of a sentence that it might seeme appliable to all points of the Apostles preachings which the Apostle applieth only to Christs death and resurrection and the preaching and carrying of light to the Gentiles But he himselfe rather doth wrong in so abridging the wordes of the Apostle contrary to the practise of the Apostle who though here he name only a briefe of some principall points as accuslomably is done yet vnder these as the chiefe comprehendeth the whole doctrine which he taught He vsed the wordes to take away the offence which was generally conceiued against his preaching and seeing he did not preach these only particulars which are here set downe neither were they offended only at these therefore he must be so vnderstood as that the wordes must be applyed to all the rest and that taken as put in steede of all whereat they were offended most of all And if we doe not so take them we make him subiect to calumniation because he could not affirme that he said no other things then the Prophets and Moses did say should come if in any other points he taught any thing that had not the testimony of Moses and the Prophets Yea when the same Apostle saith generally of t Rom. 3. 21. 22 the righteousnesse of God by the faith of Iesus Christ that it hath the witnesse of the law and the Prophets how can M. Bishop perswade vs that in the preaching of the righteousnesse of God by the faith of Iesus Christ he should teach any thing but whereof hee had witnesse and warrant of the law and Prophets especially when wee see him as in other of his Epistles so specially in the Epistle to the Romans instifying all points of faith accordingly And that this is a truth not to be contradicted we will take witnesse of Gregory Bishop of Rome who saith that u Gregor in Cant c. 5. Apo 〈…〉 a Pro 〈…〉 â—ruâ—n dâ—ctis vt 〈◊〉 persisterent fidem integram 〈…〉 the Aposiles receiued the whole faith from those things that were spoken by the Prophets And againe x Idem in Ezech hom 6. Qued praedicat lâ—x hoc â—iani Prophete quod dâ—nuilciant Prophatae â—o◠〈…〉 bâ—t 〈◊〉 quod exâ—â—ourt Euangelium hoc praediâ—aâ—erunt Apostoâ—â— per mundum Looke what the law preacheth the same also doe the Prophets and what the Prophets teach the same the Gospell hath exhibited and what the Gospell exhibited the Apostles preached through the world Thus the law and the Prophets and the Gospell and the preaching of the Apostles haue all deliuered only one and the same thing Therefore he saith that y Ibid. Vâ—raque Testamenta in nullo a se dâ—screpant c. Inâ—st testamento veteri testamentum noâ—um c. Prophetia testamenti noâ—i testamentum vetus est expositio testamenti veteris testamentum nouum the two Testaments differ not in any thing one from the other that the new Testament is contained in the old that the old Testament is a prophecio of the now and the new Testament the exposition of the old The same had St. Austin said before that
true picture of a very wilfull and absurd wraâ—gler who seeketh by vaine cauillation to obscure that which by reason and truth he cannot disproue What though all the Apostles did not write when as the writings of some might sufficiently set forth the preaching of all because they all preached the same thing And what though none of them wrote particularly all the words which he vttered when as it sufficeth vs that amongst them they wrote all the points of faith which they vttered in those wordes If M. Bishop were asked whether they haue not in Scripture and Tradition all which the Apostles taught would he not say yea And can he then tell vs particularly all the speeches and discourses and sermons that they made from day to day Peter amongst the Iewes and Paul amongst the Gentils at Rome at Corinth at Ephesus in Galatia and the rest Iohn in â— sia Thomas in India Matthias and Andrew in Aethiopia and the other Apostles otherwhere If he would thinke him a foole that should aske him this question and doth hold it sufficient that they haue all the points of doctrine though they haue not all the wordes he must giue vs leaue to thinke him scant wise that when wee say what the Apostles taught they committed all to writing would vnderstand vs otherwise And this meaning he himselfe that it may appeare that he doth but famble and palter presently declareth when yeelding of his courtesie that the Apostles left the Gospell in writing and many other most diuine and rare instructions in their Epistles a rare commendation of them as if he spake of Granatensis his Dux peccatorum or Parsons Resolution and therefore that I needed not cite Irenaeus to witnesse that he addeth his exception but that they wrote all which they preached or all things necessary to saluation Irenaeus saith not a word So then he knoweth well enough that when we say that all which the Apostles taught they committed to writing wee meane thereby all things necessary to saluation all points of faith and doctrine by them preached and which it concerneth vs to know and beleeue vnto eternall life But of this saith he Ireneus saith not a word The wordes of Ireneus which I cited are these a Iren. adu haer lib. 3. c. 1. â—on enim per alios dispositionem salutis nostrae cognouimus quà m per eos per quos I uangâ—lium peruenit ad nos quod quidem tunc praeconiauerunt postea verò per Dei voluntatem in scriptaris nobis tradiderunt fundamentum columnam sidei nostrae futurum By no other haue we knowen the order or way of our saluation but by them by whom the Gospell came to vs which verily they then preached and afterwards by the will of God they deliuered the same to vs in the Scriptures to be the foundation and pillar of our faith Now I hope M. Bishop will not deny but that the gospell which the Apostles preached contained all points of faith necessary to saluation If therefore they haue deliuered vnto vs in writing the gospell which they preached surely they haue deliuered to vs in writing all points of faith necessary to saluation He playeth vpon a distinction betwixt the Epistles and the Gospell as if the Epistles were no part of the Gospell which the Apostles preached but if they be not so he should tell vs what they be and how the Apostle professeth b Phil. 3. 1. to write in his Epistle the same things which he had before preached and how Christ preached c Mat. 4. 23. the Gospell of the Kingdome and taught men d Mar. 1. 15. to beleeue the Gospell before there was any written Gospell and before the greatest part of the history was in act and how St. Paul challengeth the Galathians for being e Gal. 1. 6. remoued to another Gospell when yet they receiued no other story concerning Christ but doctrine contrary to that which is contained in the Epistles f Aug. de Ciu. Dei l. 17. c. 17. Fatentur ex Sion missam suisse legem Christi quod Euangelium nos vocamus The Gospell as St. Austin telleth vs is the law of Christ and are the Epistles of the Apostles no part of the law of Christ The Gospell is called by St. Paul g 2. Cor. 5. 19. the word of reconciliation and is expounded by St. Ambrose to be h Ambros in Rom. c. 1. Euangelium Dei est bonum nuncium Dei quo peccatores ad indulgentiaÌ„ conuâ—cantur the glad tidings sent from God whereby sinners are called to pardon and forgiuenesse and doe not the Apostles in their Epistles teach this word of reconciliation and glad tidings from God If then the Apostles left the Gospell in writing and the Gospell containe all points of faith necessary to saluation then that which the Apostles left in writing containeth all points of faith necessary to saluation Albeit to follow M. Bishop in his owne distinction if we take the Gospell as he doth for the writings of the foure Euangelists St. Austin saith thereof that i August in Ioan. tract 49. Ipse sanctus Euangelista testatur multa Dominum Christum diâ—isse socisse quâ— scripta non sunt Electa sunt autem quae scriberentur quae saluti credentium sufficere videbantur of those things which our Lord Iesus said and did choise was made of so much to be written as seemed sufficient for the saluation of them that beleeue And to the same purpose Cyril also saith k Cyril in Ioan lib. 12. c. 68. Non igitâ—r omnia quae Dominus fecit conscripta sunt sed quâ— scriâ—â—â—tes sufficere putarunt tam ad mores qâ—à m â—d dogmaâ—a vt recta fide operibus vir 〈…〉 rutilâ—ntes ad regnum coelorum perueniamus All things which Christ did are not written but what the writers thought sufficient both for manners and doctrine that shining with true faith and vertuous workes we may attaine to the heauenly Kingdome The Gospels then containe that doctrine and faith that is sufficient to saluation albeit God would prouide for vs not only sufficiently but abundantly and hath in the Epistles of the Apostles giuen vs large and cleare declaration of the doctrine of Christ that is contained in the Gospels As for that which M. Bishop alleageth vnder the name of Ireneus to proue the contrary it is a most wilfull and impudent falsification He most sagely counsaileth all men saith he when any controuersie in religion ariseth to make their recourse to the most ancient Churches where the Apostles had conuersed and from them to take their resolution He citeth for this Euseb hist Eccl. lib. 5. cap. 19. But that which is of Ireneus is by my Booke Cap. 18. and no matter at all tending to that effect as hee alleageth Ireneus is there brought in mentioning l Euseb hist l. 5. cap. 18. Cum puer adhuc in Asia
inferiore apud Polycarpum essem c. Commemorarequeam quomodo se cum Joanne ac reliquis qui DominuÌ„ viderunt conuersatum esse dixerit sermones eorum memorauerit quae ex illis de Domino audierit de virtutibus eius doctrina tanquam ex ijs qui ipsi verbum vite viderant percepta cuncta sanctis Scripturis consona recâ—nsuerit that he had beene in his childhood with Polycarpus and that he had heard him tell how he had beene conuersant with Iohn and the rest that had seen the Lord and remembred their speeches and what he had heard of them concerning the Lord and his miracles and doctrine as receiued from them who themselues had seene the word of life and reported all things agreeable to the holy Scriptures Here is a commendation of the Scripture and an intimation giuen that tradition ought to be no other but consonant and agreeable to the holy Scripture but of referring to the Churches in cases of controuersie not so much as one word But though his head here failed hiâ— yet I know well what the place is that he meant to cite which followeth in the booke whence I alleaged the sentence to which he answereth And yet there is nothing in that place fitting to his purpose Ireneus hauing there to doe with Heretikes who being reproued by the Scriptures reiected the triall of the Scriptures vpon the like pretences as the Papists now doe and therefore being forced to vse against them the testimony of the Churches from the time of the Apostles for proofe of those things which were cleare by the writings of the Apostles as we now doe against the Papists but saying nothing at all as to deliuer a rule that when cases of controuersie doe arise we should alwaies haue recourse to such testimony of the Church Of that place of Ireneus I haue spoken sufficiently m Answere to Doctor Bishops Epistle to the King sect 11. before and therefore I will not here againe trouble the Reader any further therewith In what sort also he attributeth principality to the Roman Church I haue already declared in the n §. 2. first Chapter of this booke Now as he is impudent in answering Ireneus so in his answere to Tertullian he is much more impudent The sentences of those two Fathers I cited as depending one vpon another Ireneus saith that the Gospell which the Apostles preached they afterwards deliuered to vs in the Scriptures Tertullian saith o Tertul. de Praescript Nobis non est opus curiositate post Christum nec inquisitione post Euangelium Cum hâ—c credimus nihil desideramus vltrà credere hoc enim prius credimus non esse quod vltrà credere debemus Wee neede no curiosity after Christ nor further enquiry after the Gospell when we beleeue this we desire to beleeue nothing further for this we first beleeue that there is nothing further for vs to beleeue Marke well gentle Reader the coherence of these wordes The Apostles committed the Gospell to writing we neede no further inquiry after the Gospell we desire to beleeue nothing further we beleeue that there is nothing else for vs to beleeue To this what doth M. Bishop say Beleeuing this beleeuing what the written word only nothing lesse The Gospell M. Bishop it is the Gospell you see of the beleefe whereof he speaketh and beside which or after which he desireth to beleeue nothing yea beleeueth that there is nothing further to be beleeued Seeing then the Gospell is written as Ireneus saith it followeth by Tertullian that beside the written word there is nothing else to be beleeued Nothing lesse saith M. Bishop And why For in that whole Treatise saith he his principall drift is to proue that Heretikes cannot be confuted out of the written word but by ancient customes and traditions which he calleth Prescriptions Where he most shamefully abuseth that worke of Tertullian expounding Prescriptions to be meant of old customes and traditions whereas Tertullian hath nothing to that purpose but by Prescriptions meaneth grounds of reasons and arguments whereby to proceede and deale against Heretikes for the reprouing and conuincing of them Neither doth he goe about to proue that Heretikes cannot be confuted by the written word but only sheweth that it was to no purpose to deale with them by the Scriptures or written word because they receiued and reiected Scriptures as they list did put in and blot out alter and chop and change so that whatsoeuer made against them should goe for no Scripture Yea the matters of their heresies were touching those articles of our faith which are clearely and manifestly testified by the Scriptures and therefore M. Bishop dealeth very lewdly with Tertullian to make him to say that they could not be confuted thereby I neede not stand hereupon hauing p Of Traditions sect 10. before at large discouered M. Bishops dishonesty herein and shewed out of the matter of the booke how falsly he fathereth that drift vpon Tertullian Only it is here to be noted what a prety meaning he maketh of those wordes which I cited thence namely this When we beleeue the whole doctrine of Christ both written and deliuered by Apostolicall tradition then we desire to beleeue no more of any vpstart Heretikes new deuises Where I pray thee to note how his two answeres agree together He told vs before to Ireneus that the Apostles left the Gospell in writing Here to Tertullian speaking of the Gospell he answereth that the Gospell signifieth the whole doctrine of Christ both written and vnwritten So when he list the Gospell is written and when he list the Gospell is vnwritten and he cannot tell certainly what it is If the Gospell were left in writing then the Gospell is no doctrine vnwritten or if the Gospell doe signifie also vnwritten doctrine then the Apostles did not leaue the Gospell in writing but only a part and parcell thereof But we beleeue that the Apostles left vs a perfect written Gospell and therefore we say to M Bishop and his fellowes as Athanasius said to the Arian Heretikes q Athanas de Incar Christi Si Discipuli estis EuangelioruÌ„ ne loquamini contra Deum iniquitateÌ„ sed per scripturas cedite Quòd si diuersa à scripturis fabulari vultis cur nobiscum concertatis qui neque â—oqui neque audire sustinemus quod extraneum sit ab istis dicente Domino c. If yee be Schollers of the Gospell speake not iniquity against God but goe by the Scriptures but if you will babble things diuerse from the Scriptures why doe you meddle with vs who endure neither to speake nor heare any thing which is strange from the Scriptures our Lord Christ telling vs If yee abide in my word then shall yee be free indeed Now to shew that beside the written Gospell and word of God there is nothing else to be receiued I alleaged a peremptory sentence of St. Austin r Aug.
plainly set downe in Scripture are found all those things which containe faith and conuersation of life Yea he saith further that a Idem de vtilit cred cap. 6. Planè ita modificata vt nemo inde baurire non possit quod sibi satis est si modò ad bauriendum deuotè ac piè vt vera religio poscit accedat the doctrine of the Scripture is so tempered as that there is no man but may draw from thence that that is sufficient for him if he come to draw with deuotion and piety as true religion requireth him to doe Hereto adde how he vseth the wordes of the Apostle where to he alludeth in the sentence by me cited in his disputing against the Donatists b Idem de vnit Eccl. c. 11. 12. Quisquis aliud Euangelizauerit anathemâ— sit Aliud autem euangelizat qui perijsse dicit de câ—tâ—ro mudo Ecclesiam in parte Donati in sola Asrica reâ—nansisse dicit Ergo anathema sit Aut legat miâ—i hoc in scripturis sanctis noÌ„ sit anathema Whosoeuer preacheth any other thing accursed be he but he preacheth another thing who saith that the Church is perished out of the whole world and is remaining only in the Donatists therefore accursed be he or else let him reade it to me in the holy Scriptures that he may not be accursed Now then if by St. Austins iudgement there be found in Scripture all things belonging to faith and manners and there be no godly man but may draw from thence that that is sufficient for him if he be to be holden accursed that preacheth that which he cannot reade to vs out of the holy Scriptures then it appeareth that M. Bishop dealeth falsly in expounding the wordes of Austin and that they serue very fully to that purpose and meaning whereto I alleaged them and whereto without any ambiguity at all they most plainly sound But because we haue here in hand to informe the Roman Catholike I will conclude this place with the censure of a Roman Bishop Gregory the first who calleth c Gregor in 1. Reg. l. 2. c. 3. Quid cor animam Dei â—â—si sacram eius scripturam accipinâ— the holy Scripture the heart and soule of God and telleth vs that d Idem Moral l. 16. c. 16. Per cam Deus loquitur omne quod vult by it God speaketh all his will or all that he requireth and that so as that e Ibid. l. 18. c. 14. Eos ad sacrae authoritatis paginas vocat vt si vere loqui desiderent inde sumere debeant quid loquantur Qui ad verae praedicationis verba se praeparat necesse â—st vt causarum origines à sacris paginis sumat vt omne quod loquitur ad diuinae authoritatis sundamentum reuocet atque in câ— aedificium locutionis suae â—irmet he that desireth to speake or preach iruly must take from thence that which he speaketh and set â—h the grounds of his matters out of the sacred bookes that he may bring all that he speaketh to the foundation of diuine authority and thereupon settle the building of his speech He saith againe that f IdeÌ„ in Cant. c. 5. Sancti viri se consilijs Scripturae ex toto addicunt vt videâ—icet nihil agant nisi quod ex responsâ— Scripturarum audiunt c. Quia de quibuscunque scrupuliâ— in Scripturis consilium quaeritur fine minâ—ratione de omnibus ad plenum inuenitur holy men doe wholly addict themselues to the counsels or directions of the Scripture namely so as to doe nothing but what they heare by answere of the Scriptures because of whatsoeuer doubts aduise is sought for in the Scriptures namely concerning matters of faith and godlinesse it is there fully found of all things without exception and g Idem in Ezech. hom 15. Vniuersa nostra munitio in saâ—ro â—lâ—quâ—o cominetur all our munition or armour to wit against our ghostly enemies yea h Ibid. hom 9. In hâ—â— volumine cuncta quâ—â—dificant omniâ— qu◠〈…〉 diunt scripta contiâ—entur all things that doe â—difie all things that doe instruct are contained therein In all which speeches if Gregory say truth then it must stand good which I haue set downe that all our faith and religion is contained in the Scriptures and neither may the preacher speake nor the hearer receiue any thing that hath not confirmation and proofe out of the booke of God W. BISHOP §. 7. MAster Abbot hauing in few lines runne ouer foure large questions to wit first That the Prophets and Patriarks beleeued no principall points of the Roman faith secondly that Christ deliuered nothing but what the Iewes before hand beleeued thirdly that the Apostles preached the same and no other to the Gentiles fourthly that whatsoeuer they preached they afterwards wrote he fiftly addâ—th that the Protestants receiue and beleeue all the written word Whence he will haue it to follow finally that the Protestants are very good Iewes and doe iumpe iust with them in all articles of faith and consequently are true Catholikes so that in M. Abbots reckoning before you can be a true Protestant Catholike you must first become a good honest Iew. Behold what a round this man is driuen to walke and how many brakes of thâ—rnes he is forced to breake through ere he can come to make any shew of proofe that the Protestants are Catholikes the matter is so improbable I haue already declared how false euery one of his former foure propositions be the fift is as vntrue and more if more may be then any of the other and he plaies the sophister in it egregiously to beggâ— that which is principally in question How proues he that Protestants receiue and beleeue all the written word hath he so little wit and iudgement as to thinke that we would freely grant him that for to omit that they receiue not but reiect diuers bookes of the old Testament because they were not in the Canon of the Iewes or doubted of by some in the primitiue Church by which reason they might refuse as many of the new doe they rightly vnderstand and beleeue truly all that is written in that blessed booke of Gods word nothing lesse Doe they giue credit to our Sauiour â—esus Christ himselfe telling them This is my Mat. 26. 27. 28. Body that shall be broken for you this is my Bloud that shall be shedde for you Whose sinnes ye shall Ioh. 20. v. 23. forgiue on earth shall be forgiuen in heauen Thou Math. 16. v. 18. art Peter and vpon this Rocke will I build my Church c. and the gaâ—es of hell shall not preuaile against it Call the worke-men that had laboured in Math. â—0 v. 8. his vine-yard and pay them their hire Doe you see Iacob 2. v. 24. that by workes a man is iustified and not by faith only Is any man sicke among you let
heauen The other points were touched before and shall be shortly againe But I would in the meane season be glad to heare where the written word teacheth vs that Kings and temporall Magistrates are ordained by Christ to be vnder him supreme Gouernours of Ecclesiasticall affaires because M. Abbot made choise of this head-article of theirs for an instance that the written word was plaine on their side he should therefore at least haue pointed at some one text or other in the new Testament where it is registred that Princes are supreme Gouernours of the Church Nay are temporall Magistrates any Ecclesiasticall persons at all or can one that is no member of the Ecclesiasticall body be head of all the rest of the Ecclesiasticall members or is the state Secular higher and more worthy then the Ecclesiasticall and therefore meete to rule ouer it though they be not of it to say so is to preferre the body before the soule nature before grace earth before heauen or is it meete and decent that the lesse worthy-member should haue the supreme command ouer the more honourable where the Christian world is turned topsie-turuy that may be thought meete and expedient but in other places that will not be admitted for currant which in it selfe is so disorderly and inconuenient without it had better warrant in the word of God then that new position of theirs hath R. ABBOT THe truth of mine assertions hath hitherto appeared by my defence of them but let them no further be taken for true then he is here found to be false that is the oppugner of them He saith that my conclusion conuinceth me euen by the verdict of my selfe to fall into the foule fault and errour of the Donatists To proue this he maketh me to speake in my answere in this sort Our faith because it is that which the Apostles committed to writing is the Apostolike faith and our Church by consanguinity and agreement of doctrine is proued to be an Apostolicall Church c. and is the only true Catholike Church c. Hauing set downe all these as my words he inferreth thus see you not how he is come at length to proue their Church to be Catholike by perfection of their doctrine which was as he himselfe in this very assertion noted a plaine Donatisticall tricks reproued by St. Austin c. But I pray thee gentle Reader to looke where thou canst finde those wordes by me set downe And is the only true Catholike Church Aske M. Bishop if thou meete with him where he found them and if he cannot tell thee aske him in sadnesse what spirit he thinketh it was wherewith he was led when he set them downe for my wordes Fie M. Bishop fie for shame doe you talke so against lying and will you in the meane time lye so wittingly and willingly so as that there is no meanes to salue it no colour to excuse it I did not say that ours is the only true Catholike Church I made no shew of prouing it by perfection of doctrine to be the Catholike Church I neuer wrote it I neuer thought it and therefore once againe I wish you to bethinke your selfe of your words whereof I remembred you before a Reproofe pag. 283. The diuels cause it is that needeth to be bolstered out and vnderpropped with lyes Surely it is beyond doating folly it is desperate fury that draweth men on to such courses To let that goe foule and shamefull as it is he telleth vs next that he liketh well of Tertullians obseruation that our faith ought to haue consanguinity and perfect agreement with the Apostles doctrine But he curtolleth Tertullians obseruation by this recitall of his because Tertullian doth not only say what our faith ought to haue but telleth vs that b Tertul. de Praescript Quae licet nullum ex Apostolis vel Apostolicis authoreÌ„ suum proferaÌ„t vt mâ—â—tò posteriores quae denique quotidiè instituiâ—tur tamen in eadem fide conspirantes non mâ—â—us Apostolicae depâ—tantur pro consanguinitate doctrinae those Churches which cannot bring any of the Apostles or Apostolike men for their authour as being much later euen the Churches which daylie are begunne yet according in the same faith are for this consanguinity or agreement of doctrine reputed Apostolike Churches no lesse then the rest Hence I concluded that our Church because it agreeth in faith and doctrine with the Apostles is therefore to be reckoned an Apostolike Church But that saith M. Bishop is not the question at this time And what then is the question Marry saith he whether our doctrine or the Protestants be truly called Catholike that is whether of them hath beene receiued and beleeued in all nations ouer the world But did not he see that the one of these directly followeth of the other for the faith of the Apostles is it that was spred ouer the whole world Our faith is the same with the faith of the Apostles because it is that which is recorded in the Scriptures of the Apostles Therefore our faith it is that was spred and beleeued through the world Abrahams faith was it that was spred ouer the whole world for Abraham is c Rom. 4. 12. 16 the father and patterne of all that beleeue both circumcised and vncircumcised Our faith is the same with Abrahams faith Therefore againe it is our faith that was generally receiued throughout the world At this M. Bishop biteth the lip it troubleth him that he knoweth not what to say to it He seeth this proofe to be most certaine and impregnable aboue all other and therefore he seeketh by all meanes to diuert and turne away his Reader from listening to it He telleth him that I doe not deale plainly and soundly that I goe about the bush that I fetch wide and wild windlesses from old father Abrahams daies But I answere him that I haue so gone about the bush as that I haue scratched him with it and my wide and wild windlesses haue so inclosed him as that he cannot finde which way to get out againe Well if my course like him not what would he haue me doe I should he saith haue demonstrated by good testimony of the Ecclesiasticall histories or ancient Fathers that the Protestants religion had flourished since the Apostles daies ouer all Europe Afrike and Asia I haue done already sufficient to demonstrate that I haue astonished him and choaked him with the euidence of Scriptures Stories Councels Fathers so as that hitherto he hath left all that he hath written to the question of religion without defence I shall make further demonstration thereof in this booke euen in the Roman Church What am I the nearer with him by that that I haue done What shall I be the nearer when I haue all done for he hath resolued himselfe to a wicked course and therefore though the light shine into his eyes yet he will sweare that he seeth it not He blameth me for concluding without
lib. 3. Illic pronuncianda est regulae â—nteruersio vbi posteritas inuenitur that where any after-faith is found there is to be pronounced the peruerting of the rule of faith Now therefore in question of religion the triall of truth shall be to haue recourse to that which was first deliuered or as Cyprian expresseth it c Cypâ—ian l. 2. Epist 3. Ad radicem atque originem traditionis Dominicae reuertatur to returne to the roote and originall of the Lords tradition and thence to secure our selues what we are to beleeue and what to doe that we may be saued To the same purpose I alleaged other wordes of Cyprian in the same place that d Ibid. Si soluâ— Christus audiâ—ndus est non debemus attendere quid aliquis ante nos faciendum putauerit sed quid qui ante omnes est Christ prior fecerit Neque enim hoâ—â—nis consuetudinem sequioportet sed Dei veritatâ— sith Christ only is to be heard according to that which the Father proclaimed from heauen concerning him This is my beloued sonne c. heare him we are not to regard what any man before vs hath thought fit to be done but what Christ hath done who is before all for we must not follow the custome of man but the truth of God Which wordes or the most of them as fitted my occasion being by me set downe in a distinct letter that they might be knowen to be Cyprians wordes M. Bishop in transcribing my text hath changed into his common letter that they might be thought to be but mine owne wordes knowing well enough that otherwise by the credit of the authour they would giue the Reader a preiudice against all that he hath here said We see that Cyprian teacheth vs first of all without respect what men haue done to looke to that which Christ did and thereby to iudge of all the custome of men But M. Bishop like the Crabbe that goeth backward teacheth a man to looke first what his father did and then his grandfather and then his great grandfather and so the rest that out of the custome of men he may learne what is the truth of Christ Those children saith he who follow the holy steps of their Catholike Progenitours ascending from sonne to father successiuely till they arriue at the first Christians of that Country are true Christians But what if the first conuersion of a Country be not aright as befell to the e Abb. Vrsperg in Chronico Valâ—ns Ariana persidiae saucius suae partis sautores illuc direxit praedicatores qui venientes rudibus ignaris illiâ—ò perfidâ—ae suae viruâ— insundunt Gothes whose conuersion was to Arianisme in the time of the Arrian Emperour Valens how then shall his rule stand good of ascending from sonne to father till we arriue at the first Christians of that Country Will he say that such doubtlesse beleeue aright because they beleeue as they did who first were conuerted in that Country If he alleage that he speaketh of following the holy steps of Catholike progenitors he maketh himselfe ridiculous because it is the question whether the Progenitours be Catholike and their steps holy and to be followed or not and he for triall hereof referreth vs to them that were in that country first conuerted who haply were corrupted at first by them by whom they were conuerted This case we put concerning the conuersion of our nation whereat he aimeth by Austin the Monke who though he brought hither the Christian religion yet brought it somewhat blended and sowred with the leauen of humane traditions and inuentions so that to receiue religion as he brought it is to receiue the corruption which he also brought which being growen since as in corruptions it falleth out from a little scabbe to a foule leprosie yet shall the foule leprosie be coloured and defended by the example of the scabbe This case being put M. Bishops rule is out of ioynt because we are come to the first conuerted of our nation and we doubt of some default in their conuerters which we the more suspect for that we f See the Answere to the Epistle sect 31. finde the Britaines who had beene formerly and anciently Christians refusing at that time to meddle with them Here then we are new to seeke and are forced to make further enquiry whether the faith of Christ as it was taught here first by that Romish Monke were in any such sort defiled or not But that being granted that a country is at the first rightly and truly conuerted to the faith of Christ how shall the posterity after so many generations haue infallible assurance that they hold inuiolably the same doctrine which they embraced who were first conuerted What rolles what records haue we certainly and particularly to informe vs that our fathers and fathers fathers and their fathers and forefathers from the beginning haue without adding or detracting without change or alteration either of phrase or meaning beleeued and practised thus and thus Will he send vs to the Chronicles and Stories of our country to be certified hereof To say nothing that euery one that seeketh assurance of his faith cannot studie Chronicles for the finding of it suppose a man hath read them all what is he the nearer inasmuch as Bellarmine hath taught vs to say of them all that g Bellarm. de Effect Sacram. l. 2. c. 25. Quòd historici quidam meminerint c. non potest parere fidem nisi humanam cui potest subesse falsum they breede but humane beleefe wherein there may be falshood Of the greatest matters many times they say least they deliuer things many times vnperfectly and often we may rather gather from them the priuate affection of the authour then any testimony of publike faith To the deuices of their owne times they apply the phrases of former times and corrupt the meaning of former times by speaking in the language of their owne times We finde many times differences and disagreements amongst them and that reproued by one which is approued by another Sometimes we descry lyes and tales wilfully deuised and falsly fathered vpon the times and persons that haue beene before and guilefully thrust into ancient bookes for the gracing of superstitions that haue growen of latter times and other writings and stories suppressed and made away which taxed such superstitions as they did arise Many vncertainties there are many difficulties and perplexities in this course and vnpossible it is for them that are the authors of it to set downe out of any records any perfect forme of their owne faith whereof a man can but reasonably satisfie himselfe that it hath beene vniuersally and vniformely receiued of all our fathers and continued wholly the same without alteration from the first conuerted till our time M. Bishop therefore by referring men in question of religion to their fathers forefathers doth but send them a long iourney in the darke not seeing which
doth not furnish me with some bookes which they haue followed in which case I may as well vse their names as Papists may vse the names of Baronius Surius Genebrard and other their owne authours as I haue d Aduertisement concerning D. Bishops Reproofe sect 6. before shewed more at large As touching the disagreement betwixt Austin the Monke and the British Bishops I referred the Reader to Beda as well as to any other and by him it appeareth that there was variance betwixt them not only in some few but in very many things c Beda hist l. 2. c. 2. Sed alia plurima vnitati Ecclesiae coÌ„traria faciebaÌ„â— Qui cum longa disputatione habita neque precibus neque hortamentis neque increpationibus Augustini ac sâ—ciorum eius ossensum praebere voluissent c. Dicibat eis quòd in multis quidem nostrae consuetudini coÌ„traria gâ—ritis tamen si in tribus his mihi obseperare vultis c. caetera aequanimitèr â—uncta tolerabimus wherein he sought by disputing by intreating by exhorting by reprouing to draw their assent vnto him Which when hee could not obtaine he made offer to beare with all other differences so that in three things they would yeeld to him to obserue Easter and to celebrate Baptisme after the manner of the Church of Rome and to ioyne with them in Preaching to the infidell Saxons M. Bishop here will giue reason why the Britans should haue yeelded to the Roman manner of Baptising because forsooth it was likely to be administred more decently and deuoutly in the most renowmed city of Rome then amongst the Britans in a corner of the world But if it must be presumed that at Rome because of the renowme of the place all things were done more decently and deuoutly then otherwhere why did Gregory aduise Austin that f Ibid. l. r. c. 27. Mâ—bi placâ—t vt siue in Romana siue in Gallâ—aru siue in qualibet Ecclesia aliquid inuemsti quod plus omnipotenti Deo posâ—it placere so 〈…〉 e â—lâ—gaâ— custodiamus consuctudines commendat whether in the Church of Rome or in the Church of France or in any other Church he should finde what might better please God he should make choise of it Surely it was an absurdity in Austin that when things might be better as g Ambros de Sacram. l. 3. c. 1. Quod alibi rectiùs seruatâ—r nos rectè Ambrose also saith in other Churches then in the Church of Rome he should notwithstanding seeke to force other Churches to the example of that Church Yea and it was a token of his ignorance that he needed to write to Gregory to be resolued as touching h Beda vt supra Cùm vna sit sides cur sunt Ecclesiarum diuersae c. the diuers customes and obseruations of diuers Churches not knowing that i Euseb hist lib. 5. cap. 23. Dissonantia ieiuny fidei concordiam difference of ceremonies commendeth the vnity of faith as Ireneus spake particularly of fasting and therefore that there was no cause for him so to labour other men to conformity to their rites Albeit it may be likely that the Sacrament of Baptisme was administred amongst the Britans with greater simplicity and lesse ceremony then at Rome and that for that cause they made choise rather to continue their old forme knowing that abundance of ceremonies breedeth commonly abundance of superstitions and k Aug. Epist 119. Quamuis neque hoc inueniri possit quomodâ— contra fidem sint ipsam tamen religioneÌ„ c. seruilibus oneribus premâ—nt c. though it be not seene how they make against the faith yet they are as St. Austin saith the clogge and burden of religion oppressing it first and then eating out the very heart of it And this we take to be the chiefe cause why they so stifly refused Austin for that albeit they acknowledged that he taught the true Christian faith yet they saw him ioyne therwith not in baptisme only but otherwise also so many humane traditions and inuentions which they held to be so many prophanations of the true Christian faith If some of them acknowledged so much as M. Bishop vrgeth out of Beda we will not sticke to acknowledge the same in such sort as they did neither will we stand to question whether Dulcitius he would say Dubricius as I take it or Dauid principall preachers of the Britans in their times were brought vp at Rome though Bale whom he citeth in his lesser worke which only I haue doe not say so much or that either of them was Legate to the Bishop of Rome but be it so yet it followeth not that all his Maiesties Auncestours both English and Britaines embraced that Roman faith that now is because it shall appeare as I haue said that the Roman faith is not the same now that it was then As touching the obseruation of Easter what reasons might moue the Britans to continue their former custome we cannot tell It may be that they were ignorant of the Nicene decree and what of that Surely Hilary a learned and godly Bishop of France protesteth that he l Hilar. de Synod adu Arian Fidem Nicenam nunquam â—â—si exulaturus audâ—â—i neuer heard of the Nicene Councell till the time that he went into banishment which as appeareth by Hieromes Chronicle was about the twentieth yeare of Constantius the Arian Emperour which was thirty yeares after the time of that Councell Now if it were so long vnknowen or so little knowen in France no maruell if in Britanny it were lesse knowen and where it had not caused a change within that time it was not likely afterwards to preuaile much specially with a nation so much afflicted and troubled with warres and inuasions as the Britans thenceforth were in which case no alteration might be likely to take place amongst them Moreouer they could remember that in the time of Lucius their King Eleutherius sent ouer some preachers hither for the conuerting and instructing of the King and his people who yet required not to haue Easter obserued after the manner of the Roman Church but left them to keepe it according to the custome that they had vsed from the time of the Apostles whereupon they might resolue that there was no cause why Austin comming from Rome should now goe about to alter that custome more then they had done In a word the Britans were not too contentious in refusing to yeeld to a sodaine alteration of things so long continued but Austin rather shewed himselfe contentious and vndiscreet in that he did so vnseasonably and without cause so strongly vrge the same W. BISHOP §. 4. THe same might as easily be proued of the Churches of Scotland who acknowledge Palladius and Patritius for two of the chiefe founders of the Christian faith in that country who both were brought vp at Rome and sent into Scotland by Celestinus Bishop of Rome to instruct
of the image of a corruptible man But now for worshipping of Saints and Saints images he will finde somewhat to say though it be starke naught Because we may not make false Gods saith he or giue the glory of God vnto Idols may we not therefore yeeld vnto Saints their due worship Their due worship saith he when as the thing affirmed against him is that no worship is due vnto them and because there is no worship due therefore to giue them worship is of Saints in themselues to make them Idols to vs and to doe that which in the other part of the wordes by me alleaged is forbidden by the Apostle For the Apostle speaking n Cyril de rect side ad Regin De his qui adorant creaturam prâ—ter creator emâ—dicit c. of them as Cyril saith who beside the Creatour doe worship also the creature o August coÌ„t Faust l. 14. c. 18 Creaturae culturam damnat Apostolus diceÌ„s Et coluerunt seruierunt creaturae c. Condemneth saith Austin the worshipping of the creature and p Ibid. cap. 11. Creaturam Dei laudat tamen ci cultum religionis exhiberi vetat for biddeth worship of religion to be yeelded vnto it Neither is M. Bishop helped with that which he saith of the most excellent spirituall and religious vertues of the Saints for worship cannot thereby be due to them who haue the same only by grace and gift but belongeth to him who is the giuer thereof We cannot doubt but that the Origenists and Arians when they made Christ a oreated God did hold him by endowments and gifts to be farre aboue the condition of all other creatures and yet being supposed to be a creature Epiphanius by these wordes of the Apostle resolueth against Origen that he ought not to be worshipped q Epiphan haeâ— cs 64. Quomodoadhuc adorandus erit si factitâ—us est Anser enim indignationem quae est apud sanctum Apostolum propter cos qui creaturaÌ„ velut Deum tractant tribue mihi Deum qui adoratur creatâ—â— quae non amplius creaturam adorat sed creatore c. Omne enim quod creatuÌ„ est noÌ„ est adoranduÌ„ How shall he be worshipped saith he if he be created for take away the wrath which is vttered by the Apostle as touching such as doe vse the creature like God and shew me a created God worshipped according to true faith which no longer worshippeth the creature but the Creatour for nothing that is created is to be worshipped So doth Athanasius conclude of the Arians that r Athanas cont Arian Orat. 1. Creaturam asserunt esse Dei verbum vt Ethnici solent culâ—um exhibent creaturae omisso creatore Cyril de recta fide ad Regin Oportebit semper omninò consiteri quòd adhuc pristmi â—rroris laqueis irretiamur communi homini sidem exhibentes affirming the Word to be a creature they did after the manner of the Heathens worship the creature in steede of the Creatour In like sort doth Cyril determine against Nestorius the Heretike who though he held the manhood of Christ to be endued with all singular perfections and graces yet diuiding it from the God-head and affirming it notwithstanding to be worshipped and beleeued in is therefore accused of the same Heathenish errour s We must then confâ—sse saith he that we are yet intangled in the cords of old errour yeelding faith to a common or meere man Yea the second Nicene Councell chargeth the same Nestorius expresly with t Concil Nicen â— act 7. Epist ad Constant Iren. Audemus anathematizare c. Nestorij idololatriam in homine idolatry thus committed in worshipping a man Now if it be idolatry and the same heathenish sacriledge which the Apostle condemneth to worship Christ either as a supposed created God or as a meere man though of excellent vertue and grace then surely it is idolatry and contrary to the Apostles doctrine to worship the Saints notwithstanding their most excellent spirituall and religious vertues Of which most excellent spirituall and religious vertues because he giueth vs example in Saint Paul whiles he liued as all other most godly men we put him to his choise either to fall downe before such godly men yet liuing and to worship them to pray and offer to them as they doe to the Saints or else to acknowledge his owne absurd folly in alleaging to vs the vertues of liuing men for warrant of such worship to be done to them when they are dead With vs it shall stand good which St. Austin aduiseth u August de vera relig cap. 55. Non sit noâ—is religio cultus hominum mortu orum c. Honorandi sunt propter imitationem non adorâ—ndi propter religione Let it be no religion with vs to worship dead men they are to be honoured by way of imitation not to be worshipped by way of religion For albeit men for their temporall callings be honoured as M. Bishop saith with temporall worship without robbing God of his honour yet to religion this is nothing because x Ibid â—i vni religantes animas nostras vnde religio dicta creditur religion tyeth our soules to God only as Austin saith y Lactant. institut lib. 1. c. 20. Religio veneratio nulla alia nisi vnius Dei tenenda est neither are we to hold or maintaine any other religion or worship but to God only saith Lactantius z Origen coÌ„t Cols l. 1. Caetera honore tantum digna non etiam cultu adoratione que nulli creaturae concedi potest sine diuinitatis â—iuria neither can worship in this sense be yeelded to any creature saith Origen without wrong or iniury vnto God But here M. Bishop demandeth of vs Is the Lord or Master dishonoured and spoiled of his due reuerence and respect if his seruants for his sake bee much made of and respected yet with such due regard only as is meete for their degree Where wee see that like will to like and that a Papist cannot pleade for worshipping of Saints but euen as the Pagans did for their petite Gods They pleaded for themselues as Osorius sheweth that a Oros hist l. 6. cap. 1. Non se plures sequi sed sub vno Deo magno plures ministros venerari fâ—â—entur they did not follow many but vnder one great God did worship many as his officers or seruants Now b Origen coÌ„t Cels l. 8. â—it â—um qui plures deos veneretur hoc ipsorem gratam summo Dâ—o facere quòd nemini honor contingat nisi quem ille honorari vult Quapropter qui veneratur eius subditos non offendere illum cuius òmnes sunt he that thus worshippeth many Gods saith Celsus he doth a thing pleasing to the highest God for that there is hereby honor giuen to none but whom he will haue to be honoured and therefore
reuelation of it in the Gospell What a foule mistaking is this alas his pouerty of spirit and want of good armour compelleth him to lay hand on any weapons how simple and weake soeuer In the next verse it is plainly shewed that God did grieuously punish all them who liued wickedly notwithstanding they held the right faith for saith S. Paul the Rom. 1. vers 18. wrath of God from heauen is reuealed vpon all impiety and vnrighteousnesse of those men that retaine or hold the truth of God in iniustice Whence it followeth first that men may haue a true faith without good workes for they held the truth of God being themselues wicked Secondly that the same faith would not auaile them ought nor saue them from the iust wrath of God if it were not quickned by good workes R. ABBOT I Am not ignorant that there are many expositions made of those wordes of the Apostle which all or the most part are to be found in the collections of a Oecumen in Rom. 3. Oecumenius and in b Tho. Aquin. in Rom. 1. Lect. 6. Thomas Aquinas his Commentary vpon that place who notwithstanding Aquinas I meane either omitteth that which is most likely and warrantable aboue all the rest or else expresseth it not in such sort as were conuenient M. Bishop telleth vs that the exposition which he hath brought is the most common whereas I am perswaded that as he hath set it downe he can bring no authour of it but himselfe only For although it be true that some construe it to be meant from the faith of the old Testament to the faith of the new yet they apply the same to farre other purpose then he doth Some will haue it that the Apostle would signifie that it is faith that iustifieth and saueth both in the old and new Testament so that the change from the old to the new is but from faith to faith that is in effect no change This Thomas Aquinas expresseth thus c Tho. Aquin. vt supra Ex side in fidem id est ex fide veteris testamenti procedendo in fidem noui testamenti quia ab vtroque homines iustificaÌ„tur saluantur per fidem Christi quia cadem side crediderunt venturâ— qua nos venisse credimus From faith to faith that is from faith of the old Testament proceeding to faith of the new because on both sides men are iustified and saued by the faith of Christ for that by the same faith they beleeued that Christ should come whereby we beleeue that he is come Some other vnderstand it of proceeding from faith whereby we beleeue the Scriptures of the Prophets and old Testament to faith whereby to beleeue the Gospell For d Theodoret. Oecumen in Rom. 3. Ex side in fidem Oportet enim credere Prophetis per illos deduci ad fidem Euangelij wee must beleeue the Prophets saith Theodoret and after him Oecumenius and by them be brought to the faith of the Gospell This I ghâ—sse it was that M. Bishop aimed at but hee peruersly applyeth it to light giuen by the new Testament to the old which was meant by his authours of confirmation giuen by the old Testament to the new This literall sense therefore of his being neither literall nor sense but a blinde conceipt of his owne skonce let vs consider what we may most truly take to be the meaning of that place The Apostle propounding that e Rom. 1. 16. the Gospell is the power of God vnto saluation to euery one that beleeueth addeth for declaration and proofe thereof that in it or by it the righteousnesse of God is reueiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from faith to faith M. Bishop to obscure and darken the place translateth as his Masters of Rhemes haue giuen him example by faith into faith to which we may wonder how he can deuise to fit the exposition which he himselfe hath set downe But it appeareth by that which I cited out of Thomas Aquinas that the phrase which the Apostle vseth importeth a proceeding and therefore that by the one preposition must be vnderstood terminus à quo the terme of beginning and the other must determine the progression and the end to sound euen as we translate from faith to faith And this is very expresly and clearely iustified by Oecumenius out of the Greeke expositours setting downe the effect of St. Pauls wordes thus f Oecumen in Rom. 3. Ex fide in fidem quia in side incipit in fidem terminari debet It is to beginne in or with faith and in faith to be determined Hereto accord almost all the expositions that are made of that place which cannot fitly be expressed but by that forme of speech from the faith of God promising to the faith of man beleeuing from the faith of the old Testament to the faith of the new from the faith of the Preacher to the faith of the hearer from the faith of one article to the faith of another from faith present to faith to come to all which M. Bishop can as ill fit i Clem. Alexand strom l. 5. sub initio Videtur Apostâ—lus duplicem fidem annunciare potiùs verò vnam annunciat quae augmentum suscâ—pit perfectionem by faith into faith as he can to his owne sense For further manifestation hereof we are to note the like phrase in other places of holy Scripture as where the Prophet Dauid saith g Psal 84. 7. They shall goe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Septuagint translate that is from strength to strength So the Apostle speaketh though by the preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in steede of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet to the same effect h 2. Cor. 3. 18. We are changed into the same image 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from glory to glory where the Rhemists translating from glory vnto glory might haue learned to translate here from faith vnto faith but that they were peruersly bent for their owne aduantage to make the Apostles wordes lesse sensible then in themselues they are Now therefore as in these places the holy Ghost noteth by that forme of speech a continuation and increase of strength and glory so in the other he importeth a continuation of faith and a proceeding and growing therein to greater and stronger faith Thus doth Ciemens Alexandrinus construe it saying The Apostle seemeth to speake of a double faith but he speaketh rather of one receiuing increase and perfection k Theophyl in Rom. 1. Neque enim sat est priores fidem hanc excepisse sed erit etiam fidei huius ductu ad persectiorem credulitâ—tem progreâ—iâ—â—dum ad imâ—â—otu◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 firmamentâ—â— quâ—nta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For it is not enough saith Theophylact to receiue this faith at first but by the guiding of this faith we are to goe forward to more perfâ—ct beleefe euen to vnmoueable
and firme assurance to which purpose the Apostles vsed these wordes to the Lord Encrease our faith And to this agreeth that which Oecumenius saith l Oecumen in Rom. 3. Hoc Dâ—◠〈◊〉 est 〈◊〉 nâ—m 〈…〉 tate excedentis ex sola videlicet fide nos peccatis ianc mortuos viuisicarâ—aâ— sâ—scitare c. Verùm ad quid viuisicatur inquit qui credidit Ad perfectâ—ssimam fide immutabiâ—e habitus fortitudinem Nam ex side in fidem est viuificatio This is the property of the iustice of God exceeding the kindnesse of man euen by faith only to quicken and raise vs vp that are dead in sinnes And whereto is he quickened that hath beleeued To most perfict faith and vnchangeable strength of the habit thereof For our quickening is from faith to faith Here is then the iustice of God that is the iustification of man before God described by the Apostle that it beginneth with faith and goeth forward by faith and is more and more to be apprehended by increase and growth of faith It is begunne by faith only and because the proceeding and perfecting thereof is according to the beginning from faith to faith therefore it is consummate and perfect in faith only And this phrase of speech the holy Ghost seemeth to haue directed purposely against the errour of the Papists who though they acknowledge the beginning of iustification to be by faith yet determine the processe and perfection thereof to consist in workes so that our iustification with them is not according to the wordes of the Apostle from faith to faith but contrary to the doctrine of the Apostle from faith to workes m Bellarm. Recognit lib. de Iustificat Charitas verè absolutè formalis iustitia est c. fides propriè simplicitèr iustificat per modum dispositionis forâ— malitèr autem simplicitèr absolutè non iustiâ— ficat Charity saith Bellarmine is truly and absolutely formall righteousnesse faith properly and simply iustifieth in manner of a disposition but simply and absolutely it doth not iustifie formally And againe n IdeÌ„ Recog lib. de Grat. lib. Arbit QuaÌ„uis fides spes necessariò requirantur ad iustificationem tameÌ„ id quod verissimè proprijssimèque iustificat tanquam vnica formalis causa charitas est Although faith and hope be necessarily required to iustification yet charity is it which most truly and properly iustifieth as the only formall cause So then where the Apostle saith that o Rom. 3. 22. the righteousnesse of God is by the faith of Iesus Christ and that p Vers 30. God iustifieth by faith we must thinke that he speaketh vnproperly he speaketh not formally neither doth he name that wherein the iustification of man most truly consisteth Thus doe they take vpon them as the old Heretikes did to be q Iren. lib. 3. cap. 1. Audent dicere gloriantes emendatores se esse Apostolorum correctours of the Apostles to reforme their ouersights and to better their termes and phrases euen where they speake most vniformely and constantly to deliuer the doctrine of true faith But we will not hearken to them nor be led by them but rather take that which the Apostle teacheth vs that the iustification before God which is taught vs by the Gospell is from faith to faith that it beginneth in faith and continueth in faith and from the beginning to the end consisteth in faith only And hereto agreeth that which the Apostle saith elsewhere r Gal 2. 16. We who are Iewes by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles knowing that a man is not iustified by the workes of the law but by the faith of Iesus Christ euen we haue beleeued in Christ that we might or may be iustified by the faith of Christ and not by the workes of the law because by the workes of the law no flesh shall be iustified Where wee see the processe of iustification plainly described as we haue said from faith to faith the Apostle professing to haue beleeued in Christ not thenceforth to be iustified by workes as Popery teacheth but to be iustified by faith because being now beleeuers they knew that by the workes of the law no flesh should be iustified And this meaning is further confirmed by the proofe which the Apostle bringeth of the wordes whereof we speake Å¿ Habac. 2 4. as it is written saith he The iust shall liue by faith For although those wordes of the Prophet doe seeme to attribute iustification and life to faith yet no otherwise doe they inferre it to be from faith to faith but in that sort as I haue said Certaine it is that but by faith no man can attaine to be called a iust man and therefore in the very name of the iust is an implication of faith The Prophet then teacheth that a man being by faith become a iust man is not thenceforth to expect life by his iustice but to goe on from faith to faith the iust saith he shall liue not by his iustice but by his faith For this cause doth he expresse it not by the present The iust doth liue as the vulgar corruptly readeth but by the future tense The iust shall liue by faith as to note that the iustice of God that is the iustice for which God accepteth and iustifieth vs as it beganne so proceedeth euen to the attainement of euerlasting life not by workes but by faith only And of all this we haue a notable example in our father Abraham who is set before vs as the patterne and example of all the faithfull of whom after that t Gen. 12. 1. 2 c. Heb. 11. 8. by faith he had obeyed God to goe out of his owne Countrey and had wrought many workes of iustice and righteousnesse yet to shew this continuation of the righteousnesse of God from faith to faith it is said u Gen. 15. 6. Abraham beleeued the Lord and hee counted that to him for righteousnesse He was not first iustified by faith to be afterwards iustified by workes but still his faith was it for which he was reputed righteous in the sight of God By all this then we see a direct opposition betwixt the doctrine of the ancient Roman Church and the doctrine of the Papists The Papists say that the righteousnesse of God beginneth with faith but the perfection thereof is in workes and that it consisteth most properly and truly in the righteousnesse of works and that the iust man though he become iust by faith yet must afterwards with God be iustified and attaine to life by workes But the old Church of Rome was farre otherwise minded that iustification before God beginneth in faith and is determined in faith and that the iust man be he neuer so iust must liue not by his iustice but by his faith it being true of iust men as Hierome telleth vs which is said x Hieron adu Pelag. l 2. Pro
nihilo inquit saluos faciet illos haud dubiuÌ„ qum iustos qui noÌ„ proprio merito sed Dei saluantur clementia He will saue them for nothing as who are saued not by their owne merit saith he but by the mercy of God For y Gregor Moral l. 8. c 9. Iusti perituros se absque ambiguitate praesciunt si remota pietate iudiceÌ„tur quia hoc ipsum quoque quòd iustè videmur viuâ—re culpa est si vitaÌ„ nostram cum iudicat hanc apud se diuina miserecordia non excusat iust men saith Gregory know before-hand that they shall perish without doubt if God set mercy aside in the iudging of them because euen that which seemeth our iust life is but sinne if Gods mercy when he iudgeth it doe not excuse the same Hitherto then it appeareth that I want no armour or weapons to fight against him yea who seeth not him rather to be a beggarly companion who taketh vpon him to contradict me vpon no other but only his owne word As for pouerty of spirit he sheweth his prophanenesse in iesting at it because Christ hath pronounced a blessing to it z Mat. 5. â— Blessed are the poore in spirit for theirs is the Kingdome of heauen But now before he giue ouer that text he will finde a weapon there to fight against me In the next verse saith he it is plainly shewed that God did grieuously punish all them who liued wickedly notwithstanding they held the right faith The wordes of that verse are these a Vers 18 The wrath of God is reueiled from heauen against all vngodlinesse and vnrighteousnesse of men which with-hold the truth in vnrighteousnesse Where it being manifest that the Apostles wordes haue reference to Gentiles and Heathens who had no knowledge of God but only by natures light the Apostle accusing them for suppressing and drowning euen that which they vnderstood or might vnderstand by the creation of the world I might question with what discretion it is that M. Bishop attributeth vnto them the holding of the right faith But not to trouble my selfe or the Reader further then is needfull I let that passe and looke to his inferences that he maketh out of those wordes Whence it followeth first saith he that men may haue a true faith without good workes Which though it haue no manner of sequele from the Apostles wordes there being nothing as I haue said which importeth the hauing or holding of true faith yet with great opportunity he mentioneth because he giueth me occasion to shew that though the righteousnesse of God be only from faith to faith yet that faith wherein this righteousnesse consisteth neuer is nor can be without due correspondence of good workes and godly life And to this belongeth that which the Apostle saith that b Rom. 3. 31. by faith we establish the law because we doe not by faith establish the law if we preach such a faith as may stand with the contempt of the law and wilfull neglect of the commandements of God Surely if faith may be without charity and it be by an after-supply of charity that wee haue the will to keepe Gods commandements then should not the Apostle say that by faith but rather by charity we establish the law But because without saith there is no charity and charity is the necessary sequele of the regeneration of faith therefore the Apostle rightly saith that by faith we establish the law as whereby we c Gal. 3. â—4 Ezech. 36. 26. 27 receiue the promise of the spirit of God the effect and d Gal. 5. 22. fruit whereof is charity whereby e Rom. 7. 22. we delight in the law of God as touching the inward man and are grieued at the remainder of carnall concupiscence whereby we are hindered that f Gal. 5. 17. we cannot doe the things that we would The faith which the Gospell teacheth is that and no other wherof we reade that g Acts 15. 9. by faith God purifieth our hearts which is called h Gal. 5. 6. faith working by loue of which St. Iohn saith i 1. John 3. 3. Euery one that hath this hope purgeth himselfe euen as he is pure k Ephes 3. 17. by which Saint Paul againe saith that Christ dwelleth in our hearts and l Rom. 8. 10. if Christ be in you saith he the body is dead as touching sinne but the spirit is life for righteousnesse sake As for that faith which is without workes it is by equiuocation only called faith as the picture of a man is called a man this being yeelded to custome of speech and to the conceipt of men who giue names oftentimes for semblance and shew where there wanteth the substance and truth of them To which purpose the wordes of Leo Bishop of Rome are very remarkeable m Leode Quadrages serm 7. Charitas robur fidei fides fortitudo est charitatis tunc verum nomen verus est fructus ambarum cum insolubilis manâ—t vtriusque coÌ„nexio Vbi enim non simul fuerint simu desunt quia inâ—icem sibi inuamâ—n lumen sunt donec desiderium credulitatis impleat remuneratio visionis incommutabilitèr videatur ametur quod nunc sine side non diligâ—tur sine dilectione non creditur Charity is the strength of faith and faith is the strength of charity and then is there the true name and the true fruit of both when there abideth an insâ—parable coniunction of them for where they are not both together they are both wanting because they are the helpe and light each of other vntill reward of seeing fulfill the desire of beleeuing and that be vnchangeably beholden and loued which now is neither loued without faith nor beleeued without loue Where we see a difference signified by Leo betwixt the true name of faith and that which is vulgarly termed faith so that though sometimes we speake of faith without workes applying the name of faith to the outward profession of faith as he himselfe also doth yet n Idem de Collect. eleemos serm 4. Multis quibus auserre non potuit fidem sustulit charitatem agro cordis ipsorum auaritiae râ—dicibus occupato spoliauit fructu operum quos non priuauit consâ—ssione labiorum the true name of faith is not appliable where there is not charity ioyned with it neither can there be true beleefe where there is no loue Hereto accordeth Gregor in Ezech. hom 22. Fidem Spem Charitatem â—tque operationeÌ„ quamdiu in hac vita viuimus aequales sibi esse apud nosmetipsos inuenimus c. Nam nunc quantum credimus tantum amamus quaÌ„tum amamus tantum de spe praesumimus De fide quoque operatione Ioannes Apostolus faâ—etur dicens Qui se dicit nosse Deum c. Notitia quippe Dei ad fide pertinet mandatorum custodia ad operationem Cùm ergò
viâ—tus tempus locus operandi suppetit tantò quis operatur quaÌ„tò Deum nouerat tantuÌ„ se nosse Deum indicat quantum pro Deo bona operatur c. Vnusquisque qui in hoc vitae exercitio versatur tantum credit quantum sperat amat tantum operatur quantum credit amat sperat also Gregory Bishop of Rome We finde saith he that faith hope charity and good workes so long as here we liue are equall in vs. For looke how much we beleeue so much also we loue and how much we loue so much we presume of hope Of faith and workes also St. Iohn confisseth saying He that saith he knoweth God and keepeth not his Commandements is a lyar For the knowledge of God appertaineth to faith the keeping of the Commandements to workes When therefore power and time and place of working serueth so much doth a man worke as he knoweth God and so much doth he shew himselfe to know God as he worketh good things for Gods sake To be short euery one saith he that is conuersant in this exercise of life beleeueth so much as he hopeth and loueth and looke how much he beleeueth hopeth loueth so much he worketh These wordes are plaine enough and yet the wordes of Sixtus the third if that bee his which they haue lately published vnder his name are somewhat more plaine p Sixt. 3. Epist de malis Doctor oper fidei c. Biblioth sanct Patrum tom 5. Intelligere noâ— norunt vbicunque fidei fructus non sit illâ—â— quoque nec ipsam fidem esse credendam Caeterùm quis prudens addubitet vbi fides sit illâ—â— esse â—â—morem vbi timor sit illic esse obedientiam vbi obedientia sit illiâ— esse iâ—stitiam sicut â— contâ—ario vbi iustitia non sit illic nec obedientiam nec timorem esse nec fidem Ita enim haec sibi inuicâ—m sociata atque connexa sunt vt diuisa penitus esse non possint Wheresoeuer is not the fruit of faith saith he it is not to be beleeued that there is faith What wise man doubteth but that where faith is there is also feare and where feare is there is obedience and where obedience is there is righteousnesse as on the contrary where righteousnesse is not there is neither obedience nor feare nor faith For so are these coupled and ioyned togither as that they cannot in any wise be diuided The collection from these testimonies is very manifest neither neede I to declare it but very plainly we see the ancient doctrine of the Church of Rome according with ours and condemning as we doe the Popish separation that now is made betwixt faith and workes Thus then M. Bishops first conclusion is fallen to the ground and as for the second it deserueth not to be stood vpon because it is no wonder that faith auailed them nought nor saued them from the wrath of God in whom it appeareth by that that hath beene said that there was no faith CHAP. IX That the iustification of man before God is the imputation of righteousnesse without workes ANSWERE TO THE EPISTLE THe Apostle in expresse termes affirmeth imputation of righteousnesse without vvorkes c. to Paul teacheth that eternall life c. W. BISHOP WE hold with the Apostle that workes be not the cause of the first iustification whereof he there treateth nor to deserue it though inspired with Gods grace they doe prepare vs and make vs fit to receiue the gift of iustification neither doe the Protestants wholly exclude vvorkes from this iustification when they doe require true repentance which consisteth of many good workes as necessary thereto We hold that iustice is increased by good workes which we call the second iustification against which the Apostle speaketh not a word but doth confirme it when he saith in the same Epistle Not the hearers of Rom. 2. vers 13. the law are iust with God but the doers of the law shall bee iustified Marke how by doing of the law which is by doing good workes men are iustified with God and not only declared iust before men as the Protestants glose the matter Now touching imputation of See the place Rom. 4. vers 6. righteousnesse the Apostle speaketh not like a Protestant of the outward imputation of Christs iustice to vs but of inherent iustice to wit of faith which worketh by charity which are qualities powred into our hearts Rom. 6. by the holy Ghost so that there is only a bare sound of wordes for the Protestants the true substance of the Text making wholly for the Catholikes R. ABBOT CVrsed is the glosse they say that corrupteth the Text but more accursed is the glosse which to corrupt the text dissembleth and concealeth the wordes of it I set downe the imputation of righteousnesse without works all in a speciall letter as the wordes of the Apostle M. Bishop in that speciall letter setteth downe imputation of righteousnesse and no more but without workes he addeth in the common letter as if they were mine only and not the Apostles wordes knowing that his deuoted Reader who hee knew would not looke into the Text it selfe should hereby faile to see both the force of the words and the simplenesse of his answere And with the like fraud it is that in the margent of his answere he setteth downe see the place Rom. 4. vers 6. as to insinuate to his Reader that if he see the place he shall there see somewhat for his turne whereas hee knoweth that his Catacatholikes for whose sakes hee writeth to keepe his credit with them would hold it sacriledge for them to goe about to see the place for feare least the handling of the new Testament should make them turne Protestants neither durst hee set downe the wordes himselfe least they should euen by this text grow to suspicion of his dealing with them But I will doe that for him which he himselfe durst not doe the words of the Apostle being these a Rom. 4. 5. 6. To him that worketh not that is saith Photius b Phot. apud Oecumen in Rom. 4. Ei qui ab operibus siduciam non habet to him who hath no confidence by workes but beleeueth in him that iustifieth the vngodly his faith is counted for righteousnesse euen as Dauid pronounceth the blessednesse of the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousnesse without workes Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiuen and whose sinnes are couered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not sinne In which wordes wee see how the Apostle affirmeth accordingly as I said an imputation of righteousnesse without workes which he expresseth to be the reputing of faith for righteousnesse for that thereby we obtaine remission and forgiuenesse of sinnes To this M Bishop answereth that they hold with the Apostle that workes be not the cause of the first iustification nor doe deserue it though inspired
because he findeth nothing in himselfe or in his owne works to helpe himselfe doth therefore betake himselfe to Iesus Christ that through faith he may finde in him that iustification which is the imputation of righteousnesse without workes Thus is q Gal. 3. 24. the law our Schoole-master vnto Christ that we may be iustified by faith For r Rom. 3. 20. by the law is the knowledge of sinne Å¿ Rom. 4. 15. the law worketh wrath the law maketh it to appeare that t Rom. 3. 23. all haue sinned and are depriued of the glory of God This true repentance beleeueth and acknowledgeth and thereupon flyeth to the Sanctuarie which God hath prouided u Vers 24. Wee are iustified freely by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Iesus whom God hath set forth to be an attonement or reconciliation through faith in his bloud As for the good workes which M. Bishop saith are contained in true repentance they are the fruits of repentance not the parts of it or rather the effects of that faith whereby repentance becommeth true repentance x August Epist 120. Ex hoc quippe incipiunt opera bona ex quo iustificamur non quia prâ—â—esserunt iustificamur hauing their beginning then when we are iustified not going before that we should be iustified thereby Now what they hold concerning the second iustification it skilleth not to vs we know they hold many things which they might very well let goe He telleth vs that the Apostle speaketh not a word against it and we tell him that it is a sufficient reason for vs to denie it because the Apostle treating purposely and at large of iustification saith not a word for it Albeit it is vntrue which he saith that the Apostle saith not a word against it because he defineth as I haue shewed the iustification of the iust and godly man to whom they referre their second iustification to be the imputation of righteousnesse without workes As for the wordes of the Apostle which he alleageth y Rom. 2. 13. Not the hearers of the law are iust with God but the doers of the law shall be iustified they are farre from the intendment of their second iustification The Apostle though he speake not of their first and second iustification yet speaketh of two kinds of iustification the one presumed of man the other taught and giuen of God the one pertaining to the Law the other to the Gospell the one by workes the other by faith The Iewes presumed of iustification by the workes of the law they greatly gloried in their name and in the law they attributed much to themselues aboue all other for hauing the vse and knowledge of it and thought the Gentiles in that behalfe much inferiour vnto them But the Apostle telleth them that z Vers 11. there is no respect of persons with God and therefore if they sinned no prerogatiues otherwise could acquit them from his wrath For as on the one side a Vers 12. as many as haue sinned without the law saith he shall perish also without the law so on the other side as many as haue sinned in the law shall be iudged by the law that is shall receiue that iudgement that is pronounced by the law For confirmation whereof he addeth the words which M. Bishop citeth b Vers 13. For the hearers of the law are not iust before God but the doers of the law shall be iustified thereby signifying that to haue the law or to bee formall and zealous in the hearing of it is not that that sufficeth to make a man righteous with God and if any man would bee iustified by the law he must be a doer of it but if he were a trespasser and sinned against the law hee could not bee iustified thereby For the voice of the law is c Gal. 3. 12. He that doth these things shall line therein and d Rom. 10. 5. Moses thus describeth the righteousnesse of the law e Leuit. 18. 5. that the man that doth these things shall liue therein Which doing to what measure and perfection it must extend is to be knowen by that sentence which the Apostle reciteth out of the law f Gal. 3. 10. Cursed is euery one that continueth not in all things that are written in the booke of the law to doe them It is true then that the doers of the law shall be iustified who denyeth it but they only are doers of the law which continue to doe all things that are written in the law What is here then to M. Bishops second iustification when as this iustification by the law requireth the doing of all and of vs euen the best it is true that g Jam. 3. 2. in many things we offend all and that h Eccles 7. 22. there is not a man iust vpon the earth that doth good and sinneth not Yea how crosly doth he deale that whereas the Apostle vseth these wordes to conuince i Rom. 3. 9. the Iewes of sinne and to beate downe their pride in opinion of righteousnesse by the law he alleageth them to vphold himselfe in the same pride and to defend thereby iustification by the law Marke saith he how by doing of the law men are iustified with God It is true M. Bishop and be you a doer of the law and you shall be iustified thereby But take heede least whilest you take vpon you to be a doer of the law there be found sinne in you If there be sinne in you you are not a doer but a trespasser of the law and must feare the reward of sinne and k â—â—m 6. 23. the reward of sinne is death That made the Apostle say that l Gal. 3. 10. so many as are of the workes of the law are vnder the curse m Cap. 5. 4. they being voided from Christ and fallen from grace whosoeuer are iustified by the law Therefore he desâ—red for himselfe that n 〈◊〉 3. 9. he might be found in Christ not hauing his owne righteousnesse which is of the law but the righteousnesse which is by the faith of Christ the righteousnesse which is of God through faith euen that which he calleth in the place here questioned the imputation of righteousnesse without workes But touching imputation of righteousnesse M. Bishop saith that the Apostle speaketh not like a Protestant of the outward imputation of Christs iustice vnto vs but of inherent iustice Where it is much to be obserued to what good issue this exposition sorteth and how reasonably it standeth with the Apostles wordes For if the imputation of righteousnesse be as he saith the imputation of inherent righteousnesse then surely because inherent righteousnesse is the righteousnesse of workes it must needes follow that the Apostle by the imputation of righteousnesse without workes doth meane the imputation of the righteousnesse of workes without workes Which interpretation because hee saw it could bee taken
vitae primordio in peccati fouâ—am iâ—cidi concupiscentiae carnalis sordibus inquinata natiuitatis meae initia contraxi Non in me illa quam nouitèr admisi sola viget iniquitas â—abeo in me etiam ex veteri quod ignoscas Lord. I haue neede that thou haue mercy vpon me because euen from the beginning of my life I am fallen into the pit of sinne and haue drawen my first birth defiled with the vncleannesse of carnall concupiscence Not only that iniquity which I haue lately committed abideth in me I haue also in me fâ—r thee to pardon of the iniquity that was of old Thus he confesseth that we are not in the world without the sinne which we brought into the world that for originall sinne we still stand in neede of Gods mercy and haue still thereof remaining in vs that for which we must craue pardon at Gods hands This he spake according to the ancient doctrine of the Roman Church and shall we not rather beleeue him then M. Bishop who according to the new learning of their new Church telleth vs e Of Original sinne sect 10. that in him that is newly baptized there is no more sinne then was in Adam in the state of innocency and that originall sinne is vtterly extinguished and concupiscence in the regenerate is become no sinne Yea shall we not rather beleeue him then the Councell of Trent telling vs that f Concil Trident sess 5. In renatis nihil odit Deus c. ita vt nihil prorsus caâ— ab ingressâ—â— coeli remoretur in the regenerate there is nothing that God hateth nothing to stay them from entring into heauen These are absurd paradoxes of new and late deuice strange to true Christian eares and abhorred of all true Christian hearts contrary to the expresse and cleare determination of holy Scripture and fitting only them who haue learned to say g Psal 12. 4. With our tongues we will preuaile we are they that ought to speake who is Lord ouer vs CHAP. XII Of the spirit of adoption giuing witnesse to the faithfull that they are the sonnes of God ANSWERE TO THE EPISTLE SAint Paul saith of the spirit of adoption The same spirit beareth witnesse c. to Paul saith the sufferings of this time c. W. BISHOP ANd that we say vpon good consideration for we must not beleeue with the Christian faith which is free from all feare any thing that is not assured and most certaine Now the spirit of God doth not beare vs witnesse so absolutely and assuredly that we are the sonnes of God but vnder a condition which is not certaine to wit that we be the sonnes and heires of God Si tamen Rom. 8. vers 17. compatimur yet if we suffer with him that we also may be glorified with him but whether we shall suffer with him and constantly to the end beare out all persecutions we know not so assuredly because as our Sauiour fore-telleth There be some that for a time beleeue Luc. 8. vers 13. and in time of temptation doe reuolt Was it not then a tricke of a false merchant to strike off the one halfe of the Apostles sentence that the other might seeme currant for him now no man doth more plainly or roundly beate downe their presumption who assure themselues of saluation then S. Paul as in many other places so in this very Epistle to the Romans in these wordes Well because of their incredulity they the Iewes Cap. 11. vers 20. were broken off but thou Gentile by faith dost stand be not too highly wise but feare For if God hath not spared the naturall boughes least perhaps he will not spare thee neither see then the goodnesse and seuerity of God vpon them surely that are fallen the seuerity but vpon thee the goodnesse of God if thou abide in his goodnesse otherwise thou shalt also be cut off c. Can any thing be more perspicuously declared then that some such who were in grace once afterwards fell and were cut off for euer and that some others stand in grace who if they looke not 〈◊〉 to their footing may also fall and become reprobate the Apostle directly fore-warning those men who make themselues so sure of their saluation not to be so highly wise but to feare their owne frailty and weaknesse least otherwise they fall as many had done before them If this plaine discourse and those formall speeches vttered by the holy Ghost will not serue to shake men out of their security of saluation I cannot see what may possibly doe it R. ABBOT THis answere of M. Bishops is a Of the certainty of saluation sect 17. before examined and exploded and his new see thing of the same woorts will neuer proue to any good broth We must beleeue nothing he saith by Christian faith that is not assured and most certaine Well and therefore that which the faithfull beleeue that they are the sonnes of God is assured and most certaine because we are taught to beleeue it by Christian faith For that which the spirit of God testifieth we are to beleeue by Christian faith But the spirit of God testifieth to the faithfull that they are the sonnes of God Therefore by Christian faith they are to beleeue that they are the sonnes of God b Rom. 8. 15. We haue not receiued the spirit of bondage to feare any more saith St. Paul but we haue receiued the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father The same spirit beareth witnesse with our spirit that we are the sonnes of God The spirit of adoption is so called as by the gift whereof God actually adopteth vs to be his children By this spirit it is that we haue that inward conscience and feeling whereby we can goe vnto God familiarly and confidently as vnto our Father and say vnto him as with the mouth so with the heart Our Father which art in heauen Hereby haue we a testimony in our hearts that we are Gods children because if God be our father it necessarily followeth that we are the children of God This comfort then the holy Ghost giueth not by vocall speech but by impression of affection and not as of a thing to come but as of a thing already acted and done accordingly to that which the Apostle elsewhere saith c Gal. 4. â— Because yee are sonnes God hath sent forth the spirit of his sonne into your hearts crying Abba Father Now hereby we see that M. Bishops answere that the spirit doth not beare vs witnesse absolutely and assuredly that we are the sonnes of God but vnder a condition which is not certaine is meerely absurd because the being of that that presently is cannot be said to depend vpon the being of any thing that is to come Of that that is we cannot say that it is not vnlesse such a condition be made good but setting aside all respect of the condition that that is must be acknowledged to
them of whom we speake to whom the spirit giueth witnesse that they are the sonnes of God But we are yet further to note what reason he giueth why those fall away which is namely because they haue no roote and therefore are like vnto the tree which for want of roote fastened in the ground is by euery blast of wind easily ouerthrowen Now by saying that they fall away because they haue no roote he giueth vs to conceiue that they who haue taken roote or are rooted doe not fall away But the faithfull and children of God are rooted in the predestination and grace of God they are t Col. 2. 7. rooted and grounded in Christ and stablished in the faith and therefore u Psal 1. 3. their leafe shall neuer fade because their x Prou. 12. 3. roote shall not be moued God hauing made them a promise which he will not breake y Ierem. 32. 40. I will put my feare into their hearts that they shall not depart from me As for them which fall away though in respect of outward shew and profession they be said for a time to beleeue yet because their faith hath no roote therefore they neuer haue true faith And thus Gregory Bishop of Rome instructeth vs that z Greg. Moral lib. 25. c. 8. Propheta intuens tantos hoc Ecclesiae tempore specietenus credere quantos nimirunt certum est electorum numerum summamque transire c. Etiam hiad fidem specietenus regni veniunt they who are not of the number of the elect doe beleeue but in shew that they come to the faith of the Kingdome but in shew and in another place that a Ibid. lib. 34. cap. 13. Aurum quod prauis cius persuasionibus sterni quasi lutuÌ„ potuerit aurum ante Dei oculos nunquam suit Qui enim seduci quandeque non reuersuri possunt quasi habitam sanctitatâ—m ante oculos hominum videntur amittere sed eam ante oculos Dei nunquam habuerâ—t the gold which by Satans wicked suggestions commeth to be troden vnder feete like dirt was neuer gold in Gods sight that they who can be seduced neuer to returne againe seeme to lose holinesse which they had after a sort before the eyes of men but indeede neuer had it in the sight of God To be short St. Austin telleth vs that b August de Doct. Christ l. 3. c. 32. Non reuerà Domini corpus est quod cum illo non eâ—it in aeternum it is not indeede and in truth the body of Christ which shall not be with Christ for euer If they only be the true body of Christ which shall abide with him for euer they they only haue true faith whereby we become members of that body and therefore they that fall away as they are no part of the true body of Christ so are voide also of true faith in Christ Now therefore M. Bishop doth amisse in going about to shake the testimony of the spirit to the faithfull by the examples of them that fall away because of all such they learne to say with St. Iohn c 1. Iohn 2. 19. They went out from vs but they were not of vs for if they had beene of vs they would haue continued with vs. But saith he no man doth more plainly or roundly beate downe their presumption who assure themselues of saluation then St. Paul It is true indeede that the Apostle beateth downe the presumption of them who assure themselues only by confidence of outward calling but the assurance which he teacheth and we from him ariseth from the effect and testimony of inward grace If any grow secure and proud vpon opinion that they are members of Christs Church and partakers of his Sacraments neglecting in the meane time that correspondence of duty that belongeth to such profession them it concerneth which the Apostle saith d 1. Cor. 10. 12. He that thinketh he standeth let him take heede least he fall But to true Christian soules humbled in themselues and reioycing in God only the Apostle speaketh farre otherwise e 2. Thess 2. 13. We ought to giue thanks alwaies for you brethren beloued of the Lord because that God hath from the beginning chosen you to saluation through sanctification of the spirit and faith of truth whereunto he hath called you by our Gospell to obtaine the glory of our Lord Iesus Christ. Now of the first sort it is true that many who haue had the outward state and calling of the Church and members thereof haue beene cut off from the state wherein carnally they haue gloried and reioyced but of them who haue stoode indeede by true faith and sanctification of the holy Ghost neuer any hath fallen away as I haue shewed but as they haue beene partakers of the beginning of the calling of God so they haue had the end also The wordes therefore which M. Bishop citeth of St. Paul to the Romans f Rom. 11. 20. Be not high minded but feare continue in his kindnesse else thou also shalt be cut off are so to be vnderstood as I haue g Of the certainty oâ— saluation sect 10. before shewed as to checke the pride and security of carnall Gospellers and hypocrites but not to impeach the hope and comfort of Gods elect Albeit they haue their vse in respect of them also because they serue God for spurres whereby to stirre vp and pricke forward our dulnesse and to awaken vs from that sleepe which by the drowsinesse of the flesh is oftentimes stealing vpon vs thus to continue the standing of them of whom he hath determined that they shall neuer fall Who because they stand not by their owne strength being in themselues and of themselues as subiect to fall as any other are terrified in respect of themselues by such caueats and admonitions that they may the more in stantly looke and so the more constantly cleaue vnto him by whom only it is that they must stand And to this effect God turneth also the fals of them that doe fall away whom when we haue seene as likely to stand as our selues and yet notwithstanding in the end to forsake Christ and vtterly to perish we are moued thereby not to trust in our selues but to depend vpon God only h Gregor Moral lib. 34. c. 13. Quorum casus vtilitate non modica electorum prosectibus seruit quia illorum lapsum dum conspiciunt de suo statu contremiscunt ruina quae illos damnat istos humiliat Discunt enim in superni adiutoris protectione considere dum plerosque coÌ„ spiciunt de suis viribus â—ecidisse Their fall saith Gregory yeeldeth no small benefit for the fâ—rtherance of the elect because whilest they see the fall of them they tremble as touching their owne state and the ruine which condemneth the one is the humbling of the other For they learne to trust in the defence of him who helpeth from aboue whilest
they see others fall by resting on their owne strength Now therefore be it that some who not are but see me to be in grace and to stand doe afterwards fall and be cut off this maketh nothing against the assurance of them who are indeede in grace and doe truly beleeue in the name of the sonne of God who i 1. Iohn 5. 11. beleeuing the record that God hath witnessed of his sonne that God hath giuen vnto vs eternall life and this life is in his sonne are hereby taught k Vers 13. 15. to know that they haue eternall life and that they haue the petitions that they desire of him And thus Gregory saith as touching the heauenly City Ierusâ—lem which is aboue that l Gregor Exposit in 1. Reg. l. 1. c. 1. Moral Quam familiariter dilâ—git suam esse indubitantèr credit Suam naÌ„que hanc ciuitatemesse cognouerat qui dicebat scimê° quia si terrestris nostra domus c. he that entirely loueth it doth vndoubtedly beleeue it to be his owne For saith he he knew this City to be his that said m 2. Cor. 5. 1. We know that if our earthly house of this habitation be dissolued we haue a building which is of God a house not made with hands eternall in heauen And thus saith Leo that n Leo de Resurrect Domini ser 2. Quam idcò vsque ad celerrimâ—m resurrectionem voluit esse mortalem vt credentibus in cum nec persecutio insuperabilis nec mors posset esse terribilis cùm ita dubitandum non esset de consortio gloriae sicut dubitandum non crat de communione naturae Si ergò incunctantèr corde credimus quod â—re profitemur nos in Christo crucifiâ—i nos sumus mortui nos sepulti nos etiam die tertia suscitati Christ would haue his flesh to continue in case of mortality vntill his resâ—rrection that to them that beleeued in him neither persecution might be vnconquerable nor death might be terrible for that they were no more to doubt of being partakers of glory with him then they were to doubt of his being partaker of the same nature with them If saith he we stedfastly beleeue with the heart that which we professe with the mouth we are crucified in Christ we are dead we are buried we are also the third day raised againe from the dead o Ibid. serm 1. Non haesitamus diffidentia nec incerta expectatione suspendimur sed acceptâ— promissionis exâ—rdiâ— fidei oculis quâ— sunt futura iam cernimus natura pronectiâ—ne gaudentes quod credimus iam tenemus We stagger not by distrust saith he againe neither doe we hang in vncertaine expectation but hauing receiued the beginning of the promise we now see with the eyes of faith the things that are to come and reioycing for the aduancement of our nature we euen now hold that which we beleeue This is the assurance of the faithfull euen an vndoubted beleefe and knowledge that the heauenly City is theirs a certaine and vndoubted expectation of the glory of Christ whereby they reioyce as being in him already raised againe from the dead and as already holding and possessing that which they doe beleeue Howsoeuer therefore men are to be shaken out of all carnall security and presumption of their saluation yet the godly security and presumption of faith is not to be denyed and the more we grow in faith the more doth the soule grow secure and vndoubted of God to be our God presuming not of our selues where indeede we see nothing but cause of feare but of God only to say of him p Psal 71. 14. I will goe forth in the strength of the Lord God and will make mention of thy righteousnesse only And againe q Psal 124. 7. Our helpe standeth in the name of the Lord which hath made heauen and earth In a word one truth agreeth with another and therefore M. Bishop in opposing some formall speeches of the holy Ghost against other the like formall speeches which in their true meaning stand very well and agree together doth no other but deforme the truth and wickedly taketh vpon him the patronage and maintenance of falshood and vntruth CHAP. XIII That the good workes and sufferings of this life are not meritorious or worthy of the blisse of the life to come ANSWERE TO THE EPISTLE PAul saith The sufferings of this time are not worthy of the glory that shall be reueiled c. to Paul saith nothing for those points c. W. BISHOP I Say that M. Abbot hath gotten such a custome of abusing Gods word that hee scarce alleageth one sentence of it without one paltry shift or other The wordes of S. Paul truly translated are Our sufferings are not worthy to the glory or as our English phrase is are not to be compared to the glory of c. that is our labours or paines are not either so great and waighty or of so long endurance as be the ioyes of heauen yet through the dignity which we receiue by being made members of Christ and by the vertue of Gods grace wherewith those workes be wrought and by the promise of God both we are accounted worthy of heauen according to S Pauls owne phrase Which persecutions 2. Thessal 1. v. 5. you sustaine that you may be counted worthy the Kingdome of God and our sufferings meritorious of life euerlasting which S. Paul doth very precisely teach where he saith that our tribulation which for the 2. Cor. 4. vers 17. present is momentary and light yet worketh aboue measure exceedingly an eternall waight of glory in vs we not considering the things that are seene but that are not seene and elsewhere is bold to say That 2. Tim 4. vers 8. God had laid vp for him a crowne of iustice which our Lord will render to me in that day a iust Iudge and not only to me but to them also that loue his comming If God as a iust Iudge render the ioyes of heauen as a crowne of iustice then were they before iustly deserued and the sufferings of them that deserued them were in iust proportion worthy of them Thus briefly any indifferent Reader may perceiue how farre S. Paul being rightly taken is from affording any reliefe vnto the Protestant cause They doe now as many vnlearned and vnstable men did euen in his owne time witnesse Saint Peter depraue and misuse certaine sentences of his 2. Pet. 3. vers 16. hard to be vnderstood to their owne perdition and to the deceiuing and vndoing of their followers for in all his Epistles being vnderstood as he meant them there is not one word or sillable that maketh for the Protestants or any other Sectaries and plenty there are of plaine texts for the most points of the Catholike faith A tast whereof I will giue you as soone as I shall haue made an end of answering vnto this his idle discourse
loue the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy minde with all thy soule with all thy strength But d August de perfect iustitiae Rat. 17. Cum est adhac aliquid conâ—up sâ—â—aâ—ie carnalis quod vel continendo sraenetur non omnimodo ex tota anima dâ—ligitur Dens Noâ— enâ—m taro sine anâ—ma concupâ—sâ—â—t quauis caro concupâ—ctre dicatur quia carnaliter anima concupiscâ—t so long as there is any carnall concupiscence saith Austin which by temperancy or continency is to be refrained God is not perfectly loued with all the soule For the flesh lusteth not without the soule though therefore the flesh is said to lust because the soule lusteth according to the flesh It followeth therefore that so long as there remaineth any concupiscence of the flesh so long there is not that loue which is the fulfilling of the law But so long as here we liue there is found in vs the concupiscence of the flesh Therefore so long as here wee liue wee neuer attaine to the fulfilling of the law and therefore cannot be iustified thereby Neither doth the Apostle in the place by M. Bishop alleaged intend any thing concerning iustification but speaketh of fulfilling the law according to the modell of humane life and conuersation wherein we set the law before vs as the rule of our life and the marke whereat we aâ—me and whereto we tend to which we approch so much the nearer by how much the more we abound in loue though we neuer attaine so sarre as to be iustified thereby In the next place he againe opposeth against the certainty of saluation citing the words of the Apostle e Rom. 11. 20. Thou standest by faith be not high minded but feare c. Which text he hath cited f Chapt. 12. a little before and hath there had answere of it and therefore I omit it here To thâ—s he addeth another like a two edged sword cutting two waies at once The Apostle saith g Phil. 2. 12. Worke your saluation with feare and trembling Marke saith he how two points of the Protestants doctrine be wounded in one sentence and two of ours confirmed But it is neither so nor so the place neither hurteth vs nor helpeth him We must worke our saluation saith he it comes not then by faith only But that followeth not for it doth come by faith only and yet we must worke our owne saluation The title and right of saluation commeth by faith only but we must worke to our selues the possession of it our good workes being as St. Bernard saith h Bernard de Grat. lib. Arbit in sine Si propriè appellentur ea quae dicimus nostra merita via sunt regni non causa regnandi the way to the Kingdome though not the cause for which we obtaine the Kingdome i Ephes 2. 8. By grace we are saued through faith not of our selues it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast and yet k Vers 10. we are his workmanship created in Christ Iesus vnto good workes which he hath prepared for vs to walke in so to bring vs to the fruition of that saluation which by faith only he hath giuen vs freely for Christs sake As we are said l Acts 2. 40. to saue our selues so are we said to worke our saluation not for doing any thing by vertue whereof we are saued but for embracing the meanes and following the course whereby God hath ordained to giue effect and way to that saluation which Christ only hath purchased for vs. And thus our saluation is said m 2. Cor. 1. 6. to be wrought in the enduring of afflictions not for that afflictions haue any power to saue vs but because God hauing of his owne mercy in Iesus Christ appointed vs to be n 1. Pet. 2. 5. liuely stones for the building of his spirituall Temple vseth afflictions as his axe whereby to hew vs and square vs and fit vs to be laied in this building and o Col. 1. 12. maketh vs meete as the Apostle speaketh to be partakers of inheritance with the Saints in light To be short the Apostles intention is plaine to exhort the Philippians and by them vs that being entred into the state and way of saluation by faith in Iesus Christ wee goe on forward and continue constant in our way till God by his mercy bring vs to bee partakers thereof euen as if hee had said accordingly as wee translate make an end of your saluation in feare and trembling But if with feare and trembling we are not then saith M. Bishop assured of it before hand by the certainty of faith which excludeth all feare and doubt of it Which foolish paradoxe runneth strongly in his head a conceipt he hath gotten and his bable he will not leaue for the tower of London Faith saith he excludeth all feare and doubt But who knoweth not that there is greater faith and lesser faith and that the greater faith is the lesse there is of feare and doubt but yet all manner of faith excludeth not all feare and doubt If hee scorne to learne of mee let Gregory Bishop of Rome be Master in this behalfe both to him and me p Greg. Mor. lib. 22. cap. 14. Fides ipsa quae ad bona alia capessenda nos imbuit plerunque in exordijs suis nutat solida est tam certissimè habetur tamen de eius siducia adhuc sub dubitatione trepidatur Pars namque eius priùs accipitur vt in nobis postmodum perfectè compleatur Faith saith he which seasoneth vs to the receiuing of other graces commonly in the beginnings thereof is both wauering and sound wee already most certainly haue it and yet of the assurance thereof we feare and doubt for we first receiue a part of it that it may be afterwards perfectly fulfilled in vs. He bringeth for example hereof the poore man in the Gospell to whom Christ said q Mar. 9. 23. 24. If thou canst beleeue all things are possible to him that beleeueth and he answered Lord I beleeue helpe my vnbeliefe r Ibid. Vno codemque tempore clamabat se ctia credere adhuc ex incredulitate dubitare At one and the same time saith he he cryed that he did beleeue and yet did still doubt by vnbeliefe Å¿ IdeÌ„ in Ezech. hom 15. Vno codemque tempore is qui necdum perfecte crediderat simul credâ—bat merâ—duâ—us erat At one and the same time saith he in another place hee which did not perfectly beleeue did both beleeue and was also vnbeleeuing And yet againe in another place he saith It often falleth out that faith now is growing in the minde and yet by doubting it languisheth in some part that certainty of sound faith strengtheneth one and the same minde which notwithstanding the winde of doubtfulnesse shaketh by some mutability of vnbeliefe As
namely he saith Idem Moral l. 10. c. 8. Saepe â—ontingit â—t fides in menâ—e iam viâ—eat sed tamen ex parte aliqua in dubietate contabâ—scat Vnam candemque mentem cerâ—â—uao solidae sidâ—i roborat tamen ex aliquantula mutabilitate perfidâ—e aura dubictatis versat of the man before mentioned that u Ibid. Per sidem sperans per infidelitatem fluctuans dicebat c. Et exerare certus iam po sidem coeperat adhuc incertus vndas persidiae ex incredulitate â—â—lerabat hoping by faith and wauering by vnbeliefe he said Lord I beleeue helpe my vnbeliefe He beganne to pray saith he certaine now by faith and yet being vncertaine hee bare the waues of vnbeliefe Wee see here beside all that hath beene formerly said that saith and vnbeliefe certainty and vncertainty assurance and doubt bee blended together in one and the same man and why doth M. Bishop then professing to be a Romanist thus absurdly crosse the old doctrine of the Church of Rome why doth he tell vs so often that faith excludeth all feare and doubt But he committeth here a further errour in wresting x See hereof the question of the certainty of saluation sect 10. the Apostles wordes to doubting feare which is dâ—strustfull of God whereas the Apostle speaketh of that godly feare whereby we are distrustfull of our selues that we may trust in God only The Apostle doth not say Worke your saluation in feare and trembling so as to bee alwaies in feare and doubt of your being saued but so as that you neuer dare trust to your selues or attribute any thing in this behalfe to your owne power or worke but alwaies to giue glory vnto God and to depend vpon him seeking to be enabled and strengthened by his arme because though you be willed to worke your owne saluation yet you must know that it is God that worketh in you both to will it and to worke it euen of his owne good will Dauid in the Psalme saith y Psal 2. 11. Serue the Lord in feare What meaneth this saith St. Austin z August in Psal 65. Quid hoc sihi vult Audi vocem Apostoli Cum timore inquit tremore c. Quare cum timore tremore subiecit causam Dâ—us est enim c. si ergò Deus operatur â—â—te Dei gratia benè operaris non viribus tuis Ergo si gaudes time ne fortè quod datum est humili auscratur superbo Heare what the Apostle saith with feare and trembling worke your owne saluation Why with feare and trembling He addeth the cause for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to doe If God then worke in thee thou workest well by the grace of God not by thine owne strength Where we see how St. Austin vnderstandeth feare in the Apostles wordes as he doth in the wordes of Dauid and would M. Bishop be so absurd as to vnderstand Dauid to say serue the Lord so as to be continually in feare and doubt of your owne saluation And whereas St. Austin saith that the Apostle to giue a reason why hee saith in feare and trembling addeth those other wordes for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to doe will M. Bishop be so madde as to couple these speeches in this sort Worke your saluation being alwaies in feare and doubt thereof because it is God that worketh in you both to will and to doe What is it a reason for vs to doubt of our owne saluation because it is God that worketh in vs both to will and to do The same St. Austin in another place citing the same words of the Psalme Serue the Lord in feare and reioyce vnto him with trembling saith that a August de corrept grat cap. â— Quid ostendens nisi cos esse commonitos qui ambulant in via iusta vt in tiâ— more Deo seruiant id est non altum sapiat sed timeant qâ—od significat non superbiant sed humiâ—es sint c. exultent Deo sed cum tremoâ—e in nullo gloriantes quando nostrum nihil sit vt qui gloriatur in Domino gloriâ—tur ne perâ—ant de via iusta in qua iam ambulare coeperâ—t dum sibi â—oc ipsum assignant quò◠in ea sunt His verbis vsus est Apostolê° vbi ait cum timore c. ostendens quare cum timore tremore ait dâ—us est â—â—m c. they who walke in the right way are admonished thereby not to be proud but to be humble to reioyce vnto God but with trembling not glorying in any thing because nothing is ours that hee that reioyceth may reioyce in the Lord lest they perish out of the right way wherin they haue begunne to walke whilest they attribute it to themselues that they are in the way Whereupon he addeth The like wordes the Apostle also vseth With feare and trembling worke your owne saluation and to shew why with feare and trembling hee saith for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to doe The feare then which the Apostle commendeth to vs is not a doubting feare such as is contrary to assurance of faith but such as is contrary to presumption and pride and trust in our selues and importeth humility lowlinesse of minde distrust of our owne strength that wee may relie vpon the strength and power of God Why doth M. Bishop then forgoe a plaine and manifest construction to force a meaning vpon the Apostle which can by no meanes bee sitting or agreeing with the wordes from hence he goeth forward to proue that we ought to haue a firme hope of saluation But why doth he take such paines to proue that which we deny not or how is it that he seeth not that the proofe of that is his owne reproofe For if we must firmely hope for saluation then we must not stand in feare of our saluation But he saith b Of the certainty of saluation sect 10. we must stand in feare of our saluation we must feare whether we shall be saued or not Therefore we ought not firmely and stedfastly to hope for it These two cannot stand together we cannot firmely hope for saluation if we must stand in feare and doubt whether we shall be saued or not Last of all he quarrelleth vs as touching the nature of true faith The very faith saith he whereby we are iustified is no such kinde of faith as the Protestants claime to be iustified by What is it then Forsooth it is that faith whereby wee beleeue all things to be true which God hath reueiled And how doth that appeare Marry St. Paul declareth Abraham to haue beene iustified by beleeuing that God according to his promise would giue him a sonne and make him the father of many nations Which his base and vndiuine conceipt of Christian saith I haue exagitated c Of Iustification
sect 18. elsewhere and I should wonder but that it is his manner so to doe that the absurdity thereof being so displayed he would thus repeate it againe almost in the same wordes It shall be here sufficient thence briefly to answere him that the iustifying faith of a Christian man is not incident to the Diuell But the Diuell is capable of beleeuing all â—o bee true which God hath reueiled The Diuell could beleeue that God according to his promise would giue Abraham a sonne and make him the father of many nations Therefore iustifying faith is more then to beleeue all to be true vvhich God hath reueiled That more is plainly gathered of that which Cyprian saith d Cyprian de dupl martyrio Non credit in Deum qui non in â—o solo collocat totius foelicitatis suae fiduciam He beleeueth not in God that doth not place or repose in God only the confidence and trust of his whole felicity and happinesse Iustifying faith then is the reposing of trust and confidence in God only to obtaine of him eternall blisse and happinesse through the merits and mediation of Iesus Christ And this was Abrahams faith not a carnall beliefe only that God vvould giue him a sonne and a great posterity of many nations but a beleefe of a spirituall e Gen. 12. 2. Gal. 3. 8. 9. blessing in his seede according to the promise of God both to himselfe and to all the nations of the earth And this vve see in the place which M. Bishop citeth vvhere the Apostle alleaging that Abrahams faith was imputed to him for righteousnesse addeth f Rom. 4. 23. Now it is not written for him only but also for vs to whom it shall be imputed for righteousnesse What to beleeue that old and barren persons may haue children if God say the word as M. Bishop in the place before mentioned very rudely expresseth the faith of Abraham Nay but to beleeue in him that raised vp Iesus the Lord from the dead who was deliuered to death for our sinnes and rose againe for our iustification This was it which the faith of Abraham respected By beleefe of the promise of God g Iohn 8. 56. he saw the day of Christ He beleeued that of his seed should come a Sauiour both to himselfe and to vs who should be deliuered to death for our sinnes and rise againe for our iustification and by this faith he was iustified For the same faith saued Abraham that now saueth vs as hath beene before shewed But the faith that saueth vs is the faith of the Gospell the faith of Iesus Christ the faith of his Crosse the faith of his Bloud the faith of his Death and Resurrection Therefore this was also the faith that saued Abraham Thus M. Bishops heapes of testimonies proue for his part heapes of chaffe and not of corne they carry a shew of multitude but say nothing at all for him He is a â—aiâ—e man that goeth about by such allegations to impeach any peece of the Protestants iustification When he hath spent all his paper-shot the Protestants iustification vvill remaine still W. BISHOP §. 3. NOw I come to the other points named by M. Abbot There is nothing saith he in S. Paul for the merit of single life But he is greatly mistaken for the Apostle saith That the care of the single and vnmarried 1. Cor. 7. vers 32 33. 34. is to please God and their study to thinke vpon those things that appertaine vnto God and how they may be holy both in body and in spirit which must needes be more acceptable in Gods sight then to be carping for this world and caring how to please their yoke-mate To this wee adde Monkish vowes of which if hee were worthy to be a good Abbot he would speake more respectiuely somwhat S. Paul hath of the vow of chastiâ—y which is one of their principall vowes for he auoucheth certaine widdowes worthy of damnation because 1. Tim. 5. v. 12. they broke the same former vow of chastity And S. Paul himselfe shoare his head in Cenchris because Act. 18. vers 18. he had a vow which was the vow of a Nazarite not much vnlike for the time though much inferiour vnto the vow of religious persons see of that vow the sixt Chapter of the booke of Numbers There is nothing saith M. Abbot in S. Paul of prayer for the dead which is not true for he teacheth that some of the faithfull who haue built vpon the right foundation hay 1. Cor. 3. vers 13. stubble and such like trash shall notwithstanding at the day of our Lord bee saued yet so as through fire Which the ancient Doctors doe take to be the fire of SS Aug. in psal 37. Hieron lib. 2. cont Iouin 13. Ambros in hunc locum Gregor in psal 3. Poenitentialem Purgatory Now if many whiles the drosse of their workes be purged doe lie in fire it will easily follow thereof that euery good soule who hath any Christian compassion in him will pray for the release of their Christian brother out of those torments R. ABBOT THou maiest here see gentle Reader M. Bishops tergiuersation and manifest shifting I propounded out of Theodoret that the Epistle to the Romans containeth all manner doctrines of faith Vpon this ground I noted that the doctrine of Popery is to be condemned for that it containeth so many points as necessary articles of faith whereof there is nothing to be found in the Epistle to the Romans Herewith M. Bishop found himselfe greatly distressed On the one side he durst not openly reiect the testimony of Theodoret fearing least that haply might be some preiudice to him On the other side he saw he could not finde their religion in the Epistle to the Romans Now therefore silently he stealeth away and betaketh himselfe to the rest of Pauls Epistles not vpon any hope that he hath that he can thence make good his cause but for that hee findeth there some speeches deliuered vpon occasions whereby hee can better giue colour to some doctrines of theirs of which the Apostle neuer thought He telleth his Reader that I say there is nothing in St. Paul for the merit of single life But my saying was that in the Epistle to the Romans which Theodoret affirmeth to containe all kinde of doctrine there is nothing said for the merit of single life Well let him yet haue his way let vs giue him full liberty of the rest of St. Pauls Epistles and what hath he there for the proofe of it Forsooth he telleth vs that the Apostle saith that the care of the single and vnmarried is to please God and their study to thinke vpon those things that appertaine to God and how they may be holy both in body and in spirit which saith he must needes be more acceptable in Gods sight then to be carking for this world and caring how to please their yoke-mate But here he
blindeth his Reader by compounding those things which for the discerning of the truth are to be diuided For he will not say that single life in it selfe is a caring to please the Lord and to bee holy in body and spirit for then the Vestall Virgins of the Romans and the Hierophantaes of the Athenians and all single persons of all sorts shall be pleasers of the Lord and all holy both in body and spirit If in it selfe it be not so then for it selfe it is not acceptable in Gods sight but the thing which God accepteth is our care to please him and to bee holy and vndefiled before him Now if marriage equall single life in holinesse and care of pleasing God what hindereth in this case but that marriage is as acceptable to God as single life But the Apostle noteth this to be the preferment of single life that wee are thereby for the most part better opportuned to attend the things of God and to doe him seruice being thereby freed from many burdens of cares and troubles wherwith the husband and the wife are commonly much distracted Which notwithstanding must be vnderstood where the gift of continency is had because the fire of an incontinent minde causeth much more entangling of the thoughts and withdrawing of the heart from God then doe any troubles that belong to married estate But doth it follow that because single life giueth greater liberty to serue God therefore single life it selfe is a matter of great merit with God the vow thereof the merit of heauen a worke of great perfection a satisfaction for sinnes both for a mans owne sinnes and for the sinnes of other men This is the merit of single life whereof I spake and which Popery maintaineth and will this foule taile hang to the wordes of the Apostle Are you not ashamed M. Bishop thus to dally and to tell vs one thing when you should proue another It is true that the care of pleasing God and being holy in body and spirit is much more acceptable vnto God then carking for this world and caring how to please a wife but will you hereof conclude a merit of single life Is not single life many times more carefull of the things of the world then marriage and is not the vnmarried often more busied to please his harlot then the husband is to please his wife And will you then argue so absurdly and thus wilfully delude them that are not able to vnderstand you From thence he commeth to Monkish vowes of which he saith that if I were a good Abbot I would speake more respectiuely But an Abbot whether to him good or badde I yeeld them no other respect but to say of them that as Popery hath framed and practised them they are full of sacriledge impiety blasphemie hypocrisie and one of those monstrous abhominations wherewith Antichrist hath defiled the Church of God And what hath he now to say for them Somewhat forsooth St. Paul hath of the vow of chastity which is one of their principall vowes Well let the other vowes sinke or swimme he careth not but being a chast man he will giue vs a proofe for the vow of chastity and that shall be a sure one St. Paul auoueheth saith he certaine widdowes worthy of damnation because they broke the same firmer vow of chastity But what will he thus wilfully belye the Apostle Will he set downe wordes of his owne and make the Reader beleeue that they are the Apostles wordes The Apostle speaketh of some hauing damnation because they had broken the first faith and vvill he dare to turne the first faith into the former vow of chastity As touching this place I haue giuen him such answere b Of vowes sect 7. before as that it is vnpossible for him with any good colour to reply I haue shewed that the first faith here spoken of is the faith and profession of Baptisme and that Athanasius Hierome and Vincentius Lyrinensis by allusion to this place doe so giue vs to vnderstand Moreouer that those young widowes of which the Apostle spake did by liuing in idlenesse fall to wantonnesse and in their new marriages did wholly forsake the faith of Christ I declared further by Chrysostome Ambrose Theophylact that the Apostle seeing such mischiefe to grow of choosing young vvomen to be Church-widomes did wholly disclaime all choise of such and willed that those vvho were already chosen though they had promised to continue single and vnmarried yet for eschewing all danger of the like inconuenience should betake themselues to marriage I haue shewed by Cyprian by Austin Hierome and Epiphanius tha◠they who haue vowed single life if afterwards they cannot or will not containe that it is much better for them to marry then to continue vnmarried What doth hee meane thus to alleage this text againe vvhen it so plainly appeareth by the testimony of so many Fathers that that is false vvhich they vvould gather thereby He vvould hereby proue their Popish vow of single life binding men simply and perpetually from marriage vvhich it appeareth is hereby condemned as a vvicked tyrannie and a cruell vsurpation vpon the consciences of fraile and vnstable men In the next citation hee playeth his prize For proofe of their vowes hee alleageth c Acts 18. 18. that St. Paul shore his head in Cenchris because hee had a vow As well might he alleage the Iewes sacrifices of Buls and Goates to proue their sacrifice of the Masse As well might the Turkes and Saracens alleage d Acts 16. 3. Pauls circumcising of Timothy to proue that it is still lawfull for them to circumcise As well might hee proue that euery woman after her child-birth is to offer a paire of turtle Doues or of young Pidgeons because e Luke 2. 24. the Virgin Mary did so He saith the vow of the Apostle was the vow of a Nazarite and the vow of the Nazarites vvas wholly a ceremony of the law of Moses and will hee goe about to bring the ceremonies of Moses law into the Church of Christ Hath hee not read what Tertullian saith f Tertul. de Praescript sub finem Quis nesciat quoniam Luangelica gratia euacuatur si ad legem Christū redigit Who knoweth not that the grace of the Gospell is made frustrate and voide if it bring Christ vnto the law What doth euery man know this and doth not M. Bishop know it Did he neuer reade that which St. Hierome saith and Austin confirmeth g Aug. Hieron Epist 19. Pronuncias ceremonias Iudaeorum quicunque obseru◠uerit siue ex Judaeis siue ex Gentibus eum in barathrum Diaboli deuolutum Ego hanc vocem tuam omnin◠confirmo Whosoeuer either of the Iewes or Gentiles obserueth the ceremonies of the Iewes he tumbleth himselfe into the Diuels mouth What haue wee then to doe with the vow of the Nazarites that it should bee any confirmation of vowes to be vsed amongst vs But to shew
the soule going from the body he shall hold it with him for euer without any change that neither being exalted it can come downe to punishment nor being drowned in eternall punishments can thence forth rise to any remedy of saluation If after death there be no deliuerance if there be no change but as the Angell either good or badde receiueth the soule out of the body so it continueth for euer either exalted to ioy or drowned in punishment then there can be no Purgatory then there can be nothing but either heauen or hell where they that come shall abide for euer Hee citeth for this the same wordes of Salomon that we doe and of which Olympiodorus a writer of the same time saith k Olympiodor in Ecclesi asâ— cap. 11. In quocunque loco seu illustri seu tene 〈◊〉 depreâ—edatur â—omo cum moritur mâ—ode gradu atque ordine poriâ—â—net in aeternum nam vel requieseâ—â— in lumine foelicitatis aeterae cum iustis Christo Domino vel in tenebris cruciatur cum iniquis huius mundi principâ— Diabolo In whatsoeuer place either lightsome or darke a man is taken when he dyeth in the same degree and order he abideth for euer for either he resteth in the light of eternall felicity with the iust and with Christ our Lord or else he is tormented in darkenesse with the wicked and with the Prince of this world the Diuell But Gregory againe writeth an Epistle to his friend Aregius a Bishop to comfort him concerning the death of some belonging to him wherin it is worthy to be obserued how consonantly he carrieth himselfe to the doctrine of the Scriptures Amongst other wordes wee reade these l Gregor lib. 7. indict 2. Epist 111. Indecens est de illis taedio afflictionis addâ—ci quos credendum est ad veram vitam moriendo perue nisse HabeÌ„t for sitan illi iustam longi doloris excusationem qui vitam alteram nesciunt qui de hoc seculo ad mâ—lius transitiâ— esse non confidunt nos autem qui nouimus qui hoc credimus docemus coÌ„tristarinimium de obâ—â—ntibus no debemus ne quod apud alios tenet pietatis speciem hoc magis nobis in culpa sit Nam dissidetâ—c quodamodâ— genus est cotra hoc quod quisque pradicat torqueri moestitia dicente Apostolo Nolumus autem vos ignorare fratres c. Hac itaque ratione perspecta studendum nobis est vt sicut dixâ—mus de mortâ—â—â— non esslâ—gamur sed affectuÌ„ viuentibus impendamus quibus pictas ad 〈◊〉 sit ad sâ—uct◠〈◊〉 It is vndecent for vs to giue our selues to long affliction of sorrow for them whom wee are to beleeue to haue come by death vnto the true life They haue haply iust excuse of long sorrow who know not any other life who doe not beleeue the passage from this world to be to a better world but wee who know who beleeue and teach this are not to be too heauy for the dead least that which with others carryeth a shew of piety be to vs rather a matter of blame For it is in a manner a kinde of distrâ—st to be tormented with heauinesse contrary to that which he himselfe doth teach Hereof he citeth the wordes of Saint Paul to the Thestalonians which I haue before set downe and then addeth This therefore seeing we know wee are to haue care as I haue said not to be afflicted for the dead but to bestow our affection vpon the liuing to whom our piety or denotion may be profitable and our loue may yeeld fruit Surely he leaueth no place for Purgatory that teacheth to beleeue that the faithfull in death doe attaine vnto true life and that their passage from this world is to a better neither doth he acknowledge any vse of Prayers of Masses and Trentals and other Offices and Obsequies for the dead who saith that our deuotion and loue yeeldeth no fruit or profit to them He would not haue bidden Aregius not to be afflicted for the dead but to bestow his affection vpon the liuing if hee had thought the dead to be in a Purgatory where they should and might be releeued by the deuotions of the liuing Thus he beleeued and taught where he taught aduisedly according to the Scriptures and thus wee beleeue accordingly and what hee casually taught otherwise wee reckon it for wood and straw and stubble which hee built vpon the true foundation which now the day-light of the Gospell hath reueiled and the fire of Gods word consumeth though hee himselfe by the faith of the said foundation hath attained peace And this wee hold to be the only true application of the Apostles wordes and most fitting to the processe of the text the Apostle making himselfe a builder by his preaching laying Christ for the foundation of his doctrine and therefore consequently vnderstanding gold siluer pearles wood hay stubble to be the rest of the doctrine that is preached concerning Christ either true signified by gold and siluer and pearles or false signified by wood and hay and stubble So did Tertullian of old vnderstand it m Tertul. coÌ„t Marc. l. 5. Super quod prout quisque superstruxerit dignam scilicet vel indignam doctrinam opus â—ius per ignem probabitur merces â—iâ—s per ignem rependetur As euery man saith he buildeth vpon the foundation doctrine worthy or vnworthy his worke shall be tryed by fire his reward shall be repaied him by fire In the like sort doth Ambrose expound it n Ambros in 1. Cor. 3. Tria genera posuit praeclara in mundo in quibus bonam doctrinam significauit c. Tria alia genera posuit sedfriuola In his corrupta vana doctrina designata di nâ—scitur He setteth downe three kinds of things that are excellent in the world gold siluer pearles by which he signifieth good doctrine three other things he setteth downe which are but base wood hay stubble and by these corrupt and vaine doctrine is designed Now if by these things doctrine bee designed then the fire whereby triall must be made of these things must be vnderstood accordingly That cannot be of the Popish Purgatory fire for it cannot in this sense bee fitted to Purgatory fire which the Apostle saith Euery mans worke shall be made manifest for the day shall declareâ— because it shall bee reueiled by fire for it is not declared or manifested by Purgatory fire whether doctrine bee true or false sith it selfe is so obscure and darke as that no man knoweth where it is Is it made manifest to vs by Purgatory fire whether ours or the Popish doctrine bee the more true Nay but by the word of God this triall is made and thereby it appeareth what is truth and what is falshood what is right and what is wrong and the truth as the gold and siluer is approued and iustified thereby but errour and false doctrine as wood and