soueraigne medicine in Gods church is the punishment of the conscience not of goods nor of the body otherwise then by some shame reproch which waites vppon our separation from the Churche of God and so are S. Paules wordes of the destruction of the fleshe 1. Cor. 5. to be vnderstanded therefore they which haue purposed since the Popes excōmunication against her maiestie eyther to hurt her royall person or to depose her from her kingdome as they haue passed the listes and boūds of al excōmunication so their sinne is very grosse exāple very dangerous 3 The preaching of Gods word the sincere administration of the Sacraments are the essential markes of Christes Churche and where these markes are there vndoubtedly the true church is though there bee otherwise in that Church some blemishes IF the Church be the assemblie of the faithful Rom. 10. and faith commeth by hearing and hearing by the worde of God it is a cleare case that the preaching of the worde belongeth to the essence of the visible Church We are taught in Gods booke Mat. 28. that the Sacraments instituted of Christ are the seales of Gods word therfore the Sacraments pertayne to the essence of the visible Church The Churches of Israel and Iuda were therefore Gods Churches because they had Gods law preached circumcision the passeouer which were their Sacramēts administred amongst thē Iosias 2. Chron. 34. 35. chap. that he might plāt Gods Church aright caused the booke of the lawe to be published and a passeouer to be proclaymed Nehem. 8. Ezra 7. Ezra after his returne from Babylon expoundeth Gods law to the Israelites restoreth the true vse of the Passeouer S. Luke setting down the estate of the Primitiue Churche in orient coloures Acts 2. saith that they continued in the Apostles doctrine which is the life of the Church and felowship that is in performing of Christiā dueties one to another breaking of bread that is in the administratiō of the holy supper prayers that is publike prayers in which consisteth the profession of our religiō This excellēt Church had the Apostles doctrine and the holye communion therefore it was the church of Christ If any saye that the Sacrament of baptisme is not here mentioned I aunsweare in a worde that Saynt Luke needed not to mention Baptisme seeyng he speaketh of such as were alreadie baptised 1. Cor. 1. 2. Cor. 1. Galat. 1. The Churches of Corinth and Galatia had great blemishes in them yet because they had Gods truth sacramēts among them they are accompted by S. Paule the Churches of God If the sound preaching of the worde and the administration of the sacramēts are the essentiall marks of Gods church then learned ministers are necessarie for they blow the Lords siluer trumpets Num. 10. put their handes to the framing of the siluer vessels of the temple If Godlie and learned ministers are necessarie and singuler ornaments in the Church of God then schooles of learning and Vniuersities wherein students are made fitte to serue Gods Church are especially to be regarded 1. Sam. 19. 2. King 2. 22. chap. Suche schooles of learning were at Nayoth in Samuels time at Iericho and Bethel in Elizeus time at Ierusalem in Iosias time Caluin in 1. Cor. chap. 14. verse 32. at Corinth in S. Paules time and such are now with vs in Cambridge and Oxeforde If these be vpholden religion flourisheth and consequently Gods blessings increase in the land If these goe to wracke farewel religion and the good estate of the commō wealth But Vniuersities and schooles of learning must needes decay when the students are not prouided for imployed accordingly and preferred and imployed they cannot bee if either the Churches maintenance be pulled away or Church liuings be bought and sold for money or pensions 4 Godlie and learned Ministers must bee freely and bountifully prouided for BEware that thou forsake not the Leuite as long as thou liuest vppon the earth Deut. chap. 12. ver 19. Almighty God commanded the Israelites to haue especiall care of the Leuite therefore they might not vse him like a drudge or send him a begging If the Leuite must be excellently vsed greater regarde must be had of the minister of the Gospell whose calling because it is greater then Iohn the Baptistes Mat. chap. 11. ver 11. is farre aboue the Leuites Gods Church is the piller ground of truth 1. Tim. cap. 3. ver 15. because by the ministery of the word Gods truth is preserued in the Church If the ministerye of the word preserues this precious iewel in the church as the priests did the fire vpon the altar in the time of the law thē they Leuit. chap. 6. which hinder Gods ministery doe robbe Gods Church of inestimable treasure hinder the ministery do they which discourage the learned ministers by powling thē of the churches prouision But if Dauid sending his seruaunts to comfort the king of Amon after his fathers death 2. Sam. 10. tooke in great dudgen the shauing of his seruantes beardes cutting of their garmēts will almighty God take it in good part that his seruants whom he hath furnished with excellent gifts for the cōfort of his church are polled shauē of their maintenance stripped as it were into their shirts and handled as dishcloutes Who goeth a warfare any time at his owne cost Who plāteth a vineyard and eateth not of the fruit therof Or who feedeth a flocke eateth not of the milke of the flocke 5. Cor. chap. 9. ver 7. If they whom S. Paule mentions in this verse are prouided for either of the common charge as the souldier or by the fruit of the vine as the husbandman or by the mylke of the flocke as the shepheard It is most equall that learned ministers should haue large allowance of the churches charge for their warfare vineplanting sheepfeeding doeth as farre passe the others as the precious diamond doth the peeble stone We beseech you brethrē that you know that is haue regard of thē which labor amōg you that ye haue them in singuler loue for their works sake c. 1. The. cap. 5 ver 12 13. If learned ministers must be especially fauoured they may not bee kept from their owne if they must be singulerly loued for their works sake they may not be trodē vpō as the mire in the streets nor spoiled by graceles mē of the churches maintenāce But churchpollers loue churchmē as Philippides did his father when hee cudgeled him Aug. epist 168. and as a rufler in Augustines time did his mother whom hee vsed in like sort most vnnaturally Balthasar the king of Babylon in the middest of a great feast called for the golden vessels which were brought from the temple of Ierusalem they were brought vnto him by his seruauntes The king his princes his wiues his concubines did drinke wine
Christ Cont. Cresc Gram. lib. 2. cap. 21. and the member of the Diuel God forbid that these monsters Augustine speakes of wicked men shoulde be accounted eyther amongst the members of the only doue that is Gods church or enter into the inclosed garden I confesse that the reprobates are may be many times in the Church that is in the assemblies of Gods seruants but of the Church they neither are nor can be truly accounted 16 Succession of Bishops is not an infallible argument of Gods Church IF personall succession not hauing the succession of doctrine ioyned to it as the foūdatiō therof were an infallible marke of the true Church then must we confesse that Gods grace and spirite are tyed to seates and countries which is a grosse absurditie 2. Thes 2. Ordinary and visible succession in the Church may be interrupted For Paul did foretell that there shoulde be a departing from the faith Apostasie and succession can no more stand together thē the Arke and Dagon then Christ and Antichrist Besides the ordinary succession of priests was interrupted in the Israelites church and yet God had his Churche there 1. King 19. I meane them whiche retayning Gods trueth did not bowe their knees vnto Baal When Christ came into the worlde to be our mediatour was Gods Churche to be measured by the visible succession of Bishops Hereticall Bishops might vaunt of succession in very famous Churches Paulus Samosatenus which was a mōstrous Heretike succeeded Godly Bishops in the Church of Antioch diuers Arians succeeded Athenasius in the Church of Alexandria The succession of Bishops both was is continued in the Greeke Church and yet the popish sort wil not allow the churches of Grecia to be Christes Churches because they dissent from the Church of Rome The auncient writers Tertullian Tertul. de praescrip Ireneus when they would confute Marcion and Vallentinus proued that not those Heretikes Iren. li. 3. ca. 2. but themselues had the succession of Gods truth amongest them Whē these godly fathers had made that cleare they set downe the succession and row of Bishops as badges of their victory so that the succession of faith and religion may be truely accounted as the life and soule and the succession of Bishops as the body If personall succession be without the successiō of Gods truth it wants life is a dead and vnprofitable carcase I confesse that the succession of Bishops as a goodly and beautiful building is of great force to allure thē which are alients from the Church to looke into to behold the inward beauty of the church but if the precious iewel of Gods word be wanting the personal succession is like a costly tombe which is beautifull without but is full of dead mens bones within Lib. 4. cap. 43. 45. Ireneus ioyneth together the succession of persons and doctrine If the Papists which haue not succession of Gods truth bragge of successiō of Bishops we may say to their Bishoppes as Tertullian said to Marcion the Heritike Tertul. lib. 1. cont Mar. who are ye when and from whence came yee The succession of Bishops without succession of Gods truth is like a paire of popish beades which hang by a long but yet by a sclender threed That is the true and lawfull succession of Bishops when as lawfull Bishops succeeding one another doe exercise the worke of their ministery 17 Antiquitie is no sure argument of Gods Church THe Iewes consenting that the Messias is not yet come is of greater continuance then popery is but continuance of time cannot make that good in religion which was bad at the first Antiquity if it haue not the salt of Gods word to preserue it doth argue rottennesse and giues an euil sent Your iniquities Esay chap. 65. ver 7. the iniquities of your fathers shal be together saith the Lorde which haue burnt incense vpon the mountaines and blasphemed me vpon the hilles therfore wil I measure their olde worke into their bosome If antiquitye woulde haue serued the turne of the Israelites almighty God might haue bin challenged for punishing their aunciēt idolatry and superstition Ye haue heard that it was saide vnto them of old time thou shalt not kill For whosoeuer killeth shall bee culpable of iudgement But I say vnto you whosoeuer is angrye with his brother vnaduisedly shal be culpable of iudgement Mat. 5. ver 21.22 The pharisies cleared him of murder which had not killed a mā with his hand because the Pharisies alleaged antiquity for their errour our Sauiour Christ refutes them by his owne authority But I say vnto you c. ver 22. There were ill buylders in Pauls time 1. Cor. 3. and such abuses crept into the Lords supper in Corinth 1. Cor. 11. that the Apostle was compelled to say this is not to eat the Lords supper They which reason thus suche a religion is olde therefore it is good may be answered that this argumēt is as cleere as midnight the enchantmentes of Simon Magus Acts 8. 19. chap. the image which came down frō Iupiter the religion of Rome are of great antiquity yet Gods religion is more ancient then any of these Tertul. lib. 1. cont Mar. ◠for truth is older then heresie When we heare any Papist saye I haue byn brought vp in the religion of Rome therfore I will continue in it and will not be wonn frō it we may answere him that wise men haue their seconde thoughtes Euripides in Hippol. Cyp. ad Iubaian ad Quin fratrem de lapsis and that we may not erre alwaies because somtimes we erred that we are not ouercome but instructed whē better things are offred vnto vs that he is not ioyned to the Church which is separate frō the gospel Some of the Popishe sort haue bin cōtent to say if the Church of Rome woulde allow the religion wee haue in England that they would like of it Tichonius a Donatist said of himselfe his fellow Donatists that Aug. Epist 48. which wee wil is holy Tiberius the Emperour put vp a grace in the Senate house of Rome Euseb lib. 2. cap. 2. that Christ might be a God because the Senate denied that grace it is set downe a little after in that Chapter vnlesse God please man he is not allowed for a God In like sorte if our religion had the Popes hande and seale vnto it the Popish sort would allow it because it hath not his holinesse warrant they refuse it Question How can it be that God shoulde suffer his Church to erre so many yeeres Answerre God suffered not his Church to erre so lōg a time but he suffered wicked mē euē by his iust iudgement which beleeued not the trueth that they might be saued to beleeue lyes and haue pleasure in vnrighteousnesse that they might bee damned 2. Thessal 2. ver 10.11.12 18 Euery vnity is not a sure argument of
to a Corne field and to a flock of sheepe though the vine be spoyled it is the Lordes vyne though the field haue weeds in it it is the Lords field though the flocke runne astray it is the flocke of Christ and therefore not to bee forsaken for the abuses of it we must rather pray for skilfull ministers to reare vp and to dresse his vine to labour to weede his ground to gather in to feed his flocke Augustine reproueth Emeritus the Donatist because hee departed from the Church Epist 64. Wee may not detest the oyle presses Aug. epi. 137. because of the foame of the oyle nor forsake Gods Church Cyp. lib. 3. Epist 3. because we see tares in the Church it is our partes to be carefull that we may be wheate Wee may not leaue the Lordes floore because of the chaffe Aug. Epist 46. nor breake the Lords nettes because of the euill fishes nor forsake the Lordes flocke because of the goates nor depart from the Lords house because of the vessels of dishonour nor for the iniquity of the badde leaue the vnity of the good They which made the Idol he meaneth the golden Calfe were slayne with the sword which is an vsuall death Aug. epist 162 Epist 172. Exod. 32. Num. 16. but they which would make a schisme died strangely for the chiefest of thē were deuoured by the opening of the earth and the multitude which consented to them was consumed with fire We may suspect our selues to be infected with great pride Aug. epist 209 whē for the sonnes of iniquity we forsake the pastures of vnity Christ hath commaunded vs to assēble together hath reserued to himselfe the separation of the good and bad For it belongeth to him to separate which is free from errour The Nouatians Donatists Anabaptistes c. doe leaue the Church of God because all staynes blemishes are not remoued out of the Church As we may not forsake Gods church though there bee euill men or blemishes in it so is it euery mans duety within the compasse of his calling to reforme euil men and to remoue blemishes 6 There is but one onely true Church THe Churche is Christes body and spouse Ephe chap. 5. Cant. 6. Christes body and spouse is but one My doue is one S. Paule saith of the whole Church Galat. 3. that we are all one in Christ Iesus For amongest the faithful there is one body and one spirite one hope one Lorde Ephe. 4. one faith one Baptisme one God Therfore all the particuler Churches which consent in true religion must be accompted but one onely Church There are many beames in the sun and yet the light thereof is but one there are many braunces in a tree and yet but one body of the same tree many riuers doe passe from one fountayne yet the fountayne is but one so is there no more but one only Church saith Cypr. dispersed farre and wyde De simpl prelat as appeareth by the particular Churches The vnity of the Churche consisteth not in a bodily dwelling together for that cannot be nor in the same outwarde Ceremonies wherein the particuler Churches doe often differ and maye vse their liberty to edification but in an assured consent of doctrine and faith 1. Cor. 10. The Israelites Churche and ours is one and the selfe same Church touching the substance for their Church and ours haue the same sacraments Aug. Epi. 157 the same faith and the same saluation in by one comfortable Messias The difference of times is no reason why the Churches before vnder and after the lawe shoulde not bee one Church Math. 20. The vineyard in the gospel was one the selfe same vineyard albeit at diuers times diuers were admitted into it I confesse the Iewes Gentiles were two before they were vnited in Christ but after they were vnited they are compared to one body whereof Christ is the head Ephes 2. and to one buylding wherof Christ is the foundation corner stone Iohn 10. to one flocke wherof the same Iesus Christ is the shepheard 7 The estate of the Churche in the time of grace is much better then the estate of the Churche either before or vnder the lawe THe earth shal be ful of the knowledge of the Lorde as the waters that couer the Sea Isai chap. 11. verse 9. The prophet Esay speaketh of churches which should be assembled in the time of the gospel It is true that the Israelites were not destitute of knowledge But wee haue greater measure of knowledge thē they had for of Christes fulnesse we haue receiued euen grace for grace Ioh. cha 1. ver 16. And it shal be in the last dayes sayeth God I will powre out of my spirite vppon all fleshe and your sonnes and your daughters shall prophesie c. Acts chap. 2. ver 17. Gods spirite is more plentiful in Christs time then before For it is manifest by this place that as a greater nūber are partakers of Gods singuler graces in Christes time then either before or vnder the law so they haue larger allowance greater measure of Gods inestimable treasures No man hath seene God at any time the onely begotten sonne which is in the bosome of the father hee hath declared him Iohn chap. 1. verse 18. The Euangelist Iohn sayeth that Christ was in Gods bosome that is to saye of Gods secrete counsell that wee may be well assured that almightie God doth in the Gospel open as it were his heart vnto vs. Christ was promised to the Israelites but is geuen to vs. The Israelites sawe Christ a farre off we haue him amongest vs. The estate of the Israelites may be cōpared to the breake of the day the estate of the Christians to the broade day light their estate to the sowing of the corne ours to the haruest and reaping of the corne I confesse that the Israelites had the same light that wee haue and the same corne that we haue though not in like measure For touchinge the substance of doctrine the Gospel hath added nothing to the law because nothing is set downe in the Gospel whiche is not conteined in the lawe 8 They are not alwaies the Church whiche vaunte themselues to bee the Church THE Assyrian Rabsaketh 2. King cha 18. laying siege to Ierusalem vseth the name of the Lorde agaynst the people of the Lorde Zedechias the false Prophet in his speech to Micheas boasted of Gods spirite 1. King 22. but he was voyd of Gods spirit The Iewes had oftē in their mouthes the temple of the Lord the tēple of the Lord Ier. 7. but they polluted the temple of the Lord. Iohn 8. They gaue out many times that Abraham was their father but they did not the works of Abraham Rom. 9. Al they are not Israel which are of Israel Marcion the Heretike reiected the Gospell Irenaeus lib. 3 cap. 11.
out of that way which almightie God hath prescribed to vs in his holy worde If the Church cannot erre what needed godly and learned Bishops ministers to looke to the Lordes fielde vine and flocke The familie of Sem was gods church Gen. 11. but idolatrie entred into that familie I confesse Gen. 9. that a singuler blessing was giuen to Sem but his posteritie coulde not be keept within their compasse If the Churche was any where in Esaies time it was amongest the Iewes But the Prophet saith that the Priest and the Prophet were not only corrupt in their manners Esay 28. vers 7. Eze. 8. but that they fayled in vision and stumbled in iudgement The flourishing Churches of Asia Grecia Affrica which had the precious treasure of Gods woorde plentifully amongst them are nowe stripped of Christian religion The Church erred before and vnder the lawe and in the time of grace beefore the lawe Gen. 3. Exod. 32. for Adam and Eue erred in Paradise Vnder the lawe for Aaron and the Israelites erred fouly in making a golden calfe In the time of grace for the Churches of Corinth Galatia Acts. 21. ver 20. and the Primitiue Church in Iudea erred about the obseruation of Moses law and otherwise The Churche in Augustines and Cyprians time did giue the holy Supper to infants Chap. 6. ver 3 grounding vpon the place of Saint Iohn but it was a grosse error Let no man deceiue you by anye meanes 2. Thes 2. for that day shall not come except there come a departing first This Apostasie or departing which Paule speaketh of is not in one or two Churches but euen in the body of the whole visible Church The holy ghoste did so prophesie Iesus Christ is the head of the church as of one body This head is vnto the Churche as reason vnto man so farre foorth as the desire of man obeyeth reason and the body of the Church the head of the Church it is wel with man with the Church The Church is as a Moone whiche hath no light but from Christe the sonne thereof When shee looketh towards him shee is bright and cleare the more shee turneth away from him the lesse brightnesse she hath Obiection The Churche is the piller of trueth 1. Tim. 3.15 therefore it cannot erre Answere The argument followeth not and S. Paules meaning is that Gods truth is preserued in the Churche by the ministerie of the worde the reason of this my answere is set downe in these wordes he gaue some to be Apostles some prophets some Euangelistes some Pastors and Doctors for the gathering together of the saints for the work of the ministerie for the edification of the body of Christ that we hencefoorth bee no more children wauering and carried aboute with euery winde of Doctrine Ephe. 4. ver 11.12.14 Obiection The spirit of truth will lead you into all truth therfore the church cannot erre Iohn 16.13 Answere If followeth not It is certaine that Christes Disciples which heard his heauenly Sermons were persuaded very hardly that the Messias shoulde die and they dreamed of a stately kingdome in the worlde both before his death as the sonnes of Zebedeus and after Christes resurrection as all the Apostles Mat. 20. Acts. 1. Our Sauiour Christ least they shoulde bee discouraged because they were not then able to beare digest his speeches comforts them in this sort the spirite of truth will leade you into all truth as if hee shoulde say your capacitie is weake and my speeches will not enter into you but be of good cheere it shall not bee so with you alwaies the spirit of truth shall open your vnderstanding lead you into all truth When we reade or heare that the spirit will leade vs into all truth wee muste not thinke that either the spirit doth lead vs without the word Esay 59. 1. Thes 5. as the Anabaptists teach for the spirite the worde cannot bee seuered or that the Church not bringing the worde for her warrant is in matters of faith Cypr. de lapsu to bee beleeued for hee is not ioyned to the Church which is seuered from the Gospel 23 The Church is not perfect in this worlde THe Gospel is a siue or fanne Matth. 3. which separateth the chaffe from the corne If chaffe were not mingled with the corne this fanne that is the preaching of the Gospell were needles The knowledge of the Church is but in part 1. Cor. 13. Matth. 6. and the whole Churche desires pardon of their sinnes The Church shall not be perfit before the last day but then it shall bee Apoc. cap. 21. ver 10.11.12 Which thing that S. Iohn might set before our eyes hee remembreth that the estate of the heauenly Ierusalem shal be most glorious after the ende of the worlde If wee consider the visible Church in her owne bodie it is farre from perfection For it is compared to a fielde Math. chap. 13 wherein is Wheate and Tares and to a drawe net wherein are good and bad fishes That Church which bragges of perfection in this worlde is a Pharisaicall Church Aug. epi. 48. Such Churches were and are the Churches of the Donatistes Nouatians and Anabaptistes Obiection Whosoeuer is borne of God sinneth not 1. Iohn 3. ver 6.9 Answeare By not sinning S. Iohn meaneth that the regenerate serue not sinne and that sinne raigneth not in them because they withdrawe them selues by Gods assistaunce from sinne and withall their heartes do giue them selues to holines of life It is very true that the faithfull doe sinne that is to say can not liue so holily but that they offende the Maiestie of god so did Aaron Noe Daniel Iob Barnabas Peter and the virgin Marie otherwise shee had not needed a Sauiour The iust mā falleth seuen times Prou. 24. 1. Iohn cha 1 If we say we haue no sinne wee deceiue ourselues c. Obiection Christ loued the Church gaue himselfe for it that he might sanctifie it Ephes 5.25.26 27. clense it by the washing of water through the word that he might make it vnto him self a glorious Church not hauing spotte or wrinkle or any such thinge Answeare This Argument was vsed of the Pelagians in Augustines time Epist 50. 57. Idem lib. 1. retract cap. 19 li. 2. cap. 18 but August saith that the freedom of the Church frō all staines is not in this worlde but in the world to come Besids it is one thing to consider the church in it self another thing to consider it in Christ The Church in it self whether we respect eche mēber of it seuerally or all the members of it ioyntly haue many spottes and wrinkles otherwise it were not true that they are saued by the grace of our Lorde Iesus Christ as the Apostle Peter saith The Church considered in Christe Act. 15. ver 11 1. Iohn 1. Apoc. 1. 1.
Cor. 6. 1. Cor. 1. may bee said to be without spot because it is washed and purged by the blood of Christe and without wrinkle because it is clothed with the righteousnesse of Christe by the imputation of whose righteousnesse wee are at Gods handes both absolued and sanctified 24 The Church of Rome hath and may erre BEholde the bountifulnesse and seueritie of GOD towardes them Rom. cha 11. verse 22. whiche haue fallen seuerytye but towardes thee bountifulnes if thou continue in his bountifulnes or else thou also shalt be cut off If the Churche of Rome could not erre why should Paul write this Lib. 1. cont Marcionem Tertullian makes mention of alters dedicated to vnknowen gods which he calleth the Idolatrie of the Athenians and to vncertaine gods which he calleth the superstition of the Romanes Hormisda a Bishoppe of Rome in a writing of his to the Bishops of Spayne maketh this matter very cleare The sum of his wordes is this Dearely beloued let vs pray without ceasing that we may cleaue soundly vnto Christ and not forsake him least we be iustly forsakē of him If Saint Pauls doctrine in the Epistle to the Romaines be sounde whereof none that feare God doth make any question then the popishe Church whiche holdes many thinges disagreeing from that Epistle is not free from errour Let the questions of iustification election freewill obedience to the Magistrate be considered Besids their spoyling Christ of his priesthood and Gods people of the cup in the Lordes supper their transubstantiation a number of grosse absurdities which they hold are manifest demonstrations of the erring of the Popishe Church 25 They may not bee accompted Schismatikes which forsake the Church of Rome If any Church giue ouer the trueth of Gods religion wee must forsake that Church that we be not infected with that leprosie and yet wee may not be accompted Schismatikes for men are then Schismatikes when they depart from the true Church and doctrine not when they returne from errour to trueth He is a Schismatike whiche is the cause of schisme and not hee which beginneth the separation euen like as he whiche denieth the lawe is the cause of the processe and not he which first began The Protestantes haue not forsaken Siō but Babylon not Bethel but Bethauen they haue not erected Alter against Alter Aug. epi. 162. as Ieroboam and the Donatistes did but they haue cast the Alter of Damascus out of the Lordes house and haue restored the true worship of God 26 The Church must bee built vpon the word of God Ephe. chap. 2. verse 19.20 NOwe therefore yee are no more straungers and forreiners but Citizens with the Saintes and of the housholde of GOD and are built vpon the foundations of the Apostles and Prophetes Iesus Christe him selfe beeyng the chiefe corner stone c. If the doctrine of the Prophetes and Apostles be the foundation of the church howe can the Church stande if the doctrine be remoued and howe can the doctrine continue without sounde teachers and what hart canne they haue to teache when they want maintenance Shal they which bee noble mens and gentlemens gardiners huntsmen be bountifully prouided for of their Lordes and Maisters charge and shall not they which are fitte to attende vpon the Lords vine field garden orchard haue allowance of the churches charge If this soare be not looked vnto many students of diuinitie must of force betake them selues to some other course for men must liue and to go a begging is a point next the worse and a very vnfit occupation for a learned student in diuinitie The Gospell and spirite of life Iren. lib. 3. cap. 1.11 is the foundation and piller of the Church They which wil build Gods Churche without the foundation of the word build with vntempered morter for Gods word is the life of the Church Obiection The Church was before the worde of God therefore it is not built vpon the word of God Answere The argument followes not I confesse that Gods Church in the beginning as for example Adam Abel Enos Noe Sē Abraham and many other of Gods children was before Gods word was put in writing but Gods church was not before Gods word For if the Church be an assemblie of the faithful the mē cānot be called faithful wtout faith that faith cannot consist without the woorde of God it is a necessarie consequent that Gods woorde was before Gods Church Gene. 4. Heb. 11. Abell sacrificed vnto almightie God by faith Therefore Gods expresse woorde was his direction for faith hath relation to no other thing The difference of cleane and vncleane beasts is mentioned in Genesis before the flood Gece 7. but this difference could not bee vnderstanded but by the voyce of almightie God Noe after his comming out of the Arke offered a burnt offering this sacrifice of Noe pleased God therefore it is a good consequent that Noe had Gods worde to direct him for no wilworshippe did euer please God Obiection 1. Tim. 3. verse 15. The Church is the piller and grounde of trueth therefore the worde is not the foundation of the Church Answere It followes not and the Church is therefore called the piller and grounde of the trueth because amongst men it vpholdeth and retayneth Gods trueth 17 The Church is knowne by the worde of God SEarch the Scriptures Iohn chap. 5. ver 39. they testifie of mee saith Christ We knowe Christ by the Scriptures therefore we knowe the Church by the Scriptures This consequent is very good and is framed thus by Augustine In the Scriptures wee haue learned Christ Epist 166. saith Augustine in the Scriptures we haue learned the Church And a little after where we haue knowne Christ meaning in the scriptures there we haue knowen the Church which sentence he repeateth very often in that epistle The Donatists said that Christs church remained only in Africke Epist 166. but Augustine telles them that their warrant is not taken out of the lawe or the Prophete or the Psalme or the Apostle or Euangelist but out of their owne heartes and cauils of their progenitors by which words it is euident that the Churche is knowne and must be shewed by the worde of God We seeke the Church in the holy scriptures Aug. devnita Eccle. cap. 2. Epist 48. and in the same scriptures we doe manifestly knowe the Church 28 Iesus Christ alone is the foundation of his Church OTher foundation can no man laye then that which is laid 1. Cor. 3. ver 11. which is Iesus Christ Thus saith the Lord God behold I wil lay in Sion a stone Esai 28. ver 16 1. Pet. chap. 2 verse 6. a tried stone a precious corner stone a sure foundation that is Iesus Christ so doth the Apostle Peter expounde it Yee are built vpon the foundation of the Apostles Prophetes Ephe. chap. 2. ver 20. Iesus Christ himself being