good and the confusion of the evill and that it is the propertie of a faithfull man to bee fully perswaded of the truth of those things that are delivered in the holy Scripture and not to dare eyther to reject or to adde any thing thereunto For if whatsoever is not of faith be sinne as the Apostle saith and faith is by hearing and hearing by the word of God then vvhatsoever is without the holy Scripture being not of faith must needs be sinne Thus farre S. Basil. In like maner Gregory Nyssene S. Basils brother layeth this for a ground vvhich no man should contradict that in that onely the truth must be acknowledged wherein the seale of the Scripture testimony is to be seene And accordingly in another booke attributed also unto him we finde this conclusion made Forasmuch as this is upholden vvith no testimony of the Scripture as false vve will reject it Thus also S. Hierome disputeth against Helvidius· As vvee denye not those things that are written so vve refuse those things that are not vvritten That God was borne of a Virgin we beleeve because we reade it that Mary did marry after shee was delivered wee beleeve not because wee reade it not In those things saith S. Augustine vvhich are layd downe plainly in the Scriptures all those things are found which appertaine to faith and direction of life And againe Whatsoever ye heare from the holy Scriptures let that savour vvell unto you whatsoever is without them refuse lest you wander in a cloud And in another place All those things which in times past our ancestors have mentioned to be done toward mankind and have delivered unto us all those things also which we see and doe deliver unto our posteritie so farre as they appertaine to the seeking and maintayning of true Religion the holy Scripture hath not passed in silence The holy Scripture saith S. Cyrill of Alexandria is sufficient to make them which are brought up in it wise and most approved and furnished with most sufficient understanding And againe That which the holy Scripture hath not said by what meanes should wee receive and account it among those things that be true Lastly in the writings of Theodoret wee meete with these kinde of speeches By the holy Scripture alone am I perswaded I am not so bold as to affirme any thing which the sacred Scripture passeth in silence It is an idle and a senselesse thing to seeke those things that are passed in silence Wee ought not to seeke those things which are passed in silence but rest in the things that are written By the verdict of these twelve men you may judge what opinion was held in those ancient times of such Traditions as did crosse either the verity or the perfection of the sacred Scripture which are the Traditions we set our selves against If now it be demanded in what Popes dayes the contrarie doctrine was brought in among Christians I answer that if S. Peter were ever Pope in his dayes it was that some seducers first laboured to bring in Will-worship into the Church against whom S. Paul opposing himselfe Coloss. 2. counteth it a sufficient argument to condemne all such inventions that they were the commandements and doctrines of men Shortly after them started up other Hereticks who taught that the truth could not be found out of the Scriptures by those to whom Tradition was unknowen forasmuch as it was not delivered by writing but by word of mouth for which cause S. Paul also should say Wee speake wisedome among them that be perfect The verie same Text doe the Iesuites alledge to prove the dignitie of manie mysteries to be such that they require silence and that it is unmeet they should bee opened in the Scriptures which are read to the whole world and therefore can onely be learned by unwritten Traditions Wherein they consider not how they make so neare an approach unto the confines of some of the ancientest Heretickes that they may well shake hands together For howsoever some of them were so madde as to say that they were wiser then the Apostles themselves and therefore made light account of the doctrine which they delivered unto the Church either by writing or by word of mouth yet all of them broake not forth into that open impietie the same mysterie of iniquitie wrought in some of Antichrists fore-runners then which is discovered in his ministers now They confessed indeed as witnesseth Tertullian that the Apostles were ignorant of nothing and differed not among themselves in their preaching but they say they revealed not all things unto all men some things they delivered openly and to all some things secretly and to a few because that Paul useth this speech unto Timothy O Timothy keep that which is committed to thy trust And againe That good thing which was committed unto thee keepe Which verie Texts the Iesuites likewise bring in to prove that there are some Traditions which are not contayned in the Scripture In the dayes of S. Hierome also this was wont to be the saying of Hereticks We are the sonnes of the wise men which from the beginning have delivered the doctrine of the Apostles unto us But those things saith that Father which they of themselves finde out and faine to have received as it were by Tradition from the Apostles without the authoritie and testimonies of the Scriptures the sword of God doth smite S. Chrysostome in like maner giveth this for a marke of Antichrist and of all spiritual theeves that they come not in by the doore of the Scriptures For the Scripture saith hee like unto a sure doore doth barre an entrance unto Hereticks safeguarding us in all things that we will and not suffering us to be deceived Whereupon he concludeth that who so useth not the Scriptures but commeth in otherwise that is betaketh himselfe to another and an unlawfull way he is a theefe How this mysterie of iniquitie wrought when Antichrist came unto his full growth and what experiments his followers gave of their theevish entry in this kind was well observed by the author of the book De unitate Ecclesiae thought by some to be Waltram Bishop of Naumburg who speaking of the Monks that for the upholding of Pope Hildebrands faction brought in schismes and heresies into the Church noteth this specially of them that despising the tradition of God they desired other doctrines and brought in maisteries of humane institution Against whom hee alledgeth the authoritie of their owne S. Benedict the father of the Monkes in the West writing thus The Abbot ought to teach or ordaine or command nothing which is without the precept of the Lord but his commandement or instruction should be spred as the leaven of divine righteousnesse in the minds of his Disciples Whereunto also hee might have added the testimonie of the two famous Fathers
scholies upon the writer of the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchy wisheth us to marke that even before his time that doubt was questioned Among the questions wherein Dulcitius desired to be resolved by S. Augustin we finde this to be one Whether the offering that is made for the dead did avayle their soules any thing and that MANY did say to this that if herein any good were to be done after death how much rather should the soule it selfe obtaine ease for it selfe by it owne confessing of her sinnes there than that for the ease thereof an oblation should be procured by other men The like also is noted by Cyrill or rather Iohn Bishop of Ierusalem that he knew MANY who said thus What profite doth the soule get that goeth out of this world eyther with sinnes or not with sinnes if you make mention of it in prayer and by Anastasius Sinaita or Nicaenus Some doe doubt saying that the dead are not profited by the oblations that are made for them and long after them by Petrus Cluniacensis in his treatise against the followers of Peter Bruse in France That the good deeds of the living may profit the dead both these hereticks doe deny and some Catholicks also do seeme to doubt Nay in the West not the profite onely but the lawfulnesse also of these doings for the dead was called in question as partly may be collected by Boniface archbishop of Mentz his consulting with Pope Gregory about 730. yeares after the birth of our Saviour Whether it were lawfull to offer oblations for the dead which hee should have no reason to doe if no question had beene made thereof among the Germans and is plainly delivered by Hugo Etherianus about 1170. yeares after Christ in these words I know that many are deformed with vaine opinions thinking that the dead are not to be prayed for because that neither Christ nor the Apostles that succeeded him have intimated these things in the Scriptures But they are ignorant that there be many things and those exceeding necessary frequented by the holy Church the tradition whereof is not had in the Scriptures and yet they pertaine neverthelesse to the worship of God and obtaine great strength Whereby it may appeare that this practise wanted not opposition even then when in the Papacie it was advanced unto his greatest height And now is it high time that I should passe from this article unto the next following OF LIMBVS PATRVM And CHRISTS DESCENT INTO HELL HEre doth our Challenger undertake to prove against us not only that there is Limbus Patrum but that our Saviour also descended into Hell to deliver the ancient Fathers of the Old Testament because before his Passion none ever entred into Heaven That there was such a thing as Limbus Patrum I have heard it said but what it is now the Doctors varie yet agree all in this that Limbus it may well be but Limbus Patrum sure it is not Whether it were distinct from that place in which the infants that depart out of this life without baptisme are now beleeved to be received the Divines doe doubt neyther is there any thing to be rashly pronounced of so doubtfull a matter saith Maldonat the Iesuite The Dominican Friars that wrote against the Grecians at Constantinople in the yeare 1252 resolve that into this Limbus the holy Fathers before the comming of Christ did descend but now the children that depart vvithout baptisme are detained there so that in their iudgement that which was the Limbus of Fathers is now become the Limbus of Children The more common opinion is that these be two distinct places and that the one is appointed for unbaptized infants but the other now remayneth voide and so shall remaine that it may beare witnesse aswell of the justice as of the mercie of God If you demand how it came to be thus voyd emptied of the old inhabitants the answer is here given that our Saviour descended into Hell purposely â—o deliver from hence the ancient Fathers of the Old Testament But Hell is one thing I ween saith Tertullian and Abrahams bâ—some where the Fathers of the old Testament rested another neyther is it to be beleeved that the bosome of Abraham being the habitation of a secret kinde of rest was any part of Hell saith S. Augustin To say then that our Saviour descended into Hell to deliver the ancient Fathers of the old Testament out of Limbus Patrum would by this construction prove as strange a tale as if it had beene reported that Caesar made a voyage into Brittaine to set his friends at libertie in Greece Yea but before Christs Passion none ever entred into Heaven saith our Challenger The proposition that Cardinall Bellarmine taketh upon him to prove where he handleth this controversie is that the soules of the godly were not in Heaven before the Asâ—ension of Christ. Our Iesuite it seemeth considered here with himselfe that Christ had promised unto the penitent theefe upon the crosse that not before his ascension only but also before his resurrection even that day he should be with him in Paradise that is to say in the kingdome of heaven as the Cardinaâ—l himselfe doth prove both by the authoritie of S. Paul making Paradise and the third heaven to be the selfe same thing and by the testimony of the ancient expositors of the place This belike stuck somewhat in our Iesuites stomack who being loath to interpret this of his Limbus Patrum as others of that side had done and to maintaine that Paradise in stead of the third Heaven should signifie the third or the fourth Hell thought it best to shift the matter handsomely away by taking upon him to defend that not before Christs ascension least that of the Thiefe should crosse him but before his passion none ever entred into Heaven But if none before our Saviours Passion did ever enter into Heaven whither shall we say that Elias did enter The Scripture assureth us that he went up into heaven 2. Kings 2.11 of this Mattathias put his sonnes in mind upon his death-bedd that Elias being zealous and fervent for the law was taken up into heaven Elias and Moses both before the passion of Christ are described to be in glory Lazarus is carried by the Angells into a place of comfort and not of imprisonment in a word all the Fathers accounted themselves to be strangers and pilgrims in this earth seeking for a better countrey that is an heavenly as well as we doe and therefore having ended their pilgrimage they arrived at the country they sought for as well as wee They beleeved to be saved through the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ as well as we they lived by that faith as well as we they dyed in Christ as well as we they received remission of sinnes imputation of
his Commentaries upon Moses adviseth his Reader not to loath the new sense of the holy Scripture for this that it dissenteth from the ancient Doctors but to search more exactly the text and context of the Scripture and if he find it agree to praise God that hath not tyed the exposition of the Scriptures to the senses of the ancient Doctors But leaving comparisons which you know are odious the envie whereof notwithstanding your owne Doctors and Masters you see helpe us to beare off and teach us how to decline I now come to the examination of the particular points by you propounded It should indeed be your part by right to be the Assailant who first did make the Challenge and I who sustaine the person of the Defendant might here wel stay accepting only your challenge expecting your encounter Yet do not I meane at this time to answer your Bill of Challenge as Bills are usually answered in the Chancerie with saving all advantages to the Defendant I am content in this also to abbridge my selfe of the libertie w ch I might lawfully take make a further demōstration of my forwardnes in undertaking the maintenāce of so good a cause by giving the first onset my selfe OF TRADITIONS TO begin therefore with Traditions which is your forlorne Hope that in the first place we are to set upon this must I needes tell you before we begin that you much mistake the matter if you thinke that Traditions of all sorts promiscuously are struck at by our Religion We willingly acknowledge that the word of God which by some of the Apostles was set downe in writing was both by themselves and others of their fellow-labourers delivered by word of mouth and that the Church in succeeding ages was bound not only to preserve those sacred writings committed to her trust but also to deliver unto her children vivâ voce the forme of wholsome words contayned therein Traditions therefore of this nature come not within the compasse of our controversie the question being betwixt us de ipsâ doctrinâ traditâ not de tradendi modo touching the substance of the doctrine delivered not of the maner of delivering it Againe it must be remembred that here wee speake of doctrine delivered as the word of God that is of points of religion revealed unto the Prophets and Apostles for the perpetuall information of Gods people not of rites and ceremonies and other ordinances which are left to the disposition of the Church and consequently be not of divine but of positive and humane right Traditions therefore of this kinde likewise are not properly brought within the circuit of this question But that Traditions of men should be obtruded unto us for articles of Religion and admitted for parts of Gods worship or that any Traditions should be accepted for parcels of Gods word beside the holy Scriptures and such doctrines as are either expressely therein contayned or by sound inference may be deduced from thence I thinke wee have reason to gainsay As long as for the first wee have this direct sentence from God himselfe Matth. 15. In vaine doe they worship me teaching for doctrines the Commandements of men And for the second the expresse warrant of the Apostle 2. Tim. 3. testifying of the holy Scriptures not onely that they are able to make us wise unto salvation which they should not be able to doe if they did not containe all things necessary to salvation but also that by them the man of God that is the minister of Gods word unto whom it appertaineth to declare all the counsell of God may be perfectly instructed to every good worke which could not be if the Scriptures did not containe all the counsell of God which was fit for him to learne or if there were any other word of God which he were bound to teach that should not be contained within the limits of the Booke of God Now whether herein we disagree from the doctrine generally received by the Fathers we referre our selves to their owne sayings For Rituall Traditions unwritten and for doctrinall Traditions written indeed but preserved also by the continual preaching of the Pastors of the Church successively wee find no man a more earnest advocate then Tertullian Yet hee having to deale with Hermogenes the hereticke in a question concerning the faith whether all things at the beginning were made of nothing presseth him in this manner with the argument ab authoritate negativé for avoyding whereof the Papists are driven to flie for succour to their unwritten verities Whether all things vvere made of any subject matter I have as yet read no where Let those of Hermogenes his shop shew that it is written If it be not written let them feare that Woe which is allotted to such as adde or take away In the two Testaments saith Origen every word that appertayneth to God may be required and discussed and all knowledge of things out of them may be understood But if any thing doe remaine which the holy Scripture doth not determine no other third Scripture ought to be received for to authorize any knowledge but that which remaineth we must commit to the fire that is we must reserve it to God For in this present world God would not have us to know all things Hippolytus the Martyr in his Homily against the Heresie of Noëtus There is one God whom wee doe not otherwise acknowledge brethren but out of the holy Scriptures For as he that would professe the wisedome of this world cannot otherwise attaine hereunto unlesse hee reade the doctrine of the Philosophers so whosoever of us will exercise pietie toward God cannot learne this elsewhere but out of the holy Scriptures Whatsoever therefore the holy Scriptures doe preach that let us know and whatsoever they teach that let us understand Athanasius in his Oration against the Gentiles toward the beginning The holy Scriptures given by inspiration of God are of themselves sufficient to the discoverie of truth S. Ambrose The things which vve finde not in the Scriptures how can vve use them And againe I reade that he is the first I reade that hee is not the second they who say he is the second let them shew it by reading It is well saith S. Hilary that thou art content vvith those things vvhich be written And in another place he commendeth Constantius the Emperour for desiring the faith to be ordered onely according to those things that be vvritten S. Basil Beleeve those things vvhich are written the things which are not written seeke not It is a manifest falling from the faith and an argument of arrogancy either to reject any point of those things that are written or to bring in any of those things that are not written He teacheth further that every word and action ought to be confirmed by the testimony of the holy Scripture for confirmation of the faith of the
of Monasticall discipline in the East S. Antony I meane who taught his Schollers that the Scriptures were sufficient for doctrine and S. Basil who unto the question Whether it were expedient that novices should presently learne those things that are in the Scripture returneth this answere It is fit and necessarie that every one should learne out of the holy Scripture that which is for his use both for his full settlement in godlinesse and that hee may not be accustomed unto humane traditions Marke here the difference betwixt the Monkes of Saint Basil and Pope Hildebrands breeding The Novices of the former were trayned in the Scriptures to the end they might not be accustomed unto humane traditions those of the latter to the cleane contrarie intent were kept back from the studie of the Scriptures that they might be accustomed unto humane traditions For this by the foresaid author is expressely noted of those Hildebrandine Monkes that they permitted not yong men in their Monasteries to studie this saving knowledge to the end that their rude wit might be nourished with the huskes of divels which are the customes of humane traditions that being accustomed to such filth they might not taste how sweet the Lord was And even thus in the times following from Monkes to Friars and from them to secular Priests and Prelates as it were by tradition from hand to hand the like ungodly policie was continued of keeping the common people from the knowledge of the Scriptures as for other reasons so likewise that by this meanes they might be drawne to humane traditions Which was not onely observed by Erasmus before ever Luther stirred against the Pope but openly in a maner confessed afterwards by a bitter adversarie of his Petrus Sutor a Carthusian Monke who among other inconveniences for which he would have the people debarred from reading the Scripture alledgeth this also for one Whereas manie things are openly taught to be observed which are not to be expressely had in the holy Scriptures will not the simple people observing these things quickly murmure and complaine that so great burdens should be imposed upon them whereby the libertie of the Gospell is so greatly impaired Will not they also easily be drawne away from the observation of the ordinances of the Church when they shall observe that they are not contained in the Law of Christ Having thus therefore discovered unto these Deuterotae for so S. Hierome useth to style such Tradition-mongers both their grandfathers and their more immediat progenitors I passe now forward unto the second point OF THE REAL PRESENCE HOw farre the real presence of the bodie of Christ in the Sacrament is allowed or disallowed by us I have at large declared in an other place The summe is this That in the receiving of the blessed Sacrament we are to distinguish betweene the outward and the inward action of the Communicant In the outward with our bodily mouth wee receive really the visible elements of Bread and Wine in the inward wee doe by faith really receive the bodie and bloud of our Lord that is to say wee are truely and indeed made partakers of Christ crucified to the spirituall strengthning of our inward man They of the adverse part have made such a confusion of these things that for the first they do utterly denie that after the words of consecration there remaineth anie Bread or Wine at all to be received and for the second do affirme that the bodie and bloud of Christ is in such a maner present under the outward shewes of bread and wine that whosoever receiveth the one be he good or bad beleever or unbeleever doth therewith really receive the other We are therfore here put to prove that Bread is bread and Wine is wine a matter one would thinke that easily might be determined by common sense That which you see saith S. Augustine is the Bread and the Cup which your very eyes doe declare unto you But because we have to deale with men that will needs herein be senselesse wee will for this time referre them to Tertullians discourse of the five senses wishing they may be restored to the use of their five witts againe and ponder the testimonies of our Saviour Christ in the sixt of Iohn and in the words of the Institution which they oppose against all sense but in the end shall finde to be as opposit to this phantasticall conceit of theirs as anie thing can be Touching our Saviours speech of the eating of his flesh and the drinking of his bloud in the sixth of Iohn these five things specially may be observed First that the question betwixt our Adversaries us being not Whether Christs bodie be turned into bread but whether bread be turned into Christs bodie the words in S. Iohn if they be pressed literally serve more strongly to prove the former then the latter Secondly that this Sermon was uttered by our Saviour above a yeare before the celebration of his last Supper wherein the Sacrament of his bodie and bloud was instituted at which time none of his hearers could possibly have understood him to have spoken of the externall eating of him in the Sacrament Thirdly that by the eating of the flesh of Christ and the drinking of his bloud there is not here meant an externall eating or drinking with the mouth and throate of the bodie as the Iewes then and the Romanists farre more grossely then they have since imagined but an internall and a spirituall effected by a lively faith and the quickning spirit of Christ in the soule of the beleever For there is a spirituall mouth of the inner man as S. Basil noteth wherewith hee is nourished that is made partaker of the Word of life which is the bread that commeth downe from heaven Fourthly that this spirituall feeding upon the bodie and blood of Christ is not to be found in the Sacrament onely but also out of the Sacrament Fiftly that the eating of the flesh and the drinking of the bâ—ood here mentioned is of such excellent vertue that the receiver is thereby made to remaine in Christ and Christ in him and by that meanes certainly freed from dâ—ath and assured of everlasting life Which seeing it cannot be verified of the eating of the Sacrament whereof both the godly the wicked are partakers it proveth not onely that our Saviour did not here speake of the Sacramentall eating but further also that the thing which is delivered in the externall part of the Sacrament cannot be conceived to be really but sacramentally onely the flesh and blood of Christ. The first of these may be plainly seene in the Text where our Saviour doth not onely say I am the bread of life vers 48. and I am the living bread that came downe from heaven vers 51. but addeth also in the 55. verse For my flesh is meate indeed and my bloud is drinke indeed Which words being the
yee forgive anie thing I forgive also for if I forgave anie thing to whom I forgave it for your sakes I forgave it in the person of Christ. For as in the name and by the power of our Lord Iesus such a one was delivered to Satan so God having given unto him repentance to recover himselfe out of the snare of the Divell in the same name and in the same power was hee to be restored againe the ministers of reconciliation standing in Christs stead and Christ himselfe being in the mids of them that are thus gathered together in his name to binde or loose in heaven whatsoever they according to his commission shall binde or loose on earth And here it is to be noted that Anastasius by some called Nicaenus by others Sinaita and Antiochenus who is so eager against them which say that Confession made unto men profiteth nothing at all confesseth yet that the minister in hearing the confession and instructing and correcting the sinner doth but give furtherance onely thereby unto his repentance but that the pardoning of the sinne is the proper worke of God For man saith he cooperateth with man unto repentance and ministreth and buildeth and instructeth and reproveth in things belonging unto salvation according to the Apostle and the Prophet but God blotteth out the sinnes of those that have confessed saying I am he that blotteth out thine iniquities for mine owne sake and thy sinnes and will not remember them There followeth now another part of the ministery of reconciliation consisting in the due administration of the Sacraments which being the proper seales of the promises of the Gospell as the Censures are of the threats must therefore necessarily also have reference to the remission of sinnes And so we see the ancient Fathers doe hold that the commission Ioh. 20.23 Whose sinnes yee remit they are remitted unto them c. is executed by the ministers of Christ aswell in the conferring of Baptisme as in the reconciling of Penitents yet so in both these and in all the sacraments likewise of both the Testaments that the ministerie onely is to be accounted mans but the power Gods For as S. Augustin well observeth it is one thing to baptize by way of ministerie another thing to baptize by vvay of power the power of baptizing the Lord retayneth to himselfe the ministerie hee hath given to his servants the power of the Lords Baptisme was to passe from the Lord to no man but the ministery was the power was to be transferred from the Lord unto none of his ministers the ministery was both unto the good and unto the bad And the reason which hee assigneth hereof is verie good that the hope of the baptized might be in him by whom they did acknowledge themselves to have beene baptized The Lord therefore would not have a servant to put his hope in a servant And therefore those Schoolemen argued not much amisse that gathered this conclusion thence It is a matter of equall power to baptize inwardly and to absolve from mortall sinne But it vvas not fit that God should communicate the power of baptizing inwardly unto any lest our hope should be reposed in man Therefore by the same reason it was not fit that hee should communicate the power of absolving from actuall sinne unto any So Bernard or whosoever was the author of the booke intituled Scala Paradisi The office of baptizing the Lord granted unto many but the power and authoritie of remitting sinnes in baptisme he retayned unto himselfe alone whence Iohn by vvay of singularitie and differencing said of him He it is which baptizeth with the holy Ghost And the Baptist indeed doth make a singular difference betwixt the conferrer of the externall and the internall baptisme in saying I baptize with water but it is hee which baptizeth with the holy Ghost While Iohn did his service God did give who fayleth not in giving and now when all others doe their service the service is mans but the gift is Gods saith Optatus and Arnaldus Bonaevallensis the author of the twelve treatises de Cardinalibus operibus Christi falsely ascribed to S. Cyprian touching the Sacraments in generall Forgivenesse of sinnes whether it be given by Baptisme or by other sacraments is properly of the holy Ghost and the priviledge of effecting this remayneth to him alone But the word of reconciliation is it wherein the Apostle doth especially place that ministerie of reconciliation which the Lord hath committed to his Ambassadors here upon earth This is that key of knowledge which doth both open the conscience to the confession of sinne and include therein the grace of the healthfull mysterie unto eternitie as Maximus Taurinensis speaketh of it This is that powerfull meanes which God hath sanctified for the washing away of the pollution of our soules Now ye are cleane saith our Saviour to his Apostles through the word which I have spoken unto you And whereas everie transgressor is holden with the cords of his owne sinnes the Apostles according to the commission given unto them by their Master that whatsoever they should loose on earth should be loosed in heaven did loose those cords by the word of God and the testimonies of the Scriptures and exhortation unto vertues as saith S. Hierome Thus likewise doth S. Ambrose note that sinnes are remitted by the word of God whereof the Levite was an interpreter and a kinde of an executer in that respect concludeth that the Levite was a minister of this remission As the Iewish Scribes therefore by taking away the key of knowledge did shut up the kingdom of heaven against men so every Scribe which is instructed unto the kingdome of heaven by opening unto his hearers the doore of faith doth as it were unlock that kingdome unto them being the instrument of God herein to open mens eyes and to turne them from darkenesse to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgivenesse of sinnes and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith in Christ. And here are we to understand that the ministers of Christ by applying the word of God unto the consciences of men both in publick and in private doe discharge that part of their function which concerneth forgivenesse of sinnes partly operatively partly declaratively Operatively inasmuch as God is pleased to use their preaching of the Gospell as a meanes of conferring his spirit upon the sonnes of men of begetting them in Christ and of working faith and repentance in them whereby the remission of sinnes is obtayned Thus Iohn preaching the Baptisme of repentance for the remission of sinnes and teaching the people that they should beleeve on him which should come after him that is on Christ Iesus is said to turne manie of the children of Israel to the
his spirit in the mouth of his Prophets and of Noë in particular when God having said that his Spirit should not alwayes strive with man because he was flesh did in his long suffering wait the expiration of the time which he then did set for his amendment even an hundred and twentie yeares For which exposition the Aethiopian Translation maketh something where the Spirit by which Christ is sayd to have beene quickned and to have preached is by the Interpreter termed Manphes Kades that is the Holy Spirit the addition of which epithet wee may observe also to bee used by S. Paul in the mention of the resurrection and by S. Luke in the matter of the preaching of our Saviour Christ. for of the one we read Rom. 1.4 that he was declared to be the Sonne of God with power according to the Spirit of Holinesse or the most holy Spirit by the Resurrection from the dead and of the other Act. 1.2 that hee gave commandements to the Apostles by the holy Spirit Thus doth S. Hierome relate that a most prudent man for so he termeth him did understand this place He preached to the spirits put in prison when the patience of God did wayte in the dayes of Noë bringing in the flood upon the wicked as if this preaching were then performed when the patience of God did expect the conversion of those wicked men in the dayes of Noë S. Augustine more directly wisheth us to consider least happily all that which the Apostle Peter speaketh of the spirits shut up in prison which beleeved not in the dayes of Noë pertaine nothing at all unto Hell but rather to those times which hee compareth as a patterne with our times For Christ sayth he before ever hee came in the flesh to die for us which once he did came often before in the spirit to such as hee pleased admonishing them by visions in the spirit as hee pleased by which spirit hee was also quickened when in his passion hee was mortified in the flesh Venerable Bede and Walafridus Strabus in the Ordinarie Glosse after him set downe their mindes herein yet more resolutely He who in our times comming in the flesh preached the way of life unto the world even he himselfe also before the flood comming in the spirit preached unto them which then were unbeleevers and lived carnally For by his holy spirit hee was in Noë and the rest of the holy men which were at that time and by their good conveâ—sation preached to the wicked men of that age that they might bee converted to a better course of life The same exposition is followed by Anselmus Laudunensis in the Interlineary Glosse Thomas Aquinas in his Summe and diverse others in their Commentaries upon this place Yea since the Councell of Trent and in a booke written in defence of the faith of Trent Doctor Andradius professeth that hee thinketh this to bee the plaine meaning of the place In which spirit he himselfe long since comming that we may not imagine that hee now first undertooke the care of his Church did preach unto those spirits which now in prison doe suffer the dâ—served paines of their infidelitie forasmuch as they would not beleeve Noë giving them good counsaile and building the Arke by Gods appointment notwiâ—hstanding the patience of God did wayt for them very long to wit a hundred yeares or more which accordeth fully with that interpretation of S. Peters words which is delivered by the learned of our side In which spirit hee had gone and preached â—o them that now are spirits in prison because they disobeyed when the time was when the patience of God once wayted in the dayes of Noë vvhile the Arke was a preparing 1. Pet. 3.19 20. But there were diverse apocryphall scriptures and traditions afoot in the ancient Church which did so possesse mens mindes with the conceite of Christs preaching in Hell that they never sought for anie further meaning in S. Peters words as that sentence especially which was fathered upon the Prophet Esay or Ieremy and from whence if Cardinall Bellarmines wisedome may be heard it is credible that S. Peter tooke his words namely The Lord the holy one of Israel remembred his dead which slept in the earth of their graves and descended to them to preach unto them his salvation and that blinde tradition which Anastasius Sindita doth thus lay downe immediatly after his citation of S. Peters text It is now related among the old traditions that a certaine Scholler using many opprobrious speeches against Plato the philosopher Plato appeared unto him in his sleepe and said Man forbeare to use opprobrious speeches against mee for thereby thou hurtest thy selfe That I was a sinfull man I doe not denie but when Christ descended into Hell in verie deede none did beleeve in him before my selfe Nicetas Serronius reciteth this out of the histories of the Fathers which whether it bee to bee beleeved or no I leave saith he to be judged by the hearers as if any great matter of judgement should be requisite for the discerning of this to be as Bellarmine doth censure it a fable or as Dionysius Carthusianus before him an apocryphall dreame The like stuffe is that also which was vented heeretofore unto the world in the apocryphall gospell of Nicodemus to say nothing of that sentence which is read in the old Latin edition of the booke of Ecclesiasticus I will pearce all the lower-most parts of the earth and behold all that are asleepe and enlighten all them that hope in the Lord. which although it be not now to be found in the Greeke originall and hath perhaps another meaning then that to which it is applied yet is it made by the author of the imperfect worke upon Matthew one of the chiefe inducements which ledd him to thinke that our Saviour descended into Hell to visite there the soules of the righteous The tradition that of all others deserveth greatest consideration is the article of the Creed touching Christs descent into Hell which Genebrard affirmeth to have beene so hatefull to the Arrians that as Ambrose reporteth upon the fifth Chapter of the epistle to the Romanes they struck it quite out of the verie Creed But neither is there the least footstep of any such matter to be seene in S. Ambrose and it sufficiently appeareth otherwise that the Arrians did not onely adde this article unto their Creedes but also set it forth and amplified it with many wordes so farre off were they from being guiltie of suppressing it For as the Fathers of the first generall Councell held in the yeare of our Lord CCCXXV at Nice in Bithynia did publish a Creed against the Arrians so the Arrians on the other side in the yeare CCCLIX set out a Creed of their owne making in a Synod purposely kept by them at Nice in Thracia that by the ambiguitie of the
Councells name the simpler sort might be more easily induced to mistake this Nicene for that other Catholick Nicene Creed And whereas the true Nicene fathers had in their Creed omitted the article of the descent into Hell which as we shall afterwards heare out of Ruffinus was not to be had in the Symbols of the Easterne Churches these bastard fatherlings in their Nicene Creed did not onely insert this clause Hee descended to the places under the earth but added also for further amplification Whom Hell it selfe trembled at The like did they with the words a little altered in another Creed set out in a Conventicle gathered at Constantinople and in a third Creed likewise framed by them at Sirmium and confirmed the same yeare in their great Councell at Ariminum they put it in with a more large augmentation after this maner He descended to the places under the earth and disposed things there vvhom the keepers of Hell gates seeing shooke for feare If therefore any fault were committed in the omission of this article it should touch the Orthodoxe Fathers of Nice and Constantinople rather whom the Latines disputing with the Grecians in the Councell of Ferrara do directly charge with subtracting this article from the Apostles Creed although they free them from blame in so doing because they that tooke it away say they did not denie it nor fight against the truth But first they should have shewed that the Fathers of Nice and Constantinople did finde this article of Christs descent into Hell in the Apostles Creed before they excused them from taking it away from thence For the Creed of the Councell of Constantinople which coÌ„monly goeth under the name of the Nicene Creed being nothing else but an explanation a more ample inlargement of the Creed Apostolicall yea and so fully expressing the same that it selfe hath beene heretofore accounted and named the Apostles Creed it is not to be thought that it would leave out any article eyther unexplained or altogether unnamed which was then commonly beleeved to have beene any parcell of the Creed received from the Apostles Adde hereunto the ingenuous confession of Busaeus the Iesuite in his positions touching Christs descent into Hell S. Cyprian or Ruffinus rather in his exposition of the Creed denyeth that this article is read in the Creed of the Church of Rome or the Churches of the East and some of the most ancient Fathers while either they gather up the summe of the Christian faith or expound the Creed of the Apostles have omitted this point of doctrine But at what time it was inserted in the Creed it cannot certainely bee determined The first particular Church that is knowne to have inserted this article into her Creeed is that of Aquileia which added also the attributes of invisible and impassible unto God the Father almightie in the beginning of the Creed as appeareth by Ruffinus who framed his exposition of the Creed according to the order used in that Church But whether any other Church in the world for 500. yeares after Christ did follow the Aquileians in putting the one of these additions to the Apostolicall Creed more then the other can hardly I suppose bee shewed by any approved testimonie of antiquitie Cardinall Bellarmine noteth that S. Augustine in his booke de Fide Symbolo and in his foure bookes de Symbolo ad Catechumenos maketh no mention of this part when hee doth expound the whole Creed fiue seuerall times Nay Petrus Chrysologus who was archbishop of Ravenna 450. years after Christ doth six severall times goe over the exposition of the Creed and yet never medleth with this article The like also may be observed in Maximus Taurinensis his exposition of the Creed For as for the two Latin expositions thereof that go under the name of S. Chrysostom the latter whereof hath it the former hath it not and the oâ—hers that are found in the tenth Tome of S Augustins works among the Sermons de Tempore foure of which doe repeat it two doe omitt it because the authors of them together with the time wherein they were written be altogether unknowne they can bring us little light in this inquiry Neyther is there heereby any whit more derogated from the credit of this article then there is from others whose authority is acknowledged to bee undoubted and â—eyond all exception as namely that of our Saviours death and the Communion of Saints the one whereof as sufficiently implied in the article of the Crucifixion as a consequent or the buriall as a necessarie antecedent thereof the other as virtually contayned in the article of the Church wee finde omitted not in the Constantinopolitan Symboll alone and in the ancient Apostolicall Creeds expounded by Ruffinus Maximus and Chrysologus but also in those that are extant in Venantius Fortunatus 580. and in Etherius and Beatus 785. yeares after Christ. In all which likewise may bee noted that the title of Maker of heaven and earth is not given to the Father in the beginning of the Creed which out of the Creed of Constantinople wee see is now every where added thereunto Of which additions as there is now no question any where made so by the consent of both sides this of the descent into Hell also is now numbred among the articles of the Apostles Creed For the Scripture having expressely testified that the prophecie of the Psalmist Thou shalt not leave my soule in Hell was verified in Christ S. Augustins conclusion must necessarily be inferred thereupon Who therefore but an Infidell will denie that Christ was in Hell Thus all agree that Christ did some maner of way descend into Hell saith Cardinall Bellarmine But the whole question is touching the exposition of this article The common exposition which the Romish Divines give thereof is this that by Hell is here understood not that place wherein the wicked are tormented but the bosome of Abraham wherein the godly Fathers of the old Testament rested for whose deliverie from thence they say our Saviour tooke his journey thither But S. Augustin in that same place wherein he counteth it a point of infidelitie to denie the going of Christ into Hell gain sayeth this exposition thereof professing that he could finde the name of Hell no where given unto that place wherein the soules of the righteous did rest Wherefore saith he if the holy Scripture had said that Christ being dead did come unto the bosome of Abraham not having named Hell and the paines thereof I marvayle vvhether any would have beene so bold as to have avouched that Christ descended into Hell But because evident testimonies doe make mention both of Hell and paines I see no cause why our Saviour should be beleeved to have come thither but that he should deliver men from the paines thereof And therefore what benefite
beginning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our Fatâ—er which art in Hádes which I for my part will then beleeve to be true when I shall see one of those old copies with mine owne eyes But in the meane time for Hádes it hath beene sufficiently declared before out of good authors that it signifieth the place of soules departed in generall and so is of extent large enough to comprehend under it as well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Damascius speaketh that part of Hádes or the unseene vvorld which is in heaven as that which by Iosephus is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the darker Hades and in the Gospell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 outer darknesse And as for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the other word in the Acts of the Apostles it is used ten times and in none of all those places signifieth anie descending from a higher place unto a lower but a removing simply from one place unto another Whereupon the Vulgar Latin edition which none of the Romanists upon any pretense may presume to reject doth render it there by the generall termes of abeo venio devenio supervenio and where it retayneth the word descendo it intendeth nothing lesse then to signifie thereby the lower situation of the place unto which the removeall is noted to be made If descending therfore in the Acts of the Apostles imply no such kind of thing what necessitie is there that thus of force it must be interpreted in the Creed of the Apostles Menelaus declared unto us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith King Antiochus in his epistle unto the Iewes 2. Maccab. 11.29 Velle vos descendere ad vestros it is in the Latin edition whereby what else is meant but that they had a desire to goe unto their owne I omitt the phrases of descending in praelium in forum in campum in amicitiam in caussam c. which are so usuall in good Latin authors yea and of descending into heaven it selfe if that be not a jeast which the Poet breaketh upon Claudius Ille senis tremulumque caput descendere jussit In coelum Others adde unto this that the phrase of descending ad inferos is a popular kinde of speech which sprung from the opinion that was vulgarly conceived of the situation of the receptâ—cle of the soules under the earth and that according to the rule of Aristoâ—le in his Topâ—cks we must speake as the vulgar but thinke as wise men doe Even as wee use to say commonly that the Sunne is under a cloude because it is a vulgar forme of speech and yet it is farre enough from our meaning for all that to imagine the cloude to bee indeede higher then the Sunne So Cicero they say where ever hee hath occasion to mention any thing that concerneth the dead speaketh still of Inferi according to the vulgar phrase although hee misliked the vulgar opinion which bred that maner of speaking and professed it to bee his judgement that the soules when they depart out of the body are carried up on high not downward unto any habitations under the earth So Chrysostom and Theophylact thinke that the Apostle tearmed the Death and Hell unto which our Saviour did descend the lower parts of the earth Ephes. 4.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the common opinion of men So in the translation of the holy Scripture S. Hierome sheweth that wee use the names of Arcturus and Orion not approving thereby the ridiculous and monstrous figments of the Poets in this matter but expressing the Hebrew names of these constellations by the vvords of heathenish fables because we cannot understand that which is sayd but by those words which we have learned by use and drunke in by error And just so standeth the case with this word Hades which with the Gâ—eeke Poets is the name of Pluto whom they fayned to be the God of the dead under the earth gave a denomination unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from riches because that all things comming to their dissolution there is nothing which is not at last brought unto him and made his possession Thus Homer and Hesiod with Plato and others after them say that Rhea brought forth three sonnes to Saturne Iupiter Neptune 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and mightie Hades who inhabiteth the houses under the earth having a mercilesse heart for that attribute doth Hesiod give unto him because Death spareth no man So Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is also the description that Hesiod maketh of him in that verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hades was afraid who raigneth over them that lye dead in the earth Now that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Creed is a phrase taken from the heathen and applied to expresse a Christian truth the very Grammaticaâ—l construction may seeme to intimate where the nowne is not put in the accusative case as otherwise it should but after the maner of the Greekes in the genitive case implying the defect of another word necessarily to be understood as if it had beene said He went unto the place or house of Hades as the Poets use to expresse it sometimes defectively 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sometimes more fully 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the house or chambers of Hádes Thus then they that take Hádes for the common receptacle of soules doe interpret the context of the Creed as Cardinall Cajetan before did the narration of Moses touching Abrahams giving up the ghost being gathered to his people and being buried Genes 25.8 9. that the article of the death is to be râ—ferred to the whole manhood and the dissolution of the parts thereof that of the buriall to the body sâ—parated from the soule and this of the descending into Hádes to the soule separated fâ—om the body as if he had said He suffered death truely by a reall separation of his soule from his bodie and after this dissolution the same did befall him that useth to betide all other dead men his livelesse bodie was sent unto the place which is appointed to receive dead bodies and his immortall soule went unto the other world as the soules of other men use to doe Having now declared how the Greek Hádes and so the Latine Inferi and our English Hell is taken for the place of the bodies and of the soules of dead men severally it followeth that we shew how the common state of the dead is signified thereby and the place in generall which is answerable unto the parts of the whole man thus indefinitely considered in the state of separation Concerning which that place of Dionysius wherein he setteth forth the signification of our being dead and buried with Christ by Baptisme is to be considered Forasmuch as death is in us not an utter extinguishment of our being as others have thought but a separation of the united parts
this service that it is usually put for the whole and the publick place of Gods worship hath from hence given it the denomination of the house of prayer Furthermore hee that heareth our prayers must be able to search the secrets of our hearts and discerne the inward disposition of our soules For the pouring out of good words and the offering up of externall sighes and teares are but the carkase only of a true prayer the life thereof consisteth in the pouring out of the very soule it selfe and the sending up of those secret groanes of the spirit which cannot be uttered But he that searcheth the hearts and onely he knoweth vvhat is the minde of the spirit he heareth in heaven his dwelling place and giveth to every man according to his wayes whose heart he knoweth for he even he ONELY knoweth the hearts of all the children of men as Salomon teacheth us in the praier which he made at the dedication of the Temple wherunto we may add that golden sentence of his father David for a conclusion O thou that hearest prayer unto thee shall all flesh come If it be further here obâ—ected by us that we finde neyther precept nor example of any of the Fathers of the old Testament whereby this kinde of pâ—aying to the soules of the Saints departed may be warranted Cardinall Bellarmine will give us a reason for it for therefore saith he the spirits of the Patriarches and the Prophets before the comming of Christ were neyther so worshipped nor invocated as we doe now worship and invocate the Apostles and Martyrs because that they were detayned as yet shut up in the prisons of Hell But if this reason of his be grounded upon a false foundation as we have alreadie shewed it to be and the contrary supposition be most true that the spirits of the Patriarchs and Prophets were not thus shut up in the prisons of Hell then have we foure thousand yeares prescription left unto us to oppose against this innovation We go further yet and urge against them that in the New Testament it selfe we can descry no footsteps of this new kinde of Invocation more then we did in the Scriptures of the old Testament For this Salmeron doth tell us that the Scriptures vvhich were made and published in the primitive Church ought to found and explaine Christ who by the tacite suggestion of the Spirit did bring the Saints with him and that it would have beene a hard matter to enjoyne this to the Iewes and to the Gentiles an occasion would be given thereby to thinke that many Gods were put upon them in steed of the multitude of the Gods whom they had forsaken So this new worship you see fetcheth his originall neyther from the Scriptures of the Old nor of the New Testament but from I know not what tacite suggestion which smelt so strongly of Idolatry that at first it was not safe to acquaint eyther the Iewes or the Gentiles therewith But if any such sweet tradition as this were at first delivered unto the Church by Christ and his Apostles we demand further how it should come to passe that for the space of 360. yeares together after the birth of our Saviour we can finde mention no where of any such thing For howsoever our Challenger giveth it out that prayer to Saints was of great account amongst the Fathers of the primitive Church for the first 400. years after Christ yet for nine parts of that time I dare be bold to say that he is not able to produce as much as one true testimonie out of any Father whereby it may appeare that any account at all was made of it and for the tithe too he shall finde perhaps before we have done that he is not like to carry it away so cleerly as he weeneth Whether those blessed spirits pray for us is not the question here but whether we are to pray unto them That God onely is to be prayed unto is the doctrine that was once delivered unto the Saints for which we so earnestly contend the Saints praying for us doth no way crosse this for to whom should the Saints pray but to the King of Saints their being prayed unto is the onely stumbling block that lyeth in this way And therefore in those first times the former of these was admitted by some as a matter of probabilitie but the latter no way yeelded unto as being derogatorie to the priviledge of the Deitie Origen may be a witnesse of both who touching the former writeth in this sort I doe thinke thus that all those fathers who are departed this life before us doe fight with us and assist us with their prayers for so have I heard one of the elder Masters saying and in another place Moreover if the Saints that have left the body and be with Christ doe any thing and labour for us in like maner as the Angels do vvho are imployed in the ministery of our salvation let this also remaine among the hidden things of God and the mysteries that are not to be committed unto writing But because he thought that the Angels and Saints prayed for us did he therefore hold it needfull that we should direct our prayers unto them Heare I pray you his owne answer in his eighth booke against Celsus the philosopher We must endevour to please God alone who is above all things and labour to have him propitious unto us procuring his good will with godlinesse and all kinde of vertue And if Celsus will yet have us to procure the good will of any others after him that is God over all let him consider that as when the body is moved the motion of the shadow thereof doth follow it so in like maner having God favourable unto us who is over all it followeth that we shall have all his friends both Angels and soules and spirits loving unto us For they have a fellow-feeling with them that are thought worthy to finde favour from God Neyther are they only favourable unto such as be thus worthy but they worke with them also that are willing to doe service unto him who is God over all are friendly to them and pray with them and intreate with them So as wee may be bold to say that when men which with resolution propose unto them selves the best things doe pray unto God many thousands of the sacred powers pray together vvith them UNSPOKEN to Celsus had said of the Angels that they belong to God and in that respect we are to put our trust in them and make oblations to them according to the lawes and pray unto them that they may be favourable to us To this Origen answereth in this maner Away with Celsus his counsell saying that we must pray to Angels and let us not so much as afford any little audience to it For we must pray to him alone who is God over all
third chapter Whatsoever yee do in word or deed doe all in the name of the Lord Iesus giving thankes to God and the Father by him for because they commanded men to worship Angels saith Theodoret he injoyneth the contrary that they should adorne their words and their deeds with the commemoration of our Lord Christ and send up thankesgiving to God and the Father by him saith he and not by the Angels The Synod of Laodicea also following this rule and desiring to heale that old disease made a law that they should not pray unto Angels nor forsake our Lord Iesus Christ. and againe upon the second chapter of the same epistle This vice continued in Phrygia and Pisidia for a long time for which cause also the Synod assembled in Laodicea the chiefe city of Phrygia forbad them by a Law to pray unto Angels And even to this day among them and their borderers there are Oratories of S. Michael to be seene The like hath Oecumenius after him upon the same place This custome continued in Phrygia insomuch that the Councell of Laodicea did by a Law forbid to come unto Angels and to pray unto them from whence it is also that there be many Churches of Michael the chiefe captaine of Gods hoste among them This Canon of the Laodicean Fathers Photius doth note to have beene made against the Angelites or the Angelickes rather for so doâ—h S. Augustin name those heretickes that were inclined to the worship of Angels being from thence called Angelici as Isidorus noteth because they did worship Angels To transcribe here at large the severall testimonies of the Fathers which condemne this worshipping of Angels or any other creature whatsoever would be an endlesse worke Gregory Nyssen in the beginning of his fourth or fifth book rather against Eunomius layeth this downe for an undoubted principle That none of those things which have their being by creation is to be worshipped by men the word of God hath by law ordayned as almost out of all the holy Scripture vve may learne Moses the Tables the Law the Prophets afterward the Gospels the determinations of all the Apostles doe equally forbid the looking unto the creature Then having shewed that the neglect of this was the cause of the bringing in of a multitude of Gods among the Heathen least the same things should happen unto us saith he who are instructed by the Scripture to looke unto the true Deitie we are taught to understand that whatsoever is created is a different thing from the divine nature and that we are to worship and adore that nature only which is uncreated whose character and marke is that it neyther at any time beganne to be nor ever shall cease to be But our Romanists have long since overthrown this principle and so altered Moses and the Tables and the Law that of the 24. mortall sinnes whereby they say the first Commandement is broken they reckon the first to be committed by him Qui colit extra Deum vel Sanctos quodque creatum who worshippeth any created thing beside God and the Saints And whereas Antonius in his Melissa had set downe the foresaid sentence of Nyssen that vve have learned to worship and adore that nature ONELY which is uncreated the Spanish Inquisitors have taken order that a peece of his tongue should be cut off and given commandement that the word ONELY should be blotted out of his writing not considering that this was the principall word upon which the whole sentence of Nyssen mainely did depend and that Nyssen was not the onely man that had taught us this lesson Athanasius before him had used the very same argument against the Arrians to prove that the Sonne of God was of an uncreated nature For Peter the Apostle saith he did forbid Cornelius when he vvould have worshipped him saying Because I my selfe also am a man Act. 10.26 The Angell also did forbid Iohn when he would have worshipped him in the Revelation saying See thou doe it not for I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren the Prophets and of them which keepe the sayings of this book worship God Revel 22.9 Wherefore it appertayneth to God only to be worshipped and this doe the Angels themselves know well that although they doe surpasse others in glory yet they are all but creatures and are in the number not of those that are to be adored but of them that adore the Lord. So we have heard S. Ambrose before reprehending those that doe adore their fellow servants And Epiphanius refuting the heresie of the Collyridians concludeth that neyther Elias nor Iohn nor Thecla nor any of the Saints is to be worshipped For that ancient error saith he shall not prevayle over us to forsake the living God and to worship the things that are made by him for they served and worshipped the creature above the Creator and became fooles For if hee will not have the Angels to be worshipped how much more would he not have her that was borne of Anna Let Mary then be had in honour but let the Lord be worshipped Lastly S. Augustin to omit all others in the book which he wrote of true religion delivereth this for one of the maine grounds thereof that the worshipping of men that are dead should be no part of our religion because saith he if they did live piously they are not held to be such as would seeke that kinde of honour but would have him to be worshipped of us by whose enlightening they doe rejoyce that we are made partners of their merit They are to be honoured therefore for imitation not to be adored for religion The same doth he also there say of Angels that we doe honour them with love not with service neyther do we build temples unto them For it is not their desire that they should be so honoured by us because they know that we our selves if wee be good are the temples of the high God and therefore it is rightly written that a man was forbidden by an Angell that he should nor worship him but God alone under whom he was his fellow servant Revel 22.9 But what saith Cardinall Bellarmine now thinke you unto these testimonies of the Fathers I say saith he not knowing indeed what he saith nor wherof he affirmeth that they doe speake against the errours of the Gentiles who of wicked men did make true Gods and did offer sacrifices unto them wherein you may discerne the just hand of God confounding the mans witts that would thus abuse his learning to the upholding of Idolatry For had he been here his owne man and not been strangely overtaken with the spirit of slumber he could no possibly have fayled so fowly as to reckon the Angels the Saints the verie mother of God her self of whom these Fathers do expressely speake in the number of those wicked persons whom the Gentiles did
so purposed to reward them Afterwards he proveth out of the Apostle Rom. 6.23 that eternall life is given out of Gods grace not out of our righteousnesse and that God in thus rewarding us doth neither exercise commutative justice because in our good workes we give nothing unto God for which by way of commutation the reward should be due unto us nor yet distributive because no man by working well in regard of himselfe and in regard of the state wherein he is doth merit any thing of condignitie but is bound to God rather by a greater obligation because he hath received greater good things from him And thereupon at last concludeth that God is just in rewarding because by his just disposition he hath ordained by the grace of acceptation to crowne the lesser merit with the greater reward not by the justice of debt but by the grace and disposition of the divine good pleasure But the sentence of the Chancellour and the Theologicall facultie of Paris in the yeere 1354. against one Guido an Austin Fryar that then defended the merit of condignitie is not to be overpassed For by their order this forme of recantation was prescribed unto him I said against a Bachelour of the order of the Fryars Preachers in conference with him that a man doth merit everlasting life of condignitie that is to say that in case it were not given there should injurie be done unto him I wrote likewise that God should doe him iniurie and approved it This I revoke as FALSE HERETICALL and BLASPHEMOVS Yet now the times are so changed and men in them that our new Divines of Rhemes stick not to tell us that it is most cleare to all not blinded in pride and contention that good workes be meritorious and the very cause of salvation so far that God should be unjust if he rendred not heaven for the same where to the judgement of the indifferent Reader I referre it whether side in this case is more likely to have beene blinded in pride we who abase our selves before Gods footstoole and utterly disclaime all our owne merits or they who have so high a conceit of them that they dare in this presumptuous manner to challenge God of injustice if he should judge them to deserve a lesse reward than Heaven it selfe and whether that sentence of our Saviour Christ be not fulfilled in them as well as in the proud and blinde Pharisees their predecessors For judgement I am come into this world that they which see not might see and that they which see might be made blinde And so leaving these blinde leaders of the blinde who say they see by that meanes making their sinne to remaine and say they are rich and increased with goods not knowing that they are wretched and miserable and poore and blinde and naked I proceed and out of the fifteenth Century or Hundred of yeeres after Christ produce other two witnesses of this truth The one is Paulus Burgensis who expounding those words of David Psalm 36.5 Thy mercy O Lord is in heaven or reacheth unto the heavens writeth thus No man according to the common law can merit by condignitie the glory of heaven whence the Apostle saith in the 8. to the Romans that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the future glory which shall be revealed in us and so it is manifest that in heaven most of all the mercy of God shineth forth in the blessed The other is Thomas Walden who living in England the same time that the other did in Spaine professeth plainly his dislike of that saying that a man by his merits is worthy of the kingdome of heaven or this grace or that glory howsoever certaine Schoolemen that they might so speake had invented the tearmes of Condignitie and Congruitie But I repute him saith he the sounder Divine the more faithfull Catholicke and more consonant with the holy Scriptures who doth simply denie such merit and with the qualification of the Apostle and of the Scriptures confesseth that simply no man meriteth the kingdome of heaven but by the grace of God or will of the giver as all the former Saints untill the late Schoolemen and the universall Church hath written Out of which words of his you may further observe both the time when and the persons by whom this innovation was made in these latter daies of the Church namely that the late Schoolemen were they that corrupted the ancient doctrine of the Church and to that end devised their new termes of the merit of congruitie and condignitie I say in these latter daies because if we looke unto higher times Walden himselfe in that same place doth affirme that it was a branch of the Pelagian heresie to hold that according to the measure of meritorious workes God will reward a man so meriting Neither indeed can this proud generation of Merit-mongers be derived from a more proper stocke than from the old either Pelagians or Catharists For as these doe now adaies maintaine that they doe worke by their owne free-will and thereby deserve their salvation so was this wont to be a part of Pelagius his song No man shall take away from me the power of free-will lest if God be my helper in my workes the reward be not due to me but to him that did worke in me And to glory of their merits was a speciall property noted in the Catharists or ancient Puritans who standing thus upon their owne puritie doe thereby declare as Cassiodorus noteth that they have no portion with the holy Church which professeth that her sinnes are many Nay while these men call themselves Puritans saith Epiphanius by this very ground they prove themselves to be impure for whosoever pronounceth himselfe to be pure doth therein absolutely condemne himselfe to be impure For as S. Hierome in this case disputeth against the Pelagians and so against the Puritan and Pelagian Romanists then are we righteous when we confesse our selves to be sinners and our righteousnesse consisteth not in our owne merits but in Gods mercy with whose resolution against them we will now conclude this point against their new off-spring that the righteous are saved not by their owne merit but by Gods clemencie And thus have I gone over all the particular articles propounded by our Challenger and performed therein more a great deale than he required at my hands That which he desired in the name of his felloâ—es was that we would alleage but any one Text of Scripture which condemneth any of the above written points He hath now presented unto him not texts of Scripture only but testimonies of the Fathers also justifying our dissâ—nt from them not in one but in all those points wherein he was so confident that they of our side that had read the Fathers could well testifie that all antiquitie did in judgement concurre with
of the holy Scripture Or will you say that although they knew the Scriptures to repugne yet they brought in the aforesaid opinions by malice and corrupt intentions Why your selves cannot deny but that they lived most holy and vertuous lives free from all malitious corrupting or perverting of Gods holy word and by their holy lives are now made worthy to raigne with God in his glory Insomuch as their admirable learning may sufficiently crosse out all suspition of ignorant errour and their innocent sanctity freeth us from all mistrust of malitious corruption But by his leave hee is a little too hastie Hee were best to bethink himselfe more advisedly of that which he hath undertaken to performe and to remember the saying of the King of Israel unto Benhadad Let not him that girdeth on his harnesse boast himselfe as he that putteth it off Hee hath taken upon him to prove that our Religon cannot be true because it disalloweth of many chiefe articles which the Saints and Fathers of that primitive Church of Rome did generally hold to be true For performance hereof it wil not be sufficient for him to shew that some of these Fathers maintained some of these opinions he must prove if hee will be as good as his word and deale any thing to the purpose that they held them generally and held them too not as opinions but tanquam de fide as appertayning to the substance of faith and religion For as Vincentius Lirinensis well observeth the auncient consent of the holy Fathers is with great care to be sought and followed by us not in every petty question belonging to the Law of God but only or at least principally in the Rule of faith But all the points propounded by our Challenger be not chiefe articles and therefore if in some of them the Fathers have held some opinions that will not beare waight in the ballance of the Sanctuary as some conceits they had herein which the Papists themselves must confesse to be erroneous their defects in that kinde doe abate nothing of that reverend estimation which we have them in for their great paines taken in the defence of the true Catholick Religion and the serious studie of the holy Scripture Neither doe I thinke that he who thus commendeth them for the pillers of Christianitie and the champions of Christs Church will therefore hold himselfe tyed to stand unto every thing that they have said sure he will not if he follow the steppes of the great ones of his owne Societie For what doth hee thinke of Iustin Martyr Irenaeus and Epiphanius Doth he not account them among those pillers and champions hee speaketh of Yet saith Cardinall Bellarmine I doe not see how we may defend their opinion from error When others object that they have two or three hundred testimonies of the Doctors to prove that the Virgin Mary was conceived in sinne Salmeron the Iesuite steps forth and answereth them first out of the doctrine of Augustine and Thomas that the argument drawne from authoritie is weake then out of the word of God Exod. 23. In judicio plurimorum non acquiesces sententiae ut á vero devies In judgement thou shalt not be ledde with the sentence of the most to decline from the truth And lastly telleth them that when the Donatists gloried in the multitude of authors S. Augustin did answer them that it was a signe their cause was destitute of the strength of truth which was onely supported by the authority of many who were subject to error And when his Adversaries presse him not onely with the multitude but also with the antiquitie of the Doctors alledged unto which more honour alwayes hath beene given then unto novelties he answereth that indeed every age hath alwayes attributed much unto antiquity and every old man as the Poët saith is a commender of the time past but this saith he vvee averre that the yonger the Doctors are the more sharpe-sighted they be And therefore for his part he yeeldeth rather to the judgement of the yonger Doctors of Paris among whom none is held worthy of the title of a Master in Divinitie who hath not first bound himselfe with a religious oath to defend and maintaine the priviledge of the B. Virgin Only he forgot to tell how they which take that oath might dispense with another oath which the Pope requireth them to take that they will never understand and interprete the holy Scripture but according to the uniforme consent of the Fathers Pererius in his disputations upon the Epistle to the Romans confesseth that the Greeke Fathers and not a few of the Latine Doctors too have delivered in their writings that the cause of the predestination of men unto everlasting life is the foreknowledge which God had from eternitie either of the good workes which they were to doe by cooperating with his grace or of the faith wherby they were to beleeve the word of God to obey his calling And yet he for his part notwithstanding thinketh that this is contrary to the holy Scripture but especially to the doctrine of S. Paul If our Questionist had beene by him hee would have pluckt his fellow by the sleeve and taken him up in this maner Will you say that these Fathers maintained this opinion contrary to the word of God Why you know that they were the pillers of Christianity the Champions of Christ his Church and of the true Catholick religion which they most learnedly defended against diverse heresies and therefore spent all their time in a most serious studie of the holy Scripture He would also perhaps further challenge him as he doth us Will you say that although they knew the Scriptures to repugne yet they brought in the aforesaid opinion by malice corrupt intentions For sure hee might have asked this wise question of any of his owne fellowes as well as of us who doe allow and esteeme so much of these blessed Doctors and Martyrs of the ancient Church as he himselfe in the end of his Challenge doth acknowledge which verily we should have little reason to doe if wee did imagine that they brought in opinions which they knew to be repugnant to the Scriptures for any malice or corrupt intentions Indeed men they were compassed with the common infirmities of our nature and therefore subject unto error but godly men and therefore free from all malicious error Howsoever then we yeeld unto you that their innocent sanctitie freeth us from all mistrust of malitious corruption yet you must pardon us if wee make question whether their admirable learning may sufficiently crosse out all suspicion of error which may arise either of affection or want of due consideration or such ignorance as the very best are subject unto in this life For it is not admirable learning that is sufficient to crosse out that suspicion but such an immediate guidance of the holy Ghost as the Prophets and Apostles were
led by who were the penners of the Canocicall Scripture But this is your old wont to blinde the eyes of the simple with setting forth the sanctitie and the learning of the Fathers much after the maner of your grandfather Pelagius who in the third of his bookes which hee writ in defence of Free-will thought he had struck all dead by his commending of S. Ambrose Blessed Ambrose the Bishop saith he in whose bookes the Romane faith doth especially appeare who like a beautifull flowre shined among the Latin writers whose faith and most pure understanding in the Scriptures the enemy himselfe durst not reprehend Vnto whom S. Augustine Behold with what and how great prayses he extolleth a man though holy and learned yet not to be compared unto the authoritie of the Canonicall Scripture And therefore advance the learning and holinesse of these worthy men as much as you list other answer you are not like to have from us then that which the same S. Augustine maketh unto S. Hierome This reverence and honour have I learned to give to those bookes of Scripture only which now are called Canonical that I most firmely beleeve none of their authors could any whit erre in writing But others I so reade that with how great sanctitie and learning soever they doe excell I therefore thinke not any thing to be true because they so thought it but because they were able to perswade mee either by those Canonicall authors or by some probable reason that it did not swarve from truth Yet even to this field also doe our challengers provoke us and if the Fathers authority will not suffice they offer to produce good and certaine grounds out of the sacred Scriptures for confirmation of all the points of their religion which they have mentioned yea further they challenge any Protestant to alledge any one text out of the said Scripture which condemneth any of the above written points At which boldnesse of theirs wee should much wonder but that wee consider that Bankrupts commonly doe then most brag of their ability when their estate is at the lowest perhaps also that Ignorance might be it that did beget in them this Boldnesse For if they had been pleased to take the advice of their learned Counsell their Canonists would have told them touching Confession which is one of their points that it were better to hold that it was ordained by a certaine tradition of the universall Church then by the authority of the New or Old Testament Melchior Canus could have put them in minde that it is no where expressed in Scripture that Christ descended into Hell to deliver the soules of Adam and the rest of the Fathers which were detayned there And Dominicus Bannes that the holy Scriptures teach neither expressé nor yet impressé involuté that prayers are to be made unto Saints or that their Images are to be worshipped Or if the testimony of a lesuite will more prevayle with them that Images should be vvorshipped Saints prayed unto Auricular Confession frequented Sacrifices celebrated both for the quicke and the dead and other things of this kind Fr. Coster would have to be reckoned among divine Traditions which be not laid downe in the Scriptures Howsoever yet the matter standeth we have no reason but willingly to accept of their challenge and to require them to bring forth those good and certaine grounds out of the sacred Scriptures for confirmation of all the articles by them propounded as also to let them see whether we be able to alledge any Text of Scripture which condemneth any of those points Although I must confesse it will be a hard matter to make them see any thing which before hand have resolved to close their eyes having their mindes so preoccupied with prejudice that they professe before ever we begin they hold for certaine that wee shall never be able to produce any such Text. And why thinke you because forsooth we are neither more learned more pious nor more holy then the blessed Doctors and Martyrs of that first Church of Rome As who should say we yeelded at the first word that all those blessed Doctors and Martyrs expounded the Scriptures every where to our disadvantage or were so well perswaded of the tendernesse of a Iesuites conscience that because he hath taken an oath never to interpret the Scripture but according to the uniforme consent of the Fathers he could not therefore have the forehead to say I doe not deny that I have no author of this interpretation yet doe I so much the rather approve it then that other of Augustines though the most probable of all the rest because it is more contrary to the sense of the Calvinists which to mee is a great argument of probabilitie Or as if lastly a man might not dissent from the ancient Doctors so much as in an exposition of a Text of Scripture but hee must presently make himselfe more learned more pious and more holy then they were Yet their great Tostatus might have taught them that this argument holdeth not Such a one knoweth some conclusion that Augustine did not know therefore he is wiser then Augustine Because as a certaine skilfull Physician said the men of our time being compared vvith the ancient are like unto a little man set upon a Giants neck compared with the Giant himselfe For as that little man placed there seeth whatsoever the Giant seeth and somewhat more and yet if he be taken downe from the Giants neck would see little or nothing in comparison of the Giant even so we being setled upon the wits and workes of the ancient it were not to be wondred nay it should be very agreeable unto reason that we should see whatsoever they saw and somewhat more Though yet saith he wee doe not professe so much And even to the same effect speaketh Friar Stella that though it be farre from him to condemne the common exposition given by the ancient holy Doctors yet he knoweth full well that Pygmeis being put upon Gyants shoulders doe see further then the Gyants themselves Salmeron addeth that by the increase of time divine mysteries have beene made knowen which before were hid from many so that to know them now is to be attributed unto the benefite of the time not that we are better then our Fathers were Bishop Fisher that it cannot be obscure unto any that many things as well in the Gospels as in the rest of the Scriptures are now more exquisitely discussed by latter wits and more clearely understood then they have beene heretofore Either by reason that the yce was not as yet broken unto the ancient neither did their age suffice to weigh exactly that vvhole sea of the Scriptures or because in this most large field of the Scriptures even after the most diligent reapers some eares will remaine to be gathered as yet untouched Hereupon Cardinall Caietan in the beginning of