say ordinarily beget Faith work Repentance and breed sanctity and newnesse of life not so Reading May it please you then to tell vs for our better satisfaction what such coherence there is betwixt Sermons and Faith which is not betwixt it and Reading And what that intrinsicall and proper quality of Sermons is whereby Faith is begotten which is not also to be found in Reading Is it in the doctrine and matter of Sermons It is the very same which wee read Is it in the arguments and motiues whereby they perswade We read either the same or as forcible in the Scripture What then Is it in the vtterance voice gesture behauiour or credit of the Preacher Much lesse for then should we be beholding for our Faith to accidents more then substance to the plausible inticements of humane wisdome rather then the evidence demonstration of the spirit Wherein then lies the vertue Forsooth in Gods blessing for Preaching is the ordinance of God and he hath promised to blesse it But stay my bretheren is not Reading Gods ordinance also And doth God having imprinted in it such an aptnesse and fitnesse ordinarily to beget Faith either curse his owne ordinance or suspend the operation of it so as it shall never worke but only extraordinarily What shall I say When they haue answered what they can vnto the question the summe of all as Hooker obserueth will be this Sermons are and must be the only ordinary meanes but why and wherefore we cannot tell And so I passe from the first argument drawne from the aptnesse and fitnesse of Reading to produce all these kindes of Faith Now in the second place I dispute ex concessis from that which is yeelded and granted by the adversarie First it is granted by Hieron and we haue proued it by the testimonie of M. Fox to be true that many of our forefathers in the blinde time of Popery were converted to the true Faith by reading only This say they was extraordinary but I infer that therfore it was ordinary For if reading be excluded sermōs be the only ordinary means it will follow that the Church at that time was without the ordinary meanes for wholsome Sermons then were not to bee had But it is a strange point in Divinity that the Ordinary meanes should at any time fayle in the Church and I presume when that fayleth the Church of God will fayle also If so then is there some other ordinary meanes besides Sermons and what can that bee but the written word and the Reading thereof It is further granted and that rightly that whosoever readeth the Scriptures or heareth them read is therevpon bound to beleeue And this is so cleare a truth that Whitaker could not forbare to charge his adversary Stapleton with much folly for holding the contrary Sic tu planè desipis saith he Art thou so very a foole as to thinke that the word of God hath no authority or bindeth no man to beleeue but then when it is preached Certainely if the doctrine of Christ and his Apostles was to be beleeued when it was deliuered by them in their Sermons it is as much now to be beleeued when it is convayed vnto vs by way of writing and reading Wherevpon saith Caluin Although the Apostles be dead yet their doctrine liueth flourisheth and it is our dutie to profit by their writing as much as if themselues were now publikely speaking before our eyes Vnlesse therefore Gods word cease to bee his word when it is read an obligation in reading is laid vpon vs to yeeld all credence and obedience vnto it Now God bindeth not but by a commandement He commandeth therefore to beleeue by Reading What Doth he command vs to beleeue by a meanes that is vtterly vnable and vnfit to worke beleefe And doth hee daily and hourely tye our Faith vnto that which hee meanes not to blesse vnto that end but once as it were in an age and extraordinarily Questionlesse seeing God hath ordained that his holy Scriptures be ordinarily read both in publike and private and hath bound vs all to beleeue whensoeuer we either read them or heare them read it cannot be but that Reading is an ordinary meanes to beget faith and that God will alwaies vouchsafe to blesse his owne ordinance to the same end In the third place I vrge the testimonie and authoritie of holy writ But happily so doing I may be counted in the number of those vile men who like venomous spiders suck poyson out of the sweetest flowres 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the die is cast and angry speeches may not hinder me from maintaining truth by the word of truth When all Israell saith Moses is come to appeare before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall chuse thou shalt read this law before all Israell in their hearing Gather the people together men and women and children and thy stranger that is within thy gates that they may heare and that they may learne and feare the Lord your God and obserue to doe all the words of his Law Here in expresse tearmes the Reading of the law is commanded and it is particularly commanded to this end that men may learne thereby What the feare of God and obedience to the Law God therefore hath appointed Reading to be an Ordinary meanes of conversion It is answered that such Reading is meant as was accompanied with interpretation So they dreame indeed but in the text there is no mention of interpretation Neither is it likely seeing now the whole law was to be read at once as is aboue said and the scantling of time would hardly beare any exposition Howsoeuer sure I am the holy Ghost ascribeth the effect vnto Reading and I thinke hee both knewe and meant what hee said In the Prophecie of Ieremie God commandeth the Prophet to write all his Prophecies in a booke that all the house of Iudah might heare them read for it may bee saith God that hearing they may returne every man from his evill way that I may forgiue their iniquity and their sinne According to this commandement Ieremie dictates all the Prophecies vnto Baruch Baruch writes them and being written reads them in the house of the Lord. Here againe Reading is commanded by God and to the same end that the people thereby might bee moued to repentance To this they answer first that God speaketh after the manner of men True when he saith it may be as if he knewe no more then man what the effect would bee Yet is it plainely intimated that Reading is an ordinary meanes of repentance Secondly say they Ieremie had preached the same before and so they are Sermons that are commanded to be read Be it so Yet then the very Reading of Sermons may worke Repentance which the Preaching of them could not To say nothing that these Sermons written were Gods word both for matter and manner so that if the Reading of them might be
man by bread Now the soveraigne prime cause of Faith is God God worketh it by his word The word worketh as a Doctrinall or Morall instrument by way of argument perswasion Before it can perswade it must be revealed God therefore revealeth it and that sometimes without meanes by an immediate impression of light and grace vpon the soule as he did vnto the Apostles on the feast of Pentecost and to S. Paul in his iourney towards Damascus But generally and for the most part he revealeth it mediately and by the intervention of meanes The Ordinary meanes is that which is setled and established to continue in the Church for ever That is the Ministerie of the Church whose office is by all meanes to publish the word whether by Writing or by Speaking and this againe whether by Reading or Interpreting All which if they haue in them an ability and fitnesse vnder God to convey into our hearts the knowledge of his word then vndoubtedly are they all Ordinary meanes to beget faith And such an ordinary meanes among the rest doe I affirme Reading to be Which hauing thus fully explained the tearmes I now come to demonstrate and first in that faith whereby we yeeld assent vnto the Scripture that it is the very word of God The last and highest principle whereinto Faith is resolued and wherevpon it finally stayeth it selfe is the Scripture yet is it not so vnto vs vntill we be perswaded that it is the word of the eternall verity which can neither erre nor lead into errour But how come we to bee perswaded hereof By Sermons I deny not but Sermons are vnder God a sufficient meanes to perswade it But when did you ever heare a Preacher treat of this argument or goe about to proue it Or if any haue done it did they not perswade you to that whereof you were already perswaded Yes questionlesse For besides the testimonie of the Church in the publike reading of the Scriptures as the word of God there shineth forth in them such a Majestie and divinenesse as is not to be found in other writings and when by Reading yet take notice of so many oracles and miracles and predictions and sundry other things farre exceeding the power of nature doth not reason it selfe tell you saith Whitaker that they must needs bee of God The same saith D. Iohn White Many times Pagans and Atheists without the Ministery come to Faith by only Reading whence but being convinced by Scripture it selfe If then the very Reading of holy Scripture may bring vnto our knowledge such remonstrances and arguments as convince the minde that it is the word of God certainely it is an ordinary meanes to beget this faith for what can be more ordinary then arguments and demonstrations But the former is true as we haue proued therefore the latter also If so then much more is it apt and fit to beget that Faith whereby we yeeld assent to those articles which are built vpon Scripture especially if two things may be granted first that it is perfect secondly that it is facile easie to be vnderstood That it is all-sufficient and containeth whatsoeuer is necessary either to bee beleeued or done vnto saluation none but a Papist will deny And surely if it be defectiue either it is from God or from the pen-men Not from the pen-men for they were but hands and could not but write what the head indited to them If from God then either because he could not or because he would not perfect it To say he could not is to derogate from his wisdome and power to say hee would not is to detract from his loue and to taxe him of envie But what need mee to spend more time in this point seeing I now deale against those who challenge vnto it such a perfection that nothing may be done no not to the taking vp of a straw without warrant from it The Scripture then is perfect is it also facile and easie to bee vnderstood Aristotle saith of his Acroamaticks that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 published in that they were writtē not published because of their darknesse In the books of Heraclitus there was so great obscurity that he was therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Obscure May wee iustly say the same of the Scriptures and the pen-men thereof Surely it cannot be denied but that some things are difficult yet as there are deepe places where the Elephant may swim so there are shallow where the Lamb may wade and as there is harder meat which the strong man may chew so there is milk also which the infant may suck And I boldly affirme that all fundamentall points and duties necessary to salvation are in Scripture so clearely delivered that if they were written with a sunbeame they could not bee more cleare God hath spoken so that not a few but all may vnderstand saith Hierom. Hee speaketh to the heart both of learned and vnlearned saith Augustin Scriptures are so plaine as they need not to be expounded saith Iustin Martyr They exceed no mans capacity saith Cyril of Alexandria They are easie not to the wise onely but women and boyes saith Chrysostome And againe They are easie to bee vnderstood to the Servant to the Countryman to the widow to the stripling to him that is very simple The same say all our Divines against Papist The Scripture saith Whitaker may easily be vnderstood of any if he will And Zanchie will a Father speake obscurely to his children in things concerning their salvation that they shall need to seeke interpreters No verily But God being wise was able to expresse himselfe and being good he would and it was necessary to speake plainely in things so necessary If then to come to a conclusion Scripture containe all what is necessary and that in such plaine tearmes that whosoeuer readeth may easily vnderstand how can it be but Reading should be an apt and fit meanes and consequently an ordinary meanes to beget this Faith For if once we beleeue that Scripture is the word of God we cannot but yeeld assent vnto those verities that are so plainely deliuered therein and which we knowe to bee witnessed by the truth it selfe The same doe I also affirme of that Faith which wee call iustifying and of the fruits thereof Repentance and New obedience that the Reading of Scripture is an apt fit meanes to beget that also For it presenteth vnto vs store of strong motiues to perswade sweet promises to allure terrible threatnings to affright notable examples to imitate and the like then which there cannot be a better outward meanes and there needs no more but the inward concurrence of Gods spirit to worke a perfect conversion Read among other places the 28 of the book of Deuteronomie and then tell mee whither the Sermons of any man nay whither the tongue of men and Angels be able to perswade more effectually Sermons you
thing which is to teach commanded also the manners of teaching which are to preach with liuely voice and to set forth the doctrine in writing both of them being fit for teaching and this latter most fit for to continue and to transferre doctrines and instructions vnto posterity Daniel Chamier in his Panstratia Tomo 1. Lib. 1. c. 21. num 6. To teach comprehendeth as well the liuely voice as writing So Paul preached the Gospell vnto the Romanes no lesse by writing an epistle vnto thē then teaching them by liuely voice out of the prison And it is the solemne custome of the Fathers when they cite any thing out of the Apostles writings to expresse it in these words The Apostle teacheth yea St Paul ascribeth vnto the Scriptures that they make a man wise Ibid num 7. All men know that a thing may be related two waies both by liuely voice and by writing For as those things which are in the voice are signes of those things which are in the minde so those things which are in the writing are signes of those which are in the voice And therefore the same is both waies equally signified or related Ibid. cap. 22. num 2. Because the liuely voice is vsed to no other end saue to expresse the meaning of the speaker and Scripture doth evidently expresse the meaning of God speaking vnto vs therefore in this respect it is false that the Scriptures are dumb For we no lesse vnderstand that a man is justified by Faith when wee read it in Paul then when Paul himselfe pronounced it with his liuely voice Lib. 6. cap. 5. num 7. The written word is distinguished from the word preached by no substantiall difference For they differ neither in specie nor in genere nor in number but only in accident So for example that Sermon which first S. Peter made vnto the Iewes after the gift of the holy Ghost differeth not from that which we read Act. 2. related by S. Luke saue only as writing is not a liuely voice yet because writing is no other then the image of a liuely voice so little difference letteth not but that I may affirme the Sermon which I there read to bee the same which S. Peter then made Wherefore if it be the same Sermon in number why may not the same bee affirmed of the same and I truely avouch it to bee read in S. Luke Hauing heard these things they were pricked in heart These things I say which both Peter then deliuered by liuely voice and now S. Luke representeth vnto vs. Ibid. cap. 18. num 8. Vergerius an Italian Bishop who had negotiated many businesses for the Pope against Luther vndertaking to write a booke against the Apostates of Germanie for so he tearmed them and diligently seeking out their arguments to confute them was himselfe so overcome by the strength of them that rejecting his Bishopricke and the hope of a Cardinalship hee vtterly renounced all Popish tyranny Ibid. lib. 7. cap. 9. num 17. The meditation of the Scriptures is doubtlesse an Ordinary meanes ordained by God to procure Faith For these things are written that yee might beleeue Ioh. 20. Ibid. lib. 10. cap. 6. num 11. To preach comprehends not only the liuely voice but also writing so that those words Preach the Gospell are thus to be vnderstood intimate the Gospell vnto all nations by what meanes soever it may be rightly intimated whether it bee by liuely voice or by writing D. Davenant B. of Sarumon Coloss. 1.9 pag. 64. They are not carried by an Apostolicall but Antichristian spirit who deny vnto Laicks the Ordinary meanes of begetting wisdome spirituall vnderstanding namely Reading and vnderstanding of Gods word For the law of the Lord is immaculate converting soules the testimonie of the Lord is faithfull giuing wisdome to the simple Psal. 19-7 Psal. 119.130 in English meeter When men first enter into the word They finde a light most cleare And very Idiots vnderstand When they it read or heare Phil Melancthon Enarrat Symboli Niceni In conversion these causes concurre the holy Ghost mouing the heart by the Gospell the voice of the Gospell weighed and considered either when it is heard or when it is read or in godly meditation and the will of man not resisting the voice of God but assenting although with some trepidation Ainsworth Counterpoison p. 116. The Gospell noted to bee the meanes of our calling 2. Thes. 2.14 hee maketh knowne vnto his people outwardly by his word 2. Cor. 5.19 spoken Act. 5.20 and written Ioh. 20.31 and inwardly by his holy spirit Neh. 9.20 1 Cor. 2 10.12 FINIS IOH. 17.1 c. These things spake IESVS and lift vp his eyes to Heaven and said c. ALL holy writ simply and in it selfe considered is of equall worth and dignity the Author the Matter and the Manner being in every part alike Divine Howbeit considered respectiuely and in relation vnto vs one Scripture without impeachment or derogation may iustly be preferred to another For as touching the Matter some Scriptures are more importing vs as containing doctrines of Absolute necessitie to bee beleeued whereas others are so only in the Disposition and Preparation of the Minde And as for the Manner whereas others are darkly and obscurely deliuered some are so attempered and proportioned vnto the weaknesse of our capacity that they are more easie and available for our instruction and edification In both these Respects this seventeenth Chapter of the Gospell after S. Iohn seemeth to me among all other to be the most eminent For if you regard the Matter it containes Doctrines of highest nature and consequence as being the very foundation of the Churches happinesse and the anchor of all her hope If the For me it is so heavenly and divine so powerfull and perswasiue that he must needs be destitute of all spirituall sense and tast whosoeuer with the naked and bare reading thereof is not extraordinarily ravished and affected The serious and due consideration of all which together with the vnspeakable benefit that might grow to the people of God by the right dividing and handling thereof hath at length ouercome and perswaded me to vndertake at times the interpretation of this whole Chapter in this place That so if it please God before I sing my nunc dimittis I may with these treasures satisfie some part of the debt I owe therevnto both for my birth breeding And because these first words now read seeme vnto mee not vnfitting the present occasion or to succeed what I haue already deliuered vpon the like occasions I haue thought good at this time to make entrance therevpon so as it is in the proverb Vnâ fideliâ duos dealbare parietes to dispatch two businesses at once For hauing heretofore vindicated the Dignitie of the Ministrie from the Contempt whereto it is subject by prescribing a soueraign Remedie Defensatiue against it as also hauing demonstrated the power and efficacie of Preaching
tearmes or the vntruth of the proposition For indeed I finde you so variable and vncertaine that I know not well where to finde you Is it the language that seemeth so harsh and jarring to your eares It seemed not so vnto the ancients who made no scruple to speake so Learned Hooker who carefully inquired into this businesse hath obserued to my hands divers passages The Councell of Vaux saith If a Presbyter or Minister cannot through infirmity preach by himselfe he may preach by his Deacon reading some Homily of the Fathers Where note by the way that if reading an Homily bee Preaching Reading of Gods word is much more The Councell of Toledo also calleth the Reading of the Gospell Preaching So doth Isidor and Rupertus likewise the reading of a Lesson in the Church And a right learned Lawyer of our own country hath obserued it also in the Law Quae Prophetae Vaticinati sunt populis praedicare id est legere to preach that is to read vnto the people what the Prophets haue foretold Thus they But if it be so inconvenient to say Reading is Preaching why doe you yourselues call Preaching Reading For doe you not in ordinary speech call your Preachers Lecturers And what is that but Readers And when you would knowe who preaches is it not your manner to aske who reades And the Sermons of a Preacher doe you not style them his Lectures or Readings But to leaue descanting besides that the Originall words as we haue said include both Reading and Sermoning let it in particular be observed that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in Scripture indifferently vsed for either As namely in one place of Esay it is said The book is deliuered to him that is not learned saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Read this I pray thee but in another place the Lord hath annointed me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to preach or proclaime the acceptable yeare Neither is it to bee neglected that from the selfe same root commeth also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scripture Thus the ancients sticke not to call Reading Preaching Neither sticke they to call Writing Preaching Iustin Martyr saith that the very writings of the Gentiles preach iudgement to come Clemens of Alexandria Ambo verbum praedicant c. Both preach the word one by writing the other by voice and the science of Preaching availeth both waies whether it worke by the hand or by the tongue S. Augustine also They who vnderstand these things produnt ea caeteris notific or preach the same vnto others either by speaking or writing Vnto these ancients our moderne writers agree Duplex est praedicandi modus Sermo Scriptio there is two sorts of Preaching Speech and Writing saith Iunius And againe who dare say S. Paul preached not when as he wrote vnto the Corinthians woe is me if I preach not the Gospell Dr Fulke S. Paule did preach the Gospell also by writing Dr Whitaker The Apostles were commanded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to preach or make Disciples tum voce tum scripto both by voice and writing Dr Iohn Reynolds I who now cannot with my voice as heretofore through the infirmitie of my body evangelizo manu ac scriptione preach yet with my hand and writing as well as I can Gomarus There are two kinds of Preaching Enuntiation and writing Zanchie not only approueth it but proueth it too Goe teach all nations saith Christ here is a dutie commanded Lo I am with you to the end of the world this is a promise annexed With whom is he with the Apostles How long vnto the end of the world Therefore must they preach to the end of the world They cannot by word of mouth for they must die By Writing therefore Finally the booke of Homilies and the learned Translators of our last Bible affirme the same The booke of Homilies in the Law written with his owne finger that in the first table in the beginning thereof is this doctrine against Images not briefly touched but at large set forth and preached The Translators The seaventie Interpreters prepared the way for our Saviour among the Gentiles by written Preaching as S. Iohn Baptist did among the Iewes by vocal And thus if either ancient or later Divines knew how to speake fitly it cannot be inconvenient or scandalous to call Reading or Writing Preaching What then Is there vntruth in the proposition If so then haue all those worthies aboue cited spoken not only inconveniently but vntruly also But I beseech you my brethren doe you indeed thinke Reading is no way a publishing or making knowne of Gods will I can hardly beleeue it When God first commanded the law and afterward the Sermons of the Prophets and successiuely the whole Canon of Faith to be written the old Testament in the vulgar language of the Iewes the new in the tongue that then was most generally vnderstood what was his intent and purpose therein Was it not to endoctrinate his Church that we through patience comfort of the Scripture might haue hope When the Septuagint by the speciall providence of God translated the bookes of the old Testament out of Hebrew into Greek and the whole body of Scripture vnder Christianity was so carefully turned into all languages was not the one done for the information of those Iewes that were Hellenists and vnderstood not Hebrew and the other for the instruction of such Christians as knew no other but their mother tongue Doubtlesse it was For translation say our last learned translators is it that openeth the window to let in the light that breaketh the shell that wee may eat the kernell that putteth aside the curtaine that wee may looke into the most holy place that remoueth away the couer of the well that we may come by the water Furthermore what is the reason that so many graue and learned men haue in all ages published so many excellent bookes and that Preachers also not content to haue spoken by word of mouth vnto their auditory cause their Sermons to be set forth in print vnto the world Is it not that they who never knewe nor heard them may yet reape benefit by their writing True it is that neither Originall nor Translation nor any booke whatsoever can availe if it be locked vp in a chest or laid on a deske and never be opened or looked into God therefore commanded in the old Testament that the law should be read both publikely privately and Christ hath ordained the same in the new And S. Paul when he wrote his Epistles meant not that they should lie still vnder seale but saith he when this Epistle is read among you cause that it bee read also in the Church of the Laodiceans and that yee likewise read the Epistle from Laeodicea And againe I adiure you by the Lord that this Epistle be read vnto all the holy
effectuall to conversion the like efficacie cannot reasonably bee denied vnto the Reading of that written word which now we haue Lastly say they this was extraordinary for Ieremie was in prison and could not come to preach It is vntrue that Ieremie was now in prison for then the Princes would not haue said vnto Baruch Goe hide thee thou and Ieremie and let no man knowe where yee be And whereas Ieremie saith I am shut vp I cannot goe into the house of the Lord the best Expositors vnderstand it of some other impediment and not imprisonment But bee it that Ieremie was in prison yet is the Reading of his prophecies no more extraordinary then the Reading of any other booke of Scripture nor the Reading of these lesse effectuall then of them To let passe sundry other passages of Scripture I vrge in the last place that of Saint Iohn These things are written that yee might beleeue that Iesus is the Christ the sonne of God and that beleeuing yee might haue life through his name Here writing is made the meanes of beleeuing as beleeuing is made the meanes of life everlasting But Writing without Reading is void and of no effect the meaning thereof is as if he had said These are written to the end that by reading them yee may beleeue For to restraine it thus These thing are writen to the end that a Preacher by discoursing or making Sermons vpon some parcells of them may worke Faith in you is too absurd and shamelesse although I deny not that Sermons are an excellent meanes to beget faith also Vnto the authority and testimony of Scripture I adde the consent of ancient Fathers who although they be but little reckoned of by some children of these times yet haue euer beene of great credit with those that are wise and learned Tertullian in his Apologeticum wishes the Gentiles to search for the Seventies translation in Ptolemies library or if they will not take the paines to goe into the Synagogues of the Iewes that are among them there to heare the same translation read To what end that so they may finde the true God and beleeue S ◠Basill affirmeth that the Scriptures are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a common Apothecaries shop as it were of the soule and that every one may be a Physitian to himselfe and take from thence what he needs according to the nature of his disease St Ambrose saith Sacrarum Scripturarū lectio vita est the reading of the Holy Scripture is life according to that of our Sauiour Iesus Christ verba quae ego loquor spiritus sunt vita the words which I speake are spirit life Saint Hierome Frequenter evenit vt homines saeculares mystica nescientes simplici lectione pascantur It oftentimes cometh to passe that lay men ignorant of the mysteries of religion are fed and nourished by bare reading St Augustine Ama Ecclesiasticas literas legere c. Accustome thy selfe to read the letters of the Church that is the Scriptures and thou shalt not finde many things to demand of me but by reading and meditating if also with pure affection thou pray vnto God the giver of all good things thou shalt learne all things that are worthy to be knowne or certainely the most things rather by his inspiration then any admonition of men Finallie Iohn Bishop of Constantinople the noblest Preacher of all the Fathers and stiled for his eloquence Chrysostome that is Golden mouth and whom for his pregnant speeches to this purpose I haue reserued to the last saith as followeth All thinges necessarie are in Scripture so manifest and open that wee need nor Homilies nor Sermons were it not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through our owne sluggishnesse and negligence And againe If you will studiously and diligently read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yee shall need no other thing for he is true that saith Quaerite invenietis seeke and yee shall find And againe Neque moreris alium doctorem c. Neither stay thou for other Doctors thou hast the oracles of God none can teach thee better then Dr Peter or Dr Paul And yet againe The Apostles and Prophets as the generall Schoolemasters of the world haue made their writings so plaine to all that every one of himselfe only by reading may learne and yee need nothing else but read And yet againe lastlie why say they should I goe to the Church if there be no Sermon there right the language of some of our time This saith he is it that hath corrupted and overthrown all For what need is there of a Preacher This necessity comes through our own negligence For what need sermons All things are cleare and plaine in holy Scripture whatsoever things are necessary are manifest But because yee are nice auditors and seeke to haue your eares delighted therefore doe you call for sermons Thus farre Chrysostom and thus the Fathers With whom agree our moderne Divines both forraine and domesticall who perhaps are more gracious with our adversaries then the Fathers And here I might alledge many passages out of P. Martyr Musculus Aretius Zanchie Piscator and others of whom one sweareth that whosoeuer diligently readeth shall at length be taken another affirmeth that God would haue the Bible read of all thereby to know the truth and to be saued and all of them though not in direct yet in equivalent tearmes avouch my conclusion But I will content my selfe with these few following Francis Iunius I beleeue because I haue read and read it written and againe Faith is wrought by hearing and by reading also Dr Fulke By reading of the Scriptures ignorant men may learne to haue true knowledge and wild wicked fellowes to become more staid in their wits Dr Whitaker by the reading and study of Scripture Faith is learned by the ordinary way to learne faith Againe Faith is cherished by reading saith Tertullian now faith is nourished and cherished ex quibus existit by the same meanes that bred it And yet againe Reading is the ordinary meanes of edifying and God is effectuall by reading giueth the Holy Ghost thereby Wotton Wee doubt not many haue wee are sure they might and may attaine to the same faith what if I say to iustifying faith too without any Preaching by the reading of Scripture For since it is partly the matter that must argue the Scripture to be the word of God partly the maiesty which any man may discerne in the manner of writing vnlesse it can be proved out of the Scripture that the Holy Ghost will not worke by these vpon the heart of him that readeth but only of him that heareth a man expound this word vnto him I see no sufficient reason why faith may not be had by reading where Gods ordinance of Preaching is only wanting and not wilfully neglected Dr Nowell in his Chatechisme appointed by authority to be
The houre is come therefore glorify thy Sonne What Hour vndoubtedly the houre of his bitter passion This appeareth evidently by that of our Saviour Loe the houre is at hand and the sonne of man is betraid into the hands of sinners That also of Saint Iohn They laid not hands on him because his houre was not yet come And yet more plainely by that of our Sauiour where hauing said the houre is come that the Sonne of man should be glorified presently hee speaketh of his death and addeth Father saue mee from this houre but therefore came I into this houre This Houre is here by way of eminence called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the or that houre both in regard of the great work that was to be performed therein as also for that it was long before determined by the Father to that worke But now saith Christ that hour is come that is it is instant and at hand And so indeed it was For the same night that hee vttered this prayer hee was betraid and the next day cruelly executed By which it is evideÌ„t that he was not ignorant of the houre but as he foreknew it so he was ready also to enter into it So that in these two words these three things come to bee considered the Houre the worke of the houre the knowledge he had both of the Houre the worke thereof But before I spake of any of them it is reason wee should shew the force of Christs argument how it followes The houre of my Passion is now at hand therefore thou oughtest to glorify mee Some as namely those of the Church of Rome make the reason of the sequele to be the merit of his passion for that by it hee should deserue his glory Now true it is that Christ both did and suffered many things worthy of most large and ample reward Howbeit for ought we can find in Scripture all was for vs with neglect of himselfe There was no perfection but either hee was already possessed of it or it was now due vnto him by vertue of the personall vnion At the first instant whereof all glorie would haue flowen to his Humanity had it not by speciall dispensation beene staid vntill hee was come to the lowest bottome of his humiliation Which being done and the stay remoued it could not but naturally flow vnto him So that how hee should merit for himselfe cannot well be conceiued without empeachment of his glorious Vnion As for those texts they alledge for proofe all of them shew rather ordinem then meritum that his glory succeeded his passion not that his passion merited his glory For as touching that to the Hebrewes Thou hast loued righteousnesse and hated iniquity wherefore God even thy God hath annointed thee with the oile of gladnesse aboue thy fellowes if it import merit it must be of Vnction and not of finall Glorification which they wil none of indeed cannot be For in the very first instant of his assumption assoone as the Humanity had being the ointment was poured vpon him so that it could not possible be preuented by merit Merit therfore is not the reason of the sequel What theÌ„ Surely the Promise of his Father For it was not the Fathers will that ignominie should alway rest vpon the sonne or that the slâ—â—es as it were of Glory should still be stopt against him Wherefore he promised When he should make his soule a sacrifice for sinne he should see his seed and prolong his daies and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hand so that hee should see of the travell of his soule and be satisfied Yea he sware vnto him and repented not of it Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedeck that is who by performing the office of his Priesthood should passe into his eternall and glorious kingdome And vpon this ground it is that our Saviour affirmeth Christ ought first to suffer and then to enter into his glory And hence also it is that here he saith The houre is come glorifie thy sonne as if he should say more fully thou hast bound thy selfe by promise yea and by oath too that when by suffering I shall haue finished the worke of redemption for which thou sentest me thou wouldest fully satisfie me with glory Now the houre of my passion is come and I am ready and willing to vndergoe it Remember therefore thy promise and performe it For vnlesse thou wilt faile of thy word and fayle of thy word thou canst not because thou art truth it selfe thou must needs glorifie me And thus you see both the reason and necessity of the sequele in this enthymeme Whence we are lessoned first to imitate Christ and with him to ground all our prayers and hopes vpon our Fathers promise For he is omnipotent and can true wil performe Vnto Godlines he hath made the promise both of this the other life Liue we therefore godlily then feare we not boldly to approch vnto the throne of grace and to charge him with his promise both for the one and for the other thou hast promised and therefore glorifie me Againe as Christ could not haue ignominie and shame alwaies to rest vpon him but that obice remoto the stay and let being remoued Glory would surely flow vnto him by reason of the hypostaticall vnion so by vertue of the mysticall vnion we haue with Christ obice remoto assoone as the let and stay is done away it cannot be but that forthwith from him Glorie should bee deriued vnto vs. That let is Sinne. Sinne being crucified and slaine by death when we are ready to yeeld vp the ghost but specially when the day of resurrection is come we may say with Christ Father the houre is come glorifie thy sonne Lastly if we will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 raigne with Christ in glory we must first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suffer with him in humilitie Hee bare the Crosse before he could weare the Crowne we are predestinated to be conformed vnto the image of the Sonne And wee also in our flesh must fulfill the remainders of the afflictions of Christ if we will be glorified with him But of this enough Now let vs resume the three particulars aboue mentioned to be considered And first of the first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the or that houre that is the houre decreed determined vnto the Passion of Christ. For hee that is the creator of time hath ever reserued the disposition thereof in his owne power And as hee hath ordained of all that shall come to passe euen to the lighting of a sparrow and the fall of a haire so vnto every thing hath hee set a season and a time to every purpose vnder heauen If to every thing and purpose then much more to this worke as being a businesse of greatest weight and consequence And seeing as the
the preaching of the Church as touching the Proposition of things to be beleeued but not as the reason of beleeuing For they who propound the doctrine of Faith withall admonish that that doctrine is revealed from God and that God not themselues is to be beleeved And what Is not the holy Catholike Church it selfe an Article of the Creed If it bee why should the rest of the Articles need to be sustained by an higher Principle more then it For if you may be bold to question any of them vntill it be resolued by the Churches authoritie I hope I may be as bold to question the Churches authoritie vntill it be warranted by some farther Principle I demand therefore why you beleeue the Church Because forsooth her authority is infallible And how know you that it is infallible Here of necessity you must either vouch her owne testimonie or betake you to some other thing To stick vpon her testimonie without farther enquirie is absurd For seeing her voice is not the first veritie that being the Prerogatiue of him only who is from all eternity her veracity must needs bee as doubtfull as her infallible authority And indeed this as a very learned Divine exemplifieth it were as if one whose authority is questioned taking vpon him to bee a law-giuer should first make a law and thereby giue himselfe power and afterward by vertue of that power exercise authority over others But if to establish the Churches authority you seek out of her to some other thing as suppose the Scriptures for so I remember you answered me being demanded the same Question then haue I obtained what I would namely that the Church is not the first ground of Faith because by your owne confession there is a former to wit the Scripture Neither is it true that Catholike men hold the Churches authority to be the first Ground For although some pretended Catholikes those I meane who call themselues Roman catholikes may so conceaue of their Church vnderstanding by the Church the Roman church yet neither are they true Catholikes neither is the Roman church the Catholike church neither doe any true Catholikes ground their Faith so True catholikes they are not because they hold a new Faith not that which Catholikely hath beene held in all ages as appeareth by those twelue new Articles lately added to the Creed vnknown vnto the purer times of the Primitiue church Neither is the Roman church the Catholike Church Not in regard of time for Christ had his Church when Rome was not yet Christian. Nor in respect of place for Catholike is Universall Roman Particular that the Church of the whole world this of one Citie or Diocese only Nor lastly in regard of her authority ouer al other Churches for that which she challengeth is but vsurped the Church of Africk in a Councell of two hundred and seuenteene Bishops of whom S. Augustine was a principall with much indignation reiected it and the Greeke church hitherto could never be drawne to acknowledge it And as for those that are true Catholikes they build not their Faith vpon so weake a Ground but rest both it and the Church her selfe vpon the Scriptures The Apostle S. Paul buildeth the whole Houshold of God vpon no other foundation then that of the Prophets and Apostles Knowe thou saith Origen that Christ alwaies appeareth on the mountaines and hills to teach thee that thou seeke him no where but in the mountaines of the Law and Prophets And the Auhor of the imperfect worke on Mathew The Lord knowing the confusion of things that would happen in the latter daies commandeth that such Christians as will receaue assurance of faith fâ—ie to no other thing but the Scripture And Tertullian Take from Hereticks that which they haue common with the heathen that they be content to stint all questions by the scriptures only and they cannot stand And S. Hierom The church of Christ hath for her cities the Law the Prophets the Gospell Apostles she passeth not beyond her limits that is the holy scriptures S. Augustine in the scriptures we learne Christ in the scriptures we learn the Church And againe I say not if we but if an Angell froÌ„ heauen shall deliuer any thing of Christ or his Church or of faith manners besides that which ye haue receiued in the Scriptures of the Law and Gospell let him be accursed And againe he affirmeth that the Church is to be proued by the Canonical bookes of Scripure and nothing else and that they only are the Demonstration of our cause the very foundation and ground plot whereon we are to build N. N. For proofe of this ground Saint Augustine handleth this matter in a speciall booke to his friend Honoratus deceiued by the Manichees as himselfe also sometimes had bin and he entituleth his booke De vtilitate credendi His discourse is this Suppose that wee now first of all did seeke vnto what Religion we should commit our soules to bee purged and rectified Without all doubt wee must begin with the Catholike Church for that shee is the most eminent now in the world there being more Christians in her this day then in any other Church of Iewes Gentiles put together And albeit among these Christians there be Sects and Heresies and all of them would seeme to be Catholikes and doe call others besides themselues Hereticks yet all grant that if wee consider the whole Body of the World there is one Church among them more eminent then all other and more plentifull in number and as they which know her doe affirme more sincere also in the truth But as concerning truth wee shall dispute more afterward now it is sufficient for them that desire to learne that there is a Catholike Church which is one in it selfe wherevnto diverse Heretickes doe faine and devise divers names whereas they and their Sects are called by peculiar names which themselues cannot deny Whereby all men that are indifferent and not letted by passion may vnderstand vnto what Church the name Catholike which all parts desire and pretend is to bee given Thus St Augustine c. I. D. So maine a point as is the last resolution of faith ought to haue beene better warranted then by the single authority of one Father who how eminent soever hee was in his time yet is not his sole word of strength enough to beare vp such a weight Why did you not vouch the testimony of Saint Paul or Saint Peter or some other of the holy penmen of Gods booke which cannot deceiue you then Saint Augustine or any other of the antient Fathers who both haue erred themselues and may mislead you But thus it is with Papists the more the shame the bare name of a Father swayes them more then the clearest passage of holy writ Howbeit this I say not as if we feared the triall of the Fathers for be it known vnto you wee haue more
later shorter and taller broader and narrower thicker and thinner greater and lesser then himselfe and such like of the same garbe But I study to be briefe it is high time to remoue my hand as they say from the Table Onely I must forewarne you that if being vnable to vntie these knots you shall attempt to cut them asunder with the sword of Gods Omnipotence you shall but loose your labour For if they be contradictions as vndoubtedly they are your Angelicall Doctor can tell you that they fall not within the compasse of Divine Power So that of force you must either demonstrate that these things are not contradictorie which I am sure you can neuer doe or as becommeth Christian ingenuity you must for ever bid farewell to Transubstantiation and yeeld vnto the truth discouered vnto you And thus at length by Gods assistance haue I finished the taske you haue laid vpon me fully answered whatsoeuer here you haue alleaged in maintenance of your Reall Presence My desire now is that laying aside all prejudice you will but with indifference read what I haue replied therevnto Which if you shall vouchsafe to doe I perswade my selfe it will make you to remit much of that confidence you had in this cause when first you sent this Schedule vnto me Especially if withall you consider that the wittiest and subtlest heads amongst you could never finde it so clearely and strongly grounded either vpon Scripture or Fathers as you pretend Scotus sirnamed the subtle Doctor affirmeth that there is extant in Scripture no place so expresse as without declaration of the Church can evidently constraine a man to admit of Transubstantiation And this saith Bellarmine is not altogether vnprobable For although the scripture may seeme vnto vs so clear as it may constraine a man that is not froward yet it may iustly be doubted whether it be so seeing most learned and witty men such as Scotus specially was haue thought the contâ—ary The same Scot farther saith that were it not for the authority determination of the Roman Church the words of Christ and of the Fathers might more simply plainely truly be vnderstood and expounded Nay hee yet farther addeth and your Cardinal Bellarmine confesseth it that before the Lateran Councell Transubstantiation was not a doctrine of Faith and he wondreth that being no principle article and such as exposeth the Christian Faith to contempt it could be receaued and beleeued The Cardinall of Cambray also doubteth not to avouch that that manner which supposeth the substance of Bread still to remaine is possible neither is it contrary to reason or the authority of scripture Nay it is easier to conceaue and more reasonable then that which saith the substance doth leaue the accidents And of this opinion no inconvenience doth seeme to ensue if it could be accorded with the Churches determination And he addeth that the opinion which holdeth the substance of Bread not to remaine doth not evidently follow of the Scripture nor to his seeming of the Churches determination Cardinall Cajetan is as peremptory that there appeareth nothing in the Gospell that can force a man properly to vnderstand these words This is my body and that were it not for the interpretation of the Roman Church they might very well admit another sense as that of the Apostle the Rocke was Christ. To these Cardinals may wee ioyne another Cardinall though happily he neuer ware the Cap I mean Fisher Bishop of Rochester who expresly averreth that in that place of Mathew where the institution of the Sacrament is recorded there is never a word whereby it may bee proued that there is made in the Masse the true presence of the flesh and bloud of Christ. Gabriel Biel also The Scriptures may be salved and expounded after a more easie vnderstanding And Occam This doctrine that the substance of bread remaineth is subiect to lesser inconveniences and is not so repugnant to reason the Scriptures And Durand It is great rashnesse to say that the body of Christ cannot by divine power be in the Sacrament but by converting bread into it Howbeit if that way which supposeth bread to remaine were indeed true many doubts which meet vs holding it not to remaine were dissolued The Master of the Sentences also freely confesseth that if it be demanded what that conversion is whether formall or substantiall or of another kinde he is not sufficient to define From these your Iesuits swarue not very much Gregory de Valentia saith that the Fathers spake of Transubstantiation somewhat obscurely simply as thinking they could not be vnderstood of Catholikes but Catholikely and least they should haue exposed the mystery to be laughed at of Infidels if in their popular Sermons they should haue vnfolded their minds Your Secular Priests affirme that it was concluded among the Fathers of the Societie and what Catholike would not beleeue them that the Fathers haue not so much as touched the point of Transubstantiation Finally not to muster vp any more it is well knowne that divers of your Priests being demanded if after sentence of death pronounced vpon them that very morning when they were to be executed they might haue leaue to say Masse to the intent they might be certaine of their owne intention to consecrate and not doubtfully depend vpon anothers whether after consecration for the confirmation of our Faith in the point of Transubstantiation they durst to say thus vnto the multitude Vnlesse that which is now in this Chalice whose Accidents you see be the very selfe same bloud which issued out of the side of Christ hanging on the crosse let mee haue no part either in the bloud of Christ or in Christ himselfe for ever and so with these last words bid farewel vnto the world being I say demanded whether they durst adventure to doe so they all with one voice denied it And Father Garnet in a conference with the Deanes of the Chappell Pauls and Westminster being in particular asked the like answered very perplexedly not daring to hazard his saluation therevpon All these testimonies duly pondered and considered you must needs acknowledge vnlesse you see better then these quick-sighted Eagles that you haue not so strong hold either in Scripture or Fathers or right reason as you imagined and that not only the name but the Doctrine also of Transubstantiation hath beene but of late created an article of your Faith It remaineth that I entreat you these things vndoubtedly being thus that you suffer not your selfe any longer to be beguilded with novelties vnder pretence of antiquitie but rather that you open your eyes and stretch forth your armes to embrace the truth now that she offereth her selfe so manifestly vnto you And this I intreat the more earnestly because of the great danger that followeth vpon this errour For if Christ bee not present in the Sacrament in such sort as you hold there
Bellarmine this confession that it followeth not necessarily where succession is there is a Church Nor Continuance For the malignant Church hath lasted hitherto and will yet longer and many of the Churches planted by the Apostles are now failed which yet were true Churches Nor Visibility For the Church of Greece which you count Hereticall hath ever since the first founding of it beene and is still Visible And such Persecutions and Scandalls may arise in the Church as may much eclipse the glory thereof reducing the Saints to a small number scattering the Ministers suspending the exercise of Ecclesiasticall discipline and interrupting the publike service so as the true Professors seeking shelter from the storme shall hardly bee discerned So was it vnder the old Testament in the daies of Elias so vnder the new when the whole world groned vnder Arianisme and so shall it bee in the time of Antichrist as out of your writers in the former treatise I haue already declared Nor lastly Vnitie For as the Church of God is one so the Divels Babylon is also one And who knowes not what jars and dissentions sometimes were among the Corinthians and Galatians and betweene the East and West Churches about the celebration of Easter which neverthelesse were true Churches And thus you see how vncertaine and deceivable your notes be If this yet be not enough to perswade you I hope being backed with authority of your great Cardinall Bellarmine it may suffice who maketh them in themselues to bee but probable N. N. If it could be proved that these notes belong to the Protestant Church it would much alter your opinion I. D. It seemes you take for granted that these notes are to be found in the Romā Church But you presume too farre Was never a more broken Succession in any Church then that Who at the first succeeded whom is vncertaine namely in what order Linus Clemens Cletus Anacletus should stand About thirty Schisms haue beene therein some of them continuing scores of yeares together in which haue beene two Popes three Popes at once neither could it easily bee discerned which was lawfull Pope Fifty of them in a row were Monsters rather then Men Apotacticall and Apostaticall rather then Apostolicall How many haue intruded themselues into that See by Simonie How many haue beene intruded at the pleasure of harlots Yea a Whore hath sitten in the Pontificall chaire So saith Sigebert Marianus Scotus Bergomensis Iohannes Stella Nauclerus Iohannes Lucidus Baptista Ignatius Balaeus Sabellicus Ranulphus Petrarch Boccace Mathew Palmer Trithemius and Martinus Polonus all which it will bee hard for your new vpstarts of yesternight to outface or controle As for the rest of your Notes if the present Church of Rome be much degenerated from its Primitiue purity and nothing resemble that which Saint Paul first planted there as I am ready to proue whensoever you shall call vpon me for it then are they not to be found therein For neither hath it continued the same nor is the profession by which it is Visibly the same nor is it One with it selfe For of other differences and dissentions among you you shall heare more anon in the due place But can wee finde them in the Protestant Church Let vs trie That the Succession of Bishops in the Church of England vntil Arch-Bishop Cranmers time was lawfull I know you will not deny That he and all the Bishops in the time of K. Edward and Q. Elizabeth and so downeward were Canonically called and consecrated what stronger proofe can you desire then the publike Registers of every See Out of which so much as concernes this businesse is now published to the view of the whole world designing both the time when the place where together with the names of those Bishops that imposed hands And this is so cleare that your owne Cudsemius comming into England of purpose to obserue the state of our Church thus writeth concerning the state of the Calvinian sect in England it so standeth that it may either endure long or be suddenly changed and in a trice in regard of the Catholike order there in a perpetuall line of their Bishops and the lawfull succession of Pastors receiued from the Church for the honour whereof wee vse to call the English Calvinists by a milder tearme not Hereticks but Schismaticks Touching your other three Notes I presume it will not be denyed that a Church professing to beleeue in the Lord Iesus and by him in the holy and blessed Trinity and confessing all the Doctrines contained in the Scriptures together with the three Creeds of the Apostles the Nicene and of Athanasius hath hitherto continued Visible and in Vnity from the Apostles times And such is the Church of the Protestants for all this we both professe and confesse and whatsoever wee affirmatiuely hold the same in a manner doe you affirme with vs. For as for the Negatiues they are but novelties nor can you proue them out of any Antiquity Succession therefore Continuance visibility vnity belong vnto our Church I must entreat you to remember your promise and according therevnto to alter your mind And so much for your preamble N. N. Your treatise was not intended to me Howbeit you thank mee for my reply acknowledging your inability to answer and hoping I expect it not from you I. D. Whether your Treatise were intended to me or no is not much materiall Sure I am it was delivered mee as from you and therevpon did I returne you that reply which had it taken due effect I should haue had more cause to thanke God then now you haue to thanke mee Answer from your selfe I confesse I expected none◠for I knew your insufficiency But I hoped you would haue taken counsell of some more sufficient then your selfe and vpon conference with them haue sent me your common Answer Which because you haue not done being conscious to your owne inability it is a manifest argument of wilfull obstinacy and that you will not bee perswaded though be perswaded N. N. Notwithstanding you haue no reason to beleeue mee seeing other Divines not Papists only but Protestants also seeme to vnderstand the Fathers as you doe I. D. It is a foule vntruth that Protestants vnderstand the Fathers as you doe as shall by and by to your shame appeare In the meane season know that what I haue said I haue not barely affirmed but soundly proved and neglecting demonstratiue reasons meerely to bee swayed with humane authority is no other then to put off common sense and to forget that wee are reasonable creatures N. N. I except only against two or three passages the rest therefore are truly related and the letter of them is for the reall Presence Which how it can bee and yet no Transubstantion you vnderstand not The word Transubstantiation was indeed devised in the counsell of Lateran but the thing was alwaies beleeved of the ancient Fathers as appeareth by their words
Conversion Mutation and the like I. D. Had you attentiuely read my Answer you would never haue said I excepted to two or three Passages only For I excepted to all the passages of Ignatius Cyril of Hierusalem in his Catechismes Ambrose de Sacramentis and Mysterijs initiandis Eusebius Emissenus Cyprian de caena Domini the Canon of the Nicen counsell and Magnetes as suspected by your owne Rabbies not to be the men whose names they beare Againe of Damascen Theophylact Euthymius Nicephorus and Rupertus as being Punies and too young to be Fathers besides those many Passages which are miserably either curtald or rackt or falsely alleaged Neither are their words so plain for you as you pretend For I haue made it to appeare that some of them say nothing at all for you some speak rather against you then for you and to those that seeme to say any thing I haue opposed a whole grand Iury speaking farre more plainely on our side For what words can be more plaine then these This is my body that is the figure of my Body that Christ said This bread is my body which your owne men grant cannot bee true vnlesse figuratiuely vnderstood that Bread and Wine still are what they were that the Nature of bread continues that the nature of bread and wine cease not to be but continue in the propriety of their nature that the signes after consecration depart not from their proper nature but remaine in their former substance figure and forme and suchlike many But perhaps your Fathers speake as plainely Let vs try that They say that the Body flesh and bloud of Christ is truly in the Sacrament Ergo a Reall Presence Who denies it Transubstantiation is that which you should proue which Reall Presence inferres not This you say you vnderstand not The more is your dulnesse For Really and Corporally are not all one and that which is Spiritually present is Really present vnlesse you will say that a spirit is Nothing Is not the Bloud of Christ really present in Baptisme to the washing away of sinne Is hee not Really also present to the Faith of every true beleever even out of the Sacrament Doubtlesse he is and none will deny it but he that never felt the vertue and efficacy thereof What should let then but the Flesh of Christ may bee present in the Eucharist Really and yet not after the Corporall manner Nay what if I should yeeld you a corporall presence Would that necessarily inferre a Transubstantiation Nothing lesse For it may be by consubstantiation the flesh being there together with the Bread without turning the Bread into Flesh. Neither may you deny this to be possible vnlesse you will deny the Omnipotency of God and your Transubstantiation withall for therevpon doe you build it Transubstantiation therefore and the Reall presence are not all one Yea but the Fathers vse the tearmes of Conversion Mutation What then Ergo Transubstantiation A pittifull consequence For this is to argue from the Generall to Speciall as if you should say It is a colour therefore it is blacke there being many colours besides blacke Learne then that Change is a generall word and there are divers kindes thereof of Substance by Generation and corruption of Quality by Alteration of Quantity by Augmentation and Diminution of Place by Lation Now he that affirmeth a Change doth not presently affirme Change of Substance for it may be some other either of Quality or Quantity or Quantity or Place The Fathers therefore speaking of a Change in the Sacrament may as well meane a Change of Alteration in the Vse and Uertue of the Elements as of Substance by way of Transubstantiation And so for ought the Fathers say Transubstantiation may still be a brat of the Lateran Councells disputed of perhaps before but neuer beleeved as an Article of Faith till then N. N. I allow no authority after 600. yeares Ergo I acknowledge the next 1000. to be contrary in this and all other controversies betwixt vs. I. D. To speake plainely I allow no Authority at all as Infallible but only that of Christ and his Apostles Those that afterwards succeeded were all of them subiect vnto errour and cannot be the ground of our Faith as I haue elsewhere answerably demonstrated Howbeit those of the first 600 yeares wee reverence more and rather admit then those of the 1000 following because they were freer from errour as liuing neerer the Apostles times and before the first discouery of Antichrist which was about the yeare 607. when Boniface the third purchased of that bloudy tyrant Phocas the title of Vniversall Bishop and with it the supremacy over all Churches Whereof his predecessor Gregory the great seemed to prophecy when writing against Iohn B. of Constantinople for vsurping that title he gathereth from thence that the times of Antichrist are at hand After which discouery although errours every day crept in apace yet wee yeeld you not that all your opinions instantly and at once leapt into the Church For as Rome it selfe was not built in a day so neither was that huge heape of Romanish impieties raised in one age It was a good while after this before Transubstantiation began to appeare Damascen in the East not contenting himselfe with the old language of the Church fell a coyning of new Phrases yet reached not home to Transubstantiation A hundred yeares after Amalarius in the west maintained in plaine tearms that the simple nature of Bread and wine is turned into a reasonable nature to wit of the body and bloud of Christ. And herein was he seconded by Paschasius Radbertus and others Yet could they not carry it so clearly but that they were mightily opposed by the most famous writers in their times whose names you haue in mine Answer But specially by Bertram vnder Carolus Calvus of whom Turrian the Iesuit thus to cite Bertram what is it other then to say the heresie of Calvin is not new And a good time afterwards againe by Berengarius on whose side many disputed both by word and writing and those not of one nation only but English French and Italians as Mathew of Westminster saith But all these Antichrist who was now in his height bare downe and at length anno 1215. vnder Innocent the third in the Lateran Councel was the Idol set vpon its base and adored So lately with so much adoe was your doctrine of Transubstantiation brought in and established N. N. For 900. yeares was no outward face of a Church in England but the Catholike In which it were vncharitable to say that none knewe the meaning of Scriptures and Fathers as well as we or all liued in ignorance till the true light came in with Luther Yet in this last age England hath yeelded many learned men among others an vnkle of yours and Master of Arts who left all his hopes for his conscience and would not bee perswaded to returne to his great possibilities which
much strengthens and confirmes you I. D. By Catholike you still meane Roman for Catholike Roman are now growne convertible tearmes a mystery that the Primitiue Church never so much as dreamed of But what No outward face in England for so many hundred yeares together but Roman What face then I pray was it which it bare some 650 yeares since when the Saxon Homilie of Aâ—lfrick Abbot of Malmsbury not only agreeing with Bertram in this matter of the Sacrament but also for sundry passages expresly translated out of him was publikely appointed to be read vnto the people vpon Easter day before they receaued the Communion Or when the Bishops at their Synods deliuered vnto their Clergie the same doctrine out of two other writings of the same Aelfrick the one whereof saith thus That housel is Christs body not bodily but spiritually Not the body which hee suffered in but the body of which hee spake when he blessed the bread wine to housel the night before his suffering and said by the blessed bread this is my body and againe by the holy wine this is my blood c. The other likewise saith thus The Lord which hallowed housel before his suffering and saith that the bread was his owne body and the wine was truely his bloud halloweth dayly by the hand of the Priest bread to his body and wine to his blood in spirituall mystery as we read in bookes And yet notwithstanding that liuely bread is not bodily so nor the selfe-same body that Christ suffered in nor that holy wine is the Saviours bloud which was shed for vs in bodily thing but in spirituall vnderstanding Both bee truely that bread his body and that wine also his blood as was the heavenly bread which we call Manna that fed forty yeares Gods people and the cleare water which did then run from the stone in the wildernesse was truly his blood as Paul wrot in one of his Epistles Thus he Tell mee now good Sir was the face of the English Church Roman when such doctrine so crosse vnto Transubstantiation was by publike authority deliuered to the Clergie and commanded to be read vnto the people or was it at that time other then a Roman face truely Catholike and Orthodoxe You haue heard I suppose of those Christians whom anciently they tearmed Wâ—ldenses and Leonists Your Ranerius saith of them that they had beene of very long continuance even from Pope Sylvesters time or as some say ever since the Apostles so Vniversall also that there was scarce any country wherein they abounded not finally that where other Sects most fearefully blaspheamed God these made faire shew of religion liued honestly among men beleeued all things rightly touching God and all the Articles contained in the Creed onely they blaspheamed hated the Church of Rome What Was the face of this Church also Roman How so being so opposite vnto it Certainely it was rather the face of our Church For as your Poplinerius testifieth they differed very little from vs and in this point of the Sacrament they perfectly agreed with vs. It is true they were charged with many foule opinions but enviously and maliciously as appeareth by the publike Confessions of their Faith and by the testimonie of Cardinal Sadolet others who by commission were commanded to examin it It is true also that they were most barbarously and bloudily persecuted by the Roman Synagogue But what saith Michael Cesaenas who flourished some 250. yeares since There are two Churches the one of the wicked flourishing in which the Pope doth raigne the other of the godly afflicted Whence it plainely appeareth that there hath heretofore beene another face of the Church besides Roman if not visibly glorious yet at leastwise visibly persecuted You adde it is vncharitable to thinke that all this time there was no knowledge of the meaning of Scriptures and Fathers vntil Luther brought in the true light True neither is there any man that saith so Neverthelesse bee it spoken to the glory of God and the honour of the present times the meaning both of Scriptures and Fathers was never better knowne shall I say never so well knowne as now This I haue elsewhere proued both by the causes thereof and the testimonie of your owne men As for your nine hundred yeares questionles they were not the learned'st times The knowledge of languages quickly decayed and blindnesse and barbarisme crept in apace insomuch as by the testimonie of Genebrard Bellarmine Baronius there was never age more Vnlearned and vnhappy then the ninth Century wherein were no men famous either for wit or learning and whosoever studied the Mathematicks or Philosophie was presently counted a Magician Neither were some of the after times over much amended when the chiefest of their Schooles scarce knewe whether Saint Paul wrote in Greeke or in Latine as Ludovicus Vives saith and to haue skill in Greek was suspicious but in Hebrew almost heretical as Espencaeus But blessed be God who in the midst of these blindest times hath still preserued the light of his truth and though envy burst and split at it blessed be his holy name for that greater light of his Gospel which we haue receaued both by Luther and since Luther Hee was a noble champion of Christ Iesus and gat so much ground of the Papacie as I hope will never be recouered againe vntill by the brightnesse of our Lords comming it be vtterly destroyed If England in these latter times haue yeelded such learned men of your side you may be pleased to knowe that it hath afforded on our side also as learned Clarks in the knowledge of tongues all kind of literature whatsoever as any in your Church wheresoeuer if not excelling them Yea but yours were content to forgoe all their meanes and hopes for their conscience And did not ours trow you doe so also in Q. Maries daies Nay did not Archbishop Cranmer and sundry other Bishops to speake nothing of those of inferiour ranke chuse rather to loose their present honours and estates and themselues cruelly to be martyred in the fire then to perish their coÌ„sciences by subscribing vnto the Romish Apostacy As for your vnkle whose domestical example so much confirmes you I thinke hee was a man of no great note sure I am of no great fame either at home or abroad Yet were his deserts far greater I am not vnprovided of a domesticall example able every way to match him yea and over-match him too My mothers Brother I mean that vnvaluable Iewel whose name is renowned throughout all the Churches Who being Fellow of Corpus Christi Colledge in Oxford and Bachelour in Divinitie possessed also of a Benefice neere the Vniversitie and by reason of his eminence in learning as likely to rise as any yet hee readily forsooke Fellowship Friends Benefice Hopes and all for Christs sake and put himselfe into a voluntary exile all the raigne of Q. Mary
were crept into the Church as needed Reformation and many worthy men that feared God earnestly wished and longed for it yet because it could not be obtained at the hands of those that then swayed in the Church it is true some Heroicall spirits of our side not without the singer of God attempted it and by Gods blessing effected that which the Saints of God reioyce to see and none but Superstitious and Idolatrous Papists greeue and repine at Howbeit they never tooke vnto themselues the name of Reformers but ascribed the whole worke vnto God and wee blesse his holy name for vsing them as instruments therein In regard whereof I see no reason why wee hauing reiected and pared off all those errours wherewith you had corrupted the true religion may not tearme our selues Reformed Catholikes as well as you still retaining them and resoluing to settle vpon your dreggs call your selues by the name of Roman Catholikes But a Roman Catholike you say you meane to keepe your selfe during life and it is likely you will doe so indeed First to avoide the imputation of inconstancie if you should returne to vs againe secondly because I see how obstinately you refuse to beleeue whatsoever wee say though never so strongly proved You adde that so doing if otherwise your life hinder not as you hope it shall not you shall enioy everlasting life after this Wherein I Will not be your Iudge You are servant vnto another and for me you shall stand and fall to your owne Master Only I would advize you not to be too confident For first whatsoever your life bee as I haue said it is as hard for you to attaine everlasting life in a Church so fearfully infected with so many pestilent and deadly heresies as it is for a man to escape with his life in a pest-house Secondly adhering vnto the Church of Rome conforming your selfe vnto the practise thereof you must needs make your selfe guilty of horrible idolatries many waies Whereof vnlesse you timely repent it cannot be but such a life must needs hinder your salvation Lastly although perhaps to many simple people that liue in Spaine or Italy where such meanes of knowledge cannot so well be had it may please God to be mercifull and gracious if they hold the Foundation and bee willing to know if they had the meanes yet I feare much of our English Recusants who liue in the bright sunshine of the Gospell and haue the meanes daily offered vnto them least their obstinacy in reiecting thereof and refusing to see worke vnto them in the end everlasting destruction Certainly if any of you be saued it is not by those doctrines wherein you differ from vs but those only which you hold in common with vs. Especially for that when you lye vpon your death-beds and perceiue that shortly you must yeeld an account of all whatsoever you haue done in the flesh you then thinke it good with all speed to turne Protestants that is to renounce all your owne works as insufficient to iustify you before God and to put your whole affiance vpon the mercies of God through the merits and obedience of Christ alone both for Iustification and Salvation For indeed this is a sure and a safe way even by the confession of Bellarmine himselfe By reason saith he of the vncertainty of our owne righteousnesse and the danger of vaineglory it is the safest course to set our whole affiance on the mercy and goodnesse of God alone And the like safety doe others of your side yeeld vs in other things also as namely in forbearing to make any image of God in worshipping none but the holy Trinity in praying vnto none saue only God in Christ in the marriage of Ministers and other such things as it is easy to demonstrate but that it is now high time to come to a conclusion Only I would haue you carefully to obserue that even they who perswade you to stick close vnto the Popish Faith sticke not themselues to acknowledge the Protestants Practise both in life and death to be many waies the more safe And thus much in Answere vnto this second Schedule It remaineth that I earnestly intreat you in the name of the Lord Iesus and as you tender the everlasting salvation of your soule that you would please to bethinke your selfe a little better of your present estate then heretofore you seeme to haue done You haue suffered your selfe now a long time to be lead vp and downe in the mist of I know not what generalities a path which they that loue to deceiue vse much to tread in They tell you of Vniversality Antiquity Succession Consent and the like and you presently beleeue them But what security haue you in so doing for infallible they are not If they bee matters of so great consequence it were good you knew thē yourselfe that you need not trust the vncertaine reports of others Know them your selfe you cannot vnlesse you acquaint your selfe with all the records of former times and search into them with much diligence and attention for otherwise you may herein also soone bee deceiued But this would proue too long and tedious a course for you and alas the well is deepe and you haue not wherewith to draw What then Surely you haue a shorter way if you would follow it For as Moses saith The commandement is neither too high for you nor farre off You need neither to mount vp into heaven nor to passe beyond the seas for it It is very neere vnto you For you haue at hand the Scriptures of God search them and therein shall you surely finde eternall life By them and no other did the ancient Fathers confute all the heresies of their times vnlesse happily they had to deale with such Hereticks as reiected the Scriptures And to this end were they written that the man of God might bee made perfect and wise vnto salvation Yea but they are obscure darke equivocall ambiguous subiect to divers constructions and each sect pretendeth to confirme their errours by them Strange that they should be the testament of our Father and the instrument of contract betweene Christ and his Spouse and yet they should bee drawne vp so perplexedly and doubtfully that by them neither can the children certainly know what legacies are bequeathed to them nor the Spouse what conditions are agreed vpon betwixt her and her husband But marke what farther followeth hereof For if the Scriptures bee indeed such as you say then haue not Papists any certain ground at all for their Faith Yes will you say the Church But shee speaketh not by her selfe but her heralds and particular messengers and I would faine know what assurance you can haue that they passe not beyond their commission or deliuer not some other errant besides that they are charged withall The Authority also and Vnerring power of this Church had neede to bee most soundly demonstrated I doubt of it how can you
warrant it By Scripture You haue barred your selfe from all hope of succour thence For it is obscure equivocall ambiguous every way vncertaine By Naturall Reason The Articles of Faith are aboue Reason and the Naturall Man is not capable of them By the Spirit then That is the thing you so much jest at in others And if by your doctrine you cannot assure your selfe that you are in the present state of Grace neither can you know whether you haue the spirit of God or no. What then may be your last refuge The testimony of the Church touching her selfe Ridiculous for no mans testimony may be admitted in his owne cause And what a reasoning is this You beleeue the Articles of Faith Why Because the Church biddeth you doe so How followeth this Because shee cannot erre And how proue you that Because she saith shee cannot erre If this bee not to expose the Christian Faith vnto the laughter of Atheists and prophane men I know not what it is Will you nill you when you haue said all you can say either you must haue no certaine ground at all for your Faith or you must rest vpon the Scriptures as the finall resolution thereof Returne therefore I beseech in the feare of God returne vnto the sure anchor-hold of your salvation Abandon those frothie generalities of your seducing authors which at the best are but coniecturall and labour to stablish your Conscience vpon the testimony of him that will not that cannot deceiue you Pray vnto him fervently and proceed in a syncere loue of the truth and you shall surely finde that if you be not defectiue to your selfe God will never faile you For my part I haue done what belongs to mee I haue planted I haue watered it is God that must giue the increase And to his mercy in Christ Iesus I commend you An advertisement to the Reader Vnto the Section of Pag. 27. I there freely confessed I could not certainly answere for want of Doctor Mortons booke Since that time I haue met with it and thereby I perceaue that though I answered only by conâ—ecture yet I coniectured not amisse Yet now farther be pleased to vnderstand first that the Doctor citeth not Bibliander as my adversary vntruly chargeth him but only answereth a passage quoted by his adversary Breerly out of him And he answereth in effect as I doe saue that he bringeth in Bellarmine confessing that which to my good man seemeth so strange namely that all Protestants acknowledge in the Eucharist a Sacrifice Eucharisticall or of thanksgiuing Secondly touching those Rabbins R. Cahana R. Iudas and R. Simeon hee belyeth the Doctor it is Breerly that cites them not hee Neither doth he Positiuely say that their testimonies make directly for Transubstantiation But conditionally if they were such Now that they are not such hee proueth For consulting with D. Smith D. Layfield and M. Bedwell very learned Hebricians about this matter they after their painfull and industrious search into the cited places returned vnder their hands this answere R. Cahana in that booke on the 49 of Gen. is not cited nor hath hee there any thing to that purpose R. Iudas in that booke on the 25 of Exod. hath no such thing nor in the whole Parasha Terumah R. Simeon wrote no booke carrying the title of Revelatio Secretorum And thus you see while simple Papists will beleeue nothing but what their guides tell them what pretty tales of Robin Hood they devise for them O that God would be pleased to soften the seared consciences of the one and to open the blindfolded eyes of the other Farewell IOHN DOWNE FINIS A Testimony taken from M. Perkins on Heb. 11. v. 7. to be added to those annexed to the first Sermon But how doth God worke this faith By his word For as God is the author and worker of Faith so God hath appointed a meanes whereby he workes it and that is his word which word of God is the only ordinary outward meanes to worke faith And that word of God is two wayes to be considered either as revealed by God himselfe as to Noah here or else being written by God is either preached by his Ministers or read by a mans selfe in want of preaching and these are all one and are all meanes ordained of God to worke faith and that not only to beginne it where it is wanting but to augment it where it is begunne END So much doth the originall word beare and therefore our last translators haue set it in the Margent M. Smith Preacher at Barstaple Ezech. 14.14 and 28 3. Ver. 1. V. 2. Ioh. 5.28.29 1 Chron. 28.9 ver 13. V. 14. V. 15. V. 16. V. 17. V. 18. 1. Tim. 4 16. Phil. 2.15 psal 34.5 Prov. 4.18 Math. 13.43 43.20 148 36. 2. Cor. 4.17 1. Pet. 5.4 1. Cor. 9.25 Act. 15.5 vers â— vers 4.6 vers 7. c. vers 13.14.15 vers 19.20 Num. 25.1 c Lev. 17.10 In Preachers plea. In Baron â—1 16. n. 23. Duplic cont Stapl. l. 1. c. 6. Act. 13.27 Deut 33.10.11 2 King 23.2 Nâ—h 8.3 Elias Levita Ben. Maimon Apol. against T.C. Eccles. Polit. l. 5. Hom. 1. p. 1. Marâ— 16.15 2. Cor. 2.16 2. Tim. 4.1.2 Defens eccles author l. 3. c. 7. Trois verites l. 3. c. 4. par 3. Confront ibid Canon 4. Can 11. In ans to the Abstract Esa. 29.12 Id. 61.1.2 Paraen ad Gentes l. 17. Strom. l. 1. p. 1. Doct. Christ. Prol. Cont. Bellar. contro 1. Confront l. 3. c. 4. In Rhem. Test Ro. 1. 15. Cont. Bellar. con 1. q. 6. c. 9. De Idol Eccl. Ro. ep ded Advers Cost de Script De S. script Against peril of idol p. 1. Preface to the Reader Rom. 15.4 Preface to the Reader Deut. 13.11 17.1 6.6 Ioh. 5.39 Col. 4.16 1 Thes. 5.27 Act. â— 27.15.21 Mat. 24.15 Eph. 3.4 Confes. l. 8. c. 12. Cont. Lindâ—n In vita sua Acts Mon. Preach plea. Def. of AdmoÌ„ Preach plea. Act. 2.41 Iob. 33.23.24 Contra Char. l. 3. c. 4. Prov. 29.18 Esaiah 1.1 1. Cor. 1.21 Duplic cont Stapl l. 2. c. 10 De S. Script Rom. 10 13.14 Ps. 19.1.2.3 Rom. 1.20 Deut. 17.11 2. Thes. 2.8 Act. 13.27 Rom. 10.8 Ioh. 19.37 Rom. 3.19 Heb. 12.5 Rom. 9.27 Ioh. 5.39 Heb. 4.12 Luc. 16.29 Gal. 4.21.22 Confront l. 3. c. 4. Ibid. De verb. scrip In Rhem. Test. Rom. 1.15 Dupl contr Stapl. l. 2. c 10. De script q. 5. c. 8. arg 2. Cont. A.D. c. 9 1. King 17.6 Ioh. 19.6 Act. 2.4 Act 9.3 c. Gal. 1.12 Dupl cont Stap. l. 2. c. 6. In the way to the true Ch. In Ps. 26. Ep. 3. Dial. cum Try phon L. 7. in Iulian Hom. 1. in Ioh De Script q. 2. c. 14. arg 5. De verb. scrip â—ut 28. Cor. 2.4 Dupl contr Stapl. l. 1. c. 9. 2. Pet. 1.15 Deut. 31.11.12 Ier. 36.2 c. V. 19. V. 5. Ioh. 20.31 Cap. 18. Comment in Psal. initio Ser. 35. Iohn 6.63