And v. 28. And they shall be no more a spoyle to the Gentills Againe Ch. 37. v. 23. Neither shall they be polluted any more in theyr Idolls and I will cleanse them and they shall be my people and I theyr God and my servant David King over them and theyr shall be one Pastour over them all They shall walke in my Iudgments and they shall keepe my commandments and they shall doe them and they shall dwell on the Land which I gave to my servant Iacob themselves and theyr Children and theyr Childrens Children Even for Ever And David my servant Prince for ever And I will make a peace to them an Everlasting Covenant shall be to them and I wâ—ll found them and wil multiply them and will give my sanctification in the middest of them for Ever and the very last verse of the last Chapter The name of the Citty from that Day Our Lord there 8. Clearly allso Daniel Ch. 2. v. 44. In the days of those Kingdomes the God of heaven shall rayse us a Kingdome that shall not be dissipated for ever But still continue in quality of a Kingdome and this Kingdome shall not be delivered to another people and it shall consume all the Idolatrous Kingdomes and it shall stand for ever in quality of a Kingdome There is litle need to passe to the New Testament the old sufficing if any thing will suffice Of Christs Gospell S. Paul says 2. Cor. 4.3 If our Ghospell be hid it is hid to them that are lost Either you must confess your selves lost men or you must say that at no Time Christs Ghospell lay hid so as you could not tell who professed it I insist not in the known places as that the Church Matth. 16.18 Is built upon a Rock that the Gates of Hell shall not provaile against it Again it is evident that she must still be visible in all ages that we may still at any time Tell the Church and heare her Matth. 18.17 and be still fedd by her Doctrine and Sacraments For these be the two essentiall markes of a true Church as Protestants say Hence Ephes Chap. 4 v. 11 He gave some Apostles some Prophets and other some Evangelists and other some Pastors and Doctors c. untill we meete al in the unity of faith which will not be till the worlds end These be the light of the world still sett upon the candlestickes never hidd under a busshel Matth. 5.14 A Cittie upon a hill still to be seen And though the mustard seede was the lest at the beginning yet in the growing it proves a Tree and all fowles repaire to it Matth. 13.32 Yea this must be a Church perpetually continuing in such reverence to our B. Lady that her words must be fullfilled Luc. 1.48 All generations shall call me blessed And v. 33. Her Sonne shall retgne in the house of Iacob for ever and of his Kingdome there shall be no end And so himselfe sayth to his Apostles Matth. 28.20 Behold I am with you all Days even to the consummation of the world His Apostles were not to be in the world even to the end of the world The promise therefore is to be with them in the persons of such as should succed them in teaching and preaching c. Again in the like sense he sayth Iohn 14.16 And he will give another Paraclete that he may abide with you for ever All these Texts demonstrate what we have undertaken to prove And hence it doth unavoidably follow that the Chureh must in all ages have a continuall succession of true Preachers of the word of God and true administration of Sacraments for these two things even according to the 39. Articles of the Church of England are the two essentiall signes or notes of a true Church which must ever accompany her in all ages And if a Church be as S. Cyprian sayth a flock adhering to ther shepherd then as in all ages there is a flock of Christ so there must be a shepherd to whom this flock may and must adhere And therefore a lawfull succession of true Pastors must needs in all ages be found in the Church at lest without any considerable interruption And this is expressed in severall texts here cited Now ponder that this is to be found in no Church but the Roman See more the next Point THE FOVRTH POINT Of the vniversality and vast extent of this perpetuall Church which also must be the converter of Gentiles This no Church differing from the Roman ever was 1. IF the Church were to remaine perpetually in any very small extent or bignesse perhaps we might heare litle newes of her in some ages But te true Perpetuall Church foretold to be in all ages in the Texts now cited is likewise in Scripture no lesse clearly foretold to be in all ages so universally spread aÌ„d so visibly numerous that the very recitall of these Texts is enough to put quite out of countenance any other Church but the Romane especially being that this true Church is so manifestly said to gaine this her vast extent by the multitude of Gentiles which she is to convert to her A thing which evidently must be verified in the true Church and yet is is evideÌ„t that this only is verified in the Roman Church that is no Church but such as was ioyned to her in communion euer converted any one parish of Gentiles 2. The Texts which evidence this vast extent of the true Church are Gen. 13.16 I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth And C. 15. v. 5. Looke up to heaveÌ„ and number the stars if thou canst And he sayd to him so shall thy seed be Again Chap. 22.16 By my owne selfe I have sworne sayth the Lord I will blesse tbee and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is by the sea And in thy seed shall be blessed all Nations of the earth Now Saint Paul tells us Romans 9.8 Not they that are the Children of the flesh of Abraham they are the Children of God but they that are the Children of promise are esteemed for the seed And if still you contend that these Texts are only for the Iewish Church you must allso remember that Christs Church is the Mistris she the Handmayd and that as S. Paul sayes The new Testament is established in farre better promises Hebr. 8.6 And must florish farre more then ever the Iewish Synagog did Hence Apoc. 7.5 S. Iohn after twelve thousand of every Tribe of Israël were signed saw a great multitudes which no man could number of all nations Tribes peoples and tongues But let us goe on 3. David Psal 2.8 Aske of me and I will give thee the Gentills for thy inheritance and thy possession to the end of the earth Psal 22.27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and he converted to our Lord. All the Kindreds ef the nations shall adore in his sight Again Psal 72.7
him the throne of his father David And he shall reigne over the house of Iacob for ever by having still the Kingdome of his Church consisting of those true Israëlits of whom S. Paul spoak and of his Kingdom or Church there shall be no end 5. Isaias every where is very full to this purpose Chap. 49. v. 14. And Sion sayd our Lord hath forsaken me and our Lord hath forgotten me Why can a woeman forget her infant that she will not have pitty on the Sonne of her wombe And if she should forgett yet I will not forgett thee Behold I have written thee in my handes And again Ch 54. v. 9. As in the day 's of Noë is this thing to me to whome I swore I would bring in no more the waters of Noë upon the earth so have I sworne not to be angry with thee nor to rebuke thee For the mountaines shall sooner be moved and hills tremble But my mercy shall not depart from thee and the covenant of my peace shall not be moved sayd our Lord thy Miserator Poore litle one shaken with tempest with out all comfort behold I wil lay thy stones in order and will found thee in Saphires and I will put the Iaspar stone for thy munitions Again Ch. 60. v. 15. I will make thee the pride of worlds a Ioy unto generation and generation v. 18. Iniquity shall be no more heard in thy land wast and destruction in thy borders and saluation shall occupy thy walls and prayse thy gates Thow shalt have no more the Sunne by Day neither shall the brightness of the Moon illighten thee these are to meane lightes for thee but the Lord shall be to thee an Everlasting light and thy Lord God for thy glory Thy Sunne shall go down no more and thy Moone shall not be diminished because the Lord shall be unto thee an euerlasting light and the dayes of thy mourning shall be ended Again Ch. 61.6 You shall eate the strength of Gentils and in theyr glory You shall be proude Everlasting Ioy shall be to theÌ„ I will give theyr worke in truth and make a Perpetuall Covenant with them And they shall know theyr seed in the Gentills Al that shall see them shall know that these are the seed which the Lord hath blessed Again 62.3 Thou shallt be a crowne of glorie in the hand of our Lord and the Diademe of a Kingdome in the hand of thy God Thou shalt no more be called forsaken and thy land shall be called no more Desolate But thou shalt be called my will in her aÌ„d thy laÌ„d inhabited because it hath well pleased our lord in thee and thy land shall be inhabited Thy God shall rejoyce upoÌ„ thee upoÌ„ thy walls IerusaleÌ„ I have placed watchmeÌ„ all the day and all the night for euer they shall not hold theyr peace See here the continuall visibility of the church in her watchmeÌ„ and Pastours of which consequently there must be a perpetuall successioÌ„ And v. 8. Our lord hath sworne by his right hand and by the arme of his strenght if I shall give thy wheate any more to be meate to thy enimies and if the straÌ„ge ChildreÌ„ shall drinke thy wine And he concludeâ—h v. 12. Thou shalt be called a citty sought for and not forsaken That the true Church allso shall have a perpetuall successioÌ„ of Priests and Levites is cleerly expressed in the last chapter of Isaias in wich after the Prophet had named Africa Lidia Italy Greece and the Ilands a farr of he addeth v. 21. And I will take of them to be Priests and Levites sayth our lord for as the new heaveÌ„s and the new earth which I make to stand before me so shall staÌ„d the seed of your name Note that these Levites be now not by birth but by electioÌ„ ordeyned to be such out of severall couÌ„tries Italy Greece and other IlaÌ„ds which names your bible avoids to traÌ„slate 6 S Ieremy is no lesse copious C 30. v. 11. Though I make a full end of al natioÌ„s yet I will not make a full eÌ„d of thee but I will correct thee in measure The church indeed may be chastised for a while but never be brought to consuÌ„matioÌ„ For C. 31.35 Thus sayth our lord that giveth the Sunn for the light of the day the order of the moone and the starrs for the light of the night c. If these laws shall faile before me sayth our lord theÌ„ also the seed of Israël shall faile froÌ„ beeing a natioÌ„ before me for ever If the heaveÌ„s aboue shall be able to be measured and the fuÌ„datioÌ„s of the earth to be searcht out I also will cast a way al the seed of Israël Again C. 32.38 And they shall be my people and I will be theyr God and I will give theÌ„ one heart and one way that they may feare me all days and it may be well with theÌ„ and with theyr childreÌ„ after theÌ„ And I will not cease to doe theÌ„ good And I will make an Everlasting covenaÌ„t with theÌ„ And I will giue my feare in theyr heart that they may not reuolt froÌ„ me Again C. 33.14 Behold the days will come sayth our lord and I will rayse up the good word that I haue spoakeÌ„ to the house of Israël in that time I will make the spring of Iustice to budd forth unto Dauid and he shall doe IudgmeÌ„t and Iustice on the earth This sayth our Lord there shall not fayle of Dauid a man to sitt upon the throne of the house of Israël Christ must successively have his vicar or vicegereÌ„t in al ages aÌ„d of the priests aÌ„d leuites theyr shall not fayle before my face a maÌ„ to offer holocaustes and to burne sacrifices and to kill victimes all days Behold a successioÌ„ of lawful Priests still offering sacrifices expressed by the Priests and sacrifices as were then only known Again it followeth and the word was made to Ierimy saying if my covenaÌ„t with the day caÌ„ be made voide allso my covenant may be made voide with Dauid my seruaÌ„t that there may be not of him a sonne a vicar or vicegereÌ„t to reigne in his throne aÌ„d the leuites aÌ„d priests my ministers yea v. 22. eueÌ„ as the stars in heaueÌ„ caÌ„ not be nuÌ„bred aÌ„d the saÌ„d of the sea be meÌ„sured so will I multiplie the seed of David my servant and the Levites my Ministers Whence it is evident that the number of lawfull Priests by lawfull mission and ordination shall not only never fayle but allso never fayle to be a great number There followeth again in the same Chapter the formeâ— Covenant repeated once more 7. Ezechiel allso speakes very home Ch. 34.22 I will save my flock and it shall be no more into spoyle and will rayse up over them one Pastour who shall Leade them my servent David he shall feed them and he shall be theyr Pastour And I the Lord will be theyr God and my servant David the Prince of them
In his Christs dayes shall the righteous florish so long as the Moone endureth And he shall rule from sea to sea and from the River even to the ends of the round world Yea all the Kings of the earth shall adore him and all nations shall serve him Psal 98.3 All the ends of the earth have seene the saluation of our God Of what Church is this true besides the Roman 4. In this point of the multitude of Gentiles to be converted none more eloquēt and copious then the Prophet Isaias Chap. 2. v. 2. And in the later dayes the new Testament is called the last houre 1. Io. 2.18 the mountaine of the house of our Lord shall be prepared in the topp of mountaines and all nations shall flow unto it and he shall judge the Gentills c. Again Ch. 49. v. 1. Listen ô you Ilands and attend you people from a farr And then v. 6. It is a small thing that thou shouldest be my servant to rayse up the Tribes of Iacob and to convert the Dreggs of Israël it is too too poore a thing for Christ to be authour of so small a Church as the Iewish Church was Behold I have given thee to the light of the Gentills that thou mayest be saluation even to the farthest part of the earth Kings shall see and Princes arise and adore for our Lords sake Behold these shall come from farr and behold they from the north and the sea and these from the south country Lift up thy eyes round about and see all these are gathered togeather thy are come to thee And v. 19. Thy desarts and thy solitary places in which no body before served God and the land of thy ruine shall now be straite by reason of the inhabitants And yet shall the Children of the Barrennesse say in thine eares The place is straite for me make me space to dwell Then v. 22. Behold I will lift up my hands to the Gentills and to the people I will exalt my signes And they shall carry thy Sonns in theyr armes and thy Daughters upon theyr shouldiers And Kings shall be thy nurcing fathers and Queenes thy Nurses With a countenance cast downe to the ground they shall adore thee and they shall licke up the dust of thy feet Kings prostrating themselves at the feet of Christs Vicar and kissing them Again Chap. 54.2 Enlarge the place of thy tents and streetch out the skinns of thy Tabernacles for thou shalt penetrate to the right hand and the left And thy seed shall inherit the Gentills and shall inhabite the desolate Cities Here note that these things were spoken to the Iewish Church telling her how much the future glorie of Christs Church should exceede her and so to her the Prophet sayd in the first verse Payse ô barren woeman which barest not sing prayse and make joyfull noyse because many are the Children of the desolate Gentills more then of her that hath a husband To witt the Synagogue to which he had been so long espoused So that it is flatly against Scripture to make the Church of Christ at any time so barren as the Synagogue was in the dayes of Elias Allthough even then she had in the field farr above an eleven hundred thousand men besides many thousands of soldiers in her walled Cities as we shewed Point 3. n. 2. much more is it against Scripture to make her so litle as not to be visibile or known And therefore again Ch. 60. v. 1. Arise be illuminated Hierusalem because thy light is come and the glorie of our Lord is risen upon thee Gentills shall walke in thy light and Kings in the brightnes of thy rising Lift up thine eyes and see round about all these are gathered togeather they are come to thee Thy sonns shall come from a farr and thy daughters shall rise from thy side Then shalt thou see and abound and thy heart shall be enlarged when the multitude of the sea shall be converted to thee The strenght of the Gentills shall come to thee the inundation of Camells shall couer thee v. 10. The Children of strangers shall build thy walls and theyr Kings shall minister to thee and thy gates shall be open continually never shalt thou be invisible for day and night they shall not be shutt that the strenght of the Gentills may be brought to thee for the nation and the Kingdomes that shall not serve thee shall perish What nations can serve yea and be bound under paine of perishing to serve an invisible church again v. 15. I will make thee an eternall excellency a joy unto generation and generation and thou shalt suck the milk of Gentills and thou shalt be nourished with the teate of Kings Again Ch. 62. v. 2. And the Gentills shall see thy Righteousnes and all the Kings thy glory 5. Ieremie allso every where fully Chap. 30.19 I will multiplie them and they shall not be few and I will glorifie them and they shall not be small Christs Church still shal ever containe a vast number of people Again 31.34 And a man shall no more teach his neightbour and a man his brother saying know our Lord for all shall know me from the lest of them to the greatest sayth our Lord Thus sayth our Lord that gives the Sun for the light of the day the order of the Moone and Starrs for the light of the night If these laws shall faile before me sayth our Lord then allso the seed of Israël shall faile that it be not a nation for ever before me This text cometh convincingly home to prove that this universality shall be perpetuall and no more faile in any age then the light of the Sunne and Moone As long as they last this Church shall be a flourishing Nation for ever For again v. 37 Thus sayth our Lord. If the heavens shall be able to be measured and the foundations of the earth beneath to be searched out I allso will cast away all tht seed of Israël And then in a Metaphore of a Citie built upon hills farr distant from one another he sayes this so vastly extended Citie shall not he plucked up and it shall no more be destroyed for ever which is a gallant expression of the perpetual universality of the Church for ever retaining a vast great extent in any ages whatsoever The same follows Ch. 33. v. 20. Thus sayth our Lord if my covenant with the day can be voide and my covenant with the night that there be no day nor night in theyr time allso my covenant may be made voide with David my servant that there be not a sonne of him to reigne in his throne and Levits and Priests my Ministers Even as the Starrs of heaven cannot be numbred and the sand of the sea be measured so will I multiplie the seed of David my servant and the Levits my Ministers Now if the number of Priests Pastours and Teachers shall be so great at all times how great att all times
and how exceeding visible must be the number of the people who are visibly to be ruled fedd and taught And yet again v. 25. If I have not set my covenant between night and day and laws to heaven and earth surely I will allso cast of the seed of Iacob and of David my servant that I take not of his seede Princes of the seede of Abraham Isaac and Iacob These Levites and Priests shal not be so by birth but they shall be taken out of Italians Africans Grecians the Ilands as Isaias sayth in his last Chap. v. 21. Though your Bible did not interpret the Hebrew names of the Countries These Texts then manifestly tell the perpetuall succession of Priests and Pastours in Christs Church so that we are no lesse assured of haveing lawfull Princes in the Church lawfully still governing the same then we are assured of haveing night and day and the heavens moveing above us and the earth standing under us A point much to be noted yet we may confidently say no Church no Church but the Roman can doe this 6. Ezechiel Chap. 17.22 Thus sayth our Lord. And I will take the marrow of the high Cedar and will set it and will plant it upon a mountaine a mountaine high and eminent On the high mountaines of Israël will I plant it and it shall shoote forth into a budd and shall yeild fruit and it shall be into a great Cedar and all Birds and every foule sball dwell under the shaddowe of the boughes thereof and shall there make theyr nests Behould Christs Church which in her beginning was but a small graine of mustard seede now growne up to the greatnes of such a Cedar as this is And not growne and growne untill at last she was growne quite invisible Memorable is that Text Chap. 36.25 And I will powre out upon you cleare water and you shall be cleansed from all your contaminations and from all your Idolls will I cleanse you and give you a new heart and will put a new spirit in the middest of you and will by my grace make that you shall walke in my precepts and keepe my judgments and doe them Before we goe farther I pray take speciall notice that the Church by the grace of Christ is freed from feare of being abandoned because she did at any time grow to forsake Gods judgments for he will still give her grace to keepe them In that day that I shall cleanse you from all your iniquities and shall make the Cities to be inhabited and shall repaire the ruinous places and the desert land shall be tilled and they shall say This land untilled is become a garden of pleasure And v. 37. I will encrease them with men like a flock as the flock of Hierusalem in her solemne feasts in which feasts many thousand men gathered out of every howshold of that nation did use to goe up to Hierusalem so shall the desert Cities be full of flocks of men How can universality and a most visible numerosity be more fully expressed when even the desert places shall be filled as Hierusalem was thronged and crowded in the solemnityes thereof Daniel Chap. 2. v. 35. makes the Church of a litle stone grow into a moutaine filling the whole earth how ridiculously then do you tell me you can scarce see it for this 1000. yeares before Luther 7. Micheas Chap. 4.1 And it shall be in the later end of the dayes 1. Io. 2.18 the time of the new Testament is called the last howre there shall be the mount of the howse of our Lord prepared in the topp of mountaines and high above all the hills what more visible and people shall flow unto it and many nations shall hasten and shall say Come let us goe up to the mountaine of our Lord and to the howse of the God of Iacob c. And v. 7. I will make her that labours into a mighty nation and our Lord will reigne over them from this time now and for ever So that from this time now and for ever the Church was promised still for all ages to be a mighty or strong nation Never a small invisible unknowne company 8. Zacharias Chap. 14. v. 8. And it shall be in that day liveing waters shall issue forth of Hierusalem halfe of them to the east sea and halfe of them to the last sea in summer and winter shall they be and our Lord God shall be King over all the earth and in that day shall be one Lord and his name shall be one And by and by he tells us at large even to the end of the Chapter how all nations shall be accursed that come not up to adore in his Church A manifest signe of her pepetuall purity in Doctrine For how would God lay such curses ad plagues upon men for refusing to follow the Church erring 9. Malach. Chap. 1.11 tells us the Church shall be extended as farr as the sun beames among the Gentills From the rising of the sun even to the goeing downe thereof great is my name among the Genrills and in every place there is sacrificing and there is offered a cleane oblation because my name is great among the Gentills sayth the Lord of Hosts Behould the true Church all the world over offering a pure and gratefull sacrifice 10. The places of the new Testament are more knowne as that the Church by reason of her continuall university is A Citie upon a Hill still to be seene from all places A Candle upō a candlestick as well seene to the whole world as a cādle to the whole Roome in which it burnes The Apostles are sent to preach to all Nations The litle mustard seed grows to be the bighest of all plants like the Cedar in Ezechiel chap. 17.22 S. Peters nett is even broken with the taking of fish c. But because the new Testament writes no farther then the Acts of the Apostles and contained but small part of them the subsequent conversion of the multitude of Nations of the strenghth of Gentils and of all the Kings of the earth as the above cited Texts declare is to be taken out of historie in which manifestly the truth of all that was foretold doth appeare But all this wholy and intirely was performed by the Roman Church onely that is by such as have beene knowne to have joyned in Communion with her If you say the Roman is not the true Church heere foretold by the Prophets then I pray ponder well how impossible it is for you upon earth to find any other Church to which those manifold Prophecies with any shew of probality can be applied THE FIFT POINT Of the infallibility of the Church and consequently of her fitnes to be judge of controversies 1. NOte that in two manners or wayes things of beleefe and practice may be delivered by a community The first is whē such things once received by the sayd Community are perpetually retained by the same in all places by the
they were obliged by no precept But as long as they would be separated or consecrated God obligeth them not to drinke wine nor eate grape or raison Yea Ieremy 35. v. 6. Ionadab the son of Rechab most commendably though he were not commanded did give these Laws to himselfe and his Sonns You shall not drinke wine you and your Children for ever though wine were as common drinke with that nation as beere with us And you shall not build houses and you shall not sow seede and you shall not plant vineyards nor have any But you shall dwell in tabernacles all your days We obeyed the voice of Ionadab our father Wherefore to them by Ieremy v. 18. Thus sayth the Lord for that you have obeyed the commandment of Ionadab your father and have done all things that he commaunded you therefore thus sayth the Lord. There shall not want a man of the stock of Ionadab the son of Rechab standing in my sight all dayes or to stand before me for ever As your Bibles have it This is true for the sonns of promise though not the sons of flesh to the Rechabites be our Religious of which from the time of the Apostles to the last day there shall not faile to be many devout men still standing in Gods sight Lett Protestants shew any such amongst them who can be esteemed of the stock of Ionadab or a Rechabite They are so farre from this that they rayle at us for being followers of superstitious inventions of men when we follow the giver of so Holy Rules as Ionadab gave to his sonne so praised and so rewarded by God for following them Let them tells vs if they can how amongst them it is true there shall not want a man of the stock of Ionadab 4. Suppose the Booke of Iudith if you please to be only a true History which you do not deny from thence then we have a true Relation how piously Iudith lived without any precept who c. 8. 3. having but lived three yeares and a halfe with her husband he dying shee in the higher part of her house made her selfe a secret chamber in which she aboade shut up with her mayds and having cloath of hayre upon her loynes she fasted all the dayes of her life but Sabboths and the feasts of the house of Israel And this though her husband left her much riches and a great family And c. 16. v. 26. There was allso Chastity ioyned to her vertue so that shee knew not man all the dayes of her life after that Manasses her husband was deade And she aboade in her husbands house a hundred five yeares so that she so faire and so rich lived a widdow about sixty nine yeares in Chastity in prayer in a perpetuall fast and hayre cloath Who commaunded her this or who required it at her hands Love of serving God more perfectly 5. Wherefore in the Ghospel to the yong man whom our Saviour loved because he truly for he loves not lying boasters did say that he had kept the commaundments from his youth Mark 10.20 Christ notwithstanding sayd One thing thou lackest Go thy way go sell whatsoever thou hast and thou shalt have a treasure in heaven This one thing was not wanting to any duty which he was bound to performe to be saved For to enter into lyfe Christ did only bidd him keepe the commaundments Matth. 19 v. 7. But sayth our Lord v. 21. If thou wilt be perfect go sell the things thou hast and give to the poore and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come and follow me This then is that one thing which thou lackest I say thou lackest this one thing not to the state of saluation for keeping the commandments doth suffice to the state of saluation but thou lackest this to the state of perfection if thou wilt be perfect For this one thing conteines all the three Evāgelicall Counsels First Poverty to sell all and give to the poore Secondly Chastity for him whom he counselleth to sell all and give to the poore he must needs counsel not to take a wyfe with charge of family and Children for else something were to be kept for them Thirdly Obedience Come and follow me under the obedience of those whom I shall place over thee in lawfull authority for our Saviour in person was not to live but a very short time after this See all that followeth in the next Point THE XXIII POINT Of voluntary austerity of life 1. I handle this point apart because there being such dayly practise of these kind of works in our Religion and so little in our adversaryes they scoffing at all we do or suffer in this point we will shew whether they scoffe not at the practise of vertue recommended by Scripture 2. First then observe all that hath beene sayd in the last point doth recommend austerity of life by counselling a chast life which cannot be maintayned unlesse the flesh be tamed by some austerityes neither is Chastity it selfe a small austerity Note allso that they who in the old Law Numb 6. Had a will to separate themselves to God had allso a will to choose an austere life abstayning from wyne the usuall drinke of that countrey How great and voluntary was the austerity of the Rechabites or sonns of Ionadab who neither did drinke wyne nor built houses but lodged abroad in tabernacles nor possessed vineyeards nor sowed corne or any seede And yet how doth God praise and reward them for it Ieremy 35.18 How great and how voluntary was the austerity of Iudith living sixty nine yeares in Chastity in upper roomes retyred from the world allmost in continuall fast continuall hayre cloath most frequent prayer she being so rich and when she began this course so younge and so beautifull Christ allso counselled no small voluntary austerity to him whome he advised for greater perfection to sell all for money being the price of all commodities the want of it brings all incommodities He was advised allso to follow him who had not a hole to shroud his head in What austerity is here counselled 3. Much like this was the voluntary austerity of the first Christians forsaking money the price both of all delights and allso of all convenient accommodation and yet Act. 4. v. 34. As many as were owners of lands or houses sold and brought the prices of those things which they sold and caryed them before the feete of the Apostles Who commaunded this Love of serving God more perfectly For if we speake of any obligation they had no other then we have Hence S. Peter to Ananias c. 5. v. 4. Whiles it remained was it not thine owne and after it was sold in thyne owne power That is thou hadst power to keepe it wholy to thy selfe or to vow it wholy to God after which vow thou hadst no further power to keepe it according to what we proved fully out of Scripture Point 21. n. 1.2 4. But to speake more particularly of that
done pennance in hairecloath and ashes long ago Though the Iewes wold not repent yet hence I am sure that Christ did sufficient for that end Hence that most just exprobration both here and Matth. 23.37 Ierusalem Ierusalem how often would I have gathered together thy Children as the hen gathereth together her chickins and thou wouldest not I would thou wouldest not therefore justly it followes Behold your house shal he left desert Again Rom. 10 21. All the day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people Again Apoc. 3.20 Behold I stand at the dore and knock if any man heare my voice and open the dore I will come in to him Whence again 1. Tim. 2.4 Who will all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth And therefore the same Apostle Rom. 2. v. 4. Doest thou contemne the riches of his goodnesse Patience Longanimity but according to the hardnes of thy hart thou heapest up to thy selfe wrath Behold a free will able to contemne the very riches of Gods goodnes in still giving graces and with so much patience and longanimity expecting the effect of them still by mans voluntary malice made fruitles Of such a soule it is sayd Apoc. 2.21 I gave her space to repent of her fornication and she repented not You cannot blame a poore man for not dining because you gave him space to dine unles you allso give him meat wherewith to dine so God could not complain of our not repenting because we had time unlesse allso he offered us grace to repent THE XXXIII POINT This sufficient grace is denyed to none Christ dying even for reprobates 1. IT is evident in Scripture that no grace is givē to any but by the merits of Christ consummated with his death He hath blessed us with all spirituall blessings in heavenly things in Christ Eph. 1.3 So that if you see Point 30. Grace given to all to make the keeping of the commandemēts possible to all if you see point 31. That our free will is still by Gods grace able to do good if you see Point 32. This free will still helped by sufficient Grace to avoid evill and do good you must needs by all this see that this grace can come only from Christs death and therfore this grace being so oftē proved to be offered to all by the same Texts it is allso proved that Christ dyed for all Call to minde how many according to what was proved Point 29. do become reprobates who by vertue of Christs death once received the guift of heavenly grace in Baptisme The like grace was by Christs death given to that just man of whom Ezechiel cited there n. 5. sayth That his Iustices shall be forgotten because he persevered not and in his iniquities he shall dye He therefore became a Reprobate And thus it is true which God sayd to Abraham Gen. 12.3 In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed And Gcn. 22.18 In thy seed shall be blessed all the nations of earth Now as S. Paul sayrh Gal. 3.14 The blessing of Abraham comes on the Gentiles through Christ Iesus There is none therfore to be excepted from being partaker of this blessing seing that all the families of the earth and all the nations of the earth do enioy it Yct it is evident that many among these families and nations be Reprobates Reprobates therfore enioy many blessings by Christs death which eould not be if Christ did not dye for them By the merits of Christs death many are called yet of these many few are choosen Matth. 22.14 Hence Ezech. 18.23 Why Is the death of a sinner my will sayth our Lord God and not that he convert from his wayes and live Which without grace from Christ he could not do Again c. 33.11 I will not the death of the impious but that the impious convert from his way and live Why will you dye ô house of Israël And so Prov. 1.24 To those to whome he sayd I have called and you have refused I have stretched out my hand and you have not regarded He shall say likewise I will laugh when your destruction cometh as a whirlewind v. 27. They therfore shall be destroyed and perish who by Christs death and merits had many graces helps and callings given them Note that in Christ the will with which he called them was a serious will of which 1. Tim. 2.4 He will all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth See in the former Point the many evident Text cited to this effect Hence it is sayd Rom. 2.4 He shewed the riches of his goodnes to those who dispised it treasuring up wrath to themselves Who be those but the Reprobate Again 2. Pet. 3.9 Willing that none should perish And Rom. 5.6 Christ did dye for the impious or ungodly And most cleerly 1. Io. 2.2 He is the propitiation of our sinns And not for ours only but allso for the whole world The whole world comprehends more reprobate then elect He then who dyed for the whole world did allso dye for the Reprobate Wherfore S. Paul more then once warneth us not to be occasion of damnation to those for whom Christ dyed So Rom. 14.15 Do not with thy meat destroy him for whom Christ dyed He therfore for whom Christ dyed may be destroyed and perish eternally Again 1. Cor. 8.11 Through thy knowledge shall thy weak Brother perish for whom Christ dyed And again 2. Pet. 2.1 False teachers bringing in damnable Heresies even denying the Lord who bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction Hence you see that even those who have brought upon themselves destruction have done this by denying him who bought them at the price of his blood and death He therfore even dyed for those Children of perdition Whence Holy Fathers often say that son of perdition Iudas did shedde that blood with which he was redemed Let us then all be as is sayd 2. Cor. 5.14 Iudging this that if one dyed for all then all were dead S. Paul had not proved by Christ his dying for all that all were dead if any man could be found for whom Christ did not dye And that no one should presume to say that any such man could be found S. Pauls next words are Christ dyed for all v. 15. The Councel of Trent Sess 6. c. 3. citing these words sayth But though he dyed for all yet all receive not the benefit of his death but only those to whom the merit of his Passion is communicated Hence it is sayd 1. Tim. 4.10 We trust in the liveing God who is the Saviour of all men especially of those who believe Saviour he is to all men by giveing what sufficeth to save all mē but this sufficiency is effectuall to saluatiō only in the truly faithfull whose works answered to theyr beliefe and therefore chiefely he is theyr Saviour Yet it is true that speaking generally of us all 1. Cor.