that I might be graft in through infidelity they were broken off and thou standest by faith be not high minded but y feare Bert. pag. 33. I frame the fourth demonstration from the feare of the Saints Iohn 15. 6. If a man abide not in me he is cast z forth as a branch and withereth and men gather them and cast them into the fire APPEALER ANswer to Gag pag. 160. Matth. 24. 12. Because iniquitie shall abound the charity of many shall grow cold Surely it was hot that groweth cold and charitie enlarged is not but the fruit of a liuing faith which if it continued in statu quo the charity of many could not x wax cold therefore once had may bee lost Againe Rom. 11. 20. 21. Thou standest by faith bee not high minded but y feare and feare is not but where change may be Here change may be or why doth it follow Take heed lest he also spare not thee Ibid. pag. 160. Ioh. 15.2 Euery branch that beareth not fruit in me he taketh z away x To the place of Matth. 24. 12. we answer First that the loue of many may wax cold yet will it not thereupon follow that the loue of the regenerate and true beleeuers waxeth cold for the regenerate and true beleeuers are not meant by those Many True charitie is a fruit of faith and such as the faith is such is the charitie If it be a temporary faith the charity proceeding from it is but temporary and being so may not only wax cold but also be vtterly extinguished The root being rotten the fruit falls of it selfe But if the root of faith be sound charitie will neuer decay but abound more and more till the childe of God be filled with the fruits of righteousnesse Philip. 1. 9 11. Secondly the consequence is not good from a remission of some degree of charitie to the amission of the habit of it The Apostles themselues as they were not so strong in their faith so neither so hot in their loue toward our Sauiour at his Passion as before Their faith was shaken in that fearfull storme of temptation their confidence was small or none in appearance in their owne sense for in saying we trusted it had beene hee that should haue redeemed Israel Luke 24. they imply that his death had loosned the Anker of their hope and that both their heart and faith failed them for the time their loue also waxed cold if not freezed when they fled from him and forsooke him Yet no learned Diuine euer affirmed that their loue to our Sauiour was quite lost for as he loued them so they loued him to the end Thirdly this argument may be retorted against the Aduersaries thus If Christ doth here put a difference betweene those that are truly faithfull and hypocrites in this that the one Hypocrites to wit should in the latter dayes and perillous times be offended deceiued wax cold in charity but the other the truly faithfull should continue to the end then this place maketh not for but against the totall or finall falling away of true beleeuers But Christ in this place puts a difference between those that are truly faithfull and hypocrites in this that the one Hypocrites to wit should in the latter daies and perillous times be offended deceiued and wax cold in charity vers 10 11 12. but the other the truly faithfull should continue to the end vers 13. Therefore this place maketh not for but against the total or finall falling away of true beleeuers y To the place alledged Rom. 11. 19 20. we answer First that it is not meant of particular beleeuers and their danger of falling away from iustifying faith but of the people of the Gentiles in generall and their danger of being cut off from the true Oliue into which they were ingrafted that is from the outward profession of faith and communion of the Catholique Church into which they were admitted vpon the reiection of the Iewes The Gentiles therefore ought not to be high-minded against the Iewes but feare lest God who spared not the naturall branches should not spare them but cut them off also as he did the naturall branches if they should grow proud and presumptuously secure Now there is no question but that a Visible Church which at this time professeth the truth and is a member of the Catholike Church may fall away from the outward and publike profession of faith and cease to be a part of the Catholike visible Church as the most famous sometimes flourishing Churches of Greece and Asia planted by the Apostles themselues now ouer-run with Mahometanisme Idolatry and Heresie proue by their lamentable Apostasie and deplorate if not desperate estate But Bertius and the Appealer should haue had their eyes vpon the marke and point in question which is not of the doctrine of faith but the habit of faith not de fide quam credimus but de fide qua credimus not of the publique profession of a Church but of a particular affiance of euery true beleeuer in Christ. A member of the visible Church may be cut off but no member of the inuisible for Christ cannot haue damnata membra any members who shall not be saued as the Approuer of the Appealers booke rightly gathereth out of Saint Augustine in his Reply to Fisher. A Church or Kingdome generally may depart from the Christian faith or renounce the pure profession thereof in publique and yet no true beleeuer either totally or finally lose his faith but either secretly in that State or Kingdome or else-where openly he may retaine both faith it selfe and the profession thereof Secondly Gods threatnings haue their vse both in the Elect and Reprobate to make the one vnexcusable or to keepe them within some bounds of moderation and to keepe the other in an awfull reuerence filiall feare and spirituall watchfulnesse which are meanes of Perseuerance no arguments of Apostasie Feare is not but where a change may be to wit feare of a change but there may be a feare of offending God through high-mindednesse and presumption as was in the Apostles and is in all the Elect yet no change of their estate of grace could or can be by the confession of Arminius himselfe and the learned'st of all our Aduersaries Thirdly as the faithful ought to feare so they also might and de facto would fall away not only totally but finally if they were left to themselues and therefore in regard of the frailtie of their nature and mutabilitie of their owne will they haue iust cause to feare and doe still feare in themselues yet are still confident in God who is faithfull and will establish them and keepe them from euill 2 Thess. 3. 3. and shall confirme them vnto the end that they may be blamelesse in the day of our Lord Iesus Christ 1 Cor. 1. 8. Lastly this Obiection may be retorted against the Aduersarie thus That feare which God promiseth to put into the hearts
If any say that iustifying faith is nothing else but a confident relying on Gods mercy forgiuing our sinnes by Christ or that this confidence is the only faith whereby we are iustified let him be accursed Ib. c. 16 If any say or beleeue that hee shall certainly haue by absolute and infallible certainty the great gift of perseuerance to the end vnlesse he know and haue learned it by speciall reuelation let him be accursed Appealer ANsw. to Gag pag. 186. If we consider our own disposition wee assigne no more then probable and coniecturall assurance This Bellarmine assigneth this is enough Faction may transport a man to wrangle for more but when once they ioyne issues the difference will not bee much Much or little great or smal thus or so the Church of England is not touched that assigneth it neither Appeale page 213. I professe I am not of that opinion with you and whatsoeuer you may resolue for your crying Abba Father secundum praesentem justitiam I craue pardon I cannot thinke that you are may or can bee so perswaded secundum statum futurum Discord Church of Engl. HOmily of the passion p. 186. What meanes is that It is faith not an inconstant or wauering faith but a sure stedfast grounded and vnfained faith Pag. 187. The only meanes and instrument of saluation required of our parts is faith that is to say a sure trust and confidence in the merits of God whereby we perswade our selues that God both hath and will forgiue vs our sins and that hee hath accepted vs again into his fauour that he hath released vs from the bonds of damnation and receiued vs into the number of his elect people Et post Wee must take heed that wee doe not halt with GOD through an inconstant and wauering faith but that it be strong and stedfast to our liues end Wee must apprehend the merits of Christs death and passion by faith nothing doubting but that Christ by his owne oblâ—tion and once offering himselfe on the Crosse hath taken away our sinnes and restored vs againe into Gods fauour The point of Perseuerance hath such affinity with this point of assurance of saluation that what is wanting in this may be supplyed out of the former Parallel Al that I here obserue is that the Appealer fully accordeth with the Councell of Trent not only in the conclusion but in the very reason alleadged by the Councell for the ground thereof Of the Popes Primacy Harmony Church of Rome IN the forme of oath prescribed in the Bul of Pius 4 annext to the CouÌ„cell of Trent I acknowledge the holy Catholicke and Apostolicke Church of Rome to be the Mother and Mistresse of all Churches and I vow and sweare true obedience to the Bishop of Rome the successor of Peter the Prince of the Apostles Vicar of Iesus Christ. Bellarmin de Romano Pontif. lib. 4. c. 1. The Pope is supreame Iudge in coÌ„trouersies of faith and manners Appealer ANsw. to Gag p. 29. I could interpret S. Anselm well enough as that if a controuersie were referred by the Church or an heresie to bee corrected in the Church which touched the case of the Catholicke Church it could not be put ouer more â—itly to any one man by the Church representatiue in a Councell then vnto the Pope first Bishop of Christendome of greatest not absolute power among Bishops Discord Church of England HOm. for Whitsunday second part pag. 214. 215. First as touching that they will bee termed vniuersall Bishops Heads of all Christian Churches through the world wee haue the iudgement of Gregory expresly against them who writing to Mauritius the Emperour condemned Iohn Bishop of Constantinople in that behalf calling him the Prince of pride Lucifers successor and the forerunner of Antichrist S. Bernard agreeing thereunto saith What greater pride can there bee then that one man should preferre his owne iudgement before the whole congregation as if hee onely had the Spirit of God And Chrysostome pronounceth a terrible sentence against them affiriming plainly that whosoeuer seeketh to be chiefe on earth shall finde confusion in heauen and he that striueth for the supremacy shall not be reputed among the Seruants of Christ. Homily against wilfull rebellion 5 part pag. 308. 309. The Bishop of Rome being by the order of Gods word none other then the Bishop of that one See and Diocesse and neuer yet well able to gouerne the same did by intolerable ambition challenge not onely to be Head of all the Church dispersed through the world but also to be Lord ouer all Kingdomes of the world In this point touching the Popes Primacy though the Appealer comes not full home to the tenent of the Church of Rome yet he goeth too far pointeth at a most dangerous course of referring the iudgement of controuersies of faith that concerne the whole Church vnto the Pope Which course if with Master Mountagues good approbation we should take in the great controuersie touching the Head of the Church the Power of the See of Rome the causes of our Separation from that Church and all the controuerted points betweene vs conclamatum esset he that hath but halfe an eye might see what the issue would bee This resolution of M. Mountagu if he hold still it will bee expected that in the next edition of his booke he change the title now prefixed Appello Caesarem into Appello Papam The markes of the Beast were come out in the Pope before Anselmes time and since they are so apparent in him that other learned Diuines make the Pope whole Antichrist and the Appealer himselfe makes him halfe the Antichrist pag. 149. and an entire Apostata from Christ and his kingdome And was there no fitter Bishop in all Christendome to decide controuersies concerning the whole Church of Christ then he who is either halfe or whole Antichrist but of this point see more in the Writ of error Of Antichrist Harmony Church of Rome BEllarmine de Româ—no pontif lib. 3. c. 13. The seat of Antichrist shal be in Ierusalem not Rome for Enoch and Elias are to fight with Antichrist in Ierusalem Ibid. c. 12. Antichrist shall properly come for the Iewes and shall be receiued by them as the Messias he shall be circumcised and keepe the Sabbath for a time Ibid. cap. 18. The frensies of Hereticks are refelled by which they do not so much proue as impiously affirme that the Pope is Antichrist This conclusion is the scope of his whole third book and he and all Papists who haue written of this argument apply themselues wholly to proue that neither the Pope personally nor the Popes successiuely constitute that Antichrist described in the Apocalyps Appealer ANsw. to Gagg page 74. 75. I am not of opinion that the Bishop of Rome personally is that Antichrist nor yet that the Bishops of Rome successiuely are that Antichrist so spoken of App. p. 146. Whether the Pope of Rome or the Popes of Rome either are
vtterly forsaken the catholike faith Therefore the present church of Rome is vndoubtedly diuerse from the ancient true church of Christ. The first proposition is most euident the second proposition is verbatim in the Apology of the Church of England part 5. ch 16. Diu. 1. and part 6. ch 22. Diuis 2. This Apology of the Church of England as it beareth the name so it hath euer beene accounted the Doctrine of the Church of England When it was first printed in the daies of Queene Elizabeth it was commanded to bee had in all Churches and since was reprinted with the like command to be had in euery Parish Church in this Kingdome in the yeare of our Lord 1611. by our late Soueraigne King Iames who gaue a most singular testimony and approbation of Bishop Iewels workes for the most rare and admirable that haue beene written in this last age of the world and also gaue speciall direction to the late Archbishop of Canterbury Bishop Bancroft to appoint some one to write his the said Bishops life in English and prefixe it to his workes which accordingly is done in the last edition Secondly I proue it thus Whatsoeuer Church is fallen away from Christ his Kingdome and Doctrine is not the same with but diuerse from the ancient vndoubted church of Christ. The present church of Rome is fallen away from Christ his Kingdome and Doctrine Therefore the present church of Rome is not the same with but diuerse from the ancient vndoubted church of Christ. The first proposition cannot bee denied the assumption is the Appealers Appeale pag. 149. In Apostasie the Turke and Pope are both interessed both are departed away whether wee take that apostacie to bee a departing away from Christ and his Kingdome and his Doctrine or whether wee vnderstand apostacie and defection from the Romane Empire c. page 150. Thirdly I proue it thus No Church maintaining practising Idolatry can be the same with the ancient Church that worshipped God in spirit and truth The present Church of Rome maintaineth and practiseth idolatry Therefore the present Church of Rome cannot be the same with the ancient Church that worshipped God in spirit and truth The first proposition is the Apostles 2 Cor. 6. 16. what agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols The assumption is proued at large in the Homily against the perill of Idolatry confirmed to bee the Doctrine of the Church of England Artic. 35. The Homilies and by name the Homily the second against perill of idolatry containeth godly and wholesome doctrine If godly and wholesome Doctrine then certainely true Fourthly it is a dangerous error to affirme as the Appealer doth Answer to Gagge page 50. That the present Church of Rome remaineth Christi Ecclesia et Sponsa Christs Church and Spouse That God hath his Church euen in Rome we doe not deny but that the present Romane Church specially since the Councell of Trent holding the cursing and accursed Canons of that Conuenticle or that the Papacy that is the Pope with his Clergy and their adherents are Christs Church and Spouse the Appealer is the first Protestant that euer for ought I know affirmed it Iunius whom he alleadgeth Appeale pag. 113. to this purpose in his booke De Ecclesiâ is so farre from supporting his assertion that in the same booke hee quite ouerthroweth it his words are pag. 60. 61. Ecclesiamultis seculis fuit cùm Papatus non esset accessit ei Papatus contingenter sic ab ea separabilis ut hoc etiam tempore Ecclesiae sint ubi Papatus non est sine Papatu deinceps futurae sint Papatus igitur non est Ecclesia sed in Ecclesiâ est adnatum malu◠pestis hydrops gangraena in corpore vitae atque saluti ejus insidians ideoque succum vitalem salutarémque Ecclesiae depascens quà m infestissimè The Church of God was many ages when there was no Papacy at all as at this day also there are Churches where there is no Papacy and will be hereafter without the Papacy The Papacy therefore is not the Church but a disease or botch growne to or in the Church a plague a dropsy a gangreene in the body indangering the health feeding vpon and infesting the healthfull moisture and vitall blood of the Church And within a few lines after in the same page follow the words on which the Appealer wholly relyeth Appeale page 113. The Papall Church saith Franciscus Iunius neither Papist nor Arminian quâ id habet in se quod ad Ecclesiae definitionem pertinet est Ecclesia As it hath that in it which belongs to the definition of a Church is a Church Why doth the Appealer stop in the middle of a sentence why doth he not goe on to the full period the sentence is yet but lame he hath put out but the left legge I will put out the right legge for him wherewith Iunius giues Popery a kicke and trips vp the Appealers heeles Qud vero habet in se adnatum malum quod Papalitatem dicimus eo respectu Ecclesia non est sed vitiata atque corrupta Ecclesia ad interitum tendens But the Church of Rome as it hath a disease or euill growne to it which we call the Papacy in that respect it is not the Church but a vitiate and corrupt church and tending to ruine Note here Reader in the Appealers defence of Popery a tricke of Popery to cite sentences by halfes alleadging onely that which in shew makes for them and concealing that which in truth makes against them The meaning of the whole sentence of Iunius is cleare enough for vs and against the Appealer to wit that the Church of Rome so farre as it is Protestant and holdeth some fundamentall truths agreeable to the Scriptures is a Church but as it is Popish and addeth many errors to those truths consequently subuerting those very truths it holdeth it is no Church Which I thus proue No Spouse or true church of Christ is in part or in whole that Antichrist or whore of Babylon The present church of Rome as it is taken for the Papacy or Popish state thereof is in part as the Appealer confesseth Appeale pag. 149. or in whole as many Pillars of our Church haue taught that Antichrist or whore of Babylon Therefore the present church of Rome as it is taken for the Papacy or popish state thereof is no Spouse nor true church of christ I haue heard that the Appealer in a late conference wherein this passage on which I haue so long insisted was obiected against him should stand at this ward answering for himselfe that these words praesens Ecclesia Romana eodem fundamento doctrinae Sacramentorum firma semper constitit c. manet enim Christi Ecclesia Sponsa Answ. to Gag page 50. were not his owne words but the words of Cassander This his ward will not keepe off the blow For first