far hazarded himselfe for the iust defence of religion and Church gouernement If hee had broched any new fancies or proudly opposed the wise established discipline there had bin some reason to haue suspected that by intising speech he had meant to deceiue the Church But seeing hee hath laboured in a waighty cause with reasons against those whom the Magistrats seuerity could not easily suppresse seeing he hath vndertaken it by appointment and performed it with allowance and seeing he hath made no other shew of supporting popery but only by resisting Puritans the slaunder must needs be too light and the accusation without color to say that he hath beaten against the heart of al true Christian doctrine professed by her Maiestie the whole state of this Realme as though which you desire the world might beleeue the hart of Christian religion were only amongst such whom the affectation of singularity hath tearmed by the name of Puritans And that the rest who are not of that temper are dangerous and close hereticks Thus Appollinarius the yonger who wrote so much in defence of the Christian faith that Saint Basil said of him that with his volumes he had filled the whole world and wrote against rauing and frantick Porphury thirty bookes more excellent then any other of his workes was afterward accused that he held the error of the Millenaries that into the trinity he had brought Great greater and greatest of all that he thought not right of the incarnation of Christ but seeing Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria who was an enemy vnto him diuers other Authors besides report that he was vehement to confute the Arrians Eunomians Origenists and many other hereticks in many volumes it may be thought whatsoeuer his other errors were the malice of his aduersaries had forged this to diminish the authority of those bookes which hee had written against them So that this practise is no new thing to diminish the soundnes of their religion whose iudgements and reasons we are vnable to withstand But I doubt not by that which followeth but it shall easily bee made to appeare that he is of the same iudgement with the Church of England that he hath not committed any ouersight nor that he goeth not about to contradict the reuerend fathers of our Church which things in al likeliehood are matters by al you much desired and therefore I hope you will accept as you desire this charitable direct plaine and sincere answere which no doubt of it from himselfe had bin far more learned and more speedy if he could either haue resolued to haue don it or after he had resolued could haue liued to haue seene it finished But first of all he was loth to entermeddle with so weake aduersaries thinking it vnfit as himselfe said that a man that hath a long iourney should turne backe to beate euerie barking curre and hauing taken it in hand his vrgent and greater affaires together with the want of strength weakened with much labour would not giue him time to see it finished Yet his mind was stronger then his yeares and knew not well how to yeeld to infirmitie Wherein if hee had somewhat fauoured himselfe he might peraduenture haue liued to haue answered you to the benefite of the Church and the comfort of a great number But death hath done what hee could it hath killed his bodie and it is laid vp in the heart of the earth it hath taken from vs and from the Church of God a sweete friend a wise counsellour and a strong Champion so that I may say as it was sometimes said of Demosthenes Demosthenes is meete for Athens Demades ouergreat Others fit enough to liue in the midst of errour vanitie vnthankfulnesse and deceit but hee too good For he was as the morning starre in the middest of a cloud and as the Moone when it is full and as the Sunne shining vpon the Temple of the most High and as the rainebowe that is bright in the faire cloudes when he put on the garment of honour and was clothed with all beautie hee went vp to the holy Altar and made the garment of holinesse honourable But this ought to content vs that the soules of the righteous are in the hand of God and no torment shall touch them In the sight of the vnwise they appeared to die and their end was thought grieuous and their departing from vs destruction but they are in peace ARTICLE I. Of the Deity of the Sonne of God AL points in Diuinitie are not of the like easinesse of apprehension For in some the dimme light of nature not wholy darkened can giue a reason of that wee doe as well as faith out of precept doth warrant what wee doe beleeue And therefore the Gentiles both before and after the Lawe were to themselues a kind of Lawe euen by the light of nature not to doe all those thinges that they did desire but they had a thing in their hearts equiualent to the law in respect of forbidding because they could accuse and excuse themselues hauing the witnesse of their conscience present with them Thus the effect of all the commandements was in the Iewes before the lawe and in the Gentiles who had not the law giuen vnto them Thus the first commuandement was in Terah Abrahams father which was the reason of his departure from Vr of the Chaldees to goe into the land of Canaan And afterwards in Iacob when hee departed out of Labans house aboue foure hundred yeares before the Lawe was giuen so the second commandement in Rachel the third in Abraham to his seruant the fourth had a precept in the creation the fift for honouring his parents euen in Esau the sixt in Cain who knew the greatnesse of that euill which hee had committed that slew his brother feare making him out of a guiltie conscience to denie that which loue before had not power enough to teach him to forbeare The seuenth in the hatred of the sinne of Sichem which Iacob though he allowed not to be rightly punished yet he did not approue as to be well done The eight euen in Egypt which made Ioseph to say What act is that you haue done when the cup of Pharaoh was found in the sacke of Beniamin The ninth when Iudah feared the witnesse of Thamar The last in Abimelech for taking the wife of Abraham where the vision did not so much tell him it was a sinne which hee knew by nature as that she was another mans wife Now in these things which were obserued before the morall Law some were of more apparant dislike euen in the opinion of the heathen who had no other direction but the light of nature as the third fift sixt seuenth eight and ninth commandements For the Egyptians had a lawe Sweare not least thou die And this was punished in the twelue tables of the Romans For the fift Homer saith of
in the strength of it often So that some ascribed more then was fit others lesse then they ought imputing al to a stoical and fatall necessitie Now that we may truly vnderstand the ignorance or mistaking wherof hath bin the ground of your exception in this third article what good things man of himselfe may do or know without the grace of God we are taught first that all actions are of three sorts naturall which are common to man with the brute beasts as to eate sleepe and such like which appertaine to his naturall life Secondly ciuill which we call politicall or morall humane actions as to buie sel to learne anie art and to conclude any other action which concerneth the politick or priuate society of man Thirdly those which belong to the kingdome of God to a perfect happy and true Christian life as to repent vs of our sinnes to beleeue in God to call vppon him to obeie his voice to liue after his precepts and such like now the question is what grace and power is requisite to man to performe any or all these Where we must obserue that some men how properlie I know not make the grace of God to be threefold First that generall motion and action diuine of which Saint Paule saith in him we liue we moue and haue our beeing This the Schoolemen call a generall ouerflowing and of the late writers especially of Luther it is called the action of the omnipotency and this grace is common to all that are within that compas to be called creatures Secondly there is a grace of God which is a special fauor of God by the which he bestoweth and deuideth his gifts and morall vertues both to the faithfull and vnfaithfull as pleaseth him To the faithfull that hauing the helpe afterward of a better light they may serue to be meanes of their saluation to the vnfaithfull for speciall vses and manifold in the society of man and to make themselues in the end without excuse Such were those gifts in the Romans and others of the heathen of iustice fortitude temperance prudence which they thought were from nature but we acknowledge to be from the speciall fauour of God for as being so truth is but one and by whom soeuer it is done or spoken it proceedeth from the Holy-ghost and therefore I both maruaile at those who make an opposition betwixt this light of nature and the scripture being both from one fountaine though running in diuers streames and that some men peeuishly refuse the excellentest truthes of heathen learning seeing euen in them these haue proceeded from the Holy-ghost Thirdly there is a grace of regeneration or the grace of Christ without which there can bee nothing performed of man truly good for saith our Sauiour Without me you can doe nothing and Saint Paule Not I but the grace of God which is with me so that this must be the perfection of the other two which is powerfull to mans saluation not rasing out that which before was but finishing that which before was imperfect The two first induing man with a passiue power as the schoolemen call it which though actually it can doe nothing yet it is fit to performe that which it hath no repugnancy in his owne nature to resist as wood can be made fire which water cannot The last only affoording that actual power which maketh him capable of the supernaturall worke so that it is true in diuinity that the possibility to haue faith is from nature but to haue it it is of grace as Saint Austin and Prosper hold neither of them vnderstanding an actuall hauing of faith without the grace of regeneration This made the Fathers in their sermons to the people to stirre them vp to prayer and good workes to tell them often that wee can loue God and doe good workes whereunto they only ment that we had a passiue power which stocks and brute beasts haue not Now for the actiue power wee hold that man hath not this in naturall things without the generall helpe of God and in morall actions or the learning of artes not with that generall helpe onely which hath bin some mens error but from a more speciall and peculiar grace the weakenes of those common notions of good and euill iust and vniust left in our nature by a newe impression after sin is for the most part such that they can hardly discerne any thing no not in arts vnlesse they be inlightned from aboue And therfore that Numa amongst the Romans Solon amongst the Athenians Lycurgus amongst the Lacedemonians and that many other amongst the Gentiles were wise and in that kinde vertuous was not so much from nature as from a speciall grace whose morall workes saith Saint Austin were good in their office and action but not in their end This argument he very learnedly handleth against Iulian the Pelagian where he concludeth two thinges that there can be no true vertues or truly chast workes in infidels and that those works whatsoeuer they are are not from nature but from a speciall grace the hauing whereof though it serue not of it selfe to saluation yet we are not afraid to affirme that the want of these doe ordinarily exclude from saluation Iustice fortitude temperance prudence being the effects of the same grace but lesse powerfully working faith hope and charity only taught by a supernaturall truth So that though the light of nature teach a truth necessary to saluation without the scripture yet it teacheth no knowledge which is not conteined in holy scripture the difference only being in this that the light of nature doth not teach all that the scripture doth but that the scripture teacheth all more perfectly which is taught by the light of nature heerein only neither excluded as vnnecessarie the one being subordinate to the other and both meanes of the same thing To conclude then this point wee hold being warranted by holy truth that the scriptures are the perfect measure and rule of faith and that without Christ we cannot be compleat and yet for all this that nature so inlightened teacheth those morall vertues without which is no ordinary saluation but we say not that matters and cases of saluation bee determined by any other lawe then warranted by holy scripture or that we are or can be iustified by any other then in Christ by faith without the workes of the lawe for there is no other name which is giuen vnder heauen amongst men by which we must be saued The naturall man perceiueth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishnes vnto him for except a man bee borne againe hee cannot see the kingdome of heauen ARTICLE IIII. Holy scriptures aboue the Church THough the vnthankefulnes of man be without excuse euen from the brightnes that riseth from looking vpon al the creatures which with their beames shineth into the darkest corners
they haue an apparant great difference as there must needs be betwixt Scripture and no Scripture yet to those that are vnable to discerne so much the matter stands ouerruled only by the authoritie of the Church For though as Maister Hooker saith the Scriptures teach vs that sauing truth which God hath discouered to the world by reuelation yet it presumeth vs taught otherwise that it selfe is diuine and sacred And therefore the reading of the Scripture in our Churches is one of the plainest euidences we haue of the Churches assent and acknowledgement that it is the Scripture And yet without any contradiction at all who so assenteth to the words of eternall life doth it in regard of his authoritie whose words they are Those with whom the Church is to deale are often heretikes and these will much sooner beleeue the Church then the Scriptures Therefore saith Saint Austine in that knowne place I had not beleeued the Scriptures if I had not beene compelled by the authoritie of the Church And howsoeuer the Church may seeme now little to need her authoritie because the greatest haruest of heresies is past yet we must not contemne her for all that because euen the weedes of heresie being growne vnto a ripenesse doe euen in their verie cutting downe scatter oftentimes those seedes which for a whilely vnseene and buried in the earth but afterwards freshly spring vp againe no lesse pernicious then at the first Therfore the Church hath and must haue to the end of the world foure singular offices towards the Scripture First to be a witnesse and keeper of them as it were a faithfull Register whose fidelitie in that behalfe vnlesse we be bastard children we haue no reason at all â—o suspect witnesses of lesse truth and authoritie hauing oftentimes the credite to be beleeued Secondly to discerne and iudge betweene false and adulterate and that which is true and perfect in this respect it hath a propertie which other assemblies want to heare and discerne the voice of her husband neither can she be thought a chast spouse who hath not the abilitie to do that But as the Goldsmith either in his ballance or with his touchstone discerneth pure gold from other mettals of lesse value yet doth not make it so dealeth the Church who hath not authoritie to make scripture that which is not but maketh a true difference from that which did only seeme Neither in this respect is the Church aboue the Scriptures but acknowledgeth in humilitie that shee is left in trust to tell her children which is her husbands voice and to point our to the world as Iohn Baptist did Christ a truth of a farre more excellent perfection then her selfe is As if I doubted of a strange coine wherein I rest satisfied in the resolution of a skilfull man but yet valuing the coine for the matter and the stampe of the coine it selfe The third office of the Church is to publish and diuulge to proclaime as a cryer the true edict of our Lord himself not daring as Chrysostom saith to adde anie thing of her owne which shee no sooner doth but the true subiects yeeld obedience not for the voice of him that proclaimeth but for the authoritie of him whose ordinances are proclaimed The last is to be an Interpreter and in that following the safest rule to make an vndiuided vnitie of the truth vncapable of contradiction to be a most faithfull expositor of his owne meaning Thus whilest the Church for that trust reposed in her dealeth faithfully in these points we are not afraid to acknowledge that wee so esteeme of the Scriptures as rightly wee are led by the authoritie of Gods Church Those that are of that iudgement that they dare giue credit without witnesse though we follow not their example in ouermuch credulitie yet we blame not their iudgmeÌ„ts in that kind Touching therfore the authoritie of the Church the scriptures though we graunt as you say that the Church is truly distinguished by the scriptures that the scriptures which is a straÌ„ge phrase warraÌ„t y e trial of Gods word that it was euer beleeued for the words sake yet without feare of vnderpropping anie popish principle as you tearme it we say that we are taught to receiue it from the authoritie of the Church we see her iudgement we heare her voice and in humilitie subscribe vnto all this euer acknowledging the Scriptures to direct the Church and yet the Church to affoord as she is bound her true testimony to the Scripture For the verse of Menander Aratus or Epimenides was and had beene euer but the saying of Poets had not the Church assured vs that it was vttered since by an instrument of the holy Ghost ARTICLE V. Of Freewill IN searching out the nature of humane reason whilest wee reach into the depth of that excellencie which man had by creation we must needs confesse that by sinne he hath lost much who now is vnable to comprehend all that hee should but wee dare not affirme that hee hath lost all who euen in this blindnesse is able to see something and in this weakenesse strong enough without the light of supernaturall Iustifying grace to tread out those paths of moral vertues which haue not only great vse in humane society but are also not altogether of a nature oppositely different from mans saluation And therefore the naturall way to find out lawes by reason guideth as it were by a direct path the will vnto that which is good which naturally hauing a freedome in herselfe is apt to take or refuse any particular obiect whatsoeuer being presented vnto it Which though wee affirme yet we neither say that Reason can guide the will vnto all that is good for though euery good that concerneth vs hath euidence inough for it selfe yet reason is not diligent to search it out nor we say not that the will doth take or refuse any particular obiect but is apt rather noting the nature wherby it hath that power then shewing the ability wherby it hath that strength For though sinne hath giuen as the Schoolemen obserue foure wounds vnto our nature Ignorance Malice Concupisence and infirmity the first in the vnderstanding the second in the will the third in our desiring appetite the last in the Irascible yet the will is free from necessity and coaction though not from misery and infirmity For as Saint Bernard saith there is a threefold freedome from necessity from sinne from misery the first of nature the second of grace the third of glory In the first from the bondage of coaction the will is free in it owne nature and hath power ouer it selfe In the second the will is not free but freed from the bondage of sin And in the third it is freed from the seruitude of corruption Now that freedome by which the will of man is named free is the first only and therefore we dare
hath wil is righteousnes only mans transgression sin For euen to doe that which nature telleth vs we ought howsoeuer we know it must needs be acceptable in Gods sight How this vttered out of great iudgment to another purpose namely that good things are done and allowed whereof we haue other direction then Scripture is by you wrested against the articles of our Church either concerning the perfection of works which are with faith or the goodnes of works without faith to say plainly I cannot yet vnderstand Therfore as the dealing is vnequall to make him say what you list so the aduātage is too great to make him an aduersary to a cause of your own making when the whole scope of his speech is to another purpose For there is no indifferēt reader but had he considered what M. Hooker speaketh to what end in those places by you alleaged he must of necessity haue wondered at your sharpe and acute iudgements that would without blushing aduenture to alleage him to that end But an opiniō doubtlesse that these things wold neuer be examined gaue that cōfidence to your first motion which consideration would haue hindered if you had but once dreamed to haue bin called in question Wee should not therfore need in this much to defend him but briefly resolue you what our Church holdeth and fitly in this point The articles of our Church which ye thinke are oppugned are two first that the fruits of faith cannot abide the seuerity of Gods iustice that man out of faith doth good workes which though they make vs not iust yet are both acceptable and rewardable I doubt not but it is a truth wherof if yee had not bin perswaded this letter of yours profitable as you think to the Church and pleasing to God as all the rest of your writings in that kinde had lien buried vnborne in those rotten sepulchers from whēce into the world they did first come whilest we are by that intermediat iustice of Christ made righteous and haue obtained a free remission of our sins that we are tearmed iust there is with this mercy ioyned the Holy-ghost which dwelling in vs maketh vs fruitfull to good workes this reuiuing all parts from our naturall corruption reformeth vs to a pure and willing obedience vnto that reuealed will which is the rule of all that we ought to doe yet seeing we are clothed with corruption there are euen in our best actions those remainders of imperfection which serue to teach vs thankefulnes and humility both arising from the consideration of our own weakenes And I doubt not but euen in this poynt many of the Church of Rome whose humiliation in their penitēcy of heart seemeth far to exceed ours are of this opinion that euen the best action performed in their whole life as there are yet some few monumēts spared from the couetous hand if all points of it were considered with a streight view sifting euen the least circumstances which closely insinuate thēselues out of our corruptiōs into our actions they would I say confesse that there is something which tasteth of the flesh which corruption if either for want of a strict consideration we see not or through a selfeloue could pardon yet it is not able in the feeblenes of his owne nature to abide the exact triall seuerity of Gods iudgement That law the least transgression wherof is sin is sayd to be fulfilled three waies first in Christ and so all the faithfull are said to fulfill the lawe hauing his obedience imputed to them Secondly it is fulfilled by a diuine acceptatiō for God accepteth our obediēce begun as if it were perfect seeing what imperfections are in it are not imputed to vs. For it is al one not to be not to be imputed blessednes being the reward of both And we know that there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Iesus Thirdly it is fulfilled by vs an error I thinke scarce any do hold sauing only the Anabaptists For that eternall wisdome which hath ledde man by the law vnto Christ hath set those bounds which all men haue broken the first commandement and the last to include all as guilty of the breach of the whole law For our knowledge being but in part it is not possible saith Saint Austen that our loue can be perfect And therfore we conclude the first point according to the article of our Church from which there is no sillable in Master Hooker that is different that our workes though they be good and so esteemed and rewarded yet they cannot abide the iustice of the lawe and the seuerity of Gods iudgement The second point is whether the workes which are done before the grace of Christ are not only not acceptable to God but also haue the nature of sinne In this we must vse some care for whilest men iustly disagreeing haue equally laboured to be differēt one from another both in the end haue bin equally distant frō the truth That there are excellent graces in the heathen no man doubteth and he must needs be far from reason and sense who maketh no difference betwixt the iustice moderation and equity of Titus and Traian and the fury violence and tyranny of Caligula Nero and Domitian betwixt the vncleane lusts of Tiberius and the continency in this respect of Vespasian in one word betwixt the obseruation and the breach of lawes For there is that difference betwixt iust and vniust that euen the frame of nature where sense wanteth acknowledge a well being by the obseruation of what it ought and therfore much more in those good works which because they missed of the right scope wee dare not call by the name of true perfect Christians vertues yet for their very action we are content so long as they swarue not from the righteousnesse of the lawe of nature to giue them leaue to be called by a better name then only sinnes and yet for all this no man taketh them to be much better in the true seuerity of a hard construction for those that are not regenerate although they sin in their best obseruation of the morall lawe yet it is much better to performe those offices then to performe them not seeing a part of that indeuour though it be not meere righteousnesse yet it is lesse sinne We must therefore remember that a worke is considerable either in respect of the substance or in regard of the manner of doing In respect of the worke all the actions of infidels are not sin seeing they performe those things which are commanded by the law of nature of nations of God nay they are so far in this respect from beeing sins that as Saint Austin saith God doth plenteously reward them But concerning the manner of working all their actions are sin as proceeding from a corrupt fountaine a hart that wanteth true faith and directed to an ende of lesse value then he is whose glory ought to be
and as if it were neuer giuen True it is that seeing God from whom mens seuerall degrees preheminences proceed hath appointed them in his Church at whose hands his pleasure is that we should receiue Baptisme and all other publike helpes medicinable to the soule perhaps thereby the more to settle our hearts in the loue of our ghostly superiors they haue small cause to hope that with him their voluntarie seruices will be accepted who thrust themselues into functions either aboue their capacitie or besides their place and ouerboldly intermeddle with duties whereof no charge was euer giuen vnto them In which respect if lawes forbid it to be done yet therefore it is not necessarily void when it is done For many things are firme being done which in part are done otherwise thē positiue rigor and strictnes did require Actions vsurped haue often the same nature which they haue in others although they yeeld not him that doth them the same comfort What defects then are in this kind they redound with restraint to the offender only the grace of Baptisme commeth by donation from God onely That God hath committed the mysterie of Baptisme vnto speciall men it is for orders sake in his Church and not to the intent that their authoritie might giue being or adde force to the Sacrament it selfe Infants haue right to Baptisme we all know that they haue it not by lawfull ministers it is not their fault Mens owne faults are their owne harmes So then wee conclude this point with Maister Hooker that it is one thing to defend the fact for lawfulnesse in the doer which few do and another thing the fact being done which no man hath reason to disallow for though it is not lawfull for women to vndertake that office to baptize which peraduenture belongs not vnto them yet the Baptisme being done we hold it lawfull ARTICLE XIIII Of the Sacraments IT is not a thing lesse vsuall in the apprehension of truths through the weaknesse of our vnderstanding to ascribe too little to that which in all reason hath great vertue then to allow ouermuch to that which hath no vertue at all It fareth with men in this kind as it doth with some deceitfull artificers who bestow most arte and outward additions where inwardly there is least value whilest they leaue that altogether vnfurnished which is able to expose it to sale by his owne worth It is our fault no lesse violently to extoll what our fancies make vs to account excellent then to dispraise things truly commendable in their owne nature because onely they haue gained this disaduantage to bee disliked by vs. So that whosoeuer maketh either praise or dispraise to be a rule of iudgement or the iudgement of some few to bee a signe of value he with like hazard equally erreth in both For times and places violent circumstances of that which men say with or against breed infinite varietie of alterations where things are the same and out of commendation alone a strange effect dispraise like a monster doth spring vp It being cause sufcient to distempered humours vehemently to dislike only in this respect that others doe commend the same Wherein the safest and most charitable direction will bee absolutely in that violent opposition to beleeue neither but euen from both to deriue a truth much sounder then that which either holdeth From hence hath it come to passe that whilest they of the Church of Rome haue peraduenture ascribed too much to works some of vs too little others haue set downe an equality dissenting from both Thus in the matter of the sacraments things of greatest and most hidden vertue left vnto the Church for they are called Mysteries some haue bin thought to deriue that power to them which belongeth to God only which whilest others sought to auoide they haue euen depriued them of that grace which God doubtles in truth hath bestowed vpon them In this kinde you are of opinion that M. Hooker hath erred who as you imagine hath ascribed to the sacraments farre more following therein the steps of the Church of Rome then either the Scripture the articles of our Church or the exposition of our Reuerend Bishops and others do For the Fathers say you make the Sacraments only Seales of assurance by which the Spirit worketh inuisibly to strengthen our faith And therfore they call them visible words seales of righteousnesse and tokens of grace That they doe and say thus there is no man doubteth but we are not yet perswaded that this is all or the furthest as you alledge that they saie because vndoubtedly we are assured that they haue learned both to know and to speake otherwise For the Sacraments chiefest force and vertue consisteth in this that they are heauenly ceremonies which God hath sanctified and ordained to be administred in his Church First as markes to know when God doth impart his vitall or sauing grace of Christ vnto all that are capable therof and secondly as meanes conditionall which God requireth in them vnto whom he imparteth grace For doubtles it must needes be a great vnthankfulnesse and easily breed contempt to ascribe only that power to them to be but as seales and that they teach but the minde by other sense as the worde doth by hearing which if it were all what reason hath the Church to bestow any Sacrament vpon Infants who as yet for their yeares are nor capable of any instruction there is therefore of Sacraments vndoubtedly some more excellent and heauenly vse Sacraments by reason of their mixt nature are more diuersly interpreted and disputed of then any other part of Religion besides for that in so great store of properties belonging to the selfe same thing as euery mans wit hath taken hold of some especiall consideration aboue the rest so they haue accordingly giuen their censure of the vse and necessity of them For if respect bee had to the dutie which euery communicant doth vndertake we may cal them truly bōds of our obedience to God strict obligations to the mutuall exercise of Christian charity prouocations to godlines preseruatiōs frō sin memorials of the principal benefits of Christ. If we respect the time of their institutiō they are annexed for euer vnto the new testamēt as other rites were before with the old If we regard the weakenesse that is in vs they are warrants for the more security of our beleefe If we compare the receiuers with those that receiue them not they are works of distinctiō to separate Gods owne from strangers and in those that receiue them as they ought they are tokens of Gods gratious presence whereby men are taught to know what they cannot see For Christ and his holy spirit with all their blessed effects though entring into the soule of man we are not able to apprehend or expresse how doe notwithstanding giue notice of the times when they vse to make their accesse because it pleaseth Almighty God to communicate by sensible
proceeding of the holy Ghost as the Schoolemen obserue is threefold one vnspeakeable and eternal whereby the holy Ghost eternally and without time proceedeth from the Father and the Sonne the other temporall when he is sent from the Father and the Son to sanctifie the elect Of this latter proceeding saith Beza is that place vnderstood which you peremptorily alleage for to proue the first So then we say for our answer to this cauill that as yet we see not expresse literall mention of these points but that they are truly and soundly collected by the Church we neither doe can or dare deny secondly that the deniall of expresse literall mention ought not to make any scruple in the minds of weake Christians concerning these articles the substance wherof are plaine scripture though for the words we finde not as yet any expresse literall mention nor last of all as you seeme to feare it can be no vnderpropping to the traditions of the Church of Rome which if they can proue with the like necessary collection out of the holy scripture we are readie to imbrace them with all our hearts In the meane time we account it a wrong to haue an article of our faith for want of expresse literall mention out of scripture to be compared to traditions of that kinde for which in scripture there is no warrant at all To conclude then this article we say that in the Trinitie there is that Identity of essence that it admitteth equality but not plurality the Father is one the Sonne another the Holy-Ghost another but not another thing For that thing that they all are is this one thing that they are one God So that Saint Austin saith I and my Father are one heere both the words of the sentence one are in that he saith one he freeth thee from Arrius and in that he saith are hee freeth thee from Sabellius For are hee would not say of one and one he would not say of diuers for euery person hath his owne substance which no other besides hath although there be others besides which are of the same substance For the persons of the Godhead by reason of the vnity of their substance doe as necessarily remaine one within another as they are of necessitie to be distinguished one frō another because two are the issue of one and one the ofspring of the other two only of three one not growing out of any other For sith they all are but one God in number one indiuisible essence or substance their distinction cannot possiblie admit separation the Father therefore is in the Sonne and the Son in him they both in the Spirit and the Spirit in both them He that can saith Austine conceiue let him comprehend it but hee that cannot let him beleeue and pray that that which hee beleeueth he may truly vnderstand ARTICLE III. Whether the holy Scriptures containe all things necessarie to saluation TWo things are requisite to mans better life a faith to beleeue what he ought a knowledge to comprehend what hee must beleeue For saith our Sauiour in this is eternal life to know thee to be the only verie God and whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ. Because therefore the want of this knowledge is the cause of all iniquitie amongst men as contrariwise the verie ground of all our happinesse and the seed of whatsoeuer perfect vertue groweth from vs is a right opinion touching things diuine this kind of knowledge wee may iustly set downe for the first and chiefest thing which God imparteth to his people and our dutie of receiuing this at his mercifull hands for the first of those religious offices wherewith wee publikely honour him on earth Now our Church holdeth and wee most willingly confesse that the scripture is the true ground of all that holily we beleeue But yet for all that not the onely meanes concerning God of all that profitably wee know For that new impression made into our nature euē by the hand of the Almightie after the first sinne and the wise beholding of his excellent workmanship in the making of all his creatures are two volumes wherein wee may read though not directly the mercy of that power that hath saued vs yet the greatnes and the might of that hand that hath first made vs which though it be not all that we must beleeue yet it is not the least part of that which we ought to know For this as it maketh vs without excuse so it serueth euen to leade vs to a better knowledge and vntill it be perfect to vtter out of the light of nature those voices which may argue vs though not to be sonnes for by this we cannot crie Abba Father yet to be reasonable creatures of that power which we do adore this made Euripides in Troas and manie of the heathen to vtter those prayers which had they beene offered vp in Christ had not bin vnbeseeming a good Christian so that though the Scriptures containe all things which are necessarie to saluation and that our chiefest direction is from them yet we are not affraid to confesse that there is besides a light of nature not altogether vnprofitable the insufficiencie whereof is by the light of Scripture fully and perfectly supplied and that both these together as Master Hooker affirmeth which you mislike doe serue in such full sort that they both iointly not seuerally either of them be so compleat that vnto euerlasting felicity we need not the knowledge of any thing more then of these two I cannot but maruaile that men indued with reason should finde anie thing in this assertion which in the hardest construction might be wrested as detracting frō the sufficiency of the holy scripture And only for this cause by reason that we reade darkly by the light of nature those first elements out of a naturall knowledge which by the accesse of a better teacher serue afterward for the full perfecting of that knowledge which is requisite to mans saluation For as the schoolemen say man standeth in need of a threefold lawe to a morall vprightnes setting aside that righteousnes requisit for his heauenly country First an eternall law which Saint Austin calleth the cheifest reason secondly naturall last of all humane vnto which if we adde that man ouer and besides these is in an ordination to a supernaturall ende then it is manifest that to make him a heauenly Citizen there is requisite a fourth lawe which man must learne to obei◠out of the holy scripture But as in the greatest and fairest buildings euen those stones that lye lowest are of an vse not be contemned though peraduenture not comparable to those last exquisite perfections by which the worke is finished so euen the light of nature for the acting of morall vertues hath his vse though not absolutely compleat to make vs Christians And therefore in the nature of mans will the very Philosophers did seldome erre but
is what kind of necessity there is of baptisme a thing already fully haÌ„dled by M. Hooker therfore we wil be more sparing in this point All things which either are known causes or fit meanes wherby any great good is vsually procured or men deliuered froÌ„ greeuous euil the same we must needs confesse necessarie now we know there is a necessity absolute there is a necessity conditionall euen that conditional for the end in ordinary estimation is absolutely necessarie Thus to a man in the sea to escape drowning we account a ship a necessary meanes euen of absolute necessity in respect of our iudgement howsoeuer some few haue escaped by other meanes so our Sauiour saith of Baptisme vnlesse a man be bornâ—â—gaine of water and of the Holy-ghost he cannot enter into the kingdome of heauen Which place we vnderstand howsoeuer some deny it of Baptisme by materiall water according to the generall consent of the auncient Fathers For it is a rule in expounding the Scriptures that where a literall construction will stand as in this place the farthest from the letter is commonly the worst And therefore water the spirit both concurring in that sacrament why should there not be though not an equall yet a necessity of both For as the spirit is necessary to regeneratioÌ„ so regeneratioÌ„ is necessary to eternal life which so far dependeth vpoÌ„ the outward sacrameÌ„t that God wil haue it imbraced not only as a signe or token what we receiue as you affirme but also as an instrument or meane whereby we receiue it and this without any inthralling as you seeme to feare of Gods mercifull grace Neither as Hugo saith doe these giue speaking of the Sacraments that which is giuen by these and yet ordinarily as necessary to receiue these as those graces are necessary which we receiue by these For though Baptisme bee not a cause of grace yet the grace which is giuen by baptisme doth so far depend vpon the very outward sacrament as God will haue it imbraced as a necessary meanes whereby we receiue the same and howsoeuer we dare not iudge those that in some cases do want it yet we may boldly gather that he whose mercy now vouchsafeth to bestowe the meanes hath also long since intended vs that wherunto they leade For to imagine nothing necessary but saith is to come neere the error of the old Valentinian hereticks who ascribed all to knowledge only So saith Tertullian Some account the Sacraments as vnprofitable without faith so needeles where faith is but no faith can bee profitable saith Saint Bernard to him who when he may yet refuseth to receiue the Sacraments Therefore if Christ himselfe which giueth saluation require Baptisme it is not for vs to dispute or examine whether those that are vnbaptized may be saued but seriously to doe that which is required and religiously to feare the danger which may grow by the want thereof For doubtles the sacrament of Baptisme in respect of God the author of the institution may admit dispensation but in respect of vs who are tyed to obeie there is an absolute necessity For it is in the power of God without these to saue but it is not in the power of man without these to come to saluation And yet the Church holdeth constantly as well touching other beleeuers as Martyrs that Baptisme taken away by necessity taketh not away the necessity of Baptisme but is supplied by the desire therof For what is there in vs saith Saint Ambrose more then to will and to seeke for our owne good Thy seruant Valentinian who died before he was baptized Oh Lord did both For as the visible signe may be without true holinesse so the inuisible sanctification saith Saint Austin may sometimes be without the visible signe And yet these are no iust reasons either to make vs presume or to take away the necessity of this holy sacrameÌ„t For euen those haue it in their wishe as the Schoolemen say who indeed do want y e same And howsoeuer as they of Rhemes confesse such may be the grace of God towards men that they may haue remissioÌ„ iustification sanctificatioÌ„ before the external sacrament of Baptisme as in Peters preaching they all receiued the Holy-ghost before the sacrament yet this is no ordinary thing now in infants and whosoeuer therefore shal contemne them cannot be saued Yet God who hath not bound his grace in respect of his owne freedome to any Sacrament may and doth accept them as baptized which either are martyred before they could be baptized or else depart this life with wiâ—he and desire to haue that Sacrament which by some remediles necessity they could not obtaine For the iust by what death soeuer he be preuented his soule shall be in rest And whereas you demaund whether our sacraments be not the same in nature vertue and substance that the sacraments of the Iewes were vnder the law and therefore baptisme to be of no more necessity then circumcision we answeare with Saint Austin The Sacraments deliuered by Christ are for number fewer taking as Maister Zanchy noteth sacraments largly for al those ceremonies as he did for performance easier for vnderstanding more excellent for obseruation more chast And therefore though all sacraments for their substance be one that is Christ and that more particularly baptisme succeedeth circumcision yet their difference is great both in their rites which were diuers in the maner of the obiect the one Christ to come the other already come the one a corporall benefit to be of that Church which should haue her certaine seate vntill the comming of the Messias in the land of Canaan the other expecting a spiritual kingdom The one bounde to an obseruation of the whole lawe Ceremoniall Iudiciall Morall the other only to the moral law and for want of true fulfilling of it to faith and repentance The one to Israel only the other to the whole Church The one to continue till the comming of the Messias in humility the other vntill his comming in glory The one belonged vnto the males only the other to all So that as the differences were many and not small euen so we doubte not to affirme that the benefits are far more and the necessity is much greater And therfore as Maister Hooker saith we haue for baptisme no day set as the Iewes had for circumcision neither haue we by the law of God but only by the Churches discretion a place therunto appointed Baptisme therefore euen in the meaning of the law of Christ beloÌ„geth vnto infants capable therof froÌ„ the very instant of their birth which if they haue not howsoeuer rather then lose it by being put off because some circumstances of solemnity do not concur the Church as much as in her lieth marke the words for she cannot disappoint Gods eternall election but as far as is in her power by denying the meanes casteth
one that had a misfortune it was because hee honoured not his parents For the sixt nature hath made the Murderer to expect what he hath committed For the seuenth Flie the name of an adulterer if thou wilt escape death For the eight Demosthenes against Timocrates repeateth it as Solons law plainely in the verie words And for false witnesse the Romans did punish it by their twelue tables But the incarnation of Christ the Sacraments the Trinitie the Decree of God are matters of a deeper speculation wherin humilitie must follow the direction of faith and not seek vainely with curiositie to know that which our silly weaknesse is far vnable to comprehend For as those things that are manifest are not to bee neglected so those things that are hid are not to be searched least in the one we be vnlawfully curious and in the other be found daungerously vnthankfull Now specially for the matter of the Trinitie wherein you take exception in your two first Articles doubtlesse there are few errours more dangerous or that haue stirred vp greater tragedies in the church of God All men see in nature that there is a God but the distinction of persons Trinitie in Vnitie that faith in humilitie must teach vs to beleeue For who can comprehend by reason that in that holy and sacred Trinitie one is what three are and that two is but one thing and in themselues and euerie particular infinite and all in euerie one and euerie one in all and all in all and one in all Fire hath three things motion light and heat Arrius deuide this if thou canst and then deuide the Trinitie Out of this difficultie together with the rash presumption of ignorant men haue proceeded those dangerous errours that so long and so hotly haue troubled the church thus the Manichies haue denied the vnitie of Essence the Valentinians or Gnostici from Carpocrates held that Christ was man onely from both sexes borne but that he had such a soule which knew all things that were aboue and snewed them Those that haue in their erronious doctrine oppugned the Trinitie are of two sorts they haue either denied the distinction of persons or else the samenesse of Essence thus the Arrians for we will not stand to incounter or confute all other heresies held that Christ was a person before his incarnation but that he was true and eternall God equall and of the same essence with his Father that they denied for they hold that the Sonne is not eternally begotten of the substance of his Father and so that there is an inequalitie and indeed a distinction and prioritie of essence Into this dangerous and ignorant blind heresie confuted long since with powerfull and strong reasons it seemes you are of opinion that Maister Hooker is fallen both against the truth and against the true assertions of the Reuerend Fathers of our church The ground of this so great and so vncharitable accusation is because he saith that the Father alone is originally that Deitie which Christ originally is not Where you seem to inferre against the distinction of the Trinitie that the Godhead of the Father and the Sonne cannot bee all one if the Sonne be not originally that Deitie It seemes then in your opinions that this speech vttered verie learnedly and with great wisedome and truth The Father alone is originally that Deitie which Christ originally is not is both vnusuall new and dangerous First because it weakeneth the eternitie of the Sonne in the opinion of the simple or maketh the Sonne inferiour to the Father in respect of the Godhead or else teacheth the ignorant that there may be many Gods I know your owne Christian iudgements could easily haue freed him from all suspicion of error in this point if your charity had bin equall to your vnderstanding for he himselfe hath confessed in the very same place from whence you haue taken this wherof you accuse him that by the gift of eternall generation Christ hath receiued of the father one and in number the selfe same substance which the father hath of himselfe vnreceiued from any other Who seeth not saith S. Augustine that these words Father and Son shew not the diuersities of natures but the relation of persons and therfore the Son is not of another nature and of a diuers substance because the father is God not from another God but the Son is God from God his father heere is not declared the substance but the originall that is not what he is but from whence he is or is not for in God the Father and in God the Son if we inquire the nature of them both both are God and but one God neither greater or lesse in essence of Godhead one then the other But if we speake of the originall saith Saint Austin which you see Master Hooker did the Father is God originally from whom the Son is God but there is not from whom the Father hath originally his deity so that to mislike this kinde of speech is contrary to all truth to affirme that the Son is not eternally begotten of the father that the Father is not eternally a deity begetting But heere you must take heede of the errour of Arrius who against the truth reasoned thus If the Sonne be coeternall with his Father tell vs we beseech you whether he were begotten when he was or when he was not if when he was then there was before two vnbegotten and afterwards one begot the other if when he was not then he must needes be later and after his Father But saith Saint Augustine as we haue knowne onely the Father alwayes and without beginning to be vnbegottē so we confesse the Son alwaies and without beginning to bee begotten of his Father therefore because the Father is originally that Deitie from whence the Sonne is the Sonne though hee be the same Deity yet the Father alone is originally that Deitie which the Sonne originally is not The want of Identitie being not in the Deitie whereof we must needes with the Church of God acknowledge an Vnitie but in that it is not originally the same For euery thing that is a beginning is a father vnto that which commeth of it and euery ofspring is a sonne vnto that out of which it groweth Christ then being God by being of God light by issuing out of light though he be the same deity for in the Trinitie there is but one deity yet the Father is originally that deity alone which Christ originally is not Here if you note but the difference betwixt that Deity and originally that Deity you must needs confesse that M. Hooker speaketh with the consent of reformed antiquitie and hath said nothing to diminish the eternitie of the Sonne or to make him inferiour in respect of his Father or to teach the ignorant that there be manie Gods ARTICLE II. The coeternity of the Sonne and the proceeding of the holy Ghost