your selues it is the gift of God not of workes lest any man should boast And againe All haue sinned and are depriued of the glory of God and are iustified freely by his Rom. 3. 24. grace through the redemption that is in Christ Iesus that our glorying in our owne workes should be vtterly excluded and that we should glory onely in Christ QVEST. XV. The faithfull after the end of this life are not punished in the fire of Purgatory The end that moueth a kind and a tender-hearted Father to chastise his deare child is his amendment insomuch that if hee Pro magno peccato paululum supplicij satis est Patri teri estri quanto magis Caelesti Esay 40. 2. Luke 15. 31. once perceiue that he is amended indeed then doth hee immediately cease from punishment but the deare children of God immediately vpon their deathes cease wholy from sinne and are throughly reformed therefore their heauenly Father which doth greatly reioyce euen at the first beginning of the amendment of his prodigall children here in this life doth not cause them when they are fully reformed after death to bee further grieued with the long induring of extreame torments in the fire of Purgatory For as Saint Bernard saith if all sinne be perfectly taken Bern. in Ps qui habitat Ser. 10. away which is the cause of all euill the effect that is the punishment thereof must needes cease In the Primitiue Church whē grieuous pennances were imposed vpō enormous sins by the Church Gouernours they were imposed to this end that therby the parties offending might be brought to true serious repentance Insomuch that when the offendor was found to be truely humbled for his sinne were it neuer so hainous none or very little pennance was imposed vpon him or if it were imposed it was soone released As it may appeare not onely by the Apostles readinesse to forgiue the incestuous Corinthian 2 Cor. 2. 4. vpon his serious repentance albeit his sinne was very haynous but also by the history of an incestuous woman who had bin brought with child by her owne sonne of whom it is recorded that she was so deepely displeased with her selfe for this her enormous and monstrous crime that taking in her armes the very child which was both the fruit and witnesse of her wickednesse she went openly to the Bishop as he passed along to the Church with a great traine and kneeling downe before him confessed her fact and craued for it at his hands condigne punishment The Bishop perceiuing by the outward demeanour of this paenitent person the great anguish of her heart for her great sinne inioyned her some abstinence for some forty dayes and so departed but the poore paenitent person thinking this paenance to be too too light for her so haynous and capitall a crime repaireth to the Bishop at another place and with bitter teares putteth him in minde againe of her most odious and enormous sinne and requireth at his hands a more heauy punishment but the Bishop well perceiuing her great sorrow and vnfained repentance lightneth the sentence of her former paenance and inioyneth her some abstinence for some three dayes How much more when we iudge our selues euen in this 1 Cor. 11. 31. life we shall not be iudged of the Lord but when wee cease from sinning the Lord will cease from punishing Wherefore if in this life when other may take encouragement to sinne by the impunity of others and besides the most paenitent sinner that is doth not wholly and fully cease from all sinne yet God and his Ecclesiasticall Ministers doe remit both sinne and punishment vpon the sight of the sinners vnfained repentance and amendment of life without all doubt the Lord of all mercy will much more doe the same in the life to come and not extreamely torment his owne seruants in Purgatory fire QVEST. XVI The carnall eating of Christs Body is nothing auaileable to eternall life but the spirituall When our blessed Sauiour had taught his Auditors that Arguments drawne from the effects vnlesse they did eate his flesh and drinke his bloud they could haue no life in them and the carnall Capernaits were greatly offended therewith because they thought that he had commended vnto them a bodily and a carnall eating of his flesh he answered It is the spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing Ioh. 6. 63. not intending hereby to recall his former words My Flesh is meate indeed and my Bloud is drinke indeed but to giue them to vnderstand that it is a spirituall eating of his flesh that is auaileable to euerlasting life and not a carnall seeing that profiteth nothing And verily it is not the bodily seeing touching or eating of Christ that can doe vs any good but the spirituall seeing touching or eating of him by faith which is the eye the hand and the mouth of the soule For when a woman hauing an issue of bloud came behinde Christ and touched the hemme of his Luke 8. 49. garment and was immediately healed of her issue at that very time the people thronged him and trod vpon him and receiued no benefit thereby And why the woman touched him with the hand of her faith and was healed thereby as our Sauiour testified saying Oh womā great is thy faith be it vnto thee euen as thou wilt but the people were maimed and lacked that hand And so Saint Ambrose vnderstood our Sauiours words Christ saith he healed them that touched him by faith Amb. in Luc. l. 6. cap. 8. whereas to them that wanted faith the touching of Christ or his garments was no benefit at all Yea the blessed Virgine her selfe was more happy in conceauing the faith of Christ in her heart then in conceauing his flesh in her wombe as Austin saith And so he had learned of our blessed Sauiour himselfe Aug. de sancta Virgine cap. 3. Luke 11. 27. for when it was said vnto Christ Blessed is the wombe that bare thee and the Pappes that thou hast sucked Nay rather said he Blessed is he that heareth the word of God and keepeth it For by the Word reuerently receiued we obtaine faith and by faith Christ is receiued into our hearts and taketh Apoc. 3. 20. vp his habitation there Now if by our bodily mouthes to receiue Christ into our bodies be a thing altogether vnprofitable then our most wise Sauiour commanded it not to be done at the celebration of the holy Eucharist for he commandeth nothing to be done in the Lords seruice that is vnprofitable Why then doth the Church of Rome so eagerly contend for their transubstantiating of Bread into the Body of Christ and receiuing of it into their bodies by their bodily mouthes but for that albeit this thing be vnprofitable to Gods seruants yet it is not vnprofitable to them not onely by magnifying of their power for that they are able to create their Creator but also by enlarging their reuennewes
our blessed Sauiours meaning in these words was that all things were foretold by the Prophets that should be done vnto the Messiah before his death were done vnto him and so finished excepting this one They gaue me gall to eate and when I was thirsty they gaue me vineger to drinke and therefore that this Prophesie might also be fulfilled he said I thirst Whereupon when they had giuen him vineger mingled with gall and hee had tasted thereof he said All things are finished that is all things that were to be done to the Messiah before his death euen all these things saith our blessed Sauiour are done now to me And verily it is most euident and plaine that the principall drift and scope of the Euangelists is to demonstrate and to make euident that all things that were foretold by all the Prophets concerning the true Messiah were fulfilled in our most blessed Sauiour Iesus Christ Ioh. 20. 31. and therefore that he was the true Messiah QVEST. XXI Fasting or any outward thing doth not sanctifie any but onely the inward graces of the Spâ—rit and all such things as do enter into the heart of man That which goeth into the mouth defileth not the man but Arguments drawne from the subiect Matth. 15. 11. that which commeth out of the mouth defileth the man For whatsoeuer goeth into the mouth goeth into the belly and is cast out into the draught but those things that come out of the mouth proceed from the heart and they defile a man For out of the heart proceed euill thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts false witnessing slanders and the like and these are the things that defile a man Hence we thus reason that as meates doe not defile a man because they enter not into the soule but sinnes that enter in and dwell there and there contriue all their euill designes so meates nor any other such outward thing doth sanctifie the heart because they enter not in there but onely the diuine graces of Gods Spirit and the spirituall meanes appointed by God for the effecting of these holy and heauenly graces QVEST. XXII There is no such place appointed to the faithfull after this life as Purgatory is saiâ— to be The faithfull are pilgrimes here in this world and haue 2 Cor 5. 6. heauen for their home and countrey whether they come when their pilgrimage here in this world with their liues commeth to an end they passe not then from hence to Purgatory but to Heauen as it may appeare by the history of Lazarus and Luke 16. 22 23 43. of the penitent thiefe And of the comfortable assurance hereof are all the faithfull partakers as the Apostle testifieth speaking in the name of them all and saying Wee know that if our 2 Cor. 5 1. earthly house of this Tabernacle be destroyed we haue a building Heb. 11. 10. giuen of God that is not an house made with hands but eternall in heauen And verily our most blessed Sauiour at his departure out of this world ascended vp into heauen there to prepare a place for all the faithfull For he did not this for the Apostles Ioh. 14. 2. onely as he prayed not for them alone but also for all such as should beleeue in him through their word Where he further Ioh. 17. 20. testifieth that his will was that they all should be with him euen where he himselfe is and that they might see his glory which cannot be meant but of the place of glory QVEST. XXIII Our blessed Sauiour is not corporally present in the Eucharist but in Heauen When some of our Sauiours owne Disciples were offended at those words of his Except ye eat the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his bloud yee haue no life in you thinking that he had spoken of a grosse and carnall eating of his flesh with their bodily mouthes Iesus said vnto them Doth this offend you what then if yee should see the Sonne of man ascend vp where Ioh. 6. 62. he was before By which words he gaue them to vnderstand that his carrying of his body at his Ascension into Heauen would teach them if they were Eagles with the mouthes of faith to mount vp thither and there to feed vpon him with the Luke 17. 37. mouthes of their mindes and not to dreame of a grosse and carnall feeding vpon his flesh with their bodily mouthes So reasoneth Saint Austin when ye shall see the Sonne of man Aug. in Ioh. tract 27. ascending were he was before then verily ye shall perceiue that he giueth not his body to be eaten after that manner as yee conceiue Then verily ye shall vnderstand that the grace of Christ is not consumed by chewing it in the mouth So likewise Athâ—n in illud quicu quâ— dixerit vâ—rbum c. Athanasius saith that Christ for this end warned them of his ascension into Heauen that he might draw them from thinking vpon his Body and that they might thereby learne that the flesh which he spake of was a caelestiall meat from aboue and a spirituall nourishment to be giuen by him The words which I speake vnto you are spirit and life the which saith he is as much as if he had said This Body which is in your sight and is to be deliuered to death for the world shall be giuen you for meat that it may be spiritually distributed to euery one of you and be an assurance and a preseruatiue to raise you vp to eternall life QVEST. XXIIII The Citie of Rome is the mysticall Babylon and the pretended titulary Romane Church is the most certaine seate of the great Antichrist of these last times The Apostle Saint Iohn describing in her colours that Babylon Apoc. 17. 18. which was to be the certaine seat of the great Antichrist of these last times auoucheth in plaine words that it is the very Citie that in his time raigned ouer the Kings of the earth the which was the Citie of Rome The truth whereof is so euident that our Rhemists themselues in their notes vpon that Chapter doe subscribe thereunto but they thinke to helpe the matter by excepting that Rome was Babylon vnder the gouernment of the persecuting Emperours but that exception will not serue their turne for by the plaine censure of Saint Iohn Rome must be the Royall Seat of the great Antichrist of these last times Wherefore they except in the second place that albeit the great Antichrist of these last times shall sit at Rome yet he may sit there in the Princes throne and not in the Priests chaire But Chrysostome precisely affirmeth that Antichrist shall Chrysost in 2. Ep ad Thess cap. 2. take vpon him the Empire both of God and men and therefore shall sit in the Priests chaire as well as in the Princes throne And so it was signified by his two bornes like to the Lambes Apoc. 13. 11. and so it is claimed by themselues by their
nay neither can he dye any Rom. 6. 9. more therefore he cannot be offered any more as an expiatory sacrifice for sinne Wherefore in that the Masse-Priests doe still presumptuously vndertake to offer vp Christ as an expiatory sacrifice for sinne what doe they therein but as much as in them lyeth murder and slay Christ againe and shed his pretious bloud and greatly derogate from the dignity of that sacrifice that he himselfe did offer at his death QVEST. XXX Christs flesh is not eaten with our bodily mouthes The pretended eating of Christs flesh with our bodily mouthes by the members of the Romish Synagogue is impious and wicked against Piety Religion and nature it selfe causing our Christian faith to be scorned and abhorred of the Heathen and therefore it was neuer intended much lesse commanded and commended by our Lord himselfe Our Sacrament saith Cyrill doth not command the eating of a man Cyr. ad obiect Theodor. drawing the minds of the faithfull to grosse conceits after an irreligious manner for as concerning these words of our Sauiour Christ Except ye eate the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his bloud yee haue no life in you Saint Austin affirmeth Aug de doct Christ l. 3. c. 16. that seeing there seemeth therein an impiety to be commanded therefore they are not to be vnderstood literally but mystically and spiritually And verily the grosse mistaking of these words by the Church of Rome hath caused some of the heathen to condemne Christians of more barbarous impiety and inhumanity then was vsed in the impious and inhumane Anthropophagi for that they did eate but the flesh of ordinary men whereas the other pretend that they eat the very flesh of their God QVEST. XXXI Enoch and Elias cannot come in their owne persons to resist Antichrist and to be slaine of him Enoch and Elias cannot be slaine of Antichrist seeing their bodies be glorified and therefore immortall and not subiect vnto death And if they should assume other bodies then were they not the same persons because they had not the same essentiall parts Moreouer if a soule may assume diuers bodies with which of them shall she be vnited at the day of the generall resurrection QVEST. XXXII It is a property onely belonging to God to forgiue sinne When Iesus said to the sicke of the palsie Sonne thy sinnes Mar. 2. 5. are forgiuen thee and some of the Scribes sitting there did thus reason in their hearts Why doth this man speake blasphemies who can forgiue sinne but God alone He perceiuing that they thus reasoned in themselues said vnto them Whether is it easier to say to the sicke of the Palsey Thy sinnes are forgiuen thee or to say Arise take vp thy bed and walke Whereby he gaue them to vnderstand that by a word to cure both the sicknesses of the soule and the body was a property belonging to one and the selfe-same power euen to God And therefore that seeing he did make it appeare euen to their outward senses that by his word he did cure the diseases of the body they should haue acknowledged his diuine power whereby he was also able to cure the sinnes of the soule For as Chrysostome and Hillary teach our Sauiour in these Chrysost in Matth. Hom. 30. Hillar in Mat. cap. 9. words did not confute their opinion that God onely can forgiue sinnes but proueth vnto them by his manner of curing of bodily diseases that he himselfe was God and therefore did in no wise blaspheme when he tooke vpon him to pardon sinne Wherefote seeing by this censure of our blessed Sauiour it belongeth to the selfe-same power to cure the sickenesse both of body and soule therefore seeing that neither the Pope by his Indulgences nor his Priests by their Masses can cure the diseases of the bodies much lesse can they cure thereby the sinnes of the soules seeing that also is a greater and an harder Cure QVEST. XXXIII Regeneration is not wrought by the power of our owne free will but by the operation of the Spirit of God As many as receiued him to them he gaue this dignity to bee Arguments drawne from things that be diuers Ioh. 1. 3. the Sonnes of God Euen to them that beleeued in his Name which were borne not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God By the which manifold denyall of the power of mans will to be of any actiuity of it selfe in the worke of regeneration our blessed Sauiour would giue vs to vnderstand that he is too too wilfull that will yet contradict the same And how doth our free-will helpe to bring vs to God seeing as our Sauiour testifieth No man commeth Ioh. 6. 44. vnto him vnlesse he be drawne Now if we must be drawne when we are brought vnto God what forwardnesse and freenesse is there in our selues Surely as Austin saith Christ therefore vttered these words that Aug. in Enchir cap. 32. we should be perswaded that there is no free-will or merit in our selues for who is drawen or forced if he be willing The truth is yet saith he that no man commeth to Christ vnlesse he be willing but he is wrought vpon by a strange manner by him that knoweth how to worke within men euen in their very hearts not that they should beleeue against their will which is impossible but that they being by nature of themselues vnwilling should by his grace and by the operation of his Spirit be made willing For it is Gods grace that doth preuent vs and of vnwilling maketh vs willing and afterward doth assist vs when wee are willing least wee will in vaine Vndoubtedly in the performance of euery good work done by vs we our selues both will and worke but this wee doe not of our selues for it is God that worketh in vs both the will Phil. 2. 13. and the deede and that also of his owne good will For if we take any good worke in hand It is God saith the Apostle that Phil. 1. 6. beginneth the same in vs and it is he also that doth finish the same Wherefore seeing when we are first called to the estate of grace we are vnwilling to yeeld thereunto our will then of it selfe doth not further the worke of the Spirit of God in our Regeneration vntill it be first altered and changed by God QVEST. XXXIV None are elected for their fore-seene workes It is not of him that willeth saith the Apostle nor of him Rom. 9. 16. that runneth viz. that he is elected to eternall life but of God that taketh morcy For so God saith to Moses I will haue mercy on him to whom I will shew mercy and I will haue compassion on him on whom I will shew compassion And this the Apostle further sheweth by the Lords different kind of dealing with Iacob and Esau being borne at the same time and of the same parents For before they were borne
is applied to a most wicked and vngodly vse be thereby sanctified and not grieously prophaned QVEST. XLIV The sinnes of the faithfull shall not after death be punished in the fire of Purgatory A true friend that howsoeuer he endanger himselfe will Arguments drawne from the greater proportion of reason to the lesse stead his deare friend that relieth vpon him in his great extremity will not faile him in a case of lesse danger Neither will our Sauiour Christ the fastest friend to his faithfull ones that possiby can be hauing by his owne death deliuered theÌ„ froÌ„ the euerlasting torments of hell fire suffer them to be tormented in the fire of Purgatory if there were any such fire Neither will God that for Christs sake doth freely pardon his faithfull the summe of 10000. talents cast them into a most horrible dungeon for the small debt of an 100. pence Vndoubtedly he that freely pardoneth them their sinnes which are the greater euils will not retaine the punishment which is the lesse And what manner of pardoning were this to forgiue the fault but not to remit the punishment Yea what manner of iustice were this to punish where there is no fault but a fault pardoned is no fault Wherefore seeing our most mercifull God in Rom. 3. 25. 1 Ioh. 1. 9. Christ doth presently in this life giue to all faithfull and penitent sinners the free remission of all their sinnes for Christs sake vndoubtedly after their deaths he will not punish them in the fire of Purgatory QVEST. XLV The Sacraments doe not conferre grace by the worke wrought vnlesse their vses be vnderstood The word of GOD is a more principall instrument of grace then the Sacraments are For otherwise our most wise and holy Sauiour while he conuersed in this world would not haue wholly omitted the administration of Baptisme and Ioh. 4. 2. Luke 4. 16. 43. 1 Cor. 1. 17. haue giuen himselfe continually to the preaching of the word and testified also that he was sent for the dispatch of that businesse Neither would he haue sent forth his Apostles not so much to Baptise as to preach the Gospell vnlesse the preaching of the word had been the principall worke best befitting his principall Ministers Neither would the Apostle Saint Peter after that he himselfe had so effectually preached to Cornelius Act. 10. 42. and his company that the Holy Ghost fell on all that heard the word haue commanded them to be baptized and that in all likelihood by some inferiour Minister in the name of the Lord but would haue baptized them himselfe And verily the Sacraments were added to the word for the further strengthening of the weake faith of the Beleeuers and not for the confirming of the authority of the word seeing from it they receiue their power and efficacy when their right vse is made knowen thereby For how commeth it to passe that the water in Baptisme toucheth the body and cleanseth the soule but by the working of the word Neither are the Sacraments so forcible instruments to bring Christ to vs as the word is The Gospell saith Saint Hierome is the Body of Christ and Hieron in Psal 147. these words of our Sauiour Except yee eate the flesh of the Sonne of Man and drinke his Bloud yee shall haue no life in you may be more rightly vnderstood of the receiuing of Christ in the Word then in the Sacraments And verily how was the whole world perswaded to imbrace Christ by the preaching of the Gospell or by the administration of the Sacraments The truth is that our most louing and gracious God by his Euangelicall couenant made with Abraham the Father of the faithfull and in him with all his spirituall seed doth giue vnto them Christ Iesus their Sauiour and in him eternall life and blessednesse and doth open and manifest the same by causing this his graunt to be set downe in the Gospell written in the bookes of the Old and New Testament as in the authenticall euidences thereof and to be sealed by the Sacraments as by his owne seales the which he hath ordained to be deliuered to his people as his owne deedes by the hands of his faithfull and painfull Ministers Now which is the chiefe instrument to ratifie vnto the faithfull this gracious graunt the deeds and euidences themselues or the seales annexed thereto that is the Word or the Sacraments Vndoubtedly the Word seeing without the graunt written the seale added to a blancke is nothing worth And yet the word it selfe doth not profite vnlesse it be mixed with faith the true sense thereof being rightly Heb. 4. 2. apprehended and a setled assent yeelded thereto and so neither can the Sacraments profit vnlesse the vse of them be rightly 1 Cor. 11. 29. apprehended and discerned by a true saith Moreouer heere also we may perceiue who in the execution of their Ecclesiasticall function come nearer to Christ and to his Apostles whether the Ministers of the Gospell in their painfull preaching or the Popish Priests in their continuall saying of Masse QVEST. XLVI No Images are to be worshipped with diuine worship If any images and representations of God are to be worshipped with diuine worship then the best and truest images of God euen such as were framed by God himselfe were so to be worshipped but men which are the best and truest images and representations of God made and framed by God Gen. 1. 26. himselfe are not to be worshipped with diuine worship much lesse any images of God made by man The Church of Rome maketh images of three faces to represent thereby the glorious Trinity but the Apostle teacheth that we which are the generation of God viz. in our soules rather then in our bodies Act. 17. 29. ought not to thinke that the Godhead is like to gold or siluer or stone grauen by the art or inuâ—ntion of Man Wherefore the Church of Rome which worshippeth such Images doth not therin so much as worship the Image of God but the inuentioÌ„ and fiction of her owne braine Now if the Images of God are not to be worshipped with Diuine worship much lesse the Images of any men Nay if holy men themselues may not be worshipped with Diuine worship much lesse may their Images and Pictures be QVEST. XLVII The word of God is not to be read vnto people in an vnknowne tongue Such as in the Primitiue Church vttered Diuine Mysteries in strange tongues which were giuen them by the miraculous working of the Holy Ghost were commanded by the Apostle 1 Cor. 14. 28. to be silent in the Church vnlesse the meaning of the words were presently expounded that so the hearers might receiue instruction and edification thereby much more now such are to be silenced in the Church which vtter Diuine mysteries in an vnknowne tongue which they haue not receiued by the miraculous gift of the Holy Ghost where there is no exposition thereof QVEST. XLVIII In all matters
graces as being the fruitfull mother tender nurse of them all 6 The Christian Faith only doth giue vndeeeiuable assurance of the loue of God of aeternall happines obtained thereby to all the sincere embracers thereof 7 The dignity and vtility of Faith and the difficulty of obtaining and encreasing the same THE QVAESTIONS THAT ARE handled in the second part which are declared by arguments taken from all the Topick places Quaestions handled by argumente drawn from the efficient Cause The Church is not alwayes glorious notorious as a Citty set vpon a high hill All the workes of the most holy in this life are stained with sinne The ignorance and not the knowledge of holy Scripture is the cause of all errours and sinnes From the materiall Cause Not the sufferings and righteousnes of any meere man but onely of our most blessed Sauiour both God and Man are of sufficient worthines to satisfie for sinne or to purchase the inheritance of the kingdome of Heauen The Bread and Wine in the Eucharist are not transubstantiated into the very Body Blood of Christ The righteousnes prescribed in the Law deliuered by Moses is that true righteousnes whereby we are iustified before God and not that righteousnes which is said to be obtained by the vndertaking of Popish vowes From the formall cause We are not iustified by those workes of righteousnesse commanded in the Law which are wrought by our selues but for those which were done by our Sauiour Christ in his owne person for vs and are made ours by the Lord 's gracious imputation The forme and manner to attaine to true sanctification is not to receiue the holy Word of God and the Sacraments onely with our bodily senses but rather with the powers of our Soules nor to trauaile farre and neare on pilgrimage to see and kisse holy Reliques but to see and touch holy things by the inward powers of our mindes which are the proper subiects of sanctification From the finall cause Saluation and aeternall life is from our blessed Sauiour and not from any other person or thing The outward Elements in the Eucharist are not Bread and Wine in shew but in substance There is no miraculous turning of Bread Wine in the Eucharist into the very Body and Blood of Christ nor any other the like miracle Iustification is by faith alone not by faith and workes ioyned together in that worke The faithfull after this life are not punished in the fire of Purgatory From the effects The carnall eating of Christ's Body is nothing auaileable to aeternall life but only the spirituall eating thereof by faith Concupiscence is sinne euen in the Regenerate The workes of God reuealed in the Scriptures doe manifestly declare them to bee the word of God especially the worke of Regeneration wrought by the wise and powerfull doctrine thereof in the hearts of all the sincere embracers of the same and therefore they are not to be receiued for such only vpon the testimony of the Church The Soule of our Sauiour Christ descended locally into hell From the Subiect Fasting or any outward thing doth not sanctifie any but only the inward graces of the spirit and such things as doe breed strengthen the same There is no such place appointed for the faithfull as Purgatory is faigned to be Christ is not corporally in the Eucharist but only in Heauen The City of Rome is the mysticall Babylon and the titulary Catholick Roman Church is the certaine seat of the great Antichrist of the latter times From the adiuncts The Word of God rightly vnderstood doth giue credit to it's selfe and doth cause it selfe to bee beleeued and embraced as the Word of God for the excellency of the diuine doctrine contained therein and not only for the bare testimony of the Church Kneeling is the fittest gesture of the body at the reuerent receiuing of the holy Eucharist Holines doth not consist in vowing to abstain from riches meates and marriages but rather in the holy and lawfull vse of them The Body of Christ is at one time but in one place Christ's Body and Blood ought not and in truth cannot bee often offered vp to God by the Masse Priests as a propitiatory sacrifice for the sinnes of quicke and dead Christ's flesh is not eaten with our bodily mouthes It is a property only belonging to God to forgiue sinne Enoch and Elias cannot come in their owne persons to resist Antichrist and to be slain of him Frō things that be diuerse Regeneration is not wrought by the power of free-will but by the operation of the spirit of God None are elected for foreseene workes Frō things that be contrary A true faith is not seated in that soule where infidelity raigneth or any other sinne Saluation is not merited by our own workes Frō things that bee opposite priuatiuely The naturall man hath no free will to that which is religiousty good Frō things depending vpon relation No diuine worship or seruice is to be giuen to any Angell or Saint Frō things that haue the same proportion of reason The faithfull are made righteous before God by the righteousnes of Christ imputed vnto them The faithfull may aswell know themselues to be endued with true loue as with true faith The Cup in the Eucharist is not to bee taken away from the Lords people The paines of Popish pennance or Purgatory cannot be satisfactory for the least sinne Matrimony is lawfull for the ministers of the Gospell The nailes and speare wherewith our blessed Sauiours most precious Body was tormented grieuously are not to bee worshipped with diuine worship Frō things that haue the greater proportion of reason The sinnes of the faithfull shall not be punished in the fire of Purgatory The Sacraments be not instruments of grace vnlesse their vses be rightly vnderstood Images are not to be worshipped with diuine worship The word of God is not to be read vnto the simple people in a strange tongue In all matters that concerne the diuine worship and seruice of God no doctrine is to be receiued which is not warranted by the authority of the Canonicall Scripture Frō things that haue the lesse proportion of reason The naturall man hath no free will to that which is religiously good Not the suffering much lesse the vowing of voluntary pouerty is the way to perfection The people ought to be able to discerne the doctrine of their teachers Our whole iustification is by the free vndeserued mercy of God in Christ The going on pilgrimage to visit the relickes of the Saints doth not sanctifie The faithfull haue the assurance of their own saluation giuen vnto them The least sinnes are mortall and damnable All things necessary to saluation are plainly deliuered in the Bookes of the Canonicall Scriptures The faithfull embrace the Scriptures as the Word of God for it selfe not only for the testimony of the Church The naturall man hath no free will to that which is religiously
for him by Christ being in particular his Redeemer and Sauiour who hath tendred to God a full satisfaction for the discharge of his sinnes So protesteth the mother in the name of all her children My beloued Cant. 2. 16. is mine and I am his and whom may we ioyne next to the mother but her best and deerest daughter My soule saith Luk 1. 47. he doth magnifie the Lord and my spirit reioiceth in God my Sauiour So Iob I am sure that my Redeemer liueth So Dauid Iob 19 25. Psal 19. 14. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be alwaies acceptable in thy sight O Lord my strength and my Redeemer So Saint Paul I liue by the faith of the Gal. 2. 20. Sonne of God who hath loued me and giuen himselfe for me So an ancient Peere of the Church whose workes haue beene thought by some worthy to be fathered vpon Saint Austine I come more sweetly to my Iesus then to any of the Saints So Saint Austine himselfe in his Epistle to Dardanus O good Iesu O the Redeemer of my soule wherewithall shall I requite thy clemency or satisfie thy goodnesse for not shedding better bloud for thine elect then thou diddest for my sinnes So Saint Cyrill vpon these words Let his bloud be vpon vs and our children To what end should I haue wealth and hope for the inheritance of the goods of this world seeing already I am heire of thy most precious bloud and redeemed with thy most glorious death Why should not I very much esteeme of my selfe seeing thou hast shed as much bloud for me as thou hast done for all the world So Saint Bernard vpon these words of our blessed Sauiour I haue earnestly desired to eate this Passeouer with you before I suffer O good Iesu O the loue of my soule who among mortall men doth desire to make his life perpetuall as thou didst desire to loose thine for me What delight wilt thou take in the world to come with thine elect seeing here vpon earth thou didst call that day wherein thou didst suffer Easter that is a great and solemne festiuall day O good Iesi O the Redeemer of my souâ—e doe not I happily owe thee as much as all the world oweth thee seeing I haue cost thee as much bloud as all the world hath done Lastly we may ioine to these Saint Ambrose as one that is ioined with them in the same faith I will not saith he glory Ambros de Iacob vita beata cap. 6. because I am iust but because I am redeemed will I glory I will not glory that I am void of sinne but for that my sinnes are remitted vnto me I will not glory for that I haue profited any or for that any hath profited me but for that Christ is an aduocate to the Father for me and for that his bloud was shed for me By all which confessions which these holy persons made of their faith we may perceiue that it is the proper worke of true faith not onely to beleeue that Christ is our Sauiour in particular and that he shed his bloud as precisely for vs as well as for any other of the residue of the faithfull but also that thereby our sinnes are forgiuen in particular vnto our selues For it is not enough as Saint Bernard saith to beleeue that Bernard Ser. 2. de Annunciat thy sinnes cannot be done away but by him against whom thou hast offended and who himselfe cannot offend but thou must proceed further and beleeue also that thy sinnes are forgiuen euen to thy selfe To doubt of the most singular vertue of the bloud of Christ to purge all the sinnes of all the faithfull were infidelity euen so for any one that beleeueth himselfe to be one of the faithfull to doubt whether his sinnes are forgiuen to himselfe is to betray his hypocrisie seeing whatsoeuer he professeth yet either he beleeueth not himselfe to be one of the faithfull or else he beleeueth not the truth of the promise of the pardon of sinne that God hath made by all the Prophets Act. 10. 43. to all that beleeue Why Manasses himselfe that was a grieuous murtherer of Gods deare Saints and a greater Idolater then many of the Heathen yet when he felt Gods mercy in giuing him repentance he was perswaded that God was his God and louing Father and had saued and delâ—uered him from all his iniquities and sinnes No maruell then that Ezechias the Father of Manasses Esay 38. 17. who walked before God in truth and with a perfect heart and did that which was good and acceptable in his sight and therefore knew himselfe to be accepted of God did make this profession after he was deliuered from his dangerous sicknesse saying Behold for felicitie I had bitter griefe but it was thy pleasure to deliuer my soule from the pit of corruption for thou hast cast all my sinnes behinde thy backe No maruell likewise that Dauid a man after Gods owne heart resoluing with true sorrow of soule to confesse his sinnes had a certaine assurance of the pardon of them as he himselfe testifieth saying I thought I will confesse my sinnes against my Psal 3â— 5. selfe and thou forgauest the iniquitie of my sinne For the which benefit being so gratious and great he calleth vpon his soule againe and againe to be thankfull vnto God in the best manner that possibly he could doe saying Praise the Lord Psal 1â—3 1. O my soule and all that is within me praise his holy Name Praise the Lord O my soule and forget not all his benefits which forgiueth all thy sinnes and healeth all thine infirmities There be two things that hinder this comfortable assurance in all the faithfull more or lesse especially in the time of some grieuous tentation As first the small measure of faith and other spirituall graces and the great strength of their earthly and carnall affections And secondly the remnants of distrustfull feare of vtterly falling away from God caused by their manifold and daily fals but the small measure of faith and of other graces of sanctification ought not to hinder the assurance of the faithfull because a little faith is a true faith aswell as a great faith seeing more or lesse doth not change Magis minus non variant speciem Iohn 3 16. Apocol 3. 8. the nature of a thing a little faith then is as true a signe of Gods loue as a great the Couenant of grace being made not only with them that haue a great faith but a little also euen with all that truly beleeue The Church of Thiatyra had but a little strength yet she was accepted with God aswell as the other Churches that had greater For workes of pietie are accepted with God according to that a man hath and not according 2 Cor. 8. 12. Matth. 13. 23. to that he hath not The ground that brought forth fruit thirtie sold
euerlasting is giuen vnto vs onely by Christ who is the true Manna that came downe from heauen and the very Bread of eternall life The which thing is repeated and inculcated againe and againe in the sixt of Saint Iohn that so we might be throughly perswaded Ioh. 6. 33. of the vndoubted truth thereof As likewise in Baptisme by Water being a most fit creature to cleanse our bodily vncleannesse is shewed and ratified vnto vs that it is the most pure and precious Bloud of Christ that is able to cleanse 1 Ioh. 1. 7. vs from all our sinnes which defile our soules Whosoeuer then ascribe our iustification and saluation not onely to Christ and his Bloud doe derogate from the testimonies of the holy Sacraments Yea they which ascribe these gracious blessings to the externall Sacramentall Elements which are the proper effects of the inuisible Grace signified by them doe as much as 1 Pet. 3. 21. in them lyeth cause these outward Elements to giue testimony flat contrary to that whereunto they were ordayned by Christ himselfe QVEST. XI The faithfull ought to be certainely assured of their owne saluation The Sacraments were not onely ordayned to shew and signifie vnto the faithfull that their iustification and saluation is onely by Christ but also to be seales of the same vnto them Rom 4. 11. and to giue them the assurance thereof in their owne hearts The which thing if it be true in the Sacraments of the Old Testament much more is it so in the sacraments of the New seeing they are instruments of greater grace The cup of blessing 1 Cor. 10. 16. saith the Apostle which we blesse is it not the Communion of the Bloud of Christ The Bread which we breake is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ That is ought not we that beleeue in Christ be as throughly perswaded of our spirituall participation of Christ the food of our soules and of eternall life in him by faith the mouth of our soules as wee are assured that we are partakers of the outward elements of Bread and Wine and of our bodily nourishment thereby in this temporall life and especially whereas the names of the outward signes are changed by the Spirit of God and receiue the names of things signified as the Bread is called the Body of Christ and the participation of the Bread the participation of his Body and that to this end that the religious receiuers of these holy mysteries should not looke to the nature of the things that are seene but beleeue the change made by grace in that they being Sacraments are not now common creatures but holy pledges and seales of our communion with Christ and all his Theodor. diol 1. blessings therefore the faithfull receiuing the one should rest assured of their participation in the other So reasoneth Saint Bernard A Ring is simply giuen for a Bern. de Carra Dom. Ring and it carrieth no further signification with it it is also giuen to aduance a man to some place of dignity and honour or else to settle one in the possession of an inheritance insomuch that he that hath receiued it may say This Ring is nothing worth but it is the inheritance that I seeke and ayme at After the same manner saith he the Lord drawing neare his death had care to set vs in the possession of his grace to the end that his inuisible grace might be giuen by some visible signe and for that end are all Sacraments ordayned QVEST. XII The outward Elements in the Eucharist are not Bread and Wine in shew but in substance The Sacrament of the Lords Supper was odrayned to this end that by the feeding and nourishing of our bodies by the outward Elements our soules might be assured of our spirituall feeding vpon Christ and of aeternall life obtayned thereby Now if we were willed to feed vpon the empty shewes of Bread and Wine and to cherish our selues therewith might we not iustly conceiue that we were bidden as it were to a Iuglers feast to haue our senses deluded rather then to haue our bodies nourished And what assurance could our soules haue thereby of their spirituall nourishing by the Body and Bloud of Christ Sacraments saith Saint Austin if they haue no Aug. Ep. 23. ad Bonifacium likenesse with the things whereof they are Sacraments can be no Sacraments at all Wherefore seeing the bare and empty shewes of Bread and Wine haue no true similitude with the substantiall Body and Bloud of Christ they can in no wise be the externall signes and Sacraments thereof QVEST. XIII There is no miraculous turning of Bread and Wine in the holy Eucharist into the very Body and Bloud of Christ nor any other miracle at all That which the Apostle auoucheth of the miraculous gift of tongues is true also of all miracles that is That they are for 1 Cor. 14. 22. a signe not for them that beleeue but to them that beleeue not And therefore miracles must be open and manifest euen to all such as haue but the sound vse of their outward senses that they may perceiue in them the power and might of the omnipotent God giuing testimony thereby of the diuine truth of Mar. 16. 20. that heauenly doctrine which is confirmed by such diuine witnesses Heb. 2. 4. But in the Lords Supper there is no turning manifest to sense of Bread and Wine into the Body and Bloud of Christ seeing the formes and also the qualities of Bread and Wine remaine there still and therefore in it there is no such miracle And verily Sacraments were not ordayned for Infidels to Act. 8. 37. conuert them but for the faithfull to confirme them in the faith And therefore as Saint Austin saith they may haue reuerence as things religious but they are not to be wondred at as things miraculous And whereas neither the booke entituled the Miracles of holy Scripture ascribed to Saint Austin nor Nazianzen intreating of the Miracles of our blessed Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ doe mention any miracle done by him in his last Supper it is manifest what was the iudgement of the true and Orthodoxe Church in their times concerning the same QVEST. XIIII Iustification is giuen by the free mercy of God in Christ and not mericed by our workes As all other the good gifts of God so Iustification especially is freely giuen to the faithfull in Christ to this end that they should not glory in themselues nor trust in the worthinesse of their owne workes but in the most free and vndeserued goodnesse of God in Christ who is made vnto vs of God 1 Cor. 1. 30. wisedome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption that he that glorieth should glory in the Lord. And that we should in no wise doubt of the truth thereof the Apostle vrgeth and inculcateth the same againe and againe By grace yee are saued Ephes 2. 9. through faith and that not of
Aug cont Maximin lib 3 c. 19. before they come to passe it was not then that GOD first knew that Abraham feared him But as the Spirit of GOD is said to pray and to groane because hee maketh vs to pray and to groane so GOD is said to know when hee maketh vs to know Now I know then is as much as if hee had saide Now I haue made thee to know or I haue made it knowne to others also that thou fearest mee The which truth may further appeare by the very name that Abraham gaue to the place where the Lord spake vnto him at that time and by the addition ioyned thereto For Abraham called the name of the place The Lord will see as it is said this day In the mount will the Lord be seene Now the Lord doth see his faithfull seruants by taking notice of their sincere minds towards him and by prouiding for them and bestowing on them all necessary blessings and the Lord is seene of them in the spirituall gifts of faith and loue and all other graces giuen vnto them for the manifestation of his fatherly loue and affection towards them For when God by the light of the Gospell doth so make manifest vnto the faithfull his fatherly loue in Christ that they esteeme it as their highest happinesse and doe in all sincerity desire to inioy it as their greatest good they cannot but know that they beleeue and loue God seeing these are the most certaine properties of them both Now as a faithfull man may know that he loueth God so he may also know that he loueth the brethren By this saith Saint Iohn we know that 1 Iohn 3. 14. we are translated from death to life because we loue the brethren Wherupon Saint Austin speaketh after this manner Let a Aug. in 1. Ep. Ioh. tract 3. man looke into his heart and see if he haue loue and then let him say I am borne of God Now to what end doth Saint Austin command a man to looke into his owne heart and to seeke to find loue there if in seeking he cannot find and know whether it be there or no If then the Lord hath giuen to any one the sincere loue of God and of his Christian Brethren hee may know that he is indued therewith and thereby he may know himselfe to be in Gods loue to his owne vnspeakeable comfort and ioy the which being a great griefe and corrasiue to the Diuell he therefore seeketh by all meanes to hinder the same QVEST. XLI The Cup in the Eucharist is not to be taken away from the Lay people A man may as well ordaine a Sacrament or any essentiall part thereof as he may take away the one or the other but no man nor Angell can ordaine a Sacrament or any essentiall part thereof seeing he cannot make any grant or giue any assurance of these spiritual blessings and gifts which are only in the Lords hands and at his owne disposition neither ought he then to mangle or maime any part of the euidence that God hath giuen to the faithfull for their better assurance thereof But the Cup of the New Testament is an essentiall part of the Sacrament of the Body and Bloud of Christ whereby the pardon of their sinnes is sealed vp to the faithfull therefore it ought by no meanes to be taken away from the Lay people Yea whereas the faithfull are as well partakers of the Bloud of Christ as of the Body why should they not also be as well partakers of the visible signe of the one as of the other Act. 10. 47. Can anyman saith S. Peter forbid water that these should not be baptized which haue receiued the Holy Ghost as well as we So vpon the like reason it may be said Can any man forbid the Lords people to be pertakers of the Holy signe of his bloud with the Priests seeing they are partakers of the Bloud it selfe as well as they Especially seeing all the people of God ought to be most ready and willing to shed their owne bloud in the defence of the Faith of Christ why should they then be depriued of the Sacred signe of his Bloud whereby they are to be strengthened and confirmed for the couragious performance of that so great and weighty a worke How do we saith Saint Cyprian Cypr. ad Cornel. lib. 1. cap. 2. teach and perswade the people to shed their Bloud for the confession of the name of Christ if we deny them the Bloud of Christ that is the Sacrament of his Bloud For none can take from them the participation of the Bloud it selfe QVEST. XLII Matrimony is lawfull for the Ministers of the Gospell It is as lawfull in the time of the Gospell for the Ministers thereof to vse the same remedy against sinne and to enioy the same helpes and comforts of this life as it was for the high Priest and the residue of his brethren vnder the time of the Law But Matrimony was ordained for the auoiding of fornication Gen. 2. 18. and for to be an helpe in things concerning this life vnto the Priests vnder the Law and why should it not be so vnder the Gospell The Gospell requireth in the Ministers thereof as great if not greater labour about their spirituall worke then was required of the Priests vnder the Law why should they then not haue the same helpers as they had to supply their roomes for the better dispatch of their temporall affaires that so they may haue the more leasure to be imployed about their spirituall businesses And are not the Ministers of the Gospell especially in these last and worst dayes subiect to the like temptations of sinne as others were in former ages why should these then be more debarred from the remedy then they were especially whereas the Commandement of the Apostle is giuen generally to all For the auoiding of fornication 2 Cor. 7. 2. let euery man haue his owne wife and let euery woman haue her owne husband but where the remedy against this sinne is the authorised permission thereof by man with a Si non castè tamen cautè there I must needs confesse is farre lesse need of the remedy appointed by God QVEST. XLIII The Nailes Speare and Crosse wherewith Christs pretious Body was tormented are not to be worshipped The Souldiers that vsed the Nailes Speare and Crosse to torment the most precious body of our most blessed Sauiour are not to be worshipped why then should the Nailes Speare and Crosse be worshipped which were the instruments of the routragious cruelty The Nailes and shooe of an horse that striketh therewith and killeth any meane person but casually are by the Law found guilty of the death of him that is slaine therewith how can we then otherwise iudge of the Nailes Speare and Crosse which were of a malitious purpose vsed to shed our blessed Sauiours most pretious Bloud and to take away his life from him for can that which
is a double iustification The first by grace and the second by the merit of our owne workes But his doubling is flat contrary to the simplicity of the Gospell For the Apostle plainly auoucheth that not onely at the first we are reconciled vnto God by Christ and are brought into his fauour and loue and are iustified and saued by his Bloud but much more that we are brought to the end of our saluation and to our full and finall glorification by the very same meanes God saith the Apostle setteth out his loue toward vs seeing while wee were yet Rom. 5. 8. sinners Christ dyed for vs much more then being iustified by his bloud we shall be saued frō wrath by him For if when we were enemies we were reconciled vnto God by the death of his Sonne much more being reconciled we shall be saued by his life In the which words of the Apostle it is manifestly and distinctly set downe that as it is the grace of God in Christ whereby we are reconciled vnto God and iustified at the first so it is the very selfe-same grace of God in Christ that doth saue vs at the last And Greg. Moral lib. 2. cap. 4. so a Bishop of Rome it selfe in her better times hath taught saying The first grace begat me in faith being naked and the very self-same grace shall saue me being naked take me vp into glory Wherefore if we desire to be partakers of the fruit of our redemption wrought for vs by Christ let vs not so meanly thinke thereof as if he should haue begun it onely by his obedience and left it to be finished by our selues Let vs not imagine that he paid but a part of our ransome and a parcell of the price that was to be tendred to God for the full purchase of the glorious inheritance of the Kingdome of Heauen and left it to our selues to discharge the rest Or if we cannot but confesse that he paid the whole summe and the full price let vs not impute to the God of all mercy and the most excellent Patron and Patterne of all Pitty such an hard and vniust kind of dealing as if he should exact againe a new payment at our hands for that which was fully purchased and paid for before Vndoubtedly if our title to the heauenly inheritance by the obedience and righteousnesse of Christ be sufficient good why should we seeke after any other title Seeing Law and reason teacheth vs this that that thing Quod semel neum est non potest ampliue fieri meum Quisemel factus est dominus non potest ex alia causa fieri dominus Quia nomo potest acquirere dominium rei suae which is once iustly mine cannot be made more mine And he that is once made a right owner of a thing cannot againe by another title be made owner of the same thing seeing no man can get againe the Dominion of that which was his own before If then our first title to our Iustification and Saluation by the free and vndeserued mercy of God in Christ be good and sufficient then we cannot afterward lay any claime thereunto by the broken and forged title of our owne workes QVEST. LIII The going on pilgrimage to see or to touch the true reliques of the Holiest of the Saints doth not bring any sanctification at all The seeing and touching of holy persons themselues doth not sanctify any much lesse the seeing or touching of their reliques They that receiue Christ by faith are made the Sonnes Ioh. 1. 12. of God and are renewed to his image in righteousnesse and true holinesse and not such as imbrace and kisse him with their bodily hands and mouthes for then Iudas the Traitor should haue been made a Saint Wherefore if we desire to haue any benefit by visiting the Saints we ought daily and diligently to visite the Scriptures wherein the pictures of their piety are most liuely painted out that so we may be rauished with the admiration thereof and be stirred vp to follow them by an holy imitation And so concerning the Saints which liued since the Apostles times if we be desirous to visite them also wee ought to get their learned bookes which are the best Images of their Almās speech is the image and glasse of his minde Erasm in praefat Hieron ad Guili Warramum holy soules that by their sound and Orthodoxe doctrines which are set downe therein we may be directed in the right way of piety and godlinesse But so it is saith Erasmus complayning of the superstitious folly of many of his time we kisse the shooes of the Saint and their handkerchers albeit loathsome for filth but as for their Bookes which are their best reliques we relinquish hauing little regard of them Their Coat or Shirt we lay vp in a chest adorned with gold and precious stones but as for their writings vpon the which they bestowed much labour and in the which still liueth here with vs that which is in them their chiefest good we leaue them to be consumed with wormes and rust QVEST. LIV. The faithfull that are sanctified by Regeneration may and ought to assure themselues of their full and finall glorification If God was found of the faithfull when they sought him not and made himselfe manifest vnto them when they asked Rom. 10. 20. not after him much more when they turne vnto him hee will turne to them when they draw nigh to him he wil draw nigh Iac. 4. 8. Matth. 7. 7. to them when they seeke him he will be found of them For if when they were enemies they were reconciled vnto God by the death of his Sonne much more may they rest assured of his loue being reconciled vnto him and made his stedfast friends If God for Christs sake offered them a pardon being Traitors and Rebels and standing vp in armes against him certainly he will suffer them to enioy the benefit of that pardon when they haue humbly submitted themselues and are become his loyall subiects If God doth forgiue vnto his all their grieuous sinnes which they willingly and wittingly committed before their effectuall Calling to the estate of grace will he not forgiue their sinnes of infirmity which they afterward commit against the resolute purpose of their owne hearts if he did deliuer them from domineering and raiguing sinnes will he not in the end deliuer them fully from all such sinnes whose power and strength are already in part weakened by their daily repentance and stedfast faith The Lord said Dauid that deliuered 1 Sam. 17. 37. me out of the hand of the Lyon and the Beare will also deliuer me out of the hand of this Philistin Vnto the which words happily the Apostle alluding saith of himselfe And I also was deliuered out of the hand of the Lion And thereupon was confident that the Lord would deliuer him from euery euill worke and would preserue him to his heauenly Kingdome