infallibly what is the certaine meaning of euery place Are those holy fathers loth of their labour or are they so busied in other or greater affaires as that they haue no leasure to attend to such trifles Satisfie vs M. Bishop as touching these matters otherwise we must take this deuise to be as indeed it is the couer of your shame the cloake of your apostasie which can no otherwise be shadowed but by this pretense That the Popes sense is the very trueth of Scripture being notwithstanding wholly repugnant contrary to the words In a word the Pope thrusteth out the lawes of Christ which are expressed in the words of Christ and by his sense setteth vp his owne lawes vnder the name of Christ To giue power to the Pope properly to forgiue sinnes as M. Bishop doth is a wicked blasphemie and an Antichristian exalting of him into the place of Christ When the Scribes said within themselues f Mar. 2.7 Who can forgiue sinnes but God only our Sauiour Christ did not contrary them therein but partly by discouering the thoughts of their hearts and partly by the miracle that he wrought taught them to vnderstand him to be God the Sonne of God and therefore that he had power to forgiue sinnes He hath left it therefore so to be conceiued of vs that power to for giue sinnes belongeth to God only g Cyprian de Lapsis Nec remittere aut donare indulgentia sua seruus potest quod in dominum delicto grauiore commissum est The seruant sai he Cyprian cannot for giue that which by hainous traspasse is committed against the Lord. h Cyril in Ioan. lib. 2. cap. 56. Certè solius reri dei est vt possit à ptceatis homines soluere cui enim alij praeuaricatores legis liberare â peccato licet nisi legis ipsius authori Surely it belongeth only to the true God saith Cyrill to be able to release men from their sinnes for who but the maker of the law can free them from offense that are trespassers of the law As for that which M. Bishop obiecteth that Christ said to his Apostles i Iohn 20.23 Whose sinnes ye remitte they are remitted vnto them and whose sinnes ye retaine they are retained it no more importeth a power of forgiuing sinnes then the ministers k 1. Tim. 4.16 Sauing them that heare him importeth a power of sauing For as the minister saueth not properly by any power of sauing but only by teaching the way of saluation so he also forgiueth sinnes not properly by any power thereof but by preaching the Gospell of remission of sinnes and designing them to whom belongeth this remission God hath made vs not Lords but l 2. Cor. 3.9 Ministers of the new Testament and of the spirit neither hath he giuen vs the power but m cap. 5.18 The ministry of reconciliation for God was in Christ reconciling the world vnto himselfe not imputing vnto them their sinnes to vs he hath committed only the word of this reconciliation namely whereby we preach and testifie in the name of Iesus Christ remission of sinnes and reconciliation to God to all that repent and beleeue the Gospell But this whole cōmission of forgiuing sins shall be the better vnderstood by those instances by which Cyrill exemplifieth the same n Cyril vt supra Erit autem id duobus vt arbitror modis primò baptismo acinde penitentia Nam aut credentes vitae sanctimonia probates homines ad baptismum inducunt indignos diligenter expellunt c. First in baptisme and afterward in repentance Them that beleeue and approoue themselues by holinesse of life the minister addmitteth to baptisme this is to forgiue their sinnes but carefully he repelleth and putteth backe them that are vnworthy this is to retaine them But of this forgiuenesse of sinnes in baptisme we must remember that which S. Austine saith if at least that booke be his o August scal Paradis cap. 3. Officium baptizandi dominus concessit multis potestatem verò authoritatem in baptismo remittendi peccata sibi soli retinuit The Lord Iesus gaue the office of baptizing to many but the power and authority to forgiue sinnes in baptisme he reserued to himselfe only For the noting of which difference he rightly alleageth the words of Iohn Baptist p Ioh. 1.26.33 I baptize with water but he it is which baptizeth with the holy Ghost Now if to baptize with water to the remission of sinnes be to remitte sinnes in that sense which our Sauiour intendeth in that speech and to baptize with water to remission of sinnes importeth no power for forgiuing sinnes but only a ministery for publication and for the applying of Gods seale for exhibiting and confirming thereof it followeth so far foorth that those words of Christ doe not giue to the minister any power properly to forgiue sinnes Therefore Chrysostome though he terme this ministery in some sort a power yet to shew in what sort it is to be conceiued most notably saith q Chrysost in Ioan. hom 85. Quid sacerdotes dico Neque Angelus neque Archangelus quicquam in his quae a deo data sunt efficere potest sed pater filius sp sanctus omma facit sacerdos linguam manus praebet Not the Priest only but neither Angell nor Archangell worketh any thing in those things that are giuen of God but the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost doth all the Priest putteth too but his tongue and his hand The other instance which Cyrill giueth is r Cyril vt suprà Aut ecclesia filijs peccantibus quidem increpant paenitentibus autem indulgent 1. Cor. 5.5 When the minister giueth checke to offendours and to the penitent release Whereof he giueth example in the incestuous Corinthian whom for fornication the Apostle deliuered to Satan for destroying the flesh that the spirit might be saued and afterwards receiued againe that he might not be ouerwhelmed with ouermuch sorow here the Corinthians did forgiue and the Apostle himselfe did ſ 2. Cor. 2.7.10 forgiue and thus the terme of forgiuing hath alwaies his place and vse but this forgiuenesse is disciplinary for reconcilement to the Church it is not forgiuenesse of sinnes spiritually and properly so called though by the ordinance of Christ it must be to the peritent a necessary introduction to the assurance and comfort thereof as t See the Answer to the epistle dedicatory sect 28 before hath beene declared I conclude this point with that which Hierome writeth vpon the words of Christ to Peter u Matt. 16.19 whatsoeuer thou bindest in earth shall be bound in heauen and whatsoeuer thou loosest on earth shall be loosed in heauen for declaration whereof he saith that z Hieron in Matt. 16. Quemodo ibs sacerdos leprosum facit mundum velimmundum non quò sacerdotes leprosos faciant immundos sed quò
It is not easie to finde what is their setled opinion touching theforgiuenesse of originall sinne in Infants Some attribute it to Baptisme but that cannot stand with their common doctrine that Sacraments haue no vertue in them to remit sinnes or to giue grace Others say that God without any meanes doth then when they be baptised of himselfe immediately iustifie them But that cannot stand in their owne doctrine because Infants want the instrument of faith to lay hold on that 〈◊〉 then offered by God and therefore cannot being so young take it vnto them Others will haue Infants sanctified in their mothers wombe by vertue of a couenant which they suppose God to haue made with old father Abraham and all his faithfull seruants that forsooth their seed shall bee holy But this is most phantasticall and contrary to the Scriptures and daily experience for Isaac was the sonne of promise and yet Esau his sonne was areprobate Dauids father was a godly Israelite and yet Dauid affirmeth Psal 51. that he himselfe was conceiued in iniquities and we may see whole Countries now turned Turkes whose ancestors were good Christians therefore not all the soules of the faithfull are sanctified in their mothers wombes Secondly how euill soeuer they agree about the remission of sinne yet there is a perfect consent among them that such relikes of originall sin remaine in euery man baptised and sanctified that it infecteth all and euery worke he doth with deadly sin yea that which remaineth is properly sinne in it selfe though it be not imputed to the partie so that sinne is alwaies in them though their sinnes be neuer so well forgiuen And as for the Sacrament of Penance by which we hold all sinnes committed after Baptisme to be forgiuen they doe renounce the benefit of it and are at vtter defiance with it R. ABBOT If wee were as full of differences in our doctrine as M. Bishops head is full of idle fancies it should be hard indeed to finde any setled opinion amongst vs whereas now our opinion being setled he out of sundry termes and words that are vsed in the expressing thereof dreameth of great difference and vncertainty amongst vs. Originall sin how it is forgiuen to Infants The matter is concerning the forgiuenesse of originall sinne in Infants Some saith he attribute it to baptisme And whom I maruell doth he know that doth otherwise Who of vs doth not acknowledge baptisme to be Gods instrument for the actuall application of that grace which hee hath intended towards vs in Iesus Christ before the foundation of the world which notwithstanding hath his effect not by the very worke wrought or by any vertue infused into the water or by any power giuen to the very words and syllables that are pronounced but by the assisting power of the holy Ghost accompanying the outward Sacrament to giue grace and forgiuenesse of sinnes not indifferently or generally but a Rom. 4.5 vulgat Eph. 1.5.9 according to the purpose of the grace of God Now of this that wee say that it is the holy Ghost which in baptisme worketh the effect of grace hee out of the abundance of his wit frameth another opinion which with vs is no other but onely the explication of the former As for his exception that children haue not the instrument of faith to lay hold on the grace of God which is offered in baptisme it auaileth nothing because children are brought to baptisme though not in their owne faith whereof they are vncapable yet in the faith of their parents who apprehending the promise of God according to the tenour thereof both for b Gen. 17.7 themselues and for their children doe thereby deriue and transport vnto them an interest in the grace of God whereby they are sacred and holy vnto God and are therefore by baptisme to be receiued to be made partakers of that grace Heere againe M. Bishop imagineth a third opinion whereas still there is nothing said but what is dependant vpon the first And this third opinion he deliuereth according to his owne absurd conceit thereof and not according to that that by vs is intended We say nothing but what the Scripture hath taught vs that c 1. Cor. 7.14 Children of faithfull parents how vnderstood holy the children of faithfull parents are holie Hee betwixt his pride and ignorance will take no knowledge that the Scripture so speaketh thereby to giue a true sense and meaning of that it saith but scornefully derideth it and out of his owne distempered braines bringeth a foolish reason to dispute against it This is most phantasticall saith he and contrary to the Scriptures and daily experience And how so Forsooth Isaac was the sonne of promise and yet Esau his sonne was a reprobate and many children of Christians afterwards become Turkes Therefore the children of the faithfull are not sanctified in their mothers wombe But did not his eies see that out of his owne doctrine a man might by the same argument ouerthrow the sanctification of baptisme also for in like sort a man may say The children of many faithfull become reprobates and castwaies therefore the children of the faithfull are not sanctified in baptisme which I suppose he will not admit Surely he knoweth that by the doctrine of their schooles sanctification once had may afterwards be lost and that many reprobates are for the time partakers thereof It is then no argument to say that because many children of the faithfull are reprobates therefore they were not sanctified in their mothers wombe because as hee will say of them who are sanctified in baptisme so it may be answered him of them who are sanctified in their mothers wombe that by apostasie they forgoe that which by grace they had receiued I speake not this to affirme that sanctification which he imagineth but onely to shew him the sillinesse of his argument whereby he impugneth it His other instance as he setteth it downe is as weake as that Dauids father was a godly Israelite and yet Dauid affirmeth that hee himselfe was conceiued in iniquities For though Dauid were conceiued in iniquities yet that letteth not but that after his conception hee might be sanctified in his mothers wombe But we doe not onely make him say that he was conceiued in iniquitie but also that hee was d Psal 51.5 borne in sinne euen as we confesse generally of all that e Aug. Enchir. ca. 33. Cum hac quippe ira dei omnis homo nascitur wee are borne guilty of the wrath of God f Eph. 2.3 the children of wrath and that vnlesse the grace of Christ doe thencefoorth releeue vs g Iohn 3.36 the wrath of God abideth vpon vs. When therefore the Apostle saith that the children of beleeuing parents are holy we doe not thereby vnderstand any inward indowment or gift of holinesse but onely that they are with vs to bee holden and accounted as belonging vnto God and comprehended within his couenant that
this praier of Christ was vnaduisedly made secondly that he ouercome with griefe had forgotten the heauenly decree not remembring for the time that he was sent to be the redeemer of mankinde thirdly that he withstood as much as in him lay refused to execute the office of a mediator See Caluin also vpon these words of Christ Ioh. 12.27 Father saue me from this houre where he saith that Christ was so strucken with feare and so pinched on euery side with perplexed pensiuenesse that he was forced through these boisterous waues of temptation to wauer and fleet too and fro in his praiers and petitions Is not this pitifull impiety Whereas our most louing redeemer of set purpose tooke that feare vpon him and most willingly both suffered and caused that bloudy agony and conflict by representing vnto himselfe both the shame and paine of his dolorous passion and the causes thereof which were the innumerable most grieuous sins of the world that he might in euery part both of minde and body endure what hee possibly could for the time and spake nothing rashly but repeated that his praier ouer three seuer all times as is set downe in the text it selfe to shew vs how naturally he as all other men did abhorre such a cruell and ignominious death and yet withall to instruct vs that we should be content with it and pray to God for strength to beare it if it were his blessed will to put vs to the like This holesome doctrine and Godly instructions are by the ancient holy Fathers gathered out of that praier of Christ what a venemous spider then was Caluin to sucke such poison out of it If Christ so wauered where was his constancy If he were so frighted as Caluin falsly imagineth where was his fortitude If he strugled so against his Fathers decree where was his obedience If he refused to redeeme vs what was become of his charity towards mankinde If the first motions to euill be deadly sinnes in vs as the Protestants hold what will they make of such tumultuous and vnbridled passions in him that had a greater command ouer them then we haue R. ABBOT We doubt not but that Adam so far as the condition and state of humane nature required Christ as man ignorant of some things was replenished with perfect knowledge and yet little did he know what the serpent went about in tempting the woman or what the end would be of the womans tempting him It is true also that the second Adam was full of grace and truth so as that nothing came from him but grace and truth so as that he fully effected to vs the grace of God and exhibited the truth of all that God had promised and yet it followeth not that therefore nothing from his infancy was vnknowen to him The Romans also are said a Rom. 15.14 to be filled with all knowledge and yet it was not knowen to them I warrant you how wise and honest a man M. Bishop should shew himselfe in the writing of this booke The holy Ghost teacheth vs that b Heb. 4.15 Heb. 2.17 sinne excepted Christ was in all things like vnto vs. The Papists out of their fancy say except sinne and ignorance but why doe they adde an exception of their owne heades which the holy Ghost hath not added The holy Ghost saith in all things except sinne by what authority doe they adde ignorance where ignorance may be without sinne Surely the ancient father Cyrill gathereth thereof that Christ as man was ignorant of some things as namely that c Cyril Thesau l. 9. cap. 4. Quod diem horam illam ignoraret verè ab illo dicitur vt ab homine fratribus enim in omnibus similis fuit secâ—i dum Paulum he knew not the day and houre of his second comming wherefore he saith in the Gospell d Mark 13.32 Of that day and houre knoweth no man no not the Angels which are in heauen neither the sonne himselfe but the father onely e Ibid. Infirmitates nostras omnes accepits hac de causa ignerasse sedixit He tooke vpon him all our infirmities saith he for this cause he said he knew it not Yea he teacheth vs heerein f Ibid. Misericordiam eius admirari oportet quòd non recusauerit propter nos ad tantam humilitatem descendere vt omnia nostra ipsam etiam ignorantiam humanam susciperet to admire the mercy of Christ for that he would so much abase himselfe for our sakes as to take vpon him as al the rest so namely the ignorance of humane nature He alleageth against the heretickes that it is no more preiudice to Christ to say according to his manhood that he knew not that day g Ibid. Interrogandi sunt haehetici quid facient quando saluator dicitur esurijsse sitiâ—sse c. situt ergò voluit tanquam hâ—mo fame ac siticaeterisque huiusmodi laborare sic eâ—â—am vt honodiem illum ignorat then to say that he hungred thirsted slept was weary and such like He saith againe that when Iesus being come to Bethany and finding Lazarus dead asked of Mary h Ioh. 11.34 Where haue yee laied him i Ibid. Locum ignorabat vbi corpus Lazarierat vt homo ignâ—rauit he knew not as man in what place the body of Lazarus was His conclusion is that k Ibid iâ— fine perspicuum est vniuersa sciri à filio dei non minus quâm à patre quamuis dispensatiue vt homo multa se ignorare dicat Christ though as the sonne of God he knew all things no lesse then the father yet as man by way of dipensation said himselfe to be ignorant of many things And what shall Cyrill now be an hereticke with M. Bishop who so long agoe in behalfe of the Catholicke faith disputed these things against heretickes The like Origen gathereth out of the words of the Gospell l Luk. 2.52 And Iesus inâ—reased in wisedome and stature and in fauour with God and men m Origen in Ierem. hom 1. Iesus necdum vir sed adhuc infans quia se exinaniuit formam serui excipiens proficiebat Nemo autem proficit qui est perfectus sed illo proficit qui indiget profectu c. Quid indignum est rera de eo esse quae dicta sunt priusquam cognoscat puer bonum aut malum Iesus not being a man but as yet an infant because he humbled himselfe to take the forme of a seruant did grow But none doth grow saith he or increase who is already perfect but he groweth that wanteth grouth Why then is it vnlikely to be truely saied of him Before the child knew good or euill He applieth to Christ those words of the Prophet Esay as diuers other writers doe though perhaps amisses but hence as from the other words he gathereth that Christ for the time was subiect to that ignorance and infirmity
appeareth that the sending and giuing of Christ is deriued from the loue of God as from a precedent and former cause What is the matter then of M. Bishops quarrell Marrie whereas Caluin and Beza by the good pleasure and grace of God doe meane in that sort a precedent cause of the giuing of Christ to merit for vs and doe expresse it by other termes of the ordinance of God of his appointing Christ to be our mediatour of appointing vnto vs this meanes of saluation and such like M. Bishop maliciously wresteth the same to a posterior cause of the acceptation of the merit of Christ as if they had said that God of his good pleasure and grace had accepted for merit that which Christ did when indeed there was no merit and so falleth to his termes of a faire reckoning and that so any other man endued with grace might haue redeemed all mankind as well as Christ woonderfully bestirring himselfe with his woodden dagger and though hee fight but with his owne shadow yet being strongly perswaded that hee hath killed a man And yet to see the arrogancie of this vaine-glorious wisedome he taketh vpon him here by the way to helpe Caluin that could not vnderstand how we were saued by the mercies of God if the merits of Christ in iustice deserue our saluation whereas Caluin purposely there disputeth against them who could not vnderstand that accord betwixt the mercies of God and the merits of Christ and telleth them that which this silly Sophister will seeme to teach him that r Ibid. Inscitè opponitur meritum Christi misericordiae dei Regulaenim vulgaris est quae subalterna sunt non pugnare ideoque nihil obstat quominus gratuita sit hominum iustificatio ex mera dei misericordia simul interueniat Christi meritum quod misericordiae dei subijcitur it is ignorantly done to oppose the merit of Christ to the mercy of God for it is a common rule saith he that things subordinate are not repugnant one to the other and therefore nothing hindereth but that the iustification of men may be free by the meere mercy of God and yet the merit of Christ may come betweene as being conteined vnder the mercie of God Learne more wit M. Bishop though you will not learne more honesty yet learne more wit for there is none of your owne fellowes that shall examine these things but must needs take you for a leud man but that Å¿ Bernard de Consider lib. 1. vitiosas conscientias vitiosoruÌ„ non refugit vbi omnes sordent vnius faetor mimmè seâ—titur naught cares not to be knowen of naught and where all stinke alike no one mans stinke is discerned from other 16. W. BISHOP To returne to our purpose and to discouer yet more of the Protestants disgraces offered to our Sauiours mediation Con. Hesh p. 39. Sup. Ioh. pa. 39. In locis fol 361. 1. Ioh. 2. v. 2. Did Christ suffer his passion for the redemption of all mankinde or did he die onely for some few of the elect let Caluin answer you Christs flesh was not crucified for the vngodly neither was the bloud of Christ shed to clense their sinnes With him agreeth brother Bucer Christ by his death did onely redeeme the sinnes of the elect Musculus will beare a part in that consort Christs death is a satisfaction only for the sinnes of the elect all as contrary to the plaine text of Scripture as can be Christ is a propitiation for our sinnes where he spake in the person of the elect and not for ours onely but also for the whole worlds Let vs goe on yet one steppe further What effect doth the bloud of Christ worke in the small number of these elected brethren Doth it clense their soules from all filth of sinne and powre into them the manifold gifts of the holy Ghost whereby they may afterwards resist sinne and serue God in holinesse of life nothing lesse Pag. 31. For in the Regenerat as M. PERKINS with al the rest of them doth teach there remaineth originall sinne which infecteth euery worke of man and maketh it a mortall sinne So that inwardly in their soules these clected Protestants be voide of iustice and full of all maner of iniquity marry they haue created in them the rare instrument of a new deuised faith by which they lay hold on Christs iustice so by reall imputation to vse M. PERKINS words of Christs iustice to them they on the sudden become exceeding iust therefore Frier Luther had some reason to say that whosoeuer was borne againe of this Euangelicall faith was equall in grace vnto both Peter and Paul and vnto the Virgin MARY Mother of God Supra 1. Pet. 1. In actis disput Tigur Fox Act. fol. 1335 1138. Nay it seemes that Luther came to short and Zwinglius stroke home when he said that God the Father did no lesse fauour all the faithfull then he did Christ his owne Sonne And out of the confidence of the same liuely-feeling faith proceeded these speeches of our new Gospellers in England And wee haue as much right to heauen as Christ hath we cannot be damned vnlesse Christ be damned neither can Christ be saued vnlesse we be saued Christ belike could not liue in blisse without their holy company What audacious companions and saucy Gospellers were these Yet their reason seemeth sound in the way of their owne religion for if they were most assured of the benefit of Christs owne iustice to be imputed vnto them they could not be lesse assured of their owne saluation then they were of Christs owne To conclude this point consider good reader how the Protestants who would be thought to magnifie Christes sufferings exceedingly doe in very deede extreamly debase them For as you haue heard they esteeme very little of all the rest of his life besides his passion secondly they make his passion without suffering of hell torments not sufficient to redeeme vs thirdly that all those sufferings put together doe not in iustice merit the remission of our sinnes but onely that of grace and curtesie God doth accept them for such fourthly that when all is done they deserue fauour onely for a few of the elect and that not to purge those few neither from all their sinnes but only to purchase them an imputation of iustice to be apprehended by a strong imagination or rather presumption falsly by them tearmed faith Is not heere a huge great mill-post fairely thwited into a poore pudding pricke as they say by them who after so high exaltations of the all-sufficiency of Christs suffering doe in fine conclude that in a very few persons it worketh onely an imputation or shadow of iustice How Christ died for all but it agreeth very well and hangeth handsomely together that by the merits of Christs sufferings in hell which are meere phantasticall these men should haue created in them a phantasticall faith neuer heard of before
cannot bring so much as one man within the compasse of eleuen hundred yeeres after Christ that euer reduced the Sacraments to that number And shall not we well deserue to bee written vpon the backe-side of the booke of Wisedome if we shal take that for a principle of Christian religion which came first out of their schoole for the space of more then a 1000. yeres was neuer so knoweÌ„ in the church of Christ The Apostle m 1. Cor. 10.1.2 c. when he wil shew the Church of the Israelites to haue beene equall to vs in grace of Sacraments instanceth the same only in our two sacraments because he knew no more And no more did the ancient Fathers know who vniuersally holding the same mysterie of the creation of the woman out of the side of Adam being asleepe namely that n Aug. in Psal 56. Dormienti Christo in cruce facta est coniux de latere percussum est enim latus pendent is de lancea et prâ—fluxerunt Ecclesiae Sacramenta in Ioan. tract 15. thereby was figured the framing of the Church by Sacraments out of the side of Christ being dead when being pearced there issued out of it o Ioh. 19.34 1. Ioh. 5.6 water and bloud doe name those Sacraments as we doe p Aug. de symbol ad CatechuÌ„ lib. 2. c. 6. Sanguis aqua quae sunt Ecclesiae gemina sacramenta Chrysost in Ioan. hom 84. Theophy in Ioan. 19. Cyprian de passione Christi Of the effects of the Sacraments two onely and no more Whereas he saith that we extinguish the vertue and efficacy of those two sacraments it is only his blinde conceit We deny not but that the Sacraments are instruments of grace and of remission of sinnes and yet we deny them to bee so in that sort as is affirmed by the church of Rome namely as to giue grace ex opere operato for the very worke wrought as the Schoolemen speake It is worthily obserued by Saint Austin that q Aug. in Ioan. tract 80. Aâ—cedat verbum ad elementum fit Sacramentum etiam ipsum tanquam visibile verbuÌ„ a Sacrament is as it were a visible word because by it in way of signification God as it were speaketh the same to the eie other senses which by the word he soundeth to the eare Yea hee affirmeth that the outward element of it selfe is nothing but it is by the word that it hath whatsoeuer power it hath r Ibid. Quare non ait Nunc mundi estis propter baptismum quo loti estis sed ait propter verbum quod locutus sum vobis nisi quia in aqua verbum mundat Detrahe verbum quid est aqua nisi aqua moxâ— Vnde ista tanta virtus aquae vt corpus tangat cor abluat nifi saciente verbo Non quia dicitur sed quia creditur Why doth not Christ say Now are yee cleane by the baptisme wherewith yea are washed but by the word which I haue speken to you but because in the water it is the word that clenseth Take away the word and what is water but water Whence is it that the water hath so great power to touch the body and to wash the heart but that the word doth it and that not because it is spoken but because it is beleeued Now if the Sacrament haue all his vertue and efficacy from the word and the word haue his power not for that it is spoken but for that it is beleeued we must conceiue the same of the Sacrament also that the effect thereof standeth not in being applied by the hand of the minister but in being beleeued by the faith of the receiuer God both by the one and by the other ministring and increasing faith and the holy Ghost accompanying both the one and the other to doe that that is beleeued Thus is baptisme a signe of representation to the vnderstanding and seale of confirmation to faith effectuallie deliuering to the beleeuer through the holy Ghost the grace of God and the remission of all his sinnes And why doth it trouble M. Bishop that wee make baptisme in this sort onely a signe and a seale when as though signes and seales be not the things themselues yet by signes and seales men are woont to be entitled and inuested to the things signified and sealed And hath not the Apostle himselfe taught vs thus to speake Gregory Bishop of Rome saith that Å¿ Greg. Moral lib. 4. c. 3. Quod apud nos vales aqua Baptismatis hoc egit apud veteres vel pro paruulis sola fides vel pro maioribus virtus Sacrificij vel pro his qui ex stirpe Abrahae prodierant mysterium circumcisionis what the water of baptisme doth with vs the same did the mystery of circumcision with the seed of Abraham But of circumcision the Apostle saith thus * Rom. 4.11 The reall eating of Christ a grosse fancie Abraham receiued the signe of circumcision as the seale of the righteousnes of faith Baptisme therefore must be to vs the signe and seale of the righteousnesse of faith Their doctrine of reall eating the body of Christ importeth no matter of comfort and dignitie but a carnall rude and profane fancy t Cyril ad Euopt cont reprehens Theodor anath 11. Num hominis comestionem nostrum hoâ— sacramentuÌ„ pronuntias irreligiose ad crassas cogitationes vrges eorum qui crediderunt mentem attentas humanis cogitationibus tractare quae sola pura inexquisita fide accipiuntur Doest thou saith Cyril pronounce our Sacrament to be the eating of a man and irreligiously vrge the minds of them that beleeue to grosse imaginations and assay to handle by humane conceits those things which are to bee receiued by only pure and vndoubted faith Christ indeed is not the foode of the belly but of the minde and therefore u Cyprian de caena dom Haec quoties agimus non dentes ad mordendum acuimus sed fide syncerae panem sanctum frangim us partimur we doe not whet our teeth to bite but with syncere faith we breake and diuide the sacred bread saith Cyprian because x August in Ioan. tract 26. Credere in Christum hoc est menducare paenem viuum to beleeue in Christ saith Austin that is to eate the bread of life and y Iohn 6.54.56 he that thus eateth the flesh of Christ and eternall life and Christ shall raise him vp at the last day And because we thus teach that spritually and by faith we eate the very body of Christ and drinke his blood as alwaies so specially in that speciall helpe of faith which God hath ministred vnto vs in the supper of the Lord and that thereby we grow more and more into communion and fellowship with him to become partakers of the riches of his grace to immortality and euerlasting life therefore we doe not take
from the very grace of God but let that be granted what kinde of Atheisme or denying of God were this or how followeth it thereof that the grace of God which is the principall agent and farre more potent than the other must thereby needs be cast to the ground and foyled this is so silly simple that I know not what to tearme it for he doth vntruely slander our doctrine and that to no end and purpose To this second cauill I answer in a word that we teach as he knoweth right well the infinite iustice of God to be appeased no other way than by the infinite satisfaction of Christs passion And that our satisfactions are onely to pay for the temporall pains remaining yet due after the infinite are paid for by Christ Now whether any such temporall paâ—ne remaine or no after the sinne is remitted is a question betweene vs but to say as M. PER. doth that we be Atheists and do denie God to be God for that we hold some temporall punishment of man to be due after pardon granted of his greater paine is most apparantly a very sencelesse assertion As wide from all reason is his third instance That Gods mercy cannot be infinite when by our owne satisfactions wee adde a supply to the satisfaction of Christ For if Christs most perfect and full satisfaction can well stand with Gods infinite mercy farre more easely may mans satisfactions agree with it which are infinitely lesse than Christs But the infinite riches of Gods mercy appeareth especially in that it pleased him freely to giue vnto vs so meane creatures and wretched sinners his owne onely deare Son to be our Redeemer and Sauiour and both Christs satisfaction and ours are rather to bee referred vnto Gods iustice than to his mercy wherefore very vnskilfully doth M. PERK compare them with Gods mercy Neither is it possible to distill any quintessence of Atheisme out of it more than out of the former nay they both vprightly weighed are so farre off from Atheisme or derogating any thing from Gods glory that they doe much magnifie and aduance the same For albeit we hold our good works to be both meritorious and satisfactory yet doe we teach the vertue value and estimation of them to proceed wholly from the grace of God in vs whereby we be enabled and holpen to doe them and not any part of the dignitie and worthinesse of the workes to issue from the naturall facultie or industrie of the man that doth them So that when we maintaine the merit or satisfaction of good works we extoll not the nature of man but doe onely defend and vphold the dignitie and vertue of Gods grace which Protestants doe greatly debase extenuate and vilifie not allowing it to bee sufficient to helpe the best minded man in the world to doe any worke that doth not offend God mortally Thus much concerning our supposed Atheisme against God now of those that be as he imagineth against Christ the Sonne of God R. ABBOT MAster Bishop here promiseth vs a serious discourse but it prooueth in fine to a leud and slanderous libell which though he court it not as he trimly and finely telleth vs with the ordinary complements of a curious preamble yet he foully corrupteth with the ordinarie Popish complements of foolish malice and wilfull fraud A man may here see in him the true Image and picture of a Popish Doctor who seeing himselfe vnable to contend further by sound argument to make his part good betaketh himselfe to this impudencie and importunity of lying and slandering Albeit in the first part thereof as touching his maine drift I will not at all repugne him the same seruing to cleere them of an imputation of Atheisme charged vpon them by M. Perkins but indeed amisse as I cannot but ingeniously and freely confesse because it is conceiued and drawen from forced and impertinent grounds and therefore breedeth rather cauillation against him than accusation against them The crime of Atheisme belongeth properly to them with whom God is either not at all acknowledged Atheisme in what sort to be imputed to Popery or not regarded and either wholly denied to be or accordingly esteemed as if he were not But where there is a Rom. 10.2 the zeale of God though not according to knowledge howsoeuer by want of knowledge there may be misconceits of God and godlinesse yet Atheisme is not to be vpbraided there It is true indeed as M. Perkins saith that Atheisme is either open or coloured but coloured Atheisme must be the same in the heart that professed Atheisme is in the mouth so to be affected as if there were no God And this couert and coloured Atheisme is it which the Scripture for the most part speaketh of whereby b Psal 14.1 the foole saith not with his tongue but in his heart There is no God it being a thing very rare that any man so professeth with the mouth but very common with men c Tit. 1.16 to professe that they know God but by their deeds to deny him d Cyprian de dupl martyr Quemadmodum bona opera profitentur deum ita mala quâ—dammodo loquuntur Non est deus nee est Scientia in excelso for naughtie doings as Cyprian teacheth doe after a sort say There is no God nor any knowledge in the most high Now in Poperie we cannot doubt but that many there are who in simplicity professing the errors and superstitions alleged by M. Perkins haue notwithstanding in that ignorance a zeale of God and an intendment of deuotion to Iesus Christ and are so far from denying God as that in dread of the Maiesty of God and in expectation of the iudgement to come they are carefull according to their maner religiously to serue him To these men then to impute Atheisme by a consequence so far fetched as bringeth all misdeeming of religion within the compasse thereof I confesse stood not with that aduisednesse and due consideration which had been requisite in a matter of so great moment and effect Much rather should M. Perkins haue sought for Atheisme in the practise and policy of them who haue been and are the maintainers of that Romane Hierarchy who making gaine and aduantage of the superstitions wherewith they haue intangled the soules of men and resoluing by all meanes to vphold their trade haue in this emploiment quenched in themselues all inward light and sense of religion somtimes openly professing and somtimes couertly dissembling their deniall and contempt of God and impious conceipt of the nullity of all the seruice and deuotion that is done vnto him Whereof we haue notable example in their e See the Bee-hiue of the Romish Church the sixt book the third Chapter Popes of which diuers haue openly shewed themselues to be meer Atheists as Boniface the eight and Iohn the three and twentith who both denied the immortality of the soule as Clement the seuenth who lying at the point of
habeant notitiam leprosi vel non leprosi possint discernere qui mundus quiuè immundus fit sic hic alligat vel soluit episcopus Et Presbyter non eos qui insontes sunt vel noxij sed pro officio suo cum peccatorum audierit varietates scit qui ligandus sit qui soluendus as the Priest in Moses law did make the Leper cleane or vncleane not for that he did so properly and indeed but only tooke notice who was a leper and who was not and did discerne betwixt the cleane and the vncleane so heere the Bishop or Priest doth bind or loose not bind them which be innocent or loose the guilty but when according to his office he heareth the variety of sinnes he knoweth who is to be bound and who to be loosed Not so then as that in propriety of speech he either remitteth or retaineth sinnes but only discerneth and notifieth who is to be taken for bound with God and who for loosed whose sinnes must be holden either to be remitted or retained y Idem in Mat. 18. vt sciant qui à talibus condemnantur sententiam humanam diuina sententia roborari Which sentence of man they who are thus condemned as Hierome againe saith must know to be strengthened and made good by the sentence of God himself namely when it proceedeth according to those rules and directions which God hath prescribed in this behalfe for otherwise z Idem in Mat. 16. Cùm apud deum non sententia sacerdotis sed reorum vita quaeratur it is not the sentence of the Priest but the life of the parties that is inquired of with God Here then the Pope is a manifest vsurper first against God in that he taketh vpon him a power properly to forgiue sinnes and thereby seateth himselfe in the throne of Iesus Christ secondly against the Church of God in challenging to himselfe a propriety of that which was spoken a Gregor in 1. Reg. l 6. cap. 3. vniuersali ecclesiae dicitur Quodcunque ligaueris c. to the vniuersall Church and wherein euery one that is a successour of the Apostles hath as great power and authority as he Christ saith he gaue his Apostles authority ouer the whole earth Goe into the vniuersall world But by this Christ gaue no more authority to one of them then he did to another and whatsoeuer he gaue them what is it to the Pope that he should thereby challenge b Deecret Greg. de foro competenti cap. Licet de Appellat ca. vt debitus in glossa Papa vnusomnium hominum ordinarius the whole world to be his diocesse and should define that c Extrau de maior obed c. vnam santam subesse Romano Pontifici omni humanae creaturae pronunciamus omninò esse de necessitate salutis it concerneth euery humane creature vpon perill of damnation to be subiect vnto him And what authority did Christ giue them hereby other then S. Mathew expresseth d Mat. 28.19 Goe teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost teaching them to obserue al things whatsoeuer I haue commanded you This was their authority they had no power to command but what Christ had commanded them Let the Pope conforme himselfe to the tenour of this commission and he will then renounce his Popedome and we shall acknowledge him the disciple and seruant of Iesus Christ Ouer a part of hell he saith no Pope hath authority signifying thereby according to their partition the hell of the damned But how then did Clement the sixt not doubt to say in one of his Buls e Bale in Clem. 6. Nolumus quòd paena inferni sibi aliquatenus infligatur we will that the punishment of hell in no sort be laied or inflicted vpon him and how was it that Gregorie deliuered the soule of Traian out hell as f See Bellarm. de purgatorio lib. 2. cap. 8. Damascen hath reported and sundry authours of the Church of Rome as Bellarmine acknowledgeth haue stedfastly beleeued If M. Bishop tell vs that Gregorie did that only by way of intreaty and request he himselfe granteth the Pope to haue no other ouer Purgatory and therefore ouer hell and Purgatory he hath authority both alike When he doth good to any soule in Purgatory it is per modum suffragij as a suppliant and intreater not as a commander saith he But how then did the same Clement the sixt say concerning them who should die by the way as they were comming to his Iubilee at Rome g Bale vt supra Nihilominus prorsus mandamus angelis Paradisi quatenus animam à Purgatorie pentius absolu tam in Paradisi gloriam introducant We command the Angels of Paradise that they bring the soule of such a one into Paradise being fully freed from Purgatorie paines And what is all this power no more now but to supplicate and intreat Haue they mocked the world all this while made men beleeue that the Pope not only hath power to deliuer soules out of Purgatory himselfe but can also impart the same to others and is all come now to supplication and intreaty Why M. Bishop can supplicate and intreat as well as the Pope and what reason haue we but to thinke that God is as readie to heare his praier as the Popes and so by that meanes he shall haue as great power ouer Purgatory as the Pope Such are the mockeries of Poperie such are their doctrines of religion they themselues can not well tell what to make of them Further he saieth Whether the Pope hath any authoritie ouer Princes and their subiects in temporall affaires it is questioned by some The more shame is it M. Bishop for them by whom it is questioned Tertullian reporteth the minde of the ancient Church in this behalfe h Tertul. ad scapul Colimus imâ—eratorem vt hominem à deo secundum quicquid est à deo consecutum solo deo minorem We honour the Emperour as the man next to God and as hauing receiued of God whatsoeuer he is being inferiour to God onely And is it now come to be questioned whether the Pope euen in temporall affaires haue authority ouer Princes who in their kingdomes respectiuely are the same that the Emperour then was But is it questioned onely M. Bishop and not determined Wee may indeed admire their impudency therein that they who so much pretend antiquitie should resolue a matter so contrarie to the doctrine and example of all antiquitie but yet they haue so resolued that either directly or indirectly the Pope hath superioritie ouer Princes euen intemporall affaires i Treatise tending to Mitigation c. in the Preface to the Reader sect 22. The Canonists do commonly defend the first part saith the Mitigatour that is directly but Catholike Diuines for the most part the second that is indirectly and by
b Bernard in Cant. ser 23. Omne quod mihi ipse non imputaredecreuerit sic est quasi non fuerit it is as if it neuer had been as Bernard saith there can no satisfaction be required for it What a franticke dreame it is whereby they haue made praier for forgiuenesse of sinnes to be a satisfaction for sinne and that S. Austins words make nothing for their purpose it hath beene c Of satisfaction sect 6. 15. before sufficiently declared and is needlesse here to be repeated 37. W. BISHOP Now to the second downfall Merits are heere also ouerthrown For we acknowledge our selues debters and wee dailie increase our debts now it is madnesse to think that they who daily increase their debts can deserue or purchase any good of the creditors in a word this must bee thought vpon c. And good reason too First then I answer that veniall sins and small debts that iust mendaily incur doe not hinder the daily merit of their other good workes As aseruant hired by the day by committing some small fault doth not thereby lose his daies wages againe though he should commit such a fault that might make him vnworthy of his daies hire yet if his Master did forgiue him that fault his wages were notwithstanding due to him and so the asking pardon for our sinnes doth not ouerthrow but rather establish and fortifie our merits R. ABBOT Veniall sinnes Confession of sinnes is the demall of merit small debts small faults saith M Bishop A vaine man that knoweth neither God nor himselfe and therefore hath so small conceit of the sinnes that he daily committeth agâ—inst God No doubt but hee could plead the matter in Adams behalfe that God did hâ—m wrong to censure him so seuerely for so small a fault What it was but the eating of an apple or a figge and he might by his merits soone haue made amends for it and would God for so light a trespasse adiudge him to death yea and all his posteritie for his sake Well God make him wise to know with whom he hath to doe and then hee will see that his sinallest faults are great enough to blow vp all his merits yea and that in his best merits there is enough to condemne him if God should enter into iudgement with him And let me aske him out of his own wise sawes that he hath here set downe if a hired seruant of his by breach of conenants from day to day haue voided the condition of his wages and yet he be in the end content to remit all and to yeeld him his conditioned hire will he thinke it well that his seruant shall say that he oweth him no thanks because he hath nothing but what he hath merited and deserued Surely M. Bishop would expect that his good will and bountie should bee acknowledged in this case and would thinke it a wrong to be vpbraided with his seruants merit But though his head serue him not to conceiue this yet do thou remember gentle Reader that one forfeiture of a mans estate putteth him wholly vnder the mercie of his Lord and whatsoeuer he can plead for himselfe otherwise it serueth not the turne but he standeth at the courtesie of him whom he hath offended And what shall we say then for our selues whose life is a continuall forfaiture of our estate with God by our trespassing daily and hourely against him Shall we thinke we haue merits to plead shall we not acknowledge and confesse that wee stand meerely and wholly at the deuotion of his mercy And if remitting aliour trespasse hee vouchsafe to remember our seruice otherwise and to reward it shall we say that hee giueth vs but our own desert Do we not see our good deeds whatsoeuer they be to be so drowned and ouerwhelmed with our sinnes as that it is Gods meere mercy that any mention is made of them But when furthermore our good deeds haue in themselues such spots and staines of sinne as doe giue God iust cause to reiect them as hath beene a Of iustification sect 44. c before declared shall wee be so drunke with our owne fancies as that wee will still dreame of merit towards God These things need not to bee strongly vrged because they pretaile mightily in the consciences of all that are not of benummed and dead hearts and more hath beene answered heereof before than that M. Bishop should thinke fit to trouble vs any more with these blinde reasons Hee neuer ceaseth to oppose though when he is answered hee neuer knoweth what to reply 38. W. BISHOP The third opinion imagined to be confuted by this petition is that temporall punishment may bee retained after the crime it selfe and the eternall is remitted but this cannot stand saith he For wee owe to God obedience and for the defect of this paiment wee owe to God the forfeiture of punishment Sinne then is called our debt in respect of the punishment And therefore when we pray for pardon of our sinnes we require not onely the fault to be pardoned but the whole punishment and when debt is pardoned it is absurd to thinke that the least paiment should remaine Answ Heere is a most absurd collection For when we in our Lords praier craue pardon of our debts wee confesse that we are in his debt and that there is paiment of punishment yet due vnto vs the remission whereof we then require now this praier is made by the best men after their conuersion as he confesseth who standing in Gods fauour and therefore free from eternall punishment doe notwithstanding craue pardon and release of some punishment by M. PER. owne interpretation Whereupon it followeth most euidently out of this petition that after eternall punishment is forgiuen vnto the iust there is some other punishment remaining of which they craue pardon and consequently this opinion of ours is by this very petition and M. PER. owne exposition of it much strengthned and confirmed and nothing at all weakened R. ABBOT If M. Temporall punishmeÌ„t remitted in forgiuenesse of sinnes Bishop may be the expounder of M. Perkins exposition we doubt not but he will make some good matter of it M. Perkins meaning is plaine enough and so are his words that after our first conuerting turning vnto God we haue stil cause from day to day to humble our selues before God and to begge of him remission both of temporall and eternall punishments which by our sinnes from day to day wee runne into It followeth not of any thing that Master Perkins saith that the eternall punishment being alreadie forgiuen wee aske heere the forgiuenesse of some temporall punishment but that as our sinnes are daily so wee aske forgiuenesse daily both of the one and of the other a Aug. de vera falsa paenit cap. 5. Quia quotidiana est effensio oportâ—t vt sit quotidiana etiam remissio Because the offence is euery day saith S. Austin therefore wee
de notis eccles cap. 7. Si solae vna prouincia retineret veram fidem adhuc verè propriè diceretur ecclesia Catholica dummodo clarè ostenderetur eam esse vnam eandem cum illa quae fuit aliquo tempore vel diuersis in toto mundo if one only countrey should retaine the true faith yet the same should truly and properly be called the Catholike church so that it might cleerely be shewed to be one and the same with that which hath been at any time or times ouer the whole world For by this rule nothing hindreth but that our church though now it be not receiued generally in the greatest part of the Christian world yea if it were but in one onely country yet may truely and properly be called the Catholike church if it be prooued to be one and the same with the church which at any time heeretofore was spred ouer all the world But that our church is the same with that which at the first was spred thorowout the world it is very euident as Tertullian teacheth vs to prescribe g Tert. de praescript adu haeret In eadem fide conspirantes non minus Apostolicae deputantur pro consanguinitate doctrinae by consanguinity or agreement of our doctrine with the doctrine of that church For by the Gospell which the Apostles preached the church was founded thorowout the whole world h Iren. lib. 3. cap. 1. Quod quidem tunc praeconiauerunt postea per dei voluntatem in Scripturis nobis tradiderunt fundamentum columnam fidei nostrae futurum The gospell which the Apostles preached they afterwards by the will of God deliuered to vs in the Scriptures to be the foundation and pillar of our faith The same Gospel deliuered to vs in the Scriptures we receiue we adde nothing to it we take nothing from it as we finde it so we teach it Our faith therefore is the same with the faith of that church which at the first was planted thorowout the whole world There is no cause then for vs to forsake our owne church or to thinke that the same began with Friar Luther as this dreamer imagineth which by so plaine deduction is approoued to be the same with the first church and consequently to be truely and properly the Catholike Church Finally saith he they beleeue no church in all points of faith But doth his wisedome finde it in the articles of the Creed that we are to beleeue any church in all points of faith The church how farre to be beleeued in points of faith We are taught there to beleeue that there is a holy catholike Church which is the communion of Saints but nothing doe we finde there of beleeuing any Church in all points of faith We beleeue the Church in points of faith so farre as she yeeldeth herselfe like a faithfull and obedient spouse to be guided by the voice of her Lord and husband Iesus Christ But if the Church preferre her owne will before the word of Christ as the proud harlot of Rome doth it should be a wrong to Christ to beleeue the Church and a way to set vp humane errour in stead of diuine truth It is not the voice of the Church but the word of the written Gospell which God hath appointed as Irenaeus euen now hath told vs to be the foundation and pillar of our faith For the words of the Church are many times the words of errour and vntruth and therefore if we should relie our saluation vpon the credit thereof wee should indeed relie vpon an vncertaine ground and erring guide but the word of the Gospell is alwaies one and the same without any variablenesse or vncertainty and therefore safely may wee relie our saluation thereupon Now therefore it cannot be said but that wee alwaies beleeue one holy catholike Church according to the profession of faith specified in the Creed though sometimes and in some things we doe not beleeue that is credit the visible Church as touching points of faith because the Church sometimes teacheth vs to beleeue otherwise than God hath taught Which though it seeme strange to M. Bishop in that language which he hath learned to speake yet to vs it is not strange who in the Canonicall histories of the Churches both of the old and new Testament do so often see them diuerting and turning from the right way As for that hee saith that our learned masters doe commonly cashiere out of the Creed the addition of the cōmunion of saints it is but a fruit of the harnessing of his face and he is therefore bold to say it because he hath learned not to be ashamed of any thing that he list to say That by the Saints are there meant al good Christians all the faithful whether aliue or dead we will not denie Communion of Saints implieth neither Purgatorie nor praier to saints but that either praier to saints or praier for soules in purgatorie belong to this communion of Saints we neuer yet learned and are too old to learne it now For as for the Saints in heauen i Aug. de vera relig cap 55. Honoramus eos charitate non seruitute honorandi propter imitationem non propter religionem adorandi We honour them with loue as Austin saith but not with seruice to follow them by imitation not to adore them by religion and therefore not to pray vnto them Further entercourse as yet there is none betwixt them and vs because k Esay 63.16 they know vs not nor are acquainted with vs nor can we any way acquaint them what wee say vnto them Now beside the Saints triumphant in heauen wee acknowledge none but those that are militant vpon the earth because the holie Ghost diuideth the whole body of the Church into l Eph. 1.10 Col. 1.20 those that are in heauen and those that are in earth and pronounceth them all m Reu. 14.13 blessed that are dead in Christ as who rest from labours and sorrowes and thereby are discharged from all Purgatorie paines But if there be any soules in Purgatorie to which all good Christian soules should yeeld and affoord their helpe to doe them ease and this be one matter of the entercourse and communion of Gods Saints why doth the Pope violate the communion of Saints by withholding from those tormented soules that helpe and ease which he is able to affoord them Surely if he cannot doe them ease then is he an impudent liar and a notable impostour and cozener of the world If he can do it then is he a cruell wretch that without compassion suffereth poore souls to lie broiling in those fierie flames But we rather approoue the former member of this diuision and take him for a liar both for that without warrant hee thrusteth in Purgatorie into the articles of our faith and with lesse warrant challengeth the same for a iurisdiction to himselfe 13. W. BISHOP 10 The forgiuenesse of sinnes