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A07344 An antidote against popery confected out of scriptures, fathers, councels, and histories. Wherein dialogue-wise are shewed, the points, grounds, and antiquitie of the Protestant religion; and the first springing vp of the points of popery: together with the Antichristianisme thereof. Being alone sufficient to inable any Protestant of meane capacitie, to vnderstand and yeeld a reason of his religion, and to incounter with and foyle the aduersary. By Iohn Mayer, B.D. and pastor of the Church of little Wratting in Suffolke. Mayer, John, 1583-1664. 1625 (1625) STC 17729; ESTC S102861 69,172 94

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so freshly in my memory since you resolued them vnto me at that I am fully reselued that they are but wrested and wrung by the aduersary to sorne his turne Elym But by your fauour sir nothing hath yet beene sayd to one place plainly distinguishing betwixt veniall and mortall sinnes and concluding prayer for some dead viz. that sinne not vnto death but are penitent before they dye Paul You doe well to recall that againe which I thought not worth the answering How can it be spoken of mortall and veniall sinnes Is he that hath sinned a mortall sinne to be giuen ouer then as a desperate Reprobate and not to bee prayed for any more What is this but to condemne Peter himselfe and Dauid and Manasseh c. as vnworthy to bee prayed for If your distinction of mortall and veniall sinnes haue no better ground but this it is set vp altogether vpon the sands And for praying for any dead nothing can bee more absurd then to alledge this for he doth not note out the time of continuing or breaking off from sinne as making his case that hath sinned desperate or reparable by the prayers of others by reason of this circumstance but plainely in it selfe for hee saith There is a sinne vnto death And againe There is a sinne not vnto death that is in plaine English there is a sinne which who so committeth it shall dye therefore without all hope of life whatsoeuer prayers should be made for him but there is sinne also the proper sequell and wages whereof is death yet not so necessarily but remission and life may be obtained notwithstanding And if it be taken in this sense there is the consent of other places to confirme it as that All sinnes shall bee forgiuen to the sonnes of men but he that sinneth against the Holy Ghost shall neuer bee forgiuen of such a sinne Saul seemeth to haue beene guilty when the Lord forbiddeth Samuel to pray any more for him But take it of praying for such as dye repeneantly and where can you finde any to second it Serg. Paul I see it is in vaine for you Elymas to hold argument with him any longer by the testimonies of holy Scripture preceed therefore to your plea of antiquitie for therein ●o● may happen to put him downe indeed Paul It must needs bee so Sir as you haue said for whatsoeuer flourishes they make their conscience telleth them that the Scriptures are against them seeing they can no more abide them then the ●●●tle the day-light Why else doe they keep them lockt vp in an vnknowne tongue Why doe they condemne our translations as hereticall and allow onely of Ieromes translation for it were a mad part for them to condemne and forbid that which maketh on their side This their cracking therefore of the Scriptures is but a fruit of their late impudency putting them on to vndertake the proofe of any thing that can bepropounded But they are very confident that we cannot demonstrate in particular the time and persons when and by whom their false doctrines were broached and their superstitions brought in yet I feare as little to enter the lists with him about this argument as about the other Elymas And I doubt not but to put you to shame enough in so doing for the most ancient Orthodoxe Fathers of the Church haue alwayes taught the same that wee doe and haue often mentioned the particulars of our deuotion which yee falsly call superstition Which being so I weigh not all your places of Scripture if you had as many more nor your colourable answers to such as haue beene by mee alledged for the customes of the Church and traditions deliuered from age to age are of the same authoritie with the holy Scriptures and they are rather to bee regulated hereby as being certaine then these by them speaking as euery man listeth to wrest and turne them Paul It is a false slander by you laid vpon the Scriptures that they are vncertaine and a burthening of Christian people for which you shall answere to obtrude traditions thus vnto them as I haue before declared To passe that ouer therefore here Who can tell whether the ancient Fathers in those passages wherein they haue made some mention of some practices by you vsed were made to speake so by some audacious forger seeing there are so many supposititious writings falsly fathered vpō so many imaginary Fathers that neuer were in rerum natura and such purging and altering of ancient Writings hath beene made of late by the authority of the Councell of Trent Moreouer it is possible that through the neglect of Historians or wittingly in fauour of your abuses the originall and first springing vp of them may be concealed But if not few men are read in History neither is history reading necessary to saluation and therefore it maketh not any whit the more on your side though they cannot precisely set downe when and by whom your heresies and superstitions were brought in euen as Mahumetisme were no whit the more approueable though the originall thereof were vnknowne For by this reason the Heathen priests of old sought to maintaine the credit of their idolatries challenging the Christians for imbracing a new Religion It is a poore shift when any thing is particularly disproued by the Word of God to cauill about the beginning of it as if the day were lost if that could not be done for if the leakes of a Ship or the decayes of an House be apparant if corruptions within or blemishes vpon the bodie be made manifest what auaileth it to approue that they are no decayes or blemishes by pleading But can any man tell when these first began Elym Our errours as you call them are not so euident yet as your comparisons If you cannot therefore shew their beginning it is plaine that they were deliuered from the Apostles and it is heresie and impiety in you to impugne them Paul Doth the same fountaine send forth salt water and sweet Doth the same mouth speake contradictories for so certaine is it that these things cannot bee deriued from the Apostles seeing they are altogether against them But because you vige it so much I will set downe the time and age of euery part of your Religion that the nouelty of it may appeare to all the world And first I will begin with the chiefe and head of all your errours the Popes headship This was first established in a Councell at Rome of seuenty two Bishops thirty Presbyters and three Deacons in the time of Boniface the third Anno Dom. 607. Plat. in vita Bonis 3. being then obtained of Phocas who came to the Empire by murthering Mauritius his Master and therefore to prouide the better for himselfe he was willing by granting the supremacie ouer all to ioyne vnto him the Pope of Rome Conc. Constant the eight generall Councell Afterwards there was a Councell held at Constantinople in the dayes of Pope Adrian vnder Basilius
neuer be deceiued Serg. Paul Will the Spirit alwayes abide where once he hath sanctified or may not a relapse to carnality and sinne cause him to depart that so the estate of that man who hath beene once sanctified through his owne default may become as damnable or more damnable then before which if it may happen to be so what certainty can any man haue Saul He that is borne of God sinneth not neither can be 1 Iohn 3.9 because he is borne of God If I haue seemed to speake otherwise of those that haue beene enlightned and made partakers of the Holy Ghost Heb. 6.6 I sayd it to stirre vp to worke out saluation with feare and trembling and not as positiuely setting down that such might fall away Wherefore I added I am perswaded better things of you and such as accompany saluation Heb. 6.9 for God is not vnfaithfull to forget your labour and worke in the Lord. And he that hath begun this good worke Phil. 1.6 will perfect is in you Serg. Paul What is the fift particular point Saul The fift is That the soules of the faithfull being iustified by Christ doe immediately after their departure out of their bodies take possession of that inheritance which he hath by his blood purchased for them and that there is not any punishment by a Purgatory fire to bee further endured before their comming into heauen Luke 12. For Lazarus was caried immediately into Abrahams bosome and the dead that dye in the Lord are said to be blessed Because they rest from their labours which were not true Reu. 14.13 if they had more misery yet to passe through rather greater then any already past Serg. Paul But then thy selfe hast taught 1 Cor. 3.11 that euery one must be tryed in the fire after which he whose worke abideth shall be rewarded Saul Thou art vtterly mistaken for I neuer taught that euery man must be tryed by the fire but euery mans worke concerning which it may be doubted here euen as of mettall before it commeth to the fire but at the last day which shall be a time of fire and burning flames it will plainly appeare what solid or chaffie doctrine any man hath built vpon the true foundation Christ because the righteous Iudge of the whole world comming in person will lay euery thing open as it is They are very inconsiderate therefore that take this as spoken of persons it being altogether besides my purpose there to speake of any but builders or of any paine by them to be suffered after death for the more clarifying of them from sinne but onely of the difference of their acceptance before God at the last as they haue beene solid or sleighty in their building that golden Doctors of the Church might be incouraged and the chaffie terrified as being like if they would not build better to come into great perill at the last Serg. Paul What is the fixt particular point Saul The sixt is that when any are departed out of this life we that suruiue can doe nothing auailable to their saluation by offering vp any prayers almes or sacrifice Because as the rich man being dead Luke 16.26 it was said they that would come from thence could not so we beleeue that there is no remouing of soules from woe to blisse but as the tree falleth so it lyeth 2 Sam 12. And therefore as Dauid prayed for his child being aliue but when it was dead ceased so to doe in like manner we pray for the sicke as being yet capable of mercy but if they be dead we cease from praying any more being assured that to pray now is no more deuotion but superstition sauoring more of violent affection then of right reason Serg. Paul What is the seuenth particular point Saul The seuenth is that the Sacrament of the Lords Supper ought to bee administred to all the people in both kinds and that it is a Sacrament consisting of two parts the thing signifying and the thing signified and not a sacrifice of Christs very body and blood there substantially present as when he was crucified vpon the Crosse iterated againe by the Priest to as great auaile as when he suffered for vs. For this were not to remember Christ absent in the flesh but to bring him backe againe to the death tenne thousand times ouer and to make a miracle the obiect of faith when as the proper end of miracles is to helpe vs to beleeue things inuisible themselues being alwayes visible and sensible Serg. Paul Is not the Lord then to be beieeued who saith This is my body Saul Yes by all meanes but as in other speeches wee must not looke so much to the letter as to the sense as when he saith I am the Vine I am the Doore I am the Way Iohn ●5 1 in all which hee is figuratiue so here taking the speech as it is meant we beleeue it with all our hearts that the bread is Christs body to the faithfull receiuer and is thus called because by it Christ is exhibited and receiued indeed Serg. Paul What is the eighth particular point Saul The eighth point is that in Baptisme there is true and certaine remission of sinnes to all repentant and faithfull persons but not an abolition of naturall corruption for that remaineth still in the baptized to intice Iam. 1 14. Gal. 5.17 Rom. 7.23 and to draw to actuall sinning in so much that the regenerate cannot doe what they would nor yet I my selfe for I find in mee the law of my members rebelling against the law of my mind and leading mee captiue to the law of sinne Serg. Paul What is the ninth particular point Saul The ninth is that these two Sacraments are all the Sacraments of the New Testament because the Lord Iesus ordained these and none of the other fiue which by some are added to make vp the number seuen For a sacrament is Gods seale and so properly to be appointed by him who alone hath the power ouer that which is sealed vp hereby Serg. Paul What is the tenth particular point Saul The tenth point is that the best are not so perfectly righteous in this life neither can any attaine to such perfection in keeping Gods Lawes but that they are still much faulty for in many things wee sinne all and Iam. 3.2 1 Iohn 1.8 If wee say that we haue no sinne we deceiue our selues and there is no truth in vs. Serg. Paul What doth Christ then command vs things impossible for he biddeth vs be perfect Mat. 5.48 Phil. 3.15 as our Father which is in heauen is perfect and thou thy selfe hast said so many of vs as be perfect let vs be thus minded Saul There is a twofold perfection of parts and of degrees perfection of parts is when a man hath not onely one grace or a few graces but all graces perfection of degrees is when a man hath attained such a measure of