or seeke newe places to offer their sacrifices oblations in but to come and to staye them selues within the Court of the tabernacle or of the temple Iesus Christ woulde not despise this place But wee knowe that whatsoeuer corruption was there no faithfull man was inforced to cleaue or sticke to anye superstitious manner or custome which is not practised at this day in the Church of Rome For as all there is of superstition and manifest idolatrie so they will constraine and enforce the faithful by fire and sworde to consent thereto and to pollute and defile themselues therewith against their owne consciences and gods expresse forbidding Lastly to what point did Iesus Christ bring the Church of Ierusalem when the high Priestes Scribes and Pharisees shewed them selues great madde men not doing their duties towardes it did hee not take his vineyard from these husbandmē who did not giue him the fruites whiche belonged vnto him and committed the same vnto others that is to his Apostles and their successors to yelde him fruite in their seasons Euen so likewise hath the Lorde done therewith in the Popedome He hath not destroyed his Church but hath only chaunged the estate thereof taking it out of the hand and guiding of the Bishoppes and Popishe Priestes and placing it againe vnder the gouernement and charge of other guiders and leaders who can see more clerely and be of better trust as it is spoken in Saint Mathewe Matt. 22 4◠vnder the similitude or parable of the vineyarde To conclude if they aske what shall become then of our predecessors who died in the faith of the Romish Church are they condemned I aunswere that wee leaue the iudgement thereof vnto GOD for it belongeth not to vs to determine iudge of that which is hidden from vs which indeed passeth our knowledge and calling It is verie true Ioh. 3.18.36 that the holy scripture pronounceth that they which die without the faith of Christ are damned and we cannot but say amen and giue our consent to this Neither serueth it to any purpose to alledge ignoraunce and to say that it excuseth the sinner before GOD For the scripture is plaine and manifest therein Luk. 12.47.48 The seruaunt saith Iesus Christ that knew his masters will prepared not him selfe neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many strippes But he that knewe it not and yet did commit thinges worthie of stripes shall be beaten with fewe stripes Also Matt. 15.14 if the blinde leade the blind they shal fall both into the ditch Saint Paul saith also As many as haue sinned without the lawe Rom. 2.12 2. Thess 1.6 shall perishe also without the lawe and as many as haue sinned within the lawe shall bee iudged by the law And againe it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you and to you which are troubled rest and deliuerance with vs when the Lorde Iesus shall shewe himselfe from heauen with his mightie Angels in flaming fire rendering vengeance vnto them that do not know God and which obey not vnto the Gospell of our Lorde Iesus Christe which shall bee punished with euerlasting destruction c. These places doe openly inough declare what is the ende of those that die without faith although they bee ignorant for their ignorance can not excuse them nor serue them for a cloake or couering to absolue and set thē free from the iudgement of God for confirmation proofe wherof wee may alledge also and put downe that which is written in Leuiticus Leui. 4.2 touching the offering commaunded by God for the sinnes which were committed through ignorance Lo what wee haue to say for one point But to that which remaineth touching our fathers and predecessors God might well shewe mercie vpon them at the end of their dayes making himselfe knowne vnto them by the secrete vertue and power of his holy spirite and putting it into their harts to beleue in Iesus Christ his sonne that so they might be saued For God is almightie to saue his owne people yea without vsing any of these meanes which he is accustomed cōmonly ordinarily to vse to plant faith in vs and to ingraue it in our harts to our owne saluation And this is S. Cypriā his answere touching those that die in some false opinions Cypri lib. 2. epist 3. If some one of our predecessors saith hee either by ignorance or through simplicitie hath not kept and helde that which the Lord hath taught vs to doe by his example and authoritie the mercie of the Lord may pardon him But wee cannot helpe the same being admonished instructed by him Behold what S. Cyprian pronounceth herein It is true that hee speaketh properly touching the matter of the holy supper but nothing letteth but that wee may applie his speach generally to the matter of all the other articles of the faith The IX CHAP. Of the degrees of ministers in the Church where mention is made of the orders of the popish clergie and of the offices and dueties of true pastors Matt. 9.38 WE haue sene and heard heretofore that it apperteineth vnto the Lorde of the haruest to sende foorth workemen into his haruest For it belongeth not to any what giftes soeuer he hath receiued from the Lord to thrust himselfe into the worke of the ministerie vnlesse he be lawefully called thereto Ephes 4.11 Now the Apostle Saint Paul writing to the Ephesians sheweth vs what workemen the Lorde hath sent into his haruest that is to say Apostles prophetes Euangelistes Pastors and doctors Apostles Touching the Apostles they were chosen immediately from Christe and their office was to sowe and spreade the Gospell abroad throughout all the world neither had any one of them any limites or borders set thē or some certaine Churches appointed to them Matt. 28.19 Matt. 10.2 Gal. 2.8 but Christ would that in euery part or place where so euer they came they should do their message before all peoples and nations Such were the twelue named in the Gospell to whome Saint Paule was added who was specially appointed to beare the name of Christ among the Gentiles Nowe bicause this degree of Apostles was instituted and ordained by God for the establishing of Churches those Churches being planted and established this name of Apostle ought not any more to be vsed among the ministers as to be giuen and communicated to them And yet we read that sometime it is taken generally in the scripture for a Pastor and preacher of the Gospell As Epaphroditus is called the Apostle of the Philippians Philip. 2.25 Act. 14.14 and Barnabas is named an Apostle Act. 14. Prophetes are distinguished into two sortes or orders Prophets Some were vnder the old Testament and in that time who being instructed and taught by a speciall reuelation from God did foretell things to come the other were in the newe Testament who in
and occasion required it to the ende I might confirme and strengthē the faithful peoples cōsciences at this time in which it seemeth that the Diuell the enimie of Gods glorie and our saluation is vnchayned and vntyed and that all the worlde is kindled with rage and set on fire with furie and conspired with him furiously to rush vpon the poore Churche setting out and making a shewe against it of all that that crueltie can deuise Weerefore I shewe what is the state and condition of the Church on earth that shee hath alwaies had such a vertue of patience and so great cōstancie and courage in the middest of the crosse that tyrants haue rather left of to persecute her then that shee hath failed and fallen away by their torments insomuch that she hath abode inuincible and vnconquered against the vehemencie and violence of so many horrible cōbats as she was to sustain indure and out of all them hath brought a famous victorie and moste glorious crowne In summe that the sonne of God hath alwaies founde place and passage in the middest of the worlde notwithstanding the fires swordes tormentes furies outcries and horrible scatterings abrode which were made against him As touching the fruite and profite whiche may come of this little labor I dare not affirme any thing thereof except it bee in respect of you my Lorde For I doubt not but you take as muche pleasure to heare mee discourse in writing vpon this matter of the church as you commonly doe when you heare mee speake either particulerly to your selfe or publikelie in the execution of my charge and office And yet if you regarde that which is mine without doubt the fruite wil bee none but if you consider the argument and the large laying out of the matters conteined in this present treatie I assure my selfe that it will not bee altogether vnprofitable and that they which shall reade the same will not repent themselues thereof Furthermore I staying my selfe my Lord vpon your accustomed goodnesse through which you disdaine not or dislike any thing which commeth from your seruants offer and dedicate vnto you this little booke most humbly beseeching you to accept it and to take it well that it commeth out into light vnder the inscription of your name and to receiue it with such gentlenesse and curtesie as you haue been accustomed to loue vertue and fauour Christian religion and those that make profession thereof For I hope that if you receiue and take it well that your name shal procure it more grace and liking and shall get it more authoritie and purchase it more fauour amongest all because that thinges dedicated to great personages are better receiued of the lower sort although the thinges of them selues are oftentimes very base and of small account and value And also as touching my selfe I was gladly minded to declare and shewe by this slender meane a testimonie of the obedience which I owe you and for the singuler earnest desire which I haue to do you the most humble and acceptable seruice that I can in the Lorde whom I beseech with all my hearte to maintein you my Lord my Lady the Coūtesse your sister in his most holy most worthy keeping and to preserue you both in a blessed and long life augmenting and increasing in you dayly more and more the giftes and graces of his holy spirite wherewith hee hath so plentifully decked and liberally inriched you From Turenne this xxv of March 1577. Your most humble and most obedient seruant Bertrand de Loque ¶ An Admonition to the Reader I Was loth gentle Reader to publish this profitable and necessary treatise because it being meant wel may bee taken ill and being a rule and confirmatiō to forraine Churches reformed may perhaps fall into the hands of vndiscreete readers trouble the happy quiet state of the Church of England But to preuent this inconuenience and to helpe the weakenesse of many whiche carried with a preposterous rash zeale doe iudge before they conceaue and like rather to feede their humor then foster the peace of the Church I thought it necessary to put the reader in remembrance of those thinges which being greedily snatched at and read without iudgement by curious and contentious heads may tende to the disturbance of the peace and tranquilitie of the Church Whereas therefore in the nienth Chapter intreating of the degrees of the Ministerie the authour seemeth to detract frō Archbishops Metropolitanes Deanes Archdeacons and other Ministers in this Church of England and els where his meaning is not to condēne those titles allowed attributed to faithfull Pastors in other reformed Churches according to the auncient and laudable order of the primitiue Church but to eleuate and impugne the tyrannie pompe and ambition of the popishe prelacie who leauing their function of preaching and teaching haue vsurped I knowe not what authoritie and power of commanding and countercommanding what they list in the church of God Who in crueltie succeed not Peter but Romulus in pompe and magnificence not Peter but Cōtantine as Bernard faith They doe all for honor and nothing for holines saith the same authour Their courts are full of Symoniacks their thresholds more troddē by ambitiō then by deuotiō and their Cannons Ecclesiasticall procurers of gain lucre The Church is not gouerned by names but by offices which they faithfully performe this day to whom for reuerence wee willingly ascribe the names of honor and dignitie Moreouer no man will denie though the same authoritie be committed to all Gods faithfull Ministers in binding losing preaching or ministring the Sacraments yet that this equalitie in ministration doth nothing hinder a diuersitie distinction of degrees and superioritie in gouernment being very necessary for the auoiding of cōfusion and schisme That this preheminence is not lately deuised or newe begunne may soone appeare by these words of the Apostle The spirites of the Prophetes are subiect to the Prophetes Whereupon I gather that if the spirites of all the Prophetes being lightened by the vertue of the holy Ghoste were not free from the checke of other Prophetes vpon whom it had pleased God to bestowe his gifts of iudgement knowledge and learning much more ought wee to allowe and preferre the graue and learned iudgement of the best and graunt them a dignitie preheminence in matters of lesse importance The reason by the Apostle is not to be neglected Non est Deus author confusionis sed pacis as who shoulde say if some were not appointed to decide such doubtes as arise either of ignoraūce or of mallice all woulde goe to wracke in haste and Christian education to mortall hatred Thē would the frost of priuate quarrel either sterue the buddes of the Gospel or rage of spirituall ambition disturbe the policie of euery congregation Gregorie Nazianzen in his Oration intituled Apologeticus saith There must of necessitie be two sortes of mē 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some
that must rule and guide others that must bee guided and gouerned In man there are two thinges the soule which gouerneth by reason the body which submitteth it selfe and obeyeth otherwise if in an armie all were souldiers or all Captaines what hope were there of victorie and good successe If in a ship all shoulde bee alike all marriners who shoulde stande at the Helme who shoulde guide the compasse If in a Citie all were equall who shoulde make decrees prescribe lawes and execute the same If the whole bodie were a head what disorder Or if the members were without a head what confusion The learned therefore send vs to learne order to the heauens to the earth to the angels amongst whom there are degrees Angels Archangels vertues potestates principatus dominationes throni Cherubin Seraphin to the Sun to the moone to the stars which in glory brightnes excell one another To the Bees which haue their graūd captaines at whose buzzing they go forth they follow cluster together to the trees wher you see of a great stocke many braunches arise and spring Our naturall appetite and affection acknowledgeth the gouernmēt of reason vnderstāds And so in the Church of God ther hath been alwayes gouernours and they gouerned chiefly and souerainly as in the ciuill estate Seth Enos Sem ruled the Church in their time the Church acknowledged obeyed their gouernment The best writers affirme that the first borne had the rule of the whole familie Noah alone ruled in making and ordering the Arke in which there were cleane and vncleane beastes tame and sauage of all kindes to signifie the church gathered together of both Iewes Gentiles and gouerned by Iesus Christ only as by a second Noah The Church vnder the lawe had diuersitie of orders as may appeare in sundry places In the third of Numbers where the Tribes are mustered the three families of the Gersonites Kohathites Merarites had their Prince or head which they called Nescha In the first of Kings the 4. Azaria is called the Prince of the Leuites Obadiah that worthie Counceller meeting with olde Heli disdaineth not to call him lord Gregorie Nazianzen writeth to Gregory Nissien which supposed him to be angry because they had ordeined one without his consent saide 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let no mā bely vs nor any of my lords the brethrē Good Gregorie an humble and simple man weighed not titles nor cared for any worldly honour but was carefull that order should bee prescribed in the Church and that one should goe before an other in honour S. Iames saith Be not yee many masters And Chrysostom saith that equalitie of dignitie and place bringeth forth schisme Likewise Ierome writing to Euagrius saith that from Marke to Dionisius and Heraclas there was one alwayes set in higher place of dignitie aboue the rest and this he saith was to auoid schismes which seeing they lacke skill and be in the Church and shal be to the end sith the disease remaineth still what great folly is it to condemne or refuse the remedie In the Counsell called Gangrensse the holie fathers assembled there writing to the Bishops of Armenia vse these wordes Honoratissimis dominis To our most honourable Lordes The late writers most of them allow and affirme a primacie of order though not in degree of ministration M. Caluin writing vpon the 2. Cor. 10. Etsi omne commune sit c. Although one and the same office be common to all yet be there degrees of honor And the same Authour writing vpon these wordes out of the 2. to the Philipp Sicut patri filius ita mihi Timotheus seruiuit in Euāgelio As a father his sonne so hath Timothie serued mee in the Gospell Wee learne saith hee in this place that no such equalitie was amōg the Ministers but one did rule and gouerne the rest by counsell and authoritie Againe in his 4. booke 8. Chapter sect 54. He saith that euerie prouince had among their Bishops an Archb. and that the Councell of Nice did appointe 4. Patriarches which shoulde be in order and dignitie aboue Archb. it was for the preseruation of discipline Wherefore it is apparant by testimonies of holie scripture by light of reason and by practise of the Church by the necessitie of the thing that distinctiō of degrees superioritie is necessarie in the church as without the which law would soone grow to libertie faith wold soone be deuided the coat of christ Iesu which is his church rent and torne in sunder so many fancies so many faithes would follow Nowe whereas many make much adoe about the titles of Bishops Metropolitans Archb. and the scripture is still alledged as an aduersarie in this quarell containing expresly no such names Thus may they make our Sauiour Christ inferiour to his father concerning his diuinitie because the title 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is no where literally expressed although the same by sūdrie places may be well and iustly gathered Therefore to conclude to them that list to be contentious Vbi de re constat puerile est de verbolitigare And to the discreete Reader that hee peruse this booke to profite his conscience and not to please his affection Seeke peace and the God of peace shall blesse you increase his grace amongst you to the terrour of your enemies and comfort of your soules Amen A TREATIE OF the Church containing a true discourse in which a man may clearely behold and see what is the nature forme gouernement and guiding of the true Church together vvith the infallible markes and tokens by vvhich a man may knowe it and discerne the same from the Romish Church and all other false and counterfeited congregations CAP. I. Of the diuers significations and acceptions of this word CHVRCH and how the Church is commonly distinguished MEN are accustomed to say that euery worde which may be taken in many senses and in diuers significatiōs shuld rather be distinguished then defined For a man can not otherwise rightly declare the nature vertue and disposition of any thing vnlesse he be first resolued of the sense and meaning in which it ought to be taken For as much therfore as this word Church is of that sort being a Greeke word which signifieth an assemblie or congregation is taken or deriued from a word which in that tongue signifieth to call or to cause to come it is meete and necessarie that before we giue the definition thereof we declare after howe many sortes men vse to take it 1 Nowe men sometimes take it for a companie or assemblie of wicked persons as Psalme 22.16 Psal 22.16 The Church or the Synagogue of the wicked haue inclosed me and in Psalme 26.5 Psal 26.5 I haue hated the Churche of the wicked that is to say the companie For there is in the Hebrue text two words which the Greekes haue turned Synagogue and Church which doe signifie as much as a companie troupe
and lawfull succession of the chaire or place is on our side For there the ordinarie Bishops haue receiued the Gospell and preach it so that we shall not neede to dispute of their vocation no more then for the calling of the Priestes which are at this present in the Romish Church called by the Pope but euen only of their doctrine CHAP. VI. That the Church hath bene alwayes from the beginning is now and shall be euen vnto the worlds end but that it ought not to be esteemed or acknowledged by the great number WE must not thinke that the Churche had her beginning where the Apostles began to preach the gospel throughout all the world at which time the disciples were first named Christians in Antiochia but that she began to be in the world euē from the verie time of our first parents Adam and Heuah For in them and by thē God began to be serued on the earth hauing blessed them and cōmended vnto thē his seruice and after their fall hauing preached vnto them repentance and assurance of victorie against the serpent through Iesus Christ his sonne But the world increasing the Church also was augmented seruing God For as S. Paul saith God created the world Act. 17.26 hath made of one bloud al men that they might seeke and serue him And he himselfe saith in Isaiah This people haue I formed for my selfe Isai 43.21 they shall rehearse and shewe foorth my praise GOD then created in the worlde and that from the beginning a Church thorough free adoption to this ende that his name might be duely praised by conuenient fit and meet witnesses for so excellent a worke For this cause also the Church is called the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified Isai 61.3 Isaiah 61.3 Moreouer this Church notwithstanding the sharpe and hard persecutions which it hath suffred hath not yet ceased alwayes to be as it is at this present and shal be vnto the worldes end For as Dauid saith The Lord hath chosen Sion Psa 132.13 c. that is to say the church and hath desired it for his seat it hath bene saith he my rest for euer Matt. 28.20 Iesus Christ also hath promised his disciples to be with them alwayes euen vnto the end of the world But chiefly Saint Paul hath declared and set out the perpetuitie and continuance of the Church when he assureth vs Ephes 3.21 that GOD shall be glorified in the Church through Iesus Christ throughout all generations for euer and euer They then are ouermuch past shame which limit the continuance of the Church to a certaine time as those of whome Saint Augustine speaketh August de ciuitat Dei lib. 18. ca. 54 who durst boldly affirme that the christian religion should not last but 365. yeares They likewise doe abuse and deceiue themselues which thinke that by the assaults which they giue vnto the Church they are able to beate it downe consume it wholy take it away out of the world for is it possible that God should be without a Church Psal 100.1 c. hath not he himselfe promised that his sonne shall raigne and beare rule for euer ouer all his enimies Verily the Church which is the spouse or wife of Christ is become or made so mightie and stronge through her husbande that being euen one bodie with him she is more forcible and mightie in her weakenesse then al the world in his pride and hautines But as we haue alreadie saide once heretofore we will hereafter speake more amplie and largely of the Churches force and power in persecutions To bee short amongest so manie and so diuerse chaunges of the kingdomes of this worlde God alwayes preserueth his Church and bringeth to passe that nothing in al the world is durable and perpetuall but she not that she is alwayes florishing or hath a continuance which followeth al by one threede that is commeth altogether but because that God not minding that his name shoulde be put out in the worlde doeth alwayes in his Church raise vp some of whome he is sincerely and purely serued Nowe when the question is to discerne the true Church from the false some there are that stay themselues vpō the multitude and great number But they are very farre from their right reckoning or account For GOD measureth not his Church by the number Matt. 18.20 He loueth his faithful people keepeth himselfe in the middest of them although they be a verie small number on the otherside he hateth those that doe dispise it and disdayneth them though the number of them be neuer so great And indeede on the side of the multitude and great number the false and bastardly Church is rather founde than the true and lawfull one And that it is so let vs first marke the places of scripture which withdrawe vs from the multitude and teache vs to stay and cleaue to the little flocke Exod. 23.2 Thou shalt not followe a multitude to doe euill neither agree in a controuersie to decline after many and to ouerthrowe the trueth Matth. 7.13.14 Enter in at the straite Gate for it is the wide gate and broad way which leadeth to destruction many ther be which go in thereat because the gate is straite and the way narrowe that leadeth vnto life and fewe there be that find it Feare not litle flocke Luk. 12.32 for it is your fathers pleasure to giue you a kingdome Wee see by these places that the greatest number is not alwayes the best neyther the soundest and that the Church of God is founde rather amongest the small number then among the multitude Secondly let vs note the reasons following which are taken frō examples that we finde in the scripture touching this verie matter On which side was the Church Gene. 7.1 Heb. 11.7 when Noah alone with his litle familie which was not in all but eight persons followed the true religion God approuing him by his faith condemning all the rest of the worlde On which side was the Church 1. Kin. 19.10 when Elijah saide O Lord the children of Israel haue forsaken thy couenant they haue destroyed thine Altars and slaine thy prophets with the sworde and I am left altogether alone and yet they seeke my soule to take it away On which side was the Church when the foure hundred prophetes deceiued Ahab ◠King 22.8 and Michaiah being alone and contēned did yet notwithstanding resist them and speake the trueth On which side was the Church when Ieremiah was sent frō God to say Iere. 4.9 In that day the heart of the king shall perishe and the heart of the princes and of the priestes shall bee astonished Iere. 10.18 and the Prophetes shall wonder and that therefore the Prophetes resisted him layed crimes vnto his charge and imagined mischeife against him On which side was the Church when the chiefe Priestes and scribes
is alwayes necessarie in the Church The fourth reason Iesus Christ hath giuen and established the ministers of the worde Ephe. 4.11 for the worke of the ministerie till wee all meete together in the vnitie of faith and knowledge of the son of God vnto a perfecte man and vnto the measure of the age of the fulnes of Christ that is to say till that Christ bee perfect in vs and haue in vs his ful grouth and increase But wee can not obtaine such perfection vnto the end of the world 2. Cor. 13.9.10 at what time God shall be all in all For as Saint Paul saith Wee knowe in part and we prophecie in parte But when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shal be abolished Wherefore it followeth that Iesus Christ hath giuen and placed the ministers of the word for the worke of the ministerie vntill the ende of the worlde and then God shall be all in all These reasons are sufficient for this present to teach and proue that the holy ministerie is continually requisite and necessarie in the Church as indeede the Lorde hath for our good saluation established the same to abide in al ages therein applying and framing him selfe to our weaknes which is so great we being corrupted thorough sinne that without this means meet and agreeable to our nature we could not be well instructed in the pointes of our saluation For if God should speake vnto vs in his maiestie we could not at any hande away with or abide his presence as we may see it by those that when he was minded to publish and to giue his lawe the people thēselues being astonished Exod. 20.19 Deut. 5.28.29 with his greatnes maiestie said vnto Moses Talke thou with vs and we wil heare But let not the Lord talke with vs lest we dy And God accepting this their request saide vnto Moses I haue heard the wordes of the voice of this people which they haue spoken vnto thee they haue wel said al that they haue spokē Oh that there were such a heart in them to feare me and to keepe al my cōmandements alway that it might go well with them and with their children for euer Go say vnto thē returne into your tents but stand thou here with me and I wil tel thee all the cōmandements and the ordinances Deut. 5.30.31 and the lawes which thou shalt teach them that they may do them c. Wherefore God yelded vnto this people their request to wit that they might be taught by the ministerie of Moses And sithence that time it was yet his good pleasure to haue continued and that vnto the end this manner of instructing and teaching his Church by the ministerie of men which order men them selues did require and chose in so much that when God him selfe sent Iesus Christ his sonne Mark 1.38 Heb. 2.16 to preach the Gospell he appointed him to take vpon him not the nature of Angels but the seede of Abraham that he might be like vnto vs in all things yet without sinne And Christ him selfe ascending to heauen Act. 14.15 committed vnto his Apostles who were men as we the office charge to teach vs. And since that time this order hath continued and is common and ordinarie in the Church and can not be separated from the Church to wit that God doth teach vs by the ministerie of men as by his instruments which are most profitable Act. 8.27 c. familiar and easie to vs. The Eunuch of Candace Queene of the Ethiopians read in his chariot the holie scriptures and no doubt the Lorde could verie well haue instructed him in the mysteries of faith by the secrete vertue and power of his holie spirit but yet he delighted rather to haue it done by the ministerie of Phillip liked better therof Act. 10.1.2 c. Cornelius the Centurion to the end he might be more fully instructed in the knowledge of the Gospel was sent backe as it were from the Angell to Saint Peter He shall tell thee saith the Angel what thou oughtest to doe Yea Saint Paul him selfe although that the Lord had spoken vnto him with his owne mouth was yet notwithstanding sent backe as it were to Ananias Act. 9.3.4 c. that he might be instructed and receiue the holie Ghost and be baptised Wherefore they that doe cast from them or disallowe the ministerie of the Church hanging vpon and looking for Angelicall and diuine reuelations to instruct them doe not onely deceiue them selues but also violate and breake the order which GOD hath established in his Church for our saluation Now there remaineth to see and know howe much we ought to deferre and giue to the ministerie for if they be deceiued which despise it and do not their duetie in that behalfe which they ought they are deceiued also which attribute or giue ouer much vnto it Wherefore we say that we ought not to giue to it either more or lesse than that which belongeth thereto that as it is good reason that the authoritie and credite thereof should be reserued vnto it selfe safe and sound so we ought to take good heede of this that we pull not from God the honour which is due vnto him For this purpose and point we must diligently obserue and marke this distinction Sometimes man is compared with God when the minister is mentioned or spoken of and then it is saide that he is not able to doe any thing at all and that his labour or worke is altogether vnprofitable As whē Saint Paul saith 1. Cor. 3.7 Neither is he that planteth any thing neither is he that watereth but God that giueth the increase For what can man haue in himself if he would enter into this to part or diuide a matter betwene God him selfe we must therefore take heede of this not so much as once to thinke that the vertue and power of the holie Ghost should be tied and bound to the ministerie of men as though without it God could not worke in mens hearts euen as shall please him selfe as we see that they of the Romish church suppose and thinke as appeareth in this that they spare not to affirme that if a childe dye without baptisme administred by man it can not be saued on the other side that they which receiue the outward signes from the ministers handes receiue by and by the grace of God which is tied to these signes But God saith by his Prophetes That it belongeth to him Iere. 31.33 Ezech. 11.19 to write his lawe in mens harts to take away from them their stonie heartes Iere. 32.40 and to giue them heartes of flesh to renue within them a newe spirite to put his feare in their heartes Isai 43.25 that they should not depart from him Shortly That it is he alone to whome it belongeth to pardon sinnes Luk. 5.21 and to saue And we