should be a rule of our faith and manners and that it is the very Word of God and his lively Oracles as having the testimony of Christ himselfe Luke 24 Luke 16. John 5. and many other places and Saint Paul Rom. 3. and Saint Peter in his second Epistle chap. 3. v. 15 16. confirmes the authenticality of St. Pauls Epistles and of all the holy Scriptures and affirmes that they were written for the comfort and benefit of all the faithfull and commands them to make them the rule and guide of their faith and manners which if they doe he promiseth them that they shall not be led away by the errour of the wicked and from their owne stedfaâ—â—nesse but that they shall grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus which is his prayer that they might do and it is and shall be my earnest prayer for you also Mr. Montague that the Lord would open your eyes and that you may see your errours and renounce them and at last believe that the holy Scriptures are Gods very Word and were writ by his speciall command and are to be the rule of our fath and manners and by the which we shall be judged at the last day And this shall suffice to have spoke concerning this point Now I come to prove that the holy Scriptures are not obscure and darke but cleare and perspicuous in all things that concerne salvation David in the 19. Psal ver 7 8. The Law of the Lord saith he is perfect converting the soule The testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple The Statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the heart the Commandement of the Lord is pure enlightning the eyes Here are two things Master Montague confirmed by David who wrote by the Spirit of God which cannot erre the first is that the Law of the Lord is perfect and converting the soule and making wise the simple the second that it is cleare illuminating the eyes What Blasphemy then is it in the Church of Rome to accuse the whole Scripture not onely of imperfection but of darknesse and obscurity Yea what else is it but to give the Holy Ghost the lie who saith that the holy Scripture is not onely perfect but illuminating and enlightning the eyes And in Psalm 119. v. 103. Thy Word saith he is a Lampe unto my feet and a light to my waies And in the 130 verse The entrance of thy Word saith he giveth light it giveth understanding to the simple So that there are none Master Montague that will not turne their backe upon this Lampe but may see the light of it And in Proverb 1. ver 2 3 4 5. among the praises of the holy Word he saith That it giveth subtilty to the simple and to the young man knowledge and discretion And in the 6. chap. ver 23. he saith That the Commandement is a Lampe and the Law is light And in chap. 8. ver 8 9. All the words of my mouth saith he are in righteousnesse c. they are all plaine to him that understandeth and right to them that find knowledge Infinite places to this purpose might be cited but I will content my selfe onely with two more out of the New Testament 2 Cor. 4. v. 3 4. If our Gospell saith the Apostle be hid it is hid to them that are lost to whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospell of Christ who is the image of God should shine into them Take notice Mr. Montague that as the Sunne though it shineth forth never so gloriously and in all its greatest brightnesse yet the blind see never the more in like manner though the holy Scripture be never so cleare and perspicuous in all things necessary to salvation yet the unbelievers and incredulous whose eyes the God of this world hath blinded they can neither see nor comprehend the light of them St. Peter in his second Epistle chap. 1. v. 19. We have also saith he a more sure word of Prophesie whereunto you doe well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a darke place untill the day dawne and the Day-starre arise in your hearts If the holy Apostle Peter compares the writings of the Old Testament to a light and the Scripture of the New Testament unto the Day-starre what wickednesse then is it Mr. Montague in the Church of Rome to accuse all the holy Scriptures of obscurity and darknesse and to make them the cause of all errours and heresies and of all confusions I will now Mr. Montague briefly prove that the people ought to read the holy Scriptures and that it is their duty to study them diligently and that it is a great and insufferable injury and wrong done to them by the Church of Rome to take the Scriptures out of their hands and to prohibite the reading of them for in that they like the Scribes Pharisees and Lawyers take away from them the Key of knowledge and the meanes of their salvation Luke 11. v. 52. contrary to the command of God and Christs precept who was the onely Prophet of his Church whom we are bound to heare and obey in all things Matth. 3. Matth. 17. This Master Montague I will first doe and then come to the point The Lord after that he had proclaimed his Law unto the people and writ it with his owne hand commanded all the people carefully to observe to doe according to that he had taught them and that they might the better remember it he enjoynes them to keepe it in their hearts and to write it upon the Posts of their houses and on their gates the words are these Deut. 6. ver 6 7 8 9 All these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children and shalt talke of them when thou sittest in thy house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou liest down and when thou risest up And thou shalt bind them for a signe upon thy hand and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thine house and on the gates And in the 11. chapter of the same booke he reiterates the same command vers 18 19 20. Therefore saith the Lord shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soule and bind them for a signe upon your hand that they may be as frontlets between your eyes And ye shall teach them your children speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way when thou liest downe and when thou risest up and thou shalt write them upon the doore posts of thine house and upon thy gates Here is precept upon precept as if the Lord could never have spoke enough unto the people to stir them up to the diligent learning and studying of his holy Lawes and all for
their owne good that their daies might be multiplied and the daies of their children as the daies of Heaven upon the earth vers 21. So that it had been a prodigious thing in Israel to forbid the people the reading of Moses his writings and books when God commanded all the people without exception to write his Laws upon the posts of their doores and upon their gates to the end that all men of what ranke or quality soever they were might read them and square their lives according to them and yet the Church of Rome contrary unto Gods command forbids the people either to read or have the Scripture in their houses And in the 34. of Isaiah ver 16. Seeke ye out of the booke of the Lord and read c. The Prophet here addresseth his speech to all the people of the earth as is evident by the beginning of the chapter And in Malachi 4. vers 4. Remember ye saith the Prophet the Law of Moses my servant which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel with the Statutes and judgements Here likewise all the people are commanded and enjoyned to the reading and remembring of Moses Law Yea Kings themselves and Governours are commanded to read the Law and to governe themselves and the people committed to their charge according to the Law of God Deut. 17. ver 18 19. And it shall be when he sitteth upon the Throne of his Kingdome that he shall write him a copy of this Law in a booke out of that which is before the Priests and the Levites And it shall be with him and he shall read therein all the daies of his life that he may learne to feare the Lord his God and to keep all the words of his Law and these statutes to doe them that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren and that he turne not aside from the Commandement to the right hand or to the left to the end he may prolong his dayes in his Kingdome hee and his children in the middest of Jsrael Hâ—re we see the Kings themselves are as strictly commanded to keepe the Law of God as the meanest of the people And Josua 1. v. 7 8. Only be thou strong and very couragious that thou mayest observe to doe according to all the Law which Moses my servant commanded thee turne not from it to the right hand or to the left that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goâ—st This book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shall have good successe Josua was the Generall of their Army and yet hee is by an expresse command injoyned to reade and meditate in the holy Scriptures night and day and commanded not to turne to the right hand or to the left but to order his life and governe the people according to the same all the dayes of his life And Josua in the 23 Chap. vers 6. exhorts the people saying Be ye of a valiant courrage to observe and do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses that ye turne not there-from to the right hand or to the left He ties all the people to the written Law and commands universall and constant obedience unto it and promiseth them blessings from God if they shal obey and pronounceth judgements from God against them if they shall rebell and be disobedient and for the more animating of them to the duty of obedience he sets his own example before them Chap. 24. v. 15. with his resolution that hee and his house would serve the Lord if others would not and by that he teacheth every one their duty that if all the world would go from God yet every one of us is particularly bound to cleave unto him and the way to cleave unto the Lord is to follow the direction of his Law and continually to have it before our eyes and in our hearts according to Solomons counsell frequently set down My sonne saith he Pro. 3. vers 1. Forget not my Law but let thy heart keepe my Commandements for length of dayes and yeares of life and peace shall they adde unto thee Let not mercy and truth forsake thee binde them about thy necke write them upon the Table of thy heart So shalt thou finde favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man Solomon contents not himselfe only to teach all men their duty but withall shewes them the benefit that redoundeth and ariseth from it viz. All manner of blessing according to that of S. Paul the first of Timoth. chap. 4. vers 8. Godlinesse is profitable unto all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come And in the sixth Chap. vers 20. My sonne saith he keepe thy fathers commandement and forsake not the Law of thy mother That Law saith Solomon that God gave unto thy Father and to thy Mother and injoyned them in the sixt of Deut. and the 11. to teach unto their children that Law and Commandement keep thou and forsake it not yea binde them continually upon thine heart and tie them about thy neck When thou goest it shall leade thee when thou sleepest it shall keepe thee and when thou awakest it shall talke with thee for the Commandement is a Lampe and the Law is light and reproofes of instruction are the way of life Infinite places more might be alledged out of all the holy Scriptures of the old Testament where all the holy Prophets exhort the people to the studying meditating and reading of the Law and where they pronounce them blessed that delight and meditate in the Law night and day Psal 1. But now let us see what Christ and his Apostles taught us in the new Testament and what the practise of all the Saints and holy men of God was in those dayes Christ in John 5. v. 38. saith Search the Scriptures for in them yee thinke to have eternall life and they are they that testify of mee And in Luke 16. vers 29.30 in the person of Abraham hee sends all that deâ—â—re salvation and to be freed from the torments of Diâ—eâ— to Moses and the Prophets and bids them heare them And tells them farther 〈◊〉 if â—â—y will not heare Moses and the Prophets though one should arise from the dead they would not be perswaded no miracles will be so prevalent and available either to instruct them or deterre them from their sinfull courses as Moses and the Prophets and therefore the Lord Jesus the Prophet of his Church ties them to the written Word And in both these places our Saviour speaketh unto all the people and not unto the Doctors and Teachers onely And S. Paul the Doctor of the Gentiles writing to the Colossians and in them to all Christians as S. Peter in his second Epistle confirmeth
of the primitive Christians it is said of that noble Eunuch Acts 8. vers 27.28 to his eternall prayse that came to Jerusalem to worship that as hee returned sitting in his Chariot hee read Esaias the Prophet Without doubt if hee read him before he was a Christian he read him much more and more frequently after hee was a Christian and if hee read the Prophets before hee understood them it is very like that he was a more diligent Reader of them when he understood them and yet notwithstanding Mr. Montague this was no Church-man that I may speake in your dialect but a secular Lord the Treasurer of the Queene of Ethiopia It was his greatest honour that he was a reader of the holy Scripture and in the Church of Rome it is an infamy and hainous crime that is expiated with death for any secular men to reade the Prophecies and Scriptures or to have them in their houses What thinke you I pray Mr. Montague of this dealing of the Church of Rome towards her sonnes and children Is shee not a very cruell step-mother that thus murthereth her poore childrens soules and bodies that snatcheth the Paps and Breasts by which they should be nourished out of their mouthes and keepes away the Milke of the word from them It is said of the Bereans Act. 17. vers 11. to their everlasting honour that they were more noble than they which were at Thessalonica and wherefore were they more honorable because saith S. Luke they received the Word with all readiness searching the Scriptures dayly whether those things were so And this was a thing very laudable in them and left for our imitation and to be a Lesson for all men that they should examine whatsoever is taught them and by whomsoever by the holy Scripture which to do in the Church of Rome would be punished with all severity as you know very well Mr. Montague It was Timothies praise 2 Tim. 3. v. 15. That he knew the Scriptures from his child-hood and that in those tender yeares hee read the Word of God Here we have the example of a youth to his ever honour who was acquainted with the holy Scriptures and the very reading of them would be punished in old men in Italy or under the Popes Dominions What a desperate height of sacrilegious wickednesse is the Church of Rome now arrived to that dares against the command of God and against all justice and honesty take the Word of God and the holy Scriptures out of the hands of the people for whose cause principally they were writ For the Apostles writ most of their Epistles not to the Presbyters and Bishops but to the Churches in generall To the Churches of God to the sanctified in Jesus Christ and to all those that call upon the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ So Paul to the Corinthians the 1. Chap. 1. vers 2. 2 Cor. 2. vers 1. Galat. 1. vers 2. Ephes 1. vers 1 c. And that hee might cleerly demonstrate that hee writes as well to the people as to the Ministers and Pastors he discriminateth and distinguisheth them Phil. 1. v. 1. Paul and Timothy servants of Jesus Christ to all the Saints in Jesus Christ which are at Philippi with the Bishops and Deanes And S. James addresseth his Epistle to the twelve Tribes that are scattered abroade Iames 1. vers 1. And S. Peter writes his first Epistle to the strangers scattered through Pontus Galatia Cappadâ—cia Asia and Bithynia vers 1. And his second Epistle is yet more generall To them that have obtained like pretious faith with us through the Righteousnesse of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ vers 1. What unjustice therefore is it Mr. Montague in the Church of Rome to take these Epistles out of the hands of Christians and Believers to whom they are sent and dedicated S. Iohn in his first Epistle and second Chap. saith that hee writes to Fathers to young men and to little children to this end to oblige and tie all people of what age quality or degree soever they be to reade his Epistle Hee writes his second to an honorable Lady who without doubt made no scruple to reade it in her Family But in the Church of Rome this is not permitted to the people to reade the holy Scriptures or to heare them read in the vulgar Tongue without eminent danger and severe punishment if it be known Although the Apostle in expresse formall words hath commanded that his Epistles should be read by all the people as we may see in his Letters to the Colossians Cha. 4. v. 16. and to the Thessalonians When yee have read this Epistle saith he cause that it be read also in Laodicea c. And in the first of Thess 5. vers 27. I charge you by the Lord saith the Apostle that this Epistle be read to all the holy Brethren But in the Church of Rome such a miserable and degenerating age we live in the holy Scriptures are snatcht and taken out of the hands of the people and impious Legends and scurrilous Pamphlets are put into their hands But to conclude this point S. John in 1 Revelation vers 3. Blessed are they saith S. John that reade and they that heare the words of this Prophesy and keepe those things which are written therein If the Spirit of God Mr. Mountague calls and pronounces those blessed that read the Booke of the Revelation that is the difficultest of all the Scriptures how much more blessed ought wee to thinke those that read the holy Gospells and all the Epistles of the holy Apostles and the other Scriptures which containe many things in them yea all things necessary to salvation very familiar and easy to be understood Therefore needs must that people bee unhappy yea cursed that are deprived not onely of so great felicity but of all true comfort By all this that I have now said to prove that the sacred Scriptures were not accidentally written but by command and that to be a rule of direction to all and that they are not darke and obscure and that the people ought to reade them and study them all which our great Prophet the Lord Jesus hath both taught and confirmed and his blessed Apostles after him whom he hath commanded us to hear saying He that heareth you heareth mee and he that despiseth you despiseth me and him that sent mee Luke 10. vers 16. It is very evident that the Church of Rome doth onely in word acknowledge Christ to bee the King Priest and Prophet of his Church but in workes overthrow all his offices and annihilate as much as in them lies the whole worke of our Redemption and the whole worship of God by bringing in a worship and service of their own which neither the King Priest and Prophet of his Church nor any of his blessed Apostles hath ever taught us But it wil yet more cleerly be elucidated by that that insueth when I shal manifestly prove that
to whom he is not their Lord he will be obeyed and have his pleasure submitted to or else we cannot be his disciples nor obtaine life eternall So that inevitably and most necessarily it followeth that we must renounce our owne merits and justification by our owne workes if we will believe in Christ as we ought to believe All which when the Church of England teacheth it is built upon the foundation of Peter and therefore is a true Church But that I may conclude this point and clearely evidence the truth of it to you Mr. Montague and all men and by other testimonies confirme it and in so doing prove the Church of England a true Church which you stifly deny I will briefly declare wherein our justification before God consisteth and what it is that makes us acceptable with him and to believe aright which is not to rely upon our own righteousnes but upon the righteousnes of Jesus Christ apprehended by faith And this doctrin we learn out of the holy Scriptures which teach us a twofold righteousnesse Rom. 10. v. 3. a righteousnesse of God and a righteousnesse of our owne which the Jewes relying upon as all Justiciaries do did not submit themselves to the righteousnesse of God therefore did not deny themselves and come unto Christ rely upon him Who was the end of the Law for righteousnesse to every one that believeth vers 4. For Moses saith the Apostle describeth the righteousnesse which is of the Law that the man that doth those things shall live by them But the righteousnesse which is of faith speaketh on this wise that if thou shalt confesse with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved For with the heart man believeth unto righteousnesse and with the mouth confession is made to salvation Here faith alone is the hand that reacheth forth the righteousnes of Christ unto us and by which apprehending Christ we stand justified before God So that out of the words of the Apostle this twofold righteousnesse appeares the righteousnesse of the Gospell and the righteousnesse of the Law which the Apostle so describeth as no mortall man ever living besides Christ onely since the fall of Adam was righteous or just or indeed could be as is sufficiently by the places above mentioned proved But the righteousnes of the Gospell is that whosoever believeth in Christ shall not perish but have everlasting life John 3. For the just shall live by his faith Rom. 1. Gal. 3. Now then when the righteousnesse of the Law consisteth in the absolute and perfect observation obedience and fulfilling of the whole Law and no man can perfectly keepe observe and obey it it of necessity followes that we cannot attaine unto righteousnesse by the Law but we must seeke another righteousnesse which is onely to be found in the Gospell and that righteousnesse is the remission of all our sinnes and our reconciliation with God and the imputation of Christs righteousnesse freely bestowed upon us of God for Christs sake who is our onely Saviour and redeemer And this is to be built upon the foundation of Peter And this is the righteousnesse by which we must be saved and justified before God For we are justified freely by grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ As Paul saith to the Rom. chap. 3. ver 24. and in vers 28. farther expresseth himselfe saying We conclude therefore that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law The sense and meaning of the which words if we do duely consider them will so cleare unto all men this Evangelicall and everlasting truth that there will be no doubting of it to any rationall creature For the finding out therefore of the true sense of these words three things offer themselves to be deliberated on First what is meant here by being justified Secondly what is meant to be justified by faith Thirdly what are those works and deeds which are excluded from justification As concerning the first we are to observe three distinct actions of God in it First the freedome absolution of a sinner from the guilt of his sins and iniquities for the merits of Jesus Christ Acts 13. v. 38 39. Be it knowne unto you therefore men and brethren that through this man is preached unto you forgivenesse of sins And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses That is by Jesus Christ they are freed and absolved from the guilt of those sinnes which the Law could not free them from And in this sense doth the Apostle oppose justification to condemnation in Rom. 8. v. 33. which is nothing else but a binding over a man to undergoe the due and deserved punishment The second action of God is imputation or the esteeming or the accounting of a sinner as just for the merits of Jesus Christ Woe be to him that justifieth the wicked Esay 5. ver 22. that is that doth not make him just but accompts esteems and declares him as just So in the Gospell wisdom is said to be justified of her children that is approved of and acknowledged The third action of God is the acceptation or receiving of a sinner to life eternall in Christ For after God hath freed and absolved a sinner and imputed righteousnesse unto him this receiving of him after that to life eternall doth necessarily follow which is therefore cald justification of life Rom. 5. ver 18. where the reason of it is likewise rendered for as Adams sinne and offence was imputed to all or came upon all and by it death entered into the world and reigned so the obedience of Christ being imputed to all believers they are made righteous and obtaine justification of life From the consideration of all which this definition of justification is easily gathered That it is an action of God the Father absolving and freeing a sinner from all his offences and transgressions for the merits of Jesus Christ and imputing righteousnesse unto him and receiving of him to life eternall And now I come to the second thing viz. What is meant to be justified by faith The sense and meaning of the which as it is a matter of great moment and consequence and concernes no lesse than our eternall happinesse so it cals for and requires at our hands all care and diligence for the right understanding of it which the great Rabbins of the Church of Rome are ignorant of and that it may the more easily be delucidated and understood I will declare first what that thing is for which a sinner is justified and accounted just And that is the obedience of Jesus Christ our mediator and redeemer and that both his active and passive for those are not to be separated that God hath joyned together the last of which doth consist in Christs suffering of the first death in respect of his
and as prevalent to declare the truth of that tenent as if indeed that word had been expressed Notwithstanding all that I have now said to prove the doctrine of free justification by faith alone to bee grounded upon the Scripture and that according to the holy Word of God the Church of England preacheth it and by that proves it selfe a true Church yet the Church of England doth not teach that that faith by which we are justified is alone or solitary without the company and fellowship of good workes and other vertues and graces which are the fruits of faith but urgeth likewise and teacheth all holy duties to be joyned with Faith as wee shall see afterwards and that wee should be abounding in good workes which God hath before ordained that we should walke in for the glorifying of his name and to justify unto the world the livelinesse of our faith as all the Saints of old have done But now Mr. Mountague that you may see the error of your wayes and that all men may behold the impiety and vanity of the doctrine of selfe-merits and of the works of supererogation and that we may all be humble under the mighty hand of God and learne this lesson of selfe-denyall I shall for a corollary adde a few things and then conclude this point Our Saviour Christ saith Luke the 17. When you shall have done all those things that are commanded you say we are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to doe Is not this an extreame arrogancy think you Master Montague in any man when our Saviour Christ himselfe teacheth us to say we are unprofitable servants when we have done whatsoever is commanded us both in the law and the Gospell to say and affirme that we are meriting and deserving servants yea is it not an impious ridiculosity to affirme it when notwithstanding we do transgresse the Commandements of our Master a thousand wayes For these two conclusions do necessarily result out of our Saviours words First that when wee have done all that God commands we are yet but unprofitable servants The second that we have done but that was our duty to doe Out of the which words I thus argue Hee that when he has done all that he is commanded to do is yet but an unprofitable servant he cannot merit much lesse doe workes of supererogation But every man when he hath done all that is commanded him to doe is yet but an unprofitable servant Ergo he cannot merit much lesse do workes of supererogation All this is confirmed by our Saviours owne words who cannot erre we must leave the works of merit to Christ alone and say we are unprofitable and deny our selves if we will be his Disciples Out of the same words I gather this argument also They which have done but that which was their duty to do when they have done all that was commanded them they cannot merit much lesse do workes of supererogation But when they have done all that was commanded them both in the Law and Gospell they have done but that which was their duty to do Ergo they cannot merit much lesse do works of supererogation You must needs understand Mr. Montague the Doctrine of merits who are able to discourse a weeke together of them and therefore you know very well that in your Roman Dialect merits works of supererogation are such things and performances as are done above that that is commanded them and when men do more than they are injoyned by God and exceede in their duty to a superplus This I say is your language But if no man can attaine to such perfection of obedience as the Romanists speake of then by their own confession the Doctrin of merits is a false doctrin and ought by all men to be abominated and so much the rather we ought to abhor it because it is a Doctrine of blasphemy and is as much in effect as to give the Lord of Life truth it selfe the lie for Christ sayth When you have done all things that are commanded you say you are unprofitable servants for you have done that which was your duty Notwithstanding the Papists say they can merit But Christ who is the Master and Doctor of his Church and whom we are commanded to heare Mat. 3. Mat. 17. has taught us otherwise affirming we cannot merit much lesse do workes of supererogation which will plainly appeare if we examine a few instances and go through some particulars We are commanded to love the Lord our God with all our heart with all our mind and with all our mighâ— and to love our Neighbour as our selfe I now demand of you Mr. Mountague whether either your selfe or any man can attaine unto this perfection of love the Lord requires at your hands and so fulfill the Law If it be acknowledged that no man can attaine to this perfection of love then he is a transgressor of the Law and is so far from meriting favour at Gods hand as he merits eternall death by it for the soule that sinnes shall die Ezekiel 18. for the wages of sin is death Numb 6. But if you answer that you can keepe this Law notwithstanding you cannot yet merit by it by Christs own words who proclaimeth you an unprofitable servant affirming that you have done but your duty Againe in the fifth of Matth. 4. vers 8. our Saviour saith Be yee therefore perfect as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect Here the Lord Jesus Christ for the ordering of our obedience and regulating of our lives sets before us as a modell rule and example which we must ever follow the perfection that is in God himselfe our Heavenly father and commands all men to be perfect as he himselfe is perfect I demand of you Mr. Montague can you or any man attaine unto this perfection that is in God which neverthelesse we are commanded to do If you do acknowledge that no man can attaine to it as no man can indeed then you are a transgressor of this command and fayling in your duty you deserve condemnation and therefore are far from meriting But if you shall affirme that you can attaine to this perfection and should really do that you are commanded yet you are still an unprofitable servant and have done but your duty and therefore have not yet merited any thing We are commanded both in the old Testament and in the new to be holy and for the pattern of our holinesse as of our perfection the holinesse of God is set downe before us for our imitation As he that hath called you saith St. Peter is holy so be you holy in all manner of conversation because it is written Be yee holy as I am holy Levit. 11. ver 24. 19.2 the 20.7 I desire you to tell me whether you or any man can attaine to that perfection of holinesse through the whole course of your life that is in God if not you have transgressed this
succession miracles pompe state and magnificence antiquity unity c. and that it is and alwaies hath been in a perspicuous and glorious forme and visible appearance and the Church of Rome also affirmeth that the pure preaching of the Gospell the right administration of the Sacraments and the true invocation of God are not the notes of a true Church which is most impious to thinke All this which I have now spoke is the beliefe and faith of the Church of Rome concerning the Kingly Office of Christ and his Kingdome the Church as you well know Master Montague Now I intreat you and all men a little to consider whether the faith of the Church of England or the beliefe of the Church of Rome touching Christs Kingly Office and his Kingdome be more orthodox and which of them most honoureth Christ the King And whether the Church of Rome doth any more but in word onely acknowledge Christ to be King and his Church to be his Kingdome but in workes deny them and whether the Church of England doth not both in word and deeds truely honour him for their King and venerate his Church and Kingdome as his Spouse The Church of England gives unto Christ his due honour prerogatives and priviledges and all his glory and dignity as their onely Law-giver and to the utmost of their power and abilities endeavour that his Soveraignty and Royalty may suffer no diminution nor may in the least thing be impeached or damnified and therefore they doe believe that the honour of governing and moderating of his Church is Christs peculiar priviledge and right and so annexed to his Crowne and Royalty and so peculiarly belonging unto the Lord of life as it is blasphemy in any to assume that honour of governing upon themselves or any of his glorious titles as that of Lord of Lords and foundation of the Church which are his Prerogatives and she believes also that it is a great sin and wickednesse in any Christian to allow and approve of such derogation from their King and master Jesus Christ The Church of Rome on the contrary ascribes and gives that honour and glory and those titles of dignity which belong unto Christ onely and are his peculiar Prerogatives unto a mortall Pope Christ and his Kingdomes immortall enemy and divides the government of the Church his Kingdome between Christ and the Pope yea they doe ascribe and give unto their Pope a greater power and authority than Christ assumed unto himselfe or that they give unto Christ For their Pope may both dispense with the Law of God and Christ and breake it when he pleaseth and decree against it as you know very well Mr. Montague which Christ never did or assumed to himselfe and the Church of Rome in all things gives more honour and obedience to the Pope than to Christ For where Christ forbids if the Pope commands they will obey the Pope and neglect Christs command and make nothing of it and where Christ commands and the Pope forbids they listen unto the Pope and obey him and trample Christs command under their polluted feet But for the more cleere evidencing of this truth and that neither you Mr. Montague nor any other may say I falsely charge the Church of Rome consider I pray these few following particulars to omit many more Christ in Matth. 20. ver 25. condemneth all worldly Dominion and princely government in his Church and in expresse words forbids his Apostles and in them all their successors to affect Soveraignty one over another or over the Church of God in these words The Kings of the Nations beare rule over them but it shall not be so among you Contrary unto this command or rather prohibition of Christ the Church of Rome setteth up a most tyrannicall worldly Monarchy and Dominion ruling over both the soules bodies and estates of all sorts rankes and degrees of men and such a Soveraignty as advanceth it selfe above all that is called God and establisheth a government in Christs Kingdome most like to the government of the Kings of the Nations whereas Christ would have the government and rule of his Church most unlike to that kind of government and therefore in this particular it is manifest they preferre the Popes command before Christs the King of his Church Christ in John 5. saith Search the Scriptures for in them ye thinke to have eternall life The Church of Rome on the contrary not onely takes away the Scriptures out of the hands of the people but prohibits the searching and the reading of them yea punisheth the reading of them or but the having of them in their houses in the vulgar tongue with fire and fagot and most blasphemously accuseth them to be the cause of all errours schismes and heresies and of all factions in Kingdomes and States And in this point also you may see how they listen more unto the Pope than unto Christ himselfe Christ Luke 11. instructeth all Christians how to pray saying When ye pray say Our Father which art in Heaven c. And in Matth. 11. Come unto mee all yee that are weary and heavy laden c. The Church of Rome on the contrary commands the people to pray unto Saints and Angels and sends them on pilgrimages to their shrines there of them to demand health in the time of their needs and necessities In this particular in like manner they listen more to the Pope and sleight Christs direction and command Christ in the 24. of Matth. vers 26. saith If they shall say unto you that Christ is in the Desert goe not forth behold he is in the secret places believe it not The Church of Rome on the contrary teacheth and believeth that Christ is really present in all their Masses and that he is there in the hands of their Priests on their Altars and in their Pixes and where they please and that they ought there to give him Divine worship and punish the neglect of such worship with fire and sword and the not believing of that doctrine which is contrary unto Christs command with most cruell deaths and most exquisite tortures You see how in this point also the Church of Rome yeelds more obedience to the Popes command than Christs The Lord Jesus in the institution of his holy Supper Matth. 26. vers 27. tooke the Cup and when he had given thanks he gave it to his Disciples saying Drinke ye all of it The same doctrine was taught by Paul as received by Christ himselfe with a command that it should be continued untill his comming that all that were worthily prepared should take the cup as well as the bread 1 Cor. 11. Notwithstanding this double command of Christ the King the Church of Rome obeyes the Pope and practices the contrary and wholly takes away the cup from the people and will not so much as let them touch it much lesse taste of it a most abominable sacriledge and intolerable disobedience and rebellion Innumerable
I said before not onely injurious and hurtfull to the soules of men but full of blasphemy and derogatory to the honour of Christ our great and onely Prophet For what I pray Mr. Montague can be spoke more impiously of the holy Scripturs then to affirm they were accidentally written and not of set purpose and by the command of God and to the end that they should be the rule of faith when in the holy Scripture it is evidently cleare that they were written by divine providence for this very end and purpose that by them we should order both our faith lives and manners And what can be spoke more contumeliously against the holy Word of God then to accuse it of obscurity and darknesse when the Holy Ghost affirmeth the contrary and to take it out of the hands of the people and forbid them to read it when notwithstanding Christ commandeth it in expresse words Truely Master Montague these are most blasphemous assertions and such as you of the Church of Rome must earnestly and seriously repent of if ever you will finde favour at Gods hands and the very naming of these your erronious opinions were enough for any man to abhorre them But that you your selfe and all men may see the wickednesse of them I shal before I passe on to the other matters in hand briefly prove that the Scriptures were not accidentally written but of set purpose and by Gods appointment and that they are not obscure and darke in things pertaining to salvation and that they ought to be read by all the people and that they ought to examine all doctrines by them as they be recorded And then I will prove the al-sufficiency of the holy Scripture and that it is the rule which all men unto the end of the World are tied to for the regulating of their faith and manners which is my taske and then I will conclude But first as I said I will prove that the holy Scriptures were not accidentally written but of set purpose and by speciall command and that they are not obscure and darke in matters concerning salvation and that they are to be read to the people And first that they were not accidentally written I thus evince Those bookes that were written by Divine inspiration and by the counsaile of God for the salvation of mankind and for the benefit of the Church of God in all ages and for this very end that men might learne and know the mind and will of God fully and cleerly and have the certaine truth of the things they had heard that they might be preserved and kept from all errors and upheld and comforted in every condition they were not accidentally and occasionally written and out of the peculiar mation and pleasure of the Penmen thereof and by the will of man but by the Spirit of God But the holy Scriptures were written by Divine inspiration and by the counsell of God for the very ends specified Ergo they were not accidentally and occasionally written and out of the peculiar motion and pleasure of the Pen-men thereof and by the will of man but by the Spirit of God And for proofe of all these particulars the holy Scripture it selfe is clearly on our side 2 Tim chap. 3. v. 16. The whole Scripture saith the Apostle is given by divine inspiration or inspiration of God Now Mr. Montague Gods inspiration is Gods dictate and command as all that know any thing in Divinity can tell you if yee be ignorant and it is as much as to say they were written by Gods own appointment for what God inspires men to do that he appoints and commands them to doe so that it was not arbitrary in them to do it or not to do it but they were inspired to it and put upon that imployment to write the holy Scriptures and therefore the holy Scriptures through the whole Bible are called the Voice of God and the mouth of the Lord and the lively Oracles which were uttered and spoke by God himselfe first and afterwards delivered in writing unto the people by Moses and the other Prophets and holy Pen-men according to Gods command Acts 7. v. 38. and therefore the Scriptures were not accidentally written and by the peculiar motion and pleasure of men as the Church of Rome most blasphemously affirmeth S. Peter also is cleere in this point his words are these in his second Epistle chap. 1. vers 19 20 21. Wee have saith he a more sure word of prophecy whereunto yee do well that yee take heed as unto a light that shineth in a darke place c. Knowing this first that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost Take notice first Mr. Montague of the occasion of these words and then consider the expressions duly and you will easily from thence conclude that the Scripture was not accidentally written and by the will of man but by command from God himselfe and of set purpose and that the written word is the rule wee are to be guided by and more sure then the Tradition of the very Apostles themselves although they were both eye and eare witnesses of that they spake and told unto the people For the Apostle Peter in this Epistle confirmes all those Christians that hee writes unto of the truth and certainty of the things that hee declared unto them saying that the holy Apostles had not followed cunningly devised fables when they made knowne unto them the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ but were Eye-witnesses of his Majesty for hee received from God the Father honour and glory when there came such a Voice unto him from the excellent glory This is my beloved sonne in whom I am well pleased And this voice which came from Heaven wee heard when wee were with him in the holy mount Here wee see the Apostle Peter with Iames and John as it is in Mat. 17. were both Eye and Eare witnesses of Christs transfiguration and glory and heard the voyce and the people by tradition and the relation of the Apostles that had seene those things admired and believed them and yet the Apostle Peter in this very place signifieth unto them that the written Word of God the holy Scriptures the written Prophecies of the old Testament were a more sure Word than any Tradition yea even of the Apostles themselves though they were both eare and eye witnesses of that they related and preached unto others and commends the people that they did take heed unto the written Word as a light that shineth in a darke place no obscure things then Mr. Montague and he giveth them a reason why the Prophecies of the Scripture were a more sure Word than any traditions of men because saith he we know that the Scriptures are not of any private interpretation or from the peculiar or
he speaking to all the people And if we run through all the new Testament Moses and the Prophets and the Psalmes are the grounds of all their doctrines and thither they send the people upon whom the ends of the World are come and tie us alwayes to the Scriptures of the old Testament and the writings of the Apostles under the new with this expresse command that we should cleave onely to them and not to be wise above that which is written which sheweth the absolute perfection both of the old and new Testament and that they neede no Traditions of men for the making of them a compleat rule And so now I returne againe to the new Testament and will from thence produce some more arguments for the proving of the Al-sufficiency of the holy Scriptures in themselves and then conclude that point And for the better proceeding in my discourse I will goe on with the place of S. Paul in the 2 Epist to Timothy chap. 3. vers 15.16 where I began All Scripture saith he is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for reproofe for correction for instruction in Righteousnesse that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good workes from the which words I thus argue That which has all things in it sufficient for the begetting of Faith and Repentance and for the guiding ordering and regulating of our obedience and manners and for the supporting of us in every condition that containes all things in it necessary to salvation But the holy Scriptures of the old and new Testament have all things in them sufficient for the begetting of Faith and Repentance and for the guiding ordering and regulating of our obedience and manners and for the supporting of us in every condition Ergo the holy Scriptures of the old and new Testament containe all things in them necessary to salvation For the Major Mr. Montague there is no man that either can or will deny it for the Minor it hath sufficiently by all the former discourse bin proved yet for the further confirmation of it the very enumeration of the benefits that redound unto us by the holy Scriptures set downe by the Apostle in these words that they are profitable for doctrine for reproofe for correction for instruction in Righteousnesse that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished to all good workes do abundantly prove it for that which teacheth the truth convinceth error corrects vice frames us to all virtue and comforts us in every condition and is able to make the very man of God accomplished and throughly furnished to all good workes must needs containe all things in it necessary to salvation but the holy Scriptures doth all this as is apparent from this very place and that in Rom. 15. vers 4. Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that were through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Ergo the holy Scriptures containe all things in them necessary to salvation And by consequence have no neede of any humane Traditions for the making of them a compleat rule But for further illustration of this truth I will produce some other Testaimonies of the holy Scriptures of the new Testament Luk. 1. vers 1.2 3 4. For as much saith S. Luke as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us Even as they delivered them unto us which from the beginning were eye-witnesses and Ministers of the Word it seemed good to me also having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first to write unto thee in order most excellent Theophilus that thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast beene instructed Here Mr. Montague before I come to frame my argument out of these words I shall desire you well to consider and to take notice of S. Lukes Testimony which is this that before hee wrote his Gospell many had set forth in order a declaration of those things which were most surely believed among them and such men as were eye-witnesses of the things they related and Ministers of the Word and therefore men without exception and even these men had orderly declared and delivered in writing all things of which they were eye-witnesses So that by this it is manifest that a great part of the Scriptures of the new Testament were already pend when S. Luke wrote his Gospell which was long before Paul wrote his second Epistle to Timothy as all that are any thing verst in the holy Scriptures in the history of those times do very well know contrary unto your assertion Mr. Montague that the holy Scriptures and Doctrines of the new testament were not then pend but only delivered viva voce and received by Tradition when Paul wrote to Timothy And now I come to my argument which out of the words of S. Luke I thus frame Those writings that comprehend in them a perfect declaration of all things that were most surely believed conterning Christs doings preachings and sufferings and have in them a certaine and orderly narration of them all from the very first and that set downe by them that had a perfect understanding of them from the beginning as being Eye-witnesses of them and Ministers of the Word and were also pend to this very end that the truth and certainty of those things wherein they had been instructed and taught might be knowne to all future ages that all men might be kept from error and be established and confirmed for ever in the truth they containe all things in them necessary to salvation But the Scriptures of the new Testament comprehend in them a perfect declaration of all things that were most surely believed concerning Christs both doings preachings and sufferings the knowledge and believing of the which is sufficient to salvation and have in them a certaine and orderly narration of them all from the very first and that set downe by them that had a perfect understanding of them from the beginning as being Eye-witnesses of them and Ministers of the Word and were also pend to this very end that the Truth and certainty of those things wherein they had bin instructed and taught might be known to all future Ages that all men might be kept from error and be established and confirmed forever in the Truth Ergo the holy Scriptures containe all things in them necessary to salvation For the Major Mr. Montague I presume you will not deny it and for the Minor it is apparent from S. Lukes own words and therfore these two consectaries do from thence necessarily follow the first that the holy Scriptures have no neede of any humane Traditions for the making of them a compleate rule the second is that the Scripture is the certaine rule all Christians are tied unto to the end of the World and that they are the onely meanes to informe us of the truth
certainty of all that Christ both did and spak in the knowledge and believing of the which consists our Eternall happinesse and salvation And this Mr. Montague might suffice to have spoke to prove the al-sufficiency of the Scriptures without Traditions but I will yet adde a few more arguments to establish this Truth more fully and so much the more willingly I do it because it is a point of so great concernment and that about which there hath been and is the greatest contestation betweene us true Catholicks and you Papists S. Luke affords us an other evident testimony to prove the al-sufficiency of the holy Scriptures Acts 1. vers 1. The former Treatise saith hee have I made O Theophilus of all that Jesus began both to do and teach untill the day in which hee was taken up c. From which words I thus argue Those Bookes and writings that containe in them all things that Jesus Christ both did taught and suffered for the redemption and salvation of mankind by the knowledge and faith of the which men may be saved they containe all things in them necessary to salvation and have no need of any humane Traditions to be joyned unto them for the making of them a perfect Rule But the Scriptures of the new Testament comprehend in them all things that Jesus Christ both did taught and suffered for the redemption and salvation of mankinde by the knowledge and faith of which men may bee saved Ergo the Scriptures containe all things in them necessary to salvation The evidence of the truth of this argument is so manifest that besides Lukes owne Testimony which is enough for ever to stop the mouth of all gainesayers the very Rhemists themselves your owne witnesses do acknowledge it whose notes upon this place you may at your best leasure looke on their words are these Not all particularly for the other Evangelists wrote divers things not touched by him but all the principall and most necessary things These Mr. Montague are the expressions of your own men in which observe these two concessions The first that they do acknowledge that at that time that S. Luke writ his Gospell The other Evangelists had writ diverse things not touched by him And this overthrowes your opinion that when S. Paul writ unto Timothy that the Scriptures of the new Testament were not then pend but delivered only viva voce and by Tradition and this was long before that time that S. Paul writ to Timothy The second thing that they grant which is as much as I desired is this that S. Luke himselfe had writ all the principall and most necessary things so that if the principall and most necessary things to salvation were written by Luke alone and the other things of lesse necessity were written by the other Evangelists then by your owne witnesses it followeth Mr. Montague that all things necessary to salvation are comprised and contained in the Scriptures of the new Testament compleatly and fully and therefore they are absolutely in themselves perfect and have no neede of any humane Traditions for the making of them an intire and perfect rule And truly Mr. Montague I dare at any time undertake this taske against all the Papists in the would to prove that if wee had nothing but the very writings of S. Luke I meane the Gospell written by him and the Acts of the Apostles that there were enough pend for the salvation of men and that there were no just cause of complayning of the in-sufficiency of the Scripture seeing that the knowledge and believing of those principall and most necessary things are able to save our soules as most certaine it is the knowing and believing of what hee writ is sufficient to salvation But when God of his infinite favour and goodnesse to mankinde hath by so many of his blessed Servants Apostles and Evangelists in so many severall Gospells and Epistles besides the revelation of S. Iohn so abundantly declared his heavenly good will and pleasure it is not onely an intolerable ingratitude in any not to acknowledge it but also an insufferable blasphemy to accuse all the Scriptures of imperfection yea it is indeed an overthrowing of the Lord Christs propheticall office and to give the Spirit of God and his holy Apostles and Evangelists the lie when they affirme the contrary saying in expresse words that they have writ all things necessary to salvation as by the Testimonies following will appeare See what S. Iohn saith concerning this businesse of so great consequence Chap. 20. vers 30.31 And many other signes truly did Iesus in the presence of his Disciples which are not written in this Booke But these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Sonne of God and that believing yee might have life through his Name than the which there cannot be a more pregnant proofe to shew the sufficiency of what was written to salvation The argument from these words is this That which teacheth and declareth unto us the soveraigne and chiefest good and the meanes of attaining unto this good that containes all things in it necessary to salvation But the holy Scriptures doe teach and declare unto us the Soveraigne and chiefest good to wit life eternall and the meanes of attaining this life eternall to wit faith in Jesus Christ Ergo The Scriptures containe all things in them necessary to salvation If Mr. Montague you have a minde to confute this Argument you must then dispute against the Gospell of S. Iohn which confirmeth it But heare Mr. Montague what he saith in his first Epistle vers 1. 3.4 That which was from the beginning which wee have heard which wee have seene with our Eyes which wee have looked upon and our hands have handled of the Word of Life That which wee have seene and heard declare wee unto you that yee may also have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Sonne Jesus Christ And these things write wee unto you that your joy may be full The Argument from these words I thus frame The holy Apostles did hear and see whatsoever was necessary to salvation but the Apostles did declare set downe pen and record in their writings whatsoever they thought usefull requisite and sufficient for the attaining of eternall life Ergo the Apostles have declared and set down in their Bookes and writings whatsoever is necessary to salvation and to affirme the contrary is to give the Spirit of God and the holy Apostle the lie who in expresse tearms assert it For the Minor it is also manifest out of the same words For that which unites us with the Father and with his Sonne Jesus Christ and makes our joy compleat that undeniably containes all things necessary to salvation but the holy Scriptures unite us with the Father and with his Sonne Iesus Christ and make our joy compleate Ergo they containe all things necessary to salvation And the same Apostle in the
17 Chapter of his holy Gospell vers 3. has these words This is life eternall to know thee to be the onely true God and whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ Out of the which place I thus reason That which teaches us the knowledge of the onely true God and whom hee hath sent Iesus Christ which is life eternall that containes all things in it necessary to salvation but the holy Scriptures teach us the knowledge of the onely true God and whom hee hath sent Jesus Christ which is life eternall Ergo The holy Scriptures containe in them all things necessary to salvation The Major is the Text the Minor you dare not deny but if you or any shall it hath beene sufficiently confirmed by the former discourse And these Arguments may satisfy any rationall creature for the proofe of the sufficiency of the holy Scriptures without the additions of any humane Traditions for the making of them compleate but by way of a corollary I shall yet adde a few proofes more Heb. chap. 1. vers 1.2 God saith the Authour of that Epistle Who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last dayes spoken unto us by his Sonne c. From the which words I thus argue If the Word of God necessary to the salvation of the Church was first delivered by the Prophets and afterwards by Christ and his Apostles and the Word of God delivered by the Prophets is onely at this day to be sought in the writings of the Prophets then certainly the Word of God delivered unto us by Christ and his Apostles is at this day onely to be sought in the writings of the Apostles unlesse there can be some reason given of the dissimilitude But the antecedent is true Ergo The consequent Wherefore the Word of God delivered unto us by Christ and his Apostles is at this day to be sought or found onely in the writings of the Apostles And therefore the whole Word of God necessary to the salvation of the Church is contained and at this day onely to be found in the writings of the Prophets and Apostles and not in the vaine Traditions of men The hypothesis or hypotheticall connexion of this argument Mr. Montague is manifest by the very light of nature quae dictat de iisdem idem esse statuendum Now if yee looke into the substance of the word of God you will finde it to be the same both in the old and new Testament according to that of Paul Acts 26. vers 22. Who professeth there that he said none other things than those which the Prophets and Moses did say should come And in Chap. 24. vers 14. he confest before Felix the Governour that after the way they called Heresie hee worshipped the God of his Fathers believing all things that were written in the Law and the Prophets So that for the substance of the word of God it is the same both in the old and new Testament only the difference is this that the exhibition or manifestation of the Word was far more glorious and perspicuous in the new Testament than in the old for there the truth was set forth under diverse shadowes and representations but in the new it was cleerly without any Types and Figures declared unto the World So that S. Paul in his 2 Epistle to the Cor. chap. 3. comparing them together in their glory affirmes in expresse words that the administration of the Gospell was far more glorious than that of the old Testament calling the Ministration of the Law Death and the exhibition of the Gospell the Ministration of the Spirit and the Ministration of Righteousnesse and sayes that it did exceede in glory and in the 18 verse We saith he all with open face behold as in a glasse the glory of the Lord Whereas under the Law they beheld all things through Figures and had alwayes a veil before their Eyes And S. Peter in this point agrees with Paul for he in his 2 Epistle chap. 1. vers 19. compares the old Testament to a light or Candle shining in a darke place and the Gospell unto the Day-star And there is a greater difference between the light clarity and brightnesse of the new Testament and that of the old than betweene a little sucking Candle and a great Cathedrall one or betweene a small rush Candle or a little Lampe and a mighty Torch for although a man by the help of a little slender light may be conducted through a darke place and may by it be guided to keepe the right way yet all men know that a Torch or a great light will do that office farre more excellently so although the law was a light sufficient for the guiding of the people and keeping them out of the by-waies of sinne and errour yet the Gospell doth that office farre more illustriously and there is as great a difference betweene them in Saint Peters judgement as is betweene an ordinary light and the Day-starre for they are his own words All which things Master Montague makes greatly for the strengthning of my argument and the confirming of the truth in hand and to prove that if the Word of God necessary to the salvation of the Church under the old Testament was all to be found in the writings of the Prophets much more is the Word of God sufficient to salvation to be found in the writings of the Apostles and Evangelists which will yet more evidently appeare if wee consider and weigh the comparison betweene the old Testament and the new and the Word of God exhibited in them both For if God spake by the Prophets in the old Testament he spake also by the Apostles in the new If the Prophets preached the Word of God so did the Apostles If the Prophets did commit the Word of God to writing and penned it so did the Apostles And if the Prophets did comprehend and comprise the whole doctrine of the old Testament in their writings as they themselves affirme and as I have evidently in this discourse and sufficiently proved the Apostles and Evangelists have also comprised the whole doctrine of the Gospell in their writings as they also testifie and as I have abundantly shewed And therefore with very good reason I may urge this place now in hand and thus argue If the Word of God which was delivered in divers manners and sundry waies in time past be notwithstanding all of it to be found in the writings of the Prophets then the Word of God which under the Gospell was not delivered in divers manners and sundry waies but after one way is to be found in the writings of the Apostles For otherwise who sees not but the force of the Apostles comparison would fall to the ground And if the opinion and doctrine of the Church of Rome be true the Apostle should say or conclude thus As God spake in times past in divers manners and sundry waies unto the
a very Angel from Heaven and all this Master Montague I shall prove by the following testimonies of holy Scripture and then I will conclude expecting the performance of your promise and your returne to your mother the Church of England whom you have without any due reason formerly deserted I shall therefore gather up all the proofes that have here and there been occasionally set downe in the foregoing Treatise and adde some other to them and that in good order that so you may have them all presented to your view at once for the confirming of this truth that the holy Scriptures are the onely rule of our faith obedience and manners and that we ought onely to cleave unto them And I will begin with the old Testament first out of the which heare what Moses saith Deut. 4. v. 2. Ye shall not adde saith the Lord unto the Word which I command you neither shall you diminish ought from it that you may keepe the Commandement of the Lord your God which I command you And in chap. 5. ver 32. Yee shall observe to doe therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you you shall not turne aside to the right hand or to the left And Chap. 12. ver 32. What thing soever I command you observe to doe it Thou shalt not adde thereto nor diminish from it And Proverb 30. ver 6. Adde not thou to his words lest he reprove thee and thou be found a lyer Out of all which words these two conclusions necessarily follow the first that the holy Scriptures were the onely rule that the people of God in Moses his time were tied unto and from the which they ought not to decline or swarve either to the right hand or to the left The second thing that the Scriptures then had no need of the Traditions of men for the making of them a compleat rule for all men were forbidden either to adde unto them or diminish from them And if the holy Scriptures in Moses his time were the rule of direction unto all Israel and unto the which they were precisely tied in regard of its perfection then after the writings of the Prophets and the writings of the Apostles have beene joyned and annexed to the bookes of Moses we may truely conclude that the Scriptures now containing all those things in them the knowledge and faith of which is necessary to salvation are not only a perfect rule but that likewise we are still under the same command bound and tied to make the written Word of the old and new Testament the rule of our faith and manners and that onely For the hypotheticall connexion it is manifest and cleare not only from the identity of the Word of God but from the multitude of the bookes that were afterward penned and written both as well by the holy Prophets as the blessed Apostles as hath abundantly been proved in the precedent discourse for the Assumption it is sufficiently proved by the places above quoted Now Master Montague if the Papists shall affirme that these places cited by Moses are not to be restrained to the Word of God written by him they shall not onely oppose the truth it selfe but fight against the very light of reason and deny innumerable other expresse Texts of Scripture all which doe manifestly preclude and hinder them from all waies of evasion For in Exod. 24. ver 4. it is said that Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And Deut. 31. ver 9. Moses wrote this Law And Deut. 28. ver 58. If thou wilt not observe to doe all the words of this Law that are written in this booke that thou mayst feare this glorious and fearefull Name the Lord thy God And Paul in Acts 24. I believe saith he all things that are written in the Law and in the Prophets And in Deut. 29. v. 19. And it come to passe when he heareth the words of this curse that he blesse himselfe in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walke in the imagination of mine heart to adde drunkennesse to thirst the Lord shall not spare him but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoke against that man and all the curses that are written in this booke shall lie upon him and the Lord shall blot out his name from under Heaven And in the 30 chap. ver 10. If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to keepe his Commandements and his Statutes which are written in this booke of the Law From all which places and many more that might be produced it is manifest that the Word of God of which Moses speakâ—th is to be understood of the writings of Moses and that it is not to be expounded or drawne to any unwritten Traditions delivered by Moses viva voce and therefore that the written word by Moses was onely to be the rule which all Israel were tied to for the ordering of their faith lives and manners and that all Christians at this day are much more tied and bound to cleave onely to the written Word of God in the old and new Testament Which will yet be far more evident from Deut. 4. ver 18 19 20. and from Joshua 1. ver 7 8. In both which places we see that the Kings and Rulers themselves are tied to the written Word and are enjoyned to make that the rule of their lives and actions and are commanded to meditate in it night and day and to rule and governe according to the same without declining from it either to the right hand or to the left And Joshua also in Chap. 23. ver 6. sendeth the people to the written Word saying Be ye therefore very couragious to keepe and doe all that is written in the booke of the Law of Moses that ye turne not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left This written Word was to be the rule of direction unto all the people no humane Traditions Master Montague David likewise sent all the people and his sonne Solomon to the Law of the Lord and commanded that they should both seeke and keepe all the Commandements of the Lord their God the 1 of Chron. 28. v. 8 9. and in Psal 19. v. 9. Wherewith saith he shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy Word We see here David directeth all men to the Word of God to the written Law affirming if they will observe that that they shall preserve themselves from errour and all manner of pollutions And in vers 19. I am a stranger in the earth saith he hide not thy Commandements from me If those therefore that are strangers and pilgrims on the earth desire to finde the right way to Heaven and to be kept from by-waies then let them follow Davids example and pray unto God that he would not hide his Commandements from them for the Commandements are able to direct them thither for they are the waies that God hath appointed men
the Crosse will not this his faith in Jesus Christ alone his onely high Priest and Mediator and the assurance hee hath of the vertue and al-sufficiency of that his Sacrifice once offered to God eternally save his scule and bring him to life and happinesse Take heed Master Montague what you say For if you affirme the contrary you blaspheme and overthrow not onely the whole worke of our redemption but indeed deny the faith and destroy all Christian Religion Againe Master Montague I desire you further to resolve me what you thinke of the condition of such a Christian as shall peremptorily living and dying believe that there are no reall Priests now upon earth after the order of Melchisedeck appointed daily to offer up the body and blood of Jesus Christ to God the Father a propitiatory Sacrifice for the living and the dead and that there are no other Mediators in Heaven in whose Name and by whose intercession wee may put up our prayers supplications and thanksgivings unto God the Father besides Jesus Christ and shall not onely constantly believe all this but shall also confidently affirme that to bring into the Church of God any other reall Priests after the order of Melchisedeck besides Jesus Christ or any other propitiatory Sacrifice besides the Sacrifice that he once offered to God the Father upon the Crosse or to appoint any other Mediator in Heaven besides Jesus Christ are all the doctrines of high blasphemy as derogatory to the honour and dignity of Christ Jesus the onely high-Priest and sole Mediator of the everlasting covenant and destructive and prejudiciall to the salvation of mankind as teaching them another way to Heaven then by the meritorious death and passion of Jesus Christ by whose precious blood alone and not by any fading things wee have redemption and remission of our sins Ephes 1. v. 7. Col. 1. v. 14. 1 Peter chap. 1. v. 18. Heb. 1.3 13.12 1 John chap. 1. ver 7. Tell me I say Master Montague if any Christian shall peremptorily unto the last houre of his life persevere and continue in this faith and beliefe and will by no art of perswasion be induced to believe any of those horrid and pernicious doctrines which you of the Church of Rome suggest and impose upon the poore people to their eternall destruction will I pray you this his so believing and living and dying in this faith deprive him of happinesse or any waies hinder the eternall salvation of his soule or shall hee by this his stedfast faith and resolution doe any thing displeasing unto God or sinne in so believing If you shall affirme that it will you must shew what Law of God hee transgresseth in so believing for where there is no transgression of a Law of God there is no sinne Now what Law of God I beseech you is there in all the holy Scripture that maketh it a sinne to believe that there is no other reall Priest of the new Testament no other Mediator of the everlasting covenant but Jesus Christ no other propitiatory Sacrifice but that which hee once offered upon the Crosse no other way of redemption and of obtaining remission of our sinnes but by the blood of Jesus Christ Untill Master Montague you can make it appeare that thus to believe is a sinne you can never evince and prove any man guilty of transgression by abhorring and rejecting all your impious doctrines of the Church of Rome concerning your blasphemous Priests and propitiatory Sacrifices and new found out Mediators and novell waies of obtaining remission of sinnes Truely Master Montague I dare undertake to make it appeare to all men that there is never a tenent the Church of Rome holdeth more then wee believe in the Church of England but it is either blasphemous impious or at least superfluous so that a man may die either in the ignorance or contempt of it without any prejudice to his eternall salvation and that by the confession of the very Romanists themselves that have not resigned their reason or abjured all understanding I writ once about this very thing to one Siniones a Jesuit a fellow-prisoner with me in the Gatehouse which you if you please may read in my Flagello Pontificis of the last edition which is yet unanswered But now Master Montague to returne to the businesse in hand and to speake yet a word or two of your diabolicall Sacrifice of the Masse which you call a Propitiatory Sacrifice for the living and the dead but in truth the most abominable Idoll that ever the world yet saw being indeed that poysoned Wine in a goulden Cup that hath made drunk the Nations of the Earth that are under the power and Dominion of the whore of Babylon and that that bringeth in an other way of salvation than by the death and sacrifice of Jesus Christ by which onely wee have redemption the remission of our sinnes the impieties of the which Mr. Montague I shall desire you a little to consider and then I will conclude and leave you to your meditations and soliloquies But it will not be amisse to set downe what both the Church of England believeth concerning the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ and what the Church of Rome teacheth concerning that That so our opinions on both sides being truly weighed every one may judge which of their beliefes is most sound and withall may the better perceive the detestable impiety of the sacrifice of the Masse The Church of England believeth that Jesus Christ is the sole high-Priest and onely reall Priest of the new Testament and that his sacrifice once offered upon the crosse is that onely reall and externall sacrifice in the Christian Church and that that sacrifice is the onely propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of mankind and that there is no other The Church of Rome believeth that in that action they call the sacrifice of the Masse there is a true reall and externall sacrifice in the which their Priests whom they blasphemously tearme Priests after the order of Melchisedech do dayly offer up unto God the Father the very body and the very bloud of Iesus Christ under the species and formes of Bread and Wine and affirme that this is a propitiatory sacrifice for the living and for the dead and that Christ himselfe is here really present in the hands of their Priests and upon their Altars and offered up by them to God the Father and that it is the same Sacrifice that Christ offered upon the crosse and injoyne all the people to put their trust in it for salvation and to give the same Divine worship unto it under paine of death that is to be given to Christ himselfe the Saviour of the World This Mr. Montague you know to be the Doctrine of the Church of Rome than the which nothing can be more blasphemously or idolatrically taught and believed or be more fraught with impieties or more contrary to all both faith and reason or more pernicious