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A19460 A iust and temperate defence of the fiue books of ecclesiastical policie: written by M. Richard Hooker against an vncharitable letter of certain English Protestants (as they tearme themselues) crauing resolution, in some matters of doctrine, which seeme to ouerthrow the foundation of religion, and the Church amongst vs. Written by William Covel Doctor in Diuinitie, and published by authority. The contents whereof are in the page following. Covell, William, d. 1614? 1603 (1603) STC 5881; ESTC S120909 118,392 162

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far hazarded himselfe for the iust defence of religion and Church gouernement If hee had broched any new fancies or proudly opposed the wise established discipline there had bin some reason to haue suspected that by intising speech he had meant to deceiue the Church But seeing hee hath laboured in a waighty cause with reasons against those whom the Magistrats seuerity could not easily suppresse seeing he hath vndertaken it by appointment and performed it with allowance and seeing he hath made no other shew of supporting popery but only by resisting Puritans the slaunder must needs be too light and the accusation without color to say that he hath beaten against the heart of al true Christian doctrine professed by her Maiestie the whole state of this Realme as though which you desire the world might beleeue the hart of Christian religion were only amongst such whom the affectation of singularity hath tearmed by the name of Puritans And that the rest who are not of that temper are dangerous and close hereticks Thus Appollinarius the yonger who wrote so much in defence of the Christian faith that Saint Basil said of him that with his volumes he had filled the whole world and wrote against rauing and frantick Porphury thirty bookes more excellent then any other of his workes was afterward accused that he held the error of the Millenaries that into the trinity he had brought Great greater and greatest of all that he thought not right of the incarnation of Christ but seeing Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria who was an enemy vnto him diuers other Authors besides report that he was vehement to confute the Arrians Eunomians Origenists and many other hereticks in many volumes it may be thought whatsoeuer his other errors were the malice of his aduersaries had forged this to diminish the authority of those bookes which hee had written against them So that this practise is no new thing to diminish the soundnes of their religion whose iudgements and reasons we are vnable to withstand But I doubt not by that which followeth but it shall easily bee made to appeare that he is of the same iudgement with the Church of England that he hath not committed any ouersight nor that he goeth not about to contradict the reuerend fathers of our Church which things in al likeliehood are matters by al you much desired and therefore I hope you will accept as you desire this charitable direct plaine and sincere answere which no doubt of it from himselfe had bin far more learned and more speedy if he could either haue resolued to haue don it or after he had resolued could haue liued to haue seene it finished But first of all he was loth to entermeddle with so weake aduersaries thinking it vnfit as himselfe said that a man that hath a long iourney should turne backe to beate euerie barking curre and hauing taken it in hand his vrgent and greater affaires together with the want of strength weakened with much labour would not giue him time to see it finished Yet his mind was stronger then his yeares and knew not well how to yeeld to infirmitie Wherein if hee had somewhat fauoured himselfe he might peraduenture haue liued to haue answered you to the benefite of the Church and the comfort of a great number But death hath done what hee could it hath killed his bodie and it is laid vp in the heart of the earth it hath taken from vs and from the Church of God a sweete friend a wise counsellour and a strong Champion so that I may say as it was sometimes said of Demosthenes Demosthenes is meete for Athens Demades ouergreat Others fit enough to liue in the midst of errour vanitie vnthankfulnesse and deceit but hee too good For he was as the morning starre in the middest of a cloud and as the Moone when it is full and as the Sunne shining vpon the Temple of the most High and as the rainebowe that is bright in the faire cloudes when he put on the garment of honour and was clothed with all beautie hee went vp to the holy Altar and made the garment of holinesse honourable But this ought to content vs that the soules of the righteous are in the hand of God and no torment shall touch them In the sight of the vnwise they appeared to die and their end was thought grieuous and their departing from vs destruction but they are in peace ARTICLE I. Of the Deity of the Sonne of God AL points in Diuinitie are not of the like easinesse of apprehension For in some the dimme light of nature not wholy darkened can giue a reason of that wee doe as well as faith out of precept doth warrant what wee doe beleeue And therefore the Gentiles both before and after the Lawe were to themselues a kind of Lawe euen by the light of nature not to doe all those thinges that they did desire but they had a thing in their hearts equiualent to the law in respect of forbidding because they could accuse and excuse themselues hauing the witnesse of their conscience present with them Thus the effect of all the commandements was in the Iewes before the lawe and in the Gentiles who had not the law giuen vnto them Thus the first commuandement was in Terah Abrahams father which was the reason of his departure from Vr of the Chaldees to goe into the land of Canaan And afterwards in Iacob when hee departed out of Labans house aboue foure hundred yeares before the Lawe was giuen so the second commandement in Rachel the third in Abraham to his seruant the fourth had a precept in the creation the fift for honouring his parents euen in Esau the sixt in Cain who knew the greatnesse of that euill which hee had committed that slew his brother feare making him out of a guiltie conscience to denie that which loue before had not power enough to teach him to forbeare The seuenth in the hatred of the sinne of Sichem which Iacob though he allowed not to be rightly punished yet he did not approue as to be well done The eight euen in Egypt which made Ioseph to say What act is that you haue done when the cup of Pharaoh was found in the sacke of Beniamin The ninth when Iudah feared the witnesse of Thamar The last in Abimelech for taking the wife of Abraham where the vision did not so much tell him it was a sinne which hee knew by nature as that she was another mans wife Now in these things which were obserued before the morall Law some were of more apparant dislike euen in the opinion of the heathen who had no other direction but the light of nature as the third fift sixt seuenth eight and ninth commandements For the Egyptians had a lawe Sweare not least thou die And this was punished in the twelue tables of the Romans For the fift Homer saith of
say that the wicked who haue not the two last being captiues to sin in this life and to misery in the life to come yet for all this want not the freedome of will Now this freedome of nature as Aristotle noteth is two fold that which is opposite to a simple coaction and that to which not only a coaction but a necessity is opposite The first is of those thinges which cānot by any meanes but be willed of vs yet freely and voluntarily are willed as to be happy which none can chuse but will though most doe faile in the meanes the second when we can either will or not will as to walke speake sit or such like Now because nothing is the proper or the chiefe obiect of the will but that which either is or seemes to bee good as all learned men affirme therefore in our wils there is this vsuall error that our vnderstandings are deceiued by the inferior appetite of the flesh which maketh that seeme good in the particular proposition which it pronounceth to bee euill in the generall And therefore beeing by nature to will good willeth that which is directly opposite because reason growing idle in the slouth of an inferior appetite wanteth diligence to search it out Fewe men but think drunkennes in generall to bee euil which notwithstanding themselues do imbrace because in particular they thinke it good This being the difference in all sinne that then it seemeth to be none when it is this sin Thus the conclusion by the rules of Logicke being from the particular wherein reason corrupted hath failed the will hath reason enough to follow that and therfore saith S. Austin man vsing amisse the freedome of this wil hath both lost it and himselfe not in respect of the naturall libertie from coaction but in respect of the libertie which is from sinne as Aquinas answereth Saint Ambrose or whosoeuer was the Authour of that booke of the calling of the Gentiles saith that in man there is a threefold will sensitiue animal spiritual the two first he holdeth to bee 〈◊〉 the last to be the worke of the holy Ghost For as one 〈◊〉 there is in man an vnderstanding of earthly things and of heauenly earthly things as of policie gouerning of families arts liberall and mechanicall and such like which pertaine not directly to God to his kingdome to the righteousnesse of it to eternall happinesse heauenly as the knowledge of the diuine will and framing our liues according to it Of the first we say that because man is a sociable creature naturally inclineth to all that concerne the preseruation of that there are left in him certain vniuersall impressions wherein in all ages wise men haue conspired for the making of good lawes Which in my opinion is not much lesse then that which you reprehend being affirmed by M. Hooker But the vnderstāding of heauenly things we confesse by the corruption of original sin wholy to be taken from vs. For natural things are corrupted supernaturall taken away For we think not as some of the ancient Fathers did especially the Greekes who were loth to dissent too much from the Philosophers that man was corrupted only in his sensuall part and that hee hath reason found and his will also for the most part For saith Saint Austin Adam had that he might if he would but not to will that he could And therefore in supernaturall things which are the workes of pietie pleasing and acceptable to God of which is vnderstood all that you alleage out of the tenth Article of the Church of England we say the will of man hath not obtained grace by freedom but freedome by grace yet for all this neither doth the will want in his owne nature a potentiall freedome in all things nor an actuall powerfull freedome in some things for the blow that sinne gaue made not an equall disabilitie to all actions seeing all actions are not in equal distance from mans nature For the thoughts and the actions of man wee know are of three kindes naturall morall supernaturall nowe there are manie truths theoricall and mechanicall contained in naturall and humane arts which by man may bee comprehended onely by the light of nature for though some diuines are of opinion that no morall truth can be knowne of the vnderstanding of man in the state of nature corrupt without the special help of God others contrary as Albertus Bonauenture Scotus Aqumas and diuers others yet all agree in this that man can know a morall truth in generall without any speciall grace but that good that directly belongeth to eternall life he cannot Now what I pray you doth our Church say lesse when saith that without the grace of God which is by Christ preuen●ing vs that we will and working together while we will we are nothing at all able to doe the workes of pietie which are pleasing acceptable to God Or what in your opiniō doth M. Hooker say more when he saith that there is in the will of man naturally that freedome wherby it is apt not able to take or refuse any particular obiect whatsoeuer being presented to it or when hee saith there is not that good which cōcerneth vs but it hath enough for euidēce in it selfe if Reason were diligent to search it out the fault of mans errour in election arising out of the slouth of reason not out of the nature of the good And this slouth being nothing els but that heauie burthen wherwith we are loden by our first corruption And therefore in mine opinion the accusation is directly false whereby you would make him to say contrary to his words that reason by diligence is able to find out anie good concerning vs. For hee that saith that there is vertue enough in the poole to heale if a man had power enough to put himselfe in doth not affirme that man hath strength enough to doe it but that the poole had vertue if hee were able to do it But doubtlesse we are dead in our sinnes and trespasses we are not sufficient of our selues to thinke anie thing and yet as Seneca saith it is the gift of God that we liue for that he hath done without vs but it is an act of our owne not simply but of our selues helped that we liue well For many other things may vnwillingly be done by vs but the act of beleeuing as it must be done in vs so it must be done willingly and with vs. And therefore saith Saint Austin there are three things necessarie that supernaturall mysteries may bee perceiued by vs first a diuine reuelation from the Scriptures a perswasion of that truth by miracles or some other meanes and last of all the rule of the will For saith he a man may enter into the Church vnwillingly he may receiue the sacrament vnwillingly but no man can beleeue but willingly Now there is no difference betwixt the will and
hath wil is righteousnes only mans transgression sin For euen to doe that which nature telleth vs we ought howsoeuer we know it must needs be acceptable in Gods sight How this vttered out of great iudgment to another purpose namely that good things are done and allowed whereof we haue other direction then Scripture is by you wrested against the articles of our Church either concerning the perfection of works which are with faith or the goodnes of works without faith to say plainly I cannot yet vnderstand Therfore as the dealing is vnequall to make him say what you list so the aduātage is too great to make him an aduersary to a cause of your own making when the whole scope of his speech is to another purpose For there is no indifferēt reader but had he considered what M. Hooker speaketh to what end in those places by you alleaged he must of necessity haue wondered at your sharpe and acute iudgements that would without blushing aduenture to alleage him to that end But an opiniō doubtlesse that these things wold neuer be examined gaue that cōfidence to your first motion which consideration would haue hindered if you had but once dreamed to haue bin called in question Wee should not therfore need in this much to defend him but briefly resolue you what our Church holdeth and fitly in this point The articles of our Church which ye thinke are oppugned are two first that the fruits of faith cannot abide the seuerity of Gods iustice that man out of faith doth good workes which though they make vs not iust yet are both acceptable and rewardable I doubt not but it is a truth wherof if yee had not bin perswaded this letter of yours profitable as you think to the Church and pleasing to God as all the rest of your writings in that kinde had lien buried vnborne in those rotten sepulchers from whēce into the world they did first come whilest we are by that intermediat iustice of Christ made righteous and haue obtained a free remission of our sins that we are tearmed iust there is with this mercy ioyned the Holy-ghost which dwelling in vs maketh vs fruitfull to good workes this reuiuing all parts from our naturall corruption reformeth vs to a pure and willing obedience vnto that reuealed will which is the rule of all that we ought to doe yet seeing we are clothed with corruption there are euen in our best actions those remainders of imperfection which serue to teach vs thankefulnes and humility both arising from the consideration of our own weakenes And I doubt not but euen in this poynt many of the Church of Rome whose humiliation in their penitēcy of heart seemeth far to exceed ours are of this opinion that euen the best action performed in their whole life as there are yet some few monumēts spared from the couetous hand if all points of it were considered with a streight view sifting euen the least circumstances which closely insinuate thēselues out of our corruptiōs into our actions they would I say confesse that there is something which tasteth of the flesh which corruption if either for want of a strict consideration we see not or through a selfeloue could pardon yet it is not able in the feeblenes of his owne nature to abide the exact triall seuerity of Gods iudgement That law the least transgression wherof is sin is sayd to be fulfilled three waies first in Christ and so all the faithfull are said to fulfill the lawe hauing his obedience imputed to them Secondly it is fulfilled by a diuine acceptatiō for God accepteth our obediēce begun as if it were perfect seeing what imperfections are in it are not imputed to vs. For it is al one not to be not to be imputed blessednes being the reward of both And we know that there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Iesus Thirdly it is fulfilled by vs an error I thinke scarce any do hold sauing only the Anabaptists For that eternall wisdome which hath ledde man by the law vnto Christ hath set those bounds which all men haue broken the first commandement and the last to include all as guilty of the breach of the whole law For our knowledge being but in part it is not possible saith Saint Austen that our loue can be perfect And therfore we conclude the first point according to the article of our Church from which there is no sillable in Master Hooker that is different that our workes though they be good and so esteemed and rewarded yet they cannot abide the iustice of the lawe and the seuerity of Gods iudgement The second point is whether the workes which are done before the grace of Christ are not only not acceptable to God but also haue the nature of sinne In this we must vse some care for whilest men iustly disagreeing haue equally laboured to be differēt one from another both in the end haue bin equally distant frō the truth That there are excellent graces in the heathen no man doubteth and he must needs be far from reason and sense who maketh no difference betwixt the iustice moderation and equity of Titus and Traian and the fury violence and tyranny of Caligula Nero and Domitian betwixt the vncleane lusts of Tiberius and the continency in this respect of Vespasian in one word betwixt the obseruation and the breach of lawes For there is that difference betwixt iust and vniust that euen the frame of nature where sense wanteth acknowledge a well being by the obseruation of what it ought and therfore much more in those good works which because they missed of the right scope wee dare not call by the name of true perfect Christians vertues yet for their very action we are content so long as they swarue not from the righteousnesse of the lawe of nature to giue them leaue to be called by a better name then only sinnes and yet for all this no man taketh them to be much better in the true seuerity of a hard construction for those that are not regenerate although they sin in their best obseruation of the morall lawe yet it is much better to performe those offices then to performe them not seeing a part of that indeuour though it be not meere righteousnesse yet it is lesse sinne We must therefore remember that a worke is considerable either in respect of the substance or in regard of the manner of doing In respect of the worke all the actions of infidels are not sin seeing they performe those things which are commanded by the law of nature of nations of God nay they are so far in this respect from beeing sins that as Saint Austin saith God doth plenteously reward them But concerning the manner of working all their actions are sin as proceeding from a corrupt fountaine a hart that wanteth true faith and directed to an ende of lesse value then he is whose glory ought to be
proceeding of the holy Ghost as the Schoolemen obserue is threefold one vnspeakeable and eternal whereby the holy Ghost eternally and without time proceedeth from the Father and the Sonne the other temporall when he is sent from the Father and the Son to sanctifie the elect Of this latter proceeding saith Beza is that place vnderstood which you peremptorily alleage for to proue the first So then we say for our answer to this cauill that as yet we see not expresse literall mention of these points but that they are truly and soundly collected by the Church we neither doe can or dare deny secondly that the deniall of expresse literall mention ought not to make any scruple in the minds of weake Christians concerning these articles the substance wherof are plaine scripture though for the words we finde not as yet any expresse literall mention nor last of all as you seeme to feare it can be no vnderpropping to the traditions of the Church of Rome which if they can proue with the like necessary collection out of the holy scripture we are readie to imbrace them with all our hearts In the meane time we account it a wrong to haue an article of our faith for want of expresse literall mention out of scripture to be compared to traditions of that kinde for which in scripture there is no warrant at all To conclude then this article we say that in the Trinitie there is that Identity of essence that it admitteth equality but not plurality the Father is one the Sonne another the Holy-Ghost another but not another thing For that thing that they all are is this one thing that they are one God So that Saint Austin saith I and my Father are one heere both the words of the sentence one are in that he saith one he freeth thee from Arrius and in that he saith are hee freeth thee from Sabellius For are hee would not say of one and one he would not say of diuers for euery person hath his owne substance which no other besides hath although there be others besides which are of the same substance For the persons of the Godhead by reason of the vnity of their substance doe as necessarily remaine one within another as they are of necessitie to be distinguished one frō another because two are the issue of one and one the ofspring of the other two only of three one not growing out of any other For sith they all are but one God in number one indiuisible essence or substance their distinction cannot possiblie admit separation the Father therefore is in the Sonne and the Son in him they both in the Spirit and the Spirit in both them He that can saith Austine conceiue let him comprehend it but hee that cannot let him beleeue and pray that that which hee beleeueth he may truly vnderstand ARTICLE III. Whether the holy Scriptures containe all things necessarie to saluation TWo things are requisite to mans better life a faith to beleeue what he ought a knowledge to comprehend what hee must beleeue For saith our Sauiour in this is eternal life to know thee to be the only verie God and whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ. Because therefore the want of this knowledge is the cause of all iniquitie amongst men as contrariwise the verie ground of all our happinesse and the seed of whatsoeuer perfect vertue groweth from vs is a right opinion touching things diuine this kind of knowledge wee may iustly set downe for the first and chiefest thing which God imparteth to his people and our dutie of receiuing this at his mercifull hands for the first of those religious offices wherewith wee publikely honour him on earth Now our Church holdeth and wee most willingly confesse that the scripture is the true ground of all that holily we beleeue But yet for all that not the onely meanes concerning God of all that profitably wee know For that new impression made into our nature euē by the hand of the Almightie after the first sinne and the wise beholding of his excellent workmanship in the making of all his creatures are two volumes wherein wee may read though not directly the mercy of that power that hath saued vs yet the greatnes and the might of that hand that hath first made vs which though it be not all that we must beleeue yet it is not the least part of that which we ought to know For this as it maketh vs without excuse so it serueth euen to leade vs to a better knowledge and vntill it be perfect to vtter out of the light of nature those voices which may argue vs though not to be sonnes for by this we cannot crie Abba Father yet to be reasonable creatures of that power which we do adore this made Euripides in Troas and manie of the heathen to vtter those prayers which had they beene offered vp in Christ had not bin vnbeseeming a good Christian so that though the Scriptures containe all things which are necessarie to saluation and that our chiefest direction is from them yet we are not affraid to confesse that there is besides a light of nature not altogether vnprofitable the insufficiencie whereof is by the light of Scripture fully and perfectly supplied and that both these together as Master Hooker affirmeth which you mislike doe serue in such full sort that they both iointly not seuerally either of them be so compleat that vnto euerlasting felicity we need not the knowledge of any thing more then of these two I cannot but maruaile that men indued with reason should finde anie thing in this assertion which in the hardest construction might be wrested as detracting frō the sufficiency of the holy scripture And only for this cause by reason that we reade darkly by the light of nature those first elements out of a naturall knowledge which by the accesse of a better teacher serue afterward for the full perfecting of that knowledge which is requisite to mans saluation For as the schoolemen say man standeth in need of a threefold lawe to a morall vprightnes setting aside that righteousnes requisit for his heauenly country First an eternall law which Saint Austin calleth the cheifest reason secondly naturall last of all humane vnto which if we adde that man ouer and besides these is in an ordination to a supernaturall ende then it is manifest that to make him a heauenly Citizen there is requisite a fourth lawe which man must learne to obei● out of the holy scripture But as in the greatest and fairest buildings euen those stones that lye lowest are of an vse not be contemned though peraduenture not comparable to those last exquisite perfections by which the worke is finished so euen the light of nature for the acting of morall vertues hath his vse though not absolutely compleat to make vs Christians And therefore in the nature of mans will the very Philosophers did seldome erre but
in the strength of it often So that some ascribed more then was fit others lesse then they ought imputing al to a stoical and fatall necessitie Now that we may truly vnderstand the ignorance or mistaking wherof hath bin the ground of your exception in this third article what good things man of himselfe may do or know without the grace of God we are taught first that all actions are of three sorts naturall which are common to man with the brute beasts as to eate sleepe and such like which appertaine to his naturall life Secondly ciuill which we call politicall or morall humane actions as to buie sel to learne anie art and to conclude any other action which concerneth the politick or priuate society of man Thirdly those which belong to the kingdome of God to a perfect happy and true Christian life as to repent vs of our sinnes to beleeue in God to call vppon him to obeie his voice to liue after his precepts and such like now the question is what grace and power is requisite to man to performe any or all these Where we must obserue that some men how properlie I know not make the grace of God to be threefold First that generall motion and action diuine of which Saint Paule saith in him we liue we moue and haue our beeing This the Schoolemen call a generall ouerflowing and of the late writers especially of Luther it is called the action of the omnipotency and this grace is common to all that are within that compas to be called creatures Secondly there is a grace of God which is a special fauor of God by the which he bestoweth and deuideth his gifts and morall vertues both to the faithfull and vnfaithfull as pleaseth him To the faithfull that hauing the helpe afterward of a better light they may serue to be meanes of their saluation to the vnfaithfull for speciall vses and manifold in the society of man and to make themselues in the end without excuse Such were those gifts in the Romans and others of the heathen of iustice fortitude temperance prudence which they thought were from nature but we acknowledge to be from the speciall fauour of God for as being so truth is but one and by whom soeuer it is done or spoken it proceedeth from the Holy-ghost and therefore I both maruaile at those who make an opposition betwixt this light of nature and the scripture being both from one fountaine though running in diuers streames and that some men peeuishly refuse the excellentest truthes of heathen learning seeing euen in them these haue proceeded from the Holy-ghost Thirdly there is a grace of regeneration or the grace of Christ without which there can bee nothing performed of man truly good for saith our Sauiour Without me you can doe nothing and Saint Paule Not I but the grace of God which is with me so that this must be the perfection of the other two which is powerfull to mans saluation not rasing out that which before was but finishing that which before was imperfect The two first induing man with a passiue power as the schoolemen call it which though actually it can doe nothing yet it is fit to performe that which it hath no repugnancy in his owne nature to resist as wood can be made fire which water cannot The last only affoording that actual power which maketh him capable of the supernaturall worke so that it is true in diuinity that the possibility to haue faith is from nature but to haue it it is of grace as Saint Austin and Prosper hold neither of them vnderstanding an actuall hauing of faith without the grace of regeneration This made the Fathers in their sermons to the people to stirre them vp to prayer and good workes to tell them often that wee can loue God and doe good workes whereunto they only ment that we had a passiue power which stocks and brute beasts haue not Now for the actiue power wee hold that man hath not this in naturall things without the generall helpe of God and in morall actions or the learning of artes not with that generall helpe onely which hath bin some mens error but from a more speciall and peculiar grace the weakenes of those common notions of good and euill iust and vniust left in our nature by a newe impression after sin is for the most part such that they can hardly discerne any thing no not in arts vnlesse they be inlightned from aboue And therfore that Numa amongst the Romans Solon amongst the Athenians Lycurgus amongst the Lacedemonians and that many other amongst the Gentiles were wise and in that kinde vertuous was not so much from nature as from a speciall grace whose morall workes saith Saint Austin were good in their office and action but not in their end This argument he very learnedly handleth against Iulian the Pelagian where he concludeth two thinges that there can be no true vertues or truly chast workes in infidels and that those works whatsoeuer they are are not from nature but from a speciall grace the hauing whereof though it serue not of it selfe to saluation yet we are not afraid to affirme that the want of these doe ordinarily exclude from saluation Iustice fortitude temperance prudence being the effects of the same grace but lesse powerfully working faith hope and charity only taught by a supernaturall truth So that though the light of nature teach a truth necessary to saluation without the scripture yet it teacheth no knowledge which is not conteined in holy scripture the difference only being in this that the light of nature doth not teach all that the scripture doth but that the scripture teacheth all more perfectly which is taught by the light of nature heerein only neither excluded as vnnecessarie the one being subordinate to the other and both meanes of the same thing To conclude then this point wee hold being warranted by holy truth that the scriptures are the perfect measure and rule of faith and that without Christ we cannot be compleat and yet for all this that nature so inlightened teacheth those morall vertues without which is no ordinary saluation but we say not that matters and cases of saluation bee determined by any other lawe then warranted by holy scripture or that we are or can be iustified by any other then in Christ by faith without the workes of the lawe for there is no other name which is giuen vnder heauen amongst men by which we must be saued The naturall man perceiueth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishnes vnto him for except a man bee borne againe hee cannot see the kingdome of heauen ARTICLE IIII. Holy scriptures aboue the Church THough the vnthankefulnes of man be without excuse euen from the brightnes that riseth from looking vpon al the creatures which with their beames shineth into the darkest corners
that naked faith c. In these assertions which in my opinion are repugnant to our Church and in the best construction make but a harsh sound what do you else but discouer y e error which they of the Church of Rome by a mistaking haue thought vs to hold as though it were our doctrine that wee could be iustified by a faith that were meerely naked Luther striuing to shew how litle our works did in the merit of mans saluation speaketh somewhat harshly when he saith Faith without before we haue charitie doth iustifie And in another place both which are not vniustly called in question by those of the Church of Rome he saith Faith vnles it be without euen the least good works doth not iustify nay it is no faith But M. Calum speaketh in this better then either Luther or you Faith alone iustifieth but not that faith which is alone For if our Church held a naked faith which none that were wise euer did might not all the world iustly accuse vs as enemies to good works The most of the learned in Germany held a necessitie of good works not a necessitie of effecting but a necessitie of presence for we are saued doubtlesse by grace but hauing yeers we cannot ordinarily be saued vnles we haue good works For faith which we teach to iustifie is not void of good works as Doctor Fulke answereth to the Rhemes obiection And therfore in another place he saith the elect are alwayes fruitfull of good works From hence seeing faith hath no assurance for itselfe either to God or to mā we exhort in our sermons to good works we perswade to humiliation by fasting weeping which are if they be truly penitent meanes to blot out sin thorough Gods vnspeakable and vndeserued mercie For as Saint Paul saith Godly sorrow causeth repentance vnto saluation not to be repented of And therefore saith Saint Hierom fasting and sackcloth are the armor of repentāce And y e men please God by fasting saith D Fulk as Anna Tobie Iudith Hester we doubt nothing at all while we vse it to the right end allowed of God that is hūbling of our selues chastising of our bodies that it might bee more obedient to the Spirit and feruent in prayer Nay our solemne fasts are as M. Hooker saith the splendor and outward glorie of our religion forcible witnesses of ancient truth prouocations to the exercise of all pi●tie shadowes of our endlesse felicitie in heauen and euerlasting records and memorials vpon earth which it is great pitie it is so much neglected because euen therein they which cannot be drawne to harken vnto what we teach might onely by looking vpon that we do in a maner reade whatsoeuer we beleeue Now that he saith the attainement vnto anie gratious benefit of Gods vnspeakable and vndeserued mercie the phrase of antiquitie hath called by the name of Merit this is that wherein you desire to be resolued And surely he hath read little who is ignorant that the heathen Masters of the Latine tongue and the Fathers for antiquitie nearest vnto those times haue vsed the word Merit far in another sence then that whereunto the violence of some cōstructions haue wrested it at this day And Aquinas himselfe vnderstandeth by the name of ●urit not a worke not due which should deserue a reward but a worke which mercifully and by the goodnes of God a reward followeth The phrase of the Latine doth properly make one to merit of another and as it were to bind him to him who doth any thing which pleaseth and delighteth him for whom it is done Thus that place in the epistle to the Hebrues To do good and to distribute forget not for with such sacrifice God is well pleased Where they of Rhemes following the Latine promeretur say promerited shewing that they meant nothing els in ancient time by merit but that delight allowance and contentment which God taketh in those good things we do and so rewardeth them And Doctor Fulke confesseth that Primasius who was Saint Austins scholler vsed the same word promeretur as it was taken amongst the vulgar at that day farre differing from the sense wherein it is nowe vsed Thus much briefly may serue for answer in this point that faith is not alone though alone it iustifie that though a man sinne if he repent his faith may saue him that there are vses nay excellent vses of good works though they do not saue vs and last of all if posteritie had not corrupted the word merit that we would not be afraid to speake in the phrase of antiquitie and call our vertuous attainment by mercie of grace by the name of merit ARTICLE VII The vertue of works AS goodnesse so truth being but one whatsoeuer is opposite be it neuer so carefully obserued in the course of a long streame at the last foldeth it selfe in a contradiction For falshood hath no more strength to proue a truth then truth hath weaknesse to beget a lie Then the ground of all true assertions concurring immoueably in that one first truth of which all other inferior are but branches whatsoeuer goeth about to disproue that must of necessitie in his owne parts bee diuers and imply a contrarietie seeing it laboureth to infring the certainty of that which eternally and vnchangeably is but one Hence commeth it that vnskilfull men the grounds of whose opinions are but the vncertainties of their owne ignorance are thought to want memorie whilest they contradict themselues when indeed the defect is in iudgment which cānot make truth the ground of their knowledge from which if they swarue neuer so little they doe not sooner oppugne others then crosse themselues truth admitting no coherence of contrarieties seeing it selfe is but onely one From this hath proceeded that ouersight of a great number who speaking first against a truth vttered by others come at length to speake euen directly against themselues Thus you that in the former Article disputed of faith naked and destitute of all good works make your next step to those good works that do accompany faith Where I vnderstand not but perhaps you do why you call them good if they arise not naturally out of faith or why you call that faith naked which is accompanied with these good works But doubtlesse there being a morall goodnes euen where there is want of supernatural light and the most certaine token of that goodnes being if the general perswasion of all men do so account it it can not chuse but seeme strange that the approbation of these should in your opinion be applied to those works that are done out of faith after man is iustified seeing there is a good as M. Hooker saith that doth follow vnto all things by obseruing the course of their nature yet naturall agents cannot obtaine either reward or punishment for amongst creatures in this world only mans obseruation of the law of his nature because he
and as if it were neuer giuen True it is that seeing God from whom mens seuerall degrees preheminences proceed hath appointed them in his Church at whose hands his pleasure is that we should receiue Baptisme and all other publike helpes medicinable to the soule perhaps thereby the more to settle our hearts in the loue of our ghostly superiors they haue small cause to hope that with him their voluntarie seruices will be accepted who thrust themselues into functions either aboue their capacitie or besides their place and ouerboldly intermeddle with duties whereof no charge was euer giuen vnto them In which respect if lawes forbid it to be done yet therefore it is not necessarily void when it is done For many things are firme being done which in part are done otherwise thē positiue rigor and strictnes did require Actions vsurped haue often the same nature which they haue in others although they yeeld not him that doth them the same comfort What defects then are in this kind they redound with restraint to the offender only the grace of Baptisme commeth by donation from God onely That God hath committed the mysterie of Baptisme vnto speciall men it is for orders sake in his Church and not to the intent that their authoritie might giue being or adde force to the Sacrament it selfe Infants haue right to Baptisme we all know that they haue it not by lawfull ministers it is not their fault Mens owne faults are their owne harmes So then wee conclude this point with Maister Hooker that it is one thing to defend the fact for lawfulnesse in the doer which few do and another thing the fact being done which no man hath reason to disallow for though it is not lawfull for women to vndertake that office to baptize which peraduenture belongs not vnto them yet the Baptisme being done we hold it lawfull ARTICLE XIIII Of the Sacraments IT is not a thing lesse vsuall in the apprehension of truths through the weaknesse of our vnderstanding to ascribe too little to that which in all reason hath great vertue then to allow ouermuch to that which hath no vertue at all It fareth with men in this kind as it doth with some deceitfull artificers who bestow most arte and outward additions where inwardly there is least value whilest they leaue that altogether vnfurnished which is able to expose it to sale by his owne worth It is our fault no lesse violently to extoll what our fancies make vs to account excellent then to dispraise things truly commendable in their owne nature because onely they haue gained this disaduantage to bee disliked by vs. So that whosoeuer maketh either praise or dispraise to be a rule of iudgement or the iudgement of some few to bee a signe of value he with like hazard equally erreth in both For times and places violent circumstances of that which men say with or against breed infinite varietie of alterations where things are the same and out of commendation alone a strange effect dispraise like a monster doth spring vp It being cause sufcient to distempered humours vehemently to dislike only in this respect that others doe commend the same Wherein the safest and most charitable direction will bee absolutely in that violent opposition to beleeue neither but euen from both to deriue a truth much sounder then that which either holdeth From hence hath it come to passe that whilest they of the Church of Rome haue peraduenture ascribed too much to works some of vs too little others haue set downe an equality dissenting from both Thus in the matter of the sacraments things of greatest and most hidden vertue left vnto the Church for they are called Mysteries some haue bin thought to deriue that power to them which belongeth to God only which whilest others sought to auoide they haue euen depriued them of that grace which God doubtles in truth hath bestowed vpon them In this kinde you are of opinion that M. Hooker hath erred who as you imagine hath ascribed to the sacraments farre more following therein the steps of the Church of Rome then either the Scripture the articles of our Church or the exposition of our Reuerend Bishops and others do For the Fathers say you make the Sacraments only Seales of assurance by which the Spirit worketh inuisibly to strengthen our faith And therfore they call them visible words seales of righteousnesse and tokens of grace That they doe and say thus there is no man doubteth but we are not yet perswaded that this is all or the furthest as you alledge that they saie because vndoubtedly we are assured that they haue learned both to know and to speake otherwise For the Sacraments chiefest force and vertue consisteth in this that they are heauenly ceremonies which God hath sanctified and ordained to be administred in his Church First as markes to know when God doth impart his vitall or sauing grace of Christ vnto all that are capable therof and secondly as meanes conditionall which God requireth in them vnto whom he imparteth grace For doubtles it must needes be a great vnthankfulnesse and easily breed contempt to ascribe only that power to them to be but as seales and that they teach but the minde by other sense as the worde doth by hearing which if it were all what reason hath the Church to bestow any Sacrament vpon Infants who as yet for their yeares are nor capable of any instruction there is therefore of Sacraments vndoubtedly some more excellent and heauenly vse Sacraments by reason of their mixt nature are more diuersly interpreted and disputed of then any other part of Religion besides for that in so great store of properties belonging to the selfe same thing as euery mans wit hath taken hold of some especiall consideration aboue the rest so they haue accordingly giuen their censure of the vse and necessity of them For if respect bee had to the dutie which euery communicant doth vndertake we may cal them truly bōds of our obedience to God strict obligations to the mutuall exercise of Christian charity prouocations to godlines preseruatiōs frō sin memorials of the principal benefits of Christ. If we respect the time of their institutiō they are annexed for euer vnto the new testamēt as other rites were before with the old If we regard the weakenesse that is in vs they are warrants for the more security of our beleefe If we compare the receiuers with those that receiue them not they are works of distinctiō to separate Gods owne from strangers and in those that receiue them as they ought they are tokens of Gods gratious presence whereby men are taught to know what they cannot see For Christ and his holy spirit with all their blessed effects though entring into the soule of man we are not able to apprehend or expresse how doe notwithstanding giue notice of the times when they vse to make their accesse because it pleaseth Almighty God to communicate by sensible
one that had a misfortune it was because hee honoured not his parents For the sixt nature hath made the Murderer to expect what he hath committed For the seuenth Flie the name of an adulterer if thou wilt escape death For the eight Demosthenes against Timocrates repeateth it as Solons law plainely in the verie words And for false witnesse the Romans did punish it by their twelue tables But the incarnation of Christ the Sacraments the Trinitie the Decree of God are matters of a deeper speculation wherin humilitie must follow the direction of faith and not seek vainely with curiositie to know that which our silly weaknesse is far vnable to comprehend For as those things that are manifest are not to bee neglected so those things that are hid are not to be searched least in the one we be vnlawfully curious and in the other be found daungerously vnthankfull Now specially for the matter of the Trinitie wherein you take exception in your two first Articles doubtlesse there are few errours more dangerous or that haue stirred vp greater tragedies in the church of God All men see in nature that there is a God but the distinction of persons Trinitie in Vnitie that faith in humilitie must teach vs to beleeue For who can comprehend by reason that in that holy and sacred Trinitie one is what three are and that two is but one thing and in themselues and euerie particular infinite and all in euerie one and euerie one in all and all in all and one in all Fire hath three things motion light and heat Arrius deuide this if thou canst and then deuide the Trinitie Out of this difficultie together with the rash presumption of ignorant men haue proceeded those dangerous errours that so long and so hotly haue troubled the church thus the Manichies haue denied the vnitie of Essence the Valentinians or Gnostici from Carpocrates held that Christ was man onely from both sexes borne but that he had such a soule which knew all things that were aboue and snewed them Those that haue in their erronious doctrine oppugned the Trinitie are of two sorts they haue either denied the distinction of persons or else the samenesse of Essence thus the Arrians for we will not stand to incounter or confute all other heresies held that Christ was a person before his incarnation but that he was true and eternall God equall and of the same essence with his Father that they denied for they hold that the Sonne is not eternally begotten of the substance of his Father and so that there is an inequalitie and indeed a distinction and prioritie of essence Into this dangerous and ignorant blind heresie confuted long since with powerfull and strong reasons it seemes you are of opinion that Maister Hooker is fallen both against the truth and against the true assertions of the Reuerend Fathers of our church The ground of this so great and so vncharitable accusation is because he saith that the Father alone is originally that Deitie which Christ originally is not Where you seem to inferre against the distinction of the Trinitie that the Godhead of the Father and the Sonne cannot bee all one if the Sonne be not originally that Deitie It seemes then in your opinions that this speech vttered verie learnedly and with great wisedome and truth The Father alone is originally that Deitie which Christ originally is not is both vnusuall new and dangerous First because it weakeneth the eternitie of the Sonne in the opinion of the simple or maketh the Sonne inferiour to the Father in respect of the Godhead or else teacheth the ignorant that there may be many Gods I know your owne Christian iudgements could easily haue freed him from all suspicion of error in this point if your charity had bin equall to your vnderstanding for he himselfe hath confessed in the very same place from whence you haue taken this wherof you accuse him that by the gift of eternall generation Christ hath receiued of the father one and in number the selfe same substance which the father hath of himselfe vnreceiued from any other Who seeth not saith S. Augustine that these words Father and Son shew not the diuersities of natures but the relation of persons and therfore the Son is not of another nature and of a diuers substance because the father is God not from another God but the Son is God from God his father heere is not declared the substance but the originall that is not what he is but from whence he is or is not for in God the Father and in God the Son if we inquire the nature of them both both are God and but one God neither greater or lesse in essence of Godhead one then the other But if we speake of the originall saith Saint Austin which you see Master Hooker did the Father is God originally from whom the Son is God but there is not from whom the Father hath originally his deity so that to mislike this kinde of speech is contrary to all truth to affirme that the Son is not eternally begotten of the father that the Father is not eternally a deity begetting But heere you must take heede of the errour of Arrius who against the truth reasoned thus If the Sonne be coeternall with his Father tell vs we beseech you whether he were begotten when he was or when he was not if when he was then there was before two vnbegotten and afterwards one begot the other if when he was not then he must needes be later and after his Father But saith Saint Augustine as we haue knowne onely the Father alwayes and without beginning to be vnbegottē so we confesse the Son alwaies and without beginning to bee begotten of his Father therefore because the Father is originally that Deitie from whence the Sonne is the Sonne though hee be the same Deity yet the Father alone is originally that Deitie which the Sonne originally is not The want of Identitie being not in the Deitie whereof we must needes with the Church of God acknowledge an Vnitie but in that it is not originally the same For euery thing that is a beginning is a father vnto that which commeth of it and euery ofspring is a sonne vnto that out of which it groweth Christ then being God by being of God light by issuing out of light though he be the same deity for in the Trinitie there is but one deity yet the Father is originally that deity alone which Christ originally is not Here if you note but the difference betwixt that Deity and originally that Deity you must needs confesse that M. Hooker speaketh with the consent of reformed antiquitie and hath said nothing to diminish the eternitie of the Sonne or to make him inferiour in respect of his Father or to teach the ignorant that there be manie Gods ARTICLE II. The coeternity of the Sonne and the proceeding of the holy Ghost