cal the Scriptures and vnwritten which they call Traditions Traditions And the traditions say they were either deliuered by the Apostles themselues to some special men and therfore are called Apostolike or else are set downe by the Church and for that cause called Traditions of the Church Traditions equall with the word Now traditions are made equall and to be receiued with as great reuerence as the Scriptures euen by the Councel of Trent Ses 4. decre 1 Preferred before the word the most modest Papists But there are others who in their excesse of impietie preferre the trâ— ditions before the word written and make them of greater force than it as Pighius in his Ecclesiasticall hierarchie Eccl. Hierar lib. 1. cap. 4. Thesi 9. In his preface Wolfgangus Screckius Nay in that he wil by traditions haue all doctrines tried he manifestly subiecteth the pure written woorde of God to the prophane deuises of man BVt to take away the proppes of this their ruinous building let vs see what grounds or foundations for so Melchior Canus a learned Papist termeth them they lay of this their doctrine Obiection Melchior Canus in his common places of Diuinitie and Bellarmine in his controuersies lib. 3. cap. 3 Bellar. lib. 4 〈◊〉 of Gods worde dâ— written and others also set this downe as a most neceâ—â—â—rie principle That the Church is more ancient than the Scriptures As in trueth the Church was more than two thousand yeres before there was any written word of God in bookes and therefore Bellarmine inferreth That the Scriptures are not simply necessary Answere First this ground doeth not vpholde that which is in controuersie among vs. For they shoulde prooue traditions to bee a part of Gods worde so that without them Gods word could not bee counted perfect And to proue that they tel vs that it was more than two thousand yeeres before the woord was written Which maketh nothing for them vnlesse they can shew vs that this word which is now written is not that same that before was deliuered by tradition vnto the fathers of that old world For the question betweene vs and the Papists is not of the maner of deliuering Gods word whether it were deliuered by word or by writing but of the matter namely whether Gods word be any thing else than that is written in the old and new testament which we deny but they affirme it because the word was so long time vnwritten yet the church was not then without the word So that because the word was reuealed after an other manner the Papists wil haue it another word Whereas in trueth that same word that was from the beginning Iohn 1.1 what word that is that is written is that verie word of God that was so long after the beginning written for the Iewes and is now deliuered vnto vs. Wee must therefore take heede that they deceiue vs not by the double signification of the word Scripture which sometime expresseth the manner of deliuering the word namely by writing and so we confesse the scripture was not so ancient as the church by mo than two thousand yeares but sometime the word Scripture signifieth the word it selfe which is deliuered vnto vs as it is commonly now taken and in this place must so be vnderstoode And so hath the word written beene from the beginning That is to say that the selfe same word which God by word of mouth as we say and by tradition did teach the patriarkes hee afterwards did cause to be written which word wee call the holy scriptures And further also we must remember that one manner of deliuering the word of God Diuerse maners of deliuering the word at diuerse times is fit for one time and an other manner of deliuering it for an other time As may appeare by that which hath beene said how that God hath in his infinite wisedome seene it needefull to deliuer it one way afore the Lawe in an other sort vnder the Lawe and the Gospell although not in like measure in both these latter times So that this argument cannot stand good The scriptures haue not beene written in the first age amongst the patriarkes therefore they are not necessary now amongst vs in these dayes to whom God hath by them reuealed his word Which argument is strongly confuted by Chrysostome that learned and ancient Father In Matth. hom 1. But to these men who are as Tertullian calleth the Heretikes of his time lucifugae scripturarum De resurrect carnis such as shunne the light of the scriptures and flee from it I may say as the same Tertullian speaketh in an other place De prescript Beleeue without the Scriptures that yee may also beleeue against the Scriptures Let them seeke the desert of their owne deuises and follow the trod of their owne traditions to finde out some couert for their superstitions but let vs content our selues to dwell in the cities of the Lawe the Prophets the Gospel and the Apostles which are the Scriptures and not goe out of them In Mich. li. 1 as Saint Ierome speaketh For euery word of God is pure Prou. 30.5 6 hee is a shield to those that trust in him Put nothing to his word lest he reprooue thee and thou be found a liar That this VVorde is sufficient CHAP. 2 THE PROTESTANTS This word is sufficient NOw this written word of God because it is sent vs froÌ„ that most gratious God that hath loued vs and chosen vs in Christ before the foundations of the world were laide Eph. 1.4 that we might be holy with out blame before him and is brought vnto vs by that most excellent Prophet In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisedome and knowledge Coloss 2.3 and therefore can teach vs Heb. 3.2 who also is faithful and therefore wil deale truely with vs yea who so heartily loueth vs that hee died for vs and therefore doubtlesse will be careful to teach vs what behooueth vs to knowe Seeing also the Apostle saint Paul doeth testifie that he kept nothing backe that was profitable Acts 20.20 27 but shewed them all the councell of God We therefore beleeue the Scriptures to be written Ioh. 20.31 that wee might beleeue and beleeuing might haue eternall life 2. Tim. 3.16 And that the whole scripture giuen by inspiration of God is profitable to teach to improoue to correct and to instruct in righteousnesse 17 That the man of God may be absolute being made perfect vnto all good workes that is that the Scripture is so sufficient and perfect that it hath no want it needeth no supply nothing must be added THE PAPISTS BVT the Church of Rome knowing that Tertullian wrote truely De resurrect carnis That Heretikes if they be made to proue that they say by the Scriptures can not stand do find fault that they should be so straitly limited and tethered that
alleadge M. Bellarmines reasons though not alwayes because he is accounted learned amongest vs and also commeth after others so that he hath seene what others haue and hath taken out of them what he liketh And as in all this treatise my endeuour is to proue I trust with some good effect that the doctrine of the church of Rome is not catholike so that it may the better appeare I haue towards the end set downe an abridgement of Vincentius Lyrinensis whereby I trust the meanest that seeth it shal be able to iudge how they make an vniust claime to the catholike religion And although I know my own wants and could rather submit my selfe to be a scholer vnto many than a teacher almost of any yet because I know not how my minde giueth me that this manner of writing may do some good especially among the vnlearned that are desirous to be taught I thought my duetie forced me to take this in hand though I want many helpes and meanes that other haue And to whom should this my labour such as it is be due rather than vnto you next after that place where I did sucke as it were my first milke of learning and laid almost the foundation of that knowledge such as it is that God hath indued mee withall By your good liberalitie I confesse my selfe to be the better inabled to do any good be it neuer so little that I can do in the church of God To your Worships therefore I confesse this my trauell to be due as a simple token of my sincere heart which would haue yeelded a better remembrance if my abilitie could haue affoorded it And the rather do I dedicate this Booke vnto your W. Company that you seeing the meaning of bestowing your exhibition which is to bring vp Labourers in Gods haruest teachers in his church to be in some part performed in me who first in Oxford receiued your liberalitie as I doubt not but you haue seene much more plentiful fruit in many other you may the more willingly continue your godly course and not be weary of your wel-doing Accept in good part I pray you this simple gift and if you see in it but my desire to doe good giue glo◠y to God to whose good grace I commit you and yours and my selfe to your good prayers From my house at Ryton in the Bishoprike of Durham Anno 1595. ⧠A necessarie Table of all the principall matters contained in euery chapter of this Booke THAT the Scriptures or word written is onely Gods word and not traditions Chapter 1 That this word is sufficient Chapter 2 The Scripture a sure rule Chapter 3 Scriptures easie Chapter 4 That onely the canonicall bookes of the old and new testament are this written word or Scriptures Chapter 5 What the catholike church is that in the creede is mentioned Chapter 6 That the catholike church mentioned in the articles of our creede is not visible or to be seene Chapter 7 The church here militant vpon the earth may erre Chapter 8 Of the markes of the church or how we may know the true church Chapter 9 What a sacrament is what is the effect of it or what it worketh how many sacraments there are Chapter 10 Of the sacrament of Baptisme Chapter 11 Of Confirmation Chapter 12 Of the Lords supper and Sacrament of the body and bloud of our Sauiour Christ and namely of transubstantiation Chapter 13 That the wicked receiue not in the sacrament Christs body and bloud Chapter 14 That the cup ought not to be denied to the lay people which thing the papists do Chapter 15 Against their sacrifice of the Masse or of the altar as they call it Chapter 16 Of true and christian repentance and of the Popish Sacrament of penance Chapter 17 Of lawfull calling into the ministerie and against the sacrament of Orders as they call it Chapter 18 Of matrimony that it is not a sacrament and that it is lawfull for all Chapter 19 Of anoiling or extreme vnction that it is not a sacrament Chapter 20 Of originall sin what it is and whether concupiscence be sin or not Chapter 21 Of the works of infidels and such as are not regenerate Chapter 22 Of Baptisme whether it doe extinguish and kill in vs originall sinne or not Chapter 23 That we haue not of our selues free wil or power to deliuer our selues from sinne Chapter 24 That by our workes we cannot bee iustified and against the doctrine of merites Chapter 25 Of iustification by faith and what faith is Chapter 26 That good works are necessary duties for all christians to perfourme Chapter 27 Of prayer to whome and how we should pray Chapter 28 Against Images in churches or anie where else for religions cause Chapter 29 What fasting is and of the true vse of fasting Chapter 30 Of Purgatorie Chapter 31 An Abridgement of Vincentius Lyrinensis with obseruations vpon the said Author Chapter 32 An exhortation to christian magistrates for to defend this truth Chapter 33 FINIS That the Scriptures or written word is onely Gods Word and not traditions CHAP. 1 THE PROTESTANTS The rule of faith life BEcause it is confessed of al that gods worde must bee the rule and square of our faith and life of our religion and conuersation It is very meete that first wee enquire what is this word of God And wee affirme What is gods word that that onelie which is contained in the Bookes of the old and new Testament is the very true word of God First bicause we are so often earnestly charged not to adde any thing to it or to take any thing from it Secondly this is prooued by the practise of the godlie of all times The Iewes most religiously kept the word written with great sinceritie and made it the Touchstone to try their actions by and by it they reformed such things as were amisse in religion especially As in Iehosaphat Ezechias Iosias and others it may appeare Christ also and his Apostles confirmed that which they taught out of the Scriptures yea they confirmed and expounded the Lawe Mat. 5. and preached no other gospell thā that which before was promised by the Prophets Rom. 1.2 And accounted them accursed that shoulde preach any other Gal. 1.6 7 8 9. Lastly the Fathers of the purer times of the Church did not only with open mouth submit their writings and doctrines to the iudgement of the Scriptures but also they tried doubts established all trueths and confuted all heresies onely by this word written THE PAPISTS BVt the Church of ROME not suffering herself to be hemmed in within so narow lists Prou. 22.28 hath remoued the ancient bounds which their fathers made and faineth that God who hath hitherto had but one voice now in our dayes shoulde speake with two tongues What is gods word in the Ro. church For they make Gods word to consist of two partes namely of the word written which we
lay people And still there are that in corners seeke to perswade ignorant men and women that there can be almost no greater daunger vnto their soules than to reade the scriptures Wherein they shew themselues to be nothing of the minde of Phillip Acts 8.31 35 who forbade not the Eunuch to reade the scripture but taught him neither like to the fathers of the church some hundreds of yeares after Christ whose care was to exhort and drawe the people to the diligent reading of the same And whosoeuer they are that with diligence humilitie and prayer doe continue in the reading of the scriptures as wee see in sundry by experience shall be able in reasonable manner to auoyde and passe through those sixe impediments that I before alleaged out of Bellarmine and shall haue mindes exercised as the Apostle to the Hebrewes speaketh Cap. 5.14 and that not without great fruit to discerne good and euill And thus wee may see how litle the fathers make for that which the church of Rome teacheth in this point For the fathers say thus The scriptures are hard therefore you must reade them diligently The church of Rome cleane contrary The scriptures are hard therefore you must not reade them Therefore let vs detest as a most pestilent position that daungerous doctrine of the church of Rome knowing that whosoeuer be hee neuer so ignorant with reuerent reading seeketh to finde and with deuout prayer asketh knowledge of God shall finde much knowledge and comfort in his godly and christian exercise For Hieron ps 147. The word of God is most fat and fertile It hath in it all delicates And thus to conclude seeing the scriptures onely are Gods word and they are so sufficient and plentifull that in them the hungry may haue foode the poore treasure the rich direction the sicke physicke the whole diet the sorrowfull comfort the ignorant knowledge and the foolish true wisedome to be short seeing there for all wants we finde a remedy and seeing that rule is so true that it cannot deceiue so straight that it can not be crooked so constant to it selfe that it changeth not lastly seeing it is so easie that by diligence and prayer the godly may not learne onely but grow and increase daily from knowledge to knowledge let vs account them as deadly enemies to our soules who seeke to drawe vs from this sufficient and certaine written word of God to the doctrines or traditions of men what glorious names soeuer they giue them What shall wee then account of the popish crew that are not ashamed to teach the Scriptures to be daungerous because euill men abuse them so doth the drunkard drinke the glutton meate the prowd apparell the couetous riches and the euill men all Gods graces yet all these thinges are good and so is Gods word holy and vndefiled But nowe to the second point That only the Canonicall bookes of the old and new Testament are this written word or Scriptures CHAP. 5 THE PROTESTANTS SEing that the rule of the Catholike faith must be knowen De verbo dei lib. 1. cap. 2. and certaine for if it be not knowen it can not be a rule vnto vs if not certaine it is no rule at all as Bellarmine hath very wel noted only those scriptures which we according to the ancient vse of the Primitiue church and the common consent of those purer times do call Canonicall are that sure rule that can not deceiue for therefore haue they that name because they are for triall of doctrines as the rule or line for triall of workes it is certain that no other word can be that infallible word of God certaine rule of faith and religion but only the Canonical Scriptures These onely haue beene of the godly Fathers accounted to haue beene written by those whom God indued with his spirite for that cause Concil Laodicenum ca. 59. Hieron ad Paulinum prologo Galeato Out of these onlie the Fathers permit matters of controuersie to bee tried And in expounding of these that wee call Canonicall they haue bestowed their godly labours yea and them onely to bee certaine and such as were neuer doubted of among Catholike men De verbo dei lib. 1. cap. 4. Bellarmine himselfe confesseth and it is a ground or principle acknowledged of all men THE PAPISTS NOtwithstāding this name Canonicall which the ancient fathers haue giuen to these Scriptures onely to testify that they are only the certaine canon and rule of faith notwithstanding also such preheminence and excellency Bellarm. de verbo Dei li. 1. ca. 2. compared with that cap. 4. as not the Fathers onely but themselues also doe yeelde vnto the Canonicall scriptures to be of all other the most certaine rule and most infallible touchstone in all matters of controuersie the Councel of Trent is not ashamed to commaund and that vnder paine of beeing accursed to receiue these bookes that are contained in the Bible with like reuerence and deuotion and to make them of as good credite as the canonicall Scripture I say euen those Apocryphaes in which are many things absurd and whose very name sheweth them to be vnknown from whence they came who were not found in the Hebrew nor accounted by the Iewes to be Canonicall And so they doe match that word that all men alwayes and euen themselues acknowledge to be lesse certaine with that which they knowe that no good man euer doubted of Argument But lest they should seeme thus to dote without reason they vse in effect these arguments for proofe heereof The first is that these bookes which we call Apocrypha are alledged sometimes of the Fathers in their writings Answers But the answere is easie For the alledging of them doth not prooue that they who alledged them did hold them for canonicall for then should it followe that poets philosophers and such like who are often alledged by the ancient writers should so be But this rule must stand alwayes good which S. Hierome hauing reckoned vp those bookes which now in our Bibles are accounted canonicall and no other ◠rologo in lib. Reg. qui Galeatus dicitur Ruffinus in symbol prolog in Prouerb hath Whatsoeuer is besides these must be put amongst the Apocrypha Yea to be short they do alledge them because they may bee read to the edifying of the people but not to confirme the authoritie of any ecclesiasticall doctrine as saint Hierome saith of Tobie Iudith and the Machabees and Ruffinus also vppon the Creede De doct◠ina christian lib. 2. cap. 8. The second argument is taken out of Augustine because he reckoneth vp the books which we call Canonicall and also the Apocrypha and calleth all Canonicall So doth the third councell holden at Carthage also Cap. 47 with some other ancient writers Answere Admit that this were the meaning of saint Augustine and of those Fathers shall their bare authority without reason be heauy enough to weigh
they may beleeue or receiue nothing but that is in the scripture Andrad Orthod explic lib. 2 And therfore they neither shame nor fear to charge the word written with insufficiencie Bellarm. li. 4 cap. 4 Gods word not sufficient For so doeth Bellarmine in flat terms And therfore he Melchior Canus the Censure of Collen the rest of them doe out of this principle gather an vnanswerable argument as they imagin for traditions because say they the Scripture spâ— aketh not of many things necessary to bee beleeued Are not these such workmen as the Apostle willeth vs to take heede of Phil. 3.2 Beware of euill workemen yes verily for they are deceitfull workemen 2. Cor. 11.13 if you marke them wel For wheras they shoulde trie their worke by the line and the square they contrariwise trie their rule by their worke And whereas they should reiect all doctrines that are not agreeable to the word of God they make that to bee GODS worde that will alowe of their doctrine so that traditions must needs be Gods word because they maintaine that which the Scripture aloweth not of The argument for traditions and against the sufficiencie of the Scriptures Many things there are necessary to be beleeued that are not expresly set downe in the Scriptures yea many things that are neither plainely neither obscurely in the Scriptures say all the Papists namely Canus in his second and third grounds Lib. 3. cap. 3 Therefore the Scriptures are not sufficient For answere the antecedent or first part of the argument is vntrue For whatsoeuer is to be beleeued is either plainly set downe or necessarily to be gathered out of the Scriptures otherwise our Sauiour Christ should not seeme to haue plainely dealt with the Iewes when hee biddeth them Search the Scriptures making no mention of any traditions and addeth his reason Iohn 5.39 They the scriptures beare witnesse of mee but this is manifest by the places before alleaged Contra lit Pâ—â— il lib. 3. cap. 6 Wherefore S. Augustine doth account him accursed yea he so pronounceth him that will teach any thing either of Christ or of his Church or anie thing else that appertaineth either to faith or to our life besides that which we haue receiued in the Scriptures of the lawe and the Gospel Marke how he saith the Scripture serueth vs for all turnes Therfore the Authour of the vnperfect work vpon Mathew euen in the beginning Hom. 1 compareth the Scripture to a Store-house of some rich man wherein one may find whatsoeuer he wanteth so saith he in this booke euery soule may finde that which is necessarie And Athanasius alluding to the place of S. Paule 2. Contra gentes Tim. 3.16 saith The holy scriptures giuen by inspiration are sufficient to teach vs all trueth It is therefore far better that we with Tertullian should adore the fulnes of the Scriptures Cont. Hermogenem Lib. 3. cap. â— than be partakers with those heretikes of whom Irene complaineth who when by the Scriptures they were conuinced accused the Scriptures themselues as if something were amisse in them and that they are not of authoritie sufficient they are diuerse and the trueth can not in them be found of them that knowe not the traditions for they were deliuered not by writing but by word which are the very words of the church of Rome So that a man can not so aptly paint out our popish heretikes as if he take his patterne by those ancient heretikes For not one Ape is liker to an other than they are The Scripture a sure Rule CHAP. 3 THE PROTESTANTS The scripture a sure rule ANd seeing that God by his prophet Dauid hath testified Psal 19.8 that the Lawe of the Lorde is perfect and hath by the Prophet Esay sent vs to aske councel in doubtfull cases Esay 8.20 To the Lawe and to the Testimony Yea and our Sauiour Christ Luc. 16.17 when Diues mooueth Abraham to send some to his fiue brethren to teach them sendeth them to Moses and to the Prophets to learne of theÌ„ vers 29 and telleth the Saduces That they erre Math. 22.29 because they knowe not the Scriptures Lastly seeing the Apostle S. Paul incourageth Timothie to keepe well that he had learned because saith hee 2. Tim. 3.15 thou hast knowen the holy Scriptures of a childe which are able to make thee wise vnto saluation Wee therfore willingly confes constantly beleeue that we haue a most sure word of the prophets 2. Pet. 1.19 to the which we do wel if we do take heede as vnto a light that shineth in a darke place vntill the day dawne and the day star arise in our hearts And therefore wee doe account this Worde written to bee the most certaine and infallible rule of our faith or conuersation THE PAPISTS BVt the Papists who can get nothing but by the crooked measures of their traditions to bring them into credit with men do highly commend them sometime comparing them to Theseus his thread Screckius prefaâ— whereby he was directed out of the laborinth and vnto the Touch stone whereby all doctrine shoulde be tried Ibidem and make it as great a fault to breake traditions Andrad Orthod explic lib. 5 lib. 3 as if Christ with his owne mouth had spoken them yea somtime greater so make them at the least equall to the written word that is to the vndoubted word of GOD. And on the other side do altogether deface and disgrace the Scriptures calling them Inke-Diuines that sticke to them Eckius de scripturis and comparing them to a Leaden rule Eccl. Hierar so doeth Pighius or a nose of waxe Explic. dial 4 as the Censure of Collen doth most prophanely both the which blasphemous godlesse reproches against the Scriptures are defended by Andradius Li. 2. orthod Explication as catholike and sound sayings because hee thinketh as they doe that they may bee changed and drawen to any interpretation Bellar. lib. 4 de verbo non scripto cap. 4 5 And therfore they teach that the verie Scriptures without traditions are not altogether necessarie And all this is to perswade the simple that the Scriptures are not a certaine Iudge of faith or rule of life Argument The argument whereby they indeuour to seduce men and to drawe them to their opinion is this Whatsoeuer rule of faith or life may be changed and according to mens affections expounded is vncertaine and deceitful but the Scripture is such therefore it is an vncertaine rule Answere Which I answer thus First the maior or former proposition is not simply true but with these additioÌ„s whatsoeuer may aptly or without doing violence to the words be so drawen vnto sundry opinions is an vncertaine râ—â—â— And hereby will soone be gathered the falsenesse of the minor which affirmeth the scripture to be such For although out of one
sentence of scripture a man may gather diuerse good lessons and that with good fruit to others and approbation of all men so long as those interpretations are agreeable to the rule of faith yet when any euill thing in faith or life is thereby maintained without all doubt the words are then wrested and it ceaseth to bee Gods word Now this is not the fault of the word but of mans corrupt affections which abuse the same Rom. 7.12 For the Lawe truely is holy and the commandement is holy iust and good And as Epiphanius saieth Heres 70 There is no discord in the Scripture nor one sentence disagreeing from an other And in an other place Heres 76 All things in the holy Scripture are cleane enough to them that with godly consideration will come vnto that diuine word and haue not conceiued in themselues the worke of the Diuell indeuoring to throw themselues into the pit of death Euen as saint Paul saith If our gospell be yet hid 2. Cor. 4 3 4 it is hid in them that are lost in whom the god of this world hath blinded their minds And what is Gods word the worse if the wicked will not know it 2. Pet. 3.16 or the vnlearned or vnstable peruert it to their owne destruction I wil therefore conclude with that golden saying of Iustine the martyre I would wish others to be of that mind Iustin Col. cum Tryphone Iud. that they would not swarue from our Sauiours wordes For they can put religion into them that wander from the right way and refresh with most sweete rest them that are exercised therein The Scriptures easie CHAP 4 THE PROTESTANTS Scripturs easie WE also teach the scripturs to be easie not bicause we thinke nothing to be hard in them or that they are easy to euery one but we affirme with Chrysostome 2. Thess 2 hom 3. All that is necessary is easy in them So that with a mind humbled and crauing of God to be instructed men study them The simple may learn by them their duety towardes God and man and how to behaue them selues in their particular dueties And whereas by the Papistes own confessiō the x commandements are very easie Bellarm. de verbo Dei lib. 3. cap. 2. no man can deny but that Gods threatnings against sin the promises of mercy and many other things in this writtē word are as easie Yea why were the prophets sent vnto all sorts of men why do the apostles write vnto all but because much if not all that they do write or say might be vnderstoode euen of the simple THE PAPISTS ANd on the contrary the church of Rome fearing least the light of the worde should discouer the darkenes of their blind deuotions doe what they can to discourage the people from being exercised in the Scriptures lest knowing the truth they shuld detest their superstitions and idolatries and for this cause they cry out with opē mouth that the scripture is too hard to bee vnderstoode and too darke for ignorant men to meddle with the same Wherby they haue brought many ignorant and lay men into that foolish and vnchristian conceit that they thinke it a great deale more dangerous for them euen for their soules health to be occupied in reading or hearing some peece of holie Scripture than the wanton and vnchaste Bookes of prophane men which corrupt good manners and breede noysome lustes that fight against the soule But because this is a great stumbling blocke in the way of the ignorant it shall not be amisse somewhat particularly to examine the Arguments that are vsed to prooue the hardnesse of the scriptures Argument The first argument of Bellarmines is this Dauid prayeth thus Giue me vnderstanding and I wil search thy law Open mine eies Lib. 3. cap. 1. de verbi Dei interpr and I will consider the woonderous things of thy lawe shew the light of thy countenance vpon thy seruant teach me thy statutes therefore the Scriptures are hard Answere It is certaine that Dauids prayers were not to haue his naturall or outward man only instructed for who can imagine that the prophet Dauid being so well acquainted in Gods booke could not vnderstand Gods lawe but to haue his mind and inward man lightned and directed and therefore this proueth not the sense of scripture to be hard for the like prayers are to be vsed of them that thinke it to be most easie Secondly euen the lawe which they confesse to be easie hath not only the literall sense but should also be a bridle vnto the affections and thoughts of men Matth. 5 as most plainly appeareth in those Commentaries which our Sauiour Christ maketh vppon the sixt seuenth and fourth commandements Rom. 7.14 In which respect also S. Paul doth call it Spirituall although Bellarmine seeme to account the commandements to be but Natural The Precepts saith he of the x. Commandements seeing they are natural may easily be vnderstood Dauid therfore may there pray as all christians ought to doe that he may know by Gods word not only how to rule his actiōs but also his words affections This thē doth not proue the scripturs to be hard concerning such good lessons as out of the literal sense may be learned but he proueth that vnlesse God lighten vs we cannot see the spirituall meaning Psa 119.27 which he calleth the maruellous things of the law Arg. 2 His second argument proueth some parts of Scripture to be hard which we denie not and therefore deserueth no answere Arg. 3 Lib. 2. ca 47 Contra Celsum lib. 7 In Exod. hom 12 His third argument is taken from the Fathers Irene saith in the scriptures I commit many things to God Orig. saith the scripture is darke in many places And in another place that we must pray night and day that the lamb of the Tribe of Iuda will come and that hee will vouchsafe to open the booke that is sealed Answere That many things in the scripture are hard we neuer denied as before I said and that with Reading wee should ioyne Prayer therefore Bellarmine when he took these weapons in hand did but feare his owne shadow That Basil and Gregory Nazianzene did seeke not by their owne presumption but by other mens writings that were before them to attaine to the vnderstanding of this written word Ruffinus doth well to commend them But I am sure that Bellarmine himselfe will not thereof conclude that they vnderstoode nothing of themselues or without teachers or that all the scriptures are hard He bringeth in Chrysostome saying that the deepe things therein cannot be attained vnto without great labour and that Christ would haue the Iewes not to reade onely but to search them also If of this hee conclude therfore al the scriptures are hard his argument is to be denied for that it hath no trueth in it if hee say therefore many things are hard we say
that with diligence the scriptures must be searched and without loathsomnes yea with reuerence receiued But that wee may the more easily and euidently see how little these fathers do make for them it is necessary to see with what purpose and to what end these say that they do write of the hardnesse of the scriptures Namely not to discourage men from reading of them but to stirre them vp to more diligence and carefulnesse in reading them As may appeare by the earnest and vehement exhortations which the ancient fathers doe make not onely to all men generally Hom. 9. in epist ad Coloss but euen to lay men in particular and especially Heare saith Chrysostome all yee lay men that are present and that haue wiues and children howe the Apostle commandeth euen you especially to reade the Scriptures and not to reade them only as it were by chance but with great diligence with many other such like exhortations in that place as also in many other of his writings Saint Hierome in sundry of his epistles vnto godly women exhorteth them to diligent reading of the same he also to intice them to be conuersant therein dedicateth vnto some women som of his treatises vpon the scriptures Yea and in his preface vnto Paula and Eustochium two women before his first booke vpon the epistle to the Ephesians which is the place out of which Bellarmines second argument out of Hierome was fetched doth highly commend the study and knowlege of the scriptures And in his preface vnto his second booke doth extoll Marcella for her diligent study therein Hom. 20 in Ios preferring her before himselfe Thou wilt say saith Origen the scriptures are hard yet it is good to reade them And wisheth that we all would doe as it is written namely Search the Scriptureâ— â—â—â—nelius Agryppa reporteth 〈◊〉 S 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that in the first Nicene councell it was decreed that no christian man should be without a bible in his house And Chrysostome exhorteth euen lay men and that very earnestly to get them Bibles Hom. 9 in Coloss or at the least the new Testament So then wee see to what intent the Fathers tell vs that the Scriptures are hard namely because they would not haue vs to be careles in the study of them and negligent or to imagine when wee knowe somewhat that we neede knowe no more but as Hierome would haue vs to doe Epistol ad Pâ—â— liâ— um We must cracke the nut if wee will eate the kernell We must take paines to get knowledge assuring our selues that wee can neuer learne too much because wee can neuer knowe enough And saint Augustine in his Confessions saith Liâ— 6. cap. â— they ought to bâ— read of all But the Papists in complaining of the hardnes of the scriptures shoot at an other marke that is to make the simple people afraide that they meddle not with it that they reade it not neither yet heare it read vnto them So that besides the other slaunders wherewith they seeke to staine Gods word proclaiming it not to be sufficient but that it wanteth many things and may be wrested to any fence they adde this also that it is hard and therefore dangerous for them that are not learned to reade it And this is the very cause why they speake so much of the hardnesse of the scriptures as not onely their writings and words proclaime in all places but also their cruell executions against such as haue had in their mother tongue For libr. ◠〈◊〉 is and Momun in the beginning I say not the bible or the New Testament but euen the Lordes prayer or the tenne commaundements which they would seeme to allow vnto the people Gregory Nazianzene doth write In Apologâ—â— that some ancient men amongst the Hebrewes report of a custome which the Iewes had which he also commendeth which was that some places of the scriptures were not permitted 〈…〉 body to reade before they were fiue and twentie yeeres old but the rest of the scripture they should learne euen from their childehoode Where note that they make no difference of any state calling or sexe but of age onely and that when they were fiue and twentie yeares olde they might reade any parcell of Scripture But the Papists permit not any parcell of the scriptures to the lay people nay hardly to their priests but onely as they will followe such sence thereof as they appoint Yea I haue knowen bachellors of diuinity admitted to reade some booke of the master of sentences as the vse then was when they proceeded so that this was their conclusion They are hard therefore you shall not reade them That the scriptures are so hard as they are Papists to be blamed for hardnesse of the Scripture by their and to so many none are to bee blamed but the church of Rome that so much complaineth of their hardnesse but in trueth are sory they are so easie as is most plaine to see first in that they would not haue them in the mother tongues but when they see there is no remedy but that the scripture will be published whether they will or not they send vs a Testament from Rhennes Translations so full of Hebrew Latine and Greeke wordes turned into English letters that all the world may see that they meane nothing lesse than that they that reade it should vnderstand it And yet they cry The scripture is hard Secondly they are the cause of the hardnesse of the scriptures when in the most plaine places that are they will not suffer men to follow that sence which the words themselues and the circumstances both before and after doe affoord Interpretations but they must haue their interpretation from the church of Rome without whose approbations they must neither trust their own eies for seeing nor their eares for hearing neither yet their wit for vnderstanding of any thing When they change the very sence and wordes and where they finde Lord they put Lady as in that blasphemous booke called the psalter of the Virgine Marie they doe through the whole psalmes and some other places When the first promise that was made of that blessed seede that should breake the head of the serpent they apply as much as they dare vnto the Virgine Marie when these wordes shall be currant stuffe to proue worshipping of the Saints departed In as much as yee haue doone it to the least of these my brethren Math. 25.40 yee haue doone it vnto mee which are spoken of our goodnesse to Gods needy creatures aliue as Eckius imagineth in his common places De vener sanct when I say the people are taught thus to vnderstand the scriptures must they not needes bee hard Lastly the greatest cause of this hardnesse is that the people are not acquainted with them for they are forbidden to reade them nay Forbidding to reade scripture it hath beene death to haue them found with the
to set downe the difference in doctrine betweene the church of Rome and vs concerning those Sacraments which we acknowledge to be instituted for Sacraments by God which is indeede my especiall purpose that in few wordes the Reader may take a view both of the one and the other I haue thought good very briefly to note vnto you two or three points wherein in the generall doctrine of the Sacraments we iustly dissent from them because they do dissent from the word of truth Wherein my purpose is not to enter into the darke and daungerous subtilties of the Schoolemen who herein agree not among themselues but onely to point vnto the plaine trueth and the falshoode contrary to the same VVhat a Sacrament is what is the effect of it or what it worketh how many Sacraments there are THE PROTESTANTS What a sacrament is A Sacrament is an externall signe instituted appointed of God to bee vsed in his Church by the receiuing whereof euerie faithfull man and woman is assured of eternall graces I knowe that this word Sacrament may be taken more largely and is sometimes especially by saint Augustine and after his time but this is the true definition of a Sacrament in that sence that we vse it for the two Sacraments vsed by vs in our churches And though we call it a signe yet wee say withall that it is a very effectual and as I may so call it a powerful signe A powerful signe to increase or strengthen faith to strengthen and increase our faith make vs take more sure hold of the promises the perfourmance whereof the Sacraments do as it were seale vp in our hearts neither doeth the sacrament worke this or hath this effect in respect of any vertue that is included in these visible signes but because God hath appointed them to be the seales of his promises as the Apostle witnesseth of circumcision Tertull. De Poeniten Rom. 4.11 of Baptisme For as the seale beeing set to the writing doth assure him to whom the writing is made of the perfourmance of such couenants as therein are contained and yet not because of the print in the waxe but because it is known to be his seale who hath made the couenants with him euen so the Sacraments do serue to confirme and increase faith in the faithfull not because there is any such power in those visible creatures which are the externall thing in the same but because we are assuredly perswaded that God hath appointed them to that end And as the Sacraments doe thus serue to strengthen and increase our faith Profession of our faith so thereby also doe we make profession of this our faith and in token that we haue this perswasion setled in our heart wee come to receiue such Sacraments as God hath appointed to testifie betweene him and vs of his graces towardes vs. And for this cause when the Eunuch desired to bee baptized Phillip answered Act. 8.36 37 If thou beleeue with all thy heart thou mayest Nay the Sacraments are but vnprofitable to them which without faith doe receiue the same Mar. 16.16 but hee that beleeueth and is baptized shal be saued We therfore do not teach the Sacramentes to be but bare signes as some would make the simple to beleeue but that they are such signes as God hath made to worke effectually by the power of his Spirite in the hearts of the faythfull to assure them of Gods good graces Nowe of such Sacraments as in the beginning I haue defined wee haue but two How many Sacraments there be that is to say Baptisme wherein we are entred into Christs family and the Supper of the Lorde wherein we are nourished in the same For although the people of Israel had many representations of Gods fauour towardes them to assure the faithful of sanctification and iustification yet Circumcision was commaunded without exception Gen. 17.10 to all the males in whō also the women were consecrated to the Lord and the eating of the paschall Lamb belonged to al the congregation of the children of Israel Exod. 12.47 whereas their other ceremonies were for the most performed by the Priest And in like maner although wee may haue sundrie visible signes of inuisible grace yet such sacraments as the sacrament of Baptisme the Supper of the Lorde neither the scriptures nor the fathers for 400. yeares after Christ did acknowlege any other than those two For as for Saint Augustine he taketh the word Sacrament so largely that hee accounteth for Sacraments many thinges that are not by the Papists themselues accounted Sacraments THE PAPISTS BVT the Papistes doe define a Sacrament to bee Concil Trid. Catechis A thing subiect to the senses which by Gods institution hath power both to signifie and to woorke Holinesse and Righteousnesse So that by this it is easie to vnderstād what vertue and efficacie they will giue to the Sacraments Yea it is by Bellarmine plainely confessed that they teach a Sacrament to haue that strength of it selfe De Sacram. lib. 1. cap. 11 that it can sanctifie and iustifie And that wee may the better vnderstand what they meane hereby De Sacram. lib. 2. cap. ◠with one consent they teach and Bellarmine by name that the Sacraments doe woorke these things without either faith or any inward motion So that their meaning is that the very worke it selfe of receiuing the Sacrament euen by vertue of that sacramentall action Bellarm. de Sacram. lib. 2. cap. 2. doth giue to the receiuer grace How blasphemous this doctrine is may appeare first because they doe manifest wrong to the spirit of sanctification in ascribing vnto these visible and externall creatures whereof the Sacraments doe consist that which only gods spirit can worke in vs by putting into our hearts Ierem. 32 4◠the feare of God Ierem. 31.33 Ezec. 36.25 Rom. 15.9 and vniting his lawe in the same and purifying our hearts by faith And therefore is this spirit called Holy or the spirite of sanctification because it onely can make holy Secondly to giue vnto the Sacraments power by the vertue thereof to iustifie is iniurious vnto the bloud of Christ which precious ransome is able onely to take away sinnes and to make vs appeare iust and righteous before God Then also this doctrine is absurd as may be prooued in a word or two If it be true that the Papists teach then did not our Sauiour Christ teach vs the true vse of the Sacrament when he said Doe this in remembrance of me for hee shoulde rather haue said Doe this to sanctifie and saue your selues But to thinke that Christ taught vs not the true benefite of the Sacrament is too grosse wickednesse Therefore is it verie absurde to ascribe that vertue to the Sacrament or outward signe Secondly if the Sacrament doe giue grace as they say or if it do sanctifie or iustifie of it selfe then the infantes that die before
thou see wine doe these thinges goe to the draught as other meates doe God forbid Thinke not so For as waxe being put into the fire is made like vnto it none of the substance remaineth nothing aboundeth euen so heere thinke the mysteries to bee consumed by the substance of the body In which words he bringeth nothing for Popish transubstantiation For although they doe teach that the substance of the bread is perished yet the accidentes they teach still to remaine and euer they say that Christ is present in the sacrament vnder the formes of bread and wine But when waxe is cast into the fire there is not so much as a shew that there hath beene waxe but all is consumed Therefore this similitude maketh not for transubstantiation And in trueth whosoeuer shall reade that whole sermon shall easily perceiue that Chrysost there doeth but by rhetoricall amplifications exhort the people so to be affected when they come vnto the holy sacrament that their eie shoulde not bee occupied about anie earthly creatures but their minde altogetherr exercised in heauenly cogitations according saith he vnto the promise that you made vnto the Priest when as hee saide Lift vp your mindes and hearts and you answered I haue it lifted vp vnto the Lord. Which is according to the councell which hee giueth vnto vs in an other place that especially in these holie mysteries Chrysost in Math. hom 83 wee shoulde not onely beholde that which is before our eyes but especially remember his wordes But it were too tedious to answere euery place particularly that they doe alleadge and out of this which is already spoken it is easie to answere any thing that they can bring out of the fathers for fiue or sixe hundred yeares But if any man wil aske why our sauiour Christ doth giue vnto the bread the name of his Bodie and to the wine the name of his Blood And why the fathers doe so call these outward signes the bodie and blood of our sauiour Christ I will answere with Theodoret an ancient father Dial. 1. Immutabilâ—â— Hee would haue them that are partakers of the diuine mysteries not to bee occupied in thinking of the nature of the thinges that are seene but in respect of the change of the name to beleeue the change that is made through grace As for the Councels which they bring for proofe of this doctrine Bellarm. de Euchar. lib. 3 cap. 23 the first of them was more than a thousand yeeres after Christ whereby it may appeare how late this doctrine is whereupon Scotus a schooleman doeth confesse that this transubstantiation was not a doctrine of faith before the councel of Lateran although Bellarmine reproue him for it Seeing now this their lately hatched doctrine doeth bring with it so many absurdities is darkened with so many doubtes hath no warrant in the Scriptures no ground in the ancient fathers and is not to be accounted as an article of faith euen by the confession of them that speake of the greatest antiquitie of it much more than fiue hundred yeares since let vs take heed of them who crie continually Antiquitie Antiquitie and yet indeuour to bring in new doctrines and deuises of their owne and to turne away the hearts of the ignorant from the true ancient faith deliuered by Christ and his apostles and sincerely preserued many hundred yeeres in the church of God But of this because it is one of the speciall points of doctrine wherein we dissent I haue stoode longer That the wicked receiue not in the Sacrament Christs bodie and blood CHAP. 14 THE PROTESTANTS BEcause that whosoeuer hath eaten the sonne hath the sonne for hee is meate that perisheth not Ioh. 6.50 and he that hath the sonne hath life 1. Ioh. 5.22 And on the contrary De ciuit Dei lib. 21. ca. 25 De consecra dist 2. vt quid paras ex Augustino as saint Augustine saith He can not eate Christs body that is not in his body Lastly seeing he can not be torn with the teeth but must be receiued by faith wee therefore teach that although the wicked may be partakers of the visible signes yet they can not be said to eate or receiue the body and blood of our sauiour Christ And with Saint Augustine In Ioh. tract 59 that they may eate as Iudas did the Lords bread against the Lord but the bread the Lorde they can not eate which doctrine is most plaine and bringeth with it no absurdities or doubts THE PAPISTS BVt the Church of Rome Iren. lib. 4 cap. 34. forgetting that the Sacrament consisteth of twoo things that is to say the materiall breade and that which came down from heauen which is Christ do adde vnto these a third namely Bellarm. de Euchar. li. 1 cap. 23 the effect of the body of Christ or his spirituall graces making thereby a separation and as it were a diuorce betweene the bodie of Christ which they teach the wicked may receiue and those graces which can not in deede bee separated from the same and cannot be giuen to the vngodly Whereby they do wrap themselues in such a cloud of doubts as all the Papists in the world wil neuer be able to answer M. Bilsoâ— part 4. whilest some say that this body goeth no further than to the teeth some allowe it to haue passage but to the stomake but not to abide there some to continue there also yea some say that it goeth as other meate into the belly yet remaineth stil Christs body so long as the forme of the bread remaineth yea and that it may be voided either vpward or downward and receiued of man or beast Although this vnreconcileable difference that is among them in so materiall a point of their religion namely what is becom of the body of Christ after the wicked haue receiued the same and these filthy blasphemies and detestable shifts that they are driuen vnto for defence of their heresie be a sufficient confutation both of that doctrine of transubstantiation from whence doe spring all these filthie pudles and sinckes and also of this other that the wicked may eate the body of Christ which is but a sowre grape of that vnkindely roote yet for the better satisfying of the ignorant I will by Gods assistance take a short view of their arguments whereby they indeuour to proue that the most wicked men may eate the body and drinke the blood of Christ Now their chiefe and almost onely proofe is taken from transubstantiation of the vntrueth of which doctrine I trust I haue spoken sufficiently in the former chapter And now therefore that I may conclude that if the wicked can not eate the body of Christ vnlesse the bread be changed into the bodie as themselues will confesse then because there is no such change therefore the wicked eate not his body But one shew of an argument they make out of the scriptures 1. Cor. 11.27 29 He
Gods spirit to deliuer to vs such trifling toyes thereby to comfort the afflicted conscience And thus I trust it appeareth that this their sacrament of anoyling is but a deuise of their owne braine hauing neither institution from Christ neither any commaundement from his apostles or example in the scriptures especiallie as it is now vsed in the church of Rome either for the matter whereof it must consist or the manner how it must bee done or the end vnto which they especially haue regard in that ceremony I had thought here to haue ended both this treatise of the sacraments and this chapter but before I go anie farther I would haue the christian reader to marke the euill dealing of the popish church who with their tongues and pennes proclaime as lowd as they can that our doctrine is not catholicke it is new is lately deuised And yet we appeale to the scriptures haue testimony for vs also the cōsent of the fathers of the purer times And on the cōtrary the church of Rome crieth stil they are the catholick church they haue the catholicke religion yea all that is with them is catholicke But if by the rules of catholicke which Vincentius Lyrinensis giueth Commonitorio adversus haereses with whose authority they seek often to stoppe our mouthes we examine their doctrines we shall finde them as farre from the catholicke religion as the priests and rulers amongst the Iews were from the truth For whereas he accounteth no doctrine catholicke but that which hath beene taught at all times in all places and by all men or at the least by the most and the best learned and godliest men wee might by this rule reiect manie of their doctrines which they deliuer to vs as catholicke and necessarie so that without beleeuing them there is no saluation For shortnesse sake let vs looke into this that last I handled They will haue it a catholicke doctrine to teach that anoyling is a true and proper Sacrament yea and the councell of Trent curseth them that saie the contrarie And yet maister Bellarmine who saith as much in effect as they all can saie in this point how catholickely doth hee proue it He with much adoe wresteth for it one place out of Saint Iames and hath not one mo in all the Scripture for him Then leapeth hee more then foure hundreth yeares after Christ and picketh out one pope Innocent who saith it is a kinde of Sacrament If he had proued it to be a Sacrament properly so called yet had he beene but one witnesse in foure hundred yeares Then about 1200. years after Christ he hath gotten another witnes and he is a pope also Innocent the third Then he telleth vs of the 69. canon of the councell of Nice which had in al but twenty canons Al aboue twenty were fetched out of Arabia but are neither mētioned in the Nicene councel set forth by thēselues Li. 1. cap. 6. neither yet of Ruffinus in his ecclesiastical history where he setteth downe the canōs of that councel who although he make 22. in nūber Yet is the matter no other than is set downe in the 1. booke of the coūcels in those 20. chapters Besides there are many other strong reasons pregnant presumptions to proue those 50. canons for they haue 70. to be falsly added to the councel therfore they deserue no credit He also alledgeth some particular councels which he commendeth for their antiquitie and yet the ancientest of them is about 800. yeares after Christ And about that time also are the most ancient fathers that seeme to say any thing for him Then if thou knowest the sunne to shine at noone day thou maist also know that this is not a catholicke doctrine neither can be so accompted It hath not beene taught at all times not in al places not by al or the most of the learned No it hath had scarce one sufficient witnes in 1200. yeares But for the substance of religion which we teach if we haue not a vniuersal consent of the scriptures and also the testimony of the fathers of the church in her most pure times we craue no credit we aske no hearing Therefore that which wee teach is the only catholicke faith because it hath the vniuersall consent of the purer times that which for the most part they teach is but new not warranted by the word not known or not taught amongst the godly fathers at the least for 400. or 500. yeares Which I thought good vpon this occasion thus offered to note vnto the christian reader that I might pull away from the faces of those counterfeites the visard of catholicke vniuersality antiquity and consent that their religion may appeare indeede as it is new not old particular not catholicke false not true because it is the deuise of man whose wisedom is folly whose words are lies and not the wil of God which is the infallible rule and of whose word not one title shall perish And thus I trust it appeareth that they who brag most of the name of catholicke church are the greatest enemies to true catholicke religion teaching that which is nothing lesse then catholicke Of originall sinne what it is And whether Concupiscence be sinne or not CHAP. 21 THE PROTESTANTS THat all mankind which is conceiued of vnclean seede is also infected with original sinne no man denieth but the question is what this original sinne is which we confes to bee in vs. Originall sinne We therefore say It is a generall corruption of our whole nature which corruption as an inheritance we receiue from Adam In our minde is ignorance where was light knowledge In our heart is vnaptnesse and vnreadinesse to any thing that is good in steade of an earnest forwardnes to serue God sincerely whereby it commeth to passe that by concupiscence and lust wee are inticed to sinne Which concupiscence because the Apostle to the Romanes doeth often call ◠in we also say it is sinne not only because it proceedeth from sin and also proceedeth from it but also because it is a thing in it selfe contrary to Gods Lawe THE PAPISTS BVT the Papistes although they can not deny but that wee all haue originall sinne yet woulde they haue the force therof as litle knowen as may bee And therefore some of them haue taught that it is nothing else but the imputation of Adams sinne vnto vs and not any corruption in our selues as Ambrose Catharinus Andrad Orthod expli l◠b. 3. de axiom 3. Cens Colon. dialog 2. Pighius two notable papists And others find fault that we do so amplify the corruption of the nature of man by original sin as though nothing that is good could come from it As for cōcupiscence they wil not grant that it is sin in the regenerat And yet the Apostle S. Paul being a man regenerate confesseth it to be sin in himselfe very often as may appeare Rom. 7. The reasons which moue vs thus
goe amongst the wil-worshippings especially if wee consider the practise of inuocation in the popish church For although now to make some faire shewe of their doctrine they will teach vs De beatitud sanct li. 1. ca. 17. that the saints Are not the immediate intercessours vnto God for vs but obtaine our requestes of God through Christ as maister Bellarmine teacheth yet it cannot be denied that men and women haue had confidence in the saint it selfe haue vowed and performed their vowes vnto the same for their deliuerance haue praied vnto the same for helpe Act. Mon. pag. 1117. 1443. And these men haue not beene reproued no they were thought to haue a good deuotion and to merit thereby but some haue beene accused of heresie for not praying in their trauell to the virgin Mary Yea they haue published a blasphemous thing called the Psalter of the Virgin compiled by Bonauenture in which whatsoeuer in the Psalmes and some other scripture is spoken of the Lord is most wickedly by them applied vnto the Virgin Mary whom they call lady Yea to be short it is almost as full of blasphemies as of words An infinite number of their owne prayers might bee brought against them out of their owne bookes to testifie against themselues of that superstitious confidence which they haue had in the creature and yet would they now perswade the world that they neuer meant they should make intercession to God for vs but by Christ but in trueth they made them rather gods than mediators As when the virgin Mary is willed to command her Sonne and to shew her to be his mother Or when vnto her they pray thus In al our trouble and distresse help vs most holy virgin Mary And thus haue I thought good briefly to examine their proofes out of the scripture and to take away that shew of reasons that they made out of Gods word I might haue brought their owne fellowes to testifie against them that whilest they will seeme to alleadge scriptures they doe but wrest them In Enchirid. cap. 15. De Theol. loci li. 3. cap. 3 For Eckius a stowt Papist doeth frankely confesse that the inuocation of saints is not expresly commanded or taught either in the olde or new Testament But Melchior Canus better learned than hee doeth say that neither plainely nor yet couertly it is contained in the Scriptures And therefore we see that they doe alleadge Gods word but to blinde mens eies as though they had some warrant out of it not because they thinke their arguments pâ— ooue that which they teach Seeing therefore their doctrine is so quite voide of all warrant out of Gods word and that which they do seeme to bring is so weake and wrested as may appeare I trust I may conclude with Tertullian that this commaundement De praescrip aduersus haer aske and yee shall receiue agreeth to him that knoweth of whome to aske euen of him of whome somewhat was promised that is of the God of Abraham Isaac and Iacob Now for the second point which is Christ our onely mediatour that Christ Iesus is this only mediator between God and man to offer vp our prayers vnto God Wherein our aduersaries do not deny but he is the mediator but they had wont to tell vs Eckius in Ench. cap. 15 that he is the onely mediator of redemption and yet they rob him also of that office by the Popes pardons and such baggage but there may be many mediators of intercession say they But master Bellarmine hath found out another shift namely that they are but intercessours by Christ as before I haue shewed But howe doeth master Bellarmine prooue that the saints make intercession by Christ for vs. Hee hath not so much as one word out of scripture for it neither yet out of any ancient father His onelie proofe is out of saint Bernard who liued eleuen hundred yeeres and more after Christ Is this a doctrine to be receiued now as catholike that hath so long beene buried in silence and will not yet perchance be very well liked of Indeede that Christ is our mediatour he prooueth well but that which he would especially haue vs to beleeue is left without witnesse as I haue shewed De beatitud sanct li. 1. ca. 17 Well then I will take it as a thing granted by master Bellarmine that Christ is onely our immediate mediatour to God and no saint no angel or any other creature which thing the scriptures prooue plentifully And I will by Gods grace shew also that they may not be mediators by or to Christ for vs. First there is no warrant for it in the word and therefore it must not be receiued of vs whose rule for life and religion the word â—â— st be Secondly I haue shewed that the saints departed haue not faith and therefore they can not pray Thirdly to ioyne them with Christ in the office of Mediation doeth shewe that they feare that either hee can not by himselfe perfourme that office which God hath laide vppon him and that is blasphemous Or that hee will not at our request do it vnlesse hee be intreated by others Seeing hee hath died for my sinnes shall I doubt whether hee will heare mee if I doe pray If hee bid mee aske seeke knocke and promiseth thou that I shall haue finde and to open will hee not bee as good as his worde Hebr. 2.17 In all thinges it became him to bee made like vnto his brethren that hee might bee mercifull 18 and a faithfull high priest in thinges concerning God Ebr. 4.15 that he might make reconciliation for the sins of the people For in that he suffred and was tempted 16 hee is able to succour them that are teÌ„pted Our high priest is touched with the feeling of our infirmities Let vs therefore goe boldly vnto the throne of grace that we may receiue mercy and finde grace to helpe in time of need Let vs I saie our owne selues come vnto him in this assurance that he will not faile to heare and helpe vs. For he calleth Come vnto me all yee that are weary and laden and I wil ease you Matt. 11.28 Shall we be afraid to draw nigh vnto him that calleth vs so louingly Or shall wee thinke that wee shall neede to sende mediatours to intreate him that sendeth his embassadours to vs to intreate vs Nowe we are embassadours for Christ saith saint Paul as though God did beseech you through vs 2. Cor. 5.20 wee pray you in Christes steede that you bee reconciled to God Let vs therefore saie with S. Augustine or whosoeuer it was that writ those bookes that goe in his name Lib. 2. cap. 1. Of the visitation of the sicke I speake more safely and sweetely to my Iesus than to any of the holie spirites of God Yea this grosse and absurd persuasion Saint Chrysostome in many places seeketh to remoue as they that do read his
say that this their Sacrament is not truly and properly a Sacrament instituted by Christ for so doeth the Councell of Trent Wherein I knowe not whether they haue somewhat wounded themselues Cap 1. both because they say themselues but a little before that it is insinuated by Christ which is lesse than instituted And also it is tanquam vere propriè Sacramentum as it were which is a doubtfull speach truely and properly a Sacrament De sacram Vnct. cap. 2. But let vs see howe maister Bellarmine prooueth this to bee a Sacrament out of that place of saint Iames. Hee can finde as he supposeth the outwarde signe The outward signe True it is there is an outwarde signe but it is not that which is required in annoyling nowe for nowe it must needes be consecrated but then it was not The Apostles did vse it especially against the diseases of the bodie but this Oyle is in the Popish church vsed especially for a remedie against the sickenesses of the soule Therefore I graunt it was in those dayes a signe of health of bodie whilest God left with his church that gift of healing but it was neuer a signe of spirituall grace which is it that now they do affirme As for the health of the bodie they so little regarde that it should be vsed to that ende that they must not in any wise annoyle them but such as they haue no hope that they may escape Whereas the Apostle saint Iames would haue it done to that ende that God forgiuing them their sinnes which are many times the cause of sickenesse they might be Healed as saith saint Bede vpon this place As for the promise which is a seconde thing that must be in a sacrament The promise of grace master Bellarmine maketh no doubt but that he can proue it because it is said The Lord shal raise him vp and if he haue sinned they shal be forgiuen him The meaning of the apostle in this place is verie plaine that wheras in the daies of the primitiue church there were many myracles wrought by the apostles and others they did not those things by any power which they had in them selues but by the prayer of faith the sicke were healed And if their sinnes were the cause of their sicknesse as they are many times although not alwayes Iohn 9.3 as by saint Iohns gospel it appeareth hee promiseth that God to the ende that they may not doubt but that they shall bee healed will take away their sinnes and forgiue their offences which otherwise might bee a let or hinderance And that this condition is to be vnderstoode in this promise it is plaine by these wordes And if you haue committed sinnes For the apostle nothing doubted but that they had sinnes For if wee say wee haue no sinne 1 Iohn 1.8 wee deceiue our selues and there is no truth in vs. But hee might iustly doubt whether sickenesse was alwayes layd vpon men for and in respect of their sinnes Therefore to doubt whether they might haue sinne or not belongeth vnto them that knowe not the corruption of mans nature which wee cannot thinke of the apostle saint Iames. But to knowe that God doeth not alwayes sende afflictions in respect of sinne hee had learned by that which our Sauiour Christ himselfe sayde vnto his Disciples of the blind man Neither hath this man sinned neither his parents Iohn 9.33 but that the workes of God may be manifest And for this cause saint Iames saith If hee committed sinnes they shall be forgiuen him that is if his sinnes haue beene the cause of his sickenesse his sinnes shall be forgiuen him that his sickenesse may cease So then the promise of forgiuenesse of sinnes which should especially serue to make this oyling a sacrament is but conditionall whereas in the true sacraments in deede the promise of forgiuenesse of sinnes is most certaine otherwise wee should not haue in the vse of them any true comfort Thus then seeing sicknes sometime commeth of sinne sometime of other causes the apostle sayeth if it come of sinne not onely the man ouer whom the elders make their faithfull prayer and whom they so oynt with this visible oyle shal be raised vp but also his sinnes the cause of his sicknesse shal be taken away But that not forgiuenesse of sinnes was especially regarded in this ceremonie but bodily health the fathers afore named doe proue and maister Bellarmine cannot denie but that sundrie of the Papists do affirme whilest they teach that the Apostles in the 6. of saint Marke his Gospell did practise the selfe same thing that saint Iames commaundeth The institution of this Sacrament But for the institution of this sacrament maister Bellarmine can bring no proofe at all but onely in respect of this promise of saint Iames which if it be not of spirituall grace as I trust I haue proued that it is not then is there no institution of this sacrament to be found Then wee see that all this whole building hangeth vpon a weake foundation to bee grounded vpon one onely authoritie and that so little to the purpose vnlesse it be racked besides the meaning and that out of that Epistle which although it be in our churches receyued and read yet we know that the authoritie thereof hath bin doubted of and therefore the lesse force hath it to proue any thing that is not taught in any other place And especially for their annoyling that is now vsed in the Popish church which is farre vnlike that which the apostles vsed there is in that place no proofe at all And as master Bellarmine hath the better lyking to expounde this place of saint Iames of another oynting than the apostles vsed marke eth sixt chapter Cap. 2 because as hee saieth Luther Caluine and Kemnitius doe take both places for one annointing euen so doe I and that with much better reason mislike the Popish anoyling because it commeth so neare vnto that practise of the heretikes of whom Ieremie speaketh li. 1. cap. 18. That they redeeme their dead at the ende of their race or trauell powring oyle and water vpon their heads And whereas master Bellarmine would proue out of Epiphanius that this oyntment was vsed when they were dead And therefore therein they differ from the Papists yet saint Augustine in his booke of heresies saieth Cap. 16. they did it when they were dying So that master Bellarmine must not thinke so to face out the matter as if those heretikes were nothing like them And whereas they vsed water also with their Oyle although they differ therein from the church of Rome yet the difference is nothing so great by many degrees betweene the Papists and those heretikes as is betweene the apostles and the papists for this poynt as maie appeare by that which before hath beene saide De sacra vnct li. 2. cap. 4. But after this great scarcitie of proofe out of the scriptures
hee commeth at length to the authoritie of man And hee will prooue what men will say in his behalfe where God keepeth silence And the first that he bringeth in is Innocentius that liued at the least foure hundred yeares after Christ What was it no Sacrament for foure hundred yeares and nowe vpon a sudden is it become a sacrament howe doeth hee proue it to bee a sacrament He bringeth no reason hee hath no proofe no neither yet doeth hee so much as say it is a sacrament properly so called but that it is Genus Sacramenti A kinde of Sacrament What then if we graunt to master Bellarmine that which Pope Innocentius sayeth If it bee a kinde of Sacrament as hee sayeth is it therefore a sacrament truely and properly as maister Bellarmine saieth I denie that argument and maister Bellarmine will not proue it And yet to helpe his bad cause hee lowdly and lewdly belyeth Innocentius his woordes in that hee affirmeth that Innocentius saieth expresselie and plainlie that this oynting is that sacrament explaned by saint Iames. But Innocentius hath no such wordes no neither yet any thing like But M. Bellarmine to deceiue them that can not looke into the fathers doth many times falsifie them to make his cause to seeme better And nowe what cause hath this seconde Achylles of the Catholikes for Eckius did bestow that name first vpon himselfe as you may see in his Enchiridion in the title of the church in the margent what cause I saie hath this challenging champion thus to brag against Kemnitius that hee durst not so much as name this Innocentius When his testimonie is examined the cracke is great but he doth not hit the marke that maister Bellarmine would haue him to leauell at As for Kemnitius if he haue but his due praise we must needes confesse that by his learning and trauell he hath more beaten downe the walles of that popish Babilon than that all the papists if they ioine togither hand in hand shall be able with all their skill and cunning to raise it vp againe Of Innocentius the third because he came so late he is not worth the answering for he liued about 1200. yeares after Christ in time of ignorance and much superstition As for the Councels which he alleageth the first is the Nicene councell translated into latine out of the Arabic tongue But since that canon is not amongst those canons which wee haue in the tomes of the councels and in those coppies that hitherto haue beene counted the true councels we neede not much regarde those farre fetched authorities His second authoritie is out of the councell of Cabilon and some other particular councels and although he commend their antiquitie yet the first of them was almost 800. yeares after Christ And those which I haue examined make not for his purpose For they proue not that this annointing is a sacrament properly so called Now for the fathers master Bellarmine needeth no aduersary he confesseth his want of proofe out of them For he deuideth the fathers into two sortes The one he confesseth doe not plainly saie that it is a sacrament Why then doth he produce them He hath taken in hand to proue that anoyling as it is vsed in the popish church is a true and proper sacrament If they will not proue this they maie holde their tongues For to this end only are they to be alleaged An other sort there are who speake it plainely as he telleth vs. But they are of no credit neither are once named among the ancient fathers The eldest of them is about 800. yeares after Christ And for his examples of some few men what they haue done it is no proofe to vs that we ought so to doe They might haue their reasons that might well induce them to it They might also doe therein as in many things many haue done of a blinde zeale and foolish deuotion How or in what sort they haue done that which they did I wil not take vpon me to iudge as for their doings they ought not to be an example to any man so that we should be bound to follow them But hee wil proue by reason that it must needs be a sacrament Bellarm. de sac vnct li. 1. cap. 5. For since God hath by a sacrament holpen vs in the entraunce into the church and also in our continuance in the same we maie not imagine that his prouidence shall faile vs at our going out of the church these are maister Bellarmine his wordes I might briefly answere that we are not to teach God what we thinke conuenient that he should doe but to see what he hath done and to content our selues therewith and to frame our selues to performe the same But if God faile in his prouidence if their anoyling be not a sacrament then must we imagine that God had no due regarde of the fathers of the old world or of the patriarkes or of the godly vnder the law For vntill Christs time master Bellarmine will confesse they had not this Sacrament Yea the Apostles and all other the Godly and constant Martirs in Christs church had not that sacrament Neither yet did they make complaint for want of the same but comfortably and patiently indured all torments with great ioy although they had not this anoyling nor anie hope to haue it no neither once thought of it Lastly our Sauiour Christ to prepare vs against death telleth vs that whosoeuer beleeueth in him shall not perish but haue euerlasting life and to cause vs not to feare it he saith that he is the resurrection and the life Many notable lessons did our Sauiour Christ giue to his disciples before he left the world to goe to his father which are recorded by Saint Iohn from the twelfth to the seuenteenth chapters And although he vse all arguments to comfort them yet he neuer once thought of this anoyling which yet then if he had purposed to leaue vnto his church anie such Sacrament it had beene good time to haue deliuered them for their comforte To be short whatsoeuer he commaunded vs to vse for the strengthning of our faith with boldnesse we may and with comfort and readinesse we ought to doe But it is farre from either true or sound comfort in the agony of death or a sufficient weapon to withstand the assaults of Sathan and conflicts of conscience to haue standing by thee some Idol pastor whose greatest good that he either can or will doe vnto thee is to grease some parts of thy body Let the world esteeme of these things as they will But this is certaine that it is only true obedience that hath the promise of blessing And without the commandement there can be no obedience either in our duties towardes God or our conuersation amongst men For obedience is nothing els but an earnest applying of our selues to doe that which is pleasing vnto God and which he hath commanded It is also far from the maiestie of