wordes must not be taken that teacheth transubstantiation Thirdly the circumstances of the place it selfe are flat against this doctrine of transubstantiation For if any thing els had bin signified by the worde This then that which Christ tooke and brake that is the bread it could not but verie much haue astonished them that were present that speaking as it were of the bread hee should haue meant any thing else But to haue taught that it had beene his very naturall bodie indeede it would haue made them much more wonder than they did â—â—â— e sixt of Saint Iohns Gospel when they sayd Ioh. 6 6â— This is a hard saying who can heare it For if they could not abide to heare our Sauiour Christ say they must eate his flesh and drinke his blood howe much lesse woulde they not onely haue heard this saide againe but also seeing him sit at the Table and hauing taken bread into his hand to pronounce that that bread was his naturall bodie that was borne of the Virgine Marie and that they must so eate him But they knew that about Sacraments sacramentall speaches are to be vsed And neuer imagined that because he said This is my body therefore that bread should bee chaunged in substaunce to the bodie of Christ no more than there should be an alteration in Christ because he sayth I am the doore I am the vine yea no more than the cup it selfe was changed in the words of consecration into another thing They knew that it is not such a kinde of speach as is vsed when God is purposed to make any thing Gen. 1. Let there be light let there be a firmament It is not a speach of coÌ„manding but of shewing or declaring when he sayth This is my body And therefore they made no such doubts they did not so much as aske any question how it could bee that he whose bodie they saw sitting with them at the table could haue also an other bodie though inuisible yet a verie true and naturall bodie hidden in those formes of bread And as the Apostles did neuer imagine so grosly of Christ and so absurdly that he had two bodies the one visible the other inuisible the one sitting at the table the other lurking in the formes of bread but did eate that which Christ tooke brake and gaue to them that is to say bread so Saint Paule doeth flatly call it bread 1. Cor. 11.27 28. de Euchar. li. 1. cap. 14. yea and that after the words of consecration And although Bellarmine would seeme to answere this argument and indeed iustly cyteth the answere which is commonly made to it that it is called bread not because it is so nowe but because it was so for sayeth hee it is not needfull that if sometime that be vsed yet that should bee vsed alwayes yet neither will the answere that hee best liketh of serue the turne For sayeth hee it is called bread according to the Hebrew phrase which calleth all meate by the name of bread Now to strike him with his owne weapon if it bee so sometimes must it so signifie alwayes I am sure maister Bellarmine will not so say for then shall wee doubt what it was that our Sauiour Christ tooke for the institution of the Sacrament And if he dare not say that so it must bee alwayes then must hee giue better reason why heere it should not bee so or else wee cannot beleeue him Especially seeing the Apostle immediately before speaking of the institution of the Sacrament hath shewed howe our Sauiour Christ tooke bread which I trust maister Bellarmine will there confesse to bee bread in deed and not other foode why should hee then without proofe or reason say here it is more generally taken to applie it perchaunce to the foode of the soule Yea this replie may serue for all the answeres that hee hath to this argument because it is not inough for him to say such a worde may so bee taken sometime but hee must prooue that it must in this place so be taken Moreouer if you consider of that which they call the forme of bread it is no other in colour taste or fashion than it was it putrifieth and corrupteth as soone as when it is not consecrated Which to affirme if it were transubstantiated into the bodie of Christ were in my mind absurd and blasphemous Lastly we see by the practise that the godly haue sometime vsed that the fathers in the primitiue Church thought not the bread to be transubstantiated For if they had knowne of any transubstantiation they woulde not haue burned that which remained of the Eucharist as Hesichius Hesich in leuit Ori. in Leuit. and also Origen vpon Leuiticus shew that they did Thus then by many reasons I trust it sufficiently appeareth that the church of Rome cannot without great violence done to the place wring traÌ„substantiation out of these words this is my body In Ioh. tract 47. for Christ is many things by similitude which he is not in deed a rocke a doore c. as saith S. August And so we may see the words to be most easie and plaine if according to the maner of such sacramentall speaches we vnderstand the worde Is. 1. Cor. 10.2 The rocke was Christ that is it was a figure of Christ so here This is my body that is the figure of my bodie Cont. Adimant c. 12. as S August most plainly expouÌ„deth in this place saying The lord made no doubt to say this is my body when he gaue the figure of his bodie And thus much to take froÌ„ them that one weapon which they haue wrested froÌ„ the scriptures to fight against vs wtal Now the which they can bring against vs out of the writings of men can haue no such force and therfore is not so dangerous Answer to the places out of the fathers for transubstantiation Inst Apol. 2 neer the end And yet it will not be amisse to take a short viewe of that which they alledge out of the Fathers of the purer ages namely that liued fiue hundred or sixe hundred yeares after Christ Iustinus Martyr is the first whom he nameth out of whom he gathereth That the meate whereof our flesh is nourished that is the bread sanctified by the prayer of the worde of God is the bodie of the Lorde Wherein I note first that because hee speaketh of meate wherof our flesh is nourished he acknowledgeth no change of the substance of the bread for it must be the substance of the bread that nourisheth our bodies no change I say but Sacramentall in regard whereof he hath said a little before that we receiue it not as common bread because that being so sanctified it is a Sacrament of the bodie of our sauior Christ TheÌ„ the substance of the bread being proued euen by these words to remaine it is nothing hard to see what he meaneth when he sayth it is the bodie of the Lord. For it
is nothing else then it is that is it signifieth the bodie of the Lord. Col. cum Trypho Iud◠o. Which exposition I haue from himselfe who saith in an other place That Christ hath deliuered vs bread for the Remembrance of his bodie that is taken vp into heauen Where he doth not onely shew the Sacrament to be a Memoriall of Christs bodie which here is to be proued but also that his bodie is absent and in heauē in that he saith it is for a remēbrance of his body that is taken vp And in the same book afterwards the same father saith that By the dry and moist nourishment the bread wine we are admonished of those things which it is said Christ hath suffred for vs. Where by calling thē nourishment that of our bodies for such nourishment belongeth to thē he plainly denieth any alteration of the substance in those visible signes and then further sheweth the true vse of the sacramēt which is to admonish vs of Christs suffring for vs. Out of Iren. he allegeth these words How shal they know Iren. lib. 4. cap. 34. that that bread wherin thanks are giuē is the body of their lord but that Iren. did not dream there of any Transubstantiation it is plaine by his wordes that folow immediately when he faith that the Eucharist consisteth of two things the earthly and the heauenly If the bread were transubstantiate it could not be called an earthly thing Moreouer hee writeth in that place against the heretikes that sayd there was another God the father besides him that made all things Nowe he inferreth if they should say true howe shall they knowe that that bread is the bodie of their Lord Whereby it appeareth that his purpose is here not to shew what is in that bread but which Lord it representeth vnto them As the verie next wordes in that sentence declare which are these If they say not that he is the sonne of him that made the world so that the chiefest force of this reason after Irene his true meaning is in this word Their Lord. And besides to call the signe by the name of that which it signifieth the bodie of Christ for the sacrament of the bodie of Christ is verie agreeable vnto the Scriptures but such maner of speaches are but a weake proofe for transubstantiation Next commeth in Tertullian but so maimed mangled that thereby maister Bellarmine proclaimeth vnto the world that he meant nothing lesse than to haue the truth knowne Out of him hee alledged these wordes Con. Marcionem li. 4. neer the ende The bread which he tooke he made his bodie saying this is my bodie A man would thinke this were a very plaine place but Bellarmine dealeth falsly herein For when Tertullian hath spoken for him what he would haue him then he stoppeth his mouth least he marre all For the very next wordes are that is the figure of his bodie Nowe let vs take the whole sentence together and so trie what hee can make of it The bread which hee tooke hee made his bodie saying this is my bodie that is the figure of my bodie And after also to shew what he meant by that he saide he made it his bodie he deliuereth it in other termes he calleth it his bodie If then maister Bellarmine will aske how the bread can bee made his bodie Tertullian telleth how Li. de Euch. 3. cap. 18. Sacramentally or figuratiuely So that this bold question of maister Bellarmine commeth out of season like a triumph before the conquest His fourth witnesse that he produceth Cyp. de coena domini is Cyprian whose wordes are these This bread which the Lord did reach to his disciples being changed not in shape or forme but in nature by the omnipotencie of the worde is made flesh This testimonie hee esteemeth as the club of Hercules that no man can withstand De Euch. li. 2 cap. 9. and therefore in another place alledging it he sayth thus This testimonie cannot bee answered although the aduersaries haue often assayed to answere it Let vs then examine a little this vnanswerable place And first it is confessed by Bellarmine that that booke is not Cyprians and therefore the father of that booke is vncertaine but yet wee will not denie it but answere the place if we can How the bread is made flesh hath beene sufficiently declared in the answer to the former arguments so that all the hardnesse is in this howe the bread is chaunged not in forme but in nature First that is true in respect of the vse that it is put to For as it is a sacrament and representeth vnto vs our nourishment in Christ so must it truely nourish our bodies it beeing chaunged in vs to that ende and nowe not the accidents but the substaunce of bread can worke this nourishment And therefore if wee take nature for substaunce it may well so be expounded and agree with that which Iustinus Martyr sayeth as before is saide And admit that nature doeth here signifie substaunce let vs see what they can prooue by it They say the substance of the bread ceasseth and is quite taken away But Cyprian sayeth the bread is but chaunged in nature but still it remayneth bread you see for hee so calleth it Therefore because he vttereth it in such a maner it is most certaine that he meaneth not by that worde nature the substance of bread but something else Nature therefore is somtime taken for the disposition or for the propertie or vse of a thing as the authour of the booke of Wisdome sayth Sap. 7.20 That God had giuen him knowledge of the nature of beasts In like maner Rom. 1.26 Ephes ◠.3 Iam. 3.7 We were by nature saith saint Paul the children of wrath And saint Iames saith The whole nature of beasts hath beene tamed by the nature of man So that this word nature very often doth not signifie the substance And here it cannot signifie the substance of the bread because the substance of it cannot be changed but that it must also be annihilated or broght to nought therfore he speaketh but of the vse or propertie of it that it is altered And doctor Chadsey a learned Papist as was any in Oxford in his time doth confirme this my answer For when Peter Martir disputing against D. Tresham had pressed him with an authoritie of Theodorets Dialog 1 which was this Christ hōnored those signes which we see with the names of his bodie and blood yet not changing the nature but to nature adding grace And he as it seemeth not liking well of D. Tresham his answer this Doctor Chadsey disputing another day tooke vpon him to answer such places as master Martyr had before alledged against master Tresham and amongst others he answereth this place out of Theodoret thus I say that Thodoret meaneth as other fathers doe who when they say that the nature remayneth they meane the propertie of the
that with diligence the scriptures must be searched and without loathsomnes yea with reuerence receiued But that wee may the more easily and euidently see how little these fathers do make for them it is necessary to see with what purpose and to what end these say that they do write of the hardnesse of the scriptures Namely not to discourage men from reading of them but to stirre them vp to more diligence and carefulnesse in reading them As may appeare by the earnest and vehement exhortations which the ancient fathers doe make not onely to all men generally Hom. 9. in epist ad Coloss but euen to lay men in particular and especially Heare saith Chrysostome all yee lay men that are present and that haue wiues and children howe the Apostle commandeth euen you especially to reade the Scriptures and not to reade them only as it were by chance but with great diligence with many other such like exhortations in that place as also in many other of his writings Saint Hierome in sundry of his epistles vnto godly women exhorteth them to diligent reading of the same he also to intice them to be conuersant therein dedicateth vnto some women som of his treatises vpon the scriptures Yea and in his preface vnto Paula and Eustochium two women before his first booke vpon the epistle to the Ephesians which is the place out of which Bellarmines second argument out of Hierome was fetched doth highly commend the study and knowlege of the scriptures And in his preface vnto his second booke doth extoll Marcella for her diligent study therein Hom. 20 in Ios preferring her before himselfe Thou wilt say saith Origen the scriptures are hard yet it is good to reade them And wisheth that we all would doe as it is written namely Search the Scriptureâ— â—â—â—nelius Agryppa reporteth 〈◊〉 S 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that in the first Nicene councell it was decreed that no christian man should be without a bible in his house And Chrysostome exhorteth euen lay men and that very earnestly to get them Bibles Hom. 9 in Coloss or at the least the new Testament So then wee see to what intent the Fathers tell vs that the Scriptures are hard namely because they would not haue vs to be careles in the study of them and negligent or to imagine when wee knowe somewhat that we neede knowe no more but as Hierome would haue vs to doe Epistol ad Pâ—â— liâ— um We must cracke the nut if wee will eate the kernell We must take paines to get knowledge assuring our selues that wee can neuer learne too much because wee can neuer knowe enough And saint Augustine in his Confessions saith Liâ— 6. cap. â— they ought to bâ— read of all But the Papists in complaining of the hardnes of the scriptures shoot at an other marke that is to make the simple people afraide that they meddle not with it that they reade it not neither yet heare it read vnto them So that besides the other slaunders wherewith they seeke to staine Gods word proclaiming it not to be sufficient but that it wanteth many things and may be wrested to any fence they adde this also that it is hard and therefore dangerous for them that are not learned to reade it And this is the very cause why they speake so much of the hardnesse of the scriptures as not onely their writings and words proclaime in all places but also their cruell executions against such as haue had in their mother tongue For libr. ◠〈◊〉 is and Momun in the beginning I say not the bible or the New Testament but euen the Lordes prayer or the tenne commaundements which they would seeme to allow vnto the people Gregory Nazianzene doth write In Apologâ—â— that some ancient men amongst the Hebrewes report of a custome which the Iewes had which he also commendeth which was that some places of the scriptures were not permitted 〈…〉 body to reade before they were fiue and twentie yeeres old but the rest of the scripture they should learne euen from their childehoode Where note that they make no difference of any state calling or sexe but of age onely and that when they were fiue and twentie yeares olde they might reade any parcell of Scripture But the Papists permit not any parcell of the scriptures to the lay people nay hardly to their priests but onely as they will followe such sence thereof as they appoint Yea I haue knowen bachellors of diuinity admitted to reade some booke of the master of sentences as the vse then was when they proceeded so that this was their conclusion They are hard therefore you shall not reade them That the scriptures are so hard as they are Papists to be blamed for hardnesse of the Scripture by their and to so many none are to bee blamed but the church of Rome that so much complaineth of their hardnesse but in trueth are sory they are so easie as is most plaine to see first in that they would not haue them in the mother tongues but when they see there is no remedy but that the scripture will be published whether they will or not they send vs a Testament from Rhennes Translations so full of Hebrew Latine and Greeke wordes turned into English letters that all the world may see that they meane nothing lesse than that they that reade it should vnderstand it And yet they cry The scripture is hard Secondly they are the cause of the hardnesse of the scriptures when in the most plaine places that are they will not suffer men to follow that sence which the words themselues and the circumstances both before and after doe affoord Interpretations but they must haue their interpretation from the church of Rome without whose approbations they must neither trust their own eies for seeing nor their eares for hearing neither yet their wit for vnderstanding of any thing When they change the very sence and wordes and where they finde Lord they put Lady as in that blasphemous booke called the psalter of the Virgine Marie they doe through the whole psalmes and some other places When the first promise that was made of that blessed seede that should breake the head of the serpent they apply as much as they dare vnto the Virgine Marie when these wordes shall be currant stuffe to proue worshipping of the Saints departed In as much as yee haue doone it to the least of these my brethren Math. 25.40 yee haue doone it vnto mee which are spoken of our goodnesse to Gods needy creatures aliue as Eckius imagineth in his common places De vener sanct when I say the people are taught thus to vnderstand the scriptures must they not needes bee hard Lastly the greatest cause of this hardnesse is that the people are not acquainted with them for they are forbidden to reade them nay Forbidding to reade scripture it hath beene death to haue them found with the
down so many fathers and reasons as partly I haue alleaged to the contrary and might haue alledged many mo But their meaning is plaine enough For although S. Augustine and that Councel of Carthage and others say that all those bookes are canonicall yet wee must vnderstand them according to their meaning They diuided all the scripturs that went in the name of scriptures but into two parts Those which they called Apocrypha De ciuit Dei lib. 15. ca. 23 lâ— b. 3. cap. 25 Euseb had many fables as may appeare by saint Augustine now all the rest they called Canonicall so that they comprehend vnder that name all that Eusebius and others do vnderstand both by such bookes as were without all controuersie receiued of al men and such as were not generally receiued of all but well liked of many And they comprehend all these in one name not only because that in comparison of the other that were fabulous these were good but also because they were read commonly of them although not for establishing of anie doctrine as before I haue shewed yet for reformation of manners And that S. Augustines meaning was not to make like account of all appeareth not onely by that rule which himselfe setteth downe in that very chapter after he hath reckoned vp those Bookes canonicall Those canonicall bookes which are generally saith he receiued by the common consent of all Churches De doctrinâ— christiana li. 2. cap. 8. 30 are to bee preferred before them that are reiected of many but of those whom we call Apocrypha Origen Athanasius Epiphanius Melito Hierome Ruffinus and many other haue doubted but also by his practise For it will appeare how that somtime himself doubteth of some of them which we deny to be canonicall namely of the Machabees hee writeth thus against the second Epistle of Gaudentius the Donatist Lib. 2. cap. 23 This peece of Scripture of the Machabees the Iewes do not so account of as of the Law the Prophets and the Psalmes vnto the which the Lord giueth testimony as vnto his own witnesses saying Al things must be fulfilled which are written in the Law the Prophets and the Psalmes of me but it is receiued of the Church not without profite if it bee read or heard soberly Wherin first I note that the Iewes with whom the word of God was kept before it came to vs did not account it canonicall Secondly note how he magnifieth the witnes of the scriptures which are indeede canonical calling them the Lords owne witnesses And thirdly how coldly hee intertaineth the bookes of Machabees saying the church readeth them and that with profit if they be read soberly by reason of some good examples in them But yet more plainely in his Bookes of the citie of God Lib. 18. c. 36. The reckoning of time from the restoring of the Temple is not found in the holy Scriptures that are called Canonicall but in other writings amongst which are the Bookes of the Machabees which the Iewes reckon not canonicall but the church doth bicause of the extreame strange sufferings of some Martires Wherein wee see how that S. Augustine saith that wee knowe not the story of those times after the temple was built by any canonicall writer but yet by the Machabees wee know it therefore the Machabees are not canonicall And yet the church accounteth them saith he canonicall because of the examples of the Martyres in them As if he would haue saide Although those Bookes be not indeede such as you may build your faith vpon yet they are for some things worth the reading Which two places I stoode vpon the rather because Bellarmine alledgeth them De verbo de lib. 1. cap. 15. especially this latter as a speciall pillar to hold vp those Bookes of Machabees But howe truely let the Reader iudge Arg. 3 Their third and last argument is taken from that authority which they imagine the Church hath to approoue or disprooue Gods word And therefore is it so often repeated by Bellarmine handling this point That the Councell of Trent hath allowed such Bookes De verbo dei lib. 1. De ecclesia So that hee iumpeth right with that which most blasphemously Eckius hath set downe that twice within few lines he liked so well of it That the Scriptures are not authenticall or canonicall without the authoritie of the church And Canus setteth himselfe to make a full discourse against them that say Lib 2. de locis Theol. ca. 6 That the Scripture needeth not the approbation of the church And thus they must reason The church hath allowed those bookes to be canonicall which you call Apocrypha according as did also the ancient fathers therefore they are canonicall Answere That the weakenesse and wickednesse of this argument may appeare let vs first consider who is the Author of the holy scriptures which the Apostle declareth as plainly as can be when he saith 2. Tim. 3.16 The whole scripture is giuen by inspiration from God Therefore the scripture is the word not of man but of God Secondly let vs see how this word came to vs whether by tradition of the church or by special reuelation Which also is plainly answered by saint Peter saying 2. Pet. 1.21 that prophecie came not in olde time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were mooued by the holy Ghost What will we then say shall we imagin that God would direct by his holy Spirite the mouthes of his seruants to speake but not their pennes to write God forbid Thirdly the men whome it pleased God to vse as his meanes in setting downe this word were knowen vnto the church of that time wherein they flourished and their calling so confirmed vnto the godly that without all doubt or wauering they receiued those writings as Gods word because they knew the authors thereof to be directed by Gods spirit And this is the difference that the ancient fathers doe make betweene those Bookes of scripture whose authors were knowen and their bookes alwayes receiued and therefore called Canonicall that is such as deliuer rules for life and doctrine that are infallible and those other that are called Apocrypha because either it was not knowen who wrote them or else it was not knowen that they were indued with such a spirite as they could not erre in any thing And therefore their Bookes were not receiued of the church then Is it not then intollerable pride in the church of Rome to commaund silence vnto God himselfe and not to suffer him to speake but when they giue him leaue and to proclame it vnto the world that euen his word is not of credite vnlesse it be by their approbation and allowance of the same And yet thus doe they say when they affirme that the Scriptures are not Canonicall but by the approbation of the Church Yea some make them no better than Esopes Fables if the Church allowe not
the Apostles Nowe what commaundement hath it which is the thirde thing that is set downe by Bellarmine De effect sacram lib. 2. cap. 24. Lib. 2. cap. 2 de sacram confirm without which a Sacrament cannot be Bellarmine flatly confesseth that it hath no expresse commaundement in the scripture but in stead of a commaundement he deliuereth vs the execution or practise of it for so himselfe saieth Why then I may thus reason A sacrament must haue a promise of grace a visible or sensible signe and a commaundement from God or else it cannot be a sacrament as Bellarmine confesseth but confirmation hath neither promise of grace nor visible signe nor commaundement from God therefore it is no sacrament Their arguments out of the fathers make a greater shew It is well yet that they cannot presse vs but with the authoritie of men Notwithstanding this may be briefly said for their authorities from the fathers that either they are such as haue no writings extant but onely such scraps as they for their owne purpose haue gathered togither and therefore are witnesses of vs worthily suspected or such as haue no sound credite of any indifferent man or lastly such as make nothing for them or against vs in this questiō For the Papists will haue their Confirmation to bee a sacrament the matter whereof must bee Oyle and Balme but neither doe the most learned fathers make mention of the Balme neither are the Schoole-men agreed amongest themselues that it is needful for this sacrament Lib. 2. de sacram Confirm cap. 9 as Bellarmine confesseth Yea they thinke it absurde that a sacrament should be appointed by our sauiour Christ the matter whereof should bee so rare to finde so vncertaine whether we haue the true thing or not and so costly as hardly it can bee gotten and it is doubted of some whether there be nowe any true Baulme or not And this their sacrament is built vpon so vncertaine foundations that Alexander Alensis and Bonauenture two olde pillars of Poperie cannot find that it was instituted before the counsell at Melda Out of all which it is easie to vnderstande that as this Confirmation hath not in Gods worde any shew of warrant to make it a sacrament so neither out of the fathers can anie certaine argument be gathered for the same But such are all heretikes Iren. lib. 5 and such as imagine they can find out somwhat beside the truth following those things that are spoken diuersly and in sundrie sorts and walking weakly not being alwayes of one minde are led about like blind men by blinde guides they shall and that worthily fall into the hidden pit of ignorance euer seeking the truth but neuer finding it Which iudgement of God here mentioned against the heretikes we see to be fallen vpon the Papists who had rather wander in such vncertaine and blinde wayes than be ruled by the infallible word of God Of the Lordes Supper or Sacrament of the bodie and bloud of our Sauiour Christ and namely of Transubstantiation CHAP. 13 THE PROTESTANTS WE teach that by those visible signs of bread and wine the bodie and blood of our sauior Christ is so liuely and effectually represented and offered vnto our faith that the faithfull receiuers in the same Supper doe as truly receyue by faith Christ himselfe with all his treasures and graces to the comfort and foode of their soules as they receiue the bread and wine with their mouth to the nourishment of their bodies And that this our spirituall nourishment maye bee the more liuely represented the substance of the bread wine must needs remaine for our bodilie nourishment as in Baptisme likewise the water remaineth vnchanged to signifie our spirituall washing So that as we chāge not the substance of these creatures without which they cannot bee a Sacrament so we teach Christ to be receiued spiritually and therefore most truly of the faithfull receiuer THE PAPISTS BVt the Church of Rome not content with this spirituall and true receiuing of Christ do teach that by the wordes of consecration as they cal them the very bread and wine haue their substance chaunged into the bodie and bloud of Christ So that Christ whome in the Creed we confesse to be ascended into heauen and that he shall come from heauen to iudge the quick and the dead is by that means brought into euery Pix which ouerthroweth the nature of man which hee tooke of the Virgin Marie for man can bee but in one place Wherby also there follow such inconueniences that it is with them a great question whether the Mouse that eateth the host Hom. par 3 quaest 80 artic 3. do eate Christes bodie or not some affirme it and some answer to say shee doth Glos dist 2 de consec cap. Qui bene Durand ra◠diu lib. 4 rubr 41. is not greatly absurd because the most wicked men doe eate it Others say that it miraculously ceaseth to bee Christes bodie But seeing the first miracle is wrought by the words I pray you howe hath the Mouse wrought this second miracle in making it cease to be Christs bodie and said nothing Seeing this doctrine of Transubstantiation doth bring with it so grosse or rather so monstrous absurdities a man would thinke that no Christian would stand in defence of the same For how can we not abhorre such teachers as indeuour to make vs beleeue that the most wicked persons may eate the flesh of Christ Iohn 6. Which whosoeuer eateth shall liue for euer as our Sauiour Christ doth often tell vs. And yet to defend their Transubstantiation Bel. de euch lib. 3. ca. 9. they defend this as a good and fruitfull opinion Who will folow such guides as lead vs into such marishes as themselues know no way to get out Such is the question which before I touched whether the Mouse doe eate the bodie of Christ if he eate the host A question not mooued by vs as Bellarmine would seeme to make men beleeue De Ecuhar lib. 3. cap. 14. and therefore would make vs like the Iewes Pagans and Heritikes but moued and disputed by themselues as may appeare by the master of Sentences lib. 4. dist 13 in dist 2. de consecrat cap Qui bene and also in the place before alledged out of Durand Yea Bellarmine is not a little troubled about this matter in the place next before alledged For first hee setteth downe flatly That although Christ be truly in the Sacramēt yet can he not be hurt and therefore not eaten with Mice but the formes onely of bread may be eaten The absurditie hereof I will not stand vpon in this place But Bellarmine will shewe vs this by a demonstration The Diuinitie sayeth hee is euerie where yet not cōsumed by fire nor defiled by filth Is this good diuinity to make the body of Christ not subiect to corruption because the godhead is not Glorified it is and therfore not corruptible but
bread I trust then it will not bee anie heresie for mee to expounde nature the properties of the bread seeing doctor Chadsey a catholike doth it We see then that this vnanswerable argument that he made so great account of and bragged that it could neuer be answered is long since fully answered by one of his owne friends he knew not of it Ciril is his fift witnes not that learned father that was bishop of Alexandrie but another that was B. of Ierusalē Ciril Ierus cathec Mistagog 4 whose books are but lately set forth by thēselues that now bring him in for a witnes therfore we may doubt whether he be wel delt wtal Out of him he aledgeth 3. places He once turned water into wine shal he not be worthy to be trusted that he turned wine into bloud Beholde here sayth maister Bellarmine a reall change And why so I knowe he will answere because it was so in the water for it was really changed into wine and therfore also saint Iohn Iohn 2 11 who reporteth the storie saith it was a myracle Now to change wine into bloud is as great a miracle and therefore it is likely that if there had bin any such miracle wrought some or other would haue noted it for a miracle seeing so many haue spokē of that matter namely three Euangelists and S. Paul Master Bell. knoweth that the fathers vse many times to speake verie hyperbolically and to amplify with excessiue speaches the matters that they would set forth as here this Ciril doth yet we must not gather thereof such a real change in the wine as I haue said was in the water but this is spoken to win that at our hands that he in that place moueth vs vnto that we should not thinke the sacramentall wine to bee but bare wine His second witnesse for maister Bellarmine is after in that place Vnder the forme of bread the bodie is giuen and in forme of wine the bloud Wherupon maister Bellarmine againe insulteth thus Behold the accidents of bread which remaine We grant it but not the accidents or shew of bread only but the substance also and that he hath not yet denied therefore let vs see his third place Knowe this for a certaintie that this bread which is seene of vs is not bread though thy tast perceiue it to be bread In deed hee speaketh here farre otherwise than the auncient fathers doe in that hee sayeth It is not bread For there is not one of the fathers for at the least six hundred yeeres after Christ that euer spake so but this man onely And therefore howsoeuer he amplifieth the matter in wordes to bring vnto the holy Sacraments due regarde which the fathers at those times vpon great causes did much endeuour Catec Mist 3 yet he is not to be thought to haue meant otherwise than that hee sayd before that it is no more common bread For although if they regarde but the taste they shall finde no change yet that sacrament is an authenticall seale of our faith which assureth vs that Christ is spiritually giuen vnto vs. And thus much briefly of these authorities that men may see that they are not so very plaine that infallible arguments may be gathered out of them But now I must needes speake somewhat of the Author And first for the Booke it selfe Lib. Eccles hist ◠ca. 23. out of which these places are alleaged it seemeth to me that saint Hierome hath somewhat burnt it in the eare when he saith that hee wrote it when hee was but a yong man noting thereby perchance his yong and slender iudgement And of himselfe Ruffinus saith Lib. 2. ca. 40 That hee did change sometime in faith and in Communion often And Socrates in his Ecclesiasticall history saith of him that being summoned to answere some accusations that were laid against him he fearing to come to his triall for two yeares together appeared not and therefore was deposed What reason then that wee should be content to stand to his triall for matters in question that was himselfe afraide to be tried by the learned men of his time Or that hee who was deposed from his seate by them that best knew him yea and that as it seemeth by Ruffinus his saying of him for some heresie should now sit as Iudge yea or else be allowed as witnes in so weighty matters As for saint Ambrose De iis qui initiantur mist cap. 9. whom next he alleageth he maketh not against vs. He saith indeede that the bread is that which Nature hath formed but that Blessing hath hallowed Which is nothing else but that which hath beene answered before that it is not common bread but as Theodoret saith Theod. Immutabili◠dialog 1. the Nature not being changed to Nature is Grace added And that this is S. Ambrose his meaning is most plaine not only by that which he afterwardes saith in that very chapter Before the blessing of the heauenly wordes an other thing is named after the consecration the bodie of Christ is signified but also most euidently in his bookes of the Sacraments Lib. 4. cap. 4. where speaking of the change that is in these visible signes hee vseth these wordes If there bee so great vertue in the worde of the Lorde Iesus that the thinges that were not beganne to bee how much rather can it worke that they the visible signes in the Sacrament bee that which they were and be changed into an other thing By which hee can meane no other but a sacramentall change because hee flatly affirmeth that these signes are that which they were The first place that hee alleageth out of Chrysost is this It is he that doth sanctifie these things the outward elements and change them In Matth. Hom. 83. but that hee speaketh of a sacramental change only his owne wordes a litle before in that place do prooue For in teaching how that by these sensible creatures he deliuereth vnto vs things not sensible hee bringeth his example of Baptisme wherein I know they wil not say the water is transubstantiated And yet Chrysostome maketh no difference betweene it and the sacrament of Christes body and blood but that in them both in like sort by sensible creatures insensible graces are deliuered But most plainely in an other place doeth he confute that which the Papists woulde force out of these wordes namely the change of the substance of the bread saying Before the bread is sanctified Ad Caesarium monachum wee call it bread but the diuine grace hauing sanctified it by the Priest it is freeed from the name of bread and is vouched worthy of the name of the Lordes body although the nature of the bread abide in it Whereby wee see the change that hee speaketh of is in the vse not in the substance of the bread In the latter place Chrysostome saieth thus Doest thou see bread De Euchar. in encaenus doest
that eateth and drinketh vnwoorthily is guiltie of the body and blood of the Lord and after eateth and drinketh iudgement vnto himselfe making no difference of the Lordes bodie Out of which place they reason to this effect The wicked or vnworthy receiuers can not be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord vnlesse they receiue it But they are guiltie of them and receiue iudgement to themselues therby Therefore they receiue the bodie and blood of the Lord. The minor or second proposition is true for saint Paul saith it But the first is most false For although the wicked can not be neither are partakers of the bodie and blood of Christ yet because they come not to the sacrament which was instituted of God to offer and assure vs of the heauenly graces with such reuerence as they ought to do and in such sincerity as behoueth them therefore are they accounted and that woorthily to despise the things themselues that are represented by those visible signes And this is it that S. Paul findeth fault with the Corinthians For that by despising the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ they shewed their contempt of the thing signified thereby And therfore S. Ambrose Ambrose saith euen vpon these words Because it is the Lorde whose blood he drinketh in mystery S. Hierome Hierome yeeldeth the reason why he is guiltie of the body blood of Christ Because he hath accounted as vile the Sacrament marke his wordes of so great a mysterie Not therefore are they guiltie because they eate Christ but because saith hee they despise the Sacrament of so great a mysterie And Theophilact Theophilact vppon these wordes saieth Hee that receiueth it vnwoorthily shall bee no lesse guiltie of wickednesse than if hee shed the very blood of the Lord. Where we see that Theophilact doth compare the vnworthy receiuing of the holie sacrament with the shedding of Christes blood and so maketh them two diuerse things And therefore in his iudgement it is not all one to receiue the Sacrament and to receiue Christ So that by these places it appeareth that the wicked may bee guiltie of the body and blood of Christ which are by the holy Sacrament represented and sealed vp vnto the faithfull and yet not receiue the body and blood of Christ Yet by the way I must needs note the false dealing of Andradeus a popish writer who to make the Apostles argument the stronger for him doeth falsifie his wordes And therefore where the Apostle saith hee that eateth of this bread and drinketh of the Lordes cup vnworthily he saith Hee that eateth the Lordes body Orthod ex pli lib. 7. and drinketh of his blood But it is no great fault in poperie to abvse the Scriptures and to adde to them or take from them as they thinke good Wee see therefore that this cleane meate is for cleane men this holy banquet is for holy guests as they had wont to crie For De benedict patriaâ— ch c. â— as saint Ambrose saith This bread is the foode but of the godlie And why because Our abiding in him Cypr. de coâ—na Domini is our eating of him and our drinking of him is our incorporating into him our seruices being subiected our willes conioyned and our affections vnited to him Therefore the eating of his flesh is a certaine earnestnesse and desire to abide in him Which things to be in the vngodly the Papists will in no wise affirme Many testimonies might be alleaged but with one shift they thinke to answer all The answer of the Papists Christ his body and blood say they may be receiued of the wicked but not the fruit or effect thereof And may Christ be receiued of any and they not to liue by him Confutation of it Can he that is full of all grace and power be at any time as it were robbed of the same God forbid For if they wil speake of his conuersing among the Iewes and of his being among many whilest he was vpon earth that got no good thereby the reason thereof is plaine it was because they receiued him not Ioh. 3.19 20. But to say that any may receiue him and is not partaker of his graces and benefites is most expresly against the wordes of our Sauiour Christ Ioh. 6.57 He that eateth me shall liue through me They can not therefore offer a greater disgrace to our Sauiour Christ than to say that any can receiue him and yet not be partakers of his heauenly graces So that whilest they take vpon them the defence of the wicked in some sort they set themselues euen wilfully to reproch the holy one of Israel But if it should be granted to them that the wicked may eate Christ how or when wil they agree what shall be done with that body blood of Christ that they so eate For themselues deny that the soules of the wicked are norished by him And that their bodies should by his body be norished is too absurd What then becommeth of his body and blood which they say the wicked receiue To answer this question resolutely and definitiuely they haue not yet agreed they neuer will they neuer can Therefore vntill they can answere directly to such inconueniences as of necessitie follow the doctrine that they teach let vs beleeue that Christ is the foode of the faithfull onely because none other but they do receiue him Let vs not heare them who in the sacraments which should be and are indeede most plaine and easie teach vs wholy to looke for miracles as doe the Papists For Christ is present by miracle and absent by miracle if they say true And so when all learning and scriptures faile then they perswade vs that we must seeke for a wonder and so make them that will giue credite to them in these their grosse deuises the wonders of the world for their folly But enough of this That the Cup ought not to be denied vnto the lay people which thing the Papists do CHAP. 15. THE PROTESTANTS BEcause it is needeful for the nourishment of our bodies to haue not meate onely to satisfie our hunger but drinke also to quench our thirst in And that Christ would represent vnto vs in his Sacrament the perfect nourishment of our souls wherevnto nothing could be added because that nothing should be wanting For this cause did our Sauiour Christ institute his sacrament of these two partes of our nourishment and gaue as well the one of them as the other vnto his Apostles Commanding them also aswel to take drinke of the cup as to eate of the bread And the Church also did practise this more than a thousand yeeres But of late the councel of Constance Anno 1415. Sess 13. did forbid it and commaund the Sacrament to be receiued but in one kinde THE PAPISTS SO that the church of Rome not regarding the expresse commandement of our Sauiour Christ neither the practise of
is as strong as the second and is this Breaking cannot be spoken wel of the bodie and in this place which is broken for you cannot be true of the bread for the bread is not broken for vs therefore it must be vnderstoode of Christs bodie in forme of bread In this argument M. Bellarmine reiecteth their vulgar translation which somtime he and his fellowes doe highly extoll for that saith which shal be deliuered And so doe Chrysostome Ierome Primatius Theophilact yea and Thomas of Aquine also al of them expounding these very words Epist 3 And Cyprian in his second booke of Epistles and so doe our English Remists translate it likewise Al whose translations do sufficiently proue that they espied not any such mysterie in that worde is broken but that they were bolde to deliuer the verie true sence of it shal be deliuered to signifie that the body of Christ should suffer the torments vpon the crosse which S. Paul did expresse by the word of breaking And in that respect doth Thomas of Aquine who woulde faine haue the Eucharist to be a sacrifice say it is a Representatiue sacrifice of Christs passiō 1. Cor. 11. lect 5. by which passion hee gaue his body to death for vs. But whereas Tho. and after him M. Bellarmine would make their Eucharist a representatiue sacrifice read and peruse who so will the words of the institution it will not be found that our Sauiour Christ did offer in his last supper any sacrifice to God but only spoke to the Apostles instructing them in the vse of the sacrament which then he instituted As for that he reasoneth out of the words of S. Luke because he seemeth to speake of the shedding of the cup not of the bloud Matthew and Marke Mat. 26.28 Mar. 14.24 make the matter more plaine and tell vs that the bloud of Christ is shed Doth not this wringing wresting of scriptures to force them from their true and natural sence to serue their turne manifestly argue that it must needs bee a weake tottering building that is raysed vpon so bad foundations and that it is but for want of better proofe that they are faine to scrape togither such poore helps The second argument of M. Bellarmines to proue a sacrifice by the institution is this in effect Christs body bloud are receiued in the Eucharist therefore they cannot but be sacrificed Which argumēt for vs to deny it is sufficient seeing that M. Bellarmine himselfe seemeth to inforce this only against them that confesse a real presence in with vnder the bread and yet deny the sacrifice But whereas Kemnitius requireth in a sacrifice 4. properties wherof he wanteth 3. in the Eucharist M. Bellar. can finde them al. First the persons that should sacrifice are the priests who are willed to sacrifice in these words if ye wil trust Bellar. Do this Who would euer haue gathered thus that had eies to looke vpon the words of the institution You must Doe this ergo you must sacrifice Yea Bellar. seemeth in the beginning almost of this chapter to be half ashamed of this argument and blameth Caluine and Kemnitius because they say that with the papists in that place those words To do is to sacrifice and therfore it needeth no farther answer But for the act of sacrifising it troubleth Bellarmine to finde it out neither knoweth he howe to distinguish betweene that act I meane the sacrifice which Christ offered saith he and other actions in the supper And yet master Bellarmine is sure that such a thing there is there but where to finde it he cannot tell Is this thinke you good dealing for them that should be good guides vnto others to take vppon them to leade men they knowe not whether themselues The words for a sacrament are very plaine but if you would follow with a bloud-hound you can neuer finde a sacrifice out of those wordes As for the testimonies that master Bellarmine alleadgeth out of the fathers they shall haue this answere The Eucharist is in sundry respectes called a sacrifice A sacrifice of the fathers not only because therein we offer the sacrifices of praiers and thankes giuings and duties of loue but also and that especially because it is a memoriall of the true sacrifice which Christ offered for vs vpon the crosse Therefore it is not enough for M. Bellar. to bring them in saying that the Eucharist is a sacrifice which we deny not but that it is a sacrifice properly so called which the papists affirme but cannot proue Argument 7 His 7. generall argument needeth no answer for it is so weak that euery child may see the fault of it For out of those wordes Act. 13.2 As they ministred vnto the Lord speaking of Paul Barnabas others ministring seemeth to be or may be taken for sacrifycing ergo it is takē there for sacrifycing saith M. Bellar. Iudas seemed to be a true seruant of Christ but was not Lib. 1. de M◠ssa ca. 13. And the very children doe know that it is no good argumēt to say such a thing may be therfore it is so Argument 8 Rhem. Test De missa li. 1 cap. 14 But in the tenth Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinths which the Papists make their strong bulwarke maister Bellarmine findeth three arguments His first argument is this Euerie altar which in deed is an altar is builded for offering of sacrifices But the Lords table after a sort is an altar therefore it is for offering of sacrifices We will not striue with master Bellarmine much for this point for we will confesse that such sacrifices are offered vpon the altar as maister Bellarmine confesseth the altar to be The Lordes table saith he is a kinde of altar or an altar after a sort So we say that sacrifices after a sort namely spirituall sacrifices are offered thereupon His second reason out of this place is a lowde lie For thus hee saith For the Apostle speaketh plainly that we that are faithfull doe so receyue the bodie and blood of the Lord at the table of the Lord as the Iewes their sacrifices or the Gentiles their meates offered to Idols on their altars or tables And because hee cannot proue this to bee true you must trust him of his owne worde for he bringeth no proofe at all Let the indifferent reader peruse the place and marke his false dealing with it The wordes cited by him begin at the 14. verse of that Chapter and continue vnto the 22. the summe whereof is this as they that consider the place may see As by participating at the Lords table you are made partakers of Christ and ioyned togither amongst your selues in one bodie verse 16 17 so by participating at the table of Idols you are made partakers of them and ioyned in fellowship with the Idolaters But that which he telleth vs is so plaine in these wordes cannot be gathered out of them And this
also is a sufficient answere to his thirde argument that hee wringeth out of these wordes Whereby he will force Saint Paule whether hee will or not to finde out an offering in the Eucharist because he saith they that eate the offrings are partakers of the altar Out of which place as hee cannot probably conclude any thing to proue a sacrifice in the eucharist so hee plainely proclaimeth that if it should be proued that their masse were a sacrifice yet the priest only is the better for it because the priest onlie eateth vp all For They that eate the offrings are partakers of the Altar The second sort of proofes which Bellarmine promised is gathered out of the fathers Lib. 1. de missa cap. 6. And the first argument of that sort is drawen from the wordes of sacrifice sacrificing offering oblation and such like Chap. 15. Why the fathers vse thus to speake of the Eucharist I haue shewed a little before in the answere to his sixte argument But nowe maister Bellarmine proueth that a sacrifice may be both commemoratiue and represent an other thing as did the sacrifices in the Leuiticall law and also be a true sacrifice indeede which is most true and thereupon concludeth that this sacrifice representatiue in the eucharist is also a true sacrifice But this his argument hath no necessarie consequence for the Leuiticall sacrifice must needes be a sacrifice truely so called that by the death of the beast offered vp and by the shedding of that blood the death blodshedding of Christ might be the more liuely represented to the faithfull and more constantly beleeued of them which thing being in trueth perfourmed and Christ Iesus the true facrifice indeede being offered Heb. 10.26 There remaineth no more sacrifice for sinne Moreouer in those sacrifices that they might bee knowen to be sacrifices instituted and appointed of God we see how the thing sacrificed the manner of sacrificing and all the circumstances are plainely set downe and commaunded by God And on the contrary in this sacrifice which they seeke to maintaine all things are obscure not so much as a probable shew of any commaundement or of any institution of a sacrifice Therefore the Iewish sacrifice can be no proofe for the sacrifice of the masse Secondly he will prooue that in the eucharist is not only a representatiue sacrifice because the fathers speake sometimes of oblations and sacrifices in the plural number and therefore there are more sacrifices than that one representatiue but he taketh more paines then he needeth for we teach that besides the representation of Christs sacrifice we offer in the Eucharist the sacrifices of prayers prayses and such like spirituall oblations Thirdly baptisme saith hee is a sacrament representing Christes death but is not called of any of the fathers a sacrifice offered to God therefore the only representation of Christs death and bloudshedding cannot make the Eucharist be called a sacrifice For baptisme it representeth vnto vs the efficacy and vertue of Christes death rather than the death it selfe So that there is great difference betweene these two sacraments For the sacrament of the Lords supper representeth the sacrifice it selfe which he vpon the crosse did offer euen the tormenting and mangling of his body the shedding of his bloud So that there is much more cause why the Eucharist should be called a sacrifice than baptisme Fourthly M. Bellarmine imagineth that if it were not indeed a very proper sacrifice we might in the Eucharist say to God truely I offer to thee this gift accept Lord this sacrifice And moreouer he chargeth vs that we doe wholy abstaine from such wordes and greatly reproue them for vsing of them And yet in one short praier vsed after the receiuing of the communion with vs we pray thus Accept this our sacrifice of praise thankesgiuing And after We offer and present vnto thee o Lord our selues our soules bodies to be a reasonable holy liuely sacrifice to thee Which wordes doe not only answere the slaunder wherewith he vniustlie chargeth our churches but also sheweth that well we maie vse those words I offer to thee this gift accept Lord this sacrifice although we take not vpon vs to offer Christ really in the Eucharist As for the hyperbolicall speeches which the fathers vse sometimes which is his first reason we learne thereby rather with howe reuerent an affection we shoulde come to these sacramentes than what wee shoulde thinke the thinges themselues to be For howe can it els bee true that Bellarmine himselfe out of the Greeke fathers alleadgeth that they call it a sacrifice terrible and full of horrour which cannot be properly verified of the sacrifice propitiatorie which they woulde haue it to bee for that must needes bee sweete and comfortable vnto vs in it is only grace and mercy no horrour no terrour Lastly because the fathers acknowledge in this sacrifice of the Eucharist that there is that honor performed which is due to God only therefore woulde master Bellarmine conclude that it must needs be more than a sacrifice of representation And we doe easily yeeld vnto him that it is also called a sacrifice of the fathers yea of vs also in respect of the spirituall sacrifices therein offered And this yet must be noted that properly to speake of the Eucharist it is but a sacrament But in the respectes aforesaide De missa li. 1. cap. 16. it is sometime called yet vnproperly a sacrifice But saith master Bellarmine the fathers make mention of an altar therefore they also proue thereby that the Eucharist is a sacrifice for there is no Altar but in respect of a reall sacrifice But the first altars were but tables of wood not altars of stone such as are now for the popish sacrifice in these daies commaunded and these altars of worde they caried about from place to place as occasion serued and therfore although the names of altars be found in the most ancient fathers almost that are yet popish altars are not thereby proued neither were there any altars of stone before the time of Siluester who liued more than three hundred yeares after Christ For hee first commaunded that stone altars should be made as their freind Gerson writeth And therefore as they call it sometime an altar so sometime they call it a Table Lib. 4. cont Floratum De consecrat dist 1. cap. Nemo as doeth Clement who they say was one of the first bishops of Rome he twice within few wordes mentioneth the Lords Table If therefore it be a good argument thus to reason The fathers do sometime mention an altare for the eucharist therefore they thought it was a sacrifice for there needeth no altar but for a sacrifice I am sure this is as good an argument Somtime they speake of a table for the eucharist as out of Athanasius Theodoret Augustine this Clement and others is most plaine and therefore they thought it not to be a sacrifice for
taste of christian diuinity that a man may haue faith and no grace whereas in truth faith is Gods gift and that of his especiall grace we see what vertue the papists doe attribute vnto this sacrament as they doe call it and yet Peter Lombard their owne friend Li. sentent 4. dist 18. Levit. 13. out of the priests office concerning leapers who did only iudge whether they were cleane or foule but hee coulde not make them leapers or not leapers doth appoint also those limites vnto the priests concerning binding or loosing or rather sheweth that such is their authority not that they can make any sinners or voide of sinne which lesson he learned out of Hierom but only to iudge whether they were sinners or not vpon Matth. 16 By which he learneth and plainely saith euen in this cause that God doth not alwaies follow the iudgement of the church And therefore god doth not alwaies binde or loose as the church doth in her consistory Is not this flatly to deny vnto this their sacrament that working vertue and power which the papistes giue to it Or rather is not this to deny it to be a sacrament seeing it is denied not only by Saint Hierom but also by a deare friend of theirs Peter Lombard that it hath such vertue as they ascribe to their Sacraments And heere their answere of the vnworthines of him that receiueth this Sacrament whereby he hindereth this worke of the Sacrament will not serue For we see that the iudgement of the church by their opinion doth only shew what men are and according to it doth binde or loose but it doth not make them good or bad And therefore Chrisostome in an homily of repentance Hom. 8. ad populum Antioch Trust not saith he vnto thy repentance for thy repentaunce is not able to take away so great sinnes Now therefore we see that neiâ—â— er the testimonie of the fathers in their commentaries vpon this place neither the words themselues if we looke vpon their naturall meaning neither yet the practise of the church for more then 1100. yeares after Christ can make these words to proue any sacrament of penance which the papists so boldly without all proofe thrust vpon vs. For I pray you where is the outward signe of this sacrament Are these words I absolue thee Concil Triden Sess 14. cap. 3. c But where are these words commanded Bellarmine hath found them in these words Whose sinnes you remit are remitted c. And how doth hee proue it Because the Lord would neuer grant vnto his Apostles power to forgiue sinnes de paâ— nit li. 1. cap. 10. but he would haue that power exercised by some externall signe for these are his words We grant it and for that cause hee hath appointed the ministery of the gospell but the promises are generall and whether they publikely or priuately are to be vsed to the comforte of the afflicted we finde not in the scripture any set forme set downe for absolution and therefore in the scriptures they caÌ„ neuer find that outward signe which is required in a sacrament And therefore it seemeth that Bellarmine scarcely dareth to defend that which the councell of Trent hath taught concerning the forme of this their sacrament For the councell of Trent saith Li. 1. de poen cap. 16. that these wordes are the forme of their Sacrament of penance But master Bellarmine saith we are not tied to those wordes but that these words I remit thee thy sinnes will also serue the turne For this matter let them agree amongst themselues But they must shew vs some outwarde signe appointed by Christ for this Sacrament or els we must denie it to be a Sacrament And that they haue laboured to doe these many yeares and yet they cannot doe it But M. Bellarmine striueth earnestly to proue that place whose sinnes so euer you remit they are remitted not to be spokeÌ„ of baptisme We will ease him of some labour we will graunt that it is not spoken only of that remission that therein is done Man is like a ruinous house that must alwaies be repaired by repentance Hom. 3. de paenitentia We haue alwaies need to pray forgiue vs our trespasses Chrisostome pretily compareth sinne in man to an oake tree which he that will cut it downe must strike not once or twise only but often yea he must neuer leaue vntill it fall So must we flie alwaies to this remedy not only once or twise but ten thousands of times if so often we offend yea alwaies The comfort of this promise therefore we will in no wise restraine to the time of our baptisme only but we confesse that that forgiuenesse of sinnes which in our baptisme is sealed vp vnto vs hath force and vertue through our whole life and thereby are we assured that this promise of the forgiuenes of our sinnes and remitting of the same is most certaine and true and belongeth to our whole life and to euery sinne that we commit Now this forgiuenes say the papists must be applied vnto vs by the sacrament of penaunce They should proue that for in matters of religion their credite is not so good that we dare trust them And the lesse wee trust them in this matter because we are sure that God hath giuen vnto vs other meanes to apply his mercy vnto vs namely his word for applying whereof vnto our consciences hee hath appointed his ministery in his church Yea he hath giuen his word to be read and knowne of euery bodie Then also hath he giuen vs Sacraments to confirme vs in this word and to make vs more confidently to beleeue it and more faithfully to receiue it These therefore are the meanes whereby our faith is nourished and made more bolde and strong to apply to our humbled hartes those comfortable promises of Gods good graces which in the words are offered and by baptisme and the supper of the Lord are sealed vp in our consciences Nowe other Sacramentes we know not and namelie this of penance Neither is there any necessarie consequence in this argument These wordes are spoken of remission of sinnes after baptisme therefore there must needes bee a Sacrament of penance And that should bee proued And therefore to grant him that which hee so striueth for will doe him no good After this one place that Bellarmine hath out of the Scriptures he commeth to the fathers De paenit li. 1. cap. 10. who because they afforde him no plaine proofe he indeuoureth to wring something from them by indirect meanes The proofe therefore that he hath from them as himselfe professeth is either because that when they reckon vp the true Sacramentes they often make mention of repentance also or els they compare it with the sacrament of baptisme shewing that it is God that worketh in them both Had it not bin better to yeeld vnto the truth then thus before hee proueth any thing out of the
to our maladies But they are content to confesse that it doeth iustifie yea Bellar. de iustif li. 1. ca. 15. Con. Trid. Sess 6. cap. 6. Orth. explica li. 6. and that faith doth somewhat merit our iustification because it doeth prepare and dispose the hart to iustification or as Andradradius saith because it goeth before to open as it were the doore to hope and charitie and is the beginning and foundation of iustification but that it iustifieth as the instrumentall cause that maketh vs to rest and settle our selues for our iustification onely vpon Christ without any regarde to the merit and woorke of Fayth they will not graunt A great cause of the difference betwene vs and the papists in this question is that we agree not in the signification of the worde what it is to be iustified This therefore is the question whether wee that are not only by nature sinners but also euen after our regeneration haue that Lawe in our members rebelling against the lawe of the minde Rom. 7.27 Bellar. de Amiss grat li. 5. ca. 13. which saint Paul calleth sinne and the papists themselues confesse to be euil damned and hated of God whether I say we being such sinners shal appeare righteous before God in hauing our sinnes pardoned couered and not imputed vnto vs and Christs righteousnesse accounted ours or in that goodnes or holines or those good workes which Gods grace worketh in vs. We say that Christ by faith is made ours Christ I say with all his holinesse and righteousnesses Ephe. 1.7 By whom we haue redemption through his bloud the forgiuenes of sinnes according to his rich grace And in this assurance we stand euen before Gods iudgment seat without feare and say with the apostle Who shall laie anie thing to the charge of gods chosen Rom. 8.33.34 It is God that iustifieth who shal condemne vs. It is Christ that is dead yea or rather is risen againe Who is also at the right hand of God and also maketh request for vs. And in this faith and assured perswasion we haue peace of conscience here and are in Christ and for his sake accounted righteous elsewhere euen before him that shall iudge the quicke and the dead They teach vs that after baptisme sinne is so killed within vs Popish iustification that we are able to doe such workes as doe merit iustification and eternall life That iustification is not by works but by imputation Gen. 22.18 And by this righteousnesse that is in vs we are made so iust and righteous that we are so iustified before God To confirme that which we teach we haue the promise made to Abraham That in his seede all the nations of the earth should be blessed In his seede I say not in our selues we must all be blessed And that Christ is this seede saint Paul to the Galathians doth affirme Gal. 3.16 Secondly the iustification of the people of the Iewes which they by their sacrifices obtained is a right pattern of our iustification For though the bloud of of the beasts could not make them holy yet the sacrifice being offered for them according to the law Hep. 9.9 did worke so much that they who before were accounted vncleane and might not appeare before the Lord nowe were accounted cleane and might serue before him Euen so we though wee bee not in our selues yet by this our sacrifice that hath offered him selfe a sweete smell vnto God the father wee are accounted cleane and without sinne Rom. 5.2 and haue by him accesse vnto that grace wherein we stand Thirdly this iustification is commended vnto vs by Dauid Psal 32.1.2 Blessed is he whose wickednesse is forgiuen and whose sinne is couered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquitie And for this cause he stirreth vp his soule to praise the Lord Psal 103.3 because saith he He forgiueth al thine iniquities It is promised by Ieremie I will forgiue their iniquities Iere. 31.34 and remember their sinnes no more And the Prophet Hose teacheth the people to pray for it Hose 14.2 saying thus Take vnto you words and turne to the Lord and say vnto him Take away all iniquitie and receiue vs graciously Where this is also by the way to be marked that the prophet here biddeth vs come to God with such words as if he had said Your works are euill and cannot helpe they cannot merit Yet come with good words be suiters for grace Fourthly our sauiour Christ doth commend vnto vs this iustification which we haue by him apprehend by faith Whosoeuer beleeueth in him shall not perish Iohn 3.16 but haue euerlasting life Of whom the apostles also haue learned that we are iustified by faith that righteousnes is imputed vnto vs that we are accounted righteous Rom. 3.28 Rom. 4.3.11 Lastly we see how the apostle doth exclude works frō iustifying than which there can be no stronger argumēt against this inherent iustification which the papists contend for or for the imputation of righteousnes by faith in Christ Iesus which we according vnto the scriptures doe preach And therefore he doth not onely exclude works in generall from iustification Rom. 3.28 Gal. 2.11 Rom. 4. Iustified by faith without the workes of the law But also those works that Abraham did after his first calling when now he was regenerate euen then I say attributing iustification to faith and not to his workes And likewise for his owne works long after he was regenerate Phil. 3.9 he reiecteth them that he might attaine vnto righteousnesse by faith So little did he trust vnto that inherent righteousnesse that he counted it but dung and so wholie did he depend on that righteousnes that we haue by faith in Christ Iesus But of this I haue spoken in the end of the former chapter And I trust this may serue the turne to shew how farre we are from that inherent righteousnes and keeping of the law which our popish Pharisees dreame of especially if we consider what great perfection the law requireth to be in our workes Master Bellar. his profe for inherent iustice De iustif li. 2. cap. 3. Rom. 5.19 and what want through our corruption there is in the same But master Bellarmine bringeth some arguments to proue this inherent righteousnesse The first is out of these words As by one mans disobediēce many were made sinners so by the obedience of one many are made iust Of this argument because I haue spoken at large towards the latter ende of the 23. chapter I leaue the reader to that place His second argumēt is this Al are iustified freely by his grace Rom. 3.24.25 throgh the redemption that is in Christ Iesus whom God hath set to be a reconciliation In which place by grace master Bellarmine vnderstandeth that righteousnesse that God hath giuen or infused into vs for so he speaketh But saint Augustine in that place vnderstandeth
that al the temporall punishment is not alwayes pardoned with the sinne And the Iesuites of Colen say that this commeth often to passe And so they all teach that not alwayes but often it is so But this is a very doubtfull doctrine for the afflicted conscience that would faine finde comfort and release of sinnes But so must it alwayes be nothing but doubting nothing but wauering so long as wee trust to our owne satisfactions No quietnesse and securitie but onely in Christ But because I haue spoken else-where of our satisfactions or workes how little auaileable they are I meane not to stay vpon this point But for the example of Dauid which is alleadged both by Allen 2. Sa. 12.14 maister Bellarmine and the rest whereby they chiefly indeuour to prooue that punishment may be inflicted the sinne being pardoned it maketh little for them For seeing there are in sinne two things as themselues will confesse the verie corruption it selfe and the danger or condemnation that followe◠h it the condemnation being taken away by forgiuenesse of sinne yet the corruption or infection of sinne still remaineth as before hath beene taught in the three and twentieth chapter The cause of chasticements Esa 48.10 God therefore sometime chasticeth his seruants to humble or reforme So he chasticed the Iewes Sometime to trie and prooue them whether their hearts bee right or not so did hee prooue the Israelites in the wildernesse fortie yeeres Deut. 8.2 Sometime to glorifie his owne name and for example to others as in the storie of Iob appeareth Then they can not reason thus Dauid was afflicted therefore it was to satisfie for his sinne For God wee see may send affliction for many other causes and not that wee might satisfie any thing by temporall punishment But master Bellarmine replieth against this answere out of the very wordes For there it is saide 2. Sam. 12.14 Because thou hast caused the ennemies of the Lorde by this thy deede to blaspheme the childe that is borne to thee shall surely die Where he noteth the cause saieth master Bellarmine why Dauid should be punished True but not thereby to satisfie for that he had done But that the enemies of God seeing the chasticements that God laieth vpon his children and how that Gods iudgements begin euen at his owne house and with his owne deare seruants 1. Pet. 4.17 they may the rather looke for his heauie wrath if they turne not to him And thus much for the right vnderstanding of the place But what is this to purgatorie for Dauids sinne was mortall and therefore could not be helped by purgatorie by their own doctrine De purgat li. 1. cap. 9. for M. Bellarmine saith they al agree therin To what end then doe they bring in Dauids punishment for a mortall sinne to shew howe God will take away veniall sinnes or howe doth it folow Dauid was here punished for his sinne therefore all men here or else where must be punished But to handle this question as briefly as I can master Bellarmine himselfe doth handle it doubtfully Iren. lib. 5. and so vncertainly yea and as Irene speaketh so vnconsequently and so euil agreing with it selfe that he giueth iust cause to suspect the truth of it Where the place of purgatorie is they haue not yet agreed Bellar. de purg li. 2. c. 6 Cap. 6. but are of eight sundrie minds And although in the first booke of purgatorie master Bellarmine hath alledged sundrie fathers for proofe of it Cap. 1. yet in the second booke he telleth vs that they are not agreed of it who shall come thether Some will haue all but Christ neither will exempt from thence so much as the virgin Marie others are of another minde But who must satisfie for them that are in purgatorie De purg li. 2. cap. 17. only he that is iust Why then where shall they finde priests to serue the turne For they are cōmonly as bad as who is worst And the time will scarcely serue them to recken vp their owne Li. 2. cap. 10 de purgat much lesse shall they be able to satisfie for others sins Other doubtes also there are which M. Bellarmine speaketh of but cannot certainly resolue Is this doctrine to be receiued as catholicke of so manie points whereof euen the greatest Doctours among them do disagree No certaine place no certaine people no certaine proofe of it What should we doe with such an vncertaine religion especially where so little good commeth towardes vs and so much of our goodes goe from vs For onely veniall sinnes they tell vs Veniall sinnes onely taken away in purgatorie can bee taken away by purgatorie But for such small faults because they doe not as the Papists would make vs bebeleeue turne vs from God they can tell vs manie mo easie remedies Holie bread holy water giuing a little almes pardons Pilgrimages Pater nosters and Auies And to bee buried in a Monkes Cowle and bootes it is a soueraigne remedie for such things or else they lie But one thing I cannot but muse at that in this life these veniall sinnes maie so easilie bee satisfied for as they all agree and yet after this life their torments shoulde bee so grieuous as they report them to bee For maister Bellarmine bestoweth a whole Chapter to proue the paines of Purgatorie to bee most bitter De purgat li. 2. cap. 1◠and that no torments that are in this life may bee compared with them Can a little holy water wash them awaie heere and must the fire be so sharpe that must burne them awaie else-where But I thinke I knowe nowe the mysterie of it The more that mens sinnes are heere mittigated or the lesse grieuous that they appeare vnto their iudgement the lesse carefull will they bee to satisfie for the same heere or rather to auoyd them and will liue more securely But when vppon their death-bed they shall finde anie conflict of conscience and can finde no rest then must they giue much for Masses and Trentals then must the bellowes of the Priests false and lying tongues blowe the fire of purgatorie vntill they haue made it so hote that a great peece of that which hee hath left behinde him and shoulde serue for the maintenance of wife and children must bee bestowed in the slaking of that great heate and the quenching of that tormenting and vnsatiable fire De purgat lib. ◠cap. 3. Now for his proofs of purgatorie out of the scriptures they haue either so little waight or are so obscure and so wrested from their natural sense that the simplest if without partialitie they could weigh them would find them too light to satisfie their consciences to be perswaded of the truth of that doctrine The two first the one of the Machabees 2. Mac. 12. Tob. 4. 1. Sam. 31.30 2. Sam. 1.12 the other of Tobie are out of the bookes that are not Canonicall and
therfore can proue nothing Thirdly the inhabitants of Iabes Gilead fasted when Saul was dead seuen dayes and Dauid mourned and fasted for Saul and Ionathan It may bee thought saieth master Bellarmine although they seemed to doe it in token of heauinesse yet that they did it especially to helpe the soules departed So here wee must take master Bellarmines it may be thought 2. Sam. 12.17 as a proofe for purgatorie But howe he will prooue it out of Dauids fasting and prayer for his child while it was aliue I can not see he cannot well tell vs. But whereas maister Bellarmine most falsely without all warrant affirmeth that this was the cause why the Patriarches so carefully desired buriall in the land of promise as Iacob and Ioseph did that they might bee partakers of the prayers there made Gene. 47.30 Gene. 50.25 In Gene. Hom. 65. and the sacrifices there offered Chrysostome telleth vs it was for another cause namely to assure their posteritie that the promised land at the length should be theirs And this hee confirmeth by Scripture Gene. 50.25 euen by Ioseph his wordes Surely God will visite you and you shall carie my bones hence Fourthly Psal 38.1 O Lord rebuke me not in thine anger neither chasten me in thy wrath Where is purgatory here Chastice me not in thy wrath that is Let me not be in purgatorie No authoritie of man no credit of person can make this a good proofe His fift place Wee went through fire and water Psal 66.12 thou broughtest vs into this wealth sheweth how God had dealt with his people here but what is this to purgatorie which is else where or what is this to proue our state that must be hereafter Sixtly Esa 4.4 The Lord shal wash the filthines of the daughters of Sion c. with the spirit of burning Now this burning must needs be in purgatorie fire master Bellarmine thinketh Iero. in Esa 4. Math. 3. otherwise here is no proofe for purgatorie But S. Hierom expoundeth it by that place of Matthew Esa 9.18 He shall baptise with the holy Ghost and with fire The seuenth Wickednes burneth as fire it deuoureth the briers and thornes What is there no torment of sinne or for sinne here none else where but that purgatorie must needes be proued out of this Let the indifferent reader iudge of it The eight place Mich. 7.8.9 Reioyce not against me O mine enemie though I fall I shal rise when I shal sit in darknesse the Lord shall be my light I will bear the wrath of the Lord because I haue sinned against him Li. 2. in Mic. 7 Saint Ierom expoundeth these wordes to be the wordes of Ierusalem to Babilon that the Babylonians should not reioyce at their captiuitie What proofe is this for purgatorie Perchance they were in purgatorie in Babylon that was not this popish purgatorie which they would picke out of it Ninthly he will proue it by that lake that Zacharie speaketh of Wherein is no water Zach. 9.11 Where the prophet speaketh of their deliuerance out of Babylon But if we will haue it expounded figuratiuely S. Hierom vnderstandeth of that lake wherein the rich man was and that was a place out of which he could not come Lastly Malac. 3.3 the place in Malachie is to this effect that he will sanctifie the priests that they may offer holy offerings What And shall they come out of purgatorie to offer sacrifices If not he might haue spared this place as also all the rest For there is not one that hath any shew of proofe of that for which they are brought Surely fit for these proofes were that conclusion which I remember a preacher in Queene Maries time made in a funerall sermon Nec est qui se abscondat a calore eius Neither can any man escape purgatorie And was not this clearkely handled Psal 19.6 The prophet speaketh of the sunn whose heat none can hide themselues from and he perchance in a dreame or some vision learned to expound it of purgatorie But here I must admonish the reader that in most of these places alledged M. Bellarmine bringeth perchance some one in or some mo of the fathers so expounding the same but therin he playeth but the part of Cham Gene. 9.22 who hid not but proclamed the nakednesse of his father De purg li. 1. cap. 4. It had beene his part rather to haue buried in silence those their senselesse and singular interpretations But now let vs see what he bringeth out of the newe Testament Whosoeuer shall speake against the holy Ghost Mat. 12.32 it shall not bee forgiuen him neither in this worlde nor in the worlde to come therefore say they some mens sinnes bee remitted in the worlde to come Mark 3.29 But Saint Marke comming after saint Matthew expoundeth his wordes Hee shall neuer haue forgiuenesse but is culpable of eternal damnation A direct answere to their obiection Secondarily they obiect out of saint Paul â— Cor. 3.15 Himselfe shal be safe yet as it were by the fire Out of saint August M. Bellar. confesseth this place to be hard and in deed is diuersly expounded by reason of the hardnesse of it and therfore out of an vncertaine place he cannot gather a certaine argument But of purgatorie it cannot be meant because he maketh this fire a triall of euery mans worke De ciuit dei li. 22. cap. 26. as saint Augustine wel noteth And though themselues shall bee saued yet is it as it were by fire But I trust they will neuer thrust saint Peter and the other apostles into purgatorie Yea they teach that some come not there Therefore this fire whereby Euerie mans worke is tried cannot bee purgatorie Saint Augustine in the place named thinketh it to bee tribulation Saint Ambrose seemeth to expound it of the confusion of minde Ambrose vpon this place 1. Cor. 15.29 But of purgatorie I haue shewed it cannot be meant His third proofe is far fetched euen beyond all compasse of reason What shall they doe that are baptised for dead that is saith maister Bellarmine what shall they do that pray fast mourne and afflict themselues for the dead So that to pray fast or lament if wee will beleeue master Bellarmine is to be baptised Hath hee not wrung hard thinke you to wring such a meaning out of these wordes To poynt vnto his folly I trust is sufficient confutation of it Mat. 5.26 Fourthly Thou shalt not come out thence vntill thou haue paid the vttermost farthing therefore it must bee payd say they First in the words there is no such necessitie Ioseph knew not Marie Mat. 1.25 vntill she had brought forth her first begotten sonne that is as they will confesse neuer So we say in that place thou shalt neuer come out thence Secondly the place is wholy parabolical therfore out of such speaches infallible arguments cannot be gathered Thirdly
defineth that old heresies must not bee confuted by such arguments but onely such as are newly sprung vp And yet the Papists whose religion is almost nothing but a sinke of such old and vnsauourie heresies crie still to be tried by their vniuersalitie and antiquitie and the iudgements of men flat contrarie to Vincentius his rules And this triall he will not haue to be vsed but in great questions of fayth but they make it a proofe for their most foolish toyes So that although they readily call him in because hee nameth Antiquitie vniuersalitie and consent vnto the which they woulde faine seeme to make claime yet they will I trust from hencefoorth rather stoppe his mouth than suffer him to speake because his witnesse is their ouerthrowe Let vs therefore keepe that faythfully which is once deliuered vnto vs which to chaunge is to marre it to put to it or take from it is to corrupt it Let vs holde I say that fayth which is alwayes olde and alwayes one knowing that whatsoeuer we holde besides it it is not newe onely but euen starke naught also An exhortation to Christian Magistrates for to defend this truth CHAP. 33. THus hitherto haue I stood in defence of christian truth against popish falsehood indeuouring according to my simple talent and slender skill not only to admonish you of the baggage drosse which they bring vnto vs in steed of fine gold what filthie water they would haue vs to drinke for pure wine but also in the ballance of truth to trie what stuffe it is wherewith they seeke to comend the same vnto vs. And although the due acknowledging of mine own manifold wants weaknesse did discourage me a long time to enter into these lists yet the redinesse that I see in manie to take hold of the shadow of truth neglecting in the meane time the bodie of the same and on the other side the simplicitie of others to discerne betweene light and darkenes good and euill to stay the first and to helpe the latter sort I haue thought good at one view to set before thine eyes gentle reader that truth that we teach that thou mayest know howe they haue slaundered it and that falshoode which they maintaine with some touch of their chiefe arguments that thine owne selfe although ignorant and vnlearned may haue some triall of their corrupt doctrines Nowe the especiall cause that moued me to take vpon mee this enterprise God is my witnesse is that dutie that I and such as I am doe owe to the defence of the trueth by worde or writing or any such meanes whereby wee are bound to occupie vntill our Lord and master come the talent that he hath committed vnto vs to his most gaine and glorie Neither can I satisfie my self that I haue throughly performed my dutie when I haue set downe what is truth and what is falsehoode vnlesse I indeuour also to stirre vp all Christian magistrates to the defence thereof to their vttermost power in singlenesse of heart whom for that cause God hath set in high roomes and to whom God hath committed that great charge and at whose hands hee shall call for a strait account for that dutie Psa 10.11.12 Be wise therefore now O kings be learned ye that are Iudges of the earth Serue the Lord in feare and reioyce in trembling Kisse the sonne least he be angrie And if you will knowe how princes may nay howe princes must serue the Lord in feare Saint Augustine teacheth it Epist 50 In forbidding and punishing with religious seueritie those things which are done against Gods commandment So that this seruice of the Lord consisteth of two points First in making of good lawes for the maintenance of the truth and abolishing of idolatrie Secondly in punishing such as offend against the same with a religious seuerity This then is the first thing that is required in all godly Magistrates euen from the prince that sitteth vpon the throne vnto the meanest that beareth office in the common wealth but especially of thē that haue the soueraigne authoritie that they haue a watchfull eie and a continuall care to consider and finde out what things they are whereby either the glory of God is most hindred and his seruice prophaned or sin is within their common wealthes ◠r seuerall charges occasioned and maintained Which when they espie they must seeke by godly lawes and ordinances to prouide some speedie remedie for the same For when I affirme that princes magistrates must make decrees for the truth against idolatrie and superstition my meaning is not to enter into that question against the papists whether ciuill magistrates may meddle with matters of religion or not although euen the truth therof also by the way may appeare but because I speake to such as acknowledge and confesse this to be their dutie and haue giuen notable testimonie of their perswasion therein my desire and indeuour is to stir them vp that nether they will be vnmindful thereof but alwaies and earnestly thinke of it neither vnwilling thereto but readily and diligently performe it Esa 44.28 For this cause God calleth princes sometime sheepheards so was Cyrus to teach them that they ought to be as watchfull and painful for the good of their people as is the shepheard for the good of his flocke yea they must be watchemen ouer their people and take great heed that through their fault the people perish not for if they doe it will also turne to their owne destruction De pastoribus cap. 9. For as saint Augustine saieth Their negligence shall slay them Their negligence I say wherby they are slacke in performing their dutie They are also called heads ouer their people not onely because they should haue eies alwaies to prie and spie for the eies are in the head what danger may fall vpon the people and find meanes to auoid it but also because they should in all carefull and christian discretion guide and direct them that are vnder them And because it is true that saint Paul saith Rom. 13.4 He is the minister of God for the wealth of the people and that he beareth not the sworde for nought but for to take vengeance of them that doe euill It is most necessarie that he prouide such lawes as may tend to those endes and set downe such decrees as my bridle disobedient vngodly persons that they who faine would 1. Tim. 2.2 may the more quietly liue in honestie and godlines Such is that law or statute that Asa king of Iudah made when he sawe how readie his people were to fall to Idolatrie and superstition and had taken away the altars of the straunge gods and broken downe their images and high places 2. Chro. 14.3 4. He commaunded Iudah to seeke the Lord God of their fathers and to do according to the law the cōmandement Wherin it seemeth vnto me that their case and ours is verie like therefore we cannot
Take heede I pray O yee Magistrates that that reproach may not iustly bee laide vppon vs that was spoken against the Iewes who were called Gods people before vs. Esa 1.23 Thy Princes are rebellious and companions of theeues euerie one loueth giftes and followeth after rewardes they iudge not the fatherlesee neither doeth the widdowes cause come before them For By swearing and lying and killing Hos 4.2 and stealing and whoring they breake out and bloud toucheth bloud But it is most certaine that sinne breaketh out in euery corner in great aboundance by sea by lande yea and if it bee not maintained by some yet is it too much spared and too little punished almost by al men that haue authority If such disorders may stil be permitted that is if offendours may stil goe vnpunished and they that beare with and wincke at such thinges maie stil beare authority can we looke for any other thing than that God shoulde saie vnto vs as hee saide in his wrath vnto his owne people whome hee loued as dearely as vs Arise depart out of this land this is not your rest Mich. 2.10 Because it is polluted it shall destroy you euen with a sore destruction For God in Leuiticus Leuit. 18.25 pronounceth that a lande is so defiled with sinne that it must vomit out her inhabitantes Haue we not then iust cause to feare God heauy wrath seeing that idolatry and superstition blasphemies murders whoredomes robbings and stealings doe so abounde in many places of this lande and yet so litle reformation yea so much forbearing of such had persons yea of such as are most notorious offendours so much speaking and writing for them so much pitying them vpon their tears so much repriuing them after their iudgement that they might haue time and meanes to procure their pardon as though wee feared nothing more than that the weedes should be weeded out least they shoulde hurt the herbes or the tares plucked vp that they choke not vp the corne This our wel liking of sinne this forbearing of so bad men is it that I more feare and will indeede sooner bring this land to desolation than al the cruell practises of professed enemies or faithles friends This I say if wee repent not shal make vs weake our enemies strong this shal more hastely bring vpon vs and against vs the Spaniard more strengthen his hand than al that he can deuise beare he neuer so cruel a hatred against vs. So that whosoeuer or whatsoeuer they be that wil not now when by their authority they may nay whē they ought to procure peace safety vnto the oppressed by punishing offendours shal one day if with speed they amend it not Luc. 19.42 Esa 48.22 see that al things that belong to their peace shal be hidden from their eies For there is no peace to the wicked If any man thinke that I note any particular persons herein they are deceiued I rather touch all For I see such horrible vices abounde almost in euery place and such disobedience against God and man and so little punishment especially of such as can procure the friendship of some great men although their offences be great that I say with the Prophet Wickednes saith to the wicked man euen in my hart that there is no feare of God before his eies So that almost the continuall breach of all good lawes by them that haue any delight to sinne doth proclaime it in the eares of men more shrill then the sounde of a trumpet that many of our Magistrates are farre shorte of that duty that they shoulde performe Which as we feele in these north partes to be the vndoing of many a poore man in particular yea almost the ruinating of the country so I heare the south parts are not in much better case But whosoeuer is boldest to sinne findeth many friendes to sue for his pardon Which if it be true let vs assure our selues that our generall contempt of religion and iustice and that after so many warnings and so plaine giuen by Gods messengers against this shal bring vpon vs and our land a general plague Neither let vs flatter our selues in our owne strength or our allyes or that our enemies are weake or otherwise occupied If we prouoke the Lord he shal neuer want whips to whip vs withal And thus much by way of digression vpon occasion of good Iehosaphats great care that hee had to examine and see that they beare office vnder him did deale zealously for the truth and iustly and truely with his people A godly care a good but a rare example Which point although Iehosaphats example gaue me good occasion to enter into yet the necessity of these times doth the rather force mee to handle the same Yea this is so necessarilie belonging to the matter that I am in hande withall that neither godlie lawes and decrees can easily bee deuised published neither being made can at all be executed vnlesse this be chiefly regarded But to returne to my matter againe When Ahaz the king of Iudah had polluted the land with idolatries of sundry sortes after him commeth Ezechiah his sonne 2. Chron. 29. who opened the doores of the temple that Ahaz had shut vp hee called for the Priestes and commaunded them to sanctifie themselues teaching them their duetie hee gathered the Princes together to the house of the Lorde hee commaunded the Priestes to offer and hee and the Princes commaunded the Leuites to praise the Lorde appointing how namely with the wordes of Dauid yea 2. Chro. 30. ◠hee also by Postes sent to all Iudah and Israel 2. Chron. 3◠that they shoulde come to keepe the Passeouer And Iosiah his diligence to serue the Lorde by commaunding to reforme such thinges as were amisse is notable in his storie In which example of Iosiah it is woorthie the marking howe hee gathered togither all the Elders of Iudah and Ierusalem and the people also and made them goe vp with him vnto the Lordes house And Ezechiah and hee as in the storie of Ezechiah is noted commanded them to come to celebrate the Passeouer And in Ezechiah his dayes it is to their eternall praise set downe that they had not one Recusant 2. Chro. 31. ◠but God gaue them one heart to doe the commanment of the king If Princes might then make lawes to bring their people to the church and constraine them to be partakers of their rites and seruice why may not princes now doe the like Nay if it were then the duetie of the Rulers amongst Gods people to be carefull to make such lawes howe can our Rulers excuse themselues if they be found slacke heerin For as before I haue shewed I seeke not by these examples to shewe what Princes may do but what they can not but doe vnlesse they will runne in danger of Gods displeasure But 2. Chr. 34 1◠to proceede in the storie of Iosiah when Hilkiah the
nor withdraweth other from the truâ— worship of God Yea there are who for religion being imprisoned haue inriched themselues and increased their reuenues We only seeke to reforme them not to torment them and to lay vpon them gentle chasticements to amende them not cruell punishments to destroy them But yet as I saide before of lawes that they would bee made for a restraint for all sorts of men and women so the punishment would be inflicted vpon all in like sort that offende in like maner And although I will not take vpon mee to define whether princes may beare with recusants or not because they are enemies to God namely such as despise wilfully Gods worde and contemne his Sacraments yet I may be bolde to affirme that the magistrates who will suffer vnpunished the breaking of the first table of the commaundements doe shewe therein no great zeale to their high Lord and master And here would I wish this one poynt to be considered vpon whether it be not verie conuenient and necessarie that wheras God by his law expresly hath set downe that Idolaters should be stoned to death Deut. 17.2 3 4 5 7. whether I say the papists whose seruice and ceremonies are almost nothing else but Idolatry and superstition should bee iudged according to that law concerning that point of their religion wherein they defend and practise the worshiping of Images and praying to those that are no Gods Heereby two commodities I doubt not would insue First that the papists should be knowen to be as they are Idolaters and worshippers of false gods which sinne if the people did know that they were subiect vnto they would neuer be so deceiued by them Secondly thereby many would be afraied to call vpon stockes and stones as now they doe For to defile the lande with their manifest idolatries why should not wee account it a sinne worthie of death seeing it is a breach of that commaundement which especially concerneth the honour of God Which how feruently and sincerely we should maintaine we may among manie other notable presidents learne of the children of Israel who with full consent Iosh 22 did gather themselues to fight agaynst the tribes of Ruben and Gad and the halfe tribe of Manasseh because they had thought that an altar which they built for a memoriall and witnesse that the tribes beyond Iordan worshipped the selfe same God and professed the same Religion that the other did they thought I say it had beene built to offer sacrifices vpon and so to dishonour God Which thing rather than they would suffer vnreuenged they would venture their liues So zealous they were and wee should be of Gods honour For euen to that ende were we created and that dutie we must as louing and obedient children zealously performe to our heauenly father Yea seeing they account vs as heretikes in whose doctrine neither they neither yet their fathers could euer or yet can proue by the worde of God the least suspition of heresie to the end that themselues may be knowen what they are that thus dare slaunder the professours of the trueth without iust cause Why should not they whose doctrine and doings beeing examined by Gods written worde doe plainly proue themselues to be idolaters why should not they I say be called idolaters as in trueth they are Well seeing it is before plainly proued that godly princes did make lawes to restraine and reforme the sinnes of the people yea and that in matters of Religion and haue as it were watched all oportunities to serue the Lord in such sort and this I take to be that seruing of the time Rom. 12.11 whereunto the Apostle exhorteth for so many do read it I trust it cannot be denied but that it belongeth vnto the dutie of Christian magistrates to doe the like And if they may make lawes may they not also punish the breakers of the same I haue before shewed that it is necessarie if we consider our estate that they should And that it is their part so to do it cannot be denied Rom. 13.4 For He is the minister of God to take vengeance of them that doe euill And what Nehemiah did herein is worthie to be remembred whose authoritie was not very great being but as it were a captain yet did he not onely make decrees as of other matters so also concerning the breach of the Sabboth day Nehe. 10.17 a sinne too common in England and too lightly accounted of but also did execute the same 20 21 yea and threatned to lay hands vpon them that were cause of it if they made that fault againe Yea did not Asa commaund them vpon paine of death to turne from their Idols and false gods â— Chr. 15.23 making this couenant nay taking this oath of all Iudah and Beniamin that Whosoeuer will not seeke the Lorde God of Israel shall bee slaine whether hee bee small or great man or woman Marke there is in this no respect of kinde or kinred yea he suffered not his owne grandmother to be regent neither thought her worthie to bee a gouernour Because shee had made an Idoll in a groue and hee brake downe her Idoll and stamped it and burnt it at the brooke of Kidron Christian princes and Magistrates should alwayes set such examples before their eies comparing that which they did and Gods spirit commendeth in them with that which they doe to prouoke themselues thereby in godly zeale to serue the Lord. Nowe therefore seeing I haue indeuoured as God hath inabled mee to stirre vp all christian magistrates more watchfully to regard and more speedily to redresse than of late especially hath beene done the state of religion growen I knowe not by what negligence almost into contempt amongst many I would wish that a chiefe care shoulde bee taken among many other to auoyde two verie daungerous conceytes which are as Scylla and Caribdis 1. Tim. 1.19 at one of the which it is an easie matter for all them to make shipwracke of fayth Rom. 1.18 that striue not to holde fast a good conscience but withholde the trueth in vnrighteousnesse The one is poperie the other is Atheisme Of papists and recusants I haue sayde alreadie somewhat They are too many and vpon euery small occasion of hope of their bloudie day verie bolde whereby we may consider what subiects they are They are dangerous snakes to carrie in our bosome If inquirie should be made how many haue beene presented that were neuer called before authoritie and howe many called that haue beene sent home againe as free as before they came to the magistrate and yet as bad also as euer they were I suppose they will be found manie And for them that are imprisoned it is manie times more for the gaine of their keepers than the reformation of themselues So that they are almost in no place more free to doe or say what they will than in their prisons whereby they corrupt many This
his purpose speaking of iustification by faith Arg. 9 His ninth argument consisteth of two places of scripture ca. 22 The first is out of that talke which God had with Caine before he killed his brother Abel Gen. 4.7 Also vnto thee his desire shall bee subiect and thou shalt rule ouer him But that this may be an argument for freewill master Bellarmine and others contend that it should be read The desire of it shal be subiect vnto thee and thou shalt beare rule ouer it And so they prooue that sinne shall be subiect vnto Cain and he shall beare rule ouer it Therefore he had free will That manie of the fathers doe expound these words so it cannot be denied But not what they say is only to be regarded but how they proue it yea the Iesuites that wrote In dialog 2 the censure of Colen will be therein my warrant for they hauing condenmed some of the auncient fathers to haue spoken hardly because they accounted the workes of infidels how good soeuer they seemed to be but sinne doe then fall to trie how their proofe will warrant their doctrine So must I heere examine vpon what ground the fathers doe thus expound it And this I need not feare to do For themselues giue me leaue to examine that they say If then saint Hillarie haue giuen vs a true rule to interprete the scripture when he sayeth Lib. 9. de trinit The vnderstanding of that which is spoken must be looked for of the wordes that go before or of those that followe Let vs see what interpretation is to bee gathered out of the circumstances of that place that wee may with the Church receiue the fathers but not with the fathers forsake the faith of the Church In Commonitor contra haeres as Vincentius Lirinensis warneth vs. First then euen in respect of the verie Grammer if the relatiue in both places must agree with the antecedent then this worde It which is the relatiue in both places as they would haue it or rather his or him as we say being of the Masculine Gender which themselues cannot denie the worde Sinne which is of the Feminine Gender cannot bee the antecedent to those Relatiues although it goe next them which maister Bellarmine vnlearnedly affirmeth And therefore that translation and interpretation of the place standeth not with the rules of Grammer Secondly the circumstances of the place teach vs so much Cain is angrie that his brothers sacrifice is accepted of and his not Therefore when God hath questioned with Cain of his anger hee bringeth this as an argument to pacifie him because that Cain being the elder brother should still haue the prerogatiue of the elder brother and Abell should bee subiect vnto him And that this is the plaine and natural sense of the wordes I proue by sundrie reasons First because in the former Chapter God speaking of the subiection of Eue vnto Adam as they cannot but confesse Cap. 3.16 vseth the selfe same wordes there that are here vsed And therefore by all likelihoode hee speaketh of the same matter also here that there he did howe Abell should be vnder his elder brother Conferre the wordes together you shall see them agree Secondly how impertinenly had the promise of free will beene made in that place vnto Cain God hauing reiected his sacrifice and knowing his furie towards his brother yea not any one circumstance inducing thereunto But thirdly their owne doctrine doeth strongly confute them For if they that are not regenerate as Cain haue the power of their will by their owne confession weakened and so clogged that they cannot haue free wil to doe good then this cannot be verified of sinne howe could God say that the lust or desire of sinne should be vnder him or that he should haue dominion ouer sinne being a gracelesse and cruel man Yea the euent did presently declare that hee was subiect to sinne and that sinne got the dominion ouer him So that I cannot see how they can be excused from seeking to make God a liar that affirme that God there promised that Cain should subdue sinne the euent being so plain contrary Which because I know it to be farre from those godly fathers I will rather thinke that they did but allude vnto that place then expound the words And thus I trust it is plaine that neither the rules of Grammer nor the circumstances of the place neither yet their owne doctrine of free will can well stand with that interpretation that they doe bring As for his second authoritie which is out of Ecclesiasticus the booke it selfe not being canonical Eccle. 15.14 15 16. a necessarie argument cannot bee gathered out of the same And that man at the first had free will it can not bee denied and of that especially the place mentioned doeth intreat De grat liber arbit lib. 5. cap. 23 Now certaine other arguments out of the scripture there are alledged whereunto I will briefly make answer The first out of Deuteronomie where Moses hauing shewed them how he hath deliuered to them Gods word in obeying whereof is life Deut. 30 19. and in contempt of it death hee then addeth Therefore choose life that thou and thy seede may liue Wherin Moses doth nothing else but earnestly stirre vp the people to endeuour to the vttermost of their power to serue God Not shewing what they can effectually applie themselues vnto by the power of their will but what they should doe in respect of their duetie towardes God or care of their owne good As for that of Iosue Iosue 24.15 Choose you this day whom you will serue When Iosue who had good experience of the frailtie of the people and their readinesse to serue other gods had set before them the great mercies of God in their mightie deliuerance and preseruation from many perils the more strongly to tie them vnto God hee putteth them to this choise not because he would haue suffered them to haue worshipped strange gods if themselues would for that had beene contrarie to the dutie that God required of him being a magistrate but to this ende that themselues hauing made choise to serue God might by this their owne voluntarie submitting themselues to God bee vrged to serue him more sincerely as by the 22. verse appeareth And this choise also is rather what external profession they would be of which is a matter in our owne power rather then of the inwarde affection which is the thing in controuersie betweene the Papists and vs. For this we denie and they should proue that wee are able by our free will to doe things that are truely good and to eschewe the things that are euill And that this choyse that they were put to was what externall profession they would be of the wordes themselues declare Choose sayeth hee whether ye will serue the Gods which your fathers serued or the gods of the Amorites I and my house
will serue the Lorde As if a man would say now choose whether you will professe the Gospell or Poperie His testimonie out of Ecclesiasticus Eccle. 31.10 Who might offend and hath not offended or doe euill and hath not done euill I maruell bee so much commendeth thinking it vnanswerable Whereas if it proue any thing it is but that which we neuer denied namely that the wicked haue a free will to euill Now that which he alledgeth out of saint Paul is too absurd Neuerthelesse he that purposeth firmely in his heart that he hath no need but hath power ouer his owne will c. What are these wordes to free will The power that here he speaketh of is if he performe his purpose without inconuenience to his daughter as may appeare not onely by Primasius and Hierom of this place Primasius Hieronimus Tho. Aquin. but also by his owne friend Thomas of Aquine who sheweth that then he hath power of his owne will when hee knoweth his daughter hath a purpose to continue a virgine So that in effect this is his argument His daughter doth not hinder his will for keeping her a virgin therefore hee hath free will in himselfe to doe good or eschew euill Of the strength of which argument let maister Bellarmines owne friendes consider His last place out of the scriptures is verie like this As euerie man wisheth in his owne heart 2. Cor. 9.7 c. He speaketh of the contribution to the Saints You must sayeth saint Paul giue willingly Therefore sayeth maister Bellarmine you haue free will Wee confesse that the regenerate haue a willingnes to do good and eschew euill and this the apostle would haue in them But doeth this prooue that they haue free will And thus farre for their arguments for free will out of the scriptures Out of the fathers master Bellar. bringeth many proofes And although there be iust cause to suspect manie of them in this question because they could not so easily forget that which in the schooles of philosophy they had learned yet that it may appeare that they haue not so generall a consent as they bragge of it is not amisse somewhat to looke into and to examine the proofes Bellar. de grat lib. arbit lib. 5. cap. 25. that out of them they bragge But maister Bellarmine would make a man afraide to heare his crackes Hee braggeth alwayes that his armour is of the best proofe that can not bee pearced his arguments such as can not be answered And first commeth in Ignatius Epist de mag whose wordes are so vnanswerable that maister Bellarmine seeth no way but to denie the Authour But let maister Bellarmine quiet him selfe we will admit the authour The effect of that he alledgeth out of the first place is that looke what men doe choose that they shal haue and after If a man do wickedly he is a man of the diuell so made not by nature but by the will of his minde Then let vs see his argument Looke what men doe choose they shall goe into the place of that they choose whether it bee life or death so sayeth Ignatius therefore saith maister Bellarmine men haue free will The force of both his places is this and the argument that can bee gathered out of the same men haue will ergo they haue free will And are these his vnanswerable arguments That which hee alledgeth out of Dionysius Areopagita although hee make as great bragges of it as hee did of the other yet it neuer so much as mentioneth free will De diuinis nominibus li. 4. cap. 4. part 4. In deed he saith If a man might not resist sinne hee were lesse to be blamed But if hee that is good giue strength which as the holy Scriptures teach doeth giue things conuenient simplie to euerie man c. That God giueth conuenient strength to them which with humilitie seeke it but what doth this gift of God prooue that wee haue free will It rather ouerthroweth it For if we haue not strength but by his gift then we haue it not in vs or by free will As for Clement of Rome because himselfe dare not speake much for the trueth of that witnesse I let him passe Then commeth in Iustine the Philosopher and martyr whose words for free will maister Bellarmine taketh to be so plaine that he saieth maister Caluine neither doeth nor can feigne anie thing that will carrie any shewe of an answer What neede we to feigne Master Bellarmine that haue the truth for our warrant We leaue faigning to painters poets and papists who loue alwayes to make a shew of that that is not If we consider the occasions why the ancient fathers did write in such sort their meaning will bee pliane enough And that may appeare by Iustinus Martyr here alledged He saith I grant Apolog. ad senatum Apol. ad An. That if men haue not free will to shunne euill and doe good they are not to blame for that they doe and deserue neither reward nor punishment Thus in effect hee saieth in the places alledged We neither denie the authour in this place to be Catholike nor his woordes in his sense to be true But because there were some that beeing deceyued with that which the Stoikes taught concerning that fatall necessitie whereby all things were done as though man could not choose but do the euill that he doeth and that he were by this fatall necessitie compelled thereto in respect of the necessarie consequence of causes and thereby made man to haue nothing to doe in the workes that himselfe did but that hee were euen forced thereto without his owne will as stone or wood is laide in the house onelie at the pleasure of the workeman without anie disposition in themselues one way or other because I say that some hereby did denie all will or inclination in man to good or euill as not onely Simon Magus and the Manicheis of whom maister Bellarmine speaketh but also the Bardesanistes Cap. 35. Cap. 6◠of whome Saint Augustine writeth in his Booke of herisies who ascribed all mans conuersation to destinie and the Priscilianists who because they make all their actions to bee ruled by the Planets thinke that they sin against their will and therfore doth not Iustin onely but other of the godly fathers speak so plainly as they seeme to doe in defence of free will Not because they thinke that man hath such ability being once renued by grace that he can doe what hee will as the papistes teach but they only impugne these Stoicall opinions that affirme that man doth of necessitie euill or good And that this is the meaning of Iustine the Martir by his owne wordes doth plainly appeare because in both the places alleadged by maister Bellarmine he setteth himselfe to reason against thē that would haue men thinke that all things were wrought by desteny Against the which he on the other side reasoneth that if men had