glorie thereof one of the Word another of the Flesh. The glorie of the Word standeth in two things first that hee is the eternall Sonne of the eternall Father begotten after an vnspeakable manner of his owne substance and therefore the brightnesse of his glory and the expresse image of his Person A name too excellent for the Angells themselues For neuer did the Father say to any of them Thou art my sonne this day haue I begotten thee Secondly that being so begotten hee is consubstantiall and coequall with his Father neither counteth he it robbery to bee equall with him For though he be the Sonne and not the Father yet being of the same Substance hee is one and the same God with him and may iustly challenge vnto himselfe the fulnesse of the Deitie as farre forth as the Father A glory infinitely transcending that of any creature The glorie of his Flesh is likewise double of Assumption and Communication Of Assumption by which it was taken into the divine nature For as soone as it began to haue being in the wombe of the blessed virgin it was prevented from subsisting in it selfe and was drawne into the vnitie of the Person of the Sonne of God eternally to subsist therein The highest dignitie that a creature can aspire vnto That of Communication is whereby glorious things are communicated vnto his humane nature And it is either Personall or Habitual Personall is that whereby as the nature of man is truely giuen to the Person of the Sonne so the Person of the Sonne is truely communicated vnto the nature of man Wherevpon because in the Person of the Sonne is the fulnesse of all perfection and all the essentiall attributes of the Deitie as namely Omniscience omnipotence omnipresence and the rest therefore doe wee say that all these attributes and that fulnesse of perfection are communicated also vnto the Manhood Howbeit not Physically and by effusion as if the same properties which are in God should formally and subiectiuely be in man as heat transfused from the fire is inherent in the water For that which is infinite cannot bee comprehended of that which is finite How then Personally in the sonne of God So that by reason of the hypostaticall vnion there is such a reall communion betweene them that the sonne of man is truly the Sonne of God and consequently also Omniscient omnipotent omnipresent and the rest The want of due consideration hereof was it that bred that monster of Vbiquitie and that great quarrell betwixt vs and the Saxon Churches Communication habituall is that whereby the fulnesse of grace was bestowed vpon him to be subiectiuely and inherently in his Flesh. And this is the glory of his Vnction For the spirit of the Lord rested vpon him the spirit of wisdome and vnderstanding the spirit of counsell and might the spirit of knowledge and of the feare of the Lord. By this Spirit was he annointed with the oile of gladnesse aboue his fellowes yea he receiued the spirit without measure or limit both for the essence vertue thereof intensiuely and extensiuely to all effects and purposes both for himselfe and others So that in his Will there was perfect iustice without taint or staine in his Minde perfect wisdome and knowledge both Beatificall whereby he saw God farre more clearly then any other as being more neerely vnited vnto him and Infused whereby he knew all heauenly and supernaturall verities which without the revelation of grace cannot bee knowne yea Acquisite and Experimentall also whereby hee knew all whatsoeuer by the light of reason and nature might bee knowne So that he was ignorant of nothing which hee ought to know or might make to his full happinesse And this was his Habituall glory Now the Glory of his Office breefely was to be the Mediator betweene God and Man An office of so high a nature that it could bee performed by none but only him who was both God and Man For herevnto it was necessary that he should be a Prophet a Priest and a King A Prophet as an Arbiter to take knowledge of the cause quarrell depending betweene them and as an Internuntius or legate to propound expound the conditions of peace that are to be concluded vpon A Priest to be an Intercessor and to make interpellation for the party offending and then to be a Fideiussor or Surety making satisfaction to the party for him A King hauing all power both in heauen and earth to keepe and preserue the Church so reconciled in the state of grace to tread downe vnder his feete all the enimies thereof Wondrous Glory and farre aboue that of any creature And this is the Glory he was already possessed of Wanted he yet any further Glory yes verily and that in regard both of his Divine and Humane nature Of his Divine for the Word had now emptied himselfe of his glory Emptied himselfe I say not simply and absolutely for he could no more in such sort abdicate his glory then cease to be himselfe it being essentiall vnto him and his very selfe but oeconomically and dispensatiuely vailing couering it vnder the cloud of his flesh For if as St Leo saith the exinanition of the divine Maiesty was the advancement of the servile forme vnto the highest pitch of honour then by like proportion the advancement of the servile forme was the exinanition of the divine Maiesty This Exinanition or Emptying of himselfe was in his Incarnation conception nativity obedience actiue to the law of nature as being the sonne of Adam and to the law of Moses as being the sonne of Abraham Passiue in suffering hunger and cold and wearinesse a thousand sorrowes wherevnto the infirmity of his flesh was subiect In this state Christ now stood neither had he as yet recovered the Glory whereof he had emptied himselfe nay he was not as yet come to the lowest degree of his humiliation For though they were instant and nere at hand yet his agonie his sweating of bloud his arraignment his crosse his death his emprisonment in the graue were not yet come All which did more more eclipse the glory of his Deity so that this Glory of the word as yet he wanted In regard of his Humane nature hee had not yet deposed humane infirmities as hunger thirst feare sorrow anguish and the like Neither had hee obtained incorruption impassibility immortality nor that glorious purity strength agility clarity of the body which he expected together with the fulnesse of inward ioyes and comforts in the Soule Adde herevnto that the actions of his mediation namely of his Prophecy Priesthood and Kingdome had not nor could not bee hitherto performe gloriously but only in such an humble manner as suted with the state of humiliation in which presently he stood To make all plaine though as the Schoole speaketh he were Comprehensor in termino affectione iustitiae yet he was viator extraterminum
his glorious estate to make Intercession for vs. Yet this is not all for it is further to be observed that Christ is not Priest as Man only but as Emanuell on God-man This the Apostle to the Hebrewes carefully demonstrateth The law saith he maketh men high Priests which haue infirmity but the wâ—rd of the Oath which was since the law maketh the sonne who is consecrated for ever more And againe Christ saith he by his eternall spirit offered himselfe without spot to God And if he were a Priest after the order of Melchizedecke as he was without Father or Mother without genealogie hauing neither beginning of daies nor end of life as also being Vntithed in the loines of Abraham it cannot be that he should be Priest as Man only for of Man only these things cannot be verified therefore as God also If so then Prayer being an act of Christs Priest-hood it followeth that it is Emanuel God-man that prayeth and that his Prayer is a Theandricall action as Divines terme it Divinely-humane or Humanely-divine This speech haply may sound harshly in some eares there are who sticke not to charge it with â—tat Arrianisme as if thereby we made Christ inferiour to his Father whereas hee himselfe thought it no robbery to be equall vnto him Giue mee leaue therefore to bestow a few words for the clearing of this difficulty the rather because it is being rightly apprehended the ground of singular comfort vnto vs. It is a Fundamentall article of the Christian Faith that in Christ there are two distinct Natures his Divinity his Humanity that both these concurre to the constitution of one Person God-man Whence it followeth that the Agent or Principle which acteth all the workes of Mediation is but one by reason of the Vnitie of the Person even Christ God-man according to that protrite Maxime Actiones sunt suppositorum all actions issue and proceed from the Subiect or person Howbeit seeing the Person alwaies worketh by his Natures and they as wee haue said in Christ are two it followeth by reason of this Dualitie that there are two distinct Principles by which Christ worketh or mediateth according to that other rule in nature Natura est principium motus quietis nature is the principle both of rest and motion This for further illustration may be exemplified in Humane actions For as it is Man or the Person of Man consisting of Soule and Body that vnderstandeth reasoneth moueth speaketh yet it is the Soule by which he vnderstandeth and reasoneth the Body by which he moueth and speaketh so in the actions of Mediation it is Christ God-man that worketh them all yet some by his Godhead and some by his Manhood Here therefore are wee to distinguish The workes of Mediation are either of Soueraignty and Authority or of Subiection and Ministrie Of Soveraignty and Authrity as to send the Holy Ghost to illuminate the Mind to raise from death of Subiection and Ministrie as to suffer to dy to be raised from death All these things did Christ as he was God-man both doe and suffer but yet the former by the Principle of his deity the latter by the Principle of his humanity It is further to be observed that although both the Natures in Christ remaine distinct and consequently their severall operations also yet as Leo truly saith Agit vâ—raque forma cum communione alterius quod cuiusque proprium est both Natures doe that which is proper vnto them but with Communion of each with other This Communion is the concurrence of both Natures in the same Person by their severall proper actions to the producing of one Apotelesma or outward effect pertaining to our Salvation In which concurrence the Deity is ever the principall and the Humanitie is the Organ or Instrument of the Deity so that it never moueth to any thing but as it is acted and moved by the Deity and from it receiues all its value dignity and efficacy as in Man the Body doth from the Soule These things being thus demonstrated let vs in a word applie them to our particular This Prayer of Christ is an act of his Priesthood Heâ— therefore prayes that is the Priest The Priest as we haue shewed is Christ God-man Christ therefore prayeth as God-man But the act is Ministeriall not Soveraigne He prayeth therefore not by the Principle of his Deity but in his Humanitie Howbeit with Communion of the Deity the Instrument partaking with the Principall Agent and deriuing all its vertue and efficacy from the concurrence thereof Which being so the more either ignorant or malitious are our adversaries of the Church of Rome who slander vs as if we held Christ prayed in his Divine nature Nay we know Prayer is a worke of Ministry and implies inferiority whereas the Word is coequall to his Father If may be the dreame of Iewes in their Talmud that God prayes certaine houres every day or of Turkes in their Alcoran that he prayeth for Mahomet But we know that God hath no superiour to whom he should pray and that his will is omnipotent and the effectuall cause of all things so that he needs not pray But it pleased the sonne of God to assume our nature and in the same to make himselfe lesse then his Father and to become obedient vnto him in all things So that although it bee God-man that prayes yet praying non qua Deus sed qua homo not in the forme of the Word but of a Servant it can be no impeachment to his Deity Now if it be God-man that prayes is it possible hee should misse of his suit Surely he himselfe saith I knowe thou hearest me alwaies And the Apostle affirmes that in his Prayers and Supplications he was still heard If hee bee the only Sonne in whom the Father is well pleased will he thinke you deny him any thing Nay if wee that are so vnworthy are yet heard for his sake how can hee that is of such infinite worth but bee heard when as himselfe praies He is therefore alwais heard What is it then he here sues for To himselfe Glorification to his Apostles to know and teach all sauing truth to vs that beleeue through their word Sanctification Vnion with him Perseverance in grace and the blessed-making vision of his Clory Doubtlesse therefore hee himselfe sitteth at the right hand of his Father and swayeth all things both in Heaven and earth to his Churches good His Apostles both knew and taught all the counsells of God and wee may safely build vpon the Foundation they haue laid As for vs all those things shall surely bee made good vnto vs. And though Sathan desire to winnow vs yet Hell gates shall never prevaile against vs. For he that never faileth to be heard hath prayed for our Faith that it faile not then which what surer ground of peace and ioy to the conscience can there be As it is the ground of comfort so is it
the word Father be oftentimes vnderstood Essentially that is for the whole Godhead subsisting in all the Persons as namely when it hath reference vnto men or Angells or the rest of the creatures yet here being referred vnto the Sonne or the second Person it must needs be vnderstood Personally for the Father of that Sonne that is the first person in the Trinity True it is the Person of Christ consisteth of two natures his Deity his Humanity this humanity is a Creature as well as that of other men Yet notwithstanding seeing the Person is but one the Humane nature subsisteth not of it selfe but only in the Son of God by his Subsistance it is the first Person in the Trinity and he alone who is the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ. Howbeit the Natures being not one and the same but differing he is Sonne vnto his Father not by one only but by a double Filiation As he is the Word by way of Naturall Generation begotten from all Eternity of the Substance of his Father Of his Substance whereby he is Consubstantiall and Coessentiall with him God of God Light of Light very God of very God as it is in the Nicene Creed From all Eternitie for as the Sunne cannot be without his Beame so neither could the Father ever be without his Word but as himselfe is Eternall so is his Sonne Cöeternall with him also Lastly Begotten not made as Athanasius saith but how and after what manner is incomprehensible and vnspeakable It is enough for vs to know saith Gregory Nazianzen that the Father hath begotten to himselfe a Sonne as for the rest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let it be adored with silence And seeing as Ambrose saith neither Archangells know it nor Angells haue heard it nor the world comprehended it nor the Prophets vnderstood it nor the Apostles inquired after it nor Christ taught it but said no man knoweth the Sonne but the Father nor the Father but the Sunne and he to whom the Sonne will reveale it it is our duty to surcease from further searching into this deepe mistery It is sufficient for vs by Faith simply to beleeue that the Manner whereof Reason cannot reach vnto As touching the Manhood of Christ he is in regard thereof the Sonne of the Father also yet not by way of Naturall generation or else of Adoption as all the Saints of God are but by Grace of Personall Vnion whereby being prevented from hauing any Subsistance in it selfe it hath the very Subsistance of the Word or Second Person communicated vnto it So that although as Man he be not Generatus filius the Sonne begotten yet is he Natus filius Dei borne the Sonne of God according to that of the Angell Gabriell That holy thing that shall bee borne of thee shall be called the sonne of God Now the Sonne prayeth vnto his Father first to testify that his eternall Procession and Filiation is from him and that of him he hath receiued both that individuall Vnion by which his Humane Nature is hypostatically assumpted and vnited vnto his Divine that oile of gladnesse or pretious Vnction of the Spirit wherewith hee is Habitually graced and annointed farre aboue all his fellowes Secondly to manifest his Dispensatiue and voluntary subiection vnto his Father in the forme of a Seruant wherein though he were the Sonne and cöequall with the Father yet he learned obedience as the Apostle to the Hebrewes witnesseth Lastly to giue vs an example of imitation both to whom and to whom alone we are to addresse our Prayers namely to God our Father to none other Not to pray vnto him is meere Atheisme and profanenes to pray to any besides him is Idolatry and Superstition First therefore as Christ to his so are wee to pray to our Father Our Father is the holy and blessed Trinity both by Creation and Adoption For being extrinsecall actions they are vndivided and common to them all and so not the Father only but the Sonne and the Holy Ghost together with him created and adopted vs. To the holy Trinity therefore not excluding any of the Persons are wee to pray And to this our Saviour as by his example so by his Precept also directs vs when he commands vs thus to pray Our Father which art in Heaven Shall I spend time to proue that we are to pray vnto God our Father This were but to light a candle at noone day Search the Scriptures and you shall finde it every where commanded Hath he not made all doth he not sustaine all doe we not depend vpon his goodnesse for all whatsoever either wee are or haue If the eyes of all things looke vp vnto him expecting a supply of all their needs from him should not our eyes much more be fixed vpon him The very light of reason dictates the same vnto all and requires this duty at the hands of all Even Gentiles and meere naturalists haue ever duly practised it in all their needs invoking him whom they supposed to be God yea some of the learned among them as Plato and Aristotle and others also as Proclus saith haue written bookes of this argument and in them giuen excellent precepts and directions how to pray A Giant therefore was hee and we read of no more but hee who commanded that for the space of thirty daies together no man should presume to aske any thing of any God or man saue only of him selfe Atheists and prophane wretches are all those who in their heart denying either the Being or the Providence of God refuse to pray vnto him Such as among the Gentiles were the Epicure Philosophers and among Christians some few furious Hereticks Godles and irreligious also are they who beleeuing and acknowledging both yet never privately and but seldome publikely and then very slightly perfunctorily performe this duty Hence is it that the prophet David makes the not calling vpon God the speciall character of a foolish Atheist who if not with his mouth yet in his heart denies God and despises all religion No marvaile if they want the true wisdome seeing they aske it not of him who is the only donor thereof or if they aske it that yet they haue it not because they aske it overly with the lips and not sincerely from the heart But let vs my beloued brethren follow the president of our blessed saviour and as he so let vs ever addresse our prayers vnto him that is our Father Nothing can be denied vs that wee aske of him in the name of his sonne And if evill Fathers giue not insteed of bread a stone or insteed of a fish a serpent or insteed of an egge a scorpion vnto their children how much more will our Heavenly father giue vs his spirit and together with it all good thinges if we aske them of him As to our Father so to our Father only must we pray if wee will keepe our selues to the
note of similitude but importeth a reason or cause In regard whereof Euthimius expoundeth it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if he had said forasmuch or because Secondly that the word Power is in the originall not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 betwixt which two there is great difference For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth power of right or authority and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Power of might or ability Which although they may and oftentimes doe concurre in the same person yet many times they are divided For some there are who haue right and authority but want might and ability and others there are who haue might and ability but want right and authority These for want of right doe not iustly what they can doe and they for want of might cannot doe that which otherwise they might justly doe These things duly considered the reason of the Consequence will easily appeare For if God haue given him authority as indeed hee had hee ought withall to giue him ability For that without this is fectlesse and to no purpose and it sits not with the wisdome of God to doe things in vaine This were with Herod and the Iewes to set a crowne on his head to put a reed in his hand to clap a purple robe on his backe to make a mock king of him As therefore he hath giuen him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 right and authority so must hee also giue him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strength and ability But Ability hee can haue none nor giue life to them that are giuen him which is the end propounded vnto him except his Father glorifie him This appeares thus The glorification which the Sonne desires stands especially in his Resurrection Ascention Session at the right hand of his Father and Returne to iudgement If then he rise not againe we are yet in our sins as St Paul saith and haue no right either in the first or second resurrection Death hath still power vpon vs yea vpon Christ himselfe and vtterly bars vs from eternall life Againe if he ascend not neither can wee The way vnto heauen is not opened neither are there any mansions there prepared for vs. And what life can there be if we be excluded from those ioyes aboue Thirdly if hee sit not at his Fathers right hand then can he not gloriously interceed for vs with his Father nor send his spirit vnto vs nor governe vs by his spirit nor subdue our enimies vnto vs without which wee cannot be partakers of that life Lastly if hee returne not againe to iudge both the quicke and the dead then can hee not according to promise returne any more to take vs home vnto himselfe that where he is there we also may be to behold that his glory and by beholding to bee made like vnto him wherein standeth our eternall life And thus you see the necessity of this Consequence Thou hast given mee power Therefore must thou glorify mee Come wee now to the Antecedent In which for the fuller handling thereof we may obserue these foure particulars Quid In quos A quo Quorsum Quid what is given him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Power In quos over whom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 over all flesh A quo from whom from his Father thou hast giuen Quorsum to what end that he may giue eternall life to all that his Father gaue him Of these in order First Quid what hath the Father given him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 power that is as we haue aboue shewed Right and Authority over all flesh This is double for it is either Essentiall or Oeconomicall Essentiall is that which he hath qua 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he is the Word In regard whereof being God coequall with his Father looke what Power the Father hath he hath the same also inhering in him namely an infinite vnlimited independent and soveraigne power And this because it is of his very essence so that hee can no more be without it then not be God therefore doe I call it Essentiall And yet as I take it this is not heere meant For the end of the Power heere spoken of is to giue eternall life Now to purpose an end implies Election Deliberation and so an indifference before choice so that it is arbitrary not necessary But this Essentiall power of Christ is not arbitrarie but necessary as proceeding not of choice but of the necessity of his nature and therefore cannot be here meant The Oeconomicall Power then is that which he hath quà Emanuell as he is God-man and hath taken vpon him the forme of a servant For the Man Christ Iesus is our Mediatour therefore our King it being one office of his Mediation to be a King And hence it is that our Saviour affirmeth that authority is giuen him to execute iudgement because he is the sonne of man or as some expound it quatenus as he is the sonne of man In this nature also it is said that the government is vpon his shoulders that he is made a Governor to rule his people Israell This Power because he hath not as the former of the necessity of his nature but only of voluntary dispensatiō therefore I call it Oeconomicall And because it is Oeconomicall therefore is it not infinite vnlimited as is the Essentiall but Subordinate vnto it True it is the humane nature subsisting in the Word the very Word together with all the divine attributes are cōmunicated vnto it so that it may be said the man Christ is Omnipotent hath infinite power But this must cautelously be vnderstood not that the Manhood hath in it formally subiectiuely such infinite power but only personally and by grace of Vnion Otherwise the humane nature being finite is no more capable of infinite power then it is to be God which is impossible The Power then which the Manhood of Christ hath residing in it is finite and created but yet such as is farre greater then of any creature besides For to which of the creatures besides is the Subsistence of the sonne of God communicated If to none then can they not haue such power as hee that subsisteth in the Deity Whence the holy Apostle affirmeth of him that he is advanced farre aboue all Principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come againe that God hath highly exalted him and giuen him a name which is aboue every name that at the name of Iesus every knee should bow of things in Heauen and things in earth things vnder the earth and that every tongue should confesse that Iesus is the Lord. And yet againe that hee is made farre greater then the Angells inasmuch as hee hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name then they Read the rest of that Chapter for all makes to this purpose
Body And wee are stedfastly to beleeue that the Humane nature was so assumpted by the Deity that although they both constitute but one Person yet they still remaine two distinct Natures and each of them retaineth its Essentiall Properties If then as the Apostle saith Christ be made like vnto vs in all things sinne only excepted and our Bodies cannot bee without Dimension of length breadth and depth together with circumscription proportion and Distinction of parts one from the other and the like then neither can the Manhood of Christ be without them Neverthelesse you fancy vnto Christ in the Eucharist such a Body as is vtterly deprived of them all For thus saith your Angelicall Doctor and what he saith is the generall Tenent of the Church of Rome In the Body of Christ in the Sacrament there is no distance of one part from another as of the eye from the eye or the head from the feete as it is in other organicall bodies For such distance of parts is in the true Body of Christ but not as it is in the Sacrament for so it hath not dimensiue quantity O miserable Christ that art driven into such narrow straits that the whole bulke of thy Body should be emprisond and as it were frapt together in every little crum and point of the hoste And more true and seasonable may the complaint now be then it was of old that the Sonne of man hath not so much as a place wherein to rest his head But seeing as Thomas saith The true body of Christ hath distance of parts and the Body of Christ in the Sacrament hath not distance of parts I marvaile what should let but that I may boldly inferre the conclusion Ergo the Body of Christ in the Sacrament is not his true body Againe it is an Article of the Faith that Christ being ascended into Heauen hath quitted the earth and now sitteth at the right hand of his Father This the Scriptures testifie The poore saith Christ yee shall haue alwaies with you but mee yee shall not alwaies haue And I leuae the world and goe vnto the Father And againe Now am I no more in the world but these are in the world and I come vnto thee Hence saith St Peter The heauens must containe him vntill the time that all things bee restored And then as the Angell said This Iesus that is taken vp from you into Heauen shall so come againe as you haue seene him goe into Heauen The Fathers saith the same Origen According to his divine nature he is not absent from vs but he is absent according to the dispensation of the Body which he tooke As man shall he be absent from vs who is every where in his divine nature For it is not the manhood of Christ that is there wheresoeuer two or three be gathered together in his name neither is it his manhood that is with vs at all times to the end of the world nor is his manhood present in every congregation of the faithfull but the Divine vertue that was in Iesus Tertullian In the very pallace of Heaven to this day sitteth Iesus at the right hand of his Father Man though also God flesh and bloud though purer then ours neverthelesse the same in substance and forme wherein he ascended Ambrose Neither on the earth nor in the earth nor after the flesh are wee to seeke thee if wee will find thee Augustine Mee shall you not alwaies haue He spake this of the presence of his Body For touching his Maiesty providence vnspeakable and invisible grace it is true that he said I am alwaies with you to the end of the world But as for the flesh which the word tooke which was borne of the virgin fastned to the crosse laid in the graue you shall not alwaies haue mee with you And why Because hee is ascended into heauen and is not here there hee sitteth at the right hand of the father Cyril of Alexandria He could not be conversant with his Apostles in the Flesh after hee was once ascended to his Father And Notwitstanding he be absent in the flesh yet by that only meanes the power of his Godhead he is able to saue his Finally Gregory the Great The word incarnate both remaineth and departeth he departeh in Body and remaineth in his divinity Thus the Fathers And hence is it that so often in their writings they exhort vs not to settle our thoughts here on earth but to send vp our Faith into heauen and thither to follow him in heart whither wee beleeue him to be ascenâ—â—d in body Now what you The cleane contrary that the Body of Christ is still present with vs here on earth and as ordinarily as he is aboue in heauen Nay more then so For there he is confined circumscribed to one place as also he was here in the daies of his Flesh when he liued among the Iewes but now by your Doctrine he may be and is in more then a thousand places at once even when and where you will For you haue power to reproduce him as often as you list then to keepe him with you as long as you please at least vntill the mouse devoure him or he begin to corrupt and putrifie But is it impossible will you say for the Manhood of Christ to be present in many places at once Impossible if we may beleeue the Fathers neither can you produce any one of them that saith the contrarie If the argument of the Fathers aboue quoted be good Hee is in heauen Ergo he is not in earth then can hee not at one time bee both here and there too And doth not St Cyril expresly say he could not be coÌ„versant with his disciples in the Flesh after he was once ascended to his Father St Augustine likewise Christ according to his bodily presence could not be at once in the Sunne and in the Moone and on the crosse And againe The Body of Christ in which he rose againe can bee but in one place but his truth is every where diffused Vigilius a blessed Martyr and Bishop of Trent The flesh of Christ when it was in the earth was not in Heaven and now because it is in hauen certainly it is not in earth And by and by Forsomuch as the word is every where and the flesh of Christ is not every where it is cleare that one and the same Christ is of both natures that is every where according to the nature of his divinity and contained in a place according to the nature of his humanity Finally Fulgentius One and the same sonne of God having in â—â—m the truth of the divine and humane nature lost not the properties of the true Godhead and tooke also the properties of the true Manhood one and the selfe same locall by that he tooke of Man aâ—d infinite by that he had of his Father
of Angels or that they who are not wise for themselues by teaching may affect it in others as Noahs carpenters built an Arke for the sauing of others being drowned themselues and the braine imparts sense to the other members being insensible in it selfe I know that a key of iron may open a locke as well as of siluer and that water may be as commodiously conuaied through leaden as golden pipes yet withall I beleeue that Almighty God much rather and more frequently vseth the ministerie of those who are truly wise and are turned themselues for the making of others wise and the turning of them to righteousnesse as water they say in its naturall course cannot be brought to mount higher then the spring so neither can a man well speake to the heart but from the heart Our teaching then should not be for the winning of applause from men or the gaining of credit to our selues but for the winning of glory to God and the gaining of soules to him The talents which he hath bestowed vpon vs and instructed vs with should be put forth vpon interest not so much for our owne worldly profit as our masters best aduantage Generare sibi simile est perfectissimum opus naturae saith the Prince of Philosophers For a naturall body to propagate another in the same kinde like it selfe is the most perfect worke of nature and so regenerare sibi similem est per fectissimum opus gratiae for a regenerate man to be an instrument vnder God or as God himselfe is content to speake a fellow-workeman with him in the regeneration of another is the most absolute worke of grace There cannot likely be a more apparent marke of a reprobate mind then an endeauour to diuert and turne men away from righteousnesse a◠the apostate Angels which beeing falne from God themselues labour by all meanes to plunge mankinde in the same gulfe of perdition with themselues neither can there well be a surer pawne and pledge of a regenerate minde then a study of drawing men to God and of turning many vnto righteousnes The fire hath in it an inclination of turning all things it toucheth into its owne nature and it cannot be but an heart truly enflamed with holy zeale as with fire from heauen should desire to make all it toucheth or comes neere vnto like it selfe The Alchymists they talke and bragge much of turning iron into gold by vertue of the Philosophers stone as they call it but sure it is that the best Alchymie we can practise is the turning of mens iron hearts into the gold of righteousnesse and that by teaching the true Philosophers stone ordained by God himselfe for the transmutation of such mettalls by it euen whiles we walke in the flesh but warre not after the flesh are we made partakers of the diuine nature we are transformed metamorphized as it were from tares into wheat from wolues into lambs from kites into doues from bryars and thistles into faire and fruitfull trees to be transplanted into the Paradise of God which all the teaching of the Gentiles could neuer effect they might perchance turne men to a seeming kind of righteousnesse but to true righteousnesse they did not they could not But this was it that the Prophet Dauid in his teaching aymed at and no doubt accomplished Then shall I teach thy wayes vnto the wicked and sinners shall be converted vnto thee the end of his teaching was the conuersion of sinners as they through the suggestion of Satan and wicked men their owne inbred corruption working therewith had by sinne turned themselues from the Creator to the Creature so he by teaching endeauoureth their returne backe againe from the Creature to the Creator This was it which S. Paul proposeth to Timothy and would haue Timothy in his teaching propose to himselfe Take heede to thy selfe and to Doctrine continue therein for in so doeing thou shalt both saue thy selfe and them that heare thee Take heede to thy selfe that so thou maist saue thy selfe Take heede to thy Doctrine to thy teaching that thereby thou maist saue others And this is it which S. Iames seemes to cōmend vnto vs as a great worke indeede Let him know saith he that he who converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall saue a soule from death and hide a multitude of sinnes Let him know that he hath done a great a glorious a noble a worthy worke such a worke as he hath great reasō seriously to reioyce triumph in as no doubt S. Peter did in the conuersion of those three thousand which by one Sermon of his were turned vnto righteousnesse more then if he had beene put into possession of both the Indies or of all the Kingdomes of the world and the glory of them It is worth our obseruation that in the message of the Angel touching the Baptist sent to his father Zachary it is said that he should haue great ioy and gladnesse and many should reioyce at his birth and withall that he should be great in the sight of the Lord now from whence should this ioy arise to his parents this comfort to his friends this greatnesse to himselfe It followes many of the Children of Israel shall he turne to the Lord their God that is he shall by his teaching turne many vnto righteousnesse here then was matter indeed of true joy to his Parents of true comfort to his friends and of true greatnesse to himselfe No mary aile then if our Sauiour accounted this his meat if the life of S. Paul was not deare vnto him in respect of this nay if he were willing to dye in this imployment Though I be offered vp vpon the sacrifice and service of your faith I am glad Finally he accounted this his hope his joy and the crowne of his reioycing at the comming and in the presence of the Lord Iesus 1. Thess. 2.19 Then shall Andrew come in with Achaia by him converted to the saving knowledge of the truth Iohn with Asia Thomas with India Peter with the Iewes and Paul with the Gentiles and what shall we then plead for our selues if being called to yeeld an account of our stewardship we cannot bring forth so much as one soule converted by vs in the whole course of our ministerie Surely it is either because we teach not at all or our teaching is not grounded vpon wisedome or it is grounded vpon carnal and not vpon spirituall wisedome revealed to vs in the sacred oracles of Gods word Some there are who so are aloft in the clouds filling the peoples eares with swelling words and their heads with frothy speculations Others who feed them with the husks of vnsavoury tales and jests thus whiles the one sort seeke to be admired rather then vnderstood the other make themselues ridiculous rather then venerable both sorts so teaching as if neither the teachers themselues nor the people taught had soules to be saued they rather turne men out of
given him of his Father he may giue eternall life This I say properly and directly for accidentally he may be vnto some a rocke of offence and the savour of death vnto death namely to all those that shall presume to rise vp against that authority and power which his Father hath giuen him For the further vnfolding of this point foure things are here to bee observed Quid Vnde Quibus Quamdiu Quid what the gift is it is Life Vnde whence it is from the Sonne that hee may giue Quibus to whom it is giuen to as many as thou hast giuen him Quamdiu how long the gift lasteth it is eternall life And of these in order though not according to their worth and desert for who is sufficient for these things yet as it shall please God to enable and assist First Quid what is the gift It is Life Life is double Naturall and Spirituall Naturall is that which things liue by power of nature But this is not heare meant For the Father bestowes this generally on all men whereas the life here intended is to be conferred only on those whom the Father hath given vnto the sonne The Spirituall is likewise double Sinfull or Holy Sinfull is that whereby men liue vnto sinne But because they that so liue are dead vnto righteousnesse the wages thereof is nothing but death neither can this be here meant For this is to be counted rather a Death then a Life whereas the Life here-spoken of is the end wherefore so great power was giuen vnto Christ and so cannot bee but a happy and blessed life The Holy life is therfore here vnderstood a life which none can liue vntill he be dead vnto sinne and elevated by grace aboue nature even that life which in Scripture is called the new life and includeth in it both the life of grace and the life of glory Now because this Spirituall life is denominated Life from the proportion it holds with Naturall life especially that of man vnlesse we first know what this is distinct knowledge of that we cannot well haue any This we cannot know but by the direction of Naturall Philosophy For Naturall life is a terme properly belonging vnto it and the rule of Logicke teacheth that looke to what art the termes doe belong from thence are wee to fetch our demonstrations I must craue pardon therefore if I search a little into it Howbeit I resolue to be very briefe and to trouble you with no more then is necessary for clearing of what is intended Life is of some defined by motion and operation And so seemeth Aristotle to define it where he saith Vivere est intelligere sentire to liue is to vnderstand heare see touch and the like But this definition is more popular then proper For life is one thing the operations of life another and they differ as the cause and the effect Yet because it is best discerned by the operations thereof therefore haue they thought good so to describe it For those things are said to liue which any way moue themselues Moue I say for those things which moue not liue not And moue themselues by an internall principle of their owne For neither doe those things liue which are acted only by an extrinsecall and forreine principle such as was that statue or engine of which the Poet Duceris vt nervis alienis mobile signum and such as are also clocks and watches and the like devices The same Philosopher therefore elsewhere speaking more accurately of this matter defineth life by Being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith hee to liue is to be Which is not yet Simply to be vnderstood as if whatsoeuer had being had also life but respectiuely vnto things that liue for their life is their being And so much doth the Philosopher himselfe insinuate saying more fully 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 life to things that liue is being But such a Being as naturally moueth it selfe Whēce it is not vnfitly defined by one to bee essentia parturiens actiones such a being as is in trauell with action This naturall life is threefold Vegetatiue Sensitiue and Intellectual The Vegetatiue is in Plants that Being whereby they grow and receaue nourishment The Sensitiue is of Beasts Fowles and Fishes that Being whereby they see heare touch tast smell and moue from place to place The Intellectuall is of Angels and Spirits that Being whereby they vnderstand and will These all of them are iointly and together in man For with plants hee hath growth and nourishment with beasts fowles and fishes sense and lation with Angels and Spirits vnderstanding and will Wherevpon it is that the Philosopher maketh the life of man a rule to all the rest And therefore is to be defined Such a Being as is able to produce all these operations but specially those that are Rationall because they are most properly Humane To come then to an issue by all that hath beene said it appeares that to the constitution of the natural life of man and generally of all natural life three things are required Esse Posse Operari being ability and operation Being that there may bee ability and ability that there may be operation For no life where no operation no operation where no ability no ability where no being And such is the naturall life of man Proportionably wherevnto as to me it seemes Spirituall life may thus be defined Such a new or spirituall being as enableth to produce spirituall or supernaturall actions In which definition all those three things necessarily required vnto life are as you see comprehended And first Being not naturall but spirituall superadded vnto nature Superadded then when we are first ingrafted and incorporated into Christ. For no sooner doe we subsist in him but forthwith old things passe away and all things are made new From thence forth become we new creatures new men renewed in the inner man and in the spirit of the minde hauing new hearts new affections new senses all new In a word then are we made Spirituall men not only conformed vnto but also transformed into the image of Christ himselfe Secondly abilitie For together with our new being we receaue also the Spirit of power whereby as while we were out of Christ wee were able to doe nothing so now being in him we are able to all things For then the holy Ghost is pleased to infuse and imprint on our soules the gratious habits of Faith Hope and Charity and the rest and all to facilitate the performance of spirituall duties Lastly Operation without which abilitie is but vaine For to what end is power if it be never brought forth into act Operate therefore it doth and bringeth forth the fruits of spirit loue ioy peace long suffering gentlenesse goodnesse faith meeknesse temperance and the rest All which S. Paul reduceth vnto three Pietie Sobrietie Righteousnesse
prepared for you from the foundation of the world vnto the which kingdome the Lord bring vs all for his Christs sake Amen FINIS AN AMVLET OR PRESERVATIVE against the contempt of the MINISTERY OXFORD Printed by I.L. for E. F. 1633. TIT. 2 15. See that no man despise thee BEing in regard of the present oportunity to addresse my speech at this time vnto you principally reuerend Fathers and beloued brethren of the Clergie I haue by the direction I trust of Gods blessed spirit made speciall choice of this Text as affording matter both of great importance and euery way concerning you That the office and calling of the Ministery is of all other the most honourable worthy euery one of vs presumeth That of all other it is generally most obnoxious and subject to contempt wee all by lamentable experience feele How it may be freed from this contempt and againe recouer its ancient dignitie is a point of high nature and well worth the hearing And this is the very purpose intent of this Apostolicall charge For as St Pauls care that Titus be not despised implies the honour of his calling and his feare least he be despised argues it is subject therevnto so his charge vnto Titus to looke vnto it that hee be not despised evidently shewes both where the cause of this contempt mostly lies and how our selues if wee list may preuent it So that this Text may not vnfitly be called An Amulet or Preservatiue against the contempt of thâ— Ministery And it offereth as you see vnto our mediâ—ation these three particulars first the dignity of the Ministry secondly the contempt of the Ministry thirdly the redresse of this contempt Of which while I discourse vnto you plainely according to my poore abilitie breefly in regard of the businesses to succeed lend mee I beseech you blessed brethren both the assistance of your prayers and the encouragement of your fauorable attention And first as touching the Dignitie of the Ministrie cui non dictus his Hylas What tongue or penne almost hath not travailed in this argument Or what can herein bee said which hath not beene already said And to say all that may be said in this short scantling of time is impossible I omit therefore that Scripture expresly calleth Priesthood an Honour and affirmeth Elders to be worthie of double honour charging all to haue them not onely in honour but also in singular reputation Neither will I stand to reckon vp all those titles wherewith Ministers are honoured as Stewards Fathers Rulers Men of God Gods Embassadors the light of the world the salt of the earth Saviours Starres Angells Nor lastly will I spend time in mustering vp all those honourable personages who haue borne this office as the First borne of euery family before the Law vnder the Law the house of Aaron in both mighty Kings as Melchizedeck and Solomon and finally vnder the Gospel Christ himselfe the King of Kings and Lord of Lords These things I say and sundrie other of like nature although demonstratiuely prouing the Dignity of the Ministry yet of purpose I passe by as obvious and vulgarly vrged Onely at this time these three points as the choicest among the rest would I command vnto your serious consideration First the excellency of the science we professe secondly the efficacy and powerfull operation of our Ministry thirdly the authority and iurisdiction annexed therevnto For if the Science we professe be architectonicall if the execution of our Ministry bee most energeticall if our authority and iurisdiction bee the amplest and greatest then is our Calling of all other the most noble and worthy Let vs therefore enquire if these things be so and first the excellencie of the science we professe As the wise man saith of a vertuous woman Many daughters haue done worthily but thou surmountest them all so say I all Arts and Disciplines in their kinde are good as issuing from God the fountaine of all goodnesse but Divinity is transcendent and as Gregory calleth it ars artium the science of sciences For whereas the preeminence of one science before another standeth in two things either that it is more worthie in it selfe in regard of the matter it teacheth or more certaine and infallible in regard of the manner of knowing this Divine science farre excelleth in both For as touching the matter the very gleaning of Ephraim is better then the vintage of Abiezer the meanest part of this heauenly knowledge is greater and nobler then all whatsoeuer is comprehended within the whole circle of humane Sciences For these taken at the highest aspire not aboue Nature contemplating only such Verities and directing vnto such goods as are connaturall vnto vs and being naturall are also finite and so cannot satisfie the vast and infinite desire either of the mind or will But the obiect of this Diuine science is meerely supernaturall the speculatiue part whereof contemplateth the first and highest verity even God himselfe â—â—e infinite beautie and glory of his nature the incomprehensible Trinitie of Persons his wonderfull workes and operations creating all things of nothing sustaining all he created by his mighty word ordering and gouerning all by his most wise prouidence but specially redeeming mankinde from Sinne death and hell into the glorious liberty of sonnes by the incarnation and passion of the Sonne of God A mystery so profound that not only the naturall man knowes it not but euen the blessed Angells longed to be acquainted therewith and knowing stand amazed and rauished with admiration thereof Neither is the Practicall part any way inferior vnto the speculatiue for that also directeth vnto the first and highest Good euen Good in vision and fruition of whom standeth our eternall blessednesse shewing also what the way is which leadeth vnto this soueraigne End namely Repentance from dead works Iustification by Faith in Christ Regeneration by water and the Holy Ghost vnfaigned study and practise of new obedience in Pietie towards God Iustice towards all men and temperance towards our owne selues Thus the subiect matter of our science so farre surpasseth that of other Disciplines as supernaturall excelleth naturall heauen earth eternitie time the boundlesse wisdome of God the narrow compasse of mans reason and they are vnto it but as Hagar vnto Sarah hand-maides vnto their Lady and Mistresse As is the matter so is the manner of knowing also that of highest price and value this most certaine and infallible Vnto the truths of other sciences wee yeeld assent either induced by authority of humane testimonie or inclined by probability and likelihood of reason or convinced by the light and evidence of demonstration The two former breed but a morall or coniecturall certitude both obscure nor excluding all doubt nor securing vs of the truth The third though it haue greater evidence clearnes yet hath it no more theÌ„
fearfull ends And indeede to what end hath God put into the heart of man this passion of feare but to decline and avoid all such euills as would destroy him or afflict him Take away feare and men will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 despise all danger and run headlong into all mischiefe but feare is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a preseruing nature as saith the philosopher inclining and perswading man carefully to keepe himselfe from dangers If then to come to an issue yee will not worke mischiefe vnnaturally vnto your owne selues if yee will avoide the Magistrates fury if yee will not incurre the rigour of the law nor fall vpon the edge of the sword of justice yee must needs be subiect But what need will some man say so much to feare the Wrath of the Magistrate May not a man hide his counsells so deepe and carry his actions so cunningly that nor witnesse nor Iudge shall know them If they come to light and bee discouered doth not greatnesse breake through lawes as wasps doe through cobwebs May not judges jury witnesses by friends fauour bribes be corrupted Are pardons impossible to bee obtained from Princes Nay suppose the worst that the penalty of the law can by no meanes be escaped what care they for fines and amercements who are content to beggar themselues to enioy their pleasures What for shame and ignominy who are growne impudent in all wickednesse What for death who count it worse then death not to liue as they list and to bee barred from their desires For there haue beene who haue said moriar modo regnet let mee dye so he may be King and aut Caesar aut nihil an Emperour or nothing To all this I answere briefly first trust not vnto secrecy but remember what wise Solomon saith Curse not the King no not in thy thought neither the great one in thy bedchamber for the foule of the Heaven will carry the voyce and that which hath wings shall declare the matter Secondly hope not for impunity many as great as gratious as wealthy as thou haue failed thereof and how knowest thou but one time or other thou maist meete with one who will accept nor thy person nor thy fee but will say vnto thee with Saint Peter thy mony perish with thee Lastly if any haue so farre put off naturall affection as not to feare Wrath chusing rather to fall into the hands of justice then to be restrained from his wickednesse let such a one know that what Wrath cannot yet Conscience should worke in him For here it must freely bee confessed that Wrath of it selfe is not sufficient it striketh at the branches not the roote and endeavoureth to reforme outward actions but reacheth not vnto the cause which is inward corruption Which remaining in vs Wrath happily may make vs more wary in offending but cannot worke in vs a loue of goodnesse and a desire not to offend at all Wherefore God in his deepe wisdome hath thought it good to binde vs vnto subiection not by a single but double tie and vnto Wrath to adde Conscience Yee must needs be subiect not only for wrath but also for conscience Conscience is that facultie or power of the Practicall vnderstanding in man whereby he is priuy to all his actions whether they be immanent and conceaued within as thoughts or emanant and issuing forth as his words and workes This Conscience is then said to be bound when by him who hath power and authority ouer it it is charged to performe its dutie that is to beare witnesse of all our actions vnto God and according to the qualitie of them to excuse or accuse vs for that these are the duties of conscience plainely appeareth by that of S. Paul their conscience bearing witnesse and their thoughts accusing or excusing This charge is then laid vpon the Conscience after that by the same authority man himselfe is bound for man being free Conscience also is free but man being bound by a law Conscience stands bound also But who is the binder of the conscience God without question He is the Law-giuer saith S. Iames that can both saue and destroy and he as S. Iohn saith is greater then the conscience But can the Magistrate also by his lawes binde the conscience Papists attribute vnto vs the Negatiue that they cannot themselues hold the Affirmatiue that they can and warrant it by this my Text Yee must bee subiect for conscience Vpon this plaine song sundry of them descant very pleasantly but none plaies the wanton more then Doctor Kellison who inferres that we despoile Princes of authority and superiority and giue subjects good leaue to rebell and revolt that we bring Iudges and Tribunall seats and all lawes into contempt that no Prince can rely on his subjects no subjects on their Prince or fellow subjects in a word that wee take away all society and ciuill conversation To all which I answere breefly First suppose the maine ground were true yet neither can they proue it out of my Text nor doe such absurdities follow therevpon Out of my Text they cannot proue it for that only affirmes that the Conscience is bound but determines not that mans lawes bindeth it Neither doe such absurdities follow for albâ—it wee should deny man to be the binder yet doe wee freely professe that the Conscience is bound which is enough But we answer farther that they much abuse vs for we deny not rem that they binde onely wee differ from them in modo maintaining that they binde not in such manner as they teach They hold that mens lawes binde non minùs guà m lex divina equally with Gods lawes so that were there not any law of God binding to Subiection yet mans law of it selfe and of its owne power would binde This we deny teaching contrarily that humane lawes binde the Conscience not immediatly but mediatly not primarily but secundarily not in themselues of their owne power but in the force and vertue of Divine law Divine law I say whether that which is imprinted in the heart by nature or that which is revealed vnto vs by Scripture both which command Subiection This truth in fâ—w words thus I demonstrate First if mans law immediatly binde the Conscience then is euery transgression thereof without farther respect vnto Gods law a mortall sinne But so it is not for according to St Iohns definition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sin is a transgression of the law meaning not mans but Gods law only in regard whereof St Augustine saith more expresly Sin is dictum factum concupitum any saying doing or coueting against Gods law Besides if man of himselfe without respect vnto Gods law can binde the conscience then either is he Lord of the conscience and may himselfe conuent it examine it take its testimonie and accordingly proceed to sentence either of life or death both vpon body and soule or he hath power to command God to sit in
for the Transformation of Bread into Flesh which he speakes of though still it seeme Bread it is plaine hee meanes not that of Transubstantiation for in this Bread ceaseth to be but in that he confesseth it still to remaine and that it is Bread which is eaten by vs in the Mysteries Which yet he more plainly expresseth where hee saith God in mercy condescending to our infirmity preserueth the Species or Nature of Bread and wine but trans-elementeth or changeth it into the vertue of his flesh blood where it is farther to be obserued that hee saith not into flesh and blood but into the vertue thereof intimating a Change not of Substance but of Operation and Efficacy Your next witnesse is Magnetes an author to me vtterly vnknowne saue that Gesner in his Bibliotheca reporteth that he was very ancient and that about thirteene hundred yeares since hee wrote in the Greeke tongue certaine bookes in defence of the Gospell vnto Theosthenes against the Gentiles that flandered it and that he is quoted by Fr. Turrian By which words it seemes that hee never yet saw the Presse and what is alledged out of him is warranted only by Turrians testimony But Turrian is one that deserues no credit at our hands as being a Iesuite and knowne to haue plaid many foule tricks this way Yet if to make your author agree with the rest of the Fathers you will giue the same construction to his words that aboue is giuen vnto Theophilact you may Otherwise his authority is as easily reiected as alledged N. N. St Hilary vseth this kind of argument If the word of God were truly made flesh then doe wee truly receiue his flesh in the Lords supper and thereby he is to bee esteemed to dwell in vs naturally St Cyril proueth not only a Spirituall but also a Naturall and Bodily vnion to be betweene vs and Christ by eating his flesh in the Sacrament I. D. That Hilary speaketh of the Lords Supper or of our Coniunction with Christ by Eating thereof I thinke it will hardly be proved Had he so meant how cometh it to passe that he never alledgeh those words of the Sacrament This is my body which would haue made more for his purpose but ever voucheth the sixt of Iohn which maketh little to the Sacrament Howbeit if you will needs vnderstand him so I will not striue Know then that in those bookes St Hilary disputes against the Arians To them he obiected that saying The Father and the Sonne are one One answered they as wee are with Christ by Will not by Nature wherevnto he replied that wee are even by Nature one with Christ. And this he proues first because both in Christ and vs there is the same Humane nature by the Incarnation of the Sonne of God which hee calls the Sacrament of perfect vnion Secondly because the Faithfull are ioyned vnto him by his Spirit dwelling in them which regenerateth quickneth sanctifieth them and not only conformeth them vnto him but also transformeth them into him And for proofes hereof hee alledgeth divers passages of St Iohns Gospell such as your selues confesse no way to belong vnto the Sacrament Thirdly for that by Baptisme we are ioyned vnto Christ and that not only by consent of will but naturally according to that of Saint Paul As many as are baptized into Christ haue put on Christ. Whereunto lastly if you please you may adde for that also in the Lords Supper wee are vnited vnto him by Eating his Flesh and Drinking his Blood All these waies saith Hilary are wee Naturally ioyned vnto Christ. If so then not only by the Eucharist And if for the establishing of the other meanes there needeth no Transubstantiation at all as of the Sonne of God into Man of Faith into the Spirit of Christ or of Baptismall water into the Bloud of Christ neither is it necessarie for this that bread be Transubstantiated into the Body of Christ. Or if to bring Christ into vs and our mouth you will needs transubstantiate the bread into his body I wonder what Transubstantiation you will devise to bring vs into him and his mouth For Hilary affirmeth that by the same Mysticall coniunction not only is Christ in vs but also wee are Naturally in him The same Answere may serue for Cyril also wherevnto for farther explication of the word Naturally and Naturall so often vsed both by Cyril and Hilary I adde that in them Naturally signifieth Truly Naturall True if wee may beleeue him who best knew their meaning even Cyril himselfe For thus he Not according to naturall vnity that is true vnity By nature wee are the children of wrath where by nature we are to vnderstand truth So that Naturall vnion is true vnion and naturally to be vnited is truly to be vnited which I hope may bee without Transubstantiation N. N. Theodoret doth proue that Christ tooke Flesh of the blessed virgin and ascended vp with the same and holdeth the same there by that he giueth to vs his true flesh in the Sacrament for that otherwise hee could not giue vs his true Flesh to eat if his owne flesh were not true seeing that he gaue the same that he carried vp and retaineth in heauen I. D. I marvell much not one of the Fathers being more expresse against Transubstantiation then Theodoret that yet you durst to praise him in the maintenance thereof Evē for this cause doth the Preface to the Roman Edition goe about to weaken his authority and Gregorie of Valentia flatly condemneth him It is no wonder saith he if one or two or more of the Ancients haue thought or written of this matter not so considerately and rightly Adde herevnto that Theodoret was noted by the Councell of Ephesus for some other errours besides But how much Theodoret maketh against Transubstantiation you shall heare hereafter Now you may be pleased to knowe that in the place by you cited he disputeth against an Eutychian Hereticke who held that the Humanitie of Christ was abolished and absorpted by his Deitie This hee would proue by the Eucharist that as the Symbols before Consecration are one thing but after it are changed and become another even so the Body of Christ after the Assumption thereof is chāged into the Divine Substance Now if Theodoret had beene Transubstantiator hee had beene finely taken for Transubstantiation abolisheth the substance of Bread and turneth it into the substance of Christs Body But hee taketh the Heretike in his owne nets affirming the Mysticall signes after their sanctification doe not depart from their nature and that therefore Christ after the Assumption thereof retaineth his Humanity still Whereby you may see that although it be yeelded that Christ giueth vs his true Flesh in the Sacrament yet in the iudgement of Theodoret he so giueth it that the Mysticall signes retaine their Nature still which vtterly overturnes your Transubstantiation N. N. S. Irenaeus S. Iustin and S.
enough to be numbred among the ancient Fathers In regard whereof as also because of those many shamefull errors and fabulous narrations every where appearing in his writings hee is one of little or no authority in the Church of God He was the first that removed the bounds of the ancient Doctors in this matter bringing in sundry new strange terms never heard of in former times the misvnderstanding of which by little and little prepared a way to that deformed monster of Transubstantiation Neverthelesse it is certaine that howsoever many of his speeches may seeme harsh and inconvenient and great advantage hath beene taken of them that way yet himselfe was cleane of another mind Let vs therefore heare what hee saith It is made saith hee by the Holy Ghost even as our Lord made for himselfe a body out of the Virgin mother If so then is it not made by Transubstantiation for Christ assuming a body turned not his Deity into it Yet was the worke of the Holy Ghost necessary for he alone is able to sanctify the Naturall element and to invest them with Supernaturall graces The same saith he of Baptisme He hath ioyned the Grace of the Holy Ghost to oile and water and hath made it the washing of Regeneration And Leo yet more fully vsing the selfe-same comparison Christ gave vnto water that which he gaue vnto his mother for the power of the most high and over shaddowing of the holy Ghost which made that Mary brought forth the Saviour hath made water to regenerate the beleeuer Whereby you see that the same power of Gods Spirit by which the blessed Virgin conceived may be emploied in a Sacrament without that change and conversion that you imagine of And that Damascen though hee aknowledged a change of the Bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ yet was not acquainted with your change may appeare by these words Because it is the manner of men to eat bread and to drinke wine with water he hath conioyned his divinity with them and made them his body and blood that by vsuall things and which are according to nature we might be setled in these things that are aboue nature Here you see hee conioyneth the Divinity with bread and wine Now coniunction is only of those things that are and haue a being Bread and Wine therefore still are If they be then are they not abolished And if they be not abolished then is Transubstantiation gone Adde herevnto that Accidents without Substance are not Vsuall things nor according to Nature and therefore not they but true bread and true Wine are the things which in Damascens judgement raise vs vp to those things that are aboue Nature But of him enough N. N. The perishing meat and pleasures of this world please me not I long for Gods Bread the heauenly Bread the bread of life which thing is the flesh of Christ the Sonne of God I. D. That Ignatius wrote an Epistle to the Romans both Eusebius and Hierom testify and that this which now passeth vnder that title may be the right Epistle I deny not Howbeit it is confessed of all that those Epistles which are granted to be his are not come vnto our hands perfect For some passages are cited out of them by some of the ancients as Hierom Theodoret and others which now are not found in them and some are manifestly corrupted and depraved as appeareth So that if Baronius and Bellarmine might challenge them of corruption in those places which make for Saint Pauls marriage and against halfe Communions I hope I haue as much liberty to challenge the place by you alleaged if it made any thing against vs. But it needs not for Ignatius speaketh not there of the Sacrament and therefore it maketh nothing to the purpose Neither doth it follow The bread is flesh Ergo by Transubstantiation N. N. We ought so to communicate with our Lords table that wee doubt nothing of the verity of his Body and Bloud seeing he said Except yee eat the Flesh of the Son of man c. I. D. Leo disputeth in this place against the Eutychians who denied the truth of Christs body and thus he argueth The Eucharist is a symboll of the body of Christ Ergo Christ hath a true body and whosoever will rightly communicate must nothing doubt thereof So reasoneth also Theodoret. For Orthodoxus demanding whether Bread and Wine were Symbols of the true body blood of Christ or no and being answered yea he thus concludes If the divine mysteries be samplars of the true body then the body of the Lord is now also true and not changed into the nature of the Divinity Hence may you see the weaknesse of your Argument Communicants may not doubt that Christ hath a true body or if you will that the true body of Christ is in the Eucharist Ergo bread is transubstantiated into body Ridiculous N. N. As therefore our Baptisme is made by reall washing with water and reall renewing of the Holy Ghost so now in the Supper of Christ it behooueth wee bee really fed with the fruit of the tree of life which is none other thing besides the flesh of Christ. I. D. If we yeelded Euthymius vnto you the matter were not great For he liued vpward of eleven hundred yeares after Christ and your owne Chronologers place him after Gratian and Peter Lombard Yet what saith hee It behooueth that in the supper wee be really fed with the flesh of Christ. Really fed Who doubteth of it But you are to know that Reall doth not necessarily import your Carnall manner For Spirituall is also Reall vnlesse you will say a spirit is no thing N. N. It is a remembrance of Christs death by the presence of the body which died It is the Body and Bloud of Christ covered from our eyes revealed to our Faith feeding presently our body and soule to everlasting life I. D. This Nicephorus also liued eleauen hundred yeares after Christ and therefore is none of the Fathers nor of any great authority Neither doth that which hee saith conclude your purpose For Christs Body may bee and is present Sacramentally and to our faith and presently feed both soules and bodies to everlasting life and yet Bread and Wine remaine still in the Sacrament Else where hee calleth the outward Elements symbolls and signes of the Passion of Christ. If symbolls and signes then not the Body it selfe N. N. They receiue not the fruit of Saluation in the eating of the healthfull sacrifice They eat the healthfull Sacrifice which surely is nothing else but the naturall body of Christ but the frute they receiue not As many men take an healthfull medicine but because their bodies bee evill affected it proueth not healthfull to them I. D. Thus you reason The healthfull Sacrifice is the naturall body of Christ Ergo Bread by Transubstantiation is made the body of Christ. How
retaining the forme of bodily substance by invisible working proueth the Presence of Gods power to be there would you from hence conclude Transubstantiation I knowe you would not No more can you from this And indeed the word species which you translate Forme yea and outward Forme too though the word outward be not in the text doth not signifie shew without substance or Accident without subiect but in the writings of the Fathers vsually it signifieth the truth nature or kinde of a thing So Ambrose I see not speciem the truth of bloud speaking of the Lords Cup but it hath the resemblance which afterward repeating I see the resemblance saith he but I see not veritatē the truth of bloud Again the word of Christ changeth the species of the Elements What is that The Formes or Accidents of the Elements No for they you say remaine What then but the Elements or things thēselues And St Augustin Their meat was the same with ours but the same in signification not in specie that is in kinde So that when your Author saith it keepeth the species of bodily substance it is not necessary to render it by Forme that is Accident or Shew void of substance for you may as well turne it thus it still retaineth the nature or truth of its bodily substance N. N. This graue Father and Martyr doth plainely shew how Mr Downe hath wrested Pope Gelasius For the Popes and the Doctors of the Church did agree alwaies in matters of Faith notwithstanding the great shew M. Downe hath made to the contrary For here S. Cyprian sheweth you that this food of immortality keepeth the outward forme of the Bodily Substance but prouing that there is present a divine power which is confessed by Gelasius And therefore when Gelasius saith the nature of Bread and Wine ceaseth not to be his meaning is the outward forme of the corporall Substance And with this agree many of the Fathers which are also wrested from their true meaning as appeareth manifestly by the manifold plaine places of the Fathers by me here set downe I. D. If to neglect the Premisses and to contradict the Conclusion by the right way of answering arguments then haue you taken the right course and made vp my mouth for ever replying vpon you For whereas M. Downe as you say hath made a great shew to proue that the Fathers disagree among themselues in some points you passing by all the proofes thinke it sufficient to affirme the contrary that the Popes and Doctors of the Church doe agree Wherevpon you farther inferre that M. Downe hath wrested Pope Gelasius For although hee haue proued by the expresse words of Gelasius that the Bread is not transubstantiated because the substance thereof stil remaineth yet is the conclusion false For Popes and Doctors Gelasius and Cyprian must needs agree But questionlesse if Cyprian for for the present wee will suppose him to bee the right Cyprian doe by Forme of bodily substance vnderstand nothing else but shew without Substance it is impossible to make him agree with Gelasius For Gelasius saith The Substance or nature of Bread and wine cease not to be and Substance cannot possibly be shew without substance So to interpret is to expound white by blacke and light by darknesse and would argue extreame either stubbornesse against the truth or brutishnesse But Cyprian by Forme vnderstandeth not as wee haue shewed Accidents miraculously subsisting without Subiect but them together with the Subiect or the verity and truth of the thing And so hee perfectly agrees with Gelasius and the rest of the Fathers and all of them against Transubstantiation For as for those manifold plaine places by you here set downe I hope by this time they appeare not so plaine vnto you but are all of them fully answered and that without wresting any one of them from his true meaning N. N. Therefore though the Fathers doe sometimes call the Sacrament a Figure or Signe Representation or Similitude of Christs Body death passion and bloud they are to bee vnderstood in the like sense as those places of St Paul are wherein Christ is called by him a Figure the substance of the Father and againe an image of God and farther yet appearing in the likenesse of man all which places as they doe not take away from Christ that he was the true substance of his Father or true God or true man indeed though out of every one of those places some heresies haue beene framed by ancient heretiks against his Divinity or Humanity so doe not the foresaid Phrases sometime vsed by the ancient Fathers calling the Sacrament a Signe Figure Representation or Similitude of Christs Body exclude the truth or Reality thereof I. D. That the Sacraments by the Fathers are called Signes Figures Representations Similitudes and the like is so cleare that you cannot deny it and I feare it greeueth you much to read it in them because it maketh so directly against you Wherefore to salue all some pretty shift or colour must be devised those tearms must bee vnderstood as St Paul meaneth when he saith Christ is the Figure of his Father the Image of God and appeared in the likenesse of man For as here they deny not either the Godhead or Man-hood of Christ so neither in the Fathers doe they exclude the Body or Blood of Christ from the Sacrament And doe they not indeed Why then when Cyprian ere while said Retaining the forme of Corporall Substance did you so hastily exclud Substance and fancy to your selfe shewes subsisting of themselues without it But let vs examine this a little farther A Symbole saith Maximus is some sensible thing assumed insteed of that which is intelligible as Bread and Wine for immateriall and divine nourishment and refection And againe These are Symbols not the truth Sacraments saith Augustine are signes of things being one thing and signifying another It were no figure saith Chrysostome if all things incident to the truth were found in it And Saint Augustine againe If Sacraments haue not a resemblance or Similitude of those things whereof they are Sacraments they are not Sacraments These sayings of the Fathers plainely shew that in Sacraments they never conceiued the Figure and the Truth to be one and the same thing but that the signe is one thing and the thing signified cleane another And herevpon in expresse tearms they affirme that they are two not one The Eucharist saith Irenaeus consisteth of two things an earthly and an heauenly And Saint Augustine The sacrifice of the Church is made of two and consisteth of two things the sacrament or sacred signe and the thing of the Sacrament And it is to be noted that they speake generally of all Sacraments so as in the Lords Supper the Figure is no more the same with the Truth then it is in Baptisme And indeed vnlesse you can make Sensible and Insensible Corporall and Spirituall Earthly and
called his bloud What words can bee more plaine And yet againe the Bloud of Christ cannot seeme to be in the cup when wine is wanting to the cup whereby the bloud of Christ is declared Athanasius He distinguished the spirit from the flesh that wee might learne that the things hee spake are not carnall but Spirituall For how many men would his Body haue sufficed that it might be the food of the whole world But therefore hee made mention of his ascension into heaven that hee might draw them from corporall vnderstanding and then might vnderstand his flesh whereof he spake to be meate from aboue the Heavenly and spirituall food which he would giue Here expresly he reiecteth the Corporall eating of Christs Body and acknowledgeth none other but that which is spirituall Eusebius Bishop of Cesaâ—ia Our Saviour and Lord first and then all the Priests that haue followed in all nations celebrating the spirituall divine service according to the ordinances of the Church signifie vnto vs by the Bread and Wine the mysteries of his body and bloud If they signify them they are not the same Macarius They knew not that in the Church Bread and Wine was to be offered as the anti-type of his flesh and bloud and that those who partake of the visible bread spiritually eat the flesh of the Lord. A knot of arguments Bread Wine are offered they are Anti-types of Christs Flesh and Bloud they are receiued of vs and the eating of Christs flesh is spirituall Your Cyril of Hierusalem As the Bread of the Eucharist after the invocation of the Holy Ghost is no more common bread but the body of Christ so this holy ointment is no more bare and common ointment after it is consecrated but the gift of Christ. Not common bread saith hee yet bread and the body as the Ointment is the Grace of Christ. But Grace it is not by conversion into it for it remaineth ointment still but by accession of Grace vnto it Ambrose speaking of the miracles of the Prophets who changed the Nature of things and comparing therewith that which is done in the Sacrament as being nothing lesse at length concludeth It is no lesse to giue new natures vnto things then to change their natures plainely intimating that in the Sacrament Nature is not changed but some thing is added aboue Neture Wherefore else where hee saith in expresse tearmes If there bee so great force in the word of the Lord that they should beginne to bee what they were not how much more operatiue are they that they bee what they were and yet be changed into another thing Lo bread and Wine are changed yet remaine what they were changed therefore not in substance but in vse and signification Saint Basil in his Liturgy for him you make the author thereof He ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of thy Maiesty on high who shall also come to render vnto every one according to his workes But hee hath left these Memorialls or monuments of his healthfull passion which wee set forth according to his commandement Hee is gone and hath left vs Memorialls of himselfe Ergo himselfe is not here For remembrance is of things past not present Gregory Nazianzen Now we shall bee partakers of the Passeouer but as yet in a figure though more cleare then in the old Law for the passeouer of the Law I will not be a fraid to say it was but a more obscure figure of a figure The Passeouer therefore in proper speech is not a figure of the Lords Supper but both of them are Figures of the death of Christ. Gregory Nyssen declaring the change of Water in Baptisme expresseth it by three similitudes of an Altar which being dedicated vnto Gods Worship of a common stone is made a holy table of Bread in the Eucharist which by Consecration is no longer common bread but the Body of Christ and of a Priest who of a vulgar and ordinary man is by the blessing made a teacher Prelate of divine mysteries Bread therefore is no more transubstantiated then Water in Baptisme the stone of the Altar or the Priest Cyril of Alexandria Doest thou say that our Sacrament is the eating of a man and doest thou Vrge our minde vnto the grosse thoughts that beleeued so and doest thou attempt with humane thoughts to handle those things which cannot bee receiued but only with a pure and exquisite faith The Flesh of Christ therefore is not eaten with the mouth for that were to eate a man but only with a pure Faith Epiphanius After he had given thankes he said This of mee is that and wee see that it is not equall nor like neither to the incarnate image nor the invisible Deity nor to the lineaments of his members For this is oblong or of roule fashion senselesse as concerning power If it bee vnequall to Christ and void of Sence then is it not Christ. Saint Chrysostome before consecration wee call it bread but Divine grace through the ministry of the Priest sanctifying it it is freed from the name of bread and counted worthy of the appellation of the Lords body although the nature of bread continue in it Behold the nature of bread remaineth after Consecration and yet it is called the Body of Christ. And againe If therefore it be dangerous to convert vnto private vses these sanctified vessels in which the true body of Christ is not but the mystery of Christs body is contained how much more the vessels of our body which God hath prepared to be an habitation for himselfe ought wee not to giue way vnto the Divell to doe in theÌ„ what he pleaseth Not the Body but the mysteries are contained in the vessels if so what becomes of your Reall presence Hierom The wicked nor eate the flesh of Iesus nor drinke his bloud But they eat and drinke the Eucharist Ergo it is not the Flesh and Bloud of Christ. Againe Wee may eate of that Sacrifice which is wonderfully made in commemoration of Christ but of that which Christ offered vpon the Altar of the Crosse no man may eate The Sacrifice then of the Sacrament is not that of the Crosse and the Body offered on the Crosse is not eaten in the Sacrament Saint Augustine The Apostles ate the Bread the Lord Iudas the bread of the Lord against the Lord. Againe He that disagreeth from Christ neither eateth the Flesh of Christ nor drinketh his Bloud although he daily receiue the Sacrament of so great a thing to iudgement Obserue the Bread of the Lord not that which is the Lord and the Sacrament of Christs Flesh and Bloud not his Flesh and Bloud So againe you shall not eate this body which you see nor drinke that bloud which my crucifiers shall shed I haue commended vnto you a Sacrament which spiritually vnderstood shall quicken you And yet againe
As the heavenly bread which is the Flesh of Christ after its manner is called the Body of Christ being in truth the Sacramentâ— of Christs Body Marke that which is called Body is not so in truth but only in signe and after a manner Pope Leo Christ being lifted vp into heaven set an end to his Bodily Presence being to abide at the right hand of his Father vntill the times appointed by God for the multiplying of the Sonnes of the Church be accomplished If till then he haue set an end to his Bodily presence then till that time he is no more here Fulgentius the holy Catholike Church throughout the whole world ceaseth not to offer vnto Christ the sacrifice of Bread and Wine in Faith and Charity If a Sacrifice of bread and wine then is it bread and wine after consecration Pope Gelasius certainly the Sacraments of the body and bloud of Christ which wee receiue is a divine thing wherefore by them are wee made partakers of the divine nature and yet the substance or nature of Bread and Wine cease not to bee And verily the image and similitude of the body and bloud of Christ are celebrated in these mysteries And They passe by the worke of the holy Ghost into a divine substance continuing notwithstanding in the propriety of their nature Lo the Substance and Nature of bread remaine and the Sacrament is but an image and Similitude of Christs body What can be more plaine Theodoret Himselfe hath honoured the Visible Symbols with the name of his body and bloud not changing their nature but adding grace vnto nature And againe disputing against an Eutychian Heretike who to overthrow the Humanity of Christ had thus argued that as the signes in the Eucharist are after Consecration changed so the body of our Lord after the assumption thereof was changed into the Divine substance hee bringeth in Orthodaxus thus answering Thou art taken in thine owne nets for the mysticall signes after consecration depart not from their proper nature For they remaine in their former substance and figure and forme and are visible and tangible as formerly they were but are vnderstood to bee thee things they are made and beleeued and are honoured as being the things they are beleeued These passages of Gelasius and Theodoret are the very racke gibbet of you Papists wherevnto the best of you know not what to answere but only that by substance Accident is meant An incredible obstinacy and madnesse and needing rather a Physitian to cure it then a disputer to confute it For with as good reason may you say that by white blacke is meant and by Heaven Hell and any thing by whatsoever Lastly Gregory the Great proueth the truth of Christs body against Eutychius by those words of our Saviour Handle mee and see Can you proue the truth of Christs body in the Sacrament by the same argument Verily if that which is neither felt nor seene be not Flesh Bone neither is the Flesh of Christ in the Sacrament for it is neither felt nor sâ—ene And if bread bee transubstantiated only by vertue of those words This is my body then in the Apostles time there was no Transubstantiation at all For as Gregory saith The manner of the Apostles was only by the Lords prayer to consecrate the host of the Oblation And thus haue you a full grand Iury of the ancient Fathers all of them liuing within sixe hundred yeares after Christ and with joynt consent crossing your new vpstart fiction of the Reall Presence To these I might easily adde a long list of those who succeeded in after times as Bede Rabanus Maurus Walafridus Strabo Bertram Waleram Bishop of Medburg Druthmarus and others not one of them in their times taxed for errour in this point But I will only relate what the Doctrine of the Church of England was about seauen hundred yeares after Christ as appeareth by those Homilies that then were publikely read vnto the people The holy Font water that is called the well-spring of life is like in shape to other waters and is subiect to corruption but the holy Ghosts might cometh to the water through the Priests blessing and it can after wash the body and soule from all sin through Ghostly might Behold now wee see two things in this one creature After true nature that water is corruptible water and after ghostly mystery hath hollowing might So also if wee behold that holy housel after bodily vnderstanding then see wee that it is a creature corruptible and mutable if we acknowledge therein ghostly might then vnderstand wee that life is therein and that it giueth immortality to them that eate it with beleefe Much is betwixt the invisible might of the holy housel the visible shape of his proper nature It is naturally corruptible Bread and corruptible Wine is by might of Gods word truly Christs Body and his bloud not so notwithstanding bodily but Ghostly Much is betwixt the body Christ suffered in and the body that is hallowed to housel The body truly that Christ suffered in was borne of the flesh of Mary with bloud and with bone with skinne and with sinews with humane limmes with a reasonable soule liuing and his Ghostly body which we call the housel is gathered of many cornes without bloud and bone without limme without Soule And therefore nothing is to bee vnderstood therein bodily but all is Ghostly to be vnderstood Thus the Homily and thus much thereof haue I thought good here at large to set downe to the end you may know that our Ancestors in this Iland notwithstanding your loud craks to the contrary haue not alwaies at leastwise in this point beene Papists Besides these testimonies of antiquity wee haue their customes also against you St Hierom reporteth that in the Primitiue times after the holy Communion was ended they were wont to feast together in the Church and to spend the residue of the Eucharist that remained Hesychius saith that it was the custome not to reserue till the morrow as your manner now adaies is but to burne what fragments soeuer remained of the consecrated Elements Evagrius and Nicephorus both doe testifie that the ancient custome of the Church of Constantinople was to send for little children from the schoole such as otherwise were barred from the Communion to giue the remainders of the Sacrament to them Had the Church in those daies verily beleeued that it had been the true and Real body of Christ doe you thinke they would so haue profaned it by feasting vpon it and bestowing it on children Or that they would with such impietie and sacrilege haue burned and consumed it in the fire It is altogether incredible As incredible therefore that they held it to be the Lords Body But of Antiquity enough Fiftly and lastly it implieth in it innumerable contradictions which according to the rule of Logick cannot
the present Roman Church is still in some sort a part of the Visible Church of God but no otherwise then other Societies of Hereticks are in that it retaineth the profession of some parts of Heauenly truth and ministreth the true Sacrament of Baptisme to the salvation of the soules of many thousand infants that dye after they are baptized before shee haue poysoned them with her errours Thus he Wherevnto I adde that of St Hilary God in the Churches of the Arrians called many by the word and Sacraments to the knowledge of the truth whose eares were more pure then were the mouthes of their teachers The issue of all is this You are a Church but neither the Catholike Church nor a sound member thereof What then An Hereticaâ— and impure Church And if Salvation may be had therein it is only by those truths you haue common with vs and not the Papacie wherein notwithstanding there can bee no more security had thereof then of life in a pesthouse of which though there may be a possibility yet the danger is such that a thousand to one if a man escape the infection And what folly is it to leaue that Church wherein there is security and to cleaâ—e vnto that wherein there is no hope but only of a poore possibility Willet remaines for whom what better advocate then himselfe That many Kings and Queenes of this land are Saints in Heaven is not by any protestant denyed For they might be carried away with some errours of the time then not revealed yet holding the foundation through Gods mercy they might be saved It is a divers case when a man sinneth of infirmity or simplicity and when hee offendeth willingly and of obstinacy To stumble in the darke craueth pitty to grope at noone-daies is great folly I say therefore in this case as our Saviour to the Pharisees If yee were blind yee should not haue sin but now ye say we see therefore your sinne remaineth And as St Paul the time of ignorance God regarded not God therefore might shew mercy to them that erred of Simplicity which is no warrant for them that should now be seduced willingly And such are you Recusants to whom wee can promise nothing but fearfull things though of our fore-fathers wee hope all good That which your Author farther addes of himselfe let the same Willet answer Though divers saith hee of those ancient Kings became Monks yet neither was the Monasticall life so farre out of square as now it is they made it not a cloke of idlenesse and filthy liuing a nursery of idolatry and grosse supertitions but they desired that life as fittest for contemplation and free from the encumbrances of the world Neither doth this one opinion of the excellency of Monasticall life shew them to be resolute Papists for it followeth not because they were Monks that consequently they held Transubstantiation worship of images and the more grosse points of the Romish Catechisme Will you haue any more In few words thus Anciently Monks some of them were lay-men some were married they bound themselues with no vowes they made no distinction of meats they laboured with their hands and liued not in Citties but remote places By all which you may see Polydor Virgill had reason to say It is incredible how much nowadaies they are degenerated N. N. Your fourth and last reason the quarrells and bitter speeches of Luther Melancthon Zuniglius Beza Carolus Molniaeus Amsdorfius Hosiander Protestants of Zurich of England c. I. D. This reason differeth not in substance but only in quotations from the second Which quotations whether they be true or false neither will I spend time to search neither is it any whit materiall And therefore neither will I vouchsafe it any farther answer then that which already I haue given to the second The best Churches haue seldome beene without their quarrels and vsually are menaged with two much passion The malice of Satan is the cause of the one and humane infirmity of the other Which infirmity seeing wee cannot altogether put off while we liue here in the flesh Christian charity would rather pitie it then vpbraid it Neverthelesse that which is amisse may not be defended neither meane I to goe about it Only I perswade my selfe that if wee vnderstood one the other better our quarrells would never be so vehement For what was it that set Luther and Zuinglius so farre asunder but misprision And what caused such hard censures to passe vpon Hosiander but his owne inconvenient speeches and other mens mistakings These are the two principall quarrells here mentioned by you giue me leaue therefore to shew so much in them but briefly The quarrell betweene Luther and Zuinglius was about Christs presence in the Sacrament which as you hold to be by way of Transubstantiation so did Luther by way of Consubstantiation Which how it could be vnlesse the body of Christ were every where Zuinglius others could not conceiue and being pressed therewith he and his followers not being able to avoid it maintained that also But how by reason of the Hypostaticall vnion and coniunction thereof with the word For the Word being every where and the Humane Nature being no where feuered from it how can it be say they but every where And hence the distraction and therevpon all those passionate speeches Now saith Zanchy if they meane that the body of Christ is present according to his personall being they say true contradict not those who speake of his Naturall being or being of Essence D. Field thus expresseth it The humane Nature of Christ hath two kinds of being the one naturall the other personall the first limited finite the second infinite incoÌ„prehensible For seeing the nature of man is a created nature and essence it cannot be but finite and seeing it hath no Personall subsistence of it owne but that of the Sonne of God communicated to it which is infinite and without limitation it cannot be denied to haue an infinite Subsistence to subsist in an incomprehensible and illimited sort and consequently every where Thus then the body of Christ according to his Naturall being is contained in one place but according to his Personall being may rightly be said to be every where So Field whereby you may easily perceiue that the warres betwixt hony-bees are not such but the casting vp of a little dust will soone stint them For if this distinction had well beene conceiued this Vbiquitary strife had quickly beene ended If any notwithstanding haue beene so grosse as to maintaine an Vbiquity according to Essence or Naturall being which I can hardly beleeue I must professe I know no excuse for them The second quarrell is against Hosiander who seemeth to define Iustification by a transfusion of the Essentiall righteousnesse of Christ into vs and a confusion as it were and mixture of it together with vs. And against this divers haue written very
vehemently as justly they might if this were his Tenet But there are who defend him affirming that it was but out of a mistake For acknowledging in Christ a threefold Righteousnesse Actiue passiue Essentiall of the Word for the Righteousnesse of God is not Accidentall but his very Essence hee holdeth that we are justified not only by the imputation of the Actiue and Tassiue Righteousnesse of Christ vnto vs but also by the admission of vs vnto the participation of the Divine nature as St Peter speaketh that is of his Essentiall Righteousnesse to the end that receiuing of his fulnesse wee might be replenished with all divine qualities and graces The reason why he so much vrged this doctrine was because he had obserued that many out of a perswasion they had to be justified and saved by the merits and obedience of Christ imputed to them cared not to haue any righteousnesse in themselues and vtterly neglected the practise of holy duties Wherefore hee taught that the Actiue and Passiue Righteousnesse of Christ imputed availed not either to the remission of sinnes or the purchasing of Gods favour vnlesse they were also made partakers of the divine nature for the avoiding of sinne and the leading of a holy and vertuous life This as it seemes was all Hosiander held If he held farther then this and his adversaries vnderstood him aright I am no Patron for him The last quarrell is touching our English translations of the Bible Wherein that divers things were amisse it was never denyed of vs. For being an humane act and humanity being subiect vnto errour it could not bee avoided but that some faults what through ignorance what through negligence what through other infirmities might passe vnheeded and vnobserved If the former translations had beene faultlesse the Church of England would never haue thought of setting forth a new as now it hath done Which it did not as if those aberrations were so dangerous and prejudiciall vnto the substance of Faith but out of a holy desire that our English streames as neere as may be might runne with the same purity that is found in the Hebrew Greeke fountaines So that her meaning was not as our late learned Translators say of a bad Translation to make a good for this had beene in a manner to acknowledge that our people hitherto had beene fed rather vpon husks and akornes then the flower of wheat but to make a good one better or out of many good ones to make one principall good one not justly to be excepted against But tell me in good sooth you that so busily object vnto vs our quarrels in this point is your Vulgar translation even that which your Trent Councell hath made authenticall and is every where read in your Churches free from errour Or are there no bickerings and contentions among you concerning it If it be faultlesse what needed other translations as that of Pagnine Vatablus and Arias Montanus How cometh it to passe that Valla Stapulensis Erasmus Vives Budaeus others finde so great fault with it wishing it were amended or another made in roome of it Nay that Isidorus Clarius a Spanish Monke should finde to the number of eight thousand faults and euery one as hee professeth changing the meaning of the text Pope Sixtus the fift did not thinke all was well when he went about to correct the faults thereof with his owne hand And who would haue thought but all had beene well when he set it forth so corrected charging that none should afterwards be published with any change addition or detraction of the least particle And yet some two or three yeares after this Pope Clement the eight finding all not perfectly amended alters addes detracts yea contradicts his predecessors edition For example where Sixtus saith there was not a citty which did not yeeld Clement saith which did yeeld Againe where Sixtus hath They built vpward to the horse-gate Clement hath from the horse-gate And where Sixtus reads iustice Clement reads Vniustice This for a tast whereof whosoever will haue his fill let him see Doctor Iames who hath written at large of this argument Wherevnto I might adde the barbarismes and solecismes of that translation together with those knowne and manifest faults which yet they suffer to passe in every print as Evertit for Everrit she overturned â—he house for she swept the house consum masset had perfected for consumpsisset had wasted or consumed Saeculi of this world for Sacculi of the bagge praescientiam foreknowledge for praesentiam presence sixe hundred like or worse errors But I forbeare for brevities sake only I cannot but acquaint you with the reasons hereof for they are feriall and pleasant Faults saith the Iesuit Mariana are still left in the vulgar edition first because there is no danger in them to faith and good manners Secondly least the novelty of an exact amendment should offend the eares of them that were enured vnto them Lastly that they might reverence the old edition and tread in the steps of their Ancestors who out of a holy kind of piety tolerated those errors Heare also what the same Mariana saith touching your bickerings about this matter Some Catholikes and those also in Spaine taxe the vulgar edition as defiled with many foule faults appealing every foot vnto the fountaines whence those rivers haue issued vnto vs contending that as often as they differ from them they are to be corrected by comparing them with the Greeke and Hebrew bookes men puffed vp with the skill of languages making a mocke of Ecclesiasticall simplicity whose boldnesse and temerity in pronouncing deserueth to be curbed On the contrary side others more in number through the hatred of their adversaries thinke it great sinne once to touch the vulgar edition and count them in the number of impious ones who adventure to correct the least word or to expound any place otherwise then the vulgar interpretatioÌ„ will beare whom certainly wee are not to follow men of little spirit filled with darknesse conceiuing too narrowly of the Maiesty of our religion who while they defend the block-houses as it were of opinions as articles of faith seem to me to betray the chiefest tower it selfe most shamfully to violaâ—e brotherly charity Therefore avoiding these extreames and by-waies which lead vnto a downe-fall wee haue resolved to hold the midle way c. Thus you see that there are as violent contentions among your selues about translation as there is amongst vs and that wee may justly say vnto you Physitian heale thy selfe before you haue to doe with the diseases of others N. N. Good Mr Downe calling to mind that you told me craving some certaine rule to know the true sense of Scripture that the true sense of Scripture is easy to bee vnderstood as much as appertaineth to Salvation I demand then if the doctrine of Baptisme be necessary If so then is some part hard