founders were now liuing they could not take them for their owne Which generall tearmes M. Geffreyes returning from his trauells in forraine Coūtreys doth explicate more in particuler in his Sermon preached at Paules Crosse where it is like he spake the truth for the testimony and perpetuall memory whereof it was afterward put in print His words are these I may freely speake what I haue plainly seene in the course of some traucils Geffrey in his serm preached 1604. printed 1605. pag. 31. and obseruations of some courses That in Flaunders was neuer more drunkennes In Italy more wantonnesse In Iury more hypocrisy In Turky more impiety In Tartary more iniquity then is practised generally in England particulerly in London SECTION XXI The former Motiue is confirmed and by occasion thereof the necessity of keeping the Commaundments to obtaine Saluation is declared CONSIDERING with no little grief of mind the great dissolution of life and corruption of manners in our Countrey which your owne writers haue published to the world as hath been sayd we comfort our selues somwhat in this that it cannot be imputed to the euil disposition of the people who are known for the most part to be of a nature as much inclynod to vertue as any other people of Christendome whatsoeuer but the fault of all must be layd where it is vpon the Maisters and first Apostles of this new Ghospell Who as they were most vicious themselues so they left that pestilent seed of their doctrine before mentioned to their posterity from whence no better fruit can be expected Which doctrine of theirs as I know that your selfe many other ciuill Gentlemen do vtterly detest so I doubt not but that you are free from the guilt of those crymes wherof you are so deeply accused by your own maisters Neither do I thinke that any honest morall man whatsoeuer he say with his lipps can deny in his hart his owne freewill wherof he hath dayly experience in all his actions and operations or that he can be brought to thinke that God doth either command or counsell any thing which he giueth no grace to performe or that he can belieue in his conscience to be saued by fayth alone though he dyelin sin 1. Cor. 5.10 but rather I presume he beleeueth according to the Apostle that we must all appeare before the tribunall of God where euery one shall receiue according as he hath done in his life tyme good or euill Wherein to giue you some further light and to say something heere by way as I haue promised els where of the necessity of keeping Gods Cōmaundments if we meane to be saued I shall pray you to vnderstand and to take notice heer with me that the Commaundments may be considered two manner of wayes either simply and materially as they are the law of God or more fully and formally according to the end for which they were giuen including in them the loue of God according whereunto it is sayd that the loue of God is the first and greatest Commaundment and that he who loueth God hath fullfilled the law Which loue and friendship with God because all kind of sinne doth not breake or extinguish therefore according to the holy Fathers Tertul. l. de anima c. 17 S. Chrysost bom 24. in Matth. S. Hier. lib. 2. cont Iouin some sinnes are called great crymes some others little small or dayly offences Great sins are sayd to be against the Cōmaundmēts as they include the loue of God because great crymes depriue vs of it Little and small offences are sayd in the same sense not to be against but besides the Commaundments because they may stand with the loue and friendship of God and though they be neuer so many yet they do not deserue that Almighty God in respect of them alone should take his grace and fauour from vs. Matth. 7.3 Mat. 23.24 2. Cor. 3.11 Mat. 5.22.23.24 And so in Scripture some sinnes are compared to motes in the eye some to great beames some to gnats in the throat and some to Cammells some enter into the building of God which is of gould and siluer like vnto hay and stubble which shall be purged with fire and some ouerthrow the whole building which shall burne eternally Some are in danger of Iudgment Iac. 1.15 or of a Councell and some are to be punished with the fire of Hell some are vnperfect because no perfect consent is giuen vnto them and some are consumated which ingender death Those that are little in their owne Nature and do not depriue vs of the friendship of God but deserue to be pardoned with some kind of punishment in this life Aug. l. de Natura gratiac 22 or in the next S. Augustine doth exemplify in Abel the iust who perchance sayth he did laugh a little immoderatly or did iest too much or coueted some little thing intemperatly or plucke some fruite ouer greedily for the which no man of vnderstanding can imagine that God who loued him so deerly would damne him for they are so little either in respect of the smalnes of the matter or of the imperfect consent of the will which is giuen to them that with some temporall punishment of their owne Nature they deserue to be pardoned In which respect S. Augustine doth call them Veniall sinnes whereas the other that extinguish the loue of God in vs which is the life of the soule are therfore called Mortall or deadly sinnes And from S. Augustine August Enchirid. lib. c. 1.22 the Church hath borrowed these termes of the distinction of sinnes and teach that some are Veniall and some are Mortall Of Veniall sinnes therefore these places of Scripture are to be vnderstood where it is sayd For this or for the forgiuenesse of this sinne euery Saint shall pray vnto thee The iust man shall fall seauen times a day Where you see Psal 31.6 Iac. 3.2 1. Ioan. 1.8 Rom. 6.23 Ezech. 18.4 that there are some sinnes which do not exclude sanctity may stand with iustice In which sense it is also sayd In many things we do all offend if we shal say that we haue no sin we deceiue our selues and the truth of God is not in vs. Of Mortal sinne these other places must needs be meant where it is writen the rewards of sinne is death 1. Ioan. 3.8 Iac. 2.10 Deut. 17.26 Ezech. 18.24 the sting of death is sinne that is to say the instrument wherewith it killeth the soule that sinneth she shal dye he that sinneth is of the Diuell he that offendeth in one is guilty of all accursed be he that doth not remayne in all these words of the law and doth not fullfill them in his worke If the iust man turne away from his iustice c. shall he liue All the iustice which he hath done shall not be remembred in the prcuarication wherein he hath strayed and in the sinne wherein he hath sinned in them
other side begin with Pryde which is the root of all vice as the Catholikes begin with Humility which is the mother of all vertue For they teach their followers not to submit themselues to the iudgement of others in matters of Faith nor to any authority vpon earth of Church or Councell but rather to confide in the sense of their owne vnderstanding though they be neuer so simple which is the greatest and highest kynd of pryde that can be imagined next to the pryde of Lucifer For as he would haue made himselfe equall to God so euery Protestant if he follow his owne grounds compareth or rather preferreth himself in knowledge of the truth before the Church which is the Spouse of God infallibly assisted by his holy spirit as hereafter shall be proued Neither can they show one act of Christian humility or of those other supernaturall vertues aboue mentioned exercised or practised in any degree amongst them nor can they name any other commendable action of theirs wherin the heathens and such as are no Christians do not equalize and at least heretofore haue not much excelled them Many other poynts of doctrine also they teach which no vertuous mynd or well disposed nature amongst them would not be a shamed to follow being vtterly to be condemned by the very light of nature For they teach that we haue no free will to do well or ill which togeather with their doctrine of reprobation doth not only take away all meanes of doing well but also maketh it impossible to auoyd any sinne whereunto they affirme that men are compelled by the vnresistable power of God as in their opinion by the same necessity all men that do well are likewise impelled to vertue They teach also that it is impossible to keep the Commaundements and that Christians are deliuered from the obedience of them That Chastity is not to be vowed because it is not in our power VVhitak cont Camp rat 8. p. 153 from whence it followeth that it is not in the power of a man to be without a woman nor of a woman to be without a man which is a wholsome doctrine for yong vnmarried men and women Iacobus Andraeas Cont. 4. in cap. 22. Lucae Luther de captiu Babylon Perkins reformed Cath. pa. 9. M. Fulk against the. Rem Test fol. 447. willet Synop p. 560 and for such as are married whose partners are sick or absent from thē They contemne voluntary pouerty obedience set dayes of Easting Order of holy disciplyne and other good workes which as a pryme Protestant affirmeth is censured as new Papistry and new Monachisme amongst them They teach likewise that menare instified by only faith that they cannot loose their saluation vnlesse they will not belieue that he that doth once belieue can neuer loose his fayth by Adultery or any other sinne that sinne is not hurtfull to him that actually belieueth that vnto the faithfull professours all sinnes are veniall and vnto others all sinnes are mortall By which you see what a wyde gate they set open to all kind of sinne and sensuality the fruits whereof the Protestants themselues Luther in poliella cone 1. Dom. Aduent haue not been ashamed to confesse nor spared to publish that the seauenth head Diuell had inuaded the most part of their Ghospellers and made them worse then they were vnder the Pope that now euery man is possest with seauen Diuells whereas before to witt vnder the Pope they were but possest with one That in the Papacy men were religious in their errour euery man did willingly follow good workes Now in the light of the knowne truth they are more prophane then the sonnes of the world Looke vpon this cuangelicall people sayth Erasmus bring me forth one Prot. Apol pag. 414.415 whom this Ghospell of a gormandizer hath made sober of lewd chast I will shew thee many who are become worse then they were before And againe those whom before I haue knowne pure sincere and voyd of dissimulation hauing afterwards giuen themselues to this Ghospell they began to talke of wenches to become dycers to cast away their prayers most impatient reuengers of euery iniury vaine vypers in their manners and to haue cleane put off the nature of men I speake what I haue found by experience So far Erasmus You shall heare also how Musculus describeth his owne Lutherans Andraeas Muscul Dominica pruna Aduentus With vs Lutherans sayth he at this present thus standeth the case That if any be desirous to see a great rabble of knaues of persons turbulent deceitfull coseners and vsurers let him go to any Citty where the Ghospell is purely preached and he shall find them there by multitudes For it is more manifest then the day light that there were neuer among the Ethnicks Turkes and other Infidels more vnbridled vnruly persons with whome all vertue and honesty is quite extinct then are amongst the professors of the Ghospell The like description Castalio maketh vnto you Castalio apud Rescium p. 54. of them of Geneua who dwelled long among them and was a most particuler friend of Beza They are praud sayth he pufft vp with glory and reuenge their life is infamous and villanous they are Maisters of Art in reproches lyes cruelty treason and insupportable arrogancy They name their Geneua the holy Citty and their assemblyes Hierusalem but in very truth we should call it O Babylon Babylon ô most infamous Sodomy and children of Gomorrha Caluin lib. de scand p. 118.127 Whereunto Caluin himselfe giueth sufficient testimony where he asketh what other intention had the most that betooke themselues to the Ghospell but only the yoake of superstitiont being shaken off solutiùs in omnem lasciuiā diffluerent that with more liberty they might flow abroad and run out into all lasciuiousnes And to come nearer to you I must intreat you to be content to heare what some other good Protestants of our Nation haue writen of the manners of our owne Countrey For first of your Puritan preachers M. Sutcliffe writeth thus Sutcliffs answere to a ubell supplicatory pag. 89. Their pride sayth he malice cruelty couetousnes vsury glutony and chamber cheere which they call fasting and colour with tearmes of godly exercises do notoriously conuince them Neither yet sayth he further do I tell all for other matters I haue thought good to keep for a rare banquet c. And concerning the rest M. Stubs hauing told of his trauell in compassing the whole Realme about with a long and wearisom iourney sayth thus thereof As concerning the people Stubs in motiues to good works in the epistle ante med I haue found them in most places dissolute proud enuious malicious disdaynefull couetous ambitious carelesse of good workes a generall decay of good workes or rather a plaine defection and falling away from God and the ancient monuments Churches Schooles c. either quite dissolued or els so ruined and decayed as if the first
shall he dye This distinction therefore of Mortall and Venyal sin being thus declared it will be an easy matter to vnderstand or rather it is impossible for any man to be ignorant that whosoeuer committeth Mortall sinne becometh an enemy of God and that no man loueth God aboue all things who hateth not sinne aboue all thinges and keepeth not his Commaundments wherein the loue of God is included For conscience being nothing els but the light of reason either accusing or excusing our actions the fountayne of which light is the image of God within vs and the very essence of our humanity to iustify our selues in doing ill by the externall iustice of Christ what is it but to be deliuered ouer into a reprobate sense seeking as Luther did to become senselesse of sin to put out the light of the soule to murther cōscience to deface Gods image to peruert the very essence of our human Nature And sin againe being nothing els but the consent of the will to some thing against the rule of reason and especially of the reason of God which giueth a rule and a law to all things and being therfore contrary to God himselfe as it is impossible that God should not hate it or that he should hate any thing but it being goodnes itselfe so is it impossible that he should not hate the author or the doer of it God doth equally hate the sinner his sin his eyes are cleare that they may not see euill Sap. 14.9 Habac. 1. 13. they cannot looke fauorably vpon iniquity And therfore to abuse the mercy and goodnes of God so much as to thinke that he may be corrupted to loue vs remayning in sinne or not hating the same aboue all things to be hated is one of the greatest blasphemies and iniuries that can be done against God and the most vnnaturall sottish and diabolicall presumption in our selues that can be thought or deuised The difference also between the law and the Ghospell doth yet further discouer the monstrous prophanesse of this blasphemous opinion For being borne in sinne which is the greatest euill of any other without comparison alother euils being good in their owne Nature and proceeding from God either as the iust punishment of sinne or as the meanes to make vs better the law was giuen vnto vs that we might know sinnes and offences more perfectly thereby then otherwise we could by the obscure light of our owne corrupted nature Wherby also not being able to obserue it our wicked Nature taketh occasion to be more peruerse to hate the law and to oppose it selfe against it Rom. 7.9.11 I liued without the law sometime that is to say without the perfect knowledge of sinne which I receiued by the law but when the Commaundment was come sinne reuided it grew stronger had more force vpon me for sinne that is the cōcupiscence of our wicked nature taking occasion by the Commaundment seduced me and by it killed me Wherefore the law was so far from the iustifying of vs or deliuering vs from the bands of syn that it was an occasion to increase the same and to augment all those other miseryes which do follow of it But by the Ghospell that is to say by fayth in Christ through the merits of his Passion we receiue not only light to know our sins but also aboundant grace to auoyd and ouercome them And therfore being thus redeemed from the bondage as well of sinne as also of the law as it was an occasion of sinne and the iust punisher therof we are likewise deliuered from the malice of all our other miseries which sinne being taken away from whence it proceeded can hurt vs no longer except we list our selues but they turne to our greater good in this life and in the next to our greater glory Wherfore to hold that our Sauiour Christ hath not obtayned sufficient grace for all those that sincerely demaund it whereby to ouer come sinne and to keep the Commaundments of God what is it but to confesse that we are still subiect to the curse of the law What is it but to make voyd the power of the Ghospell to saluation What it is but to affirme that Christ dyed in vaine and to deny him to be our Redeemer who not being able to deliuer vs from the bondage of sinne in this life can lesse deliuer vs from the paynes thereof in the next because it is impossible but that God in his owne nature should hate it and therfore it must needs be granted that he will also punish it as long as it remayneth in vs or we in it that is to say eternally according to the Protestants doctrine and practise in whose Church is no remedy to clense vs of deadly sinnes committed after Baptisme nor to wash out of our soules the malice and filth of sinne which remayning as it must needs with them being once committed it is but a poore shift to tell vs that it shall not be imputed vnto vs. To conclude what is the Scripture it selfe but a deed of Couenant betweene God and man for the punishment of sinne and for the reward of vertue with temporall afflictions and benedictions in this life which are especially contayned in the old Testament and with eternall payne or endlesse felicity in the next which is especially declared in the new whereunto are adioyned many historyes examples counsells exhortations incouragements and prayses disuasions repronements disprayses in the hatred of the one and in the fauour of the other Wherfore to hold that we are iustifyed by faith alone though we liue in sinne what is it but to ouerthrow the whole Bible togeather with the truth the mercy and the iustice of God And in a word to make a hell of heauen and a heauen of hell And therfore no maruell that S. Hierome Hier. in expl Sim. Aug. ser de tempore 191. S. Augustine do call this heresy execrable blasphemy We do execrate or curse say they the blasphemy of those who say that God hath commaunded any thing to a man which as impossible Do you not know sayth S. Paul that the wicked shall not inherit the kingdome of God as if he should say 1. Cor. 6.9 how can yee be ignorant it being euident by the light of nature And then followeth Nolite errare as forseeing the monstrous errour of Luther and Caluin be not deceiued neither fornicators nor seruers of Idolls nor aduouterers nor effeminate nor such as sin carnally by themselues alone nor the lyers with man-kind nor raylers nor extorsioners shall possesse the Kingdom of God Where you see he ioyneth those other sinnes with the sinne of Idolatry and excludeth the one 1. Cor. 5.11 as well as the other from the kingdome of heauen And therefore he forbiddeth vs to keep company or to eate with such kind of persons if they be Christians And againe Ephes 5.6 For vnderstanding know yee as if men
of vnderstanding could not be ignorant of it that no fornicator or vncleane or couetous person hath inheritance in the kingdome of Christ and of God And theÌ„ followeth Let no man seduce you with vaine wordes speaking directly of the seducers of these tymes for from these thinges come the anger of God vpon the children of diffidence become not therefore partakers with them c. In which place he goeth further on speaking much more to the same purpose And els wher The works of the flesh are manifest which are fornicatioÌ„ vncleanes Gal. 5.19 dissensions sects c. which I fortell you as I haue fortold you that they who do such things shall not obtayne the kingdome of God All which most expresse places being written to saythfull and meant of the saythfull euen in the most pure and sincere tymes of the Apostolike Church it is manifest that no faith could excuse them but did rather augment their sinne in such cases and increase their damnation according to the sentence of our Sauiour The child that knoweth the will of his Father Luc. 12.47 Hebr. 10.26.27.28.29 doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes Which is also confirmed by S. Paul where he sayth If we sinne willingly after the knowledge of the truth receiued now is there not left an host for sinnes Where his meaning is that albeit in Baptisme all sinnes are easily forgiuen yet such as belieue offending after Baptisme haue no such easy means to be forgiuen but must redeeme their sinnes by pennance and such other hard remedies Cyril l. in 10. cap. 17. as the Church prescribeth after Baptisme For if they do not nothing remayneth but a certayne terrible expectation of iudgment and rage of fire which shall consume the aduersaries as it followeth in the same place And he addeth immediatly If a man making frustrate the law of Moyses without mercy dyeth how much more thinke you doth he deserue worse punishments who hath troaden the Sonne of God vnder foot and esteemed the bloud of the testament polluted wherein he is sanctified and hath done contumely to the spirit of grace Which words although they be principally spoken of Heresy and Apostasy from the Catholike Church yet must they needs be also vnderstood of all other Mortall sinnes which S. Paul placeth in the same ranke with Idolatry and sects and diuisions as you haue heard and do equally exclude the doers of them from the kingdome of Heauen Wherefore to draw to an end I say with the holy Ghost whome I beseech to open the harts of all those that with indifferent mind shall read this SectioÌ„ Rom. 1.2 to see the truth of this cleare doctrine that as all those are inexcusable before God who do not giue him thanks nor glorify him by obeying his Commaundments Rom. 1.25 Rom. 1. â—2 Rom. 2.1.2 but dishonour him preferring the loue of the creature before the loue of God doing those thinges which they know to be worthy of death which they condemne in others and for the which they beleeue Rom. 5. that God himselfe doth lastly condemne them whome they confesse to be no excepter of persons but to giue euery one according to his wokes 1. Ioan. 5.3 Matt. 11.30 Rom. 8.3 So there can be no other true ground of our iustification but only the loue of God â—owred not aboundâ—â—tly into out harts by the holy Ghost who is giuen vnto vs which maketh his Commaundments not to be heauy his yoake sweet his burden easy For that which was impossible to our weake flesh the Sonne of God taking flesh aid conquer sinne in the flesh Rom. 8.4 Gal. 5.17 Rom. 8.6 Rom. 8.5 that the iustification or obseruation of Gods Commaundment might be fullfilled is vs. Not walking according to the flesh but according to the spirit for the spirit and the flesh are contrary lusting and couetting one against the other The wisedome loue and pleasure of the flesh is death but the wisedome of the spirit is life and peace Gal. 5.14 Rom. 8.7 they that liue according to the flesh sauour those thinges that are pleasing to the flesh but they that liue according to the spirit delight in that which is pleasing to the spirit and haue crucified their flesh with her vices and concupiscences Rom. 8.13.14 Rom. 6.11.16 They that are in the flesh or giue way to the desires thereof cannot please God for the wisedome of the flesh is an enemy to God for it is not subiect to his law nor can be subiect and therfore they that liue according to the flesh shall dye but such as are led by the spirit of God RoÌ„ 7.20 are the sonnes of God and because by the spirit they mortify the deeds of the flesh Apoc. 2.16 Tit. 4.7 therefore they shall liue If we consent to the motions of the flesh to obey the concupiscence therof sin raigneth in vs For we are the seruants of him whome we obey either in sinne vnto death or of obedience to iustice and life euerlasting But if we consent not and oppose our wills against it it is the outward man that doth it but the inward man will not do it And therfore because it is not his worke he shall not be punished for it but rather shall be rewarded for his fight against it And this is the greatest assurance which the state of faith can affoard vs that our consciences do not reprehend vs 1. Ioan. 3.21 but rather giue testimony vnto vs that we resist and oppose our selues constantly against our spirituall enemyes not yeilding at any tyme vnto them but euermore obseruing faithfully the will of God in keeping his Commaundements because this conquest being impossible by nature we may be sure that we are assisted therin by the holy grace of God without the which we could not obtayne it But he that sayth he is the sonne of God 1 Ioan 2.4 and doth not loue him or who sayth that he knoweth God and doth not keep his Commaundements is a lyer and the truth of God is not in him Ioan. 14.23.24 Who keepeth his Commaundements he it is that loueth God and he that loueth him not keepeth not his word And this is the mayne and the great argument wherin S. Paul seemeth to glory and was not ashamed to preach Christ Crucified to the mighty men both of the Iewes and of the Gentils because saith he the doctrine thereof is the vertue and power of God to saluation Rom. 1. For it reuealeth vnto vs how we should obtayne the grace of inward goodnes of true inherent iustice at the hand of God by vniting our selues vnto Christ the sonne of God which we cannot do but by making our selues the members of his body which is the Church of God Out of the which as all are concluded vnder sinne so all remayne in their sinnes which they may change but cannot put of and the more they striue against