destroyes spirituall communion with Christ and with the Holy Ghost and consequently the Article of faith concerning the Communion of Saints For Christ saith to his Disciples I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I goe away for if I goe not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you So as to beleeve Christ to be corporally present on earth and that men have by that meanes a corporall communion with him doth debarre such men from all communion of the Spirit of Christ. And If any man have not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his He hath not Christ that hath not his Spirit and he hath not Christs Spirit that rests in the beliefe of Christs corporall presence on earth as before For except I depart saith Christ that is except I be absent from you as concerning my corporall presence the Comforter will not come unto you And thus by a false beliefe of the very manner onely of Christs presence in the Popish Eucharist Christ the Foundation is overthrowne And this errour de modo of the manner of being onely overthrowing the Foundation must needs be a Fundamentall errour if any errour may be said to be Fundamentall My Second Instance is about Christs humane Nature de modo Subsistendi of its manner of subsisting in the Person of the Son of God For to beleeve that it is either after the manner or way of Commixtion or by adherence as one thing cleaving to another or Inherence as an Accident in the Subject or by Conversion into the divine nature or by Concomitancie as Bellarmine saith Christs divinity and soule is present with his body in the Eucharist by Concomitancie all these manners doe destroy the personall union of Christs two natures in one person As those two Hereticks Nestorius and Eutiches the one condemned in the Councel of Ephesus the other in the Councel of Chalcedon the later for holding that Christ had but one Nature the humane converted into the Divine Nature the other that Christ had two Persons both these destroyed Christ the Mediator who is not a Mediator unlesse he be both God and Man in one Person Christ. So Bellarmines devise in holding Christs divine nature and humane soule to be present in and with that body which they frame unto him in the Masse by way of Concomitancie as being inseperable companions destroyes the Sacrifice of Christs Passion wherein the soule of Christ was in death seperated from his body untill his Resurrection Now the Papists say they offer up Christs body in the Masse as representing the Sacrifice of his death and Passion Which how can it be when they say his soule is by concomitancie with his body offered up So as all this while there is no representative or Commemorative much lesse a propitiatory Sacrifice of Christs death Seing in that body as they say Christs soule is inseperably present And againe to say Christs divine nature is present with that body of Concomitancie this destroyes the Personall union For Concomitancie is no personall union of the two natures concomitancie being but an accompanying of each other Whereas the divine nature of Christ doth not accompany the humane nature but assumes it and the humane nature doth not accompany the divine but subsists in it Thus it is cleare that the Consideration of the manner of being onely may possibly prove to be Fundamentall in the Faith L. p. 37. All which pertaines to Supernaturall Divine and infallible Christian faith is not by and by fundamentall in the Faith to all men P. You told us before That things not fundamentall yet to some mens Salvation are necessary and here that all that pertaines to Christian faith is not fundamentall in the faith to all men It seems you have some peculiar way to heaven which is not common to all But take heed least leaving the common road-way of true Saving Faith attended with a holy life you fayle of heaven I am the way the Truh and the Life saith Christ. And is not Christ this way Truth and Life to all that are Saved Is not he to all such as are called both Iewes and Greekes Christ the Power of God and the Wisdome of God But what doe I speake to you of Christ or what doe you speake of Christian faith that know not what Christian faith is otherwise then as you discerne in it some thing for which in whomsoever you find it you persecute it to the death L. p. 39. If new Doctrines be added to the old the Church may be changed in Lupanar errorum which I am loth to English P. Nay are you not ashamed to English it For this you Speake of the Church of Rome and you have told us that the Church of England and of Rome are one and the Same Church And now you Say If new Doctrines be added to the old the Church may be changed in Lupanar errorum And this the Church of Rome hath done as you elsewhere affirme She hath added new Doctrines to the old and such new as She doth with the old aâ— men doe when they put on a new suit make the old a Cast suit But because you are loth to English in Lupanar errorum for the reverend respect you beare to that Venerable Apostolick Sea I will doe as much for you as to English it If new Doctrines be added to the Old as the Church of Rome hath done the Church may be changed into a Stewes of Errours This Phrase you take out of Vincentius Lyrenensis his Sentence quoted in the Margent which is this in English The Church by adding new Doctrines to the old becomes a Stewes of impious and beastly Errours which was before a Sacrary of chast and undefiled verity Whence I note how you not onely smother some of his words but smooth others Saying for The Church becomes a Stewes The Church may be changed So as herein you falsify the worthy Saying of Vincentius when you make but a May be of his Is made But let the Conclusion be If a Church be turned Whore 't is good that all should know her to be so in plain English that they may avoyd her and as Salomon saith remove their way farre from her and not come neere the dore of her house And for this Cause have I taken the Paines to be your Translator L. p. 39. Some Decisions yea and of the Church toâ— are made or may be if Stapleton informe us right without an evident nay without so much as a probable testimony of holy writ But Bellarmine falls quite off and confesses in expresse termes that nothing can be certaine by certainty of Faith unlesse it be contained immediately in the word of God or be deduced out of the word of God by evident consequence And if nothing can be certain then certainly no Determination of the Church it selfe if that Determination be not grounded upon
Antichrist both as he pretends to be Christs Vicar for Christ or Vice Christ as he practiseth against Christ. And for this reason he is noted to be ho Antikristos That Antichrist by a note of singularity as 1 Iohn 2.22 to distinguish him from other Antichrists of whom there are many as 1 Iohn 2.18 Of which many your Lordship and all Prelates are and especially Arch-Prelates or Patriarchs as the Pope call'd you For you tell us at after that you Prelates are Vice-roys whereby Christ governes his Church So as you being Christs vice-roy over the Church of England you are as vice Christus vice-Christ or in the Greek Antikristos as Anthúpatos Vice-roy under the King Christ. This you confesse and professe And under this Title you practise Antichrist you are an Antikeimenos an Adversary as all your practises proclame you and as we have in part noted and shall yet more set you forth And this is that Mystery of Iniquity For it were not els a Mistery if it were not veiled with a pretence and profession to be for Christ and under that to be against Christ. So as the difinition of Antichrist pertaineth no lesse properly to you then it doth to the Pope onely he is Antichrist with an Ho That Antichrist And you are An Antichrist and no little one neither as being Papa alterius Orbis The Pope or Patriarch of the other world to wit of England as the Pope said of you Now this being so cleare as is without all contradiction and you being Metropolitan of all England and the Church of England under you and the Government thereof being Prelaticall or Hierarchicall and this Hierarchy being that Mystery of Iniquity of such Antiquity for it pretends and professes to be for Christ as the Government of a vice-roy but in practise is against Christ and so is altogether Antichristian can you blame your Seperatist for condemning your Church of England of Antichristianisme and that for that very Church-Governments sake which you Say hath been used both in and ever since the Apostles in all Ages and Places where the Church hath taken any rooting But you will with the Jesuite alledge that place of Iohn to defend you from being an Antichrist as they doe to defend the Pope from being that Antichrist Iohn saith Who is a lyer but he that denyeth that Iesus is the Christ He is Antichrist But you Say you doe not deny Iesus to be Christ therefore you are neither a lyer nor Antichrist 'T is true indeed none is a more devout adorer of the Name JESUS then your selfe but yet I must tell you that for all this you deny the Person Iesus to be the Christ. But you confesse him to be the Christ. In words you doe But what saith the Apostle They professe that they know God but in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and to every good worke Reprobate So that in words a man may confesse and professe Christ and yet in works deny him And so doe you for all your faire pretences and professed love to Iesus And who was fitter to betray Christ then he that with a Hale Master Saluted him with a Kisse But let us now see what it is to deny Iesus to be the Christ. Iesus in that place is spoken of his Person and Christ is spoken of his Offices So as there is meant not a denyall of Iesus to be the Sonne of God or God-man not a denyall of his Person and two Natures these you doe not deny but a denyall of Iesu◠to be the Christ the Anointed of the Father And this you deny How For Christ is that Anointed King Priest and Prophet which three Offices of his are comprehended and signified in the Title ho Kristòs The Christ as Iohn there sets it down and our English doth well expresse it The Christ That Anointed Anointed above his fellowes namely King Priest and Prophet so as none of his fellowes those foregoing Types or Figures of him were anointed Melchisedech was King and Priest Samuel was Priest and Prophet David was King and Prophet but never any was this ho Kristòs The Christ The Anointed King Priest and Prophet And Christ was anointed solemnly and in a conspicuous and visible manner King Priest and Prophet by the Holy Ghost lighting upon him at his Baptisme whereupon that voyce of the Father from heaven proclamed him King Priest and Prophet This is my Beloved Son there he is King in whom I am well pleased there he is Priest heare him there he is Prophet Now he that denyeth or destroyeth any one of these three Offices of Christ which are inseperably inherent in him and incommunicable to any Creature denyeth Iesus to be the Christ as either denying him to be the onely King or the onely Priest or the onely Prophet of his Church Now 't is no hard matter to prove that you Prelates as Prelates deny and destroy all these three Offices of Christ. And first you deny Iesus to be the Onely Priest and that not onely in taking upon you the Title of Priests but also the Office The Title of Priest you professe and take a pride in And the Office of Priest you Priests of the Church of England doe in part at least usurpe For the Office of Christ as Priest is in two things First to Sacrifice Secondly to forgive Sins Now though you doe not yet openly professe your selves to be sacrificing Priests as the Romish Priests doe yet you take upon you to doe that which never any Priests under the Law did or might by their Office doe namely to forgive Sinnes This I say never any of the Leviticall Priests did This was and is Christs onely Prerogative as he is God and Priest For who can forgive Sins but onely God This the proud Pharisees confessed But this power you Say you have derivatively from Christ by his Authority committed unto you as Priests But first we have before proved that you are no Priests of Christ. Secondly where hath Christ given any such power even to his Apostles and true Ministers of the Gospell to forgive Sins Indeed he saith unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost whose Sins ye remit they are remitted and whose Sins ye retaine they are retained Was this by a Priestly Absolution But the Apostles were no such Priests as you professe to be Therefore it was not by any such Priestly Absolution as you practise How then How then Say you You are here at a Non-plus if it was not by a Priestly Absolution It must needs remaine then that it was by the Ministry of the Gospell and by the preaching of Faith and Repentance and pardon of Sinnes to the Penitent Beleevers As He that beleeveth and is baptised into Christ professing his true Faith and Repentance hath his Sinnes remitted but he that beleeveth not hath his Sins still retained And this is that remitting of Sins Declarative the power whereof Christ committed to his Apostles
Do I not mistake Foundations of Faith instead of Superstition and Profanenesse For Them here may have for Antecedent aswell Superstition and Profanenesse as Foundations of Faith And so the sense runnes thus He that puts not to his hand as firmly as he can to surport them that is Superstition and Profanesse is too wary c. And now that I consider it better this must be your meaning if your words and deeds agree And for proofe let us come to particulars You give us two generall instances whereby the Foundations of Faith are shaken The one Superstition the other Profanesse Answerable to these two I will help you out with two particular instances the one of Superstion the other of Profanesse by both which the Foundations of Faith are shaken which we shall see how firmely you Support First For Superstition I instance in Altars These you erect these you bow unto Now to set up and bow unto or before or pray towards an Altar of wood or stone overthowes Christ the Prime and maine Foundation of Faith and that by your owne Confession For Altars in the Old Testament were ordained of GOD to be Types and Figures of Christ as also were the Sacrifices and the Priests But now Christ being come our onely Sacrifice our onely High Priest and our onely Altar those Types doe all cease And in the New Testament as Christ is called our Sacrifice and High Priest So also our Altar We have an Altar saith the Apostle whereof they have no right to eate which serve the Tabernacle Why so For the Levites or Priests which still served the Tabernacle rested still in the Typicall Altar denying Christ to be come and so they have no right to Christ the true Altar he being come and having abolished all Types And the Apostle there doth clearely prove this our Altar to be Christ. For saith he in the very next words as a reason annexed The bodies of those Beasts whose blood is brought into the Sanctuary by the High Priest for sinne are burnt without the Campe Wherefore Iesus also that he might Sanctifie the people with his own blood suffered without the Gate Let us goe forth therefore unto him without the Campe bearing his reproach For here we have no continuing City but we seeke one to come By him therefore let us offer the Sacrifice of praise to God continually that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name In which words taken together Christ is set forth unto us both as our onely Altar and as our onely High Priest and as our onely Sacifice First as our onely Altar vers 10. Secondly as our onely High Priest For so he stands in relation to the Leviticall Priesthood as the Truth to the Type v. 11 12. Thirdly as our onely Sacrifice in offering his owne blood v. 11. And thus he is said to Sanctifie us And this sanctifying hath speciall relation to Christ as the onely Altar For in the Law no Sacrifice or Offering was sanctified but by the Altar being offered up upon it As Christ saith to the Scribes and Pharisees those blind guides Ye Fooles and blind whether is greater the gift or the Altar that sanctifieth the gift Thus every gift every Sacrifice is sanctified by the Altar on which it was offered up This Altar is onely Christ whose blood being offered up upon the Altar of his Divinity Person or Nature was thereby sanctified and accepted of GOD for an All-sufficient Sacrifice for our sinnes And thus both the persons of all true beleevers and their Spirituall Sacrifices are Sanctified being offered up and presented to GOD on the Altar Christ. Our Persons as Heb. 13.12 and our gifts or Sacrifices v. 15. By him therefore let us offer the Sacrifice of praise continually that is the fruit of our lippes giving thanks to his Name Thus through Faith in Christs Name all our Sacrifices of Prayer of Praise of Almes and of a Contrite heart are Sanctified and accepted of GOD as Testimonies of our Faith Charity Repentance Thankfullnesse and Obedience as being offered up upon our onely Altar Christ. This onely Altar it is that Sanctifieth the gift Thus we see how these three Altar Priest Sacrifice are equally and inseparably resident in Christ. So as he is as well our onely Altar as our onely High Priest and our onely Sacrifice of expiation And Bellarmine himselfe confesseth that these three Altar Priest Sacrifice are Relatives and alwayes goe together Hee therefore that sets up another Altar besides Christ may as well set up another High Priest and another propitiatory Sacrifice as Antichrist doth in the Masse And to set up any one of these not onely shakes but quite overthrowes the maine Foundation Christ. And for the Altar the Sanctification of all Sacrifices and offerings is so proper and peculiar unto it that one of your Divines going about to maintaine your Christian Altars as he calls them but indeed Antichristian saith expresly that of necessity there must be an Altar in every Church as of wood or stone to Sanctifie the Sacrifice otherwise it should be altogether unsanctified And how comes this Altar of his and yours to have such a treasure and overplus of holinesse in it as to communicate such holinesse to the Sacrifice yea to the Sacrifice of Christs body upon it as he puts it but by the Bishops Consecration of it as the same Author saith whose Book is by your Chapleins license published in Print So as it seems your Episcopall consecration of the Altar infuseth a holinesse into it and the Altar communicates and imparts its holinesse to the Sanctifying even of the Sacrifice of Christs body it selfe which you would not have to be farre off from the Altar But now it being most evident hereby that your Altars doe quite overthrow the Foundation Christ who is our onely Altar how firmely you put to your hand to support this Foundation I call heaven and earth to witnesse against you who being on the contrary a Supporter of Altars and so a Supplanter of the onely true Altar Iesus Christ you give sentence against your selfe as one that is too wary and hath more care of himselfe then of the Cause of Christ. And forasmuch as you are so zealous in promoting your Altars in every Church I do here in the Name of Iesus Christ protest against you as a most notorious Adversary of Christ and so an Antichrist a setter up of Judaisme or Heathenisme in your Altars and I doe utterly renounce all communion with you in your services the principall part whereof you place in your Altars which are so many damnable Idols which you adoring are damnable Idolaters and which are set up and upholden to the intolerable reproach of Christ and whereby he is altogether denyed and renounced And thus you give just cause to all true Christians to seperate themselves from your communion in your worship of a false Christ as your false Altar if they will hold