his spirit dwelling in vs to proove things that they notwithstanding dare so malapertlie exact of Christians a blind obedience and implicit faith Who setteth any wares a seale boasting of their fynesse and yet in any case will not have them lookt on or tryed but will bee blindlings believed vpon his baire word for me I would never seeke any greater argument that hee were a thiefe and no true marchant The Romanists plead stoutlie that the truth is with them why Because they are the Church and why the Church Because they have an ordinarie succession of Pastours since the Apostolik tymes If here you vrge that in so farre as often personall succession holdeth not the same doctrine but even all in common have and may fall therefrom therefore to approove themselves true successours to the Apostles they must also verifie themselves to hold the same doctrine then their hearts brust for anger and they will gnashe at you with their teeth and crie out fye on such an heretike as once thinketh such a blasphemie That no such thing hath befallen or possiblie could befall the Church If yet they bee requyred to bring then their doctrine to due examination by the written worde No but you must fide implicita believe them vpon their word And albeit Scripture did seeme never so farre to condemne them yet you must not suspect any evill of them why Because that is onely the true sense of Scripture which they approve so as you must not so much as doubt or once call in question their interpretation And why Because foresooth they are the Church Is not this proudlie to mocke God and impudentlie to delude men Is not this to picke out the eies of the worlde to cary them blindfolded as oxen to the slaughter and as fooles to the stockes for correction Augustin pleading for the truth and having trulie for him all which our adversaries doe falslie glorie of yet sheweth that he was of another spirit which taught him that verity was otherwayes to bee defended then by such subterfuges as they in an evill conscience flee to His words are these Nemo nostrum dicat jam inveâ—isse veritatem sic â—am queramus quasi ab vtrisque nesciatur Ita enim diligenter concorditer queri potest si nulla temeraria praesumptione inventa cognita esse credatur aut si hoc à vobis impetrare non possumus saltem illud concedite vt vos tanquam incognitos nunc primum audiam nunc primum discutiam justum puto esse quod postulo hac sane lege servata vt vobiscum non orem non conventicula celebrem non Manichaei nomen accipiam si non mihi de omnibus rebus ad salutem animae pertinentibus sine vlla caligine rationem perspicuam dederis That is let none of vs say that he hath alreadie found out the truth let vs so seek it as if it were vnknowen to vs both For so it may be diligentlie and peaceably sought out if in a rashe presumption men doe not esteeme that they have alreadie found and knowen it Or if neither this can be obtained of you yet grant me that other at least that I may now first heare you and now first trye you as vnknowen before I think it bee an equitable thing which I crave observing foresooth this rule that I neither pray with you nor keep conventicles nor take the name of a Manichaean except of all things concerning the salvation of my soule you give me without any obscuritie a most cleare reason And in that same place vt ergo hanc omittam sapientiam quam in Ecclesia esse Catholica non creditis multa sunt alia quae in â—ius gremio me justissime teneant Tenet consensus populorum atque gentium tenet authoritas miraculis inchoata spe nutrita charitate aucta vetustate firmata tenet ab ipsa sede Petri Apostoli cui pascendas oves suas post resurrectionem Dominus commendavit vsque ad presentem episcopatum successio sacerdotum c. Ista ergo tot tanta Christiani nominis charissima vincula recte hominem tenent credentem in Catholica Ecclesia etiamsi propter nostrae intelligentiae tarditatem vel vita meritâ—m veritas nondum se apertissime â—stendat Apud vos autem â—â—i nihil horum est quod me invitet ac teneat sola personat veritatis pollicitatiâ— quaequidem si tam manifesta monstratur vt in dubiuâ— veâ—iâ—e non possit praeponenda est omnibus illâ—s rebus quibus in Cathâ—lica teneoâ— that is to passe by then that wisedome which you beleeve not to be within the Catholike Church there be many other things also which most iustlie doe holde me within her bosome the consent of peoples and nations the authority by miracle begon nourished by hope increased by love and stablished by antiquitie a succession of Priestes from the selfe seat of Peter the Apostle to whom Christ after his resurrection recommended the feeding of his sheepe even to this present Bishoprike c. These then so many and deare bands of christianitie doe rightlie hold a maÌ„ beleeving within the catholik churh though for the slownes of our vnderstanding or merit of our life the truth do not as yet most plainly shew it selfe But with you where none of these are either to draw â—e or detaine me nothing soundeth but a bare promise of the truth which notwithstanding if you can so evidentlie shew as it cannot be doubted of it is to be preferred to all these other things whereby I am holden within the Catholike Church 23. But this truth say they can neither bee shewed but by the church which only hath it neither could men bee otherwayes induced to beleeve the Gospell except therewith the authoritie of the church did move theÌ„ as Augustin speaketh ego vero Evangelio noÌ„ crederem nisi me ecclesiae commoveret authoritaâ— We denie not that the church only hath and sheweth the truth Yea we grant also that according to Augustin his mind in that place the authority of the church is the ordinarie and necessarie motive whereby a infidell who neither knoweth Christ nor beleeveth the Gospell may wil be first induced to reverence religion but it is but a coÌ„motive and as the same Augustin speaketh oportunuÌ„ inquirendi exordium so as albeit men be so stirred to revereÌ„ce inquire yet they rest not vpoÌ„ this that the church saith so no more theÌ„ did the Samaritans vpon their womans report but because by the word spirit they finde that shee speaketh true non iam hominibus sed Deo intrinsecus mentem illuminante atque firmante for as in his testimonie little above cited he saith there be many things which be great motives to hold a man in the bosome of the church yet trueth manifested is to be preferred to all and as truth is only in the church and shewed onely by the Church so is it
Satans throne in it and the vndoubted subversion of their execrable Ilium they cry out a great cry and a bitter That if thus men once depart from the iudgement of the Church what certain warrant can they ever finde to stay on or What guyde can they be sure to follow for finding out of truth So still they cease not to dallie and shameleslie in one sort Wee would not have men to depart from the iudgement of the Church which is the piller and stable seate of truth and without which is neither veritie nor lyfe but howe much we are necessarilie to cleave thereto so much the more carefullie by the right rule of examination to trye and discerne betwixt the Church and the pretending harlot and to this end the Lord hath given vs his word his spirit and in all ages hath recommended them to his owne children as vndoubted guydes in all doubtfull cases so vnder the lawe men are ever exhorted to the lawe the Testimonie David and the Prophets direct al men alwayes thereto they have the Lawe and the Prophets saith Abraham in parables And our Lord for cleare testimonie of himselfe biddeth the Iewes search the scriptures Peter from an other spirit then have our adversaries calleth the word of the Prophets a sure and certaine word and exhorteth to attend thereto And Paul even vpon this that the Church is the house of God the piller and stable seat of trueth and that godlines is a great mysterie groundeth both a reason why hee did write to Timothie and an earnest exhortation to take heed to the reading of the scripturs for that many diverting therefroÌ„ and giving themselves to spirits of error and fables should fall from the truth and teach doctrines of Devils We read many warning not to be miscaried with common errors or the authoritie of men yea as I have before touched divers times both Pastors and people in common are taxed for falling away from the word We are exhorted carefullie to proove and try what word men doe offer vnto vs but never in all scripture have we so much as one mine of secure relying vpon the authoritie of ordinarie Pastors without due examination and the iudgement of al sound antiquitie accordeth hereto One of the Fathers saith thus Qui vuls cognoscere quae sit vera ecclesia non cognoscat nisi tautummâ—dâ— per scripturas and sone after Christiani ergo volentes firmitatem accipere doctrina verae ad nullam rem fugiant nisi ad Scripturas aliâ—qui si ad alia respexerint scandaliz abuntur peribunt non intelligentes quâ— sit vera ecclesia per hoc incident in abhominationem desolationis quâ— stat in sanctis ecclesiâ— locis the place is remarkeable in English thus who wil know which is the true church let him not seeke to know it but only by the scriptures c. Christians then willing to receave the stable assurance of true doctrine let them runne to nothing but to the scriptures otherwayes if they look to ought else they shall stumble and perish not vnderstanding which is the true Church and shall fall hereby in the abhomination of desolation which standeth in the holy places of the church This same is yet more plainly shewed in these wordes quum videritis c. that is when ye shall see vngodly heresie which is the armie of Antichrist standing in the holy places of the Church then let them who are in Iudea flee to the mountaines that is they who are of christianitie addresse themselves to the scriptures because when once that heresie hath obtained place in these Churches there can bee no tryall of true christianitie neither any other refuge for christians willing to know the veritie of the faith but the divine and holy Scriptures And the same Chrisostome in the same place Antea multis modis c. before many wayes was shewed which was the Church of Christ but nowe no maner of way but by the Scriptures Thus is cleare not only that the scripture is the sole rule of tryall but that the necessarie reason why only to have recourse thereto is Antichrist his obtaining so farre within the Church as to escape the abhomination of desolation standing therein also wee must runne and runne only to the Scriptures Non enim per alium saieth Ireneus dispositionem salutis nâ—strae cognovimus quam per eos per quos Evangelium pervenit ad nâ—â— quod quidem tunc praecomaverunt postea verâ— per Dei volâ—â—tatem in scripturis nobis tradiderunt fundamentum columnam fidei nostrâ— futurum that is for by none other have wee knowne the disposition of our salvation but by these by whom the Gospell hath come vnto vs which then they preached and thereafter by the will of God delivered to vs in the Scriptures to remain in all tymes to come the foundation and piller of our faith The same father in another place speaketh thus Plantatus est enim Ecclesiae Paradisus iâ— hoc mundo ab omni ergo ligno Pâ—radisi manducabis id est ab omni scriptura dominica c. that is for the Paradise of the Church is planted in this world thou shall eat therefore of every tree of Paradise that is of all the Lord his Scripture And as Ierome sayeth both pleasantly and pertinently When ever the Church looketh to any other warrant egreditur de finibus suis she passeth out of her owne bounds let any man in whom is left any spunk of spirituall sense conferre these sayings of the Fathers with the dealing and doctrine of Rome now labouring ever to divert men from this Paradise of the Scriptures where only is the fruit of lyfe to a barren wildernes without water and Cisternes of their owne digging and thus making millions to fall in that abhomination of desolation which standeth in the holy places of the Church but their soares are seene they shal prevaile no longer 22. They exclame here against vs that thus we pervert all order in God his house making every privat Christian iudge over Pastours and subduing the spirit of the Church to every privat spirit And O how they both please themselves and play themselves in amplifying the absurditie as they think of this point But to calme a little their chear heerein First I aske them is it not a common direction for all Christians to trye spirits and not to believe every spirit Are we not coÌ„manded to proove al things to hold that which is good Are we not often carefully exhorted to beware of false Prophets While they cannot or dare not though they would gainsay so cleare Scripture they runne to this that the only sure trial is to acquiesce in the iudgement of the Church But shameles men is not this all one thing as if they said the best triall were to â—se no triall at all And what doe they hereby but still assume the question It is
we have no more ordinarie vocation then our adversaries alledge yet in so great a confusion brought in the Church by Antichrist and in such evidencie of truth in our side it sufficientlie answereth for our calling And albeit that perhaps it not onely may but also ought to be brought in defence of some particular men who waÌ„ting som ordinarie points of an ordinary vocation yet comming in the way of righteousnes and in evidencie of spirit and power coÌ„verting sinners and convincing errour witnessed clearelie their ministerie to bee from heaven yet for our Church in common I see no necessitie to have recourse heereto For whatsoever our adversaries may pretend heerein against some particular persons whose defect if it any were hurteth not the Church in common yet I marvaill with what face they can denye our first open contesters with Antichrist in common to have beene ordinarie Church-men bearing publike charg of Pastours or Doctours therin And that I goe not higher what iustlie can they lay heerein against VViclesse Iohn Husse Hierome of Prague and the Bohemian reformed Churches against Luther Melanâ—thon c. of the Churches of Germanie and whatsoeuer cavillation their peruerse contentious mindes may suggest to them against these yet what pretence can they have against the ordinarie vocation of so many famous Bishops and Pastours of the Church of England Yea and who of our first Preachers were not either ordinarie Church-men ere then had their admission to the Ministerie by the reformed Churches of England Geneva or Germanie If they were not blindlie miscarried they might perceave that what they speake and write of our men in derision and contumelie calling them Sir Iohn Knâ—x and Frere Iohne Craig c. it verifyeth their ordinarie vocation And giving that nothing might bee alledged for the ordinarie vocation of our first Preachers and that it were al 's essentiall a defect as our adversaries account it so as they had thereby a iust exception against our Church yet I pray you what doth this helpe them against the Church of England and so many other famous reformed Churches all agreeing in communion with vs and glad to give vs the right handes of fellowship What a peevish pretence is this for their errour and how weak an obiection against so many famous Churches convincing them that forsooth the Ministers of Scotland have no ordinarie calling But neither is the want of ordinarie vocation in our first Reformers anie iust exception against our Church as partlie alreadie and more at length heereafter shall bee shewed neither if it were may it be iustlie laide against our first Pastours They labour indeed much to convince vs as destitute of all lawfull either Pastours or Church and bringe to this end as seemeth to them an irresistable argument that ordination is only proper to Bishops But by evident scripture and cleare testimonie from antiquitie that is positive Whereby it is that our Reformed Churches agreeing soundly in all the substantiall points of faith without break of communion yet heerein for the matter of governement have takeÌ„ libertie diverslie as seemed best to each to rule either by Bishops or the common counsel of Elders which of them most laudably I do not here dispute Neither mattereth it much for the point coÌ„troverted with the coÌ„mon adversary For giving theÌ„ that the appropriating of ordinatioÌ„ to Bishops were not only tolerable but even most of all other commendable and also positively necessarie yet from the defect of that which by a positive law is or hath beene practised or which in the iudgement of many is still most expedient for common order to bee practised to infer that wee have neither any lawfull Pastours or true Church it is from that which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or respectively necessarie to conclud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a necessitie absolut Wherin both antiquity standeth strongly for vs by clear Testimony of not onely lawfull power but also of approoved practise in that Ambrose recordeth â—lim in Aegipto Presbyteros absente Episcopo consignare solitos And Augustin also that in Alexandria per totâ—m Aegyptum si desit Episcopus consecrat Presbyter their owne lay Schoolmen also even in the last declining degree to ignorance and corruption yet heerein will plead our quarrel Our owne couÌ„trie man Ioannes Maâ—â—r in a much semblable case bringeth that distinction which in the Schooles of Sorbon hee had both learned and taught that ad actum moraliter bâ—nuâ— non â—equiritur quod à vera prudentia reguletur actuâ— sed sat est quod ab ignorantia invincibili vel errore noÌ„ imputabili reguletur erat jus Pontificium in oppositum quod non tenebatur sâ—ire Scripturii sacru devotionise accommodabâ—t c. in humanis legibus positivis â—nusquisqueâ— suo sensu abundat c. This same Major and with him all our ancient Historiens do witnesse that before the dayes of Palladius whom he and al others confesse to have bene the first either consecrated or consecrating Bishop in Scotland per Sacerdotes Monachâ—s sine Episcopiâ— Scoti in side erudiebantur Now I aske our adversaries who heerein as in a substantiall defect divini juris thinke they have enough wherefore to condemne all both our Church and Pastours for that their ordination hath not bene by Bishops if they dare say but in Scotland there was a notable Church excellently both learned holy Pastours long before Palladius if they would deny it they are coÌ„vinced by cleare and vniforme consent of storie and testimonies eveÌ„ of their owne men who all confesse it to have bene so by the space at least of two hundreth and twentie yeares and if not with more yet with alse high iust commendation both of learning and holynes as ever thereafter And if it cannot be denyed but such was the estate of our Church then dare they condemne those men for theeves who vnlawfullie had broken in vpon the sheepfolde whom they them selves have both superstitiouslie canonized and do still idolatrouslie worship Or if that was no essentiall defect in them or a relevant exception against our Church then how impudent are they therevpon to conclude so peremptorilie against vs as if all both light and life of a true Church did hange wholy vpon that one point of Episcopal ordination whereof when all is graunted that the most vehement and not shameles assertours thereof in al their partiall heat and all probable apparance can plead for yet besides a cleare shewed instaÌ„ce of more then two hundreth yeares practise in our owne Church and that in the primitive and most pure times thereof their owne schooles also in the height of palpable prevailing darkenes have given vs yet this to answer them quod ad actum moraliter bonum non requiritur vt à vera prudentia reguletur actus sed satu est si ab ignorantia invincibili errore non imputabili reguletur 4. Thus then
loude sweet a song of praise as the sound of douce and well tuned harpes could yeeld yea and albeit they keeped them selves in the mids of so commonlie a prevailing evill pure from spirituall fornication as which were all Virgines chast and faithful to their Spouse the Lambe yet while all the earthlie ones wondred and were in wonder miscaried after the beast none could either heare or learne their high and sweet song but themselves who in that cōmon Apostasie were bought from the earth to be the true Citizens of heaven and albeit in the earth yet not of it neither perceaved of their enemies till to their terrour astonishment and beginning fall it was saide to them Come vp hither and till that by degrees they did breake foorth through the middes of heaven with no new but even with that one and everlasting Gospell Our adversaries trifle by concluding from the whole church in common to vniversallie each one within it and from these who in the Church and even obtayning therein yet were not of it to these who were alwayes in it and albeit sometime borne downe yet were only of it Truth is alwayes in the visible Church yea no where els but yet not alwayes visible therein And who thervpō would infer this or that therfore it behoved alwayes to obtaine beare sway were in Logike no les ridiculous then who should cōclude that lies errour did ever prevaile therein for they ar alwayes in the church in that the envious one soweth his tares even with the good feed was a lier from the beginning God never forsaketh his church yet we must acknowledge to his glorie that sometimes if he had not left vs a remnant we had bene as Sodom had bene like Gomorrha Ipsa est sayth Augustin quae aliquando obscuratur tanquam obnubilatur multitudine Scandalorum aliquando tranquillitate temporis quieta libera apparet aliquando tribulationum tentationum fluctibus operitur at◠turbatur It is shee which sometime is darkened and as it were overcludded with multitude of offences sometime by trāquillitie of time quiet free sheweth her self somtime is covered and troubled with the waves of tribulations 14. But seeing by our owne cōfession truth ever abydeth in the church with whō shal it be foūd say they but with the ordinary pastors ministers therof whose lips should preserve knowledg at whose mouth the Lord wil have vs to aske coūsel shal the ordinance of God be despised each man follow his owne sense God forbid We know wel that howsoever the Lord be not tied to meanes but that against without al meanes he may accomplish his good pleasur yet that faith is by hearing it pleaseth the lord to save the world by the foolishnes of preaching we know that how soever the careful reading of scripture is both recōmēded to al is commendable in all yet that for vnderstanding what we read the cōmon sort have need of an interpreter a messenger who is a man of a thousand we are so far herein frō permitting every man to his owne sense as calūniouslie our adversarie give out against vs that we constantly avouch that who ever cōtemneth the Lord his ordināce herin he cōtemneth the Lord is worthily given over to giddines and blindnes of mind But because the Lord wil save by preaching and dispenseth all light and grace by Pastours doeth it follow heereupon that the ordinarie Pastours and Ministers can not erre and fall from this truth Or is the Lord the holy one of Israell so limited that though everie man be a liar yet his truth should faile or is he not able though all the naturall seed should degener yet of stones to raise children to Abraham And is hee not alike able yea hath hee not more then one to the praise of his power and truth when ordinarie Prophetes become fooles then even to open the mouthes of asses to rebuke the foolishnes of the Prophetes It is most certain that when prophecie faileth the poeple perish But from the necessitie of Prophecie and of Prophets togither that to the ordinarie succession truth alwayes is necessarily tied who seeth not herein a plain fallacy For though the ordinarie husbandmen becom murtherers and the ordinarie builders becom destroyers yet the Lord still maintaineth his promise reporteth fruit of his vineyard buildeth his house by stirring vp others extraordinarilie who come in the way of righteousnes and this is their fourth aequivocation in this their stout affeveration that the Church can not erre for that not only they conclude from the Church to Pastours a part of the Church which we could passe with them but that also from the necessitie of Pastours indefinitlie they conclude definitlie sophisticallie of ordinarie Pastours 15. Now I do not herefore affirme that ever God so left the ordinarie ministers of his church that albeit all did in cōmon yet that ever at any time vniversally each one did fal from truth Yea I am perswaded neither that by coniecture only but by cleare warrant of scripture that in all ages evē in most corrupt times of Antichrist God stil had a number of true and godly Pastors and that not only in them but also by them hee preserved light and life in his church howsoever for their tolerating in weaknes of spirituall fornication he had something against them But heere our adversaries fal in the fift that same aequivocation in the case of pastours wherby they deceave in the case of the church as if because truth still abydeth with by the ministrie of Pastors that therfore al or most part of Pastours did ever hold the truth or that amongst Pastours in common truth did alwayes obtaine and beare sway for it is most cleare and certain that howsoever vniversallie each one never do fal from the light life of God yet whē that carnallie presuming of God his promises and of their ordinarie place in the church they become secure and abuse their place to fulfil their owne lustes that then they both may and have communiter omnes al in common fallē away from the Prophet even to the Priest everie one following after his that then ther wil be a conspiracie of her Prophets in the mids of her thē all her watchmen will be blind and know nothing all dum doggs which can not bark lying and sleeping and loving to sleepe knowing no◠vnderstanding nothing but looking wholy to their own wayes So as most iustlie the Lord therevpon giveth them night for a vision darknes for a divination In which case for magnifying of his truth and power and for their confusion the Lord hath may extraordinarilie stirre vp men in the way of righteousnes to doe his work 16. But whatsoever say they might bee presumed of Pastours in common yet being assembled in Counsell or Synode they can
Church why doe our adversaries make no end of bitter contention against vs We have indeed great sure promises that the gates of hell shall not prevaile against his Church but that the ordinarie Ministers shall alwayes and all in common holde the trueth not one syllable yea contrarie we have not only manie and serious warnings of false prophetes to arise in the bowells of the church in sheepes clothing but also most clearlie foretold that such an Apostasie should come whereby Antichrist in al effectual deceyt should even sit and beare rule in the Temple of God If they will saye that the Church of Israel had not such promises of continuall presence and preservation of truth as the Christian Church hath It is a treacherous sophisme For they had also sure promises of continuall presence and preservation of truth according to the measure dispensed albeit not of so great measure of presence and light And as for that point whereof our adversaries glorie most and wherein now at last they are faine to place all defence namelie the prerogative of places and persons the Church of Israell had much more for them in so ample and many promises made of Ierusalem And to the house of Levie and familie of Aaron where as the Church vnder the Gospell in which neither at Ierusalem nor in any mountaine but every-where and of all men God is to bee worshipped in spirit and truth albeit having great sure promises of presence and preservation yet of tying God or his truth to any places or persons in all Scripture shee hath not so much as any shew of a warrant which if the holy Ghost had minded hee might with much lesse ado have reduced those many grave and earnest warnings given both by Christ in the dayes of his fleshe and by his Apostles thereafter of the perill of false prophetes and those carefull instructions of notes how to discerne and avoid them to a short and sure compende against all fraude bidding the Church but holde whatsoever the Bishop of Rome did holde for that hee forsooth could not erre If our adversaries yet oppone that howsoever the Church vnder the Law did sometime fall away all in common and that albeit the Christian Church should also in like manner yet the truth of God his promises should not therefore faile but that no such thing hath befallen the Christian Church or could befall her in respect of the great measure of light and cleare dispensation by the Gospell It is many wayes both foolish and impertinentlie alleadged for first it is a plaine taking of that which is in question Next as the state of our question is whither possiblie the Church may erre communiter tota and God his promise yet abyde true to oppone that shee hath not erred is alse ridiculous as if in disputation de iure one should answer de facto If God his promise still may consist albeit shee did so erre wee have the point wee pleade for And whither shee hath erred or not they must of necessitie come with vs to trye by such rules of examination as wee only labour to reduce them to and they in an evill conscience alwayes flee onely crying against vs The TeÌ„ple of the Lord The Temple of the Lord And the Church can not erre Thirdlie this their presumption of the ones possible and easie falling away and of the others assured standing in truth grounded vpon the lesse and greater measure of light it sheweth their foolishnes in divine matters For as whatsoever measure of light dispensed is God his free benefite so is our either imbracing or abyding therein his only gift Who as hee iustlie will give over presumptuous and secure men to groape even at noone day so is hee faithfull and wil not suffer his owne to bee tempted above that they are able but will give the issue with the tentation Wee have indeed to glorifie God and even to glorie in him for the huge measure of light and gracefull dispensation by the Gospell but so farre ought men to have bene from vaine boasting thereof or carnall and secure relying thervpon as in all watchfulnes and godly care they should have remembred with all that accordingly Satan was to advaunce the mysterie of iniquitie by all effectual working with all power signes and lying wonders and in all deceaveablenes of vnrighteousnes among them that perish because they receaved not the love of the truth that they might be saved and therefore God should send them strong delusion c. for Sathan as a craftie warriour and subtill enemie reserved and framed his last cunning force and maner of working according as he did see that for deceaving was requisite and accordinglie by God his wise permission iust iudgement obtained a throne even in the temple of God And as in the dealing of God it is not to be esteemed strange that he so farre gave over the world to the efficacie of errour whereby he iustlie punished the contempt of his truth and clearlie foretold the case so is it nothing derogatorie either to his goodnes and truth of his promises made to his Church or to his power of performance as our adversaries because the Lord whom they would make a varlet to their lustes hath iustlie cast dunge vpon their faces therefore by a doting dilemma would inforce vpon vs this blasphemie as a necessarie consecâ—arie of our doctrine For that if the Church have erred it must have beene that either GOD would not or then that hee could not keepe his promise to her But it is the propertie of their king Abaddon to blaspheme the name of God his Tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven Wee both acknowledge his goodnes and praise his truth and power and confesse that by this course of dealing they are more highlie manifested then if the gates of hell and smoake of the bottomles pit had never assailed the Church Or if the weaknes of men had never appeared to the praise both of his goodnes and power For as his incomprehensible goodnes and constant truth are herein magnified that though all men be liers yet hee abydeth true and the infidelitie of men can not make his promise of none effect so did his infinite power exceedinglie extoll the selfe in this that as hee bringeth light out of darknes and maketh his light to shine in darknes as hee bringeth life out of death and preserveth the children of death so in the middest of Antichrist his vsurpation and such absolute domination in the holy Citie and Court of the Temple the visible Church as no possible meanes appeared of intertaining light yet hee not only all the while preserved two candlestickes and two olives true witnesses and Ministers of light and grace but also when spyed out by Antichrist they were cruellie murthered and in his and his sectatours estimation vtterlie vndone hee revived them in furder vigour to his and their terrour That while all the earth
wee have but to cleere whither the Pope bee hee who was to come or if we must looke for another If they would pretēd the short space of the churches defect vnder Antichrist according to their dreame of three yeeres and an half yet how doth the truth of God his promise consist as for their owne defence they interprete if it faile but one day or if he may and shal in a totallie prevayling evill whereby not onely truth but also al pretence and profession of Christianitie is overthrowen yet preserve both his Church and promise to her three yeares and an halfe why might he not alse well and vnder the vaile of permitted profession much better for many ages and if vnder their imaginarie Antichrist directlie impugning Christianitie and advowedly exalting him selfe against GOD and Christ whose name he shall not so much as pretend yet both truth and a true Church shall lurke three yeares and an halfe how much more vnder him who of a degenerating succession of ordinarie Pastours pretending Christ his name and power who did not become extreamlie evill at once but by degrees mounted to the height of impietie masked in a Mysterie might the true Church vnder the common ensigne of profession have lyen long hidden For where deluding simple minds they affirme that Antichrist must be one singular person because in scripture he is named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Antichrist the adversarie and the man of sinne they proove exceeding either childish or shameles cavillators Might not the 4. Kingdoms of Babel Persia Macedonia and of the Seleucides prophecied of Daniel Chap. 7. have by this reason excepted that the foure beastes there foretolde could not bee meaned of them in so farre as in each of their Kingdomes was a succession of mo◠persons then one and these foure beastes are of the Prophe◠interpreted to bee but foure kings Who would hereby refell any affirming that there is but one great Turk because that from Ottoman many divers persons have succeeded in that Empire should he not prove but a ridiculous sophist reasoning from one in seat state succession and subrogatiō to one in person the seat hath but one person at once who by reason of succession dyeth not It is the Pontificality which we challenge not personallie Pius Leo Paulus or Clemens And to how hard shiftes our adversaries are driven in this point it is easie to perceave when to pul mens minds from espying their Pope they propone to bee exspected such an Antichrist as comming could not possiblie in all his three yeares and a halfe find three phrenetick fooles to be his followers As if foresooth one directlie damning all Christianitie openlie blaspheming the name of God and Christ and impudentlie and advowedlie challenging to him selfe all diuine honour in such daylie growing light of the Gospell and settled knowledge of God could possiblie in three yeares a halfe roote out all religion and subdue all nations of the earth in which space a verie deliver single man in fulnes of bodilie strength and continuing vigour yet were scarce able with all possible speed vpon a wager to survey them And that they should not appeare vnresolved forsooth in such important matter without so much as any mine of Scripture warrant they will have him a singular persone of the tribe of Dan who albeit it was the honour of faintes a thousand yeeres that they receaved not the beast his marke yet shall in three yeres and a halfe immediatlie before the day of iudgement begin accomplishe and end in open and avowed impiety that mischief which that in the own time it might come foorth cūninglie covertlie masked vp in a mysterie Satan in all deep deceipt was working since the Apostolike times and thus whereas God hath reserved to him self alone the knowledge of that last day which shall come as a thiefe in the night vpon a sleeping and secure world these men set vpon it so faire conspectible a mark as either no Christians at all shall at that time be in the world or then they may alse well know and calcule that day as we doe now Christmas namely having so iumpe a space of yeares and dayes and so notable coincident cases as the returning of Enoch and Elias their slaughter and miraculous resuscitation But it is not my purpose here to handle this point of matter either for prooving their Pope to be Antichrist or to refute these their foolishe dreames for more full resolution whereof and of ought else that from that booke may appeare here of me to be too shortlie touched I referre the reader to my commentarie on the revelation 31. The waxing light of the Gospell dayly more more discovering the man of sin maketh our adversaries to paint out Tragelaphos Chimeraes wherby they may stupifie detaine foolish hearts in expectation of such an Antichrist as shall come I warrant you ad grecas Calendas some thousand yeares after the Iewes have gotten their long but vainlie lookt for Messias But as these shall never get another Christ then whom they pearced so neither shall the others any Antichrist but whom they follow The Iewes in God his mercie shall yet see their true Messias and mourne for him Our characterized adversaries shall follow still blindlings their Abaddon to the lake of fire and brimstone waile then with him And they are so anxiously carefull of their credit herein that for holding still simple mindes in a maze least longing perhaps they should looke more nearly and so with setled senses espy the Dragon his mouth vnder semblance of the Lamb his hornes some surmise for intertaining exspectation of one never to come must be brought nowe and then from the East of som dumb Devil borne at Babylon and begotten forsooth betwix some feind or farie and a devised Daniel who hath I warrant you two thousand years agoe lost all the writings of his genealogie It is not so strange that these men whose filthines shame the glorious light of the Gospel hath so farre detected that now they see no remedie but desperatly to passe all bounds of shame should therfore so impudentlie delude the Worlde with such foolishe fantasies but it is both wonder and pitie in so cleare light of truth that still so many should be abused with them a iust punishment of the careles misregarde of that light which is come in the worlde but the worlde loveth darknes more then light And howsoever some of the Auncients whose tymes perception were farre remooved from the knowledge of these mysteries in a slender and careles consideration of them did fall vpon some points of these fonde speculations yet nowe when not only knowledge is with course of time increased but also the eventes have made things cleare it is not only a maigre defence but bewraying also evidentlie perversenes of mindes and guiltines of conscience to runne to such doting dreames and ridiculous raveries as albeit they
and printe that if we could but once cleare the lawfulnes of our callings they would without more adoe or furder disputation about heads of doctrine give vs their handes For our vocation I have said somewhat against their obiections in my Treatise of defence and againe in my epistle to a recusant I have replyed to their censuring notes If I have cleared the point why remember they not their covenant If I have not yet why in place of refelling my argumentes and strengthening their owne point am I deceitfully drawen away from the question in hand by newe and impertinent demands of a different matter and yet if in this their shameles shifting there were in them any one spunke of sinceritie I could even gladly bee drawen to follow them for that I confesse it is a much more sure way from truth of doctrine to establish lawefulnes of vocation then vpon the slipperie ground of outward ordinary calling to build a warrant of doctrine But consider I pray you first the ingenuitie of the demaunder in the substance of his demaūds and next his aequitablenes in his prescribed rules wee are desired in summe to evince that the Church of Rome hath made apostasie from the truth and therewith to cleare that our doctrine is the veritie of God But shameles men what have we bene doing these more then a hundreth yeares agoe but filling the world with volumes whereby wee have so plainly discovered their abhominations and verified the truth of our Doctrine as wearied with contesting therabout or rather vexed with their cleare convincing power of light they were faine to cast vp all either disputation come in end as to their last refuge to quarrell our vocation the lawfulnes whereof when thervpō we have stablished against al their cavillations they leape now back of new again intend accusation against our doctrine what is this else but as children in their sporting childishly practise and more childishly speak to play titbore tatbore with vs Now as he hath forgotten all shame in so childish shifting the question so by his limitations laid down to vs I know not by what law how to answer him in both the points demanded he exponeth plainly to the perception of any sensible Reader what sound mind he hath what aequitablenes is in his dealing with vs. First for evincing the apostasie of the church of Rome we must take this law of the demander that in so farre as the Church of Rome was once the true Church of Christ we must therefore condescend what yeare of God shee made first defection and by whom accordingly shee was condemned of Haeresie Reasonable men indeed And yet their companions in spirit pretended in al 's bad a cause some more equitie VVe have a law said they by this law he ought to die Our adversaries neither having nor so much as pretending any stable law against vs and therefore in an evill conscience shunning all right lawes of examination they wil in no small modestie forsooth set downe rules of their owne braine whereby they will have both them selves and vs tryed But heerein first I can not but greatly muze whither foolishlie or fraudfullie the demander hath fallen vpon so either an improper or so presumptuous a maner of speach as indefinitlie and absolutlie to call the Church of Rome the true Church of Christ. that consequently all other churches may either bee secluded from this title or bee compelled to come in vnder the name of the church of Rome Neither doe I so much muze hereon for any doubt I have of the Demaunder his owne meaning for I know how blasphemouslie bold they are if not to mende the magnificat yet to carve careleslie at the Creed by adding Romanam to Sactam Ecclesiam Catholicam thus forcing all if not to receave the character yet at least the name or number of the beast but that he proponeth this as a point graūted by vs. I admire his impudencie for of the church of Rome before shee became a harlot we confesse that shee was a true church of Christ or one of his true churches or a true part of that his true church which is but one but to intitle any particular Church absolutly and indefinitly with the name of the true Church of Christ it is an insolent speach and not according to the stile of holy scripture which addeth alwayes some distinguishing designation as the Church which is at Rome in Iudea in Corinth of Galatia of Ephesus Smirna Pergamus c. As for the church of Rome at length becumming not only a harlot but also the mother of whoordomes in all the earth in which respect only it was that all commonlie therein did take her name wee deny her so to bee either the true Church of Christ or anie true part thereof but the Synagogue of Sathan and an abhominable Whoore borne vp and advanced by a blasphemous and bloody beast howsoever all the while vnder and within his vsurpation even where Satan his throne was the true Church of God long dwelt shruded and suffered to live vnder the name and number of the beast yet free alwayes from his character but least I seeme over narrowlie to sift syllables I passe this there whither ignorant or arrogant maner of speaking For prooving the church of Rome to have made apostasie from truth we must by our adversaries iniunctions cōdescend vpon the yere of God wherein the first made defection and who they were that therevpon even then convinced her of haeresie and shall this then serve to exime her or any other church from the blot of defection or haeresie in all time thereafter and make all whatsoever shee holdeth to be vndoubted truth if the first houre and firste degrees of her apostasie have escaped a publike note or howsoever noted if yet shee hath not bene publikely condemned of haeresie or howsoever both noted and condemned yet if no publike record thereof be extant to future ages shall any long space of time iustifie waxing and obtaining errour or is there any such prescription against truth but that jure postlimin◠at least it may alwayes pleade iustly for reposition I leave here to the vpright consideration of any indifferent minde what true confidence these men can have of their owne cause who prescribe such limitations and being challenged of sacrilegious guiltines will offer themselves no otherwayes to tryall then as if a cunning and long covered Thiefe tatched with innumerable fangges and having all his houses stuffed with stolen wares yet should partly protest that in so farre as he had bene once honest and of all men accounted so hee ought therefore to be reputed so still notwithstanding of any thing found by him except it may bee cleared what houre of his lyfe he did first begin to steale in what place and from what persones and therewithall who had even then convinced and condemned him for a Thiefe Or as if a subtile and long dissembling harlot