dwelleth wherein I shal rest for evermore I look to get entry at the new Jerusalem at one of these twelve gates whereupon are written the names of the twelve Tribes of the children of Israel I know CHRIST JESUS hath prepared rowm for me why may I not then with boldness in his blood step in unto that glory where my Head and LORD hath gone before me JESUS CHRIST is the door and the Porter who then shal hold me out VVill he let them perish for whom he hath died VVill he let that poor sheep be plucked out of his hand for whom he hath laid down his life VVho shal condemn the man whom GOD hath justified VVho shal lay any thing to the charge of the man for whom CHRIST hath died or rather risen again I know I have grievously transgressed but where sin aboundeth grace superaboundeth I know my sins are red as scarlet and crimson yet the red blood of CHRIST my LORD can make me as white as snow as wool VVhom have I in heaven but him Or whom desire I in earth beside him O thou the fairest among the children of men the light of the Gentils the glory of the Jews the life of the dead the joy of Angels and Saints My soul panteth to be with thee I will put my spirit into thy hands and thou wilt nâ—â— put it out of thy presence I will come unto thee for thou casts none away that comes unto thee O thou the only delight of mankind Thou camest to seek and save that which is lost Thou seeking me hast found me and now being found by thee I hope O LORD thou wilt not let me perish I desire to be with thee and do long for the fruition of thy blessed presence and joy of thy countenance Thou the only good Shepherd art full of grace and truth therefore I trust thou wilt not thrust me out of the door of thy presence and grace The Law was given by Moses but grace and truth by thee VVho shal separat me from thy love Shal tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword Nay in all these things I am more then a conqueror through thy Majesty that hath loved me For I am perswaded that neither death nor life Principalities nor Powers nor hight nor depth nor things present nor things to come nor any other creature is able to separat me from the love of thy Majesty w ich is in CHRIST JESUS my LORD I refuse not to die with thee that I may live with thee I refuse not to suffer with thee that I may rejoyce with thee Shal not all things be pleasant to me which may be my last step by which or upon which I may come unto thee When shal I be satiat with thy face When shal I be drunk with thy pleasures Come LORD JESUS and tarry not The Spirit saith Come the Bride saith Come Even so LORD JESUS come quickly and tarry not Why should the multitude of mine iniquities or the greatness of them affright me Why should I faint in this mine adversity to be with thee The greater sinner I have been the greater glory will thy grace be to me unto all eternity Oh! unspeakable joy endless infinit and bottomless compassion O Ocean of never-fading pleasure O love of loves O the hight and depth and breadth and length of that love of thine that passeth knowledge O uncreated Love Beginning without beginning and ending without end Thou art my glory my joy and my gain and my crown Thou hast set me under thy shadow with great delight and thy fruit is sweet unto my taste Thou hast brought me into thy banqueting-house and placed me in thine orchard Stay me with thy flagons and comfort me with thine apples for I am sick and my soul is wounded with thy love Behold thou art fair my Love Behold thou art fair thou hast doves eyes Behold thou art fair my Love yea pleasant also our bed is green The beams of our house are Cedars and our rasters are of firr How fair and how pleasant art thou O Love for delights my heart is ravished with thee O when shal I see thy face How long will thou delay to be to me as a Roe or a young Hart leaping upon the mountains and skipping upon the hills As a bundle of myrrh be thou to me and ly all night between my breasts Because of the savor of thy good oyntments thy name is as oyntment powred out therefore desire I to go out of the desert and through to the place where thou sittest at thy repose and where thou makes thy flocks to rest at noon When shal I be filled with thy love Certainly if a man knew how precious it were he would count all things dross and dung to gain it I would long for that scaffold or that ax or that cord that might be to me that last step of this my wearisom journey to go to thee my LORD Thou who knowst the meaning of the spirit give answer to the speaking sighing and groaning of the spirit Thou who hast inflamed my heart to speak to thee in this silent yet love-language of ardent and fervent desires speak again unto my heart and answer my desirs which thou hast made me speak to thee O Death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of Death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law but thanks be to GOD that giveth me the victory through JESUS CHRIST What can be troublesome to me since my LORD looks upon me with so amiable a countenance And how greatly do I long for these embracements of my LORD O that he would kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for his love is better then wine O that my soul were the throne wherein he might dwel eternally O that my heart were the Temple wherein he might be magnified and dwel for ever c. If there were no more but these heavenly breathings of soul they do speak forth what earnest desires and groanings this holy Man had for the full enjoyments of GOD and what full assurance of faith he enjoyed As he was extraordinary in prayer so he was marvellously diligent in the rest of his Masters Work For as I was assured by an old reverend and godly Minister who knew the truth thereof he preached twise every week day from nine to ten in the morning and from four to five at night beside his work on the LORDS Day and catechising and visiting of families and of the sick In his preaching he had a deep impression of the great and dreadful Majesty of GOD upon his spirit that made him speak with great boldness and authority The learned and godly M. Boyd of Trochrig relateth in his Commentary upon the Ephesians chap 6. vers 19.20 praelect 91. pag. 1101. how that M. Welsch being called to preach before the University of Saumur one of the most learned Auditories in France although he
the beautie of Sion and the glorious presence of his Redeemer fill your privie chambers with strong cryes and many tears Cause heaven and earth to be filled with groans and sighs of his own Spirit in you and take a claught of that Prince of life ere he remove altogether and before he have stollen himself far away that he cannot be found again And wrestle with him as Jacob did and let him not depart out of your hearts entreat him yea enforce him as it were by your tears and sorrowful cryes not to leave his own Tents and Tabernacles in this Land not to give over his glorious Gospel which is his strength and glorie into captivity in the hands of their enemies Remember that he cannot abide the intercession of his own Spirit in his own He cannot hide his eyes from his own flesh and blood he can deny nothing to his own beloved Son that makes intercession for his Saints Let us therefore step up to that Throne of grace with all confidence and assuredly as he is true who hath promised we shal find grace and mercy in the time of this our need both comfort to our own hearts and it may be peace in our dayes that our eyes shal not see the evils that are to come and at that bright appearing of our LORD of life all tears shal be wiped away from our eyes We shal be clothed with those long white robes and shal be fed with the fatness of his house and shal drink of the rivers of his pleasures which is at his right hand for evermore For Sions sake in this Land Christian Reader have I thus written unto thee and for Jerusalems cause have I not kept silence at this time that her glory and wonted brightness may be renewed that the Church of Scotland which was the beauty of Europe and the praise of the whole earth for her liberty purity and discipline might be established in the same and her salvation and righteousness might break forth as a burning lamp to all the Nations of the earth and that other Churches in other Kingdoms which desired to see our beauty and spiritual glory and accounted them blessed which might have had the occasion to have dwelt in our Tents to have seen and enjoyed the same yea who would have been content to have bought it with the price of their blood to their posteritie that they I say may see the continuance thereof and may rejoice Turn thou O LORD our GOD our hearts unto thee that thy glorious presence may be continued with us for ever for JESUS CHRIST his sake our LORD and Redeemer to whom be all praise and glory for ever and ever Amen Now I come to this matter in hand the occasion of it was this There was one who was sometimes an hearer of the word with me who shew me that he had been in conference with a Papist and he had brought him thus far that if he would show him of any that professed our Religion before Martin Luther he would renounce his Papistry and therefore desired me to set them down in writ The which I did and set it down in this form as thou seest it here So this being carried to M. Gilbert Brown he writs an answer to it and sent it to me Unto the which I have made this reply Thou hast them all three here first that which I did write then his answer to it and then my reply to his answer Indeed it is true Christian Reader that there was many things that did hinder me withdraw me from this resolution either to make any answer to it at all or yet to let it go forth to the light As first that so many things have been written already by the lights lanterns of this age against that ruinous Babel that all further cōvictions seemed to be superfluous Next the conscience of my own tenuitie and weakness together with a continual burden of a fourfold teaching every week in my ordinary charge beside others both privat and publick duties which not only my own people but also this desolat Countrey craved whereby I was let to afford that time and studie unto it as the gravity of such a matter required And last of all the consideration both of the person and work of the adversary that neither the one nor the other would be accounted worthy of any answer at all himself being both rejected and excommunicated according to the express commandment of the holy Ghost as an Heretick being perverted and damned in his own conscience and delivered over unto Satan that he might learn if it were possible not to blaspheme the everlasting truth of GOD any more Tit. 3.10.11.12 1. Cor. 5.5 1. Tim. 1.20 And also denounced his rebel for his treasonable attempts both against this Church and Kingdom his work also being so foolish in its self as both I heard his Majestie affirm that he was a foolish reasoner in it and also I hope the indifferent Reader shal see the same his reasons arguments being also so oft answered unto by the learned of our side so that it seemed but actum agere to make any further answer thereunto yet notwithstanding of all these impediments these motions and reasons prevailed with me at the last both to answer it and also to let it go forth to the open view and sight of all men to wit the conscience of that duty which I ow unto the truth of GOD being so highly blasphemed and evil spoken of the unfained love of the salvation of my Countrey-men who for the most part are blinded with the smoke of the darkness of that bottomless pit the railing and thrasonical bragging of the adversary both by word and writ that it would never be answered and that the Ministery would never suffer an answer to come to light because they knew the answer to be unworthy and none other was able to answer to it the most earnest pressing of a great many of my brethren who knew the lamentable estat of this blind Countrey the constant desire of all men in this Countrey to see the same together with his Majesties most gracious acceptation of my endeavor and most favorable judgement of this my labor and most humane counsel to publish the same which did not a little incourage me and last of all the express commandment of the holy Ghost Answer a fool according to his follie lest he seem wise in his own eyes the which if it have place in any thing it must have place here where not only this seeming wise in his own eyes would undoubtedly follow upon my silence but also a seeming wise in the eyes of all this part of the Countrey almost both to the prejudice of the everlasting truth of GOD and also to the stumbling of the weak the further obduring of the obstinat and the wounding of the hearts of the godly therein Augustin lib. de Trinitate cap. 3. lib. cont Mend. cap. 6. hath
The persons to whom the work is done must be obliged and bound by right to render and recompense the worker for the worthiness of the work so that he is not just if he do it not And last of all the work must be our own and not anothers and the power our own whereby it is done and not anothers ere we can be said properly to merit by the same But all these conditions will fail in our works therefore they cannot be meritorious of eternal life For as to the first the Prophet saith That all our righteousness is as a menstrous cloth And James saith We all offend in many things and none there is that have contained in doing all things written in the Law in that perfection which it craves of us as hath been proved before therefore our works cannot be meritorious of eternal life And as to the second all that we can do or is able to do we are bound to do it already by the vertue of our creation and redemption and his other blessings already bestowed yea they oblige us to more then we are ever able to pay according to that saying of our Savior Luke 17.10 Even so ye when ye have done all that is commanded you say We are unprofitable servants because we have done that which was our duty to do Since therefore it is duty it cannot be meritorious of eternal life And as to the third there is no proportion between eternal life and our works the reward by infinit degrees surpassing the work and therefore the Apostle saith The afflictions of this life are not worthy of the glory which shal be revealed Rom. 8 18. Everlasting life being only the just reward of the sufferings of the Son of God Bernard saith What are all our merits to so great a glory serm 1. de annum And Athanasius saith in vita Antonij Not suppose we would renounce the whole world yet are we not able to do any thing worthy of these heavenly habitations As to the fourth the Lord is debtor to no creature For as the Apostle saith Who hath given him first and he shal be recompensed Rom. 11.35 The Lord is all-sufficient in himself and so needs none of your labors and so our works cannot oblige him And therefore Augustin saith serm 16. de verbis Apostoli God is made a debter unto us not by receiving any thing from our hands but because it pleased him to promise And to the last the Apostle saith What hast thou that thou didst not receive now if thou didst receive it why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it 1. Cor. 4.7 Seeing therefore all our works are imperfect and seeing we are not able to fulfill the Law and seeing all that we can do is but our duty and there is no proportion betwixt eternal life and our works and that the Lord is debtor to no man and all our ability of doing is from the Lord only therefore our works cannot be meritorious of eternal life Hear further what the Fathers say in this point Augustin saith in manuali c. 22. All my hope is in the death of my Lord his death is my merit my refuge salvation life and resurrection my merit is the compassion of the Lord I shal not be void of a merit so long as the Lord of mercies shal not want Origen who lived two hundred years before him saith in Epist ad Rom. cap. 4. lib. 4. I scarcely believe that there can be any work which may of due demand the reward of God forsomuch as even the same that we can do think or speak we do it by his gift or bounty Then how can he ow us any thing whose grace did preveen us And he saith afterward That the Apostle assigns eternal life to grace only Ambrose saith de bono mor. cap. 1. Everlasting life is forgiveness of sins so then it is not merit Jerome saith adversus Pelag. That before God no man is just therefore no man can merit And again he saith The only perfection of man is if they know themselves to be imperfect and our justice consisteth not of our own merit but of Gods mercy I omit the rest for â—â—ortness Now to your testimonies and reason to prove your merit of works which you shamefuly abuse bringing forth Scripture to cloke your damnable doctrine unto the which I answer shortly That there is a reward laid up with God for the works of every one be they good be they evil and according to their works shal they be tryed and every man shal be judged and recompensed accordingly as the Scripture plainly testifieth But that this reward of eternal life promised is of debt and not of grace and that our works are the meritorious cause of the same that the Scripture never affirms For the Lord freely and of his meer grace crowneth his own works in us and that not for the excellency of the work it self but of mercy freely for his Christs sake as both I have proved and the Fathers have testified So these Scriptures serve you to no purpose For the controversie betwixt us is not whither there is a reward promised and whither it shal be rendred accordingly to the same for that we grant but whither this reward is of merit or of grace The Apostle saith plainly in the 6 of the Romans The wages of sin is death but everlasting life is the free gift of God And in the 8 of the Romans it is called an inheritance Now if it be heritage to them that are in Christ and they heirs of it through him then it is not their merit As for the 16. of Ecclesiasticus it is Apocrypha and the text hath not that word merit as the old Interpreter whom ye follow translates it but according to his work As for the 118. Psalm and the 16 of Matthew ye are over seen in the quoting of them for they have no such thing As for your reason that a reward hath ever a relation to a merit that is false For the Apostle in the 4. of the Romans speaks of a reward that is imputed freely not to him who worketh but to him that believeth in him who justifieth the ungodly vers 5. And in this sense the reward of eternal life promised and fulfilled in his Saints is taken in the Scriptures And whereas you say that there is no reward promised but to doing and working that is false also for there is a reward of eternal life promised to the believer vers 5. And as for the promises of reward made to good works it is true it is made to them but not as though our works were meritorious causes of that reward but only that they are effects to testifie of our faith in the merit of Jesus Christ in whom only the promises are made to us and our works and for whose sake only they are fulfilled in his Saints For these causes therefore is the promise of reward made unto works first
that doth believe that Popery is the most abominable Idolatry imaginable to wit to worship the handy-work of the Baker and wood and stone c. and considers what severe threatnings he hath denounced against Idolatry namely That they shal be shut out of that New Jerusalem Rev. 22.15 and shal drink of the wine of the wrath of GOD and shal be tormented day and night before the holy Angels and before the Lamb and the smoke of their torment shal ascend for evermore and they shal have no rest Rev. 14.9 And that he is a jealous GOD visiting not only this iniquity of Idolatry upon themselves but likewise upon their children to the third and fourth generation and is not much troubled to hear and see so many souls seduced and led aside thereto and doth not judge it of his concernment to lay out himself to the utmost for discovering the snare pit that is laid for entraping and ruining eternally of poor souls Therefore we hope as our endeavors shal be peace to us so we hope it shal be acceptable to all the lovers of truth That this prayerful Treatise of that great wrestler with GOD may be blessed for convincing of gain-sayers informing establishing and confirming the LORDS people in the truth and for stirring up and awaking zeal love and repentance in the godly shal be the earnest prayer of Your servant for CHRISTS sake MATT. CRAFORD TO THE RIGHT EXCELLENT AND MIGHTY PRINCE JAMES THE VI. KING OF SCOTLAND c. Grace and Peace be multiplied I Hope it shal not be accounted presumption most Noble Prince to offer to your Majesty the first fruits of these my simple and rude labors seeing the cause is JESVS CHRISTS that KING of Kings and LORD of glory which is here defended even the everlasting truth of GOD against the venimous stings of one of the Locusts Rev. 9.3 of that Antichristian Kingdom The right whereof doth most justly belong to your Majesty both in respect of these rare and singular gifts of knowledge and understanding which the LORD hath vouchsafed upon your Majesty in such a plentiful measure that your subjects do acknowledge it at home and strangers do admire it and commend it abroad Whereby you are not only able to render a reason of that Faith which is in you 1. Pet. 3.15 but also able to stop the mouth of the adversary Tit. 1.9 and convict the gain-sayer whatsoever by that word of truth 2. Tim. 3.5 Wherewith your Majesty hath been brought up from your very infancy So that all the wise men of Babel I mean the Clergy of that Roman Harlot is not able to resist the mouth and wisdom which the Lord hath given to your Majesty And also in respect of that supereminent power as the Apostle calls it Rom. 13.1 whereby as you are most able so are you most obliged to maintain his truth propagat his Kingdom and nowrish his own Spouse which he hath purchased to himself by his own blood Acts 20.28 by the breasts of your Majesties government as it was promised of old That his Spouse should suck the breast of Kings Esa 60.16 So who is more obliged then ye Sir Who so sufficient and able every way to maintain it as ye Sir Your knowledge binds you Your profession binds you Your soveraign authority as ye are a King in Israel binds you For as the wisest King that ever was hath said and left it in writ or rather that King of Kings in him and by him Princes reign by me Prov. 8.15 Ye hold your Kingdom of him Sir and must lay down your Crown at his feet and must stand up and give a reckoning of the government of his Kingdom of the maintenance of his Truth of the nowrishing his Spouse in that day Your knowledge Sir is able to justifie it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 your soveraign authority able to defend it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye have received that two-edged sword of Gods Spirit in your mouth able to wound Heb. 4.12 yea to consume that man of sin and son of perdition Ye have received that sword of justice and judgement Rom. 13.4 in your hands able to destroy betimes all the wicked of your Kingdom and to root out from the city of the Lord all the workers of iniquity Psal 101.8 Ye know Sir the abomination of Babel Rev. 17.4.5 that as it is said of the vertuous woman Many women have done vertuously but thou surmounts them all Prov. 31.26 So the contrary may be said of her Many hereticks have taught erroneously and worshipped and wrought abominably but the whoor of Babel Rev. 17.1 the Church of Rome in heresie in abomination in idolatry hath surmounted them all that ever went before her or ever shal come after her Many beasts have spoken blasphemously Rev. 13.1.3.6 but that second beast that hath two horns like the Lamb Rev. 13. 16.13.14 17.3.4.5.6 18.24 surmounteth them all in blasphemy tyranny cruelty and abominable idolatry destroying and making merchandise of the souls of men and women Other heresies did but subvert some fundamental points of Religion but the Church of Rome hath subverted them all almost Of other heresies some was but against the Godhead of Christ other some against his manhood other some against his offices and benefits or some one head or other But the doctrine of the Church of Rome is against them all Injurious to his Godhead in making him not only inferior to the Father in teaching that he is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but also inferior to the very creatures in praying to Mary to cōmand her Son Jure Matris impera Redemptori as I heard your Majesty most solidly prove and so worse then the Arrians Injurious to his manhood to all his offices his benefits and all the means inward and outward of the knowing and applying of him And last of all injurious to his soveraign glory in communicating it to stocks and stones a piece of bread bones and ashes and the skurf skarf of all things as I hope I have made manifest in this my Answer So that most justly it is called The speach of the Dragon and the doctrine of Devils by the Spirit of God Rev. 13.11 1. Tim. 4. And if the profession of such a devilish doctrine be too great an evil what would the practise thereof be I mean the idolatrous Mass that abomination of desolation The misery alace were too great to see the people of this Countrey scattered like sheep without shepherds Matth. 9.36 dying that second and everlasting death for want of the bread of life and Gospel of salvation But this would be the misery of miseries if the golden cup of Babel full of all abominations Rev. 17.4 should be set to their head again to drink the deadly poyson of their own damnation And certainly if this famine of the Word of GOD Amos 8.11.12 whereby not only two or three Cities as the same Prophet saith ch 4.8 but twenty or
the Temple which were shut up restored the worship of GOD sent messengers with letters throughout all Israel to convert them to the LORD their GOD restored the Priests and Levites in their Ministery as the LORD had commanded by his Prophets spake to their hearts strengthened them in their offices provided for their maintenance that they might be encouraged in the Law of the LORD Follow these examples Sir send Pastors throughout all the borders of your Kingdom to teach your subjects the Law of their LORD and the Gospel of their salvation establish Religion and Justice in all the Cities of your Kingdom Cause the waters of life to run from the heart of your Countrey unto the borders thereof that publickly and privatly the LORD may be but one and his Name one and he may be a soveraign King in all your Land as it was prophesied and promised Zech. 14.8.6 Establish Pastors in all your Kingdom strengthen them in their offices and speak to their hearts Provide for their maintenance that they be not distracted but may be encouraged in the Law of their GOD and in the execution of their Ministery And when it is reported to your Majesty or ye hear of any be they many or be they few be they man or be they wife be it publickly or be it secretly in any of the Cities or parts in your Majesties Kingdom that they have gone out to entise others to Idolatry or have committed Idolatry themselves ye try it search it seek it out most diligently for so the LORD hath most straitly commanded And if it be true and certain that such abomination is done in your Kingdom Take evil out of Israel that he may have mercy on us and multiply his blessings to us And then may ye Sir having done all these things take GOD to record that you are clean from the blood of all your people because you have kept no mean back from them which your calling craved but hath caused the whole counsel of GOD to be shewed to them so that if they perish their own blood may be upon their own heads And then shal forrain Nations and strangers say of you Sir as Hiram and the Queen of Sheba said of Solomon 1. Kings 5.7 and 10.8 Blessed be the LORD GOD who hath set such a wise and understanding Prince over Scotland to build his Church and to exercise Justice and judgement there It was for the love the LORD had to his Church there that he set such a wise and understanding Prince over them Yea the generations to come Psal 78.4 shal tell to their children and their childrens children the great work of the LORD which he hath done by you Sir in this Land I have heard your Majesty gravely protest before GOD in two General Assemblies that it was one of your Majesties greatest desires and ye were even as it were ambitious of that work to plant every Parochin within your Kingdom with a Pastor that the posterities to come might say King JAMES the sixth hath done such a notable work in his days Confirm your self Sir in that purpose For ye know Sir who hath said I will honor them that honor me There is no question Sir and I speak with confidence if ye honor him in this Kingdom and be faithful to him in the Government of it he shal honor you not only by making you to reign in that everlasting Kingdom but also by lifting you up to be Ruler over mo Kingdoms here The LORD anoynted David King over all Israel yet he gave not the possession of it all at once after the death of Saul but first proved him with the Government of one Tribe seven years and an half and then finding him faithful over that he placed him Ruler over all the rest and established all Israel in his hand So there is no question and I am sure of it if ye honor the LORD to the uttermost of your power in the Government of this Kingdom and give him a proof of your fidelity therein that as he hath given you the undoubted right by birth to be a King over mo Kingdoms then this so shal he make you Ruler of them and establish them in your hands Only Sir Be ye strong and couragious to do with all diligence as the LORD hath commanded you in his Word Josh 1.6.7.8.9 and as ye see these faithful Kings have done before you Decline neither to the right hand nor to the left and then assuredly I dare promise you in the Name of the LORD he shal not leave you nor forsake you all your days and none shal be able to stand before your face And as he was with Josua and David so shal he be with you For the LORD is true who hath promised then shalt thou prosper in all thy ways And consider upon the other part who ever prospered unto the end but these that walked as the LORD had commanded For true is that which the LORD spake by his Prophet to Asa He is with you while ye be with him and if ye seek him he will be found but if ye will forsake him he will forsake you 2. Chron. 1.4.2 Was the LORD any longer with Saul Joash Amatzia Uzzia all Kings of Juda then they were with him No no but from time they forsook him he forsook them Because Saul despised the word of the LORD in sparing whom he should not have spared the LORD despised him from being King over Israel and the Spirit of the LORD forsook him 1. Sam. 15.23 and 16.15 Because Joash forsook the LORD 2. Chron. 24.20 in permitting Idolatrie at the request of his Princes the LORD forsook him and his Kingdom and delivered them into the hands of their enemies Because Amatzia did evil and obeyed not the counsel of the Prophet 2. Chron. 5.16 when he admonished him the LORD determined to destroy him Vzzia all the dayes that he sought the LORD the LORD prospered him 2. Chron. 26.5.16.18 but from time he lifted up himself to corrupt himself to trespass against the LORD his GOD in passing the limits of his calling and invading the Priests office he had no honor of the LORD but was smitten with leprosie But let all these things be far from your Majesty since you see what every one of these have done to Kings and Kingdoms before you let your heart be constant before the LORD your GOD all the dayes of your life that priores posteriores 2. Chron. 25.26 be never registrat of your Majesty as it was of them neither in the Books of the LORDS Commentary before him neither in the Chronicles of the Kings of Scotland but that both your former and latter may be that which is good and right in the eyes of the LORD That both the LORD may give this testimony to your own conscience and to the conscience of all his children that he gave of David I have found you a man according to mine own heart that will
be the beast Rev. 13.11 and your head to be the Antichrist your doctrine to be delusions 2. Thess 2.3.4.11 and your Rome to be that mystical Babylon Rev. 18 4. And so the Lord hath made them believe and give obedience to that commandment of his Go out of her my people c. That ye call these the true Church that spake against him that lyes in the weights and ballance yet betwixt us For ere ye prove them to be the true Church ye must first prove your doctrine which they then professed to have the warrant out of the Word of God So let them have the name of a Church but of an impure and corrupted Church of a Church infected by the pest of your doctrine oppressed by the tyranny of your Pope and Clergy and consumed by the rotten humors of your Idolatry So then it was not the true Church that is the called ones by the light of the Gospel for they are the true Church that spake against him but only these that were infected and poysoned with your abominations the which I grant did over-spread these Nations as it was fore-told of her Rev. 17.2 and 18.3 and 13.14 And as for these first heads of Religion which he oppugned Of your pardons justification by works and the sacrifice of the Mass their condemnation is set down in the great Register and Testament of Jesus Christ the Lord of life as shal be proved hereafter So that he was not the first that oppugned them Now as to the last the Churches from whom he departed he departed not from their body but from the consumption of your heresie that consumed the body Not from the Church but from the corruptions of your Idolatry and abominations in the Church Not from the Commonwealth of Israel but from your tyranny and oppression of the Commonwealth Not from the city of God but from the pest of your doctrine that infected the city And last of all not from the spiritual communion and society of the Saints of God in these parts but from the communion with Babel with Antichrist with the beast and with the dragon and that at the commandment of the Lord Flie from idolatry Go out of Babel my people 1. Tim. 6.3.4.5 Matth. 7.15 Acts 19. and 8.9 1. Cor. 10.14 2. Cor. 5.14.15.16.17.18 Hosea 4.15 Rev. 18.4 Now after you have assigned the mutations of our Religion since Christ and his Apostles as you think you gather the whole force of it together and makes the stream of your argument to run as strongly as it can upon our Church and Religion that the face and form of it might be so washen away that it be not known to be a true Church Your reason then is this The true Church of Christ hath never failed universally for the space of one day because our Savior hath promised to be with it to the end of the world But our Church was never before Martin Luthers dayes therefore it is not the true Church of Christ As to your proposition if ye take failing for erring in matters of doctrine then I deny your proposition for I hope I have proved sufficiently before that the Church both may err and hath erred in all ages But if you take failing to be utterly abolished and rooted out of the face of the earth then I grant your proposition that God hath ever a Church the Church of his elect with whom he will be to the end of the world And as to your assumption that our Church was never before Martin Luthers dayes I deny it Let us see how ye prove it There was none say ye before his dayes neither visible nor invisible that professed his Religion But how do ye prove that for that is still denied to you For if your Religion hath the Old and New Testament to bear witness to it and Jesus Christ to be the author of it in every point as shal be made manifest by the grace of God then I say whosoever they were from the beginning of the world to this day visible or invisible that professed the true Jesus the true Savior his true doctrine and Sacraments wherein Religion stands they are our predecessors and are of our profession and Religion so then ye should first if ye had gone squarely to work have disproved the heads of our Religion not to have their warrant from the tables of Christs Testament ere ye had concluded that we had none of our profession and Religion before Martin Luther And this is the point you should have begun at for it is not the Church that makes the Religion but the Religion that makes the Church Have we a warrant out of the Word of God for our Religion then are we the true Church and the successors of all them who ever from the beginning of the world have professed the same Have we not this warrant then I grant you we have no true Church So there is the point of our controversie whither our doctrine be from God out of his Word or not But how prove ye that Martin Luther had none of his profession before him First you gathered upon the former things that all the true Churches said against him and that he departed from them unto the which I answered before that these was not the true Church but only so many of every Nation who was deceived by your doctrine and whereof the Lord did cure a great many by his ministery and by the ministery of others whom the Lord did stir up since so that neither did the true Church who saw the truth speak against nor yet did he depart from their societie Next as the Lord had a true Church in Israel in the time of Elias even these who did not bow their knee to Baal 1. Kings 19 10.18 who was neither known to Elias the Prophet nor yet to the persecuters so did the Lord in the midst of your darkness and Idolatry reserve to himself a true Church even these hundred forty and four thousand which John saw standing with the Lamb on mount Sion Rev. 14 1. who did not defile themselves with your Idolatry and did not worship the beast and receive his mark which suppose neither ye nor we had known yet the Lord did reserve them as he promised Thirdly I say Martin Luther had sundry who professed his Religion immediatly before him who was even known to the world as I shal prove afterward Your next proof is taken from a testimony of one of our own Writers where ye alledge that it is written of Martin Luther and Zuinglius that they were the first that came to the knowledge of the Gospel I say ye are not faithful in citing of this testimony for it saith not that they were the first that came to the knowledge of the Gospel but these are the words That it was an easie thing to them meaning of your Church to devise against us meaning the English Protestants as ye call them these cursed speaches
by the grace of God may keep the Commands of God and obey him which is contrary to their Confession of Faith Our doctrine in this is the doctrine of Christ and his Apostles Christ saith If you will enter into life keep the commands Matth. 19.17 And again If ye love me keep my commands John 14.25 24. Matth. 11.29 30. And in another place He that loves me not keeps not my words c. Also Take up my yoke upon you c. For my yoke is sweet and my burden light Now I believe that no man can deny but this yoke and burden of Christ is his Commands and Laws This same doctrine the Apostles teached S. Paul saith Phil. 4.13 and 2.13 I can do all things in him that comforts me And before For it is God that works in you both to will and to accomplish according to his good will And S. John 1.5.3 saith This is the charity of God that we keep his Commands and his Commands are not heavy Now further then these we read that Noe Gen. 6.9 Abraham Gen. 26.5 Job 1.22 were just men and obeyed God And S. Luke 1.6 saith that Zacharias and Elizabeth his wife were both just before God and walked in all the commands and justification of our Lord without blame There are many other places in the Old Testament of the same matter of the which I have noted some as 3. Kings 14.8.4 and 18.3.4 and 20.3.4 and 23.25 2. Chron. 15.15 Now hold away from these places the Ministers Commentaries and I believe that all men will confess that our doctrine in this and the doctrine of Christ and his Apostles is all one M. John Welsch his Reply It appeareth that M. Gilbert is loath that the secrets of the doctrine of his Church should be known to the people because he knows in his heart they would abhor the same their own hearts and consciences witnessing to the contrary Therefore he hath hid up the poyson of it and covered it as secretly as he could But that wherein you are dark the rest of your Roman Clergy are plain For first where as ye say that a man by the grace of God may keep the Commands Bellarmin expones more clearly and sayes By the help of the grace of God Lib. de justific cap. 10. And the Monks in that form of abjuration set out anno 1585 saith That man by the new strength of grace infused in good will may keep the commands So that whereas your words would seem to import that the grace of God is the only cause of this obedience to Gods Commandments in the faithful and so I think every one almost who is not acquainted with the doctrine of your Roman Church will take it and so it may be ye teach them The rest of your brethren are more plain in halfing it betwixt free-will and the grace of God helping free-will as though the strength of nature were the more principal cause and the grace of God but a helper to it And secondly whereas ye say that a man by the grace of God may keep the Commandments of God and obey them Bellarmin saith more plainly cap. 19 pag. 364 lib. 2 de justifi cap. 3. That the Law of God is absolutely possible unto them and they may absolutly fulfil the Law and keep the whole Law and that the works of the righteous are absolutly and simpliciter righteous and proceeding of a perfect holiness without all blemish of sin and that they please God not for the imputation of Christs righteousness covering their imperfections and forgiving them but for the excellencie of the work it self So this is their doctrine Christian Reader Now as he hid his own so hath he hid ours also For our Confession of Faith saith That our sanctification and obedience to Gods Law is imperfect which word he omitted as though it had been our doctrine that the children of God in no measure nor degree keep the Commandments of God Our doctrine therefore is this That of our own nature we are dead in sin Eph. 2.1 and of our selves we are neither able to understand 1. Cor. 2.14 nor think 2. Cor. 3.7 nor will nor do those things that are pleasant to God Philip 2.13 and therefore we must be born anew again John 3 5. ere we can do any thing that is acceptable in Gods sight John 15.5 and this sanctification of ours is not perfect while we are in this life Rom. 7.14 15. but imperfect ever some darkness some rebellion some dregs of the old man yet remaining in us so that we know but in a part 1 Cor. 13.12 and our will is but renewed in part and our heart sanctified in part from the which it cometh that first we do not all the good that we are bound to do and would do as the Apostle saith Rom 7 15.16.17.18.19 20.21.22.23 24. Next that all our righteousness as the Prophet saith is but as a menstruous cloth Esai 64.6 ever smelling somewhat of the corruption of the old man within us and so that they have need to be covered with the righteousness of Jesus Christ and their imperfection to be pardoned By the only strength therefore of Gods Spirit who works both to will and to do in us we begin here obedience to the whole Law of God but yet are not able perfectly so to keep it as our works may abide to be tryed before the Lord in the ballance of his Law and therefore we place the whole hope of our salvation in the only mercy of God through Jesus Christ who is made to us of God righteousness sanctification and redemption by whose mercy we obtain the perfect remission or our sins and so we conclud with David Psal 32. Blessed is he whose sins are forgiven him and whose iniquities are covered This now is the verie simple truth both of our doctrine and theirs in this head Now to answer you Whereas ye say That a man by grace may keep the Commandments of God if you mean that the only cause of the obedience of the children of God to his Law is the renewing grace of God and that this obedience is sincere and hearty not to one but to all the Commandments not only outward but inward suppose not in that high measure of perfection that the Law of God requires then I say you contradict the doctrine of your Roman Church and forsakes their error of free-will concurring with grace and of the perfection of man his obedience here to the Law and so shakes hands with the truth of God which we profess in this point And so becoms a bad defēder of their Catholick faith as ye stile yourself And would to God your eyes were opened so to see and believe suppose ye lost that stile for ever But if ye make free-will the principal cause of this obedience as Bellarmin calls it and if ye understand a perfect obedience as your Church teaches then first tell me why did ye not speak as
crowned with a crown of glory suppose freely And to prove this If any had obeyed the Commandments perfectly then surely the Apostles Paul James John Peter should have done it For they loved him in as great and greater measure of love then ever any since did And our Savior testifies of them to his Father That they have kept his word John 17.6 But the Apostle Paul testifies of himself Rom. 7 That he did not the things he would but the thing that he hated that he did and to will was present with him but to perform he found it not and he saw a law in his members rebelling against the law of his mind and leading him captive unto sin And John saith of himself and of all men 1. John 1.8.9 If we say we have not sin we make him a lier and the truth is not in us And himself twise would have worshipped an Angel Rev. 29.10 and 22.8.9 contrary to the Law Deut. 6 1. And James saith That in many things we offend all James 3 2. And Peter to whom our Savior said thrise If thou love me keep my laws went not with a right foot to the truth of the Gospel Gal. 2.11 12. Therefore none is able perfectly to keep them We see then there is a keeping of the Commandments and a keeping of them in perfection The first common to all the faithful suppose not in an equal measure The second only possible to Adam ere he fell and to the Saints in that Kingdom As for the 11 of Matthew Take up my yoke c for my yoke is sweet and my burden light And the 1 John 5.3 his commandments are not grievous I answer Our Savior and his Apostles calls his commandments light sweet and not heavy not because the perfection of the Law is possible to any to perform in this life but first because the Lord Jesus hath taken away the curse of it and also requires not of us that perfection which the Law requires under the pain of the curse of the Law if it be not satisfied And because he by his Spirit renews the hearts of his own and makes them able with joy to begin that obedience so that what they do they do it not upon constraint as being under the Law but willingly for the love of Christ and they delight in the same according to the law of their mind as the Apostle speaks of himself Rom. 7. But yet within they find a law in their members rebelling against the law of their mind leading them captive unto sin So in these respects are his commandments called light and sweet But Acts 15 the Apostles calls it an unsupportable yoke which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear And Romans 8 it is called impossible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 3 20. and 7.14 c. Gal 3.10 As for Philippians 4.13 where the Apostle saith He is able to do all things by him that strengthens him The Apostle speaks not here of his ability to perform the Law in that perfection which the Law requires For he hath testified the contrary both of himself and of all others as hath been said But only this that through him he is able to sustain all sorts of condition both to abound and to be in scarcity to be full and to be hungry This is not my exposition but the Apostle so expounds himself in the former verse so that I wonder upon what show ye could quote this testimony As for Philip. 2. it is true the Lord worketh in his own both to will and to do but yet it follows not that they are able perfectly to obey the Law For if that measure of grace had been wrought in any it had been wrought in the Apostles but not in them as hath been shown and that by their own testimony therefore in none else Next what can be more clear for the overthrow of your Free-will then is this place of Scripture If the Lord work in us both to will and to perform then we are not able to will of our selves that which is acceptable to God As for the examples which ye cite of Noah Abraham Job Zacharias and Elizabeth David Ezechia Josia Juda and Asa and these whom the Lord reserved to himself pure from the Idolatry of your Antichristian kingdom fore-spoken there They walked indeed in integrity and sincerity in the commandments and ways of the Lord and therefore have received a good testimony and report of Gods Spirit in the Scripture all which we grant unto you But that they answered the law in that perfection that it requires the Scripture which hath registred their walkings and their own testimonies will gain-say it Noah fell in drunkenness Abraham was not justified by the works of the law but by faith Rom. 4. which is a most sure argument that he fulfilled not the law Job saith If I would affirm my self to be righteous my own mouth would condemn me Job 9 2 3.20 Zacharias believed not the word of the Lord spoken to him by the Angel therefore was striken dumb Luke 1.20 David fell in adulterie murther and provoked the Lords anger by numbering the people 2. Sam. 12 and 24. and he saith of himself My iniquities are more in number then the hairs of my head Psal 40.13 And in another place If thou mark iniquity O Lord who can stand Psal 130.2 And enter not in judgement with thy servant for no man living shal be righteous before thee Psal 143.2 Ezechias heart was lifted up 2. Chron. 32.25 Josias harkened not unto the words of Necho according to the word of the Lord. Asa put his trust not in the Lord his God but in the King of Syria 2 Chron 16.7 The like is to be said of these whom the Lord did reserve to himself in the midst of the kingdom of darkness that they did keep the commandments of God but not in that perfection which the law required For they were not more righteous then the Prophet Esay and the Apostles were But the Prophet saith That we are all unclean and all our righteousness is as a menstruous cloth Esai 64. And the Apostle saith In many things we sin all James 3. And Augustin saith All the commandments of God are accounted to be done when that which is not done is forgiven ad Bonif lib. 1. cap. 7. And in another place Epist 60. For the want of love it is that there is not a righteous man in the earth that doth good and sinneth not And Ambrose saith in Gal. 3. The commandments of God are so great that they are impossible to be kept And Jerome saith in Gal. 3 Because no man can fulfil the law and do all things that is commanded And Bernard saith Cant. serm 5. The commandments of God cannot nor could not be fulfilled of any man And Chrysostom saith in Gal. 2. No man hath fulfilled the Law And Thomas one of the chief pillars of your own Church writes in Gal 3. lect
our Ministers in Scotland except they be put to death by the Pope they bear not the testimony of Christ For these are M. Johns own words And S. John saith That the beast shal slay the two Witnesses Rev. 11.7.8 Now by M. John the beast is the Pope and the Witnesses is the Ministers therefore the Pope must slay the Ministers and after that their bodies must ly three dayes and an half not in Scotland but in Jerusalem for there was the Lord of these two Witnesses slain Rev 11.19.11.12 And after they must revive and ascend up to heaven in a cloud in the sight of their enemies and so forth Which things I trust shal come to pass to none of them in our dayes nor long after the Laird of Merchistons doomsday in his 14. Prop. Master John Welsch his Reply As for the first thing which you infer here concerning the invisibility of the Church because you have the same argument afterward I refer the answer of it to that place As for the second thing which ye infer that except the Ministers of Scotland be put to death by the Pope they bear not the testimony of Christ I answer As it is true that it is prophesied of the Antichrist that he shal slay the two Witnesses of God Rev. 11.7 and that he shal make war with the Saints and overcome them Rev. 11.12.13.15.17 so is it likewise prophesied that his cruelty shal not always continue but at the last The Lord shal take his Kingdom in his own hand and the Gospel shal be preached to them that dwel upon the earth and Babel that great city shal fall Rev. 13.6.8.9 and 18.21 So that the blood which your Church hath spilt of the Saints of God already in all the parts of Europe these three hundred years by past and that in such abundance that suppose the Lord may number them yet no man is able to number them And the patience and suffering of our brethren is a sufficient evidence that both your Popes are the Antichrist and they are the Ministers of Christ suppose they slay no mo of them And although the Lord hath shortened your power yet ye want no good will to spill the blood of the rest That ransacking of Germany that cruel persecution of Queen Mary and bloody Inquisition of Spain in the Low Countreys and that most savage and cruel massacre of Paris and that Spanish Navy which the Lord discomfited with his own mighty and outstretched arm in the 1588. year of God doth sufficiently testifie what heart ye bear to the Ministers of Scotland if your power were according to your malice But fulfill ye the measure of your fathers that the blood of all the righteous may come upon you As for the Prophesie of the ignominious handling of the bodies of these Witnesses after their slaughter it is also fulfilled by your Popes and their authority upon the carcasses of the Saints of God which in all parts almost where ever their blood was shed was most ignominiously handled as though they had been not the bodies of men but the dead carions of dogs and swine Let both Histories and some who yet live bear witness of this As for the time and place and their reviving and ascending up to heaven it is to be understood after the manner of prophesies mystically and figuratively as I have proved before The time of three days and an half signifying all the time of your tyrannous cruelty The place of their ignominy is the streets of that great City which is here called Sodom and Egypt and the place where our Lord was crucified not literally but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spiritually as the text saith Rev. 17.9 18. And also called Babylon in the 14. and 17. and 18. of the Revelation which is literally that seven hilled City which hath dominion over the Kings of the earth Rev. 11.8 and 17 5. which as Bellarmin lib. de Rom Pont. cap. 2. confesses is Rome properly So as this great City is neither Sodom nor Egypt nor Babylon suppose it be called so literally but only mystically and spiritually as the Scripture saith and your self will not deny for the likeness between them Sodom for her filthiness and uncleanness Egypt and Babylon for her tyranny and cruelty over the Saints of God wherein she resembles them So is she not literally the place where Christ was crucified but only mystically and spiritually for the likeness between them that as by the authority of the Emperor of Rome his Deputy Pilat our Lord was crucified for the false challenge of treason against the Emperor which was falsly and wickedly laid to his charge and therefore is said here by the holy Ghost to be crucified at Rome that is by the authority of the Rulers at Rome So by the authority of the Popes who now reign and have reigned these many years at Rome Christ is crucified again in his members because they will not receive his mark and worship him And as Jerusalem boasted her self to be a holy City and the spouse of Christ and yet was an harlot a murderer and a persecuter of the Saints so Rome doth boast her self to be an holy City and the spouse of Christ and the Head of all and yet is now and is long since become an harlot and a murderer and a persecuter of the Saints And if ye will ask When did the bodies of the Saints ly in the streets of Rome I answer As by the gates in the city in the fourth command Exod 20. is not meant the gates of the City properly but the authority and jurisdiction of the City so by the streets of Rome is not only meant the gates within the walls of Rome but all the places and parts whither his power dominion hath spread its self So that all the places where the Popes of Rome have exercised their tyranny over the Saints are called here the streets of that great City All these therefore who have been cruelly murdered by the Popes authority in England Scotland France the Low Countreys c. and whose bodies have been cast out and whose bodies have been ignominiously handled they have lyen in the streets of that great City And as all the rest of this Prophesie is to be understood spiritually so is this reviving and ascending of these Witnesses to heaven in the sight of their enemies to be understood not literally but spiritually So this is not the meaning of the holy Ghost that these Witnesses whom the Antichrist shal slay shal be raised up again in their own persons which yet shal be at the last day in the general resurrection but that the Lord shal raise up other Witnesses indued with that same Spirit which they were indued with preaching the same truth and maintaining the same cause against Antichrist as that Prophesie in the 3. of Malachie of the sending of Elias before the coming of Christ was fulfilled as our Savior testifies Matth. 11.10.14 not in the
did not obey the other As also a number of the Fathers of your own Religion who in two General Councils the one of Constance where there was almost a thousand Fathers the other of Basel did not obey the Pope in defining General Councils to be above the Pope So if ye speak truth infinit millions of Christians in all ages and innumerable Churches and thousands of your own Religion are condemned to Hell But this is false M. Gilbert and who will believe you And to the end now my conclusion yet holds sure That seeing his Kingdom is that second beast that hath two horns like the Lamb and speaks like the Dragon Rev. 13.11 And himself is that man of sin and son of perdition that adversary and Antichrist that was to come 2. Thess 2.3.4 And his doctrine is that Apostasie and abomination sore-told in the Scripture Rev. 17. And his seat that Harlot and mystical Babylon that mother of whoredoms who is drunken with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus Whosoever receives his mark on his fore-head or hand that is openly or privatly professes obedience unto him shal as the Angel proclaimed drink of the wine of the wrath of God yea of that pure wine in the cup of his wrath and he shal be tormented with fire and brimstone before the holy angels and before the Lamb. And the smoak of his torment shal ascend for evermore and they shal have no rest day nor night which worship the beast or his image And as for your prayer I beseech God M. Gilbert that he may open my eyes and inlarge my heart to understand and imbrace his truth more and more and to make me to grow up in that spiritual communion with Christ and his members more and more But that which ye call truth is heresie and that which ye call the true Church is Babel and therefore that doctrine and Church of yours is that strong delusion and whore of Babel with the which whosoever shal communicat is excluded from the merits of Christ and shal be partaker of her plagues and finally shal be damned SECTION XXVIII That the Pope is Antichrist Master Gilbert Brown IF the Pope be the Antichrist what is the cause that M. John would not set down some place out of the Word of God that proves the same But good Reader I will let you see how far M. John is against the Word of God in this and that by some examples only First our Savior shew unto the Jews that albeit he came in the name of his Father yet they would not receive him If another saith he shal come in his own name him ye will receive This no doubt as Augustin expones the same is meant of the Antichrist that the Jews shal receive Now it is out of all controversie that the Jews never received the Pope Therefore the Pope is not the Antichrist Again the Pope came never in his own name but in the Name of Christ for he is called the Vicare of Christ and the servant of the servants of God therefore he cannot be the Antichrist Master John Welsch his Reply I come now to prove that which I offered before to prove to wit that your Popes which ye will have to be the Head of the Church of Christ are the self-same Antichrist that the Scripture fore-told should come Thou wouldest know Christian Reader of what weight this controversie is Whether the Pope be the Antichrist or not For this supremacy of his unto them is the foundation whereupon their Religion and the safety of their whole Church depends so that they call it The Rock whereupon the Church is built against which the gates of Hell shal not prevail Rhemist annot upon Matth. 16. And Bellarmin calls him in his Preface before the controversie of the Popes supremacy The foundation which upholds the house of God the Pastor which feeds his flock the Emperor which governes his host the Sun which gives light to the starrs that is to the Ministers of the Church the Head which gives life to his body So that remove his supremacy the house of God must fall the flock of Christ must be scattered the host of the Lord must be discomfited the starrs that is the Ministery must be darkened and the body must ly still without motion And he applyes these Prophesies Isai 28.16 and 8.14.15 spoken and fulfilled only in the Son of God unto him a calling him that foundation stone in Sion upon the which the whole Church is built and that proved stone against the which the gates of Hell hath never nor never shal prevail and that corner stone which joyns both Jew and Gentil as two walls together in a Christian Church and that precious stone from whence the infinit treasure of grace is most plenteously derived unto the whole Church as unity in doctrine the bond of peace the unity of faith which is salvation it self and the very life of Religion And he saith There is no way to Christ but by Peter in whose room their Popes succeed So that in their judgement there is no way to Christ but by the Pope And he calls him that rock of offence and stumbling stone spoken of in Isai chap. 8. Upon the which whosoever shal fall shal be broken and on whom it shal fall it shal dash him in pieces O blasphemous mouth Let the heavens be confounded at this And therefore this is of such a weight that Boniface the 8 hath made it an article of our Faith whose words are these We declare we affirm we define and pronounce that it is altogether needful to salvation to all creatures to be under the Pope of Rome Extra de minoritate obedientia cap. unam sanctam So that Bellarmin saith when the Popes supremacy is called in controversie The sum of all Christianity is called in question and when that is controverted Then it is controverted whether the Church should stand any longer or not or fall and dissolve Unto them therefore it is an article of Faith which must be believed and practised under the pain of the loss of salvation And unto us he is that self-same Antichrist which the Scripture hath fore-told time hath made manifest and the Church hath suffered Unto them he is the Head of the body of Christ the Pastor of his flock the Sun that gives light to the starrs the foundation of the house of God and a mortal God among men Unto us he is Gods enemy the son of perdition the second beast and false prophet 2 Thess 2.13 Rev. 13.11 the adversary of true Religion a pest in the body a tyrant in the Common-wealth and Antichrist in the Church So thou sees Christian Reader of what weight this controversie is Let us see then how he defends him from being the Antichrist and then you shal hear our reasons to the contrary You ask wherefore I set not down some places of Scripture to prove the Pope to be the Antichrist I answer Not
is worshipped c. which no manner of way can agree with the Pope For he calls himself the servant of God and prays most humbly to Christ and desires support at his holy Mother and Saints If he deny this I cannot tell what any man can say to him but whether God will or not he will have the Pope to be the Antichrist albeit it be repugnant to the Word of God These are no dark prophesies but manifest sayings of Christ and his Apostles I would wish M. John to read S. Augustin de Antichristo Tom. 9. Master John Welsch his Reply I come to your third raison The Antichrist shal be an adversary and is extolled above all that is called God I grant that But the Pope is not an adversary c. This I deny the which if you prove then shal I grant he is not the Antichrist Let us see your proofs then for they had need to be sure seeing all your Religion and safety of your Church depend upon it and if ye cannot clear him from being an adversary to God and from lifting up himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped then your Head and your Religion is gone You say he is not an adversary to God because he calls himself the servant of God and prays most humbly to Christ We answered to this before It is not his stiles which he sacrilegiously claims to himself nor yet his form of godliness that can free him from this for wolves will be clad in sheep skins Matth. 7.15 And false Apostles and Prophets have pretended the authority and calling of God And the Apostle testifies That there are many which profess God in word Tit. 1.16 and Satan can transform himself in an angel of light 2. Cor. 11.14 And it was fore-told that the Antichrist should sit in the temple of God 2. Thess 2.4 that is in an eminent and high room in the Church of God and that he should have two horns like the Lamb Rev. 13.11 that is as he interprets it in Apoc. homil 11. two testaments as the Church hath but yet speaks like the Dragon that is as he interprets it who under the name of a Christian pretends the Lamb that he may spout in more secretly the poyson of the Dragon and that harlot who makes all Nations drunken with the wine of her fornication should have a golden cup that is a show of godliness that he might the more easily deceive And Origen saith upon Matthew treatise 28. and treatise 24. The Antichrist holds nothing but the Name of Christ neither doth he his works nor teaches his truth Christ is the truth and the Antichrist is a disaguised truth a disaguised justice and mercy He takes the testimonies of his false doctrine out of the Scripture for these that will not be pleased otherwise and he sitteth upon the chair of the Scriptures showing himself as though he were God And Cyprian saith Epist 7. That they teach despair under the pretence of hope and perfidy under the pretence of faith and the night for the day and perdition in stead of salvation the Antichrist under the Name of Christ So then if ye will believe either the Scripture or these testimonies of the Fathers neither the stiles nor yet the show of godliness which your Popes have will clear them from being the Antichrist And as to his humility towards men we have heard somewhat of it before And as to his humility to God we shal hear of it hereafter whether he be so humble as he pretends or not And certainly it had not been possible that his spiritual idolatry and abominations had been so greedily drunken out by all Nations if they had not been put in a golden cup Rev. 17.4 and his delusions had not been so strong to deceive and they had not been a deceiveable unrighteousness 2. Thess 2.10 and 11. that is such an unrighteousness as had the show of righteousness that it might the more easily deceive and the doctrine of the Dragon had not been so easily and universally embraced if he had not had two horns like the Lamb Rev. 13.11 that is the pretence of the Royal and Priestly authority of the Son of God So he hath taken on these masks that he may the more easily deceive It is not then these visards and masks that will be able to hide him from these whose eyes the Lord hath opened And as for the third thing the invocation of Saints departed I say this argument is so far from clearing him from being an adversary to God that if there were no more it is sufficient to convict your Popes and your Church that they are adversaries to God For he is an adversary to God who robs God of any portion of his glory and gives it to his creatures My glory saith the Lord I will not give to another Isai 42.8 But the Pope and his Church do so in giving invocation or prayers which is a part of Gods glory and worship unto the Saints departed For the Lord saith Call upon me in the day of thy trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me Psal 50.14.15 Therefore your Popes and your Church are adversaries to God in this point For we ought to call upon them only in whom only we ought to believe Rom. 10.14 But we ought only to believe in God Jer. 17.5 therefore we should only pray to him through Jesus Christ And he only should be called upon who knows our necessities and is able to hear our prayers and to grant them But only God in Christ the searcher of the heart doth these things therefore he only ought to be called upon Here therefore ye give out a sufficient evidence against your Popes and your Church that you are Antichristian and adversaries unto God For that which ye bring here to cleanse him doth fyle him Indeed I will neither deny the hypocrisie nor idolatry of your Popes for they both agree unto them and that which Origen saith of the Antichrist is true of them For they hold nothing of Christ but his Name They neither do his works nor teach his truth And yet for all their hypocrisie and pretence of godliness and humility these notes and marks of the Antichrist as the Word of God hath described him doth every way agree to them So that if the Word of God be true in setting down the marks of the Antichrist your Popes who bear these marks of necessity must be the same You wish me in the end to read S. Augustin de Antichristo tom 9. It would appear that you think that the reading of that work would have altered my mind somewhat concerning your Popes that they are not the Antichrist and it appears to me by that your earnest desire that the doctrine set down in that Treatise is worthy of all credit and authority and that your self is of that self-same judgement concerning the Antichrist with the Author of that Treatise
and her Son unto them What horrible blasphemy is this Who can give Christ but only God the Father They say God will give them that worship her a reward here and heaven hereafter How shal I praise the redeemed by thee speaking of Mary And in the prose of the Mass they have this prayer Jure matris impera Redemptori that is By thy motherly authority command the Redeemer And as concerning her Psalteries how horrible is it to see all that David spake of the Father Son and holy Spirit to be transferred and applyed to her without exception from the beginning to the end changing only the style of the eternal Lord in the style of our Lady blaspheming Blessed is he who loves Mary fears her and praises her name who hopes in her The heavens declare thy glory and the earth and the fulness thereof Blessed are all they who love thee because thou hast washen their sins in thy mercies Have mercy on me O mother of mercy and according to the bowels of thy compassions wash me from all mine iniquities Save me for thy names sake Let Mary be lifted up and all her enemies will be scattered Lord give thy judgement to thy Son and thy mercy to the Queen his mother Lady salvation and life is in thy hand O how good is God to them that worship his mother God is the God of vengeance but thou art the Queen of mercy Come let us worship the Lady let us praise the Virgin who hath saved us let us confess our sins unto her The Lord said unto our Lady Sit here my mother on my right hand O mankind rejoyce because God hath given to thee such a Mediatrix and at the name of Mary let all knees bow in heaven in earth and in Hell This Lady Psalter was compyled by a Cardinal of Rome Bonaventure who was canonized for a Saint by Pope Sixtus the fourth anno 1470. After the same manner have they corrupted the Songs of the Prophets of Simeon and of the Virgin blaspheming after this manner My soul rejoyceth in my Lady My soul magnifie my Lady c. Now letst thou O Lord the servant of Mary depart in peace because my eyes have seen the salvation of Mary And to put an end to these abominations they ascribe unto the Virgin that which the holy Ghost hath spoken only of Jesus Christ the everlasting wisdom of his Father The Lord hath possessed me in the beginning of his way before he made any thing I was ordained from everlasting Prov. 8.22 And Pope Leo the 10. calls her Deam a Goddess Epist 17. In the General Council of Lateran in stead of praying to God through Christ for the assistance of his Spirit they crave the help and assistance of Mary Concil Lateran sub Julio 2. Leone 10. Sess 9.10 c. And Pope Pius the fifth acknowledgeth her for the victory of the Christians against the Turk in their combat which was stricken on the sea and for that victory hath ordained a yearly rememberance of her to be kept Martyrologium Rom. act 7. And Antoninus one of their Archbishops saith Hist. part 3. tit 23. cap. 3. That Christ sitting at the right hand of God the Father rose up angry to have slain all the sinners in the earth and when none was able to resist his mother came to him and pacified him till two of his servants Franciscus and Dominicus might be sent to them and that Christ answered Behold I am pacified and have accepted thy face I appeal your conscience M. Gilbert before the Lord Jesus Christ as ye must appear before him in that great day whether these speeches be not the speeches and blasphemies of the Dragon or not And whether this doctrine and Religion of yours be not idolatrous blasphemous and Antichristian or not Not only have they spoyled the Lord Jesus of his mediation intercession and of his glory due to him and mankind of their salvation purchased by his blood in ascribing it to Saints Angels and to the Virgin Mary but also in ascribing them unto their consecrat things as their holy water the tree of the Cross the sign of the Cross their golden silver and stony Crosses For unto the Cross they give the worship of Latria as themselves testifie which by their own confession is only proper to God Thomas in part 3. summae quaest 25. artic 4. Cajet in comment in illum locum Thomae Andradius in lib. 9. orthod explic And their prayer to the Cross and the sign of the Cross is to help them defend them and save them and they adore it and worship it They pray such like that the holy water may be salvation unto them and that by the sparging of the same the health of their soul the strengthening of their faith the security of their hope may be given them Unto the Images and relicks of the Saints they offer sacrifice in burning incense unto them which the Scripture calles an oblation only proper to the living God Mark 9 49. Therefore Ezechias brake the brazen serpent because they burnt incense unto it 2. Kings 18.4 And the burning of incense to Baal is counted idolatry 2. Kings 23.5 They pray for their golden silver and stony crosses that as the world was purged from the guiltiness of sin by the Cross of Christ so by the merit of this Cross these who offer it up may be forgiven of all their actual sins Pontif. Rom. part 2 tit de benedict novae crucis Careat omni peccato perpetrato Is not this to set up their stony c. Crosses in the room of the blood of Jesus Christ They ascribe to the tree of the Cross that which is only proper to God saying Salva catervam that is Give salvation to the assembly gathered together in thy praises Brevia Rom. in fest invent exalt sanctae crucis They worship their images after the same manner as the Heathens did their Idols And as the Heathens Baruc. 6.3 bure their golden silver and timber Idols upon their shoulders so do the Papists Baron nota Marti Rom. Sleidan com lib. 9. Jodoc meg peregr Hieros cap. 3. Pellic. in Baruc cap. 6. The Heathens worshipped their idols the Papists do the same in falling down before the images of Saints Conc. Trid. Sess 25. The Heathens decked their idols with vestiments as though they had been men so do the Papists with their images which some of themselves think to be an abuse and would have it abolished Molin Epist Valen. Salig Espen hist Eccles Ecclesia reform in Gallia lib. 4. They lighted candles before their idols which their idols saw not so do the Papists Erasm colloq peregrin relig ergo Polyd. Virg. de invent rer lib. 2. cap. 23. lib. 6. cap. 13. There the faces of their Gods were made black through the smoke of their incense which was burnt in their worship as it is exponed by some so do the Papists burn incense to their golden