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A17261 Truth and falshood, or, A comparison betweene the truth now taught in England, and the doctrine of the Romish church: with a briefe confutation of that popish doctrine. Hereunto is added an answere to such reasons as the popish recusants alledge, why they will not come to our churches. By Francis Bunny, sometime fellow of Magdalen College in Oxford Bunny, Francis, 1543-1617. 1595 (1595) STC 4102; ESTC S112834 245,334 363

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of iustification by workes maketh me who see no cause to like of it the more to shunne it For maister Bellarmine no meane man for learning among them when hee hath taken much paines to deceyue other with this doctrine Bellar. a Lutheran iustif li. 5. cap. 7. yet himselfe dareth not trust it and therefore setteth downe a verie good rule which if Caluine or Luther had written it it must needes haue beene called hereticall Because saith he of the vncertaintie of our owne righteousnesse and the daunger of vaine glorie the safest way is to put our whole confidence in Gods mercie and goodnesse Vnto which his good and true doctrine wee say Amen and yet I hope we shall not be called heretikes The safest way to saluation is that we seek let others passe what perillous places it shall please them These and such other considerations doe make me muse that euer men will forsake God Ierem. 2.13 the fountaine of liuing waters to digge them pits euen broken pits that can holde no waters that they will leaue the plaine and safe way and choose the way that hath greatest daunger wherein they deale not onely foolishly for themselues but wickedly also with them that they leade into these blinde wayes And I would haue all men to marke this well that that doctrine which vpon paine of saluation and damnation they teach men must beleeue is daungerous by their owne confession and the contrarie most safe A great argument to teach vs that they care not so much for the saluation of mens soules as to get of men profit and credite And therefore they are the lesse to be trusted or esteemed in other poynts in controuersie who deale so vnchristianly in the most necessarie article of our religion For you must vnderstande there are two wayes to eternal life or rather to speake with the Apostle two kindes of righteousnesse The one so hard to hit that no man or woman excepting onely Christ Iesus God and man could go it so full of snares and traps that none but hee could continue in it This is that righteousnesse of the Lawe Rom. 10.5 which Moses describeth thus The man that doeth these things shall liue thereby And this righteousnesse did our Sauiour Christ speake of to the expounder of the lawe that came to him to aske What shall I doe to inherite eternall life Luke 10.25 He sent him to the lawe For if wee will be saued by workes we must keepe the lawe But then must we knowe That whosoeuer keepeth the whole lawe Iam. 2.10 and yet fayleth in one poynt he is guiltie of all Nowe this vngone and vnbeaten way so hard for vs to hit so vnpossible to keepe the church of Rome teacheth vs that wee must keepe and yet neuer any of her dearest darlings could get to heauen that way But the righteousnesse that is by fayth knoweth that Christ discended into the deepe and died for our sinnes and ascended into heauen to iustifie vs and bring vs thither For if thou confesse with thy mouth the Lorde Iesus Rom. 10.9 and beleeue in thy heart that God raysed him vp from the dead thou shalt bee saued But this righteousnesse pleaseth not our aduersaries because all the glorie of working is giuen from themselues This way they thinke too base because it is not garnished with their workes and strewed with their merits And yet This is the way Es● ie 30.21 walke ye in it As for that middle way which themselues haue deuised which ioyneth Christes righteousnesse and theirs together as though hee onelie could not saue them it is no good way for it maketh to wander from the path of Gods worde and is daungerous by their owne confession Take heede therefore of it for it is the way that leadeth to death and damnation Of this way I may say as saint Augustine doth of them that seeke for worldly happinesse by good workes Aug. in psal 31 praefat M. Bellar. Argument for merits Math. 5.12 De. iustif 5 cap. 3. Although saith he thou stir thine armes in good works and thou seeme most skilfully to rule thy boat yet thou runnest vpon the rockes But nowe let vs see what arguments maister Bellarmine vseth to prooue this their doctrine of iustification by workes Great is your reward or wages or hire in heauen Eternall life saith he is the wages therefore doubtlesse workes are the merits Master Bellarmine reasoneth thus Eternall life is your wages therfore your works haue deserued it The weaknesse of this argument appeareth at the first but yet for the more cleare vnderstanding of this such other places a worde or two may be added That God giueth vs eternall life for wages wee will not denie if it be vnderstood aright Admit therefore that a man hireth two workmen to worke with him the one of them a sufficient workeman who doeth his worke The other can worke little or nothing yet he that hired him biddeth him worke also and doe his best and he shall haue his wages also Nowe the one of these who is the woorkeman his hire or wages is due to him for his worke hee hath deserued it the others wages is due also and hee may challenge it not because he hath ● a● ned it by his worke but hee that hired him hath made himselfe his debter by his promise We see then not euerie wages is deserued Wee are that euill workeman wee can doe nothing worthie of our wages yet God by promise is indebted vnto vs. Therefore although our rewarde or wages be great yet is it not deserued of our part Praefat. in Psal 31. Our wages is called grace saith saint August If it be grace it is freely giuen What is the meaning of this it is freely giuen It costes vs nothing Thou hast done no good and forgiuenesse of sins is giuen to thee It is then no good argument to say eternal life is our wages therefore we haue deserued it His second argument God shall reward euery man according to his worke Therefore the workes are meritorious The scriptures we confesse vse often so to speake but not to establish merit but to shake off security And to this end they tell vs that if the worke be good it shall haue the reward of a good worke if it be euill Rom. 2.6 it shall be punished And so doth Saint Paul vsing the selfe same words which are also alleadged by maister Bellarmine expound himselfe vers 7. To them which by continuance in well doing seeke glory and honour and immortality 8. eternal life But vnto them that are contentious and disobey the truth and obey vnrighteousnes indignation and wrath Thus then we see that this according to the worke doth not signifie according to the merit of the worke but according to the quality of the worke And these kinde of speeches are very like to that that God said to Cain and perchance are grounded vpon it If thou
certaine external meanes and helpes are required yet those moue vs nothing without the working of Gods holy spirit And he much misliketh of them that teach that our faith must rest vpon that point That we beleue that the church is true or cannot erre For therevpon he gathereth this absurditie that our faith should be grounded vpon the truth not of God but of man He also plainly affirmeth that if a man should aske how the faithfull do know that God hath reuealed that which they beleeue they cannot answere by the authoritie of the Church but it is by the inward light of Gods spirit that they know the same If now thou aske me how I know the Scriptures to be the Scriptures I answere out of Canus not by the authority of the Church but by the motion of Gods spirit and witnesse thereof If thou vrge that place of Augustine Canus telleth thee that they who are become Christians are not so brought to beleeue the Scriptures but onely Infidels and Nouices in religion So that this place serueth nothing to obiect against vs who professe Christianitie alreadie and beleeue the worde which the Manichies did not of whom and to whom Saint Augustine there writeth But we had neede out of that place to admonish you that in respect of that reuerence which with one consent al that professe Christianitie doe yeeld vnto the scriptures you would be ashamed so to depraue and despise them so to abuse and reiect them at your owne pleasure as you alwayes haue done You make vnlawfull that which God hath mad lawfull as for example It was lawfull in the Apostles time for euerie Priest Dion Carth. 1. Tim. 3. Bishop and Deacon to haue one wife but now by the appointment of the Pope they may not haue a wife sayth a friend of your owne a bird of your owne nest So that not the scripture or the will of God but the worde of the Pope must be the rule of our life so that whereas Augustine for the Church beleeued the scriptures you for your Churches sake controll the scriptures and disobey them And for the establishing of that vndue honour which they would bestow vpon the most happie mother of Christ the virgin Mary Marke the boldnesse of Durand a great piller in the Popish Church Rathon● di● li. 4. rub 6. who writeth thus Although it is said in the Scriptures that Christ rising did first appeare to Marie Magdalen yet it is more truly beleeued that first of all he appeared to his mother Is it not plaine how that to establish their foolish toyes he giueth the lie to that word that is onely true O grosse boldnesse Seeing therefore this worde hath not onely testimonie within vs which is the strongest witnesse but also with so great consent is knowne to be Gods worde be ashamed now to call it into question or to put it to the triall of the Church by which the Papists alwaies vnderstand the Romish Church whether it shal be allowed for currant or not For in deede this blasphemous sense which as I haue shewed euen their owne friends can in no wise like of is now the cōmon exposition of those words of S. Aug. I will not beleeue the scriptures vnlesse the Church of Rome do allow the Bookes for Canonicall and expound them as she shall thinke good And thus much to answer this their common obiection What the Catholike Church is that is mentioned in the Creede CHAP. 6 THE PROTESTANTS VVE say with the Apostle Saint Paul that the catholike church which is spoken of in the Creede s. Tim. 3. Is the house of God the pillar and ground of truth And with the fathers that it is the companie of all the faithfull of all times and of all places And with Saint Iohn The Bride of the Lambe Apoc. 21 9. and the bodie of Christ And therefore that the wicked and faithlesse are not of this Church nor can be counted of this companie THE PAPISTS BVt the Church of Rome to get a Catholike Church admit good and bad to be of their Church namely reprobates wicked Bellar. de Eccle. li. 3. cap. 2. and vngodly ones Neither do thinke that they neede any inward vertue to bee of their Church but onely that they professe religion and be vnder the Pope Well may they in some sort seeme to haue a Catholike Church because all is fish that comes into their net but holy apostolike it shal not be nor Catholike as in the Creed is meant Wherein this is worthie to be reproued in them that whereas they crie out in worde and writing The Catholike church of Rome and vnlesse you beleeue the Catholike Church you cannot be saued And for proofe hereof they alledge this article I beleeue the Catholike church yet when they should tell vs what this Catholike church is wherevnto we must so necessarily be subiect they onely paint vnto vs I know not what Romish Church The catholike church in the Creed and the Romish contrary which is no more like the true Catholike church than that church of Israel when it was started aside from the true worship of God was like to the true church of God that remained amongest the people of the Iewes as by these few reasons may appeare The catholike church is One One that is to say one companie and vnited and knit togither by one spirite and the selfe same graces but the reprobate and vngodly who fill vp a place in the Romish catholike church neither are one company with the Saints nor vnited to them by the same spirit and graces to be partakers of the communion of Saints Therefore that catholike and the Romish catholike Church are not all one Secondly that Church is Holy Holy and that not in part but perfectly euen without spot or wrinckle Ephe. 5.26.27 For in our Creed we doe not speake of the church that is but that shal be not that which we see with our eye but by faith not that which is perfected but hoped for which we shall not in deede behold with our eyes Reuel 21 vntill it come downe from heauen as saint Iohn speaketh of the heauenly Ierusalem Apoc. 11 which as witnesseth saint Ambrose doth represent the Church that shall bee after the ende of the world Apoc. 21 Of which minde is also saint Augustine But the Romish catholike church is of omnigatheroms as people goe to faires or markets of all sorts and qualities And although a man haue not one good thing in him not one crum of honestie hee is good enough to make vp a number in the Church of Rome but such a church is not holy and therefore not that that is mentioned in the Creede Thirdly that church is catholike Catholike that is as all the godly haue acknoledged it the mother of all Christians the companie of all the saints both in heauen and vpon earth But the Romish catholike church
nor withdraweth other from the tru● worship of God Yea there are who for religion being imprisoned haue inriched themselues and increased their reuenues We only seeke to reforme them not to torment them and to lay vpon them gentle chasticements to amende them not cruell punishments to destroy them But yet as I saide before of lawes that they would bee made for a restraint for all sorts of men and women so the punishment would be inflicted vpon all in like sort that offende in like maner And although I will not take vpon mee to define whether princes may beare with recusants or not because they are enemies to God namely such as despise wilfully Gods worde and contemne his Sacraments yet I may be bolde to affirme that the magistrates who will suffer vnpunished the breaking of the first table of the commaundements doe shewe therein no great zeale to their high Lord and master And here would I wish this one poynt to be considered vpon whether it be not verie conuenient and necessarie that wheras God by his law expresly hath set downe that Idolaters should be stoned to death Deut. 17.2 3 4 5 7. whether I say the papists whose seruice and ceremonies are almost nothing else but Idolatry and superstition should bee iudged according to that law concerning that point of their religion wherein they defend and practise the worshiping of Images and praying to those that are no Gods Heereby two commodities I doubt not would insue First that the papists should be knowen to be as they are Idolaters and worshippers of false gods which sinne if the people did know that they were subiect vnto they would neuer be so deceiued by them Secondly thereby many would be afraied to call vpon stockes and stones as now they doe For to defile the lande with their manifest idolatries why should not wee account it a sinne worthie of death seeing it is a breach of that commaundement which especially concerneth the honour of God Which how feruently and sincerely we should maintaine we may among manie other notable presidents learne of the children of Israel who with full consent Iosh 22 did gather themselues to fight agaynst the tribes of Ruben and Gad and the halfe tribe of Manasseh because they had thought that an altar which they built for a memoriall and witnesse that the tribes beyond Iordan worshipped the selfe same God and professed the same Religion that the other did they thought I say it had beene built to offer sacrifices vpon and so to dishonour God Which thing rather than they would suffer vnreuenged they would venture their liues So zealous they were and wee should be of Gods honour For euen to that ende were we created and that dutie we must as louing and obedient children zealously performe to our heauenly father Yea seeing they account vs as heretikes in whose doctrine neither they neither yet their fathers could euer or yet can proue by the worde of God the least suspition of heresie to the end that themselues may be knowen what they are that thus dare slaunder the professours of the trueth without iust cause Why should not they whose doctrine and doings beeing examined by Gods written worde doe plainly proue themselues to be idolaters why should not they I say be called idolaters as in trueth they are Well seeing it is before plainly proued that godly princes did make lawes to restraine and reforme the sinnes of the people yea and that in matters of Religion and haue as it were watched all oportunities to serue the Lord in such sort and this I take to be that seruing of the time Rom. 12.11 whereunto the Apostle exhorteth for so many do read it I trust it cannot be denied but that it belongeth vnto the dutie of Christian magistrates to doe the like And if they may make lawes may they not also punish the breakers of the same I haue before shewed that it is necessarie if we consider our estate that they should And that it is their part so to do it cannot be denied Rom. 13.4 For He is the minister of God to take vengeance of them that doe euill And what Nehemiah did herein is worthie to be remembred whose authoritie was not very great being but as it were a captain yet did he not onely make decrees as of other matters so also concerning the breach of the Sabboth day Nehe. 10.17 a sinne too common in England and too lightly accounted of but also did execute the same 20 21 yea and threatned to lay hands vpon them that were cause of it if they made that fault againe Yea did not Asa commaund them vpon paine of death to turne from their Idols and false gods ● Chr. 15.23 making this couenant nay taking this oath of all Iudah and Beniamin that Whosoeuer will not seeke the Lorde God of Israel shall bee slaine whether hee bee small or great man or woman Marke there is in this no respect of kinde or kinred yea he suffered not his owne grandmother to be regent neither thought her worthie to bee a gouernour Because shee had made an Idoll in a groue and hee brake downe her Idoll and stamped it and burnt it at the brooke of Kidron Christian princes and Magistrates should alwayes set such examples before their eies comparing that which they did and Gods spirit commendeth in them with that which they doe to prouoke themselues thereby in godly zeale to serue the Lord. Nowe therefore seeing I haue indeuoured as God hath inabled mee to stirre vp all christian magistrates more watchfully to regard and more speedily to redresse than of late especially hath beene done the state of religion growen I knowe not by what negligence almost into contempt amongst many I would wish that a chiefe care shoulde bee taken among many other to auoyde two verie daungerous conceytes which are as Scylla and Caribdis 1. Tim. 1.19 at one of the which it is an easie matter for all them to make shipwracke of fayth Rom. 1.18 that striue not to holde fast a good conscience but withholde the trueth in vnrighteousnesse The one is poperie the other is Atheisme Of papists and recusants I haue sayde alreadie somewhat They are too many and vpon euery small occasion of hope of their bloudie day verie bolde whereby we may consider what subiects they are They are dangerous snakes to carrie in our bosome If inquirie should be made how many haue beene presented that were neuer called before authoritie and howe many called that haue beene sent home againe as free as before they came to the magistrate and yet as bad also as euer they were I suppose they will be found manie And for them that are imprisoned it is manie times more for the gaine of their keepers than the reformation of themselues So that they are almost in no place more free to doe or say what they will than in their prisons whereby they corrupt many This