A Mirrour of Popish SVBTILTIES Discouering sundry wretched and miserable euasions and shifts which a secret cauilling Papist in the behalfe of one Paul Spence Priest yet liuing and lately prisoner in the Castle of Worcester hath gathered out of Sanders Bellarmine and others for the auoyding and discrediting of sundrie allegations of scriptures and Fathers against the doctrine of the Church of Rome concerning Sacraments the sacrifice of the Masse Transubstantiation Iustification c. Written by Rob. Abbot Minister of the word of God in the Citie of Worcester The contents see in the next Page after the Preface to the Reader Perused and allowed TC VIRESSIT VVLNERE VERITAS LONDON Printed by Thomas Creede for Thomas Woodcocke dwelling in Paules Church-yard 1594. TO THE MOST REVEREND FATHER IN GOD THE L. Archbishop of Canterbury his Grace Primate and Metrapolitane of all England and to the right reuerend Father in God the L. Bishop of Worcester R. A. wisheth all abundance of grace and peace with euerlasting life REuerend Fathers it may seeme perhaps some presumptiō in me to be thus bold to vse your LL. names for the countenancing of this Pamphlet which neither for the matter of it nor for the occasion may seeme worthy of the notice or sight of so graue and learned Fathers Notwithstanding being drawne to the publication hereof partly by the importunity of aduersaries partly by the desire and expectation of friends I thought it very requisite both in respect of the cause it selfe and in respect of mine owne priuate dutie to offer these my simple labours to the protection of your LL. The matter hereof in the beginning was only priuate betwixt my selfe and a Romish Priest one Paul Spence deteined as then in the Castle of Worcester now I know not vpon what occasion liuing at his libertie abroad But when by speech and report it was drawne to occasion of publicke scandall the aduersary bragging in secret of a victory and others doubting what to thinke thereof because they saw not to the contrary I iudged it necessary after long debating deliberating with my selfe to let all men see how litle reason there was of any such insolent tryumph supposing that it might be turned vppon mee for a matter of iust reproofe and blame if my concealing hereof should cause any disaduantage to the truth or any discredite of that Ministery seruice which vnder your LL. I execute in the place where I am Now I must professe that my thus doing is only for the Citie of Worcester and others thereabout for their satisfaction in this cause wherein I know many of them haue desired to be satisfied Your LL. are both by speciall occasion affectioned to the place I know my paines shal be the better accepted with them if it shall be vouchsafed your LL. gracious and fauourable acceptation Moreouer the fauour which I haue receiued of both your LL of the one in commending mee to the place where I am of the other in yeelding me speciall patronage eountenance therein hath bound me to yeeld vnto you these my first frutes though but as a handful of water yet a testimony of my dutifull and thankfull minde And if it shall finde no other cause to be liked of yet in this I doubt not but it shall be approued that it is a iust defense of truth against the vaine cauillations of error The speciall drift of my writing is to approue concerning the matters that are heere in hand our faithful vpright dealing in alleaging the Fathers against the doctrine of the church of Rome Whose proctors for a time vsed the name of the catholick church as a fray-bug to terrifie al mē from speaking against them But when they were perforce vrged to the scriptures they cryed out that wee expounde the scriptures amisse and otherwise then the auncient Fathers did vnderstand them Being further pressed with the testimonies and authorities of the auncient Fathers they stil notwithstanding exclaime that wee abuse them also and alleage them to other purpose then euer they entended A strange matter that the plaine words both of the scriptures and of the Fathers being so expresly for vs yet their meaning and purpose as these men pretend should be altogither against vs. But whilest they endeuour to iustifie this either open exclamation or priuie whispering it is strange to see how strangely and madly they deale a Eccl. 19. 24. There is saith the wise man a subtiltie that is fine but it is vnrighteous and there is that wresteth the open and manifest lawe Verily there is nothing so euident nothing so manifest but these men haue a speciall facultie to turne it out of the way that it would goe and by a distinction of this maner and that maner to set a meaning vppon it which neuer came into the meaning of him that wrote it In which practise and occupation it falleth out with them which Ireneus sayd of the heretickes of his time b Iren lib. ◠cap. 1◠There is none perfect amongst them but such a one as doth not ably cogge and lye Indeed lyes cannot be defended but by lying and false gloses must serue to maintaine false and erroneous assertions Which is not a litle to be seen in this libell or pamphlet which I haue here to refute the Authour whereof taketh vpon him lyke a cunnyng Alcumist to turne euery thing into what he list as if he supposed vs to be men bewitched and transformed into beastes sticketh not to make such constructions of the scriptures and Fathers sayings as no man that hath but the common reason and vnderstanding of a man can but see to bee leaudly and vnreasonably deuised Wherat I should the lesse maruell if they were only this mans deuise I would impute this folly to him onely But now hee hath taken the most of them out of their learned Treatises forsooth to which he oft referreth me as if they were the Oracle of all truth So that the spirit of this phrensie and madnesse goeth through the heades of them all whereby it commeth to passe that they take delight in those things which they cannot but know to be absurd That their maisters know so much it seemeth to vs apparant for that they forbid their scholers and followers to be acquainted with any of our writings wherein theyr absurdities and falshoods are layd open and wheras we in answearing them propose both theirs and ours indifferently to all men to be iudged of they giue their pupils some libertie to read their bookes but it is damnation for them to touch any of ours Such schollers would be suspicious of such maisters but that they are maruellously blinded with preiudice and selfe will Now as many other by other occasions so I the least of all by occasion offered to me haue taken vpon me for this present matter to shew I will not say how vainly fondly but wickedly and vnshamefastly they deale in peruerting they call it answering
of eating and drinking Iob. 6. are not to be vnderstood properly but by a figure sect 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 30. That the Doctours of the Romish church by the defence of Transubstantiation haue bene driuen to most impious and damnable questions and assertions sect 29. That the place of the Gospell Luc. 22. 20. which they so much cauil vpon out of the Greeke maketh nothing at all for Transubstantiation as by diuerse other reasons so by the confession Bellarmine himselfe sect 31. That the assumption of the virgin Mary is a meere fable sect 33. That the Church hath no authoritie after the Apostles to authorize any scriptures and that we seclude no other bookes from the canon of the bible then the old church did sect 34. How wickedly the Papists deale in mangling and martyring the writings of the Fathers sect 35. That our doctrine of iustification before God by faith onely is the verie trueth which both the scriptures and out of them the Fathers haue manifestly taught that it maketh nothing against good workes that the place of S. Iames cap. 2. maketh nothing against it sect 36. May it please thee gentle Reader first of all to take notice of these two places of Chrysostome Gelasius which haue bene the occasion of all this controuersie for thy better satisfaction I haue noted them both in English and Latin though otherwise to auoyd both tediousnesse of writing and vnnecessarie charges of printing I haue thought good to set downe the places alleaged onely translated into English The place of Chrysostome against the vse of water in the cup of the Lords table CVius rei gratia non aquam sed vinum post resurrectionem bibit Chrysost in Math. hom 83. Perniciosam quandam haeresin radicitùs euellere voluit eorum qui aqua in mysterijs vtuntur Ita vt ostenderet quia quando hoc mysteriuÌ„ tradidit vnum tradidit etiam post resurrectionem in nuda mysterij mensae vino vsus est Exgenimine ait vitis quae certè vinum non aquam producit In English thus But why did Christ after his resurrection drinke not Water but Wine He would plucke vp by the rootes a certaine pernicious heresie of them which vse water in the Sacrament So that to shew that when he deliuered this Sacrament he deliuered wine euen after his resurrection also he vsed wine at the bare table of the Sacrament Of the fruite of the vine saith he which surely bringeth foorth wine and not water The place of Gelasius against Transubstantiation CErtè sacramenta quae sumimus corporis sanguinis Christi diuina Gelasius cont Eutych Nestor res est propter quod per eadem diuinae efficimur consortes naturae tamen esse non desiuit substantia vel natura panis vini Et certe imago similitudo corporis sanguinis Christi in actione mysteriorum celebrantur Satis ergò nobis euidenter ostenditur hoc nohis in ipso Christo domino sentiendum quod in eius imagine profitemur celebramus et sumimus vt sicut in haenc scilicet in diuinam transeunt sancto spiritu perficiente substantiam permanent tamen in suae proprietate naturae sic illud ipsum mysterium principale cuius nobis efficientiam virtutemque veracitèr repraesentant ex quibus constat propriè permanentibus vnum Christum quia integrum verumque permaenere demon strant In English thus Verily the Sacraments which we receiue of the bodie and blood of Christ are a diuine thing by reason whereof we also by them are made partakers of the diuine nature and yet there ceaseth not to be the substance or nature of bread and wine And surely an image or esemblance of the bodie and blood of Christ is celebrated in the action of the mysteries It is therefore euidently inough shewed vnto vs that we must thinke the same in our Lord Iesus Christ which we professe celebrate and receiue in his image that as these namely the bread and wine do by the working of the holie Ghost passe ouer into a diuine substance and yet continue in the proprietie of their owne nature so they shew that that principall mysterie the efficiencie vertue wherof these do represent vnto vs doth abide one Christ because whole and true those natures properly remaining whereof he doth consist M. Spence hauing had my bookes to peruse these places sent me in writing this answere to them SIr I right hartily thanke you for the willing minde you hauâ— towards me Truly I should be verie vnkinde if I knew mâ— selfe vnaffectioned to so much good will I am in prison and pouertie otherwise I should be some way answerable to your friendlinesse In the meane season good will shall be readie for good will Touching the words of S. Chrysostome He would plucke vp by the rootes a certaine pernicious heresie of them which vse water in the Sacrament c. Read the 32. Canon of the sixth Councell holden at Constantinople and there you shall find vpon what occasion this golden mouth did vtter these words and not only that but also mention of S. Iames and S. Basils masse or sacrifice left to the church in writing The words of the Canon begin thus Because we know that in the country of the Armenians wine onely is offered at the holie table c. The heresie therefore against which he wrote was of the a Vntruth For neither doth Chrysostome intimate any thing against the Armenians or such as vse wine only neither was it heresie in theÌ„ that did so Armenians and the Aquarians the first whereof would vse onely wine the other onely water in the holie mysteries Against which vse being so directly against both the scriptures and custome of the primitiue church he wrote the same which he saith of pernicious heresie as before I cannot doubt of your hauing the Councels or some of them Your other booke conteining the words of Gelasius I wil not yet answere being printed at Basil where we suspect many good works to be corrupted abused But if it proue so to be yet the whole faith of Christs church in that point may not be reproued against so many witnesses of scriptures and fathers b Neither scripture not Father auoucheth the contrarie auouching the contrarie Nay what words should Christ haue vsed if he had meant to make his bodie blood of the bread and wine as we say he did other then these This is my bodie which shall be giuen c. And gaine for this is my blood of the new Testament which shal be shead for many for remission of sinnes Marke well the speeches and they be most wonderfull as most true All the world and writings therein c The Gospell it selfe is sufficient to perswade him that will be perswaded â—nforming vs of a true and naturall bodie of Christ and not of a fantasticall bodie in the fashion quantitie of a wafer cake cannot
enough against a naked and bare collection from a point of doubtfull construction Which séeing they haue diuers of them béen alleaged by maister Fulke and others directly against the Answrers demaund and yet haue not receiued any tollerable answere it was but a scape of his wit to say that maister Fulke doth steale away from the state of the question and medleth not with it His other cauill out of the wordes of S. Luke that Christ before the sacrament said l Luc. 22. 17. he woulde drinke no more of the fruite of the vine till in his kindome and yet dranke after in the Sacrament whereby he would prooue the sacrament to be no wine was long agoe preuented by S. Austen who affirmeth that S. Luke m August de consen Euangeli lib. 3. ca. 1. according to his maner setteth downe the former mention of the cup by way of anticipation putting that before which is to be referred to somewhat following after and therfore vnderstandeth it of the cup of the new testament by and by after instituted and so reconcileth him to the other two Euangelistes Mathew and Marke But to helpe this argument the Answ is faine to varie from his good maisters of Rhemes For he expoundeth the kingdome of God to be after the resurrection but they vnderstand it n Rhem Annot Luc. 22. 17 of the celebration of the Sacrament of Christes bloud Whereof it followeth that Christ in the Sacrament dranke of the fruite of the vine as both Mathew and Marke set it downe and the auncient fathers doe expound it Let him go and be agréed with his fellowes before he vrge this argument againe P. Spence Sect. 32. IN the end you giue me councell how to behaue my selfe in these controuersies In all Christian charitie I thanke you and loue you for the same for you aduise me no worse then your selfe followe and in good faith I accept of it as proceeding from your great good will towards me and therefore againe and againe I thanke you And I will follow you in genere that is to haue care of my poore soule to feede it with the trueth of Gods word but expounded by his Catholique Church I must tell you plainly and therefore in specie in the particulars of the points of our beliefe I will not followe you You and I endeuour both to come to one resting place at night but in our daies iourney wee goe two sundrie waies I pray God send vs merily to meet in heauen Amen R. Abbot 32. MY councell M. Spence must stand for a witnesse against you at that day if you go on forward still to walke in the counsel of the vngodly In the meane time I againe aduise and counsell both you and your maister to cease to rebell fight against God or to say when he offereth himselfe vnto you we will none of thy waies I councell you indéede as you say to no other thing but that which I follow my selfe and I most humbly thank almightie God who hath giuen me his grace to follow the same and hath preserued me from that daunger wherein I haue béen oft falling away from him You will followe me you say in generall to haue a care to féed your soule with the trueth of Gods word Do so M. Spence doe so that is the foode of life that is the riuer of the water of life the heauenly Manna he that féedeth there shal surely finde life b August de pastor Feede there saith S. Austen that yee may feede safely and securely But you marre and poison this good foode with that which you adde You will feede your soule you say with the word of God but expounded by his Catholicke Church you meane the Church of Roome Which is as much as if you should say you wil not follow the word of God it selfe but that which it pleaseth the Church of Roome to make of the word of God Take héede of M. Spence Assure your selfe that though the Church of Roome doe maintaine c 2. Pet 2. ◠damnable heresies and d 1. Tim. 4. 1. doctrines of deuils contrarie to Gods word yet being wise as she is according to this worlde she will neuer expound the word of God against her selfe if it be in her to make the meaning of it When she expoundeth the Scriptures to make her selfe the Catholike Church and no such thing is to be found in the words of the scripture will you beléeue her in her owne cause It shal then be verified of you which Salomon saith e Prou. 1◠15. The foole will beleeue euerie thing Take the simplicitie of the word of God it self and be directed thereby f Prou. 8 9. The waies of God are plaine to him that will vnderstand God g Hiere in psal 8◠hath not written as Plato did that few should vnderstand but for the vnderstanding of all saith S. Hierome So that although there be depth enough in the word of God for the best learned to bestow his studie and labour in yet as Chrysostome and Austen teach vs h Chrysost in 2. Thess 2. August ep 3. Whatsoeuer things are necessarie they are manifest and i Aug. de doct Christ li. 2. c. 9. in those things which are manifestly set downe in the Scriptures are contained all things that pertaine to faith and conuersation of life Lay before you therefore those things which néed not the exposition of the Church of Roome When the scripture saith There is now no offering for sinne wil you take her exposition to say that there is When the scripture saith no man liuing shal be found iust in the sight of God shal she by her exposition make you beléeue that it is not so When the scripture saith Thou shalt not bow downe to or worship a carued or grauen image will you be perswaded by her expositions that you may I passe ouer the rest Iustly doe they deserue to be giuen ouer to errour and to be deluded with lies and lewd expositions which will not yéeld vnto God when he speaketh vnto them so plainly as néedeth no exposition It were worth the while to set downe héere a Catalogue of Romish expositions but that the conscience of you all that way appeareth sufficiently in this whole discourse You pray that we both going sundry wayes may méete in heauen But maister Spence it will not be in that way wherein you go Either you must say that there is no heauen or els that your way is not the way to heauen because the God of heauen hath gainsaid it God open your eyes that you may sée the right way that so we may ioyfully méete in heauen P. Spence Sect. 33. AS touching the escape of our Rhemistes in the account of our Ladies assumption The matter is verie sleight not tending any way to our saluation I meane to erre in that computation especially when they haue a The more impudēt they that hauing no certaine
in the Sacraments of the bodie and blood of Christ d Gelas cont â—uty â—estor There ceaseth not to bee the substance or nature of bread and wine These two latter places haue bene the occasion of all this writing He sent to me within two or three daies after for my bookes to peruse the places that wheras he could not presently answer any thing by speâ—ch he might do somewhat by wâ—â—ting I receiued his answere and replied to the same againe by writing yet not intending because it stood not with my businesse otherwise to goe any further in this course but only for some aduertisement and instruction to him which I sawe hee needed and to giue him occasion of further conference by speech as I moued him in the end This happened neare the beginning of Lent in the yeare 1590. Towards Whitsuntide next following when I thought he had bene quiet and would haue medled no more he sent me an answere againe written at large to my reply But the answere in truth was none of his owne doing as is manifest partly by his owne confession and by that he shewed himselfe a straunger in his owne answeres when afterward in speech he was vpbraided with some of them by my selfe partly by the muttering report of his owne fellowes vaunting that though he were able to say litle yet some had the matter in hand that were able to say inough He himself indeed was not nor is of ablenesse to doe it as all men know that haue any knowledge of him He was neuer of any Vniuersitie and both professed and shewed himself in speech vtterly ignorant of Logicke wherof his deputie Answ pretendeth great skill I omit some other matters that I might mention for proofe hereof But thus I was vnwares drawne from P. Spence to tontrouersie and disputation with some other secret friend of his who for his learning might take vppon him to bee a defender of the Romish falshood I addressed my selfe to a confutation of this answer and thought to haue sent the same to M. Spence in writing but before I had fully perfected it which was in Iuly or August following he was by occasion of some infirmitie as was pretended set free from his imprisonment vpon suerties and so continueth till this time neither could I by such meanes as I vsed bring him foorth to receiue that which I had written Hereupon haue I bene traduced by the faction as a man conquered and ouercome as if I taught openly that which in dealing priuately with an aduersary I am not able to defend For the auoyding of this scandall I was diuerse times motioned to publish the whole matter but for some speciall reasons did forbeare It laie by me almost a whole yeare before I would resolue so to do At the length for the satisfying of such as might bee desirous to bee satisfied in this behalfe and that foolish men might haue no further occasion of their vaine imaginations and speeches I tooke it in hand as my great businesse otherwise would permit to peruse it againe and to adde some things for answere to Bellarmine as touching some points for which the Answ referreth me to him whose workes I had not at the first penning heereof and so I haue presumed Christian Reader to offer it vnto thy consideration I haue termed the whole discourse in respect of the principall purpose and argument of it A Mirror of Popish subtilties as wherein thou maist in part behold the vanitie wretchednesse of those answeres wherein these men account so great subtiltie and acutenesse of wit and learning as if the same being giuen there were nothing more to be saide against them In the publishing heereof I haue thought good to obserue this order First I haue set downe the aboue named places of Chrysostome and Gelasius Secondly M. Spence his Answere to those two places Thirdly my reply to that answere Fourthly the latter answere to my reply with a confutation thereof from point to point and a defense of the allegations and authorities vsed in the said reply Reade all and then iudge of the truth I protest I haue made conscience to write nothing but the truth neither hath any vaine curiositie led me to the publishing hereof but only the regard of iustifying the truth and that namely to those of the Citie and Countie of VVorcester whom my labours do most neerely and properly concerne If thou canst reape any frute or benefit by it I shal be heartily glad thereof and let vs both giue glorie vnto God If any see the truth herein and yet will maliciously kicke against it I passe by him with those words of the Apostle e Apoc. 22 11. He that is filthie let him be filthie still It is our part to propose the truth it is God onely that can giue men hearts to assent vnto it and f Mat. 11. 1 VVisedome shal be iustified of her children The God of all wisedome and knowledge enlighten vs more and more to the vnderstanding of his true religion subdue the pride and rebellion of our hearts that we may vnfainedly yeeld vnto it and giue vs constancie and perseuerance to continue in the same vnto the end that in our ende we may attaine to the endlesse fruition of his kingdome and glorie through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen Rob. Abbot The speciall matters that are discussed in this Treatise THat the mixture of water in the cup of the Lord is not necessarie neither hath any sufficient warrant Defe sect 2. That the Liturgies which goe vnder the names of Iames Basil and Chrysostomes Masses as now they are extant are not theirs whose names they beare sect 5. That Popish praier for the dead hath no warrant from the ancientest church sec 7. That the sacrifice of the Masse is contradicted by the scriptures and Fathers that Bellarmin himself in seeking to approue it ouerthroweth it that the exceptions that are made against our reasons and proofes are vaine and friuolous sect 4. 9. 10. That Theodoret and Gelasius in disputing against the he esie of Eutyches do verie peremptorily determine against Transubstantiation sect 11. 12. That Tertullian Cyprian Chrysostome Austen do manifestly impugne the same error of Transubstantiation with a declaration of an obscure place alleaged vnder Austens name and a refutation of other exceptions that are made in the behalfe thereof sect 13. 14 15. 16. 17 18. 21. 22. That the expounding of the descending of Christ into hell of the torments anguish of his soule conteineth as touching the doctrine thereof nothing but the truth witnessed both by the scriptures and by the Fathers sest 15. That our sacraments are rightly called seales and in what respect they are preferred before the sacraments of the old Testament sect 20. 30. That the reall eating and drinking of the flesh and blood of Christ is a leaude deuise and iudged by the Fathers to be wicked profane faithlesse and heathenish and that the words of Christ
again in this mysterie his flesh suffereth for the saluation of the people and Cyprian We sticke to the crosse we sucke the blood and fasten our tongues within the wounds of our redeemer and Chrysostome againe Good Lord the iudge himselfe is led to the iudgement seat the creator is set before the creature he which cannot be seene of the angels is spitted at by a seruant he tasteth gall and vâ—neger he is thrust in with a speare he is put into a graue c. In which maner of speaking S. Hierome saith Happie is he in whose heart Christ is euerie day borne and againe Christ is crucified for vs euerie day and S. Austen Then is Christ slaine vnto Aug. ouaesâ— Euan. li 2. q. 33. euery man when he beleeueth him to haue bene slaine Doe you thinke that these thinges are really done in the Sacrament as the words sound that Christ indeed suffereth dieth is burted that we cleaue to his crosse c S. Austen telleth you The offering of the De cons dist 2. cap. Hoc est flesh which is performed by the hands of the priest is called the passion death and crucifying of Christ not in the truth of the thing but in a signifying mysterie Séeing then the passion of Christ is the sacrifice which we offer and the passion of Christ is to be vnderstood in the Sacrament not in the truth of the thing but in a signifying mysterie it followeth that that sacrifice is likewise â—o to be vnderstood not in the truth of the thing but in a signifying mysserie and therefore that the sacrifice which you pretend is indéed sacriledge as I haue termed it and a manifest derogation from the sufficiency of Christs sacrifice vpon his crosse As touching the matter of Transubstantiation I alleaged vnto Gâ—las cont â—u yâ—h Nâ—st you the sentence of Geâ—asâ—â—â— Bishop of Rome There ceaseth not to be the substance or nature of bread and wine You answere me first that you suspect it to be corrupted by some of ours There is no cause M. Spence of that suspitioÌ„ but the shamelesse dealing of some leaud varlets of your side is notorious that way and infamous through all the Church of God Your owne clerkes cannot deny the truth of this allegation as they do not of many other sayings of the auncient Fathers as plainly contrary to your positions as this is Albeit Index Expurg in censura Bertrami they practise therein that which they professe in the Index Expurgatorius where they say In the old Catholicke Doctors we beare with many errours and we extenuate them excuse them by some deuised shift do oftentimes deny them and faine a conuenient meaning of them when they are opposed vnto vs in disputations or in contention with our aduersaries Indéed without these pretie shifts your men could finde no matter whereof to compile their answers But being taken for truly alleaged you say yet the whole faith of Christs Church in that point may not by his testimony be reproued against so many witnesses of scriptures and Fathers to the contrarie Whereas you should remember that Gelasius was Bishop of Rome that what he wrote he wrote it by way of iudgement and determination against an hereticke and therfore by your owne defence could not erre And if it had bene against the receiued faith of the Catholicke Church in those daies the heretickes against whom he wrote would haue returned it vpon him to his great reproach But he spake as other auncient Fathers had done before him as Theodor. dial 1. Theodoret He which called himselfe a vine did honour the visible elements and signes with the name of his bodie and blood not changing their nature but adding grace vnto nature And againe The Dial. 2. mysticall signes after consecration do not go from their own nature for they continue in their former substance figure and forme c. chrysost ad caesarium Monach August apud â—edam in 1. cor 10. Chrysostome thus Before the bread be consecrated we call it bread but the grace of God sanctifying it by the ministerie of the priest it is freed froÌ„ the name of bread is vouchsafed the name of the Lords bodie although the nature of bread remaine in it Austen thus That which you see is bread and the cup which your eyes also do tell you De consect dist 2 cap. â—oc est But as touching that which your faith requireth for in â—ructioÌ„ bread is the bodie of Christ and the cup is his blood And againe This is it which we say which by all meanes we labour to approue that the sacrifice of the Church consisteth of two things the visible forme of the elements and the inuisible flesh and blood of our Lorde Iesus Christ of the Sacrament and the matter of the Sacrament that is the bodie of Christ And that you may not take that visible forme of the elements for your emptie formes and accidentes without substance which and many other things your Censours aboue-named say The latter age of the Church subtilly and truly added by the holie Index Expurgat in censura Bertrami Ghost confessing thereby that these Popish subâ—ilties were not knowne at all to the auncient Fathers take withall that which he addeth Euen as the person of Christ consisteth of God and man for that Christ is true God true man because euery thing conteineth the nature and truth of those things whereof it is made By which rule you may vnderstand also the saying of Irenee The Eucharist Iren. lib. 4. cap. 34. consisteth of two things an earthly and a heauenly namely so as that it conteineth the nature and truth of them both By these places and many other like it is euident that albeit in this Sacrament there is yéelded vnto the faith of the receiuer the bodie and blood of Christ and the whole power and vertue thereof to euerlasting life yet there ceaseth not to be the substance nature and truth of bread and wine Which is the purport of Gelasiuâ— his words By the Sacraments which we receiue of the bodie and blood of Christ we are made partakers of the diuine nature and yet there ceaseth not to be the subsance or nature of bread and wine The force of which words and of the wordes of Theodoret you shall perceiue the better if you know how they are directed against Eutyches the hereticke The hereticke in Theodorets Dialogues by a comparison drawen from Dial. â— the sacrament wold shew how the bodie of Christ after his assumption into heauen was swallowed vp as it were of his diuinitie and so Christ ceased to be truly man As said he the bread and wine before the blessing are one thing but after the blessing become another and are changed so the bodie or humanitie of Christ whereby he was truly man before is after-his ascension glorification changed into the substance of God But Theodoret answereth him Thou art
a De consâ—â— dist 2. cap. species receiue the truth of the flesh blood of Christ Some saith Gratian not without probabilitie expound the truth of the flesh blood of Christ in this place to be the effect thereof that is the forgiuenesse of sins Whereby it is euident that those some did vnderstand the receiuing of the truth of Christs flesh and blood to be not that corporal eating and drinking which the church of Rome mainteineth but the participation of the effects of his passion that is forgiuenesse of sinnes according to that which was before declared out of S. Austen Now to note that in receiuing the effect and fruite of the flesh and blood of Christ we are said to be partakers of the same flesh and blood I alleaged this exposition in my former Treatise which doth plainly testifie the same But the Ans as a melancholy man imagining himselfe to be made of glasse and fearing euerie wall least he should be crackt in péeces thinketh his reall presence to be here disputed against and telleth me that I do fowly abuse Gratian in making him an aduersary of Transubstantiation reall presence and moreouer that those words do not serue for exposition of the words of Christ What Gratian thought I stand not vpon it may be he was as absurd in his conceits as the Answe is I speake of them whose expositioÌ„ he alleageth who as touching their church praier tell vs that a man in receiuing the effects of Christs flesh and blood is said to receiue the truth of his flesh and blood and this is all for which I alleaged it Albeit it séemeth to me indéed now a strong proofe against reall presence For if they had thought that they had receiued the very truth of the flesh and blood of Christ according to the substance in the sacrament they would haue vsed other words to eâ—presse the effects thereof and not pray againe to receiue the truth that is the effects But it skilleth not whether it be a proofe to this purpose or not There be belleâ— inough to ring against Transubstantiation and reall presence though the clapper of this should be pulled out It is fit inough to shew that for which I brought it and therefore all this answere of his is but a fond cauill P. Spence Sect. 29. YOu charge our doctrine with Caphemitish eating drinking of Christs bodie and of those monstrous blasphemous horrible conceits which some of our captaines haue fallen into As for those conceites I cannot conceiue what they might be on gods name and therefore will conceiue no answere to them till I vnderstand your conceits but referre thâ—se conceits to your owne conceit But you a Vntruth for the Capernaits thought they should eat with their mouthes the flesh of Christ and so do the Papists roaue wide from the marke in calling vs Capharnites for wee are farre inough from thinking to eate Christes bodie peece-meale as flesh in the shaâ—bles We eat him in a Sacrament whole inuiolable like the paschal Lambe without breaking a bone of him yeâ— not hurting of him nor brusing of him nor tearing of him with our teeth as the â—apâ—erâ—its dreamed of Remember what S. Thomas Aquinas a Papist in the office of the Sacrament saith and all the church singeth A sumente non concisus non confractus nec diuisus integer accipitur Which sequences Luther was very farre in loue withall a late Papist of Oxonfâ—rd sing not long sâ—thence in a most sweete tune of that same matter Sumeris sumptus rursuâ—â— sine fine resumi Neâ— tamen absumi diminuiuâ— potes Beware beare not false witnesse against your neighbours R. Abbot 29. I Charge them with the grosse errour of the Capernaits in their doctrine of eating Christs bodie and blood But he answereth me that I roaue wide from the marke in calling them Capernaits And why I pray Marry sir the Capernaits thought they should eate Christes bodie by péeces but they say they eate him whole Surely but that the iudgement of God is great vpon them it were wonder that such vnhaâ—soâ— imaginations should prenaile with reasonable men I haue spoken hereof a Sect. 23. before As for his sequences verses they may haue their coÌ„uenient vnderstanding without that absurd coÌ„struction of eating drinking which he maketh I told him of monstrous blasphemous horrible conceits that some captaines of his part haue râ—nne into by defence of that eating He answereth me very pleasantly that he vnderstandeth not those conceits but referreth those conceites to mine owne conceit But M. Spence you could haue tolde him what they were because you had bene before vrged therewith but could not stumble out any answere to them Let me tell him what they are I referre him first to the glose of the Canon law where he shall finde this conceit that b De conse dist 2. cap. Qui benè It is no great inconuenience to say that a Mouse receiueth the bodie of Christ seeing that most wicked men do also receiue it The maister of the sentences knoweth not what to conceiue hereof c Lib. 4. dist 13 What doth the mouse take or what doth he eate God knoweth saith he As for him he cannot tell Yet he holdeth that d Ibid. It may be foundly said that the bodie of Christ is not eaten of bruite beasts But he is noted for that in the margine Here the Maister is not holden and the e In erroribus condemn Paris Parisians set it downe for one of his errours not commonly receiued that he saith that the bruit croature doth not receiue the very body of Christ Let him looke the conceit of f Pat. 4. qu. 45. Alexander de Hales If a dog or a swine should swallow the whole consecrated host I see no reason why the bodie of Christ should not withall passe into the belly of the dog or swine He commendeth Thomas Aquinas by the name of a Papist and his catholicke church hath set him in his place next the Canonicall scriptures Let him looke the conceits of this Papist g Thom. Aqui. sum par 3. qu. 79. art 3. in res ad 3. Albeit saith he A mouse or a dog do eate the consecrated host yet the substance of the bodie of Christ ceaseth not to be vnder the forme of the breaâ— so long as the same form doth remain c. Aâ— also if it shuld be cast into the mire And again some haue said that straitwaies assoone as the SacrameÌ„t is touched of the mouse or dog there ceaseth to be the bodie of Christ but this saith he derogateth from the truth of the Sacrament And againe h Ibi. in corp arti The bodie of Christ doth so long contiâ—â—e vnder the sacrament all formes receiued by sinfull men as the substance of bread would remaine if it were there which ceaseth not to be by and by but remaineth vntill it be digested by naturall heate These are those
not that because Christ taking y◠bread said thereof This is my bodie therefore the bread was turned into his bodie And this is so good Logicke that diuerse great maisters of his side haue plainly confessed that the wordes of the Gospell notwithstanding the aforesaid consent do not enforce Transubstantiation as I told him before and he answereth nothing to it Yea Bellarmine himselfe who hath taken vpon him to be the Atlas of Popery at this time after that he hath sweat and trauailed to proue it by the scripture when he hath all done is content to confesse so much For being vrged that Scotus and Cameracensis do say that there is no so expresse place of scripture that it can enforce to admit of Transubstantiation he answereth a Bellar. tom 2. contr 3. li 3. cap. 23. This indeed is not altogither vnlikely For although the scripture which I haue alleaged before seeme to vs so cleare that it is able to force a man that is not ouerthwart yet whether it be so or not it may worthily bee doubted for that most learned sharpe witted men such as Scotus especially was do thinke the contrary It is sufficient for our discharge that the Iesuit confesseth that it may iustly be doubted whether Transubstantiation may be proued by the scripture or not and that it is likely that indeed it cannot The matter then is come to this passe that Transubstantiation must be beléeued because of the authoritie of the Church of Rome but otherwise that it cannot be prooued by the authoritie of the scripture But we dare not trust the Church of Rome so farre as to receiue any doctrine of her without the warrant of the scripture For we are of Chrysostomes minde b Chrisost in Psal 95. If any thing saith he be spoken without scripture the minde of the hearer halteth or hangeth in suspense But when there commeth out of the scripture the testimony of the voyce of God it confirmeth both the minde of the hearer and the words of the speaker They must prooue it vnto vs by the scripture or else wee cannot bee assured of it But they cannot agrée how to expounde the wordes of scripture for it and the scripture it selfe is manifestly against it Christ saith This is my bodie The word This doth demonstrate and point to somewhat And what may that be One of them saith one thing and another saith another thing in fine they cannot tell So that we must suppose that Christ said This I know not what is my bodie Bellarmine commeth after all the rest to resolue the matter and he telleth vs that we must vnderstand it thus c Bellar. tom 2 cont 3 lib. 1. ca. 10. 11. This that is conteined vnder the formes is my bodie But the question is the same againe what is that conteined vnder the formes To say it is the bodie before all the words of consecration be spoken they themselues will not allow But except the bodie it can be nothing else but bread It is bread therefore to which the word This is referred perforce must the words be thus taken This bread is my body which again must néeds haue this meaning This bread is the signe and Sacrament of my bodie and consequently ouerthrow Transubstantiation Moreouer what Christ brake bid his Disciples take and eate that they did take and eate It was bread which he brake and bid them take and eate for the words of consecration were not yet spoken Therfore it was bread which they did take and eate But that which they did eate Christ called his bodie Therefore Christ called bread his bodie and meant This bread is my bodie So likewise as touching the other part of the Sacrament we say that what Christ willed them to drinke that they did drinke But Christ willed them to drinke wine saying Drinke ye all of this and this was wine because there was yet no consecration Therfore they did drinke wine That which they did drinke Christ called his blood The words therefore of Christ must be thus meant This wine is my blood And so he expoundeth himselfe immediatly when he calleth it This frute of the vine shewing hereby to what we must referre the word This when he saith This is my blood namely to the frute of the vine that is to say wine To auoyd these things thus plainly gathered from the circumstances of the text many blind shifts haue bene deuised but one especially most worthy to be noted d Tho. Aquin. pag. 3. q. 78. art 1. that the Euangelists doe not report these matters of the institution of the Sacrament in that order as they were spoken and done by our Sauiour Christ Thus to serue their turne the Euangelists must be controlled and vpon their word we must beléeue that these things are not so orderly set downe as the matter required I might adde hereunto how the scripture vsually calleth the Sacrament c Act. 20. 7. 1. Cor. 10. 16. 11. 26. 27. 28 bread euen after consecration in the breaking distributing and eating thereof then which what should we require more to assure vs that in substance it is bread indéede And of this spéech they can giue no certaine reason neither but are carried vp and downe from fancie to another as appeareth by Lanfrancus saying f Lanfran lib. de sacram Euchar◠It is called bread either because it was made of bread and retaineth some qualities therof or because it feedeth the soule or because it is the bodie of the sonne of God who is the bread of Angels or in some other maner which may be conceiued of them that are better learned but cannot of me They care not what they say it is so that they grant it not to be that that it is in truth But thus do they deserue to be led vp and down from errour to errour and follie to follie as it were after a dauncing fire who refuse to be guided and directed by the cleare and shining light of the euident word of God By this that hath bene said it may appeare sufficiently how litle hold the Answ hath in the consent of the Euange lists for the proofe of his Transubstantiation euen by the confession of his owne fellowes to whose wisedome and learning he doth greatly trust But yet once againe to proue it by the Gospell we haue another argument wherein the Answ as a sawcie fellow taketh vpon him to censure controll M. Beza and M. Fulke in a matter of Gréeke construction as he did M. Caluin and B. Iewell in other matters before But what may it be that he presumeth so much on Forsooth the Gréeke in Luc. 22. is so plaine against our doctrine and for proofe of Transubstantiation that Beza was greatly troubled there with and was faine to say that either S. Luke spake false Gréeke or else that somewhat was foisted into the text This argument Gregory Martin and others haue runne out of breath
hid vnder the ground and neuer seen as now being allowed of But the Church plaieth herein like a Lapidarie who by his long a The great skill of the Church of Roome to discerne those bookes to be canonicail which the Apostles and primatiue Church could not discerne to be so skill discerneth a true diamond from the counterfeit but the vertue he giueth not to it but that came of the first creation And so the Church by the illumination of the holie ghost is taught not to make scriptures nor to giue trueth to the books of the holy Ghost but to discerne which be the holie Ghosts books and which be not I aske you whether the Apocalyps and S. Iames Epistle besides other books of Scripture be not as Caluin and Beza against Luther confesse them to be Canonicall Scripture I am sure you will say they be Then whether were they b If they had not been receiued at the first they might not haue been receiued afterward at the first receiued of the whole Church for such or no I aske you further whether the Churches generall acceptation of them after due examination of them by the helpe of the holy ghost had made them any truer or better then they were before If not why then did not the Church receiue them generally at the first or why do you rather wrangle about it that all the world seeth was done in these bookes The cause why you would not haue the Church determine the canonicall Scriptures is because your priuate spirite being enemy to c That is to the wilful fansies of a few Romish prelates the general spirite and sentence of the whole Church you will rather seeme to preferre your owne iudgement then accept the worke of the holy ghost R. Abbot 34. AS touching the books of scripture Hierome testifieth thus of those bookes that we seclude from the canon a Hiero. in prolo Galeato They are not saith he in the canon they must be put amongst the Apocryphall writings And again b Idem praefat in libros solomo The Church readeth them but yet receiueth them not amongest canonicall Scriptures c Ruffin in expos symb apud Cypri Ruffinus that liued at the same time expresly witnesseth the same and that as he sayth out of the monuments of the Fathers So doth d Euseb eccle hist lib. 4. c 25. Eusebius out of Melito So e Athanas in synopsi Athanasius So f Epiphan de mensu ponderi Epiphanius So the g Concil Laodi ca. 59. councell of Laodicea And must we now in the end of the world beléeue the Roomish Lapidarie that these are Canonicall bookes Her obedient children may be so foolish as to beléeue her warrant herein but we know her héereby to be not a true Lapidarie but a false and presumptuous harlot The canonicall bookes that truely are such haue béen receiued for such from the beginning So doth S. Austen terme them h Augustin cont Cresco lib. 2. cap. 31. de bap con Dona. lib. ca. 3. canonem constitutum and confirmatum the canon appointed set downe and confirmed Whatsoeuer bookes were not then set downe deliuered and receiued for such they cannot now be warranted to be such If any man through simplicitie did afterwardes call in question any of those bookes as some did the Reuelation the Epistles to the Hebrewes and of S. Iames the Church did rightly correct their errour in that behalfe not newly approouing them for canonicall which were not so taken before but defending them to be canonicall as they had béen before receiued And therefore the world doth not sée that the Church of Christ did that then which the Synagogue of Roome presumeth now in that contrarie to the iudgement of that Church she taketh vpon her to make them canonicall which were not from the beginning deliuered to the Church for such Neither doe we in the canon of scriptures follow our own priuate spirite but the expresse testimonie and consent of the ancient Church As for his hypocriticall spéeches of the help and work of the holy Ghost they are but the same that the Moâ—tanistes the Marcionites the Valentinians and other olde heretickes did vse who when they taught against the holy ghost yet pretended the instinct and inspiration of the holy Ghost P. Spence Sect. 35. INdex Expurgatorius altereth no Doctours wordes but where it is certaine that heretickes haue corrupted or a T 〈…〉 tâ— say where the church of R 〈…〉 seeâ—â— any 〈◊〉 coÌ„trary â—o her faâ—â—e doctrine The Fathers speake like heretickes when they say any thing contrary to her learning where all the worlde knoweth their priuate opinions were amisse and erronious there it giueth a note thereof truly In later writers it noteth what is suspicious and to be taken heed of in forged bookes heretickes bookes and hereticall editions and hereticall prefaces censures and notes or hereticall commentaries it controlleth them and great b It is great charitie in the church of Râ—me to blot out as hereticall whatsoeuer is contrary to their damnable heresieâ— charitie so to do All which is good and therfore vniustly to be found fault with but of such whose backes being galled do winse at that booke set out with great iudgements to teach vs to beware of heretickes corruptions and traps R. Abbot 35. THis defence of the Index Expurgatorius is shamelesse The authours of it knew so much well inough and therefore would haue had it kept close but the prouidence of God hath to their reproach brought it to light It is not méete that the iudgements of learned men either old or new should be subiect to the fancies of a few wilful persons that they may dislike in them and put out what pleaseth them But welfare a childe that though his mother plaie the théefe and the harlot neuer so much yet will boldly stand in defence of her that she is an honest woman And indéed I maruell not that this dealing séemeth verie tollerable and lawfull with these men because I know that the corrupting and deprauing forging of bookes is a very speciall meanes and helpe for the vpholding and patronaging of the Roomish abhominations Falshood cannot be vpholden but by falshood and he that taketh a bad cause in hand must néeds vse bad meanes to colour and cloake his euill doing Thus a Francise Iunius in praefat indic Expurga Franciscus Iunius reporteth that being at Lyons in France in the yeare of our Lord 1559. and comming to the Correctour of Frelonius his print with whom he was familiarly acquainted the same Correctour shewed him a very faire print of Ambrose his workes Which when Iunius commended the Corrector told him that notwithstanding the fairenesse of it yet if he were to buy Ambrose he would rather buy it in any other copie theÌ„ in that The reason wherof he told him for that whereas they had printed the booke faithfully according to
an auncient and vndoubted copy two Franciscan Friars came by authoritie and cancelled many shéetes thereof some in part some wholly and caused them to print other in their stéed not agréeing to the true bookes to Frelonius his great losse both of time and charges The like dealing b Ibid. he noteth of TurriaÌ„ that vnshamefast Iesuit in a Gréeke edition of the Canons of the Apostles In a print of Chrysostomes workes by Stelsius at Paris they haue razed out a most notable and vnanswerable place c Oper. imperf in Mat. hom 49. testifying that in the time of Antichrist there can be no warrant of true Christianitie nor other refuge for Christians being desirous to know the truth of faith but only the scriptures of God that they which would know cannot otherwise know which is the true Church of Christ but onely by the scriptures that Christ knowing the confusion that should be in the last daies did will that Christians desiring to haue assurance of true faith should flee to nothing else but to the scriptures because if they looke vnto other things they shall stumble and perish not knowing which is the true Church and hereby they shall light into the abhomination of desolatioÌ„ which standeth in the holy places of the church This whole place they haue falsly and treacherously left out And why because they take it to haue bin put in by an Arian hereticke as d Bellarm. to 1 cont 1. lib. 4. cap. 11. Bellarmine saith But what wretchednesse is there in this pretence when as they haue left in stil those places which make for the Arians indéed haue only taken away this which was not for the Arians turne but serued to confound themselues in a matter of controuersie betwixt them and vs. Thus e See Doct. Rainolds confer with â—aâ—t cha â— diuiâ— 2. Manutius and Pamelius in their editions of Cyprian the one at Rome the other at Anwerpe haue notoriously falsified a place in his Treatise de vnitate ecclesiae And whereas Cyprian expresly auoucheth by the vniuersall consent of all approued copies that the rest of the Apostles were the same that Peter was endued with equall fellowship both of honour and of power they haue foisted in other words importing a supremacy giuen by Christ vnto Peter and so make him in one sentence with one breath to speake contrary to himselfe Which impudencie and unpietie of theirs is so much the greater for that against the common consent and credit of so many copies both written and printed they would presume to alter the text of Cyprian vpon the warrant of two or thrée such copies as they themselues euidently saw knew to be corrupted so corrupted that they were faine euen for shame to varie in some things from that reading which they found in theÌ„ Thus haue the Spanish censurers vsed Bertram also as hath bene before shewed nipping him paring him where they haue thought good that he may not séeme too strong against their fantasticall conceit of TransubstantiatioÌ„ Now we may not wonder that they who haue bene thus bold with the auncient Fathers should presume a great deale further with later writers And therefore it néedeth not that I stand here to shew how they haue maimed the writings and censures of f Index Expurgat in castigaâ— operum August Tertul Hierony passim Beatus Rhenanus Ludouicus Viues Erasmus and other famous learned men whersoeuer they haue with great aduisement and iudgemeÌ„t noted the corruptions abuses of the Roomish church either in matters of maners or of doctrine This is that godly charitable dealing which the Answ commendeth and thinketh to be a very Christian and necessary course But were he not too much bewitched with the loue of a harlot he would not be so easily brought to flatter her in such vnhonest and hatefull doings Hereby it appeareth what confidence and hold Papists haue in the writings of the Fathers and that the Fathers if they were now aliue in the church of Rome and should speake as they haue written should be condemned for heretickes and their bookes carried to the fire to be burned with them P. Spence Sect. 36. YOu chop in the end to the matter of iustification A verie large race to course in To be short we say Faith iustifieth but that faith which worketh by loue We yeeld with S. Paule Not to him that worketh that is not to him that worketh with the respect of the law or by his free-will without the faith of Christ and his grace as the Iewes and Gentiles But to him that beleeueth in him that iustifieth the vngodly c. Here you see he talketh of one that not only beleeueth God or that God is but in God which is to haue faith hope charitie And that we require in iustifying a Here we haue we say and we say but no prâ—ofe for that which they say and so they may say what they list We say Faith without workes is dead and yet being dead it is a true faith neuerthelesse We say this faith so quickened and formed with charitie doth iustifie that is maketh of wicked iust and withall we say that good workes done by him that is iustified or else they could not be good do iustifie that is as S. Iames saith they make faith perfect By Abrahams workes his faith was made perfect And not only before men as you would haue S. Iames to meane thereby to elude this cleare testimony for he telleth you as for only faith the diuels beleeue and tremble and hee saith faith to bee a ioynt-worker with workes in our iustification which is not by faith only but by workes and they do make a man more iust or increase our iustice They b An absurd contradiction they deserue it and yet it is â—â—eely â—iuen them â—f it be â—â—eely thâ—n it is not of desert deserue the reward though giuen them by Gods free mercie for Christes passions sake yet novv made their vvages and hyer by Gods ordinance and by the proportion and relation betvveene grace Sap. 3. 15. Eccl. 16. 2. Rom. 2. 6. and glorie We defie Pelagius that said vve might merit the first grace or remission of sinner yet vve say vvith S. Augustine that the kingdom of heauen is both gratuite or free because it is of grace purchased by Christs blood and yet vvithall saith he it is a thing deserued because it is due to workes vvhich vvorkes come of grace that vvas giuen freely by Christ We desire no better iudge of the true sense of Gods vvord in this point then S. Augustine himselfe to whom we appeale We say vvith S. Iohn Behold the lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world We say vve must put off the old man and put on the new We say vve must be noua conspersio Azimi We say vve must be c Yet the Answers owne conscience doth tell him that he is not
of true faith for one b Ferus in Mat. 8. It is not alwaies faith saith he which we call faith For we call it faith to assent vnto those things which are proposed in the diuine histories and which the Church teacheth to be beleeued This the schoolemen call an vnformed faith and S. Iames a dead faith But what faith is that which is dead and wanteth his forme Verily this is not faith but a vaine opinion Farre otherwise doth the Scripture speake of faith For according to the scripture faith is no◠without confidence of Gods mercie promised in Iesus Christ This he sheweth by examples and places and concludeth thus To be short the faith which the scripture commendeth is notliing else but to trust vpon the free mercie of God This saith he is the true faith and in c In Mat. 27. another place To beleeue is to trust that God for Christ sake will not impute thy sinnes Thus the light of trueth caused Ferus to speake and to controll that senslesse fancie and imagination of faith which the schoolemen and Iesuites haue deuised and defended to delude the true doctrine of Christian faith His saying that faith is quickened and formed by charitie should haue béene prooued because I take not his saying to be a sufficient answere The d 1. Cor. 13. 13. Apostle reckoneth that faith whereby a man is called faithfull as a vertue distinct from charitie and therefore not formed by charitie but hauing a proper act and being by it selfe And so by it selfe it doth iustifie and though in the iustified man there be not onely faith but charitie and good works doe also necessarily follow yet in iustifying no work but faith onely taketh place e Aug. de fide oper cap. 1◠Good works saith Austen followe the iustified man they goe not before while he is yet to be iustified And therefore y◠which he addeth that works done by a iustified man do iustifie and as he saith anon after doe make more iust or encrease our iustice is méerely absurd For to speake of morall or inherent iustice of which he speaketh séeing that the iust man is as the trée and iust or good workes are as the fruite it is alike absurd to say that the good workes of a man do iustifie him or make him more iust as to say that the fruites do make the trée good or encrease the goodnesse of the trée f Mat. 7. 17. The good tree bringeth forth good fruite saith our sauiour Christ and the better the trée waxeth the better waxe the fruites but who euer heard that the betternesse of the fruits did worke the bettering of the trée But such vnreasonable fanties are fit enough to possesse the heads of vnreasonable men Yea but faith is made perfect by workes as S. Iames saith of Abraham that by his workes his faith was made perfect We graunt the same and expound it by the like phrase vsed by S. Paul g 2. cor 12. 9. The power of God is made perfect in weakenesse not for that the weaknesse of man addeth any perfection to the power of God but because in the weakenesse of man it is perfectly declared and approoued to be indéed the power of God according to that which he sayth in another place h 2. cor 4. 7. We haue this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellencie of this power might be of God and not of our selues So faith is made perfect by workes that is it is perfectly shewed or declared to be true and perfect as S. Iames teacheth vs to expound it when he saith I will shew thee my faith by my workes Thus doth Beda expound it manifestly i Beda in epist Iaco. cap. 2. His faith was made perfect by workes that is to say it was prooued by the practise or execution of workes that his faith was perfect in his heart Whereas it is vrged out of the same place of S. Iames that Abraham was iustified by workes I haue alreadie answered by the exception that S. Paul hath set downe k Rom. 4. 2 If Abraham were iustified by workes he had to reioyce but not before God The Gréeke Scholiast out of the Gréeke fathers sayth thus vpon those wordes l Oecumen in Rom. 4. What then Had not Abraham workes Yes But did they iustifie him God forbid Indeede he had workes so that if hee had beene brought in iudgement with the men with whom hee liued he should easily haue been iustified and preferred before them but to be iustified by his workes before God as worthy of the kindenesse and bountifulnes of God towards him he should neuer haue attained c. By what meanes then was he accompted worthie heereof By fayth onely c. Heereby saith he the answere is manifest how S. Paule saith that Abraham was iustified by faith and S. Iames that he was iustified by workes A man then we say is iustified by workes and must be iustified by workes but not before God Thus saith the Apostle manifestly and thus hath the auncient Church subscribed the wordes of the Apostle Now against these the Answ telleth me vpon his owne bare word that we are iustified by works in the sight of God but I cannot beare his word against the worde of God Further I must adde that that iustification before men by workes is nothing else with S. Iames but a proofe and declaration that a man is the same that he professeth himselfe to be a true christian man a true seruaunt and friend of God He speaketh to this effect Thou sayest thou hast faith but I would haue thée shewe it me For I beléeue it not except thou iustifie and prooue it to me by thy workes And that there is no other iustification by works let Thomas Aquinas himselfe teach vs m Thom. Aqui. i◠epist ad Gala cap. 3. lect 4. Workes saith he are not the cause that any man is iust with God but they are the practising and manifesting of iustice For no man is iustified by works with God but by the habite of Faith And anon after obiecting to himselfe the wordes of S. Iames was not Abraham iustified by workes he sayth that iustification is heere vnderstood as touching the exercise and declaration of iustice and that thus a man is iustified that is declared iust by his workes This iustification we require in all the faithful and affirme that there is no man a true professor of true pietie and religion but he that iustifieth himselfe so to be by the carefull ordering of his life and conuersation Yet he obiecteth that as touching onely faith S. Iames saith The deuils beleeue and tremble It is manifest héereby say I that S. Iames speaketh not of that faith which S. Paul meaneth when hée saith that a man is iustified by faith without workes For S. Paul speaketh of such a faith as n Act. 15. 9. whereby the heart is purified whereby o R◠10. 13. 14