of God and to be exalted aboue all that is called God Like in spirituals to that of the great Earle of Warwickes in the time of H. 6. in temporals vvho chose rather to be called Primus Comes Angliae then Rex Angliae and thought it more honor to make a King then to bee one Lastly they say they humble man more then we and exalt God more then wee 1. They humble man more whilst they tell him his sinnes are such as he must not presume to go to God but by meanes of Saints or Angels 2. They exalt God more whilst they exalt his seruants and giue asmuch reuerence to the Saints as wee to God To this wee answere they arrogate to man whilst they will see me wise aboue that which is written they derogate from God whilst they make his seruice common to the Saints and can only colour it with a distinction nay whilst they make him and Christ only seuere Iudges and the Saints and Angels merciful and so their Mediators They ought not to do euill that good might come of it this is euill to lye of God whilst they faine him to bee what he is not and deny him to bee what he is And of this kinde and to this ende are all their fictions in the Legend to proue the Saints merciful and God seuere yea the blessed Virgin Mary to be more pitifull then Christ her Sonne and Sauiour in whom she was blessed more as a childe then a Mother That they may do this the more safely they contend and say That besides the written word of God there are many other decrees and dogmaticall points and traditions necessarie to be beleeued to saluation which the Church that is themselues alone haue in custody vpon trust and credit Now wee teach the contrary aswell because wee haue cleere testimony of the Scriptures and Fathers generally as of a cloude of witnesses to proue the contrary as also because it makes more for the glory of God in things of absolute necessity toward saluation to gouerne by positiue lawes of his owne rather then by arbitrary and changeable lawes of Man and that he should reueale to vs his will by his owne Sonne Christ Iesus who came to saue vs rather then to leaue vs to the vncertaine relation of Man who for ought wee know may be Antichrist and so intends to deceiue vs though perhaps he comes in sheepes clothing or may seeme an Angell of Light to bleare our eyes with apparance Wee might ioyne in this issue vvith them vpon all the questions controuerted but these shal be sufficient to giue light to see the rest at more leisure In the meane time if wee cast our eyes truly vpon the end of their deâ—ignements vvee shall easily see that gaine and glory vnto themselues are the only arguments which draw them to fight for the Popes Supremacy the Masse Purgagatory Pilgrimages and all the rest of their opinions vvherein they are opposite to vs and to the Scriptures To this end they are called Marchants Reuel 18. 23. Because for gaine and glory they sophisticate Religion as Marchants their wares and thus make marchandize of heauen and earth and of God himselfe And as the Marchants in London haue foreigne commodities whereby they sucke the sweete sap of the Country to themselues and they in the Country haue meanes againe to recall it as Norwich by stuffes Yorke by Cattell some places by vvooll and cloth others by come and others by Mettals Or as England vvith these commodities furnisheth other Countryes and supplies her owne wants from thence and Fraunce with her vvines buyes her children vvooll and Spaine vvith Figges Raysons Limons and Oranges for sauce buyes herselfe bread and meat so these spirituall Marchants chop change commodities and tosse to and fro by that meanes the wealth the pompe the glory of the world the fat of the Earth the Crownes of Kings To this end Walsingham had a lady to bring suiters and sees Eastward and Canterbury had a Saint Becket to draw it Southward The North had a Winifrid Scotland a Saint Andrew and his arme the Low-Countries a Lady of Hales Fraunce a Saint Denis Spaine a Saint Iames Italy a Lady of Loretto and euery Country vvas full of these Marts where the Saints did seuerall cures and seruices to the Church and had continuall Votaries and those of the frankest sort as superstition is commonly a prodigall And this vvas a golden vvorld and a glorious Religion to the eye so that vvee heare old men and women talke of these things still but vvee know this was not sound at the heart the way might seeme good to a man but the end thereof were the Yssues of death 2. The certaine ill Quality or Determination Is the Yssues of Death hauing spoken of the first end vvhich is the purpose and scope of this vvay vvee come to speake of the Yssue of this end that is The Terminus vltimus or determination of this purpose and ayme and that is Death They are the Yssues of Death Life was promised in their first apparance it seemed the right vvay but vpon tryall wee finde Latet Anguis in herba the end is the Yssues or wayes of death A great distance betwixt the promise and the performance betwixt the pretence and the Yssue the passage and the port the starting place and the end of the race vvhen life is proclaimed in the beginning and death meets vs at the concluding I haue fought a good fight saith the Apostle Paule 2. Tim. 4. 7. 8 I haue finished my course from henceforth is laide vp for me a Crowne of glory which God that righteous Iudge shall giue me and not to me only but to all that loue his appearing Now the Apostle hath fought and if he had deserued ex condigno might chalenge this crowne as a debt due to his worth but he doth not so he expects it indeed out of grace of free gift he doth not deserue it by fighting but he obtaines it fighting it is giuen freely by a righteous Iudge vvho gaue him grace to fight and promised him both to ouercome and to triumph 2. Cor 12 My grace is sufficient for thee makes Paule feare no buffeting of Sathan no sting or pricke in the flesh for that grace gaue him strength to fight and conquer and vvas manifested the more by his infirmity for Gods power is made perfect through our weaknes And after he hath fought hee expects a crowne that grace is his assurance he cannot chalenge it by any other right and in that right he is assured of it both for himselfe and all others who loue the appearing of our Lord Iesus Christ To all that loue not to all that fight the affection not the action is respected the person not the passion is accepted But now if Paule had beene of the Romish faith this speech of his would haue beene iudged presumption not presumption to chalenge by merit but presumption to chalenge of
as this Therefore learne to vnderstand the Doctrines that crosse and contradict one another and whilst thou beleeuest Christ saying This is my body beleeue so as thou maist not crosse the Articles of thy Faith but know it is his body after no carnall and fleshly maner for the flesh profits nothing Ioh 6. but after a spirituall and diuine manner Not food for thy stomacke thy teeth thy belly but food for thy soule thy vnderstanding thy faith And so hee cals the bread his body heere as himselfe a dore and a vine and a rocke and Peter astone in other places of Scripture And therefore consider after Christ ascended he neuer appeared to his Apostles in body againe as he vsed to do often before Act. 7 55. But in heauen he appeared personally to Stephen to confirme his faith And when before his ascension he appeared to the twelue with whome Thomas Didimus was Iohn 20. he did not vrge Thomas to beleeue any thing contrary to his sense of seeing hearing and feeling but rather willed him to confirme his faith by seeing and seeing what before he doubted And then hee addes Happy are those which see not and yet beleeue he doth not say Happy are they who beleeue contrary things to that they see as they must do who beleeue the bread to be changed into his naturall body which they see and feele to be true bread still but Happy are those who beleeue when they see nothing to the contrary hauing the word of God which cannot contradict it selfe for their warrant As wee do beleeue his Resurrection and Ascension which wee saw not and his comming to Iudgement in glory which we hope to see Thus when thou shalt heare Christ command thee to take Bread and Wine in the Sacrament 1. Cor. 11. and a Priest countermand this and will thee to take bread only Saint Paule commanding thee from God to pray with vnderstanding 1. Cor. 14. 16. and a Romane Priest willing thee to pray in a strange tongue God himselfe blessing Matrimony and permitting all men to marry and the Apostle Paule saying Mariage is honorable with all men and in speciall tearmes a Bishop or Deacon ought to be the husband of one wife â— Tim. 3. 2. c. and hearest a Romane Priest say the contrarie nay inioyne thee to do the contrary and to binde thee by an othe to do it Then thou that hast eares to heare heare what S. Iohn saith to thee 2. Ioh. 10. 11. If any come vnto you and brings not this doctrine that is brings any contrary doctrine to Christs receiue him not to house neither bid him good speed And heare what God gaue his people in charge of old in the like case Deut. 13. 1. 2. 3. If there arise among you a Prophet or a dreamer of dreames and giueth thee a signe or a wonder And the signe or the wonder come to passe whereof he spake vnto thee saying Let vs goe after other Gods which thou hath not knowne and let vs serue them Thou shalt not hearken vnto the wordes of that Prophet or that dreamer of dreames for the Lord your God proueth you to know whether you loue the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soule So thou art not to beleeue him though he confirmes his Doctrine by miracles nay suspect him the more and the rather for that for miracles are the principall shelters and pretences of Antichrist as thou maist see Math. 24. 24. 2. Thes 2. 9. So then beleeue nothing which contradicts the Scripture for the Scripture cannot be contrary to it selfe because it proceeds from the Spirit of God which is the Spirit of vnity of loue and of truth And to shut vp all this with a familiar example which the weakest apprehension may conceaue the sleightest memory retaine Not long since there vvas a tryall before the Iudges of Assize at Thetford betwixt two townes for a Common Oxborough Gooderstone in which both claymed interest The one towne chalenged by prescription and pretended vse and proued the vse by them their forefathers time out of minde The other parties produced an auncient Composition in writing vnder the hand and seale of the Lords and Tenants on both sides The Iudge then determined that against a writing there could be no prescription though without a writing prescription would be currant Because the writing controuled their present custome and shewed Ab initio non fuit sic there was a time when their old vse was not therefore their claime was false In prouing their vse against this composition they proued themselues intruders incrochers trespassers euill neighbors It was so farre from doing them good as it might haue done them hurt laying them open to euery mans action whom they had offended So heere wheere the word is silent there heare Antiquity heare the Church honor tradition preferre prescription custome vse If thou doest not then thou shewest thy selfe a selfe-wild Schismaticke or an obstinate Hereticke But where the Scripture speakes where thou hast that writing vnder hand and seale that old composition betwixt God and Man appointing Man his limits there let not man presume to intercommune with God but let the tongues of men and Angels be silent And whatsoeuer doctrine crosseth that crosse thou it out of thy Creed or God will crosse thee out of the booke of life Heare Saint Paule aduising the Collossians Let no man beare rule ouer you vnder shew of a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels Col. â— 18. intruding into those things which he hath not seene vainely puft vp by his fleshly minde So whatsoeuer humble shew or pretence he hath he is puft vp who presumes to crosse the doctrine of the Scripture And though he comes in sheepes clothing Mat. 7. 15. with shew of mortification and contempt of the world yet inwardly he is a rauening wolfe and desires to swallow widowes houses vnder the colour of long prayers Mat. 23. auricular confession and almes And though he seemes a worme and no man and creeping humbly vpon his belly lickes the dust of the earth yet beware he may be a subtile serpent and no silly worme for vnder the like faire shew Sathan deceiued our Ancestors in Paradise Therefore attend Saint Paules admonition carefully where he saith Gal. 1. 8. But though wee or an Angell from heauen preach any other Gospel to you then that which wee haue preached vnto you let him be accursed And as if this were not sufficient obserue how he riuets this commandement or admonition againe Gal. 1. 9. and againe saying As we sayd before so say I now againe If any man preach any other Gospel vnto you then that yee haue receiued let him be accursed What you haue receiued you know in the Lords Prayer the Tenne Commandements and the Creede for these are Epitomees and abridgements of all If therefore Saint Paule or an Angell an Angell
as God made man righteous but as man hath corrupted his owne wayes By his Sense if he iudgeth he finds himselfe often deceiued for a straight sticke put into the water seemes crooked in his eyes an eccho beguiles his eares his feeling tasting smelling all of them are subiect to deception And for his Reason the best it can doe is to discourse probably of the least common accident of a Plea or a Flie and then whatsoeuer he brings may be controuerted so by another seeming reason that the Iudge who should from this base ground his determinations had need do it with caution and leaue roome to retract and reuerse his sentence Much more is man puzzeld and lost when he climes vp to higher contemplations to consider the hidden things of Nature as wee may plainely see by Gods arguments to Iob Iob. 38. 39. If then the spirit of a man cannot infallibly iudge of the things of a man of his owne soule and body or of such things as are subiected to his gouernment how shall he be thought a competent iudge to determine the things of God though we graunt him to be of as vpright a heart as David and as wise as Salomon himselfe All that man can doe is to iudge by apparance and wee see heere things may seeme otherwise then they bee Now besides the insufficiency of Man this way 1. Tim. 5. 21 we shall finde other defects in him which accompany impotencie and are vnworthy of a Iudge for in a Iudge two things must be principally auoyded preiudice and parciality now both these we shall discouer in our Iudge Man First Preiudice Man naturally abhors all things propounded by his aduersarie and the hate of the person wil not suffer him to intertaine the truth of his discourse but rather seeke arguments to oppose it his iudgement is so taken vp aforehand Thus I haue seene the sentences of the Fathers reiected for hereticall by Romane Catholiques when they haue beene found in Luther or Calvin Whitaker or Perkins Secondly Partiality Man naturally affects what either proceeded from himselfe immediately or from his neere deere honord and beloued Predecessors or some that in his eyes seemes learned wise honest religious In which regard God himselfe disputes this point with man Ezechiel 18. 2. and in the 29. verse concludes with an interrogation with an expostulation saying Yet saith the house of Israel The way of the Lord is not equal O house of Israel are not my wayes equall or are not your wayes rather vnequall And this is come into fashion againe that Man dares argue the cause with his Maker and if God do not as man will haue him subiect his actions to mans reason and aâ—e all his creatures but that according to the rule of Iustice he condemne some Reprobates he is like to be iudged the Author of sinne And I wonder he scapes censure for making fishes foules beasts I muse they finde no fault because he made not all these to be men and immortall and why he made not men Angels whilst holy David wonders at his extraordinary care loue showne towards man saying O Lord what is man that thou so regardest him or the sonne of man that thou so visitest him He wonders that any man is regarded these wonder that all men and all creatures are not alike regarded Thus man that iudgeth by apparance whose sense and reason may be deceiued and so deceiue him as he deceiues others who may bee iniquus Iudex a Iudge full of preiudice full of partiality especially in his owne case is vnfit to decide a controuersie of this nature And this therefore caused that resolute Luther to vtter that speech for which he hath beene so often and so vniustly taxed and chalenged That he preferd one Saint Paule before a thousand Ambroses Augustines Hieroms or Chrysostoms Because Saint Paul by the iudgement of all those was for the first planting of the Church guided by the infallible direction of Gods Spirit after a wonderfull and extraordinary manner and measure But all these men graunt themselues that they might erre nay that they did erre and so retracted diuerse of their former opinions desiring neither to be beleeued nor followed farther then their words and writings should bee found consonant to the verity of the written Word of God Now then all the iudgement of Man nay of all men contradicting the Word of God is of a priuate spirit such as Adam was directed by when he left the guidance of Gods Spirit of which Saint Peter speakes 2. Pâ—t 1. 19. 20. 21. If therefore a multitude of men how learned wise or holy soeuer they bee should ioyne against the Scripture their authority must not carry it for they all erre and their interpretation is priuate though their persons their places their professions be publique And one or a few men expounding with the Scripture doth not expound by a priuate spirit though his person perhaps bee priuate but by the spirit of Truth which directed the holy Pen-men of the Scripture and his opinion and interpretation is Catholique and orthodoxe whatsoeuer his person bee Cyprian vvas a publique teacher yet interpreting some Scriptures to proue rebaptization his interpretation therein vvas priuate because against the generall sense and scope of Scripture And Augustine vvas a Bishop and so a publike person at whose mouth we are to seeke wisedome yet when hee brought Scripture interpreted by himselfe contrary to the generall scope to prooue Children should receiue the Lords Supper his interpretation was worthliy reiected as of a priuate spirit All the founders of Heresies haue beene publike persons such as were Nouatus Arrius Eunomius and with these diuerse Bishops of Rome haue ioyned eyther as authors of Heresies or Sectators of such and heerein they were all led by priuate spirits Therefore Bellarmine confesseth lib. 3. cap. 3. De verbo That the Spirit of interpretation which in S. Peters sense is publique is often giuen to priuate men So then the Scripture must be expounded by the Scripture the darker place by the place more cleere Man must not seeke a fortification in Scripture for his opinion but he must be carefull to raise his opinion and Iudgement out of the Scripture euidently confirmed explaned by it selfe and by conference and coherence of the same with it selfe and this is publique interpretation whatsoeuer is contrary is from the spirit of priuacy Veritas docendo suadet falsitas suadendo docet All this that I haue spoken then is not totally to exclude man from determining questions and doubts in Diuinity but to shew by what rule he ought to iudge that is by no other rule then by the Scriptures for I gladly acknowledge that whereas there is an authenticke and fundamentall Iudge Christ himselfe the best interpreter of the Law being the Law-maker so he hath placed a ministeriall Iudge which is the Church which must interpret Scripture by Scripture and euer be wary not to contradict the
vvill of the Law-maker Christ Now the Romish Sinagogue considering the Church of Christ in a threefold manner 1. First as it is Essentiall 2. Secondly as it is representatiue 3. And thirdly as it is virtuall They make the representatiue part to consist in the Ministery and this Ministery to flow from the Pope as from the head and to this part that is to the Pope they attribute that power which God hath giuen to the whole Church Now the Pope being thus invested in absolute power with an opinion of infallibility laying aside the Scriptures iudgeth without them nay against them nay iudgeth them and yet must not be chalenged of error This wee iudge vnreasonable that a Man should make his owne will the Churches lawe and iudge in his owne cause without examination And therefore wee shew Amor odium proprium commodū faciunt saepè Iudicem non congnoscere verum Aristotle lib. 1. Rhe. that man who iudgeth by his sense or reason is not sufficiently qualified for such a busines or if he were naturally so adapted yet is he vnfit to iudge in this question which wholly concernes himselfe in regard of partiality or preiudice to both which he is subiect Therefore in questions betwixt vs and the South-Church Presbiter Iohannes is an vnfit Iudge and in questions betwixt vs and the Grecians the Patriarch of Constantinople is as vnmeet and in controuersies betwixt vs and Rome the Pope is not a competent Iudge Ecclesiasticus 8. 14. Goe not to Law with a Iudge for they will iudge for him according to his honor Let vs therefore seeke a Iudge who iudgeth not by the outward apparance whose sence and reason cannot be deceiued who is neither preiudiciall not partiall who searcheth the reines and the heart for vaine is the iudgement of man to whom this way seemes right when the ends thereof are the Yssues of death And this wee shall finde in the Opposition which wee come now to handle The Opposition or Publique Iudgement 1. The end thereof or purpose pretended Wee had the way iudged before prima facie by the outward apparance by the beginning thereof and so it seemed right But heere wee finde fronti nulla fides no credit to bee giuen to the countenance but the end bewrayes the truth of euery thing The woman beheld the fruite which Sathan so farre magnified She saw the tree was good for foode and pleasant to the eyes Genes 3. 6. so she eate thereof and gaue part to the man Thus they iudged by the outward apparance by seeming and were deceiued euen then when their sense and reason were at the perfectest But after they had eaten it is sayd Their eyes were opened and they knew that they were naked Genes 3. 7. And then likewise they knew that the curse of God The day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death Genes 2. 17 would surely light vpon them So this way seemed the right way to them to attaine knowledge happines but they found the end thereof to be the way of ignorance of darknes and of death And as with them so with all their posterity since this hath succeeded as a testimony of their hereditary sinne still to be deceiued with the seeming of things insomuch as that is true which the Poet long since sung Fallit enim vitium specie virtutis vmbra Iuven. sat 4. Cum sit triste habitu vultuque veste seuerum The face and habit of an Anchorite May be the couer of an Hypocrite Therefore all wise men iudge of things not by their shewes but substances and not by their beginnings but ends Now the end of a thing is either propositum the purpose for which a thing is done and so the end of preaching is the saluation of soules or Terminus the issue or determination of a thing as death is the end of a mans life and so it is heere properly taken A Iudge oftentimes saues a theefe because he hopes he may proue an honest man and doe good in the Common-wealth There is the first end The Iudges purpose But the Theefe proceedes in his the euery till he brings himselfe to the gallowes and that 's the extreame end the vltimum vale Of both these we intend to speake briefly though the last only be proper to this Text and the first borrowed for illustration First then remembring wee haue Religion for our subiect let vs see what it is together with the end thereof to what purpose it tends This is Christian Religion August i◠Ioannem Tract 23. cap. ◠that one God not many be worshipped because nothing makes the soule happy but only one God The infirme soule is not made happy in the participation of another soule that is happy but is happy in the participation of God nor is a holy soule happy in the participation of an Angel but if an infirme soule seekes to be happy let it seeke from thence whence a holy soule is happy For thou art not made happy by an Angel but from whence an Angel hath happinesse thou hast it also Faith with a serious feare of God Polan Syntag. is the pure and true Religion as Feare containes in it selfe a voluntary reuerence and carries with it a right worship of God such as is prescribed in the Lawe Religio dicta est eo Isidor lib. 18. Etymilog quod per eam vni soli Dco religamus animas nostras ad cultum diuinum animo seruiendi Religion then being the band or tyall whereby wee are fastned and bound to God as to the souereigne good consisteth of three twines vz. of faith of hope of loue and a threefold corde is not easily broken Now the proper or principall end of this Religion is the glory of God the subordinate end is our saluation That Religion therefore which most directly and cleerely tends to the principall end must needs effect the subordinate end most certainely and so must necessarily bee the only true and direct way to life and the other what shew soeuer it makes must needs be the way and Yssue of Death Againe the glory of God is most aduanced heere in this our way or Religion by two affections of feare and loue and by the true fruits and effects of them Now that Religion which traines a man vp to feare God and to loue God as God ought to be feared and loued giues God the truest glory and so must necessarily be the truth Lastly this feare and this loue is then most rightly generated and cherished in the soule of Man and so Gods glory most aduanced when mans nature is truly set foorth and he thereby humbled in himselfe and so taught to feare and when Gods power and mercy is so exprest as he hath beene pleased to reueale it to mans comfort That so man seeing his owne wants and misery and Gods all-sufficient power and mercy might feare and reuerence God as a good Master might loue and delight
the Church is lost So saith Stapleton in his proaem lib. 4. Againe they must bee so proper to the Church as they cannot be found in any other society or company of Men besides And so notable as they may bee more eminent and notable then the Church it selfe and so inseperable as the Church cannot subsist without them Such as these Bellarmine requires in his 2. Chap De Notis Ecclesiae Againe they must be such as Valentia assignes Tom 3. in 22. disp 1. q. 1. de obiect fideâ— punct 7. In notis requiritur vt Ecclesiae verae conueniant at pque etiam vt illi soli This premised come wee now to bring the notes they giue to these rules that thereby we may trie their truth 1. The first note is Antiquity but this is neither cleere nor proper for the malignant Church is neere as old Mat. 13. 30 â—inite vtraâ—â—rescere vsâ—â— ad mesâ—â—em nay perhaps elder then the true Church militant of which we now speake vvhich consists of Men lapsed by sin and restored by Grace For the Church is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod est euocare Because the elect are by the outward preaching of the Gospel and the inward operation of the Spirit called out of the Masse of corrupted mankind mixed in a confused lumpe where they were first euill before the grace of God wrought their wils to desire to bee good therefore Quae nascentia mala sunt ea crescentia peiora And so Antiquit as sine veritate est vetus error Error and Antiquity may dwell together 2. Secondly they brag of Multitude as of a certaine note But the most passengers trauaile as our Sauiour saith in the broade way which leades to death so that heere it may be sayd as Liuy sayd of old in his first Decad Ferè fit maior pars vincit meliorem And therefore it is that our Sauiour comforts his Church heere with those gratious words Luk. 12. 32 Feare not little Flocke it is your Fathers pleasure to give you a Kingdome as if he should say You are but few a handfull your enemies many a multitude therefore you haue cause to feare yet feare not God is stronger then man or Sathan your Father is stronger then your Aduersary and his Legions You are but little and weake you cannot conquer this Kingdome by force no more then Abraham could It shal be giuen to your faith as it was to Abrahams you cannot merit it if you could then you neede not feare it shal be given freely therefore though in regard of your selues you haue cause to feare yet feare not in regard of the Donor God Lastly you shall haue a Kingdome you haue it not heere for then you neede not feare no more then Rome doth but make all Kingdoms feare you rather but it shal be giuen heereafter IO. 20. 27. therefore feare not but be faithfull Hope well and haue vvell 3. Thirdly they bring forth Succession But euill men succeede one an other in euill places this note therefore is defectiue Succession of Persons without succession of Doctrine is a decession a defection The Preists and Scribes condemned Christ and his doctrine out of the visible chayre of Moses as Antichrist may doe out of Peters 4. Fourthly Luc. 11. 1â— they boast of vnity But there is a wicked vnity in hell And the Scribes and Pharisies and Sadduces though they could agree together no better then the Franciscans and Dominicans or the Secular Preists and Iesuits yet they bound themselues in a common band of obedience vnder one head the high Preist and the then visible Church of the Iewes against our blessed Sauiour and his Apostles 5. Fiftly they call themselues the Catholique Church and presume to carry it by that name But the Iewes before them did boast of the Church the Church the Temple the Temple and called Christs doctrine both new and singular Ier. 7. 4. Mar. 1. 27. and their owne old and vniversall though Christ told them he was before Moses Mat. 19. 8. and ab initio noâ— fuit sic there was a time when it was otherwise when their traditions now growne fusty with age were nouelties or stale newes Thus likewise they called Saint Paules Doctrine Act. 24. 14. Heresy More they could not say against Luther or can say against vs. 6. Sixtly they bring visibility for a note But this is not a note of the thing but the thing it selfe which wee secke for could the true Church be discerned to be the true Church by all there were an end of this argument and no farther vse of these notes But because though her being be visible and her true being bee visible yet her being true is not visible to all wee inquire for notes whereby wee may not only discerne her true being but the being of her truth Now all these notes with diuerse others of the same kind are not such as are required by their owne rules as able to constitute the being of the true Church for a false Church may haue all these and more too they are not proper for other societies haue them And if these would carry it then the South-Church might contend for supremacy and the east-East-Church would doubtles carry it against all pretenders as the Mother Church For she is before Rome in time she hath larger bounds and multitudes of people Almost all the Apostolique seas most of the Patriarches An Empire Seauen vniversall Counsels The Syrian language wherein Christ spake The Greeke wherein the Scriptures of the new Testament was written She hath Succession euen from the Apostles themselues lineally without interruption They are at Vnity vnder one Chiefe and they call themselues Catholiques And yet for all these the Church of Rome and that rightly makes such exceptions against her as wee doe against the Church of Rome Since therefore these notes are not essentiall but accidentall not proper but common not permament but transient wee ought to be wary how wee altogether trust to their probable direction since all or the most part of these are such notes as may accompany this way which seemes right and is not so and so may be made meanes to insnare and intangle our affections with preiudice and parciality and so to blinde our iudgements that hauing these wee shal be satisfied with shew and apparance though wee walke as Ioseph and Mary did three days iourney with the multitude of our friends Luk. 2. 44. and neuer misse Christ as if he were none of our Company And I pray obserue to hold vs to our Allegory of a way if there were doubt of two wayes which were the right or the wrong way and one that would vndertake to direct you to finde out the right should say You shall know the right way by these markes It is an old way a beaten way a way where Passengers trauell one after another It is a way by it selfe or one way it is called the old
way and it is visible what were a man the better for these directions would he not thinke such a guide out of his wits Especially when he shall see both wayes alike old alike beaten both vvayes to haue passengers successiuely alike frequent both wayes to be intire and singular both wayes to be called old and both wayes to be visible Thus both wayes doubtlesse he would be wilde except he had better directions And yet this is the case of the Church which some would thus marke out to the beleefe and obedience of all men But to conclude all these are no true markes but the Scripture is the true and vnfallible Euidence to bound the Church out to him that vvill be heedfull to obserue and faithfull to beleeue and humble to obay as we hope to manifest Heere then it were meete I should giue you some infallible and inseperable note of the true way hauing showne or rather pointed at the defect of these which the Church of Rome produceth But then I should offer violence both to your patience and to the Text the time not permitting so large a discourse and my Text leading me to discouer the false way with seemes right but giuing no warrant to proceede farther Only to conclude all since it is within my Commission to manifest the false way I will giue you one note a sure one whereby you may know when you are out of the right way that so you may shun error and seeke truth and ensue it till death that in the end you may finde euerlasting life Briefly Christ himselfe saith I am the way the truth and the life Ioh. 4. no man commeth to the Father but by me He is the way to walke in the truth to guide you the life wherewithall you walke And if you would finde this way hee himselfe learnes you a rule Ioh. 5. 39. Search the Scriptures for in them you thinke to haue eternall life and those are they that beare witnesse of me And he there vpbraydes the Iewes because they gaue no credit or heede to the Scriptures but preferd the traditions and doctrines of their forefathers before it Iohn 5. 46. 47. saying Had yee beleeued Moses yee would haue beleeued me for he wrote of me But if you beleeue not his writings how shall yee beleeue my words Therefore the Apostle cals all Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Tim. 3. 16 as a doctrine inspired by God to make men wise to saluation and so beleeuing himselfe and teaching others to beleeue he praiseth Timothy for being from a childe brought vp in them 2. Tim. 3. 15 and he exhorts all men to follow him as he keepes in this way and vvalkes after Christ Iesus and no otherwise For so long he is sure he goeth right and they may follow him with security Now then I do not say vvheresoeuer thou seest the Scripture set forth for a signe there Christ is vvithin there is the true way the true Church But I say wheresoeuer thou canst not see the Scripture be assured thou art out of the way for the Scripture must be euer in thy eye being that setled Land-marke by vvhich thou must try and know and to vvhich thou must reduce and bring all thy other coast-marks and sea-marks So it is that Antiquity vvhich agrees vvith the verity of the Scripture that multitude vvhich vvorship God according to the rules of the Scripture that Sucession vvhich suceeed in the truth of doctrine deliuered in the Scripture that vnity vvhich beleeues the Trinity taught in the Scripture that Catholique Church vvhich is founded vpon and vniuersally agreeth vvith the truth of the Scripture that visible congregation vvhich are seene to God and vvhich see God as he reueales himselfe in the Scripture that become notes by vvhich thou maist safely trauaile in this doubtfull vvay of mortality So that the Scripture must euer be present to make these infallible though perhaps it be not of absolute necessity that all these be euer present vvith the Scripture to make the Church true The Heathens of old burnt the books of Numa because he bewrayd therein the prophane misteries of their Idolatries The Turks at this day keepe their people in ignorance no man must see into no man must dispute or argue of their Sect. And thus our Adversaries of Rome deale vvith the Scriptures resembling heerin the Heathens Turkes vvould yet make the vvorld beleeue that they are the only Christians And lest they should seeme insanire sine ratione they haue a seeming reason why they permit not the Scriptures to be in the mother-tongue of euery Nation publiquely to be read by them lest forsooth as the Rhemists say in their preface they should hurt themselues as vvith fire or water or kniues or swords or the like And vvhy do they not put out the Sunne because it hurts the gazers eyes or why put they not out their eyes to preuent hurting especially since they mis-leade many a man to lust and vanity To argue from the abuse of things indifferent to remoue the lawfull vse of them is an abuseof sence and reason But in things of this kinde of absolute necessitie it is an intolerable and presumptuous foolery Nature cannot bee so blinde as to suffer any but naturals to beleeue this their doctrine and to vvalke in this their way Pro. 4. 18. 19. for Salomon saith The way of the wicked is as darknes they know not at what they stumble But the path of theiust is as the shining light that shineth more and more vnto the perfect day True but vvill some say All Heretickes hang out this flagge and all boast of the Scriptures how shall wee then know the true vvay from the false by that which is common to all vvayes or vvhich all vvayes at least chalenge and make shew of Obserue euen from this obiection the force and authority of the Scriptures vnder which falsehood aswell as truth seeks to shelter herselfe because falsehood by this glasse learnes to trimme herselfe vp like truth And looke as the Heathens by their Idolatries proued aswell that there vvas a God Act. 17. 23. Rom. 1. as the Iewes by their true vvorship because nature taught the most barbarous Nation to adore some Deity and rather to make a God of a Calfe a beast a bird a stone then to be a godlesse Atheist so all Heresies and falsehoods beare witnesse for the truth and authority of the Scriptures vvhilst they striue to iustifie themselues thereby knowing without the Scripture all other their arguments notes and pretences how plentifull or plausible soeuer they bee are nothing to the purpose and therefore they labour to wrest the Scripture to their fancie And could the Church of Rome by this euidence approue her present practise and doctrine I assure my selfe she would looke no farther but vvould permit euery man to reade the same at pleasure nay she would command the reading thereof vnder the paine of