in the like case with Augustine Experti dicimus nam non crederemus multi à nobis mala consilia petunt consilia mentiendi consilia circumveniendi sed in nomine Christi nullus talis nos tentavit I speak saith he by experience otherwise I would not haue beleeued many doe aske of vs euill counsell counsell to lie counsell to circumvent but in the name of Christ none such hath tempted vs. Neither I hope hereafter your wisdome will giue passage or licence to such mens intemperate pennes to wound and gall their brethren yet had hee staied here onely in censuring the liuing and not proceeded to taxe the memorie of the dead it had been more tolerable that godly learned man Doctor Reynolds who is now at rest in the Lord is thus iniuriously handled by him and that since his Christian departure whereby grace may so happily worke in their hearts that where the truth hath beene heretofore frowardly excluded c. as though that worthy mā were either voide of grace or did frowardly exclude the truth nay he spareth not to charge him as guiltie of profane irreligious hereticall sacrilegious opinions of grosnes sophistrie profanenesse c. It is said of Themistocles that in his returne from battell seeing a dead body lying with iewels of gold hee thus spake to one that was with him Take thou away these things for thou art not Themistocles neither would this man if he had beene I say not of an heroicall spirit as Themistocles but of a sober and charitable spirit as euery good Christian haue stripped the dead of his well deserued ornaments in seeking to impaire his credit he doth but blemish and obscure his owne and sheweth himselfe to bee of those who as Hierome saith Hippocratis fomentis magis quam monitis nostris indigent had need rather of Hippocrates medicine then our admonition Now may it please your Reuerend Fatherhood to giue me leaue to offer vnto your view some of the principall contents of his booke by the tast whereof it will appeare what relish the rest haue by the smell of some of his flowers one may guesse what herbs grow in his garden as Hilarion said to Hesychius when a bunch of small pulse was brought them out of a Churles garden that hee could not abide the stinch thereof Doe you not feele saith he a filthy sauour and euen his couetousnesse to smell in the pulse So by this handfull which I shall gather out of his booke the euill sauour will be found of the rest 1. Hee much forgetting himselfe thus breaketh out beyond the limits of modestie charging me with folly hypocrisie falshood lying infidelitie impudency sawcinesse Machiauell sme Atheisme Heresie as particular instance is giuen in more then 80. railing speeches vsed against me and others so that I may say vnto him in Tullies words Neque qui tam illoto sermone vtitur vita honestior est It is not like that he which vseth such vncleane spech can be much honester in life 2. I haue obserued 22. slaunderous imputations wherof some are these that I would transforme the order of the Church into an Anarchie that their heads plot and their hands practise Babylonicall warre that he defendeth diuers things contrary to the truth of the Gospell that he iustifieth pestilent blasphemous heretiks against the learned and holy Fathers that he holdeth the flames of hell to be temporall that he called the blessed rootes of the Christian faith cursed rootes with such like 3. Instance is giuen of 34. vntruthes vttered by him As that he beleeueth I was one of those which writ the Letter to Master Hooker the writers whereof I knowe not to this day that I borrowe diuers things from Carlils booke which I neuer sawe that I fasten all the torments of hell vpon the blessed soule of Christ which I neuer thought that there is not one word through his booke that insinuateth any suspition of Limbus patrum whereas in the preface following the contrary is prooued directly in 20. seuerall places out of his booke 4. Among the errors which he is charged with to the number of 14. these specially are noted he iustifieth the Latine text against the originall Greeke in the newe Testament hee calleth the booke of Ecclesiasticus the word of God which the Church of England holdeth for one of the Apocryphall bookes artic 6. that the baptisme of infants is not to be found in Scripture by any expresse mention whereas the Church of England holdeth it to be most agreeable to the institution of Christ artic 27. He calleth these sound positions that the Scriptures alone are not compleate vnto saluation that mans will is naturally apt without grace to beleeue that mens naturall workes are acceptable to God which are directly opposite to the doctrine of the Church of England which holdeth the contrary that the holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to saluation artic 6. that man of his owne natural strength cannot turne and prepare himselfe to faith artic 10. that workes done before the grace of Christ are not pleasant to God artic 13. 5. Diuers harsh and vnsauorie speeches are laid vnto his charge as that hee applyeth those words of Christ to himselfe de bono opere lapidor I am stoned for a good worke that Christs conquest vpon the crosse was openly an ouerthrow and therefore no triumph if it were it was a triumph before victory that there is a most plaine distinction betweene the holy Ghost and Christ not in person onely but in his diuine nature These and the like assertions which he would haue tearmed blasphemies to the number of tenne are obserued out of his booke 6. Diuers points of arrogancy and vaine ostentation are obserued to the number of 13. whereof this is one that hee maketh his boast that my Lord of Winchester hath in his last booke much altered his iudgement concerning the place of Peter mooued by the reasons laid downe by me saith he and none but me wheras it is not true that that Reuerend learned father hath therein altered his iudgemēt at the lest it becam not him so to brag It might haue better beseemed the other if any such thing were to haue acknowledged it As August thus modestly writeth to Petrus a Bishop to a Presbyter Vellem rescriptis tuis quid te docuerit me docere absit enim vt erubescam à presbytero discere si tu non erubuisti à laico I would haue thee by thy rescript to teach me what taught you farre be it that I should be ashamed to learne of a Presbyter if you were not ashamed to learne of a lay man Further he chargeth the great English Bible which is authorised to be read in our Curches with error in the translation and with blasphemie in the annotations 7. Concerning the allegation of the Fathers I
errorem hee translateth and so either correct your error which should bee thus englished let vs amend our error 4. After those words that is a childish boasting he leaueth out this whole sentence quod olim adolescentuli facere consueuerant which young men in time past were accustomed to doe 5. Ambrose corrupted 1. This Grammarian instructer that professeth to teach boyes to conster himselfe maketh a pittifull construction of Ambrose 2. b. p. 59. these words Angelo non placuit ancillae insolentia The insolencie of the hand-maid pleased not the Angel hee translateteth The Angel was not pleased to see the insolency and pride of the handmaide reuertere ad Dominam tuam Returne to thy Lady he englisheth turne againe to thy Lady and Mistresse Verberantis savitiam the cruelty of the beater hee englisheth the crueltie of Sara beating her Fugientis discessionem the departure of the flier or runner away he rendreth Hagars departure in running away adding Sara and Hagar of his owne Humiliare be thou humbled he englisheth humble thy selfe 2. In another sentence taken from Ambrose hee leaueth out these words In inferno positis vitae lumen fundebat eternae To those which were in hell he powred the light of eternall life Which clause if he had added he saw that Ambrose would make little for him vnlesse hee held the locall descent of Christs soule to hell for the enlightening and deliuerance of the Fathers thence 6. Ruffinus falsified 1. Ruffinus also is pitifully mangled for his sentence taking the whole is this But that he descended into hell also is euidently pronounced in the Psalmes where he saith Thou broughtest me to the dust of death and againe what profit is in my blood while I descend into corruption and againe I descended into the mire of the deepe where no substance is that is ground or bottome yea and Iohn saith art thou he which art to come without doubt into hell or looke me for another All this is fraudulently left out and then follow the next wordes which he culleth out Our Lord also himselfe speaketh c. But this deceitfull Iugler that playeth fast and loose with the Fathers well perceiued that seeing Ruffinus expoundeth descending to hell to be brought to the dust of death and to the place of corruption and blood that his meaning can be no otherwise then to vnderstand death and the graue as to the same purpose he said before that vis eadem verbi videtur esse c. the same force of the word seemeth to be in that he is said to be buried as he is said before to descend to hell I maruell also how his mastership could take no knowledge of another place in Ruffinus not farre from that which he thus hacketh and pareth where hee saith that Crux Christi trumphus est c. that Christs crosse was a triumph and a famous trophaeum monument and further he sheweth how he triumphed ouer all things vpon the crosse both celestiall terrestriall and infernall vnto the first applying the vppermost part of the crosse to the next that part where his hands were stretched out and for the third he saith ea vero parte quae sub terram submergitur inferna sibiregna subiecit but by that part which was hid vnder the earth he brought vnder to himselfe the infernall kingdoms This cleare testimony of Christs triumph vpon the crosse and his victory ouer hell crosseth that impious and profane opinion of this drowsie and dreaming diuine that the conquest vpon the crosse was openly an ouerthrowe and therefore no triumph and againe if Christ triumphed in the crosse as you say he did it was according to the prouerbe triumphus ante victoriam triumph before the victory 1. b. p. 188. 7. Augustine falsified 1. Thus Augustine is alleadged This custome of baptizing infants I beleeue as comming from the tradition of the Apostles c. whereas the question with the Donatists was not concerning the baptizing of infants but the rebaptizing of those which were baptized by heretiks as it may appeare by the wordes going before Nolite obijcere nobis authoritatem Cypriani ad baptismi repetitionem c. Doe not obiect to vs the authoritie of Cyprian for the repeating of baptisme c. That question of Baptisme was not yet throughly handled but yet the Chruch kept this wholesome custome in the schismatiks and heretiks corrigere quod pravum est non iterare quod datum est to correct what was amisse not to iterate what was giuen then follow those words which saide custome c. as many things are not found in their writings nor in the latter Councels c. all this enclosed is omitted 2. Augustine is thus brought in that custome of the Church which was opposed against Cyprian c. whereas the name of Cyprian is not to be found in the 18. 19. 20. chapters of that booke 3. Againe the same place is quoted where Augustine should write thus Cum hoc nusquam legatur c. when as this is read no where we must beleeue the testimonie of the Church which Christ hath testified to be true these words are not extant in that place in that forme but after this manner Nunc vero cum in Scripturis non inveniamus c. now seeing we finde not in the Scripture that any haue come to the Church from heretikes c. and afterward perhibet Christus testimonium Ecclesiae suae c. Christ doth giue testimonie to his Church 4. Augustine is cited serm he should haue said hom 2. in vigil pasch tom 10. in these words si sepultus fuisset in terra c. If Christ had beene buried in the earth they might haue said they had digged vp the earth and stollen him away to prooue a difference betweene Christs tombe and the earth yet in that homilie no such sentence is to be found but rather the contrarie quid illi tumulus in terris cuius sedes manebat in coelis why should he haue a tombe in the earth whose seate remained in heauen here he affirmeth Christs tombe to haue been in the earth This grosse ouersight sheweth how well this pettifogger in diuinitie is seene in the reading of Augustine 5. That place of August c. 15. cont Felician lib. 3. p. 2. he diuers waies corrupteth 1. he addeth generall resurrection nullus ignorat he translateth euery man knoweth which signifieth no man is ignorant cuius corpus c. saith Augustine whose bodie common death had enclosed for the future resurrection he readeth whose bodie death had shut vp in the graue vntill the future resurrection of all flesh Beside he bewraieth his ignorance in mistaking the sense and scope of Augustine in that place 1. he saith that Augustines whole discourse is to prooue that Christ deserued not hell fire whereas the very point of the question is that though Christ
haue shewed partly his ignorance in mistaking and misquoting them partly his vnfaithfulnes in vntrue alleadging them in 30. seuerall places as namely his ignorance in Cyril Hierome Augustine Tertullian also is strangely produced contrarie to his owne iudgement thus he dealeth also with the new writers as with Calvine Beza 8. Neither can the Scripture escape his vncleane fingers as instance is giuen in 26. places as loc 17. the Scripture saith He shall not preserue the vngodly Iob 36. 5. he readeth thou wilt not preserue loc 19. S. Iames saith which hath conuerted c. and shall saue a soule Iam. 5. 20. he readeth which conuerteth in the present and shall saue his soule adding his and he maketh as bolde with many places beside This it is for one to deale out of his element and to meddle beyond his skill for a professor of Grammer to take vpon him to teach Diuinitie He must needes stumble that walketh in darkenes and he can not be without error that is corrupt in iudgement Now is verified that saying of the wise man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is that maketh himselfe rich and hath nothing As this man maketh himselfe skilfull in the tongues in the Scriptures in the Fathers and in what not in all these proclayming his ignorance Hierome spake it modestly of himselfe Fateor frater Heracli dum tui desiderijs satisfacere cupio oblitus sum pene mandati quo praecipitur onus supra vires tuas ne levaveris I confesse brother Heraclius while I satisfie thy desire that I had almost forgotten the commandement that biddeth Take not vp a burthen beyond thy strength But it is most true of him who hath vnbidden thrust his shoulders vnder a burthen that is like to crush him As Cleon was vnfit to lead an armie and Philopoimen to guide a navie and Hannibal to play the Orator so is this Grammarian to meddle with Diuinitie Euripides saying may well be applied to such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Carpenter thou art and yet dost not deale with carpenters worke Seneca well said Necesse est vt opprimant onera quae ferente maiora sunt c. nec accedendum eo vnde non sit liber regressuo Those burthens must needes presse to the ground which are greater then the bearer And it is not safe going thither whence there is no returne And so it falleth out to such according to the saying of Hierome Qui scribunt non quod inveniunt sed quod intelligunt dum alienos errores emendare nituntur ostendunt suos They write not what they finde but what they vnderstand and while they goe about to correct the errors of others they bewray their owne Now let me craue a little further leaue to adde some what concerning the former booke which is by him impugned and this written in defense thereof The first entituled Limbomastix I acknowledge to be mine and am not ashamed of any matter therein handled though for the manner it might haue beene more exact I confesse And for the publishing thereof this is my excuse or rather defense first that I was thereunto prouoked in particular againe I saw in his pamphlet maintained that Popish opinion of Limbus patrum which suspition the author can not auoide as it is at large declared in the Preface following who if he be sound in other points of Protestants doctrine it is well but then is he much wronged both in the opinion and reports of them that know him further that booke passed vnder the censure of a graue and learned writer of our Church and yet it was printed without my priuitie As touching mine opinion of CHRISTS Descension handled in that booke I will freely deliuer what I thinke first I beleeue the Article of the Descension to be a necessarie part of our faith and say with Calvine In the descent of Christ to hell there is no small force to the effect of our Redemption c. and it auaileth so much vnto the cheife summe of our redemption that it beeing pretermitted much will be lost of the fruit of Christs death thus much for the substance of the Article Secondly concerning the manner of Christs descension I doe hold and beleeue whatsoeuer can be prooued out of Scripture and truly collected from thence Thirdly yet I affirme that out of those three places Act. 2. 27. 1. Pet. 3. 19. Eph. 4. 9. the locall descension of Christs soule to hell can not necessarily be concluded And herein I affirme no more then other graue and learned writers of our Church haue done before me D. Fulke saith that the article of Christs descension is not grounded vpon the first text Bish. Bilson resigneth the second place and D. Fulke out of Theodoret sheweth that the third maketh not for the passing of Christ from place to place and so consequently belongeth not to his locall descension Fourthly I say notwithstanding and professe in the same words which I set downe before They which hold not the locall descent of Christs soule to hell should not condemne the other as Popish and superstitious men that are so perswaded They which affirme it ought not to account them as enemies or aduersaries to the truth that dissent from them therein He that thus writeth is farre from either hauing his head plotting or his hands practising Babylonicall warres as I am slaundered as I haue shewed before Fiftly I hold the Article of Christs descension as the Church of England propoundeth it As Christ died for vs and was buried so also it is to be beleeued that he went downe to hell in which words the Article of the descension is commended in generall to be held without any the determination of the sense as he that lately hath learnedly written dedicating his booke to your Gr. vpon the Articles of Religion by publike authoritie hauing deliuered diuers senses of this Article and especially these three 1. some hold that Christ descended as God onely not as man c. powerfully and effectually not personally 2. some as man onely either in bodie onely c. to the graue or in soule onely when he went to the place of the reprobate c. 3. as God and man in one person c. that he went as it were into hell when vpon the crosse and els where he suffered the torments c. Then he inferreth thus But till we know the natiue and vndoubted sense of this Article and mysterie of religion persist we aduersaries to them which say that Christ descended not into hell at all c. This was the summe of my first booke which beeing written without gall and bitternesse as he saith Ego sine iracundia dico vt omnia tamen non sine dolore I speake it without anger though not without griefe and the party being not knowne which was the author of that Pamphlet and so no man beeing
to faith artic 10. that workes done before the grace of Christ are not pleasant to God artic 13. workes of supererogation can not be taught without arrogancie and impietie artic 14. they are to be cōdemned which say they can no more sunne as long as they liue here artic 16. The Slaunderer then himselfe and his adherents are those that condemne the doctrine of the Church 8. He chargeth the Replyer with heresie tending to Atheisme pref p. 5. it is to be feared least in time you become as bad members to the Church of England as they that is the Anabaptists were to the Church of Germanie 2. b. p. 8. there were certaine omnifidians c. who held the like opinion as you doe of which number was one Appelles who affirmed that it was needelesse to discusse the particulars of faith 2. b. p. 90. he calleth his exposition of some places of Scripture which he tearmeth misconstruction hereticall 2. b. p. 91. blasphemous p. 92. These imputations of heresie blasphemie Anabaptisme are most vile and pestilent slanders so is this that the Replyer is burthened to hold an implicite faith p. 91. and that it is needelesse to discusse the particulars of faith whereas he directly holdeth the contrarie condemning els where the Popish implicite and simple faith he onely wisheth that seeing we all hold the foundation the peace of the Church be not broken in contending about the manner of Christs discension Limbom p. 5. 9. Slaunder That he bitterly exclaimeth against the whole state of the Church 1. b. p. 10. reuiueth clamorous inuectiues their heads plotting and their hands practising Babylonian warres they can not auoide the name of dissemblers in the Church of England nor yet disturbers of it p. 18. his petition and complaint are in plaine English nothing els but a bitter inuectiue against the doctrine and discipline of the Church glossed with flatterie and gilded with hypocrisie 2. b. p. 19. that they thought his Maiestie would erect the Genevian Consistorie or Scottish Presbyterie p. 23. and change the state of religion ibid. the picture of a discontented if not turbulent spirit p. 29. he rebelleth against the Church p. 31. those whome you call reuerend Fathers you vouchsafe them no sonne-like obedience p. 68. All these are most vntruly obiected 1. to complaine of some abuses of the Church is not to exclaime against the Church the late Canons and Constitutions of the Church doe shew that many things had neede of amendment and reformation in the Church 2. what reuerent opinion the Replyer hath of the Gouernours of the Church is before shewed slaund 6. 3. how farre he is from a turbulent spirit God he knoweth and some of the greatest place in the Church can tell how his courses haue tended to a pacification in the Church A more vile slaunderous tongue I think hath seldome beene heard to speake 10. Slaund The Kings most excellent Maiestie can not escape the Taint of his intemperate tongue for whereas his grace saith that he acknowledgeth the Romane Church to be our mother Church it is saith Limbomastix a foolish conceit and imagination he maketh him a very nouice in the faith 2. b. p. 28. In these foule slaunders he doth bewray nothing else but to vse his owne tearmes falshood and malice 1. Is it like that the Replyer had the least imagination to crosse his Maiesties speech when as the booke which the slaunderer quoteth was published ann 1603. about the time of his Maiesties coronation in the moneth of Iulie and the Kings oration followed aboue sixe moneths after in the moneth of March what an absurd collection is this 2. But this slanderous obiecter doth his Maiestie the wrong to suppose that he is contrarie to himselfe for his Maiestie holdeth the Pope to be Antichrist and to be the head of a false and hypocriticall Church is he so shamelesse to imagine that his Maiestie thinketh a false and hypocriticall Church to be our mother it is cleare then that the King in acknowledging the Romane Church to be our mother meaneth not the Popish Church as it now standeth but that sometime while it stood in the integritie it was our mother Church that is a principall and chiefe church where the Patriarchall seat was of the Occidentall parts for these are his Maiesties owne words I acknowledge the Romane Church to be our mother Church although defiled with some infirmities and corruptions as the Iewes were when they crucified Christ. The Church of Rome is no otherwise then our mother Church then the Church of the Iewes was of our Sauiour Christ and the Apostles 3. Neither yet is it in the place giuen in instance called a foolish conceit to say that the Romane Church is our mother which in the Kings sense being admitted yet as he blindly taketh it will be denied but that Rome should be the mother Church and nurserie of all the world the Accuser then himselfe is found to be a falsifier and slaunderer 4. Yea it is his owne intemperate tongue the taint whereof his Maiestie can not escape whereas he calleth diuers points of doctrine true and sound positions 2. b. p. 20. some of which are before set downe slaund 7. which his Maiestie in his iudgement condemneth the King affirmeth that all which is necessarie to saluation is contained in the Scripture that no man is able to keepe the law or any part thereof that we are saued by beleeuing not by doing that whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne that we can not thinke any thing of our selues and consequently that we are not apt of our selues to beleeue the contrarie positions to all these with others this cauillous aduersarie calleth sound and true positions as that the Scriptures of themselues are not compleat to saluation that it is not impossible in this life to be preserued from all sinne and so consequently to keepe the law that our workes and so not onely faith and beleeuing are meanes to blot out sinne that naturall workes are acceptable to God euen such as are without faith that mans will is apt to take or refuse any particular obiect and consequently to beleeue Then in this slaunderous excepters opinion the King holdeth vnsound and vntrue positions the contrarie whereof he calleth sound and true positions and thus he thwarteth not onely the doctrine of the Church in the articles of religion as is before shewed 7. slaund but his Maiesties iudgement also see more of this pref to Antilog p. 4. 5. But the other obiection is friuolous and childish that the Replyer maketh him a Novice in the faith affording his Highnes onely a liuely feeling and inward touch thereof for 1. he addeth onely deceitfully of his owne the Replyers wordes are these as God hath endued his princely heart with a liuely feeling and inward touch of true religion 2. he bewraieth his carnall and grosse ignorance in
so our English also 7. Further in the very same place that his hebrew profunditie may sufficiently be testified to all men he noteth another word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perdition in the same verse can any man tell what this word is the Hebrew word there vsed is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abaddon where he leaueth out the letter vaf with the vowell cholem What a shame is it for a man so vtterly ignorant in the languages to take vpon him to controll others beeing more blameable himselfe By this viewe of his grosse slips in Greeke and Hebrewe I am induced to thinke that report to be true which hath beene giuen out by some that knewe him in Oxford that what ostentation soeuer hee maketh now hee was thought to haue no great skill either in Hebrew or Greeke then Now it falleth out vpon him according to that saying of a Greeke Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing maketh a man so vnshamefast he would haue translated impudent as a bad conscience So this talkatiue tasker of others hauing a bad conscience not caring what he said or obiected to others though neuer so vntrue is without measure bold and bragging I may say of him as Hierom of his aduersarie that professed generall skill in whatsoeuer tu fella publice posita Hermagoram nobis Gorgiam exhibes Leontinum you your chaire beeing set aloft doe offer your selfe as another Hermagoras and Gorgias which tooke vpon them to dispute of any matter propounded vnto them So this Crazy Craker would make himselfe a professed linguist in all the learned tongues beeing nothing else then a wrangling verbalist The 6. imputaton of errors The accusation 1. That Christ hath two kingdoms belonging vnto him one as God an other as God and man and that his kingdome as hee is God is incommunicable to any 2. b. p. 201. 2. That the Godhead is inuisible incomprehensible ibid. He counteth these paradoxes contrary to the holy scriptures and wondreth how they could fall from the Replyers pen. 3. Augustine taketh the spirit 1. Pet. 3. 19. not for the diuine nature of Christ but for the operation of the holy Ghost which two you most erroneously confound saith this error finder 3. b. p. 127. 4. He calleth it a strange position that the true ioyes of heauen are in this world 2. b. p. 207. The iustification 1. THis Erring Censor at the first erreth in misreporting the Replyers words which are these that kingdome whereof Christ promiseth to make the theefe partaker is not that kingdome which belonged to him as God for that is not communicable to any creature but which is due to him as Messiah Limbomast p. 18. It is not affirmed here that Christ hath two kingdomes but that it beeing one and the same kingdome yet hath a diuers respect one as it belongeth to Christ as God an other as he is the Messiah both God and man And that this diuers relation and respect of the kingdome of Christ is not contrarie to the Scripture as this ignorant scripturian saith but most consonant and agreeable to the same it appeareth euidently by that diuine testimonie of S. Paul 1. Cor. 15. 24. Then shall the ende be when he hath deliuered vp the kingdome to God euen the father when he hath put downe all rule and all authoritie and power v. 25. for he must raigne till he hath put all his enemies vnder his feete v. 28. and when all things shall be subdued vnto him then shall the Sonne also himselfe be subiect vnto him that did subdue all things vnder him that God may be all in all But because the deciding of this question consisteth in the right vnderstanding of this Scripture I will deliuer diuers expositions thereof and approoue the best I finde eight seuerall interpretations of these words then shall the Sonne himselfe also be subiect 1. The Sabellians which denied the distinction of the three persons of the glorious Trinitie and the Marcionites ioyning with them did thus vnderstand it Ista filij subiectio futura est cum in patrē filius refundetur this subiection of the sonne shal then be when the sonne shal be resolued into the father meaning that the person of the sonne shall runne into the person of the father But Ambrose confuteth this wicked opinion by this reason Tum omnia quae filio subiecta erunt in filium patrem resolventur Then all those things which were subiect to the sonne shall also be resolued into the sonne and the father as they say the sonne shall be resolued into the father which were absurd to say which was one of those grosse errors imputed to Origene that vpon those words of S. Paul that God may be all in all groundeth this erronious fancie vniuersa creatura redigetur in eam substantiam quae omnibus melior est divinam scilicet that euery creature shall be brought to that substance which is the best of all that is the diuine 2. An other exposition as bad as this was that the humane nature of Christ should be conuerted into his diuine penitus absorbendā à divinitate and should be wholly swallowed vp of his deitie so Augustine reporteth But this hereticall sense is ouerthrowne by the Apostles direct words for in that the sonne is said to be subiect it sheweth that there remaineth somewhat to be subiect otherwise there could be no subiection 3. Some referre it to the bodie of Christ the Church and vnderstand it of his faithfull members in whom there yet remaineth some sinnes and imperfections which till they be subdued vnto God Christ in his members is not subdued so Origene donec ego non sum subditus patri nec ipse dicitur patri esse subiectus while I am not subdued to the father neither is he said to be subiect to the father 4. Others take it to be vnderstood of vnbeleeuers not yet conuerted to the faith which are not yet subiect so that pars membrorum eius non est subiecta fidei part of his members is not subiect to the faith but in the ende when as they also acknowledge the kingdome of Christ then Christ with his whole bodie shall be subiect vnto God so Hierome But both these expositions are taken away by the Apostles words for he is made subiect vnto the father to whome he subdued all things but to the sonne are all things subdued therefore he speaketh of the subiection of the person of the sonne 5. Some take this subiection to be spoken of the person of Christ that thereby is meant nothing els but that the sonne had his beginning and was begotten of the father so Theophylact and Oecumenius vpon this place and Ambrose to the same effect saith Deus caput Christi dicitur quia ab eo genitus that God is said to be Christs head because he was begotten of him But there can be no subiection in the
that he was neuer well wayed himselfe 7. The point there handled is how Christ is said to be quickened in the spirit therefore the Replyer omitteth the former part of the sentence Mortificatus carne c. Hee is said to be mortified in the flesh because hee died in the flesh onely for the question is not how hee was put to death in the flesh and then he beginneth the sentence at viuificatus spiritu but he was quickened in the spirit c. But wheras the Replyer here by flesh vnderstandeth Christs humane nature how can this sophisticating Sophister infer that he meaneth his soule and body for is there no difference between his humane nature and his whole humane nature as is your logike such are your conclusions 8. What an absurd fellow is this that will not allowe a sentence to be taken out of a Father but one must hale in that which goeth before and commeth after beeing not to the purpose pertinent the question beeing about the varietie of copies Augustine giueth two rules that the more must bee preferred before the fewer the Elder before the nower and thus much was sufficient to be cited out of that place But what meaneth himselfe to corrupt Augustine by a false translation whose words rightly translated are these hoc modo quaerunt c. by this means they search which would find out in the holy Scriptures confirmed with so great authority what moueth them hee translateth thus this course they take who doubt of any thing in holy Scriptures confirmed with so great authoritie 9. As before he quarrelled about the omission of fere in a place of Origen loc 3. so now for leauing out forte It seemeth he wanted matter when thus he hunteth after words Hee is a furious man that will begin a fray vpon a word and it is a quicke fire that wil flame out straight vpon a sparke if he had read that sentence of Hierome Difficile est alienas lineas insequentem non alicubi excidere it is an hard matter for one that followeth anothers lines not sometime to misse hee would not haue stumbled at a strawe But forte is a particle of doubting and â—â—certaintie saith he sheweth he did not resolutely pronounce c. And will you speake this of your Grammer skill that forte is alwaies vsed as a particle of doubting I much doubt of that for sometime if you will giue credit to a good Latinist it is vsed for exornation sometimes it is a word of attention deep consideration as Ionathan saith si forte if perhaps the Lord will worke with vs 1. Sam. 14. 6. he doubted not of it but with an earnest desire and attention waited vpon God And so is it here vsed by Augustine as a note of more deepe consideration so that the omission of it doth most disaduantagâ— the Replyer 10. And how proue you that Augustine is against the Replyer in the place alleadged his words are these Haec terrena vita c. This earthly life where flesh and blood is if it be compared to that is the lower part or hell c. Augustine is alleadged to shew that the earth is called the lower part in respect of heauen let him shew now how Augustine maketh against him in this very place forsooth because he maketh mention afterward of Christs descension to hell as though the Replyer were ignorant of that for doth he not directly confesse that Augustine in the words following seemeth to incline to the opinion of Christs descension to deliuer the Patriarchs 3. b. p. 186. But this Trifler was to giue instance of this place here alleadged therfore he doth but palter and still beateth the bush where the bird is not and so as Hierom well saith Manum peteris pedem porrigis You are asked your hand and you stretch out your foote 11. 1. As the godhead in Scripture is said to descend Iohn 3. 13. None hath ascended into heauen but he that descended c. So God is said to ascend Gen. 17. 22. God ascended vp to Abraham where the same word ghalah is vsed which is applyed to Christs ascension Psal. 68. 18. 2. And so Augustine expoundeth that place also Iohn 3. 13. of Christs ascension and descension according to his godhead for these are his words in the same epistle 57. which is cited by the Confuter vpon that place none hath ascended c. secuÌ„dum hominem c. According to man he was in earth not in heauen where he now is when he said none hath ascended c. although according to that hee was the sonne of God hee was yet on the earth and was not ascended into heauen Here he vnderstandeth Christs ascension and descension as he was God 3. Neither is this to denie his ascension as hee was man and so to ouerthrowe an article of the Creede for then he hath made a good argument against himselfe that because Christ is there said to descend from heauen in his deitie therefore it followeth he descended not in his humanitie 4. Nay then hee himselfe ouerthroweth an article of the Creed that confesseth the ascension and descension there spoken of to be diuers from that mentioned by S. Paul Ephes. 4. 9. and to be meant of the deitie of Christ. 3. b. p. 172. 173. Now sir to returne your owne words though it belongeth not to a Christian mans beliefe what Augustine writ or thought to or fro yet I hold him no reasonable man that hearing Augustines owne words will not thinke he spake of one kind of ascension and descension of Christ in his godhead though properly the godhead neither ascendeth nor descendeth But he is no good Christian that the Scripture so speaking that God ascended will not beleeue it and so in effect hee prooueth himselfe no good Christian if hee deny that Christ is said in Scripture to ascend as hee is God 6. Other Authors pretended to be falsified The accusation 1. These nine words of Bernards sentence are left out by you and so we shall alwaies be with the Lord. 2. Bellarmine he vnmannerly saith you haue belied now the second time for leauing out this clause for the enlightning of the Fathers with the vision of God The iustification 1. Bernard is produced by the Replyer to shewe the difference of Christs beeing with vs and of our beeing with Christ the sentence is this Christ is with vs at all times to the ende of the world but when shall we be with him when we shall be taken vp and meete Christ in the ayer thus farre Bernard is alleadged then follow those words which hee crieth out are omitted and so we shall alwaies be with the Lord. And why might not these words be spared seeing sufficient was alleadged before for proofe of that difference and if these words be supplyed they make more fully to the Replyers purpose and therefore this exception of omission is friuolous But it is strange that hee date
Dominus non secundum formam Dei c. Our Lord prayed not according to the forme of God but according to the forme of a seruant according to the which he suffered For if he will stil stand vnto it that Christ as God prayed vnto his father and not as man hee will make Christ a Priest as he is God and so inferiour vnto his father as God and so fall apparantly into Arrianisme from the which hee cannot shift himselfe with all the â—â—eights that a subtile head and froward wit can affoard him 8. He would wrest a sentence of Augustine to shewe that he thought Abrahams bosome to be in hell producing this place if the holy Scripture had said that Christ after his death came into that bosome of Abraham not mentioning hell and the sorrowes thereof I maruell if any durst haue said that he descended to hell c. It is a strange thing that a man should so cast off all modestie as so apparantly to fasten vpon Augustine an opinion contrary to his owne words for a little before he said ne ipsâ—s quidem inferos c. I cannot finde hell in any place of the Scripture to be called for good and immediately after he inferreth that the bosome of Abraham that is the habitation of quiet rest is not to be beleeued to be a part of hell yea and in these words which he ignorantly presseth as much may be gathered for in saying that vnlesse mention were made in Scripture of hell and the sorrowes thereof but onely of Christs going to Abrahams bosom no man durst haue said that Christ descended to hell hee insinuateth that Abrahams bosome was not hell for then any durst haue so said without any further mention of hell Thus he confoundeth himselfe with his owne testimony 9. He citeth a place out of Augustine to prooue that vnity is a note of the Church quoting lib. 2. cont liter Petilian c. 54. Dissentio diuisio facit haereticos c. Dissention and diuision maketh heretiks but peace and vnitie maketh Catholiks But in that place no such sentence at all is to be found which sheweth what vaine oftentation hee maketh of his reading in the Fathers beeing vtterly ignorant in them The place which he aimeth at is the 96. not the 54. chapter of that booke which he corruptly alleadgeth for Augustine saith Dissentio quippe vos diuisio facit haereticos c. Dissention and diuision maketh you heretiks peace and vnity maketh Catholikes But hee leaueth out you wherein the force of Augustines speech lieth His meaning is that not the diuersity of faith or dissenting in religion but diuision onely and seperation from the Catholike Church made them namely the Donatists heretikes for the Donatists confessed of themselues and Augustine denied it not nobis vobisque vna est religio c. You and we haue the same religion the same sacraments nothing diuers in Christian obseruation Other heretiks were discerned then by their hereticall opinions the Donatists by their schismaticall seperation Againe Augustine meaneth not that vnity simply is a note of the Church but vnity with the Church of God for the Pagans had vnity among themselues As Augustine in another place saith Non proferant nobis quasi concordiam suam hostem quippe quem nos patimur illi non patiuntur Let them not obiect vnto vs as it were their concord for they suffer not that enemie whom we suffer Therefore he two waies abuseth Augustines sentence both in clipping his words peruerting his sense in making vnity and dissention in the Church the cognizances and causes distinctiue c. wheras Augustine speaketh not of vnitie and dissention in the Church and among themselues but of vnitie with the Church and of dissention seperation from the Church Wherefore this sentence was impertinently alleadged against the Replyer who thus saith That one bond of faith in the diuersitie of some priuate opinions may containe and keepe vs in peace There may be some diuersitie in opinion in the Church and yet neither faith peruerted nor peace violated 10. Augustine is brought in thus writing tract 12. in 3. Ioann Behold Christ was here and he was in heauen for so he came thence that he departed not thence and so returned thither that he left vs not here and what maruaile you this God doth for man according to the body both is in a place and goeth out of a place but God filleth all places and is whole euery where yet Christ was at that time according to his visible flesh in earth But Augustines words in that place are these writing vpon this text No man hath ascended into heauen but he that descended c. Ecce hic erat in coelo erat c. Behold he was here and hee was in heauen he was here in his flesh and in heauen in his diuinitie yea euery where in his diuinitie borne of his mother and not departing from his father c. And â—ome fewe lines after he saith mirariâ— c. Do you maruell that he was in heauen also he made his disciples such heare the Apostle saying our conuersation is in heauen if Paul the Apostle beeing man did walke in his flesh in the earth yet was conuersant in heauen could not the God of heauen and earth be both in heauen and earth The iudicious Reader may see what small affinitie and agreement there is betweene these two sentences and although Augustines testimonie had beene truely alleadged yet had it not beene to the purpose for the question is not of the meaning of these words of our Sauiour Iohn 3. 13. The sonne of man which is in heauen but of those Iohn 17. 24. I will that they c. be with me where I am Other places cited out of Augustine and other Fathers are handled with the like vncleane fists but these giuen in instance doe sufficiently bewray his cunning counterfetting of antiquity and the like fidelitie he sheweth in producing the new writers as now shall be seene 8. Caluinee falsified 1. In alleadging Caluin lib. 2. Institut c. 16. ser. 8. these corruptions are committed 1. Hee clippeth off diuers sentences for after these words There is no small force to the effect of our redemption this sentence followeth Quanquam enim ex veterum scriptis c. For although it appear out of the writings of the auncient that this particle was not of olde so much vsed in the Church yet in handling the summe of doctrine place of necessitie must be giuen vnto it theÌ„ follow the words next obtruded by him It coÌ„taineth a profitable mysterie c. then in the last part of the senteÌ„ce There is none of the auncient Fathers which doth not in his writings make mention of Christs descension into hell Hee quite cutteth off the words following tametsi interpretatione diuersa although in a diuers sense and interpretation the which words doe euidently shewe that
18. the figure 2. might easily be mistaken for 3. 17. Christ by Noah preached the one as the author the other as the Minister so both may wel stand together S. Peters text that speaketh of Christ and the interpretation that applieth it to Noah If any make the Apostle a lyar it is himselfe that corrupteth his sense by a false interpretation and maketh him to speake that which he neuer intended 18. Though the preaching of the word vnto vnbeleeuers is thorough the hardnes of their heart the sauour of death vnto death yet the principall and onely ende in respect of God is the comfort and conuersion of men the hardening of the heart is effected accidentally by the word and is not the proper ende thereof This is euident by that prophesie of Isai of Christ The spirit of God is vpon me c. he hath sent me to preach good tidings to the poore And this is Augustines reason that if there be preaching in hell some may be conuerted and beleeue in hell to say therefore to what purpose should Christ be thought to preach to the spirits in hell c. then for their comfort and deliuerance is no contradicting of the Scriptures but a manifesting of his ignorance that knoweth it not 19. And is it not sufficient if one Euangelist haue those words and is it not lawfull what is wanting in one to supplie out of an other But it can haue no excuse to clippe the Euangelists words as he doth whatsoeuer is giuen vnto you at the same time that speake saith Saint Marke but he citeth the place thus that which shall be giuen you that speake 20. And is he so captious that he could not or would not see that the omission of this word were was a meere ouersight in the setter and therefore the Replyer hath amended it among the Errata before Limbomastix And this poore-blinde pryer might haue obserued the like scape in his owne blotted lines where he thus writeth where the soules of sinners wont to be tortured for were wont c. 21. This is a small exception to the Geneva translation to take the present tence for the preterperfect especially seeing the Apostle so readeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ascending Eph. 4. 8. and the same tence with the Hebrewes serueth both for the present and time past as Psal. 68. 19. from whence S. Paul borroweth that testimony 22. These words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are englished in the translation but the words in Greeke it was not pertinent to repeate because all the force lieth in the other words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 23. 1. The Replyer citing those words of the Apostle to prooue the inward afflictions had no cause to repeat the rest which speake of his glorying and reioycing in Christ but onely so much as was to the purpose 2. Hee refuseth not Chrysostoms exposition though by him much mis-alleadged neither doth it make against him for that inward resolution and preparation of the minde daily beeing in expectation of death was it not an inward affliction and temptation to suffer death I hope hee will not deny to be an affliction then the daiely expectation of death being inward must be an inward affliction 3. Neither are those words cited to prooue that Saint Paul died the death of the soule but for the similitude of the phrase Hee might else-where haue further seene the Replyers meaning expressed in this manner As the body is not said onely to die when the soule departeth from it but when it is pressed with deepe and dangerous afflictions which threaten death as Paul saith I die daily so the soule may be said after a sort to die not only when it is finally separated frō God but perplexed with the horror and feeling of Gods wrath 4. It followeth not because Paul had inward ioy and consolation therefore he had not inward afflictions for speaking of terrors within he addeth God which comforted the abiect comforted vs c. His inward afflictions and terrors were tempered with inward ioy and comfort also here is neither dishonour done to Paul nor contumely to the spirit vnlesse it bee by his contumelious and slaunderous mouth Such are this Cauillers exceptions to the Replyers allegations of Scripture as we haue seene wherein I doubt not but that hee hath rather shewed himselfe a wrangler then the other a corrupter for although in the citing of other forraine testimonies greater liberty may bee vsed as Hierom saith hee did in interpreting of Greeke Authors Non verbū de verbo sed sensum exprimere de sensu not to expresse euery word but the sense by the sense yet in alleadging Scripture we must hold vs to the very words where as he againe saith Verberum or do mysterium est there both order and mysterie is in the words But had hee beene sincere himselfe in alleadging of Scripture hee would not haue beene so suspicious of another according to that saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A wit free from euill is slowest to suspect euill Now then it followeth to shew what a pregnant wit and ready facility he himselfe hath in corrupting of Scripture The Recrimination 1. That place 2. Timoth. 2. 5. he citeth thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no man is crowned vnlesse he striue lawfully whereas these are the Apostles words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If any man striue hee is not crowned except he striue lawfully where for any man he putteth no man 2. For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perrils among false brethren he readeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 false brotherhood beside he quoteth 2. Cor. 12. 26. for 11. 26. 3. Hee thus vnreuerently speaketh of the Scripture which shewes your state wholly dependeth vpon shifting first from the newe Testament to the olde from the olde to the newe and from the new to the olde againe thus he profanely calleth the comparing of the newe Testament with the old shifting 4. He corrupteth the sense of the Apostle vnderstanding his words of beeing partakers of the diuine nature of participating with his godhead which is onely meant of a similitude and likenesse vnto God not in substance but in qualitie in flying the corruption of the world as the words following shew which thing was well expressed by Iustinus Philosophus that the end which a Philosopher propoundeth to himselfe is to be like vnto God as neere as may be 5. Christ saith Where I am there shall also my seruant be Iohn 12. 26. he thus addeth vnto it where I am now there shall my seruant be hereafter 6. I goe to prepare a place for you and though I goe to prepare a place for you I will come againe Iohn 14. 2. 3. all this inclosed he leaueth out and here he ioyneth himselfe two verses together which he before called patching Accusat 8. 7. Ye shall lie downe in sorrow Isay 50. 11. hee readeth ye shall sleepe