rather then in faith although it was such an error in discipline as gaue the onset to one of the greatest errors of y e pope I meane his supremacie which then was reiected and countermaunded of all sides Therefore I will come to Pope Liberius who at the first manfully resisted the Arrians insomuch that for his constancie hée was by the Emperor Constantius put out of his Bishopricke and driuen into banishment But afterward being ouercome with tediousnes of banishment and seduced by one Fortunatianus as S. Hierome affirmeth he subscribed to the Arrian heresie and was restored to his See at Rome from whence he chased Foelix that occupied the place in his absence Thus haue you a Pope deniyng the eternal diuinitie of our sauiour Christ conuicted of heresie by y e testimonie of Hieronime one that liued in the same Churche not long after Héere the Papistes stampe and starcle denying the testimonie of Hieronyme as sufficient Yet thus muche at least is gayned that Hieronyme beleeued not this Popishe principle The Pope cannot erre for then hee woulde not haue affirmed that Pope Liberius subscribed vnto hereise But yf Hieronyme alone bée not sufficient what say you to Anthanasius Is hée a credible witnesse Hée liued in the time of Liberius and knewe him hee affirmeth the same of him But if Athanasius bée not great enough to carry away the matter what say you to Pope Damasus one of his successours coulde hée erre or no Uerily Pope Damasus chargeth him with reuolting vnto heresie saying That hée subscribed but yet hee was not rebaptised and entred into Rome like a Conquerour holding councell with the heretikes I knowe the impudent Papistes when they are driuen to the wall by this example of Liberius for their last refuge doe say that hee subscribed indeede to the condemnation of Athanasius but not to the Heresie of Arries which is a shamelesse lye Ad subscriptioonem Haereseos to the subscription of heresies saith Saint Hierome The like dothe both Athanasius and Damasus affirme Therefore wée haue founde one Pope falne into a damnable errour After him wée finde that Pope Innocentius erred although not in so waightie a matter For Innocentius defined against the Pelagians that it was as necessary for infantes to eate the fleshe of Christe and drinke his blood in the Communion as to bee Baptised As testifieth of him Saint Augustine saying Qui parvulis definiuit c. Whiche hath defined that little children can by no meanes haue life except they eate the fleshe of the Sonne of Man Some Papistes cauill that although the Pope may erre yet hée cannot erre in his definitiue sentence Beholde Augustine saith that Innocentius hath héere desined of this matter and yet it is an error which the Papistes them selues doe not holde at this day And yet Augustine affirmeth that this was the errour of all the Westerne Churches in his time But if any man thinke Saint Augustine no sufficient witnesse to depose against Pope Innocentius let him take paines to reade the Epistle of Pope Innocent himself sent vnto the Bishop of Africa assembled in councell Where y e words of Augustine cited out of him are plainely set downe But héere I knowe the vaine replie of the Papistes will bée readie to obiect that Pope Innocent and Augustine with the rest of the Catholike Bishops in that time did practise in déede to minister the communion to infantes as soone as they were baptised but that was no error so long as they did not hold it to bée necessary for infants to receiue the Communion Thus they graunt the practise and denie the errour eyther in the opinion or in the practise of those times But if they were not so impudent y t they had framed their foreheads not to blushe at any lye they woulde neuer against so cléere testimonies both of Augustine and Innocentius séeke to excuse them of that opinion which they doe so willingly maintaine The Pelagians denied that Baptisme was necessary for the saluation of infants whcih they said were without sinne both Augustine and Innocentius prooue the necessitie of Baptisme by the necessitie of communicating which may bot be graunted to any that is not Baptized Therefore saith Innocentius in his diffinitiue Epistle to the Affricane Bishops Illud vero quod eos vestra fraternitas asserit praedicare paruulos aeternae vitaepraemiis etiam sine baptismatis gratia posse donari perfatuum est c. But that thing which your brotherhood affirmeth them to preach that young children may obteine the rewards of eternall life euen without the grace of Baptisme it is a very foolishe thing For except they shall eate the fleshe of the Sonne of man and drink his blood they shall haue no life in themselues But they whiche defende this vnto them without regeneration seeme to mée that they will make fustrate Baptisme it selfe Beholde saith Augustine vpon these wordes Pope Innocent of blessed memory euery Bishop was called Papa in his time saith that little children cannot haue life without the baptisme of Christ and without the participation of the body and blood of Christ. By which saying you sée they affirme as well the necessitie of the one Sacrament as of the other For what other thing mooued them to giue the Communion to infants but because they thought it necessary to saluation while they missevnderstoode those wordes of Christ in the sixt of Iohn as though they had béene spoken of Sacramentall eating of Christes body as they did the other in the third of Iohn as though Chirst had spoken of the sacrament of Baptisme whiche hee saith of the necessitie of regeneration Furthermore where the Papists are inforced to affirme that it was not erronious but a laweful practise to minister the Communion to infants as to baptise them although the one bée not so necessary as the other the plaine doctrine of the Scripture doth confute them For S. Paule forbiddeth any man or woman to presume to the Lordes Table without examination and iudging of themselues which thinges because infantes cannot performe it can be none other but a méere prophanation of the Lordes Supper to minister it vnto young infants euen as it was of them which ministred it vnto dead bodies vpon the same erronious persuasiō of the necessitie thereof vnto eternall life And whereas the blinde Cardinall Hosius affrmeth that infants may aswell examine themselues by other men as in baptisme they beléeue by other men and therfore by the Churches authoritie without grounde of Scripture are baptized I answere if wee had not better grounde of Scripture then either the authoritie or reason of the Popishe Churche for the baptisme of infants wée woulde not practise if any more then we doe minister the Communion to infants But wée baptise them not for the faith of other mē but for the couenant of God which extēdeth euen to the séede of the faithfull so that there children are holy and not vncleane as the children
is not thereby prooued that it is sufficient for our learning No sir but mark the end of this learning that wée may heare by the scripture this that we may haue hope And know you not that hope maketh not ashamed That by hope we are saued Séeing then wee may haue sufficient learning by the scripture to haue hope by hope wée may haue saluatiō is it not manifest y t by holy scriptures we may be abundantly instructed vnto saluatiō And what neede we any far fetched arguments when the Apostle saith in expresse words the scriptures are able to make vs wise vnto saluatiō They are the very wordes of the holy Ghost vttered by S. Paul vnto Timothie when he cōmendeth y t from his infancie he had learned y e holy scriptures which are able saith he to make thée wise vnto saluatiō through the faith of Iesus Christ◠Would any mā think after so manifest a testimonie of y e holy scriptures brought foorth for the sufficiēcie of y e holy scriptures that the papists durst for worldly shame although they be void of the feare of god to cōtinue in their impudēt paradoxe y t all truth is not taught in the holy scriptures That the holy Scriptures doe not containe the whole truth of gods word in such perfectiō but that wée must receiue some parte of the worde of God out of some other testimonie which cannot bée proued out of the holy scriptures There is none so blind as the obstinate that will not sée But who so hath a care of eternall saluation will séeke it in none other word then that which is comprehended in the holy Scriptures séeing by witnesse of Gods spirite they are able to make vs wise vnto saluation which coulde not bée truely saide if there were any trueth necessarie to saluation which were not to bée found and sufficiently proued by the onely authoritie of the holy Scriptures Finally the same Apostle saith in the same place All the scripture is inspired of God is profitable to teach to improue to correct and to instruct in righteousnes that the man of God may bée absolute being made perfect vnto euery good work Coulde any thing be said more fully to expresse the perfection of the holy scriptures or to proue that all true doctrine is contained in them Tush say the Papistes this is nothing to prooue that the word of God or all true doctrine is perfectly contained in the Scriptures Hée saith the Scripture is profitable to teach hée saith not it is sufficient to teach Many thinges are profitable and good helpes which yet bée neither necessary nor sufficient and suche a thing is the scripture without the which the Church hath cōtinued néere two thousande yéeres and so might haue continued still but that God hath added the aide of the Scriptures as profitable to teache to improoue to correct and instruct and yet it followeth not that the Scriptures alone are sufficient and able to instructe a Christian man in all thinges that it is néedefull for him to knowe But there bée other testimonies of Gods worde whereby many thinges are taught which are taught in the scriptures and yet bée as necessary to bée knowne practised of Christians as any taught in the Scriptures What things are these I pray you They will answere the misterie of the blessed Trinitie the sacraments of the Church the baptisme of infants the perpetual virginitie of Mary and such like Concerning the inysterie of the blessed euerlasting Trinitie if it were not plainely taught inuincibly prooued by the holy scriptures the Church in old time labored in vaine to prooue it and defend it out of the Scriptures against so many heresies as Satan raised vp against it But they wil vrge vs to shew where we finde the Trinitie once named in the scriptures A perillous question wee finde thrée persons of the Godhead plainly and perfectly distinguished by the holy Scriptures then what vnreasonable beast is hee that will contend of the name whē the thing is certain Likewise I say of the name of sacramēts although it be not applied in the Scripture vnto baptisme the Lords Supper yet that which is the definition of a sacrament is cléerely in the scripture aduouched of these misticall actions The name of Sacrament is borrowed of the Latine spéech in which no part of y e scripture was first writtē As for y e baptism of infāts I shal haue occasiō to speak of it héereafter In y e meane time I say the papists are very fauourable vnto y e Anabaptists which affirme y e baptisme of infants cannot be prooued out of the holy scriptures so strengthen them in their heresie Touching the perpetuall virginitie of Mary if it be néedful to saluatiō that it should be knowne of euery Christian it is vndoubtedly taught in the scriptures if it bee not taught in the scriptures it is nothing necessary to euerlasting saluation For to stop the mouth of this impudent and arrogant cauiller against the sufficiencie of the holy scriptures the holy Ghoste had immediatly before prouided where the Apostle shewing what vtilitie he spake of namely that which is both necessarie and sufficient said that the scripture was able to make a man wise vnto saluation Therefore the Scripture is so profitable that it is also necessary to giue knowledge of saluation And it is so profitable y t it is also sufficient able to minister abundance of heauenly wisedome to the attainment of eternall saluation O blinde shamelesse cauillers y t cannot or will not sée y t is written in the verse immediatly going before able to put y e whole matter out of cōtrouersie But let vs yet cōsider more of their shameles shifts Admit the papists see not these wordes going before shoulde not bee vrged with them Doth not this very text in w t the apostle cōmendeth y e vtilitie of y e holy scriptures set foorth also the sufficiencie of the same Doth not the Apostle say the Scripture is so profitable that the man of God therby may bée perfect and throughly instructed vnto euery good worke Who woulde require greater perspicuitie or plainnes if hee meane to set his beleefe and not to maintaine his error Yet see what Cobwebs the spider weaueth to couer y e light of this text from the eyes of the ignorant and such as wilfully bée obstinate The man of God saith hée in this place is not taken generally for euery godly man but specially for the Minister of the Churche the Minister of God Therefore although the Minister of God may bée made perfect by the doctrine of the Scriptures it followeth not that euery man may bée so likewise Albeit the Minister hath his whole duetie taught by the holy Scriptures yet hath not euery one of the people his dutie throughly taught in the Scriptures that hée may bée made perfect and prepared to euery good worke For euery good worke in that place
hissed out of all Christian Schooles not only by learned men but euen by women and children If the scripture of the olde Testament be sufficient say they the new Testament is superfluous Is there no mean betwéene sufficiency and superfluitie A man that hath wherewith to prouide him selfe of meate and drink apparell and lodging of the meanest sorte hath sufficient for his liuing But if any thing be added to this sufficiency wil you say it is superfluitie Is there no vse of riches or abundance aboue sufficiency but it is by by superfluitie The scripture of the olde Testament cōtaineth the word of God sufficiently for mens saluation but the newe Testament added therevnto containeth no new substance or matter of doctrine or article of beliefe necessarie to saluation but the same auncient and eternall worde of God most richly most plentifully most abundantly Wherefore that the Apostle giueth the commendation of sufficiency vnto the scripture of the old Testament yet so far of that it should hinder the credite of the whole scripture which nowe the Church enioyeth that it doeth a great deale more magnifically set foorth the vnsearchable treasures of Gods wisdom and holy word reuealed more at large more plainly and openly set foorth in the time of the Gospel then it was reuealed or set forth vnder the law Wherfore we may not reason w t the papists if the scripture of the old testamēt had béen sufficient the newe should haue béene superfluous but contrariwise if the olde Testament were sufficient the scripture of the newe and olde together must néedes be abundant That the scripture of the old Testament contained sufficient instruction vnto eternall life hath béene prooued alreadie sufficiently and yet for more clearnesse I will adde other reasōs and authorities to prooue the same richly and abundantly The whole doctrine of the Gospell of Christ is contained in the scriptures of the olde Testament which is sufficient for a Christian mans instruction therefore there is no want nor imperfection no vnsufficiency of the substance of doctrine in the scripture of the olde Testament Saint Paule in this verie place exhorteth Timothy to continue in those thinges whiche hée had learned and whiche were committed vnto him knowing of whome hée had learned them namely of the Apostle and secondly of the holy scriptures in which hée had béene instructed from an infant which were able to make him wise vnto saluation Sée you not here most plainly that the same thinges which Timothy had learned of Paule and which were committed vnto him that hée might perfectly fulfill the worke of an Euangelist which cannot be except hée preache the Gospell perfectly were contained in the scripture of the olde Testament which hée had knowne from a childe which Scriptures were not able to make him or any man wise vnto saluation excepte they contained all articles of Christian doctrine which a christian man is bound to know and beléeue And therfore vpon this ground hée inferreth that the whole scripture is profitable to furnish the man of God vnto all partes of his office and to make him perfect vnto euerie good worke Beside this the holy Ghost in the Actes of the Apostles commendeth the Berhaeans that they receiued the word of God with all readines of mind daily searching the scriptures if these thinges were so as y e Apostles preached Mark this text diligently they receiued the word of al redines as it was preached by the Apostles but they admitted nothing for the word of God but that they found to haue grounde and cōfirmation in y e scriptures in y e law the prophets wherfore the apostles preaching y e Gospel preached none other word of god but that which was cōtained in the scriptures of the old Testamēt For if they had preached any vnwrittē verities howe should the Berhaeans haue found the same in the scriptures And what speak I of the Apostles euen their lord maister y e sonne of God the word of God the truth of God offereth his whole doctrine to be tried by the scriptures of the old testamēt Search y e scriptures saith hée for in thē you think to haue euerlasting life they are the same y t beare witnes of mée Hee testifieth also y t all things that are writtē of him in y e law the prophets in the psalmes must be were fulfilled And whē he authorized his Apostles to preach y e Gospel performāce of all things that were written in the law the prophets He openeth their vnderstāding that they might vnderstād the scriptures which contained the worde of God perfectly sufficiently although the same in the new testament doctrine of fulfilling be set forth more richly more plentifully more plainly And lest you shoulde think this sufficiency of the scriptures to haue béen only after all the bookes of y e old testament were written which were many hundreth yéeres frō the first to the last So that from Moses vntill Malachy or from the beginning of the worlde vntill Malachies prophecy was receiued there was no sufficiency of true doctrine contained in the scripture I will plainly prooue vnto you that frō the time that the worde of GOD was first deliuered in writing there was sufficiency in that scripture for the perfect instruction of the church of that time And what soeuer bookes of scripture were afterward added was but a larger opening and playner demonstration of the same as GOD in wisedome and mercy dyd sée it conuenient and necessary for euerie age of the Church and his people liuing in those times The fiue bookes of Moses was the first scripture that was deliuered vnto the Church which contained a perfect and most sufficient doctrine of all thinges to be knowne and done of that people for the attainment of eternall life the other bookes that followed were but enlargementes and interpretations of the same doctrine that was contained in those fiue bookes For if they had béene additions of any newe doctrine they had béene contrarie to the prohibition of the same law and subiect to the curse of God Yea the principall triall of all Prophetes that succéeded was by the same lawe Insomuch that if a Prophet or dreamer of dreames did arise which taught an other God or an other worship of God not set foorth in the lawe hée was thereby discryed to be a false prophet although he could tell before of thinges that came to passe or worke myracles This argued sufficiently the perfection of the doctrine contained in that lawe against which no signes or miracles should be credited Also Iosua in his exhortatiō made vnto y e people after that hée had deuided the lande vnto them chargeth them to obserue and doe all that is written in the booke of the lawe of Moses that they turne not there from neither to the right hande nor to the left that is they doe neither more nor lesse but that is written in the