for qualities haue their subiects according to the places That an accident cannot be togither in two subiects and it is vnpossible for them to be the same in number at one time in diuers subiects but all the parts of a liuing creature be the verie same in subiect and one by the knitting togither of members D. Tresham The reason of Didymus dooth procéed from that that is of it owne nature in manie places and not otherwise And all the Doctors agrée that Christ was borne his mothers wombe being close and that he rose the sepulchre being shut and that he went vnto his disciples when the doores were fast And Hugo de sancto victore saith that The angels are not circumscribed by place Wherefore although the bodie of Christ be properlie in heauen yet bicause it is spirituall it is not repugnant to the power of God but that it may be in manie places D. Martyr Whether the fathers vnderstand their reasons touching that which in his owne proper nature is in manie places I haue alreadie answered As touching the virgines wombe the sepulchres and the doores being fast shut oppose you and I will answer in place conuenient As for Hugo de sancto victore and others when they saie that angels are not conteined within the precinct of place they must I saie be vnderstood as concerning locall compasse whereby the bodies which are among vs are compassed about with the circumference of the aire or some other thing conteining them But these things cannot so be taken that the angels or anie creature should be vnderstood to haue no definit substance so as when they be in anie one place they cannot be else-where And so I returne to the argument it is a firme conclusion This thing is in manie places Therefore it is the Godhead D. Tresham I answer Christ is God and now the speach betwéene vs is as concerning the bodie which hath the Godhead ioined therewith D. Martyr I demand of you Is the bodie of Christ a thing created or no D. Tresham I grant it is but Christ is no creature D. Martyr But I saie that Christ is both to wit a creator and a creature Christ by reason of his sundrie natures is both a creature and a creator As touching his Godhead he is a creator and as touching his humanitie a creature and if a creature as these fathers doo affirme he cannot be in diuers places at once D. Tresham That which Christ tooke once vpon him he neuer let go and therefore bicause of his Godhead which is inseparablie knit vnto his bodie Christ must not be diuided but yet his natures must be disseuered the bodie of Christ may be in manie places D. Martyr We likewise doo not diuide Christ and yet will we haue both his natures to be whole And sith the Godhead doth not cause but that the bodie of Christ is a creature and you haue now heard out of Basil and Didymus that the powers created cannot be in manie places at once you your selfe sée what dooth follow D. Tresham They disputed of the nature of the thing not of the absolute power of God neither is reason or sense to be followed in matters of faith otherwise manie absurdities wold follow in matters of faith D. Martyr I cannot tell how they could haue spoken more apparantlie of the power of God when as Cyrill dooth not exclude euen the diuinitie it selfe when he saith If it were of quantitie it might not choose but be circumscribed And I acknowledge that which you saie that in matters of faith we must not follow reason nor yet sense Howbeit it is no article of the faith that the bodie of Christ is in manie places at once sith the scriptures doo not teach this anie where Naie rather we learne otherwise out of them to wit that Christ is verie man and that he hath a verie bodie whereto is verie agréeable that it should be limited within bounds and compassed within some certeine place And touching his bodie we beléeue that he is ascended into heauen that he hath left the world and sitteth at the right hand of the father The disputation of the second day which was the 29. daie of Maie betweene D. Peter Martyr and D. William Chadse D. Peter Martyr I Thinke it not méet right honorable that I should vse at this present anie preface For yesterdaie we declared those things which were thought good to be applied to the present purpose And by your good foresight authoritie it hapned that all things were peaceablie and quietlie performed which I hope this daie shall no lesse come to passe Now maister Doctour as concerning the matter you being present yesterdaie might sufficientlie vnderstand what questions are propounded perceiue some reasons of mine opinion wherefore to procéed in our purpose I desire you to shew what you doo iudge touching the questions neither doo I feare but that all things shall be spoken of you with indifferencie and modestie Howbeit before you answer you shall suffer me according to my accustomed maner to call for the helpe of God The Praier YEsterdaie O almightie GOD we began by thy gratious goodnesse to dispute and since this daie also wee shall proceed in that businesse we call vpon thee againe who art the founteine of light the most perfect truth and the most cleere wisedome that thou wilt so direct our words that we fall not into absurdities but rather that those things which shall be handled may both become more plaine and also be set foorth to the praise and glorie of thy name through Christ our Lord Amen The Preface of D. VVilliam Chadse GReat is the matter right famous Doctor and full of mysteries which yesterdaie was handled this daie shall be handled Great bicause we dispute of the bodie wherewith we be satisfied and doo liue for euer and of the bloud whereof wée drinke and which redéemeth the people a thing full of mysteries for vnlesse ye beléeue you shall not vnderstand My words are spirit and life It is the spirit which quickeneth Iohn 6. the flesh profiteth nothing The Capernaites heare and saie This is a hard saieng and who is able to abide it The Christians heare and crie incessantlie with Peter Thou hast the words of eternall life Iohn 6 68. we beleeue and knowe that thou art the waie the truth and the life We beléeue that thou diddest promise the holie Ghost not which should come after one or two thousand yeares but euen within a few daies after that thou hadst spoken it We acknowledge the performance of this thy holie spirit he shall lead vs into all truth he shall teach vs all things whatsoeuer thou hast said vnto vs. Forsomuch therefore as thou art true yea the verie truth it selfe sith those things which haue gone foorth of thy lips cannot be frustate I firmelie beléeue from thy mouth and pronounce it from my hart as touching the presence of thy bodie in the
words in them but rather maruell thou at the power of the crosse which Christ suffereth not to be made voide by mans eloquence Yea rather when these thinges come to minde let vs giue thanks vnto our good God who would haue these testimonies of his wil to be sealed vp that wee béeing dull of memorie shoulde not forget them and that euerie man at his owne pleasure shoulde not deuise a doctrine in the Churche but that there might be extant a publike patterne whereby the sayings of all men might be prooued and throughly tried Luke 1. ◠And therefore Luke in the Preface of his Gospell that he might acknowledge the certeintie of those thinges whereof he was taught testifieth that he therefore wrote vnto Theophilus that hée might knowe the certeintie of those thinges wherof he was instructed Whosoeuer therfore beléeueth in Christ if he turne ouer the Booke he by the meanes thereof through the holy Ghost is euerie day made more assured of those things which he professeth For as Iron is by vse purged from rust A similitude and doeth the more glister and shewe bright so the doctrines of godlinesse which are contained in the holy Scriptures the more often they be reade the more manifest and true they appeare vnto vs. Plato in his Booke of lawes thinketh méete to giue commaundement to the husbandman that he doe not water his grounde with other mens water Digge saieth he a well therein that thou maiest vse the waters thereof when néede shall require Wherefore God also woulde that in the Church which is his vineyarde shoulde flowe a perpetuall reading of the scriptures whereby the necessarie water of the worde of GOD might be ministred to our faith which oftentimes waxeth drie It was a familiar saying in the mouth of Socrates when he was vrged to say or doe any thing If my good spirit shall permit me The Demon of Socrates For he had such a one who was as his counsellour or kéeper But wee must perpetually cleane vnto the worde of God as vnto a Counsellour when any thing is set foorth to be doone or beléeued we must answere so much as by the word of God shall be lawfull and in all our affaires take Counsell thereof faithfully The holy historie teacheth that there was a laudable custome of the people of GOD that as touching euery enterprise they first tooke Counsell of God before they tooke in hand to doe the same Iud. 1. 1. In the Booke of Iudges after the death of Iosua the Israelites demaund who shoulde goe vp against the enemies In the first Booke of Samuel 1. Sam. 30. 8 Dauid asketh whether he should followe after the théeues which had destroyed and burned the Citie of Ziklag Yea and Achab 1. kings 22. 6. although he were a wicked man went not altogether from his Countrie manner nay rather when he should fight against the king of Syria he tooke Counsell of God by the Prophets Therefore wee also must not attempt any thing wherein wee haue not first perswaded our conscience by the worde of God that the worke which wée take in hande is good and shall be acceptable vnto the Maiestie of God The Poets vaunted that their harmonie songes and verses wherewith men were delighted nay rather deceiued were not made by man but were drawen from Helicon Pernassus the fountaine of Castalius Pegasus or Caballinus frō the forrest of Cythaeron the Muses recyting them which as they be false lyes so is it most true that the doctrine which we now commende is drawen out of heauen and communicated vnto the Church vpō Mount Syna in Ierusalem and vpon Mount Sion Exod. 20. Esa 2. 3. as we reade in Exodus and as Esaie hath testified Out of Sion shall come a lawe and the worde of the Lorde from Ierusalem The Oracles of the Ethnikes In olde time the Ethnicks had secrete places in temples doores vnder the grounde a Caudron for sacrifice a Trenet vnder which they put fire brasse of Dodona most auncient Okes dennes Images names written in leaues and briefely vnprofitable Temples and innumerable wayes did the Diuell mocke them But vnto vs in the stead of all those things is by the mercie and goodnesse of God set foorth the onely Oracle of the holy Scriptures Pythagoras is for this cause not a litle famous that he had conference with Oules and Eagles Pompilius talked with the Nymphe Aegeria Apollonius Thyaneus as the histories report or rather fable vnderstoode the singing and chattering of little byrdes But vnto vs doeth the true God the Creator of heauen and earth speake most manifestly in the Scriptures by Moses by the Prophetes by his onely sonne Iesus Christ and by his Apostles and doeth so speake as he changeth the soules the hearts the mindes and the whole man and of stones is able to make the sonnes of Abraham not whom he may like fabulous Amphion forcibly drawe to the walles of Thebe but whom he may builde vppon Christ because he is both the onely and sounde foundation aswell of the Apostles as Prophets Let the Poets boast as they will that Orpheus tamed the wilde beastes we in the meane time being taught by experience will not doubt but that the wordes of the Scriptures turne them into the sonnes of God which before were serpents and generations of Vypers Whereupon Paul mentioning vnto Tytus what manner of persons we were before we were regenerated in Christ saieth Matt. 3. 7. Titus 3. 3. For wee also in times past were fooles disobedient going astray seruing lustes and diuerse pleasures liuing in malitiousnesse and enuie being hated and hating one another And vnto the Corin. the first Epistle and 6. Chapter Verse 11. when he had recited many detestable crimes he added And such were you in deede but nowe are ye washed ye are sanctified ye are iustified And séeing that to the breaking of our hearts which be hard and obstinate there should be néede not of weake instrumentes but rather of most strong engines for that cause GOD reuealed vnto his Church no faint or dull manner of spéeche but such as was deliuered by many of the Prophets and in diuerse manners For it exhorteth terrifieth driueth forwarde calleth backe teacheth confuteth promiseth threateneth pronounceth sigheth prayeth beséecheth praiseth dispraiseth sheweth things past declareth things present prophesieth things to come and as most soft waxe it is bended vnto all formes to the ende it may bow the stonie hearts of the vngodly Wherefore not wtout good cause it ought to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a vanquisher of all Yea and Sathan although he be most mightie was driuen out of the wicked bodie of Saul which was appointed to vtter destruction 1. Sa. 16. 23. being not able to abide the songes of Dauid the Musitian of the holy spirit By them the olde serpent being inchaunted was after a sort burst in péeces Matth. 4. And the same Sathan was driuen
kinds of visions which he calleth corporall againe another sort he calleth spirituall which consisteth of shewes or images and haue place about the phantasie or power imaginatiue the last kind he nameth intellectuall bicause they be onelie comprehended by reason and iudgement of the mind But those which he maketh imaginatiue namelie the second sort he sheweth as we also declared a little before that they doo not make prophets and saith that Ioseph was a far truer prophet than Pharao And the selfe-same thing may we saie of the souldier Iudg. 17 4. that in Gedeons hearing interpreted the dreame of his fellowe-souldier to wit that he rather was the prophet than he that had the vision But in this order or degrée of prophets Daniel excéeded all others Dan. 2 29. For hée not onlie interpreted the kings visions but euen when the king had forgotten what he had séene in his sléepe he was able to call it to his remembrance Moreouer he not onelie interpreted what visions other men had but also was instructed from God in things that he himselfe had séene 10 Sometimes also dreams come of the diuell For Augustine in his booke before alleged De genesi ad litteram telleth of one possessed with a diuell which by a vision told the verie houre that the préest should come vnto him by what places he passed And we are not ignorant that among the Ethnicks Somtimes the Oracles of the Ethnicks made answere by dreames there were oracles where men abode all the night to obteine the interpretation of their visions and dreams such was the oracle of Amphiarias Amphilocus Trophonius and Aesculapius In those places an euill spirit shewed them that were a sléepe medicines remedies to heale their sicke folks at which time also they gaue answere as touching other matters And for the obteining of such dreams visions they which came to inquire of anie thing were inioined to vse certeine choise of meates to lie apart from others and to haue certeine daies of clensing And it is said that the Pythagorians abstained from eating of beanes Pythagorians bicause they bred troublesome dreames But our God to the intent he would declare himselfe not to be bound to such things shewed Daniel the kings dreame after that he and his fellowes had besought God for the same by praier But that the diuell can put himselfe among mens dreames there is no doubt since by his helpe there haue béene and yet are many false prophets Augustine Wherevpon Augustine in his booke now before recited the 19. chapter saith that If an euill spirit doo possesse men he maketh them either demoniaks or out of their wits or else false prophets and contrariwise a good spirit maketh faithfull prophets vttering mysteries to the edifieng of others He also demandeth in the 11. chapter of the same booke To discerne betweene the visions of a good spirit and an euill how the difference betwéene the reuelations of good and euill spirits may be discerned the one from the other And he answereth that the same cannot be doone without the gift of discerning of spirits But he addeth that an euill spirit dooth alwaies at the last lead men to wicked opinions and naughtinesse of maners although that at the beginning the difference cannot be perceiued without the gift of the holie Ghost In his 100. Epistle to Euodius when he had asked the same question he saith I would to God I could perceiue the difference betwéene visions which are giuen to deceiue me and those which are giuen to saluation But yet we must be of good chéere bicause God suffereth his children sometime to be tempted but not to perish Aristotle held that God sendeth not dreames 11 But what answere shall we make Aristotle who denieth that dreames come of God for this cause specially bicause he would then giue the power of diuination to the good and wise not to the foolish and wicked men We may answere that for the most part the true prophets which are lightened by God in their dreams and visions are both good and godlie But yet that it may not be thought that the power of God is tied to the wisedome and maners of men God will sometime vse the ministerie of the vngodlie in such things Why God doth sometime vse the euill prophets to the intent the great and woonderfull strength of his prouidence may be declared which is able to vse all kind of meanes Furder as Tertullian writeth in his booke De anima séeing he distributed his sunne and raine to the iust and vniust alike it ought to be no maruell if he impart these gifts also especiallie which are of force vnto mans erudition aswell to the bad as to the good And least we should be ignorant of his fashion the holie historie declares that the verie Ethniks were oftentimes warned and corrected by God in their sléepe Gen. 12 17. So was Pharao the king of Aegypt commanded to restore Abraham his wife againe And in the like sort was Abimelech king of Gerar warned of the same matter Gen. 20 6. And Tertullian addeth that Euen as God Tertullian when he instructeth the wicked in their dreams dooth it to make them good so the diuell contrariwise inuadeth the godlie in their sléepe that in their dreams he may seduce them from the waie of righteousnesse Aristotle thought that God in disposing of his gifts should speciallie haue respect to the wise and to the philosophers whereas Christ our sauiour taught a quite contrarie lesson saieng I thanke thee ô father Matt. 11 25. that hiding these things from the wise prudent thou hast reuealed them vnto little ones And Paule said God rather reuealeth mysteries vnto the simple than to the wise that the calling of God did chéeflie appertain to the poore to the vnlearned to the weaker sort And other argument was that the verie brute beasts doo dreame in their sléepes when as yet no man will saie 1 Cor. 1 26. that their dreams are disposed or ministred by God That same philosopher is deceiued in thinking that if God send some dreams vnto men he must therefore be the author of all dreams God sendeth some dreams but not all which without doubt is farre from our sense For we refer not all naturall things to GOD himselfe as peculiar effects whereby he instructeth men immediatlie as the schoolemen speake of things to come Of what causes dreams arise in brut beasts we haue sufficientlie shewed before And to speake Logikelike it is no good argument that is taken from the particular to the vniuersall affirmatiuelie So that if God suggest some dreams we must not therevpon gather that all dreams aswell in beasts as in men doo come of him For otherwise brute beasts haue the power of hearing neither doo they want eares yet bicause God dooth not send prophets to speake vnto them we may not conclude that he dooth neuer
are brought in by the naughtie practise of the papists yet shall those also by the helpe of God be one daie taken quite awaie but if they were gods indéed they would surelie defend themselues Aphrodisaeus Aphrodisaeus saith that There is a certeine generall power which by the properties of things such as be herbes stones and metals must be drawne vnto euerie particular thing I admit it be so yet no such thing can be brought to passe vpon the sudden for the works of nature haue their time course But Christ vpon the sudden turned water into wine Iohn 2 8. vpon the sudden restored the blind and lame Matth. 11 5. Of the Platonists 13 Indéed the Platonists grant that there be spirits but they saie that they haue bodies either waterie or aierie or fierie These things doubtlesse they speake howbeit they speake such things as will not agrée one with another For if the bodies of spirits be elementarie Whether the bodies of spirits be elementarie how commeth it to passe that they be eternall For the elements haue both cold and heate qualities both actiue and passiue and sometime they striue one with another and sometime they perish Others reason after this sort Forsomuch as there be extremities we must also grant that there is a meane but heauen is eternal and mens bodies are fraile and mortall wherefore of necessitie something must be put betwéene these two that may be partaker of both This is no necessarie argument For first we grant that certeine minds there be void of bodies such as are the angels and those intelligencies which driue the celestiall spheres further that the soules of our bodies are the other extreame Of other meane things there is no néed But they saie that as fishes be in the sea and foules in the aire so there must be spirits cōuersant in the fier This is of no necessitie For liuing creatures are not made for the elements but the elements for liuing creatures and liuing creatures were made for mans sake Now what vse can there come vnto man by those liuing creaturs which abide in the fier Howbeit if these men will vrge further concerning the vpper region of the aire we will not denie but that there be spirits there For so Paule to the Ephesians saith Ephe. 2 2. 6 12. After the prince that ruleth in the aire and afterward in the same epistle We wrestle not against flesh and bloud but against principalities powers of this aire Chrysost Also Chrysostom in his 11. homilie vpon the first epistle to the Thessalonians saith that the whole aire is full of spirits But let vs consider of the bodies of these spirits for they can be no aierie bodies séeing the aire is a bodie of one kind For euerie part of the aire is aire and there can be no reason giuen whie one part thereof should be a spirit more than another and by that meanes the whole vniuersall aire should be one continued bodie of spirits Moreouer the bodie of a liuing creature must be instrumentall and haue bones sinewes parts and seuerall members but these things cannot be made of the aire Furthermore a bodie must haue fashions forms which things cannot so much as be imagined in the aire But there be you will saie fashions and distinct formes in the clouds I grant it but they consist not of aire onelie or alone And yet this argument is not firme for spirits may take vnto them the bodies of other things Wherefore some doo rather argue on this sort Spirits haue bodies either celestiall or elementarie if celestiall then their moouing must be round or circle-wise as the moouing of the heauens is if elementarie they must of necessitie followe the motion of that element whereof they had their bodies Demons be spirits 14 But to let these things passe The scriptures doo not make Daemons to haue bodies but to be spirits onlie Now spirits bodies by an Antithesis are put as contraries For euen as a spirit is no bodie so likewise a bodie is no spirit Luk. 24 39. And Christ saith A spirit hath no flesh nor bones And that Daemons be spirits is prooued by infinit testimonies of the scriptures In the historie of Achab thus the diuell speaketh I wil be a lieng spirit in the mouth of all the prophets of Achab. 1. Kin. 22 22 And Christ cast out an vncleane spirit Matt. 12 43. the vncleane spirit wandered through drie and desert places afterward he tooke to himselfe seuen other spirits woorse than himselfe Naie verilie will you saie these spirits are but onlie certeine impulsions of the minds such as be the spirits of wisedome and the spirits of knowledge yes in verie déed they be substances Matt. 18 10. For Christ saith that They behold the face of his father and he shall pronounce at the latter daie Matt. 25 41. Go ye cursed into euerlasting fire prepared for the diuell and his angels Wherefore séeing the holie scriptures doo call Daemons by the name of spirits I sée no cause why anie should attribute bodies vnto them But I speake not here of bodies which are assumed and are come vnto them but of such as be proper to them and of their owne I knowe there be other men somewhat sharpe witted indéed which saie that Daemons be spirits in comparison of vs euen as on the other side angels in comparison of God may be said to haue bodies and after this maner they saie that Augustine affirmeth Daemons to haue bodies And they saie also that Barnard was of the same opinion both in his treatise to Eugenius and also vpon the Canticles howbeit there be some which interpret Barnard to speake of bodies assumed But séeing the holie scriptures as I said doo call Daemons spirits I sée no cause why we should imagine them to haue bodies Foure kinds of spirits For in the scriptures we sée that there are foure kinds of spirits First in verie déed GOD himselfe is a spirit for he hath no néed of a bodie either for his being or for his doing of anie maner of thing The next be angels as well good as bad neither doubtles haue they néed of bodies as touching their owne proper actions but to communicate in actions with vs they haue néed of bodies for as we read in the epistle to the Hebrues Heb. 1 14. They be administring spirits The third sort are the spirits of men which doubtles that they might haue their being haue no néed of bodies for they haue their being and doo liue euen when they are separated from their bodies yet about their owne proper actions as to haue sense or to growe they cannot be without bodies The last be the spirits of brute beasts which neither can haue their being nor doo anie thing without bodies By this diuision we sée that there is no néed at all for Daemons to haue bodies for
was not a man but a spirit For if thou wert a man saith he how diddest thou knowe that the wind came from the wildernesse Or if thou wert there how happeneth it that thou wert not destroied with the rest They take to themselues airie bodies A good part of the writers thinke that the spirits doo frame themselues bodies of the aire for that there must be a certeine Sympathia or mutuall agréement betwéene the place and the inhabitants thereof and that the diuels as wée haue said before haue their habitation in the aire wherfore it is credible that they applie vnto themselues fit bodies of the aire Further they adde that it behooueth that the bodies of them should be light and nimble for spirits as Tertullian saith be as it were fowles and doo most swiftlie flie ouer all places Besides this they adde that experience teacheth that those bodies be airie for that there had béene some men which indeuoured sometime to cut and wound them but yet they could not preuaile for they gaue place to the blowes and straitway came togither againe Wherefore the poet Virgil trimlie pronounced of Anchyses which missing his wife in the flight of Troie séeming to him that he sawe hir spirit said Three times about hir necke I sought mine armes to set and thrise In vaine hir likenes fast I held for through my hands she flies Like wauering wind or like to dreames that men full swift espies Moreouer these bodies doo soone vanish from the sight but and if they were earthie there would remaine some massie substance if they were waterie they would run abroad if they were of fire they would burne and might not be handeled But the spirits doo thicken and engrosse these bodies by strait trussing of the parts togither for otherwise they might not be séene or touched Abraham sawe angels Gen. 18 2. and washed their féete set meate before them and they also did eate 26 Howbeit Whether they be bodies or but imaginations some thinke that those are no bodies but are onlie certeine imaginations in the minds of men But others answer that that cannot generallie be true for that they which be mocked by such visions are depriued of their senses But neither is this certeine for they that haue the phrensie are so deceiued manie times and yet they can vse their senses For they feare they run awaie they be troubled in spirit and they crie out Others saie that they be no phantasies bicause they be séene of a great multitude of men togither now it is hard to deceiue a great manie togither For angels were séene of the whole housholds of Lot and Abraham Gen. 19 1. But the holie scriptures prooue That they were true bodies without all doubt that these were not vaine imaginations onlie for the diuell did in verie déed enter into the serpent to the intent he might entice Eue to be deceiued Which thing the curse Gen. 3 1. Ibid. 14. wherewith the serpent was cursed dooth sufficientlie declare Vpon thy bellie shalt thou crall and the seed of the woman shall tread downe thy head For that is true not onlie as touching Christ and the diuell but also as touching men and the serpent And further as I said before the angels offered themselues to be séene of Abraham and of Lot Neither were these anie phantasies for the angels were handled with the hands and when Lot made some delaie of departing out of Sodom Gen. 13 21. they in a manner drew him out of the citie by force The Iewes in the daie-time sawe a smoke and in the night-time a flame So often as they were to take their iournie there entred in a spirit which moued those things For as the light of the sunne doth pearse the water the clouds and the aire so a spirit pearseth through all things Exo. 19 16. When the lawe was giuen vpon Sina there were séene both lightenings smokes vapours and fires also the land was shaken with earthquakes When Christ ascended into heauen the angels accompanied him for they both offered themselues to be séene and spake also vnto the disciples Acts. 1 10. Yee men of Galile why stand yee gazing vp vnto heauen Wherefore it were an impudent part to saie that all these things were onlie imaginations and deceiuings of the mind Yea and the Peripatetiks did neuer so saie that these are onlie vaine images and fained shewes in mans imagination They rather inuented other reasons namelie that they be humors secret powers of nature and celestiall bodies An obiection 2. Thess 2 9. Why then thou wilt alledge doth Paule saie to the Thessalonians that Antichrist shall come in power in woonders and signes of lieng For if they be true things how commeth it to passe then that they be signes of lieng I answere that they may be called lies either of the cause for the diuell being authour of them is a lier Ibidem 10 and 11. or else of the end for he shall make them to the end he may deceiue men And assuredlie the wicked are woorthie so to be deceiued and mocked The wicked are worthie to be deceiued For euen as Paule saith Bicause they receiued not the loue of the truth God shall send them strong delusions Euen so in the apostles time 1. Cor. 5 5. men were deliuered to sathan But sometimes these things be done to shew the mightie power of God for séeing the power of the diuell is so great it is requisit that the power of God whereby he is brideled and ruled should be much greater But it is our part to giue God continuall thanks by whose onlie benefit we are defended from the diuell Wherefore these bodies which the spirits doo applie vnto themselues be airie For euen as water is congealed into yse and sometime hardneth till it become christall euen so the aire wherwith spirits doo cloth themselues is thickned so that it becommeth a visible bodie but if it may séeme that the aire alone is not sufficient they can also mingle some vapour or water withall whereof colours may be had For this we sée to be done in the rainbowe as saith Virgil The rainebowe downe did come with siluer wings of dropping showers Whose face a thousand sundrie hewes against the sunne deuoures 27 There is no néed at all to attribute vnto diuels and angels those vitall parts namelie the lungs hart and liuer for they doo not therefore put on bodies to the end they may quicken them but onlie that they may be séene and therefore they vse them as instruments How the angels and spirits doo eate Luke 24 43. But thou wilt saie that they doo eate and that Christ when he was risen from death did eate with his disciples Augustine in his 94 epistle Ad Deo gratias quaest 1. saith that In Christ that eating was of no necessitie but of power and he vseth this similitude For in one sort saith he doth the earth
sent And againe He shall receiue of mine The fourth reason Iohn 16 14. whereby is signified that the holie Ghost dooth so differ from the Father and the Sonne as he is deriued from both And least that anie man should thinke that when Christ promised that the holie Ghost shuld come vpon the beléeuers as in the daie of Pentecost it came to passe onlie a diuine inspiration and motion of the mind was signified the words of Christ are against it wherein he said The fift reason Iohn 14 26. He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance which I haue told you But inspiration and motion of the mind doo not teach nor prompt anie thing but are onelie instruments whereby something is taught and prompted And the action of teaching and prompting cannot be attributed but vnto one that is a person indéed Which is prooued by other words of Christ when he said of the holie Ghost The sixt reason Iohn 16 13 He shall speake whatsoeuer he shall heare And that this third person procéedeth from the Father and the Sonne it is euident enough in the same Gospell of Iohn where it is written Iohn 15 26 The 7. reason When the Comforter shall come whom I will send vnto you euen the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father Séeing the sonne saith that he will send the Spirit and as we said before affirmeth him to receiue of his no man doubteth but that hée procéedeth from the sonne And he now expresselie addeth Who proceedeth from the Father 8 Now haue we first declared out of the holie scriptures Whether the holie Ghost be God that the person of the holie Ghost is distinguished as well from the Father as the Sonne and that he procéedeth from them both Now must we sée whether he be God This dooth Paule shew two maner of waies first when it is said There be diuersitie of gifts but one Spirit The first reason 1. Cor. 12 4. diuersitie of operations but one and the same God But to giue gifts and spirituall faculties is no whit lesse than to distribute operations wherefore séeing the holie Ghost is said to distribute gifts God to impart actions vnto men it is manifest that the holie Ghost is God If the spirit be the author of graces the Father of operations it is méet that the holie Ghost should be equall to God the Father Further it is added that The same spirit dooth worke all these things The second reason 1. Co. 12 11 distributing to euerie one euen as he will Séeing then the souereigne choise is in him to impart heauenlie gifts he is God And it is written Ye are the temple of God 1. Cor. 3 16. The third reason and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you if anie man doo violate the temple of God him shall God destroie But it is not méete for anie creature to haue a temple séeing the same is proper vnto the diuine nature Wherefore séeing we be called The temples of the holie Ghost it is now manifest that he is God And least we should thinke it lawfull to build temples vnto martyrs Augustine saith that temples are not builded vnto martyrs let vs heare Augustine who denieth that we build temples vnto martyrs we build them saith he vnto God although they be called The memories of martyrs and out of Augustine himselfe is this forme of reasoning gathered Neither did the apostle but onlie once saie that We are the temples of the holie Ghost but he hath the verie same thing in the sixt chapter of the same epistle where it is written And doo yee not knowe that your bodies are the temples of the holie Ghost 1. Cor. 6 19. Furthermore the power of creating which is proper vnto God The fourth reason Psal 33. 6. is ascribed vnto the holie Ghost séeing Dauid hath written By the word of the Lord were the heauens made all the powers of him by the spirit of his mouth And againe Send foorth thy spirit Psa 104 30. and they shall be created and thou shalt renew the face of the earth And in Matthew it is said of the bodie of Christ which should be brought foorth in the virgins wombe Matth. 1 20. That which is borne in hir is of the holie Ghost Againe Luke 1 45. The holy Ghost shall come vpon thee and the power of the most high shall ouershadowe thee Séeing then the holie Ghost hath the power of creating as it hath béene declared vndoubtedlie he is God 1. Cor. 2 verse 10. In the same epistle to the Corinthians it is said that he searcheth the bottome of Gods secrets it séemeth that the apostle maketh this kind of argument The fift reason The things which be of man no man knoweth but the spirit of man which is in him euen so the things that be of God none knoweth but the spirit of God And so he will haue it that euen as the spirit of man is vnto man so the spirit of God is towards God And no man is ignorant but that the spirit of man belongeth vnto the nature of man whereby it is certeine that the spirit of God is of his diuine nature Basil The sixt reason Basil against Eunomius vseth another reason which commeth in a manner to the selfe-same he saith that the holie Ghost is the spirit both of the father and of the sonne and therefore of the verie same nature that they be For it is written in the epistle to the Romans And if the spirit of him Rom. 8 11. which raised vp Iesus frō death doo abide in you he that raised vp Christ shall also raise vp your mortall bodies This place declareth that the holie Ghost dooth belong vnto the father who in the same epistle is shewed to belong also vnto the sonne when as a little before it is said He that hath not the spirit of Christ the same is not his But in the epistle to the Galathians Galat. 4 6. The seuenth reason both togither is expressed in these words And bicause yee be children therefore hath God sent the spirit of his sonne into your harts whereby ye crie Abba father Wherefore séeing the holie Ghost is the spirit aswell of the father as of the sonne he is wholie partaker of their nature 9 Moreouer in the Acts of the apostles the fift chapter Peter said to Ananias Acts. 5 3. How darest thou lie vnto the holie Ghost The eight reason Thou diddest not lie vnto men but vnto God Now in this place he most manifestlie calleth the holy Ghost God Augustine in his booke De trinitate else where and Ambrose also De spiritu sancto doo both cite the apostle to the Philippians the third chapter Phil. 3 3. where he writeth Beware of dogs beware of euill workers beware of concision for we be the circumcision which serue God in the
it is said vnto Moses when he detracted the time of dooing his message bicause he had an impediment in his spéech Exod. 4 11. Who hath giuen a mouth vnto man Or who maketh the dumbe or deafe the blind seeing Haue not I the Lord Wherfore I will be in thy mouth By which place it is shewed that it is the worke of almightie God to speake in his ministers to open their mouths to make them readie of spéech But Christ when he speaketh of this matter saith It is not you that speake but the spirit of your father whereby it séemes to be prooued Mat. 10 20. that the holie Ghost is God séeing he hath one and the selfe-same action with him Augustine in his epistle to Pascentius saith Augustine that he doth woonder how it can be that Christ whose members we are is beléeued to be God and that the holie Ghost whose temple we be should be denied to be God séeing the excellencie of the Godhead is more prooued in the latter condition than in the first The reasons which we haue brought do in part prooue of necessitie and doo plainelie shew What maner of reasons haue bin alleged that the holie Ghost is God Others indéed be not altogether of such efficacie but being ioined with other things doo confirme the minds of the faithfull in this truth neither is there anie of them which the fathers haue not some-where vsed There might also be added other arguments of this sort but with these we will hold our selues contented What may be obiected against this doctrine Rom. 8 26. 15 Now remaineth to consider what is woont to be obiected against this doctrine Some saie The holie Ghost praieth for vs and that with sighings vnspeakeable How can he then bée God séeing it is not méete for God to humble himselfe after the maner of suppliants Some answere and saie That the sonne doth make intercession for vs How the holie Ghost praieth for vs. Rom. 8 34. Looke In Rom. 8 verse 26. The holie Ghost hath not taken vpon him anie creature into the vnitie of person who neuerthelesse is God and that therefore to praie is not strange from the nature of God howbeit this is friuolous For Christ in that he was man was inferiour to the father and therefore might be a suter vnto him But the holie Ghost hath not taken vppon him the nature of anie creature into vnitie of person Wherefore the respect that must be had towards him and towards Christ is far differing and vnlike and therefore we will answere that the spirit praieth and maketh request for vs as it is written in the epistle to the Romanes bicause it driueth vs forward to doo these things and it is therefore said to sigh bicause it maketh vs to sigh Neither is this phrase strange from the scriptures God is said to doo those things which he causeth vs to doo Gen. 22 12. but it is verie often vsed For God said vnto Abraham when he would haue sacrificed his sonne Now haue I knowne that thou fearest God That vndoubtedlie was knowne before vnto the diuine maiestie and was commanded For the harts and cogitations of men are not hidden from him But I haue knowne in that place is as much to saie as I haue caused to knowe That this phrase is so to be vnderstood the Apostle testifieth to the Galathians when he saith And seeing yee be children Galath 4 6. therefore God hath sent the spirit of his son into your harts crieng Abba father In which words he séemeth to affirme that the holie Ghost himselfe doth crie vnto God But to the Romanes the same Apostle doth make it verie plaine For ye haue not receiued the spirit of bondage Rom. 8 15. to feare anie more but yee haue receiued the spirit of adoption of children whereby we crie Abba father in which place it appeareth most plainelie that it is wée which crie the holie Ghost stirring and driuing vs forward therevnto 16 Further they demand that If the spirit procéed from the father Why the holie Ghost is not said to be the son and also from the sonne what is the cause why he is not called a sonne séeing he hath not beginning of himselfe We answere Bicause that in diuine and secret things we followe both the doctrine and manner of spéech of the holie scriptures Séeing then that the scripture hath in no place said that the holie Ghost either is begotten or is the sonne why should we attempt thus to saie And doubtles vnto godlie men this answere should suffice It must be added moreouer that this issuing out of the holie Ghost is called a procéeding therefore we must call it so And albeit that betwéene the Gréeke and Latin churches A long contention betweene the Greeke and Latine Churches Looke In Rom. 3. verse 30. there was a long contention whether the holie Ghost procéeded from the sonne yet was it not of anie great importance vnlesse it had bin aggrauated with the spirit of ambition For after the time that the Grecians began to contend in the Church for primacie they easilie tooke in ill part the opinions of the Latins But the dissention was taken vp in the Councell of Florence where it was manifest The Synod of Florence that the Latins meant no other thing but that the holie Ghost had his procéeding or issuing out as well from the father as from the sonne The which séeing it may be found as we haue said that in the holie scriptures it is called a procéeding we are not to be blamed Iohn 20 22. The sonne is said to send the holie Ghost for when he breathed vpon the Apostles he said Receiue yee the holie Ghost Iohn 16 14. Againe he said He shall receiue of mine And manie of the fathers before the Councell of Florence wrote that the holie Ghost is deriued as well from the father as the sonne Augustine against the heretike Maximinus Augustine and elsewhere sheweth it verie plainelie Also Epiphanius in Ancorato confesseth Epiphanius that the holie Ghost procéedeth from both that is from the father and the sonne 17 Albeit that betwéene procéeding and generation it is hard to put a difference A difference betweene generating and proceeding and that Augustine in the place now alledged granteth that he perceiued not the difference yet he said that this he knew namelie that whatsoeuer thing groweth doth also procéed but he saith not on the other side that whatsoeur things procéed are also sproong foorth Howbeit we cannot properlie expresse the difference Wherfore the holie Ghost is not said The holie Ghost neither begotten nor vnbegotten either to be begotten or vnbegotten least by saieng vnbegotten we might séeme to affirme him to be the father or by affirming him to be begotten we may séeme to call him the sonne This we haue out of Augustine in his third tome at the beginning of the
to haue no sinnes But we which say that they are altogither sins do teach that indéed they be not imputed vnto eternall death but yet that they be charged sometimes with certeine punishments to the intent it may be perceiued that they displease God But neither dooth that exposition of Augustine sufficientlie concurre with the meaning of Ezechiel for the prophet saith that It shall not so come to passe afterward that the children should saie that they suffer temporall punishments such as was exile and captiuitie for their parents sakes For the Lord saith The sonne shall not beare the iniquitie of his father Wherefore it auaileth these men nothing at all when they saie that this is true concerning spirituall punishments and in eternall damnation for the prophet speaketh most plainelie of bodilie punishments of this life There was another interpretation of Augustine In Enchiridio ad Laurentium chapter 46. that this sentence was a prophesie concerning the benefit which Christ would bestowe vpon vs for séeing that by his death satisfaction is made euen for originall sinne the prophet saith Hereafter the sonne shall not beare the sinne of his father but of his owne And it séemeth that Augustine was led to this opinion bicause when as Ieremie in the 31. chapter dooth write in a maner the same thing there is straitwaie added a promise of the new testament Behold saith he the daies shall come that I will make a new couenant with the house of Iuda But it may séeme that this sense neither agréeth with the prophets meaning which we recited before Moreouer notwithstanding that Christ suffered at a certeine time By the vertue of Christs death children in the old testament were saued yet by the vertue and grace of his death the children also in the old testament were saued What néed was it therefore to saie Hereafter it shall not so be séeing vndoubtedlie it was not so before Besides this they also which be strangers vnto Christ doo beare their owne iniquitie neither doo they suffer punishment for the offenses of others but for their owne We say therefore that the sentence of the prophet is generallie true that all whether they be children or of ripe age as well of the old testament as of the new doo euerie one beare their owne iniquitie For all those which be borne haue sinne and corruption in themselues for which they should be punished so then this sentence confirmeth our opinion so far is it off that the same can be alledged against vs. But it maketh verie much against Pighius for he decréed that the children doo beare the sinnes of the parents when as otherwise he saith that they be cleane and are borne without sinne The Iewes vaunted that they were innocents that the torments which they abode were for their parents sakes for they sinned and not themselues But God saith that there should from thence foorth be no place for that prouerbe for he would declare by the prophet a plentifull illumination which should be of the holie spirit in the new testament for that his iudgements be not such as he will punish anie innocent person for the sinne of another And so he saith not that it should hencefoorth not be so as though it had béene so at anie time before but this he saith that it should not afterward happen for them to frequent such a prouerbe in their mouth when they had once knowledge of the truth 37 But the lawe séemeth to be against this exposition for therein God saith Exod. 20 5. that He will visit the iniquitie of the fathers vpon the children vnto the third fourth generation These things appéere to haue but small concord both that God dooth auenge the iniquitie of the fathers vpon the children and also that the children doo not beare the sinnes of their parents To satisfie this obiection first I will expound the words of the lawe for so we shall vnderstand that betwéene the prophet and the lawe there is no contrarietie Some there be which refer this sentence of the lawe vnto the mercie of God How God dooth punish the iniquities of parents in their children and some vnto his seueritie and iustice They which thinke that the mercie of God is cōmended by these words saie that God is so good and gratious as he will not straitwaie destroie man when he sinneth but he will rather expect his repentance And so sometimes when he spareth the father which offendeth yet he punisheth the sonne sometime when he forbeareth both the father and the sonne yet he punisheth the sonnes child and somtime he deferreth the punishment vnto the fourth generation Which we sée was doone in Iehu the king of Samaria 2. kin 15 12. An example in Iehu for whereas he had gréeuouslie sinned yet God did not béereaue his posteritie of the kingdome vntill the fourth generation was past Wherefore by these words séemeth to be declared the goodnes of God which so long restraineth his wrath neither dooth he immediatelie powre out the same But others there be which thinke that the goodnesse of God is declared séeing it is said that He will doo well vnto those that loue him vnto a thousand generations But contrariwise that his seueritie iustice may be knowne it is added that he will persecute sinnes not onelie against those which haue sinned Exod. 17 8. 1. Sam. 15 2. An example in the Amalekits but vpon their children and childrens children also euen vnto the fourth generation Which they suppose may be declared by examples for Amaleke did infest and vexe the children of Israel with manie euils while they wandered through the wildernesse and a long space after his posteritie was afflicted by the Israelites and so afflicted as at the last God commanded Saule to destroie them vtterlie euen vnto the last man Also Iehezi the seruant of Elizaeus Iehezi the seruant of Elizeus 2. Kin 4 27. bicause he had receiued monie in his maisters name of Naaman the Syrian both he himselfe was striken with a leprosie and all his posteritie euer after him Both of these two opinions be godlie and may be confirmed by examples yet the latter dooth rather séeme to agrée with the text But in what sort God dooth persecute the iniquitie of the fathers vpon the children vnto the third and fourth generation the lawe it selfe dooth sufficientlie declare for it is added Of them that hate me They that suffer for their fathers sinnes be also haters of God Two kinds of hating of God Whereby it appéereth that no other children shall beare the offenses of their forefathers but such as shall be like vnto them And it is to be noted that To hate God is two maner of waies taken either in act as they speake which is onelie proper to them of ripe age or else by an inclination and corruption alreadie conceiued by nature and this taketh place in infants 38 But some man will obiect If we vnderstand
burst foorth into these words I giue thanks vnto thee Matt. 11 25 ô father of heauen and of earth for that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent and hast reuealed them to the little ones euen so Lord for that it hath so pleased in thy sight Moreouer men of God when they come to this point they haue not a respect to their owne cause neither doo regard their owne iniuries but consider that by the wicked works of the vngodlie the church of God is harmed the spirituall procéedings thereof are hindered and the course of the Gospell is letted And they most ardentlie desire that the name of God might be sanctified and his kingdome most amplie spred abroad And hereof it commeth that when the godlie praie against wicked men they persecute not their owne enimies but the enimies of God whom they wish to be most purelie worshipped Dauid sawe that he was called by God to the kingdome and vnderstood that the enterprises of the wicked were not so much repugnant to his owne dignitie as to the will of God Wherefore woorthilie in his praiers he wisheth rather that they should perish and that most vilie than that anie iot of the most iust will of God should be hindered So that both in this place and in such other like we are forbidden not onelie to cursse but also to speake euill when we be ouercome with the spites and iniuries of the wicked by whom it is not méet that wée should suffer our courage to be quailed or to be led from the rule of charitie Wherein consisteth the magnanimitie of christians Herein doubtlesse consisteth the magnanimitie of christians and their incredible valiantnes of courage not onlie not to cursse them that persecute them but also to speake well of them and to praie vnto God for them 29 Howbeit I cannot woonder enough that Thomas Aquinas should saie that by the words of Paule The error of Aquinas christians are not compelled by force of the precept to shew particularlie vnto their enimies the affect of charitie or as they vse to speake to shew signes of beneuolence vnto them except it be in case of necessitie For it is enough if they exclude them not from the generall bond of loue wherewith we ought to loue our neighbours Neither saith he is it of necessitie that we should pray peculiarlie for them But this is sufficient if we exclude them not from the common praiers which we make for all men And if anie man saith he besides the case of necessitie doo shew vnto an enimie tokens of speciall loue or doo speciallie make intercession for him that man followeth counsell but obeieth not the commandement Matt. 5 44. Rom. 12 14 Yet Christ Paule when they spake of these things taught not this distinction This doctrine doubtlesse cutteth in sunder the sinewes of christian religion it presseth downe the vehemence of Gods spirit and taketh awaie the force and sharpenesse of the lawe of God Let these men go now and crie out that we be they which dissolue the indeuour of good works and open a windowe to licentious life when as they cannot denie but that themselues are those which at their owne pleasure change the certeine and seuere commandements of God into counsels Doubtlesse Christ and Paule commanded those things and doo not giue them onelie as counsels But this is excéedinglie to be lamented that these commandements in this iron age of ours are made like the lawes of Athens For they although they were wiselie inuented and published abroad yet notwithstanding laie neglected and were euerie where of all men violated And we must thinke that this came of no other cause but that the whole iuice bloud of christian religion is in a maner dried vp Of a cursse In Iudg. 1. verse 17. Looke in 1. Cor. 16. at the end 30 The Hebrues did not vtterlie ouerthrowe destroie certeine eities which they had taken into their hands but did inhabit them Howbeit some they curssed vtterlie rooted out And their vow of the thing that was promised was called Cherem of the verbe Charam which is To wast To destroie To kill To deface To accursse The Graecians called that word Cherem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they also called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as things consecrate and put apart And it may be that they were so called bicause they were hanged vp in temples and were sequestred from the vse of men and might not be remooued from off that place Yea men were sometimes called by that word Paule in verie déed vsed that word manie times for he saith to the Galathians Let him be accurssed Gal 1. 8. Rom. 9 3. whosoeuer shall preach anie other Gospell And to the Romans he wished himselfe to be * or separated from Christ 1. Co. 16 22 accurssed for the brethren And to the Corinthians the first epistle he saith He that loueth nor the Lord Iesus let him be accurssed Maranatha where he taketh this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for this word Cherem that is A thing separated and disioined altogither from the companie and vse of man so as it was vnlawfull to touch it or vse it A testimonie whereof we haue in the booke of Iosua the sixt chapter as touching the citie of Ierico Iosu 6. 17 And it séemeth that it was so accurssed bicause it was after a sort the first fruits of the cities which were taken For after that they were passed ouer Iordan it was the first that was conquered of all the cities and that by no helpe of man for that the wals thereof fell downe of their owne accord and by the will of GOD. Wherefore it was méet that the spoiles thereof should altogither be consecrated vnto God 31 But it séemeth to be vtterlie strange from the seruice of God Whether the destruction of cities belong to the seruice of God to destroie both cities and men and these things haue rather a shew of crueltie than of religion I answer that destructions indéed of their owne proper nature apperteine neither to religion nor to godlines but so farre foorth as they be referred to the glorie of God And this may happen two maner of waies as when that destruction is counted for a certeine token of the seueritie and iustice of GOD against those people whom he for their wickednesse would haue to be destroied or else as a certeine testimonie of Gods goodnesse and mercie towards the Israelites whom in that expedition he mercifullie helped Wherefore the ouerthrowing of the citie houses men and beasts did shew the iustice and seueritie of God and the consecration declared the goodnesse helpe and mercie vttered to that people Moreouer God would by that meanes prooue the obedience of his people in absteining from the spoiles which were consecrated to God For we knowe that soldiers when they haue gotten the victorie are hardlie restrained from the preie But they
them beléeue yea and their sinnes were forgiuen them through Christ So then they had also the fruition of those things which God promised to giue in the new couenant The onelie difference héerin was touching the largenesse and perspicuitie For at that time those gifts were kept within the compasse of a few but now they be euerie where communicated to the Gentils In that age they were somewhat obscure but to vs they are made euident and cléere so that we haue no more néed of the old discipline Héereby it manifestlie appéereth how they erre from the truth which affirme that the old league had promises onelie for possessing the land of Chanaan and for worldlie felicitie and that the people of the Hebrues were bound onelie to an outward obseruation of certeine rites and works and not to shew foorth good and perfect motions of the mind towards God The prophets doo not interpret the matter to be in such wise naie rather they denie that God anie thing estéemeth outward works without inward godlinesse Esaie 1 11. Amos. 5 22. and they pronounce in euerie place that the ceremonies which be void of faith and of the feare of God are a most gréeuous burden and so troublesome as he cannot abide them Yea and the lawe it selfe maketh expresse mention of the circumcision of the heart Deut. 10 16 and God euerie where requireth that we shuld heare his voice which is nothing else 1. Sa. 15 22. but to deale with him by faith Wherefore the faith of the promises and commandements of GOD ought to be counted as the roote and foundation which alwaies abideth when as outward sacraments and visible rites should at the length be changed So that it is verie manifest that God would not haue them for their owne sakes Howbeit they indured so long as men were indued with a childish spirit as Paule speketh to the Galathians Gal. 4 3. whiles they liued as yet vnder tutors and as yet differed verie little from seruants But when they receiued a more full spirit then were the sacraments and childish rites as Augustine saith taken awaie It is manifest therefore that the difference betwéene the two couenants must not be taken of the thing or substance but of the qualities and properties 6 Let them therefore forsake their foule error which thinke that God in the old lawe onlie promised earthlie things as though at that time he onelie prouided for the bodies and not for the soules as doo shepheards ploughmen and hog-heards which onelie haue a care of the bodies and carcases of their shéepe swine and oxen neither indeuour they anie thing else but to make those beasts strong and fat We must not so imagine of GOD who in such sort made a league with the fathers as he promised them the chéefe felicitie which speciallie apperteineth vnto the soule Also it is written in the 144. psalme verse 15. Blessed are the people which haue the Lord for their God In Deuter. also Deut. 30 6. GOD tooke vpon him to bring to passe that they should walke in his commandements But what more Our Sauiour out of the words of the old league hath most aptlie taught the resurrection of the dead For when the Lord said Matt. 22 31. that he was the GOD of Abraham Isaac and Iacob and they were then dead Christ inferred that they were not thou dead but that they still liued and that their bodies should be receiued namelie in the blessed resurrection Her vnto perteineth that which God aâ—…ruied to Abraham Gen. 15 1. to wit that he himselfe would be his reward Which words plainlie teach vs that in that couenant were not promised carnall and earthlie good things alone Vndoubtedlie it were a great shame euen for kings and princes which being compared vnto God are but flesh and bloud if they should be counted to gouerne the publike weales in respect onelie of the bodies of subiects The end of ciuill administration séeing they professe that they prouide for the outward commodities quietnes and peace of their citizens bicause they may liue happilie and according to vertue So then if earthlie princes prouide goods of the mind for their subiects is it not fit that God himselfe did prouide far more excellent things for the publike weale of the Israelites whom he faithfullie gouerned Furthermore I saie not how foolish it is to beléeue that the forefathers by the league bound themselues onelie to outward rites and visible ceremonies whereby they would worship God séeing the verie Ethniks were not ignorant but rather they haue most plainlie testified that the worshipping of GOD consisteth not in those things Plautus For Plautus in Rudente writeth thus They thinke that they please God with gifts and sacrifices but they loose both their labour and cost I will not declare those things which Plato in his Alcibiades writeth Plato concerning this matter Yea and as I haue before taught the lawe it selfe and the prophets declare that the thing was far otherwise The fathers entered into couenant with God for their posteritie also 7 We will note also that the fathers made a league with God not onelie for themselues but also for their posteritie as God againe for his part promised them that he would be the God not onelie of them but also of their séed and posteritie Wherefore it was lawfull for them to circumcise their children being yet infants And in the like maner it is lawfull for vs also to baptise our little children when they are yet infants forsomuch as they also are comprehended in the league For they which alreadie haue the thing it selfe there is nothing that may lett but that they should receiue the signe It is plainelie written in the 29. chapter of Deuteronomie verse 15. that The league was made not onelie with them which were present but also with them which were absent and not yet borne But some doubt whether the posteritie may be bound by their forefathers Whether the posteritie may be bound by their forefathers We doo answer we must looke whether the things which were promised to our forefathers were iust and honest then must we consider whether these promises perteined vnto ciuill things or vnto godlines When they are made for ciuill things the bond is firme bicause it is not lawfull for the posteritie to infringe the contracts of their forefathers such as are buiengs sellings bargeins and such like Prouided that they conteine nothing that is shamefull dishonest and vmust But if the bonds and couenants belong to godlinesse or to a right faith then the obligation is of full strength bicause we are all bound to true godlines and to a sound faith although there were no couenant to bind vs. But if the forefathers haue bound themselues and their posteritie vnto dishonest and wicked things it is no bond at all But whereas God so humbled himselfe as to enter in league with men that commeth of
is applied vnto the thing signified In the desert God would haue this meat to be giuen vnto the Hebrues first to declare his power to wit that Man liueth not by bread onelie Deut. 8 3. but is nourished by euerie thing which God hath commanded man to eat Moreouer his mind was to win authoritie to Moses Aaron least that people should thinke themselues to be deceiued by them for they began alredie to suspect the same But meat being giuen in such sort it caused the promise and will of GOD to be beléeued Wherefore Moses and Aaron were no more suspected of falsehood Moreouer God shewed himselfe most readie of performing his couenant wherein he promised to be their God that is to helpe them so often as they should haue néed Lastlie he would teach all vs that beléeue in him that we shall not be forsaken of him when we followe our vocation By this means the promise of Christ is performed Matt. 6 33 First seeke ye the kingdome of God and these things shall be giuen vnto you They followed GOD when he called and he forsooke them not And so he will in like maner not forsake vs. Thou maist adde out of the saieng of Paule that God prouided not onelie that they should haue meat but also a sacrament Ambrose writing vpon this place saith that Manna had a figure of this mysterie which we receiue in remembrance of the Lord. Where he verie well admonisheth that as we now in the Eucharist beare in remembrance the Lords death that is past so in Manna and in other sacrifices of the old fathers the same death was shadowed to come Moreouer he writeth that this Manna was giuen on the Lords daie Which I knowe not how he can prooued 20 But when as Paule saith In 1. Cor. 10 6. and 11. These things were our figures or examples manie doo infer vpon these words that the sacraments of the old fathers were shadowes of our sacraments yet not all one with them Although forsooth it might not be that they were both figures of our sacraments and had also all one thing with them Assuredlie both the one and the other may be for there can be no other matter of the sacraments appointed than Christ himselfe whom Paule in expresse words affirmeth that the forefathers had But they might be called shadowes of our sacraments bicause they did not so manifestlie and cléerelie expresse the mysteries of mans saluation as ours doo Againe there is obiected against vs a place out of the epistle to the Colossians where after Paule had reckoned vp those things Col. 2 17. which perteined vnto the old testament he addeth Which are shadowes of things to come but the bodie is of Christ Herevnto I answer that the sacraments of the forefathers of right may be called shadowes and figures if thou respect those things which were performed at their time appointed I meane the death passion of Christ all which things were there represented to be exhibited Yet neuerthelesse they offered in the meane time vnto the fathers these things to be receiued by faith so far foorth as was sufficient for their saluation Thou maist adde moreouer that those sacraments were sometime to be abrogated also that ours shall not giue place vnto latter sacraments Further that the same which is abrogated and made void may haue the effect of a shadow which is past but those things that be firme and durable séeing they be sound are compared to the bodie Howbeit thou oughtest to vnderstand that the abrogating of the sacraments of the forefathers is onelie touching the signes Lastlie when thou shalt read among the fathers that the sacraments of the forefathers are so compared with ours that they are said to be deliuered out of Aegypt and we from our sinne that they obteined the land of Chanaan and we the kingdome of heauen they temporall kingdoms and we grace and the holie spirit and such like things thou must vnderstand that these men of God ment the things which the old Iewes had outward and visible and that our men doo compare them to spirituall heauenly gifts Not as though these things were not among the Iewes in times past but bicause in the old testament those spirituall gifts were folden vp in these externe and temporall things Neither yet doo they speake on this wise as though no temporall and visible things were extant among vs but bicause we haue those spirituall things more expressed and larger intreated of in the new testament the outward things doubtlesse as concerning the signes far fewer and as touching the promises verie much streictened Chrysostome in an Homilie which he wrote particularlie of these words of Paule Chrysostome which we haue now in hand compareth the old sacraments with the new by a certeine similitude after this maner A painter that is to expresse a king A similitude of a Painter with his horsemen and his enimies ouercome in triumph while the worke is yet rude or vnpolished he draweth his lines but slight and obscure The which neuerthelesse doo conteine the whole that was deuised to be doone and yet the same things so painted are not discerned but of them that be verie skilfull But afterward when he hath laid it ouer with flourishing and goodlie colours all things are manifest and are made euident and easie to be knowne of all them that haue accesse therevnto Wherefore he compareth the sacraments of the old fathers vnto the first portraiture and our sacraments vnto the latter so that as in each similitude one thing is conteined although there happen some difference as touching the apparant shew obscuritie euen so in each kind of sacraments there is an equalitie with some difference 21 But againe In Rom. 8 verse 15. bicause héere séemeth to be signified a difference of the old and new testament in these words For yee haue not receiued the spirit of bondage to feare but yee haue receiued the spirit of adoption whereby we crie Abba Father it shall not be amisse to sée with what spirit we are now led in the Gospell Vndoubtedlie Chrysostome vpon this place writeth diuerse things as touching that matter wherevnto I cannot assent For first hée dooth affirme that the Iewish people in olde time had not the holie Ghost But séeing hée saith that the apostle in this place maketh expresse mention of the spirit he saith that he dooth this bicause the lawe of the forefathers being giuen by the spirit of God was therefore called spirituall and forsomuch as those men were instructed by that lawe therefore mention is here made of the spirit And although in the tenth chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians verse 3. those fathers are said to haue eaten one and the selfe-same spirituall meat and to haue droonke one and the selfe-same drinke of the spirituall rocke yet will not Chrysostome grant that they were partakers of the spirit but he saith that those things
nature diuine inuisible and without bodie but speciallie also it betokeneth vnto vs the third person of the diuinitie distinct from the father and the sonne And speciallie is he thus called by the name of spirit by reason of his propertie bicause the propertie of him is to mooue to set forward to persuade to comfort and lighten the spirits and harts of men and at length to worke in them such things as perteine to our sanctification And the saints haue such triall of the maruellous effects thereof as neither reason neither mans wisedome is able to comprehend those things neither yet can they be discerned by the eies of men Wherefore of good right doo we heare saie I beleeue in the holie Ghost as in a thing that far excéedeth the capacitie of our nature and yet is distinctlie set foorth vnto vs in the holie scripture And that the same spirit is the third person in diuine nature Christ sufficientlie expresseth in these words in the which he said vnto his apostles Mat. 28 19. Go ye and baptise in the name of the father of the sonne and of the holie Ghost What signifieth to be baptised in the name of anie Which signifieth no other thing than that they which be washed in baptisme are bound to this confession namelie that the father the sonne and also the holie Ghost doo giue saluation vnto them Now sée I beséech you what it is to be baptised in the name of the thrée persons of the deitie The distinction of the three persons And the distinction of this third person is not onelie knowne here from the other two but thereby also we gather it when the eternall father speaketh vnto Iohn Baptist concerning the holie Ghost as of a thing distinct from himselfe and from the sonne He it is meaning by Christ vpon whome thou shalt see the spirit come downe in the likenesse of a dooue He speaketh not as if he ment by himselfe Iohn 1 33. Vpon whome I will descend but Vpon whome hee shall descend speaking of an other It is manifest also that he was not the sonne bicause the spirit in shape of a dooue was to light on Christ who properlie is called the sonne Yea doubtlesse and Christ in the Gospell of Iohn speaketh of the same spirit Hee shall take of mine Iohn 16 15 Ioh. 14 16. and shall come in my name And there he addeth The father shall giue you another comforter that is to saie an other beside me and distinct from my selfe By which places it is most assuredlie prooued that the holie Ghost is a distinct person in the most holie Trinitie the which we constantlie beléeue and confesse 32 This also is méet of vs to be considered that the spirit is not the same that be his gifts and works séeing Paule in the first to the Corinthians the 12. chapter reckoning vp sundrie effects thereof afterward addeth 1. Co. 12 11 And all these things worke that one and the same spirit distributing them to euerie man seuerallie as he will So is it euident enough that we here confesse the third person of diuinitie by the power of whome we be renewed in Christ and therefore may become like vnto Christ For euen as he was begotten without mans séed so are we borne againe vnto a new life by the power of Gods spirit as testifieth Iohn Ioh. 1. when he saith that He which beleeueth is made the sonne of God and is neither borne of bloud neither of the will of the flesh neither of the will of man but of God Which thing is particularlie attributed to this third person séeing Christ expresselie saith Ioh. 3 5. that He which is not borne of the water and of the spirit shall not enter into the kingdome of heauen From the verie same also is the remission of sinnes said to flowe Wherefore Christ breathed vpon the face of the apostles Iohn 20 22. said Receiue yee the holie Ghost whose sinnes ye shall forgiue the same shall be forgiuen and whose sinnes yee reteine shall be reteined Whosoeuer then sinneth against the holie Ghost dooth not obteine remission of his sinnes bicause that it is directlie doone against him from whome the remission of sinnes procéedeth Neither for all that doo we attribute this vnto him but forsomuch as we be loden with such weightinesse as we be scarse able to rise from the earth being alwaies pressed downe with the burthen of our flesh and with our corporall senses we should lie still in the earth vnlesse we were raised vp by that spirit who streighteneth and erecteth vp vnto heauen our minds which through naturall corruption are altogither soonken in the affections of the flesh euen as the soule susteineth the fraile and mortall bodie and setteth the same vpright that in this life the elect may in a maner haue the same experience of themselues A similitude that is perceiued to be in bottles the which being throwne emptie into the water fall to the bottome but if so be they be blowen and filled with wind they float aboue the water Euen so mens minds being void of that spirit are drowned through their owne affections and lusts but when they be filled with that holie spirit they be masters ouer sinne and they suffer not themselues at anie time to be ouercome by it This also we obteine by the benefit of the same spirit both to will aright and to worke iustlie For our nature as it is corrupt and peruerse would neuer in verie déed be willing of it selfe or would shew foorth anie actions which either in respect of themselues should be acceptable vnto God or in that they procéed from vs being enimies vnto him but that he would refuse and condemne them But that spirit of God placing himselfe here amongst vs dooth so fashion our minds as whatsoeuer floweth from vs by the helpe of him is most gratefull and acceptable vnto GOD and that bicause he inwardlie reformeth vs that we may become most welcome friends yea rather most déere beloued children 33 Héere ye sée what singular benefit this article of our faith bringeth when it is knowne and vnderstood And vndoubtedlie our affections our mind yea and the members of the verie bodie be instruments of the spirit it selfe Wherefore Paule writeth vnto the Romans that Those finallie be the children of God Rom. 8 14. which be lead by the spirit of God And euen as he cannot be called a man who is destitute of the mind of man nor that a dog which beareth not the forme or liuing propertie of a dog no more is he partaker of the diuine nature which is void of the spirit of God And therefore I cannot maruell enough at the follie of some which if a man saie that they be no christians cannot abide this reproch and yet in the meane time will neither séeme to be indued with that spirit neither will be persuaded or themselues grant that none may be a
onelie the true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent All these things which we haue recited séeing they be had by saith and without charitie they take no place doo shew that of necessitie true faith is ioined with charitie 25 In the first epistle of Iohn the fift chapter verse 1. Whosoeuer beleeueth that Iesus is that Christ The truth reason is borne of God Some there be which sâ—…e that those which haue faith are not presentlie the children of God but that they may easilie become the children of God bicause they haue alredie atteined to some preparation vnto the same And Pighius who amongst other defends this opinion bringeth in the Gospell of Iohn Iohn 1 12. And how manie soeuer haue receiued him to them hath he giuen power to be made the children of God Behold saith he the euangelist hath giuen to them which alonelie beléeue the power to obteine the adoption of the children Howbeit this man should prudentlie haue weied those words which followe The place of Iohn is assoiled for the euangelist addeth that this power is giuen vnto them which beléeued in his name Which are borne not of bloud nor of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Wherefore they which haue receiued him and beléeued in his name are said to be borne of God and therefore are regenerated and iustified the which things without charitie cannot be had And whereas they are said to haue receiued power it is all one as if it should be said that they receiued the gift and grace to be the children of God How the beleeuers may haue power to be made the sonnes of God Power here in this place is not vnderstood to be that which is disseuered from the thing it selfe and from the effect Wherefore Hilarie in his first booke De trinitate saith They which haue receiued are augmented to be the sonnes of God not by growing of the flesh but by the springing of faith Further if we would grant that power in that place doth make shew of some thing as yet to be looked for which had no effect they haue not yet gotten that which they would namelie that they should interpret charitie or iustification to be looked for after faith as though these things for a certeine space of time were differed from faith begun but it should rather be referred to perfect adoption Adoption of two sorts Rom. 8. 15. For adoption as Paule speaketh is of two sorts one we haue now presentlie which is spoken of vnto the Romans Ye haue not receiued the spirit of bondage to feare anie more but the spirit of adoption of the children wherein we crie Abba Father And this adoption haue they alreadie obteined who haue receiued Christ by faith and as the euangelist saith They be borne of God and the selfe-same men be indued with charitie But there is another adoption which is perfect this shall be giuen in the resurrection when we shall be frée from all gréefe corruption Of this there is plaine mention made in the said chapter to the Romans when it is said Ibidem 19. Euerie creature groneth and waiteth for the reuelation of the children of God yea we our selues hauing the first fruits of the spirit doo grone amongst our selues waiting for the adoption and redemption of our bodies Wherefore we will saie that the beléeuers and those that be iustified and borne of God haue a power I meane a right vnto that perfect adoption the which we expect to obteine at the time appointed Wherefore howsoeuer they haue vnderstood that word Power they prooue nothing against vs. What is to be siad of them which liue vnpurelie and yet confesse that the articles of the faith be true 26 But they be woont to cast vs in the téeth with them which liue an vncleane life which acquaint themselues with hainous crimes who neuerthelesse agrée to all the articles of saith that we doo and yet for all that it is certeine that they behauing themselues so dishonestly be destitute of charitie wherefore saie they it cannot be denied but that in them at the least wise faith is separated from charitie I answere that the faith of these men may indéed be called a true faith as touching those things which they confesse but concerning the faith it selfe if we throughlie consider the nature thereof it is no verie true and lawfull faith To make this thing manifest I will vse examples A similitude If a man conclude that an eclipse shall be which is to com but prooueth it by a false kind of argument sheweth not the same by anie iust demonstration his knowledge as touching the conclusion which he brought in may be called true yet bicause he vseth a naughtie reason the sense thereof shall neuer be called a true knowledge but a false sophisticall Also verie many Turks do confesse manie things that we beléeue as the creation of the world What the Turks beleeue togither with vs. the resurrection of the dead and that Christ was borne of the virgin Marie whom neuerthelesse we will neuer account to be indued with the true faith Againe they obiect that which is in Iohn that There were certeine princes Ioh. 12 42. which beleeued in Christ which notwithstanding durst not confesse his name And againe Iohn 2 24. That there were some which beleeued vnto whom neuerthelesse Christ committed not himselfe Now these things saie they declare that these men had faith without charitie Howbeit we yéeld not as they would haue vs that these princes were indued with the true faith and Christ taught that they did not beléeue trulie How saith he can you beleeue which seeke glorie of your selues And certeine indéed it is Iohn 5 44. Note a testimonie of Christ that the princes which iudged not euill of Christ would not therefore confesse him bicause they feared to be cast out of the synagog and while they desired too much the preseruation of their honor dignitie they were turned awaie from the confession of Christ wherefore Christ pronounced them not to beléeue These men saie moreouer They which beléeue trulie when they fall into gréeuous sinnes and yet neuerthelesse doo beléeue the same things which they did before cannot be counted without faith when as yet they be despoiled of charitie But we admit not that while they be conuersant in their sins they haue faith Titus 1 16. The deâ—…eng of God standeth not with the faith of Christ They haue an image of faith but not faith Against them the apostle beareth record that They confesse themselues to knowe God but in their deeds they deny him But with a sound true faith the denieng of God cannot stand wherefore these men shall be rather said to retaine an image and shew of faith than the true faith of which we now intreat And these things shall suffice at this time for the first question
is receiued is vnder another mans power Howbeit the lawes forbid that the elder should be adopted of the yoonger for it séemed to be a monstrous thing that the sonne should excéed the father in yéeres therfore Cicero dooth oftentimes inueth earnestlie against that adoption of Clodius Now doth God adopt vnto himselfe his elect not for that he had not another sonne for he had Christ his onlie begotten sonne in whom he was well pleased but bicause in all the nature of man he had as yet no children For through Adam we were all made strangers from him God sent his sonne into the world by him to adopt vs to be his children wherefore for this cause God sent his owne naturall legitimate sonne into the world that by him he might adopt vnto him selfe manie other children of our kind And this is not woont commonlie to be doone for they which haue one onelie sonne séeke not to themselues other sonnes naie rather they are glad that the same their sonne shall not be compelled to part the inheritance with his brethren But so great was the loue of God and of Christ towardes vs as he would ioine vs vnto so great a dignitie although we be vnwoorthie Neither is that heauenlie inheritance of that nature that the same being communicated vnto manie is therefore diminished Now let vs sée how this adoption commeth vnto vs. Rom. 8 14 and 15. Paule séemeth to saie that it is communicated vnto vs by the spirit of Christ for of it we haue faith By the spirit and by faith we are adopted to be sonnes whereby we imbrace both Christ which died for vs and also the promises of God and by that meanes we are adopted by God vnto children This thing did Iohn verie well shew vnto vs in the beginning of his Gospell Iohn 1 12. where he writteth And as manie as receiued him to them gaue he power to be the sons of God By these words we vnderstand that we be made the sonnes of God when we receiue Christ And this is not doone either by circumcision or by other ceremonies of the lawe or by good morall works but by faith onelie and therefore Iohn added Ibidem Vnto those which haue beleeued in his name And when it is said that Power is giuen vnto them to be made the sonnes of God we must not thinke as manie Sophisters would haue vs Against the Sophisters that we first beléeue and then afterward receiue power to be counted to be in the number of the sonnes of God for power in that place is nothing else but a right and a prerogatiue As if it should be said that they which haue receiued the Lord and beléeued in his name haue a right and prerogatiue to come into the adoption of the sonnes of God verse 13. But Iohn addeth Which are borne not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man A place of Iohn declared but of God First when he saith Not of bloud he signifieth that this adoption commeth not by the order of nature as in this generation are mixed togither the séed of mand and woman Which sentence he more plainlie expresseth in the next words following when he saith Not of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man By this word flesh is somtime signified the woman Gen 2 23. Eph. 5 28. And that by the flesh he meaneth the woman may by two places be prooued for Adam said of his wife which was deliuered vnto him by God This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh And Paule vnto the Ephesians saith Hee which loueth his wife loueth himselfe no man at anie time hath hated his owne flesh And this interpretation Augustine followeth albeit I sée that this place may otherwise be expounded as when it is said Not of bloud we vnderstand that we come not to this adoption by force of anie stocke or kindred For the Hebrues persuaded themselues that they did for they alwaies boasted importunatelie that they were the séed of Abraham Neither atteine we to this adoption By the will of the flesh for to the atteinment thereof we are not holpen by those good things which the flesh vseth to couet I meane by riches power strength of the bodie beautie and such other like things Neither by the will of man namelie by those good things which are counted more excellent and that are thought most chéeflie to become men such are wisedome prudence and the workds of morall vertues for all these things cannot make vs to be the children of God But we are borne saith he of God All this haue we onelie of the goodnes of God and of his méere mercie Therefore Paule vnto the Ephesians saith Ephes 1 5. Who hath predestinated vs vnto the adoption of the sonnes of God Wherfore the whole consideration of our adoption dependeth of his election and predestination 39 But of his diuine will there can be no reason either vnderstood or giuen by vs Our adoption dependeth of predestination Iohn 3 5. 27 and 31. and thereof it commeth that Christ saith in Iohn that We ought to be borne diuinelie and from aboue And Christ compareth this generation with the wind Thou hearest saith he the wind Ibidem 8. and yet thou knowest not from whence it commeth or whither it goeth Wherefore GOD By what degrees we atteine vnto the adoption of sonnes through Christ giueth his spirit largelie vnto vs and he vseth the word as an instrument and this is called the séed wherby we be regenerate For he giueth faith whereby we receiue the promise of the word set foorth vnto vs and by that meanes we are iustified The adoption which we haue in this life is not perfect Rom. 8 22. and doo obteine the adoption of the sonnes of God which yet so long as we liue here cannot be perfect Wherefore Paule saith that We wait for the adoption of sonnes and the redemption of the bodie which we shall not atteine vnto vnlesse it be in that blessed resurrection The selfe-same things Paule writeth to the Galathians When the fulnes of time saith he came Galat. 4 4. God sent his owne sonne made of a woman and made vnder the lawe to deliuer those which be vnder the lawe that we might receiue the adoption of sonnes And bicause we are sonnes God sent the spirit of his sonne into our harts in whom we crie Abba Father These words declare that there was before the fulnesse of time a certeine bondage vnder the lawe afterward was giuen the sonne by whom we which are appointed and prepared to be made the sonnes of God might more fullie receiue both the spirit and adoption This adoption Christ séemeth as it were by a certeine sacrament to haue confirmed in his genealogie Matth. 3. Luke 3. In the old testament adoption was much vsed for when as in Luke and in
we denie that which he affirmeth namely that the testament touching the remission of sinnes in Christ The promise concerning iustification hath no condition ioined with it Galat 3 15. hath any condition ioined with it Which thing Paule testifieth in his third chapter to the Galathians when he thus writeth Brethren I speake according to the maner of men though it be but a mans testament yet when it is confirmed no man dooth abrogate it or adde any thing therevnto Now to Abraham were the promises and to his seed he said not To the seeds as speaking of many but as of one and in thy seed which is Christ And this I saie that the lawe which began foure hundred and thirtie yeeres after cannot disanull the testament before approoued of GOD towards Christ that it should make the promises of none effect These words most plainelie declare that the testament which God made with Abraham was pure and absolute and without anie condition of the lawe And this doo the verie words of Genesis declare For God once promised vnto Abraham the blessing Afterward was giuen the lawe which vnto those promises should adde conditions of precepts so that if men would be iustified and obteine them they should knowe that they ought to performe and accomplish all the commandements of God But this latter waie of iustification although it can by no meanes be accomplished cannot let or make void the first waie But that first waie was nothing else but the Gospell through Christ and that men should the more willinglie come vnto it there was set foorth also the latter waie of iustification by works that men when they vnderstood that they were not able to performe them should flie vnto Christ of whome when they being iustified endeuoured themselues to liue vprightlie they might fréelie receiue the promises set foorth in the lawe Now let vs sée what those conditions be which this man dooth adde vnto the testament of God In the 103. psalme it is written verse 17. The mercie of the Lord is from generation to generation vpon them that feare him his righteousnes vpon childrens children vpon those that keepe his testament and are mindfull of his commandements to doo them Of these words Pighius gathereth that the feare of God the mindfulnesse of the testament of God and the indeuour to performe his commandements are the conditions of the promises of God But here I doo not a little maruell that Pighius would affirme that a man is iustified by loue when as he confesseth that the holie scriptures doo attribute the same vnto feare But we will not let Pighius to be against himselfe Howbeit if we will hearken to the scriptures in the 32. psalme mercie is promised vnto them that hope for thus it is written And him that hopeth in God verse 10. mercie shall compasse about Also in another place it is written He which beleeueth Esai 28 16 Ioel. 2 32. shall not be confounded and he which calleth vpon the name of the Lord shall be made safe But who séeth not that all these vertues are in a man alreadie iustified and that God hath mercie vpon him But here laie all the controuersie vnto which of these vertues chéefelie iustification is to be ascribed Vndoubtedlie by the testimonie of the scriptures the same must be attributed vnto faith Pighius saith moreouer that in that condition which Dauid named is said that they should be mindfull of the commandements of God to doo them There saith he is not added To doo all the commandements God receiueth a man which indeuoureth himselfe to doo them and of his mercie he forgiueth manie things But this that is written To doo them must of necessitie be vnderstood of all for doubtlesse in the lawe which this man calleth the testament are written all Vnto those which are not iustified nothing is remitted of the rigor of the lawe And if God forgiue or remit anie thing he doth it vnto men alreadie regenerate and not vnto them that are strangers from him and children of wrath such as they must néeds be which are not as yet iustified but doo still prepare themselues are bent to performe the conditions vnto these I saie nothing is remitted wherefore they are bound vnto all And therefore Moses said Deut. 21 23 Gal. 3 13. as Paule testifieth Cursed be he which abideth not in all things which are written in the booke of the lawe 66 Further he maketh a contention also about the springing as it were and bringing foorth of faith and demandeth from whence it hath his beginning in vs. We in one word easilie answer that it hath his beginning of the holie Ghost But he faineth himselfe to woonder From whence faith hath his beginning how we grant the holie Ghost vnto a man before he doth beléeue for he thinketh that to be absurd First I cannot deuise how this man should so much woonder at this but afterward I perceiue that he manifestlie teacheth and maketh with the Pelagians that faith is of our selues and that it is gotten by humane power and strength for otherwise if he beléeue that it is of God and of the holie Ghost he should not separate the cause from his effects But that he may not thinke that wée without good reason doo attribute vnto the holie Ghost the beginning of faith let him harken vnto the most manifest testimonies of the scriptures Paule saith in the first epistle vnto the Corinthians Not in the words which mans wisedome teacheth 1. Cor. 2 4. but which the holie Ghost teacheth that your faith should not be of the wisedome of men but of God And in the same place The carnall man vnderstandeth not the things that are of God Ibidem 14. neither can he for vnto him they are foolishnes for they are spirituallie discerned But how can they be spirituallie discerned except the spirit of God be present Children also knowe that from Coniugata Coniugata be those words which being of one kind be deriued of an other as of iustice a iust thing c. Gal. 4 6. Rom. 8 16. Ephe. 3 16. words that are coupled as it were in one yoke are deriued firm arguments And to the Galathians God saith he hath sent his spirit into our harts whereby we crie Abba Father for by the spirit we beléeue in beleeuing we call vpon God yea and The spirit himselfe as it is written to the Romans beareth testimonie vnto our spirit that we are the children of God And vnto the Ephesians Be ye strengthned by the spirit in the inward man that Christ may by faith dwell in your harts Here we sée that that faith wherby we embrace Christ commeth of the spirit of God whereby our inward man is made strong The apostles when they said Lord increase our faith Luke 17 5. manifestlie declared that it sprang not out of their owne ablenes and strength but by the inspiration of almightie God
maner of historicall faith we vnderstand For if saith he they call all those things which are written in the holie scriptures an historie The difference betweene an historicall faith and a faith of efficacie will they bring to vs another faith wherby we may beleue those things which are not written in the holie scriptures But we reiect not an historicall faith as though we would haue some new obiects of faith besides those which are set foorth in the holie scriptures or are not out of them firmelie concluded But we require not a vulgar or cold assent such as they haue which are accustomed to allow those things which they read in the holie scriptures being thereto led by humane persuasion and some probable credulitie as at this daie the Iewes and Turkes doo confesse and beléeue manie things which we doo but an assured firme and strong assent and such as commeth from the moouing and inspiration of the holie Ghost which changeth and maketh new the hart and the mind and draweth with it good motions and holie works In this maner we saie that that faith which is of efficacie differeth verie much from an historicall assent And that we are by that faith How it appeereth that we are iustified by a faith of efficacie Rom. 8 16. which we haue now described iustified we haue thrée maner of testimonies the first is of the holie Ghost Which beareth witnesse vnto our spirit that we are the children of God the second is of the scriptures the third is of works But contrariewise they which hold and crie that a man is iustified by works haue no sufficient testimonie for the holie Ghost testifieth it not the holie scriptures denie it onelie works are brought foorth those without godlines and faith such as were in times past the works of the old Ethniks are at this daie the works of manie which beléeue not in Christ and be strangers from God But it is woorthie to be laughed at that he hath cited also a place out of the 66. chapter of Esaie verse 2. by which onlie though there were no more places than it his cause is most of all ouerthrowne Vnto whom saith God shall I looke but vnto the poore man vnto the contrite hart and vnto him that trembleth at my words By these words Pighius thinketh are signified those works whereby God is drawne to iustifie vs. But the matter is far otherwise for the scope of the prophet was to detest the superstition of the Iewes for they neglecting th' inward godlines of the mind trusted onelie to outward ceremonies Wherefore this did God by the voice of the prophet condemne and declared how odious it was vnto him Heauen saith he is my seate and the earth is my footestoole Ibidem 1. As if he should haue said I nothing passe vpon your temple which ye so much boast of for Heauen is my seate such a seate as you cannot frame to make And the earth adorned with all kind varietie of plants liuing creatures hearbes and flowers is my footestoole Where then shall be that house which ye will build for me And where shall be my resting place And straitwaie to declare that it is not the temple built with hands All these things saith he hath mine hand made and all these things are made saith the Lord. By which words we learne that God delighteth not in these things and in outward ornaments sumptuous buildings for their owne sakes but chéeflie requireth faith inward godlinesse of the minds that he may dwell in them And who be indéed faithfull and godlie is declared by their certeine and proper notes Whosoeuer is poore and séeth himselfe to want righteousnesse and whosoeuer is contrite of hart that is to saie afflicted in this world whosoeuer is of a mild and humble spirit and not of an arrogant and proud spirit whosoeuer with great reuerence and feare receiueth the words of GOD he most iustlie may be numbred amongst them These are sure tokens and as it were the proper colours of faith and true godlines Afterward the prophet declareth how much God estéemeth the works of men that beléeue not and are not as yet regenerate though these works be neuer so goodlie to the shew He which killeth an oxe saith he it is all one as if he should kill a man and he which sacrificeth a sheepe as if he cut off a dogs necke he that offereth an oblation as if he offered swines flesh and he that maketh mention of incense as if he blessed iniquitie All these kinds of oblations and sacrifices were commanded and appointed in the lawe of God which yet being doone of an vncleane hart and one that is estranged from God were counted for most gréeuous sinnes Wherefore Pighius hath nothing out of this place whereby to defend his error but we by the selfe-same place doo most aptlie and most trulie confirme our owne sentence Now this is a notable and sharpe disputer which bringeth for himselfe those things which make so plainlie and manifestlie against himselfe 69 But he snatcheth at this also out of the epistle vnto the Hebrues Heb. 11 ◠that He which commeth vnto God ought to beleeue that there is a God that he rewardeth them which seeke vnto him By these words it séemeth that he would conclude that iustification is giuen vnto them who séeke God by good works Two sorts of them that seeke God But he ought to haue made a distinction of them that séeke God which thing Paule also did to wit that some séeke him by works other some by faith This distinction Paule sheweth neither leaueth he vnspoken what followeth of it for thus he writeth vnto the Romans Israel Rom. 9 30. and 10 3. which followeth after righteousnes atteined not vnto the lawe of righteousnes bicause they sought it of works and not of faith Wherefore they which séeke God to be iustified of him by faith as the apostle teacheth doo atteine vnto that which they desire but they which will be iustified by works doo fall awaie from iustification And that God rewardeth works which are doone of men regenerate and by which they hast forward to the crowne of eternall saluation we denie not But that perteineth not to this question for at this present the contention is not about this kind of works but onelie about those things which are doone before regeneration Those Pighius laboureth to prooue that they haue their reward and to be merits after a sort of iustification Neither dooth this anie thing helpe his cause when he affirmeth that this kind of merit redoundeth not vnto God or maketh him debtor vnto vs or is equall vnto that which is rewarded for these things although vnto him they séeme to serue onelie to extenuate the dignitie of merits yet doo they vtterlie take awaie all the nature of merit For whatsoeuer good thing men doo yea euen after iustification the same is not properlie theirs for God
is to be done and the spirit mooueth and driueth vs to doo those things This is the euerlasting kingdome of God wherevnto when he will adioine anie people or anie nation he visiteth them by his ambassadors which are the preachers of the gospell and those will he haue to be chéerfullie receiued Mat. 10 40. Yea he saith He that receiueth you receiueth me he that despiseth you despiseth me Thus haue we the iudgement of God touching ministers whereby the beléeuers ought to be verie much comforted although the world iudge otherwise and count them for mad men and outcasts and estéeme them as offscowring doong and so long as the world endureth men shall haue this opinion of them But for so much as by his iudgement the world is foolish and vnderstandeth not the things perteining vnto God therefore we must not leane vnto it but rather hold fast the most strong and most acceptable iudgement of God ¶ Of christian peace looke the sermon vpon the place of Iohn 20 My Peace be with you Of Bondage and christian freedome In Rom. 1. at the beginning The propertie of a seruant 3 The propertie of a seruant is this namelie to be none of his owne man but to doo the busines of his maister Wherefore if we be the seruants of Christ this is required of vs that our whole life and breath and whatsoeuer wée thinke be directed vnto Christ Séeing I saie to be the seruants of Christ is a thing common vnto vs all the metaphor whereby we are so called should be diligentlie weied namelie bicause we ought so to obeie God as seruants doo their maisters But we are far off from performing this thing for seruants doo spend the least part of the daie about their owne busines and all the rest of the time they be occupied about their maisters affaires Note wherin the greatest part of men differ from the seruice of God But we doo farre otherwise we are a verie short space or but one houre occupied about things perteining vnto God and all the rest of our time we spend about worldlie things and perteining to our selues A seruant hath nothing of his owne and proper to himselfe but we doo priuatelie possesse manie things which we will neither bestow for God nor Christes sake Seruants when they are beaten and striken doo humblie desire pardon and forgiuenes of their maisters but we in aduersities resist God murmur against him and blaspheme his name Seruants receiue onelie meat drinke and apparell and therewith are content but we neuer make anie end or measure of riches and prodigalitie Seruants when they heare the threatning of their maisters doo tremble from top to toe but we are nothing mooued with the threatnings of the prophets apostles and holie scriptures Seruants will neither haue talke nor familiaritie nor yet shew anie signe of amitie with their maisters enimies but we are in continuall fellowship with the diuell the flesh and the world Wherefore we be farre from that seruice which we owe vnto GOD We ought to serue God more than seruants ought to serue their maisters whom neuerthelesse we ought much more both to obeie and serue than our seruants ought to obeie and serue vs. For God besides that he both féedeth and nourisheth vs hath also brought vs foorth and giuen vs euen our being Moreouer whatsoeuer seruants doo towards vs all that is for our owne commoditie and helpeth them nothing but contrariwise we when we serue God doo bring vnto him no profit or commoditie at all For though we liue iustlie he is made neuer a whit the better or more blessed than he was before Also we giue little or nothing vnto our seruants but God for vs hath giuen out his onelie sonne and togither with him hath giuen vs all things We promise to our seruants a verie small reward but God hath promised vnto vs the same felicitie whereof Christ himselfe hath the fruition Whereby appéereth how much more bound wée are to serue him than our seruants are bound vnto vs. But in that we haue said that this vocation of being seruants vnto Christ is common vnto all it séemeth not verie well to agrée with that which is written in the Gospell Iohn 15 15. Now I will not call you seruants but freends Paule also séemeth to be against it when he said Rom. 8 15. Ye haue not receiued againe the spirit of bondage to feare but the spirit of children whereby we crie Abba Father And certeinlie we cannot denie but we are the seruants of God Christ hath paid the price for vs wherefore being redéemed by him we are his seruants God hath created vs. And the rule of euerie artificers worke is to be seruiceable vnto him that made it Wherefore there must be vsed a distinction There are two maner of seruitudes namelie of the inward and outward man of the spirit and of the flesh As touching the outward man and the works of the bodie we are called seruants bicause we execute offices in seruing of God and our neighbours as much as in vs lieth Further as concerning aduersities and the crosse which we dailie suffer we are punished by God no otherwise than seruants are striken and beaten indéed not alwaies for punishment sake as they be but verie often for triall of our faith and for that the flesh and the lusts thereof might be repressed and that a repentance of our sinnes and offenses which continuallie breake foorth might be stirred vp Also the outward appearance and lowelie behauiour which the faithfull doo vse hath the shew of a certeine seruitude After which maner Christ in the epistle to the Philippians Phil 2 7. is said to haue taken vpon him the shape of a seruant But our spirit bicause it is not mooued chéeflie with the hope of reward or with the feare of punishments but onelie and of his owne accord executeth the commandements of God Why and in what respect we are said to be free therefore we are said to haue the spirit of children Also for that we be inflamed through charitie and not compelled of necessitie we are fréends and are not dishonoured with a seruile condition Paule hath plainlie said 1. Cor. 9 19. When I was free from all men I was made the seruant of all men Of Offense In 1. Cor. 8 verse 9. 4 God would a consideration to be had of the weake that there should be no offense offred them wherby they might be drawne back from the Gospell or be hindered from the course which they haue once begun What Scandalum or offense is Offense is a saieng or dooing whereby is hindred the course of the Gospell the propagation or spreading whereof ought to be the leuell of our whole life the verie * Cynosura lodestarre wherevnto we ought alwaies to looke It is of two sorts Offense is of two sorts Tertullian of life and doctrine Touching the offenses which procéed
and a taking in hand of dangers with aduisements And fortitude is chieflie perceiued in dangerous and difficult things Wherein fortitude is chieflie perceiued but most of all in things happening vpon the sudden for vertue is conuersant in difficult things and difficult things be vnlooked for For dangers premeditated séeme after some sort to be mollified Wherefore the vertue and fortitude of Ioab was herein chieflie renowmed 2. Sam. 10. bicause in a sudden and vnexpected euill he could take counsell out of hand Séeing fortitude is set as a meane betwéene feare and boldnesse it is after a sort partaker of both Fortitud is as a meane betweene feare and boldnesse for a valiant man dare commit himselfe into danger for honestie and goodnes sake but yet in the mean time bicause he must striue with terrors he is not a little mooued in mind The holie Martyrs both in our time and in all ages doo valiantlie indure for Christ the Gospell sake all torments which can be deuised either by tyrants or by the diuell yet otherwhile bicause they be not made of marble stone or brasse they become somewhat faint through the verie féele and greatnes of the dangers Two things are set foorth for a godlie man to abide and take in hand But fortitude is rather considered in suffering for that is the harder thing Plutarch Plutarch out of the old Poet Menander It is not saith he the part of a valiant man to saie This I will not suffer but This I will not do For the other thing is not put in our power Wherfore the subiect of fortitude is that part of the mind wherein is conuersant feare and boldnes The obiect which it hath respect vnto is perill And these two belong vnto the matter The forme is mediocritie The end is honestie and goodnesse and the will of God 2 Now must we sée what is the efficient cause thereof Aristotle in his 3. booke of Ethiks saith The efficient cause of fortitude that There is a certeine ciuill fortitude whose efficient cause is the law or ordinance of the common weale As if there were a lawe The kinds of fortitude that he which shall flie in warre is either infamous or condemned to die but he which shall behaue himselfe valiantlie obteineth either praise or reward This is not true fortitude which we now séeke for for that hath not respect either to reward or punishment but to the will of God There is an other fortitude which may be called warlike which procéedeth of that that men be skilfull in armes and are acquainted with the policie of warre But neither in verie déed is that true fortitude for if the enimies be either better prouided or more in number that fortitude faileth There is an other fortitude which is stirred vp and kindled by anger as if so be a man hauing receiued an iniurie will be reuenged but this also may be among wild beasts And an other there is which is ingendred of some gréedie desire and mind to obteine but so an asse also may haue fortitude for often times he suffereth not himselfe to be driuen from his meat no not with stripes Also adulterers and fornicators for the fulfilling of lust doo indure verie gréeuous and troublesome things Howbeit we must grant that anger dooth seruice vnto fortitude for good men are angrie and take it gréeuouslie if they sée anie thing doone vnhonestlie or contrarie to that which shuld be doone yet is not that the cause whie a thing is doone valiantlie Some men are valiant through a confidence of their owne naturall strength others for that they are vnskilfull of the dangers but those men straitwaie discourage themselues with the least change of things But the true cause of fortitude the philosophers appoint to be in the loue of iustice equitie and honestie bicause for these things sake we will indure all things And the root of that loue they put in the knowledge of iustice and honestie Howbeit bicause naturall reason is easilie obscured and deceiued we must haue accesse to the word and will of God into which no error can fall and for the defense of his will there is no danger so gréeuous that a godlie man ought to eschew Ciceros definition of fortitude Cicero in his Tusculane questions saith that Fortitude is an affection of the mind whereby through suffering of gréeuous things we obeie the lawes Which thing if by the lawe he ment the word of God it were true but séeing he vnderstood nothing else than a certeine naturall and ciuill prudence the which by reason of originall sinne and other sinnes is verie often times deceiued True fortitude from whence can not consist But since true fortitude is deriued of faith and charitie and that we haue not those things of our owne strength but of God Esaie did verie well and rightlie reuoke the same to the spirit of God when he said Esaie 11 2. The spirit of fortitude But thou wilt saie that it is an habit and consisteth of accustomed actions I grant but those actions themselues be not of our strength but of the holie Ghost Rightlie did Augustine saie vpon the 13. psalme Con. 2. He is trulie valiant who is not strong in himselfe but in the Lord. Phil. 4 13. Also Paule I can doo all things saith he in him which strengtheneth me And in the second to the Corinthians the twelfe chapter When I am weake then am I strong verse 10. For the saints when they acknowlege their owne weaknesse they call vpon the Lord and are made strong And by these meanes is God woont to inspire fortitude into men First How God inspireth fortitude into men he lighteneth their mind that they may vnderstand and sée his will and he so inflameth them as they thinke that they shal be euen then most happie if they may for his sake suffer all most gréeuous things Secondlie he is present by his strength and power and fighteth for them that be his as in old time he did for Abraham and alwaies for all godlie men that be his which be true Israelites according to the spirit Lastlie bicause those things which must be abidden and suffred be most gréeuous and in a maner swallowe vp reason the spirit of God is present and helpeth our strength and minds to indure all maner of things For the actions of other vertues as saith Aristotle are pleasant but fortitude striueth with gréeuous and difficult things and bringeth no pleasure but in respect of the end Wherefore the spirit bringeth to passe that although the bodie be vexed with gréeuous torments yet we indure all things with a glad and ioifull mind So Eleazar in the historie of the Machabeis In bodie saith he ô Lord I am most miserablie tormented yet for thy sake doo I gladlie suffer all these things Examples of valiant men Let the Romans boast of their Mutij Cocles Curtij and Decij the Graecians
the elect of God It is God that iustifieth c. Wherefore if God doo not accuse vs neither in verie déed shall our hart accuse vs while we haue respect vnto Christ for now we haue trust vnto Godward we shall obteine And while we be conuerted vnto Christ not onlie sinne and accusation is abolished but repentance is also increased 9 But it is doubted of some In 1. Sam. 1 9. whether it be lawfull to desire of God things that be indifferent for as they saie we be ignorant whether those things will be profitable or hurtfull vnto vs which doo aske And Plato in Alâ—ibiade 2. saith Looke In Rom. 8 26. that It is a difficult thing to define our praiers and therefore thinketh that God must be desired onelie in generall and vniuersall termes Chrysostome vpon the epistle vnto Timothie the eight homilie How saith he can I knowe that I shall obteine that which I desire The answer is If thou desire nothing against the will of God or vnwoorthie of his maiestie no earthlie thing no worldlie thing but altogither spirituall things and so foorth The Lord in his praier teacheth that onlie things spirituall must be desired for all other things he comprehendeth generallie saieng Matt. 6 11. Giue vs this daie our dailie bread And in another place he saith First seeke the kingdome of heauen Ibidem 33. and these things shall be added vnto you Howbeit Augustine in his epistle vnto Proba affirmeth that this kind of things may also be desired of God for whatsoeuer things are lawfull for vs to wish those he saith are also lawfull to be asked Further these things God hath not seldome promised therefore we may craue them also And herevnto there doo serue examples Exod. 17 11 For Moses desired victorie against the Amalekites Gen. 17 18. Abraham desired that Ismael might liue he was heard Paule also desired to be deliuered from affliction 2. Co. 12 8. But here there be two things which must be considered What is to be considered in the desire of things indifferent The first is that in those things which be indifferent we doo not firmelie settle our selues but let vs perpetuallie refer them to the glorie of God Further we must determine to vse them well if they doo happen But some man will saie that séeing we be men we may be deceiued about the right vse of children for onelie God knoweth how well or how ill we will vse our children Moreouer the nature of man is inconstant and therefore we may be changed and may refuse that which we first desired Indéed these things be true But if thou with a faithfull and godlie mind shalt desire issue of God there is no danger bicause the successe is put in the hand of God by whose will all things to come are gouerned He regardeth not that which thou desirest but that which is most profitable vnto thée Rom. 8 26. And Paule saith What we may desire we knowe not but the spirit helpeth our infirmitie by his wisdom correcteth our praiers Neither must this be past ouer that sometimes God séemeth not to heare vs when as neuertheles he then heareth vs most of all as when Paule praied 2. Cor. 12 9. that the sting of the flesh might depart from him he heard that the grace and fauour wherewith God indued him should be sufficient for him Therefore when we make such kind of praiers we ought to be of this mind that whatsoeuer shall happen we may be contented with the iudgement of GOD. And when as Christ saith Matth. 6 33. First seeke ye the kingdome of God and then other things shall be giuen vnto you he saith not that the things not desired shall be giuen Indéed he will giue them but he forbiddeth not but that they should be asked so that they be the latter part of our requests Further he did not there speake of praiers but he spake onelie of the carefulnesse studie and disquietnes had about things fraile and transitorie In 1. Sa. 1. Matth. 6 7. 10 Moreouer Christ warneth that in praieng we should not vse much babling But we must vnderstand that he when he spake these things forbad not long praiers for he himselfe continued a whole night praieng on the mountaine Matt. 14 23. and before his death he praied abundantlie Luk. 21 37. 22 41. and he commandeth vs to be euer praieng and neuer to be wearie And the better to beate this into our heads he vsed parables namelie of the vniust iudge reuenging the cause of the widowe woman Luke 18 1. by reason of hir importunitie and of the man who being in his bed Luke 11 7. and would not rise yet at the last opened the doore vnto his fréend that continuallie knocked and gaue him so much bread as he was willing to take Yea and the Lord himselfe at the length heard the woman of Chanaan Matt. 15 23. that constantlie cried vnto him without ceasing Babling in praier is multiplieng of words without faith and the spirit 1. Kin. 18 27 In 2. Sam. 7 at the end So now it must be considered that much spéech or babling is then vsed not when we praie long but when we multiplie words without faith and the spirit being persuaded that we may be heard through the number of those words So Helias derided the Baalites and exhorted them to crie out lowder whereby they might at the length be heard of their God being either asléepe or else otherwise occupied Wherefore that is a foolish cogitation for God heareth vs not for our words sake but for his owne goodnes and mercie Another cause is if we will as it were prescribe vnto God and teach him what things we haue néed of Matth. 6 32. For God knoweth whereof wee haue need euen before we begin to praie These two causes being remooued we may praie so much as we will In what respect our praiers ought to be either long or short And how farre foorth our praiers ought to be either long or short Augustine verie well describeth vnto Proba The brethren saith he in Aegypt haue praiers short and often vsed as it were certeine darts cast out of the soules and that saith he least the zeale which they haue should wax cold Therefore he addeth If we sée our indeuour and feruentnes of praier beginne to wax faint we must not dull it with continuance but if so be that our attentiuenesse be chéerefull and readie bent it must not be left Brieflie he saith that praier ought to be much and the talke little And those saith he are much in praier who in déed desire things that be necessarie but with words superfluous but that praier is much when our hart being stirred vp we continuallie persuade him whom we praie vnto He saith that we ought to deale more with teares than with words and with wéeping rather than with speaking for
of things and being miserablie deceiued they will at the length despaire of being able to perceiue anie thing or else if they thinke they haue vnderstood anie thing they shall falselie so persuade themselues And while we mistrusting them vse reason and vnderstanding to search out the truth they ouerthwart vs and as anie thing either gréeuous or pleasant shal be brought to mind they call vs against our wils from our ernest studie Further who séeth not that in euerie kind of doctrine there is néed of seuering the mind which the more earnest it is and the more the matter is excluded from our cogitation the more excellent and woorthie kind of knowledge is had And this is spoken of that knowledge which we vse in contemplation and discerning of anie thing But if thou go vnto that knowledge which is performed in dooing and practising which commonlie by the Gréeke word is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Practise there it is disputed chéeflie whether the matter be honest and iust But of that which is good honest iust of vertues and such like no sense of the bodie hath knowledge at all I passe ouer that in respect of the bodie it is néedfull to eat to drinke to prepare garments and such other necessaries innumerable which commodities séeing it is a most laboursome thing to atteine it is vnspeakable how much we are for this cause drawen awaie from knowledge of the truth Yea and that we be not disappointed of these things we must heape riches togither Héereof commeth chidings contentions warres and infinit other things which if so be they doo not ouerthrowe all good indeuors yet doo they corrupt hinder the same Whereof it commeth as it is concluded by the philosopher that by reason of all the things now spoken of either we shall knowe anie thing with a true and perfect knowledge or else that we shall atteine the same after death onelie Then séeing that the mind dooth so much the more knowe and vnderstand anie thing as it is more separated from the bodie and lesse cleaueth therevnto it remaineth that we ought continuallie to indeuor to withdrawe the mind from the bodie And this they make to be the verie clensing of man to wit that the pure should be diuided and separated from the vnpure Now then it is no maruell if they make the bodie to be the prison and sepulchre of the mind If thou peruse histories Many haue killed them selues to visit their friends departed thou shalt find manie which killed themselues to the intent they might go to visit their louers and déere friends which were departed and shall we saie they beare it gréeuouslie if death come vnto vs that we may be able manifestlie and without impediment to behold the truth Wherefore they saie that they which for death sake afflict or macerate themselues and die through sorrowe and sadnes are not woorthie the name of philosophers but to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Louers of their owne bodies or * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Louers of riches 5 In this saieng of the philosophers now declared Death is an euill thing and whie are comprehended certeine things which are not verie agréeable to the holie scriptures and to the right catholike faith For we saie that death is to be counted not good but euill séeing God laid the same vpon mankind as a punishment Gen. 3 19. wherefore he would haue vs moorne and lament for the same The which thou séest to be doone by humane lawes for if anie greeuous offense be committed by citizens they iudge them to be punished with death And all liuing creatures which are led by the iudgement of nature which can not be deceiued bicause it is ruled by the counsell of God séeing they shunne death and by a certeine common sense by all meanes abhorre it no dout but they iudge it to be an euill thing It is no hard matter also to confirme the same by an argument of the contrarie Life is accounted good wherefore death is euill And that life is to be reckoned among good things héereby thou maist perfectlie perceiue bicause God promiseth the same as the reward of obedience towards his lawe He that dooth these things saith he shall liue Leuit. 18 5. Further death is euill séeing it is brought into the world through an euill cause that is to saie through sinne Gen. 3 19. And the holie scripture doubteth not to call the same The enimie of Christ for Paule wrote in the first to the Corinthians 1. Co. 15 26 that The last enimie which shall be destroied by Christ is death And it is so euill as it darkeneth the action of the best and most excellent vertue I meane the delight of fortitude or valiant courage For as testifieth Aristotle in his Ethiks the same worketh not with pleasure except it be in that respect that it hath relation vnto the end For a man of valiant courage while he dieth for an honest cause dooth it not without gréefe and some sadnesse Which how true it is Matt. 26 37 was declared in Christ himselfe when as in the garden he abode the conflict of the flesh and the spirit An humane bodie is not to be condemned against the opinion of the philosophers Then are they deceiued in this consolation of theirs while they will make death to be good vnto vs. Moreouer this reason of theirs hath an other absurditie bicause they condemne an humane bodie the which is a woorthie and notable gift of God not an vnperfect but a most excellent woorkmanship of God shineth therin Who is able to expresse how cunninglie the same hath béene wrought by God This is a woonderfull thing not onelie vnto Aristotle Galen and other Ethnike writers but also vnto Lactantius Gregorie Nazianzen Psal 8 2. and other catholike fathers innumerable And Dauid confesseth that thereby is knowen the woonderfull wisedome of God Finallie séeing we doubt not but that God made the same among the rest of his creatures and that the scripture plainlie confesseth by the testimonie of God himselfe that whatsoeuer things God made they were verie good it foloweth without all controuersie that the same also is good 6 As touching the coniunction also of the soule with the bodie it is decréed that we must affirme the same to wit that it should be accounted good least we fall into that opinion which is ascribed vnto Origin namelie that soules for their demerits in an other life are thrust vnto bodies Whom the apostle sufficientlie prooueth to haue iudged amisse who in the epistle to the Romans saith concerning Iacob and Esau Rom. 9 12. When as they had not as yet doone anie thing either good or euill of the one it was said Iacob haue I loued and of the other Esau haue I hated Neither is the thing obscure to him that dooth well
the last houre of his life doeth receaue the faith which he can neither testifie by words nor yet by signes Further our aduersaries also confesse that there is a baptisme of request desire Baptismus flaminis which they cal The baptisme of fire For whenas a man beléeuing desireth baptisme cannot inioy it dieth they saie he is saued Which also Ambrose iudged of Valentinian the Emperor What Ambrose iudged of Valentinian the Emperour which came vnto him to be baptised and was slaine by the waie How then do they regard this sentence Vnlesse a man be borne againe of the water and the spirit c If a request desire be there sufficient why maie it not be sufficient in children the election of God and the promise and the holy Ghost wherewith we declare them to be indued séeing they be borne of faithfull progenitors Iohn 3. 5. The water and the spirit taken to be both one Moreouer Christ talked there with Nichodemus who was of a perfect age and might haue had the benefite both of water and of a minister There be some also which there by the water and the spirit vnderstand all one thing so as the latter worde expresseth the former For Water allegoricallie doeth diuerse times signifie grace and the holie ghost as Christ shewed when he talked with the Woman of Samaria and when he cried Iohn 4. 10. Iohn 7. 37. Ioel. 2. 28. He that thirsteth let him come vnto me and drinke And in Ioel it is saide I will powre vpon you cleane water c. And the same manner of spéech in a maner thou hast in that which Iohn Baptist saide of Christ Matt. 3. 11. He that commeth after me he baptiseth with fire and with the spirit In which place fire and the spirit signifie all one thing but the former answeres are plaine enough 19 There is another place in the 17. Chapter of the booke of Genesis Verse 14. But the vncircumcised manchilde in whose flesh the foreskinne is not circumcised that soule shall be cut off from his people Whose flesh shall not be circumcised his soule shal be rooted out because he hath broken my couenant Behold saie they the young Hebrewes which died without circumcision were to be cut off and that as touching the soule wherefore it séemeth to followe that they cannot haue saluation Howbeit this place also prooueth but little which euen our aduersaries shall be compelled to graunt Forsomuch as the Maister of the Sentences in the 4. The master of the Sentences Booke when he followeth this opinion that children which died before the viij daie being vncircumcised were damned is forsaken How the Hebrewes vnderstand that sentence and for the more part is not defended by the writers And as touching the matter the Hebrewes referre these words vnto him which after the viij daie was not circumcised and they vnderstand the cutting off to be as concerning the life of the bodie to wit that he shoulde die before his naturall time which opinion séemeth to be prooued out of the historie of Moses Exod. 4. 24 where the Angel would slaie him because he had not circumcised his sonne But this proofe séemeth not to be sufficient ynough because it is not read that the Angell meant to kill the childe but the father vnlesse perhaps they bring this testimonie onelie to the intent to declare that the threatening was to kill the bodie There be others which vnderstand That the soule should be cut off from among the people because he shall not be reckoned among the Israelites nor their Church neither shall be numbred in the common weale there to obtaine neither heritage nor office Nowe séeing these two interpretations may be vsed it maketh the argument to be weake But least we should séeme to giue the slip Look part 4 cap. 7. art 20 admit that God speake there of the death of the soule and of the losse of eternall life yet may wée expound that these things must not so be vnderstoode except when the circumcised shall be come to age and shall consent to the negligence of his elders which did not circumcise him Otherwise if he himselfe shall circumcise himselfe and shall detest that which the Parents did towards him he shall not deserue to be cut off but rather to be commended So must the law of God be vnderstood if their happen a consent of omitting Circumcision he is worthie to perish he I meane shall be cut off But if so be he depart vncircumcised before he haue power to circumcise himselfe he must be left to the merrie of God neither is it méete to iudge rashlie of him But séeing he might belong to the predestination or to the election of God and that he came of godlie ancestors we maie hope well of him And the selfe same iudgement in all respectes is to be giuen of this sentence that was of the saying of Christ which we intreated of before namelie Iohn 3. 5. Vnlesse a man shall be borne of water and the spirit he shall not enter into the kingdome of heauen Which saying since our aduersaries are constrained whether they will or no to vnderstand modestlie there is no cause why thy shoulde so greatly wrangle about this sentence By these things which we haue nowe alleaged it is easilie prooued that our young children séeing now by the worde of God and promise of the couenant they séeme to be ingraffed to the Church ought not to be excluded from Baptisme Euen as the children of the Hebrewes although they were young ones were circumcised The ninth Chapter Of the dedication of Temples wherein is intreated of sundrie corruptions of Baptisme WHile I earnestly think vppon the Dedication of the temple which Salomon made In 2. kin 8. at the end that cōmeth to my remembrance which Augustin hath in a certaine Oration to the people of the dedication of a temple to wit that those things which are doone in the outward temples doe also pertaine vnto vs who bée the true temples of God The dedication of a Temple is applied vnto vs. Verse 17. Wherefore in the first Epistle to the Corinthians the third Chapter it is written That the Temple of God is holie which are you Verse 17. Further we haue in the 6. Chapter Verse 19. Your bodies are the Temples of the holie Ghost Therefore we must take héede least we erre in the dedicating of any of both temples The outwarde temple is then dedicated when we begin to applie it to holie vses Godlie men are visible consecrated when they be baptized and godlie men are then visiblie consecrated vnto God when they be washed in holie baptisme But this must be prouided that both the one and the other bée doone according to the rule of the word of God But séeing we are to intreate of these things it is méete we should begin with the Etymologie of the words What
would woonderfullie maruell if they should nowe see men being not indued with that grace so boldlie and impudently commaund the Diuels as at this daie it is doone by Priestes and feigned exorcistes But those things that were afterward spoken by the latter writers of the Church as touching the ioyning of exorcismes with Baptisme seeing they bee alleadged without Scriptures and sauour of superstition neither are doone with any fruit nor ought to be receiued But from whence the errour sprang it was declared before when we handled a certaine place of Cyprian 3. c. Further an other cause of the error was for that men had begunne to attribute ouer much vnto Sacramentes In which thing Augustine otherwise a man of a sharpe wit and incomparable learning was verie much deceiued For he thought that the Infantes did then first goe out of the power of the Diuell when they were baptised But seeing it hath beene declared that this is not so I thinke it good not to vse anie newe confutation Onelie this I will say that the Sacraments must not be contemned but on the other side wee must not attribute vnto them that which belongeth onelie vnto God An answere to the arguments of the Exorcists 22 And thus much as concerning the Testimonies of the Fathers Nowe come we to confute the reasons alleadged First it was taken as graunted that wee out of the kingdome of darkenesse shall be translated into the kingdome of light That we willinglie graunt but we denie that to bee first doone by receiuing of Baptisme seeing Infants obtaine this by the predestination and promise of GOD and also in right of inheritaunce of the couenant So that there is no cause why place should therefore bee giuen to exorcismes And they which were of ripe age obtaine this translation by faith For by the same they receyue iustification Wherefore they must not be adiured seeing they belong alreadie vnto Christ We confesse also that by the desert of sinne it is come to passe that men are come into the power of the Diuell but yet that the same is taken away and euacuated by Christ through the holie Ghost and the word of God and as concerning men of ripe age by fayth not by adiurations and exorcismes And whereas otherwhyle when adiurations be vsed the ill spirites crie out that they be wrung tormented and vexed it maie be doone by collusion namelie that the father of lies doeth faine such things to the intent that superstitions may increase and may be longer time nourished in the Church And wheras they say that they do not blow out or exorcise the mans nature made by God which is therfore good but onelie indeuour by their adiurations to make féeble the power of the diuel original corruption least then it should as much hurt as it did before We aunswere that this may much more iustlie and religiouslie bee obtained by prayers Further if this were their mind men ought to exorcise not onelie at Baptisme but also in a maner through out their whole life seeing men are indangered all their life long by the violence and temptations of the Diuell and also by the naughtie originall corruption which doeth perpetuallie remaine in them 1. Tim. 4. 5. But after what manner meates and those thinges which we vse for defending the life of the bodie are sanctified by the worde of GOD and by prayers their is no néede now to expresse séeing of that matter we haue spoken largelie enough before They added that in times past the earth was cursed by GOD by reason of the first fault of Adam and that therefore it is needfull that the fruites thereof should by adiurations be plucked out of the power of the diuell This doe wee not denie but we adde that the curse was through Christ either mitigated or turned into blessing and that therefore exorcismes should be counted for superfluous and vnprofitable séeing that the vse of the earth and the fruits thereof so that thankesgiuing and prayers be vsed therein are made cleane and pure vnto the faithfull Also the words of the Apostle were alleadged wherein hee sayth That our wrestling is not against fleshe and bloud Eph. 6. 12. but against spirituall wickednesses What this maketh for the present purpose I cannot so much as imagine much lesse perceiue The Apostle in that place instructed vs with a woonderfull complete armour against spirituall enemies and against celestiall things yet spake he not of exorcismes and exsufflations To conclude they said that before regeneration bee wrought the impediments must be remooued namelie the forces of the Diuel That which they first take vnto them let vs graunt them but we must adde that such obstacles are remooued by the might of Christ and also by the power of the holie Ghost by the promise of God by the right of the couenaunt and in men of riper age by the preaching of the worde by faith and by prayers and therefore there is no place left vnto adiurations vnlesse perhappes in some one man that shall be indued peculiarlie from God with the gift of healing Which power or facultie we iudge not that it can be giuen by the bishoppes to whomsoeuer they wil by laying on of hands séeing it is the holie Ghost which distributeth these giftes of his vppon whomsoeuer he will And thus much haue we spoken as concerning the question propounded Of Papisticall holie VVater 23 The fact of Elizeus In 2. kings 2. ver 21. wherein he applied sault to helpe the waters of Ierico doe the priests of the Pope imitate of a certaine * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 peruerse zeale who not onely vse sault in the baptising of infantes but doe also powre it into their holy waters Aqua lustralis piacularis which may rather be called haynous waters I maruell that they sometimes vse not figges since that Esai once applied them in healing the sore of Ezechias 4. Kings 20. 7. Howbeit so great is the boldnesse of these men that in their fainings and inuētions they not onelie exercise these thinges which Christ and his Prophets vsed but they also take those things which they neuer vsed For they say that they mingle the holy oyle with Balme But they make a notable lye séeing Balme hath not bin brought vnto vs of long time And séeing they so bountifullie abuse sault they bewray themselues that the sault is become vnsauourie Cardinall Caietanus Which Cardinall Caietanus manifestlie confessed when he interpreted the wordes of Christ wherein he said Matt. 5. 13. But if the sault be made vnsauourie it is nothing else woorth but to bee cast foorth and to be trodden vnder foote by men When he wrote these thinges the Citie of Rome was sacked by the Spanyardes vnder Pope Clement the vij Rome sacked Whereupon he said Because we are now become vnsauorie sault therefore are we cast foorth and trodden vnder foote Wherefore wée must pray vnto
considered that the holie Scripture hath bin accustomed as it were by turnes to attribute that which is of the signes vnto the things and againe which be of the things to ascribe them vnto the signes The selfe-same manner also doe the fathers vse so as thou shalt oftentimes perceiue them to intreate of the things as though they spake of the signes and on the other side so to write of the signes as though they intreated of the things and of that which is signified This maie verie wel accord by reason of the great likenesse which is betwéene them by the appointment of the Lord. Hereof Augustine vnto Boniface gaue a plaine aduertisement that is Sacraments the names be changed Another rule is that if thou diligently consider those things which are spoken before after thou shalt alwaies perceiue the fathers to testifie that this foode is spirituall and not meate of the throte The Fathers alwaies testifie the foode to be spirituall bellie or téeth A thirde rule is that if they at any time saie that we communicate with Christ carnally so as the bodie also is nourished in the Eucharist these things must be so taken euen as wee vnderstand that the sonne of God when he was conceiued of the virgin and tooke vpon him the nature of man did then take part of our flesh What the Fathers meane if happilie they say that wee communicate with Christ carnallie Further we abide in him he likewise abideth in vs when as we beléeue his wordes and when by faith wee receiue the sacraments because in so communicating there is added vnto vs the spirit And our flesh and bodie which were alreadie of the selfe same nature with Christ are become of the selfe same conditions with him they are made capable of immortalitie and resurrection and when they obey and serue the spirit they are truelie nourished vnto life euerlasting And so is our bodie two manner of wayes fed in the Eucharist first it is fedde by signes secondly by this renuing vnto life euerlasting And thus is Christ said to dwel in vs by this sacrament And as touching the first communicating that we haue with him by natiuitie and incarnation thou hast a testimonie out of the Epistle to the Hebrewes the 2. Verse 14. Chapter Forsomuch then as children are partakers of flesh and bloud he himselfe likewise was partaker with them Moreouer consider that the word of consecrating signifieth nothing else among the Fathers than to dedicate a thing common and prophane vnto a holie vse How the fathers vnderstand this word To Consecrate and this is to make it holy Wherefore there is no cause that when we méete in the Fathers with the word Consecration we should straight waie faine vnto our selues Transubstantiation But that there is some alteration made there we denie it not namely in that those things are now made sacraments to signifie vnto vs effectuallie that by the power of the holie Ghost as touching the minde and faith wee must offer and exhibite the bodie and bloud of the Lorde The difference betwéene vs and the Capernaits Further it must be knowen that betwéene vs and the Capernaites as touching the matter it selfe there is no difference They thought that they shoulde eate the verie bodie and the verie flesh of Christ which also we graunt to be doone But the difference is in the manner and waie of eating That which they thought shoulde bée carnally doone we teache to bee spiritually doone Otherwise the true bodie and the true bloud is exhibited because faith comprehendeth not feigned things but true things Also when it is read in the Fathers that the bodie of Christ is contained or had in these mysteries by these words is nothing else to be vnderstood than betokened shewed declared and signified 44 And when thou hearest the Fathers say What the Fathers meane whē they say that the bread or wine remaine no◠in c. that bread and wine is no more in the sacrament this thou must not absolutely vnderstand but as touching thy self when thou doest faithfully communicate For there thou must not thinke either of the bread or of the wine It behooueth that thy minde and thy sense doe onely cleaue vnto the things which are represented vnto thée Therefore it is said Lift vp your hearts when as thou liftest vp thy minde from the signes vnto things inuisible which be offered vnto thée Also the holy scriptures shun not this kinde of figure Paul saieth Ephe. 6. 12. Our wrestling is not against flesh and bloud who neuerthelesse denied not that the bodie and flesh doe grieue the soule and must be bridled séeing he writeth in another place Gal. 5. 17. The flesh lusteth against the spirit Neither yet was he ignorant that there be manie euill men who be called flesh and bloud by whom yet we bee troubled and with them wee haue dayly wrestling But Paul meant of that chiefe and principal contention from whence these other haue their originall He said also that In Christ there is neither male nor female Gal. 3. 28. neither bond nor free when as neuerthelesse these offices and these persons are not remooued from Christ and his Church nay rather there be precepts particularly described of them But Paul vnderstoode that these things are not in Christ as concerning the obtainement of regeneration forgiuensse of sinnes and life euerlasting which are the chiefest of all in Christianitie And in the disstributing of these mysteries Christ respecteth not these states and conditions The same Apostle writeth 1. Cor. 4. 20 that The kingdome of God is not in worde and yet woulde he not therefore that Sermons Admonitions and Readings which be doone by the word should be remooued from the Church which is the kingdome of God but he onely respected that high power and efficacie of the spirit whereby all things ought to be ruled in the Church Thus the Fathers speake when they denie that the nature of the signes doe remaine which must not as we haue said be simplie vnderstoode As touching our owne faith and cogitation the natures of bread and wine remaine not Faith maketh things present Gal. 3. 1. but that is meant as touching our faith and cogitation which ought not to staie vpon them Hereunto thou maist adde that faith is of so great efficacie as it maketh things to be present not forsooth reallie or substantially but spiritually for it truely comprehendeth them And on this wise did the Apostle say That Christ was crucified euen before the eyes of the Galathians And so was Abraham saide to haue séene the daie of the Lorde Iohn 8. 56. And after this maner the olde Fathers had in their sacramentes the selfe same Christ which we also doe inioye And thus thou seest that vnto this presence is not required that the matter of the sacrament as touching naturall constitution doe change place or be present with vs with all
vs not thus to affirme And to multiply increase so many myracles without the testimonie therof is not to deale like a diuine And further such a presence is not necessarie and is of no moment to our saluation Againe that the wicked receiue the body of Christ I allow not That the wicked eate not the flesh of Christ For whatsoeuer the Lord instituted that did he that it might be for our health But a fleshlie and corporall eating helpeth not the saluation of the wicked Therfore Christ appointed no such eating And whatsoeuer the wicked do eate corporallie it ought not to be said that they eate the body of Christ vnlesse vnto the signe and seale thou wilt attribute the name of the thing Further we will not graunt that the bodie of Christ is euerie where or that it is spread ouer all or manie places because this is against the humane nature Neyther must we in like maner iudge that there is a difference betwéene the spirituall eating which is in the 6. Chapter of Iohn and that which the Lord instituted in the last supper sauing vnto that doctrine promise which he had first taught he added a Seale That also which they speake doubtfullie of adoration must not be admitted For we taught before and that plainly and manifestly what we must iudge of that matter And thus much as concerning this opinion From the which I thinke good that those things be taken away which I haue now recited What is not to be allowed in the other opinion 79 And in the other it liketh me not that they seldome make mention of a sacramentall chaunging of the breade and wine which neuerthelesse is no light matter And the Fathers wheresoeuer they séeme to fauour transubstantiation haue a respect vnto the same And the holy Scriptures contemned it not For Paul euen in the very handling of the Sacrament nameth not simply The Cup 1. Co. 11. 27 but The Cup of the Lord. Further we sée in the olde Testament that thinges which were offered The sacramentall change is not of smal importance but is affirmed by the scriptures are not onelie called holy but holy of holy that is in the Hebrewe phrase most holy Wherefore there is no cause why they shoulde say that this change is of light importaunce séeing it is of great moment But if they pretend that they doe this because we should not cleaue ouer much to signes we answere that a remedie may easily be had for this euill through the doctrine whereby men are taught Christ in the Eucharist is ioyned vnto vs by thrée degrées that Christ while we communicate is ioyned vnto vs with an excellent coniunction as he that dwelleth in vs and we in him who also in the next degrée is ioyned with wordes and that by signification Thirdly also he is coupled by signes also by signification which coniunction notwithstanding is lesse than that which belongeth vnto wordes Yea and of the former to wit the coniunction by the wordes the signes doe take their sacramentall signification If these things be rightly taught there will be no daunger I graunt that the writers of this opinion haue sometimes intreated of this sacramentall changing yet but seldome Of the efficacie of the sacrament 80 Furthermore they haue not alwayes applied thereunto that efficacie which is due vnto it for these are not made common signes but such as may mightily and effectually stirre vp the minde They will say that this will bee to attribute ouermuch to the elements of this world We answer that these things are not attributed vnto those elements for themselues sake but because of the institution of the Lord the power of the holy Ghost and plainnesse of the wordes If they shall demaunde The action of the holie Ghost commeth while the Communion is in hand howe may I knowe that the holy Ghost worketh here It may be easily answered because it is alreadie ordained that this is a spirituall eating But howe shall we eate spiritually without the holy Ghost As touching the institution of the Lord there is no doubt and of the efficacie of the word the scriptures speake euery where Paul sayeth Rom. 1. 16. That the Gospell is the power of God vnto saluation namely that God will declare his power by this instrument and what else is the Eucharist than the Gospell or visible word Also Paul saieth That faith is by hearing Ro. 10. 17. and hearing by the word of God not that the word maketh vs to beléeue for it is the spirit by whom we beléeue but he vseth the instrument of words and also of sacraments which be the sensible words of God For who knoweth not that the creatures are sanctified by the worde of God as it is in the Epistle to Timothie 1. Tim. 4. 7. Which also must be rightly vnderstoode For it is the holy Ghost which in very déede doth sanctifie Howbeit he doeth this by the instrument both of the word and sacraments Wherefore this changing must not be taken from breade and wine whereby they are made effectuall signes of the bodie and bloud of Christ that is by the which the spirit of the Lord worketh mightily and not meanely in vs so that we be indued with faith and godlinesse For we speake not here of an efficacie which may binde our saluation to the things of this worlde Neither let any man here crie out that séeing this receiuing is had by faith what shal the communicants gaine because if they be faithfull they haue Christ alreadie ioyned vnto them It may be easily answered In déede he is ioyned vnto them but he is euerie day more néerely ioyned vnto vs while we communicate he is more and more vnited vnto vs. Moreouer this commeth to passe that we should satisfie the commandement of the Lord who commanded that we should eate and drinke this Sacrament Otherwise thou wilt say the verie selfesame of Baptisme For when as a man beléeueth he is straightwaie iustified and hath remission of sinnes and yet is he not in vaine baptized But if so be thou wilt demaund whether this efficacie of the Eucharist is towards all men alike I answer No Whether the office of the Eucharist be towards all alike but according to the state and measure of the faith of the communicants Euen as Origen saide vppon the 15. Chapter of Matthew namely that the matter of this Sacrament profiteth not but by the worde and by obsecration it may helpe our mindes according to the quantitie and proportion of faith 81 Another thing there is besides that I woulde often put these men in remembrance of that we By the Communion we are incorporated vnto Christ by the Communion are incorporated vnto Christ Which worde is not newe but is in Paule to the Ephesians who saieth that the Gentiles are made Coheires and of the same bodie which in Gréeke is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For
mooued vnto faith Who also will saie that the verie God omnipotent hath wanted a meanes whereby man also should be persuaded to beléeue c. Now it appeareth what Augustine thought as touching that place Rom. 9 16. It is neither in him that willeth nor in him that runneth c. After these things I referre my selfe vnto that which Paule wrote Gala. 4 6. And bicause ye are sonnes God hath sent foorth the spirit of his sonne into your hearts crieng Abba Father But if the spirit being sent foorth by God vnto men maketh them crie it maketh them also to beléeue and therewithall maketh them to liue well also Eze. 11 19. 37 26. For when it was said by the prophet I will take from them that stonie heart and will giue them a fleshie heart It is added And I will giue my spirit among them and will cause them to walke in my commandements c. Also to the Romans it is written Rom 8 14. As manie as are led by the spirit of God those be the sonnes of God Wherein is to be noted that the saints otherwhile are passiuelie subiect vnto certeine motions of the holie Ghost And if of some it be granted that our will is sometime onelie a subiect passiue when troubles and gréefes doo greatlie vrge vs looking for nothing else but death for the soule is then susteined by God least it should faint what let is there that we should not also be passiuelie subiect to this change whereof we now speake Wherefore I saie the will is the subiect of both conuersions as well of healing as of faith but as touching the first it onelie concurreth passiuelie and as touching the other both passiuelie and actiuelie bicause we beléeue willinglie In the first the spirit woorketh alone but in the other it worketh togither with vs. Vnto the Galathians it is written But when it seemed good vnto him Gal. 1 15. which had separated me from my mothers wombe But it is not said When it seemed good vnto me And vnto the Romans Rom. 12 3. God distributed to euerie one the measure of faith And of frée gifts it is written 1. Cor. 12 11. that Those the spirit of God distributeth to euerie one as he will And he is no lesse the Lord of regeneration and the GOD of our faith than he is of frée gifts and therefore he distributeth both kinds as it pleaseth him In the epistle to the Philippians we read Phil. 1 29. that To them it was giuen not onelie to beleeue but to suffer for Christ 2. Tim. 1 7. And in the 2. epist to Timothie it is written For God hath not giuen to vs the spirit of feare but of power of loue and of sobrietie Mat. 13 11. Christ also said vnto the apostles that To others vnto whome he spake in parables it was not giuen that they should vnderstand but vnto them that were his apostles it was giuen And verie manie other testimonies of the holy scriptures might be alledged for this matter howbeit I will be contented with these but if there be anie which will not beléeue these verie manie alledged neither will they giue credit vnto more 11 But manie saie If thus the matter stand then shall we be as stocks and stones which are mooued of God The matter dooth not so stand bicause both stocks and stones while they be mooued doo neither perceiue nor vnderstand nor will Further if in anie thing we be mooued passiuelie as stocks and stones be yet should wée not so be called albeit in this change whereof we now speake we are not mooued violentlie as be stones and stocks but by a motion méet vnto our end and perfection Howbeit that which they obiect against vs is not well concluded for it is an argument in the second figure of propositions affirmatiue as if we should say Stones and stocks are mooued passiuelie Men in this change or conuersion are mooued passiuelie Therfore are they stones stocks Again we saie Stones stocks be bodies they be also substances In like maner men are bodies and substances Therefore they are stones stocks All men sée that the conclusions are not firme doo belong to the second figure of the affirmatiues Yet neuerthelesse of this our saieng which wee defend as touching the change in God or the healing of the mind before we can either beléeue or hope or expect celestiall things it followeth not that we make for Swenkfeldius for he séemeth to put faith before the word of God but we doo not so Bicause we affirme the word of God is as well an outward as an inward instrument of the holie Ghost wherewith he may persuade and shew what things are to be beléeued and doone and may declare and vtter his efficacie in the changing of vs. For we knowe that Faith is by hearing Rom. 10 17 Esaie 53 1. hearing by the word of God Paule saith How shall they beleeue in him whome they haue not heard And elsewhere it is written Lord Rom. 10 16. who hath beleeued our preaching Further Swenkfeldius séemeth to appoint the outward word to be as a certeine exercise of faithfull men and reiecteth the ministerie Which opinion we detest for we affirme that as well the outward word as the inward be instruments of the holie Ghost neither doo we doubt but that the word especiallie by nature goeth before faith séeing it is the subiect thereof 12 Wherefore we determine that the will or choise before regeneration can doo nothing by it selfe as touching diuine and spirituall things but that the spirit of God is necessarie bicause it propoundeth and teacheth neither that the same is anie thing except it worke a change of the mind The Pelagians said that the grace of 〈◊〉 is required but yet to this purpose onelie 〈◊〉 we may the easilier beléeue doo well The schoole-Diuines bicause they would differ from them haue affirmed a preuenting grace but we demand what maner of grace that is And we saie that it is not sufficient to answer that it is such a grace as thereby are propounded vnto vs the words of God and his promises either inwardlie or outwardlie but that there ought to be applied a change or conuersion and that it ought not to be put in our will or choise to follow or cleaue vnto the promises Augustine Augustine put vs in mind that vnder the praises of nature lie hidden the enimies of grace Wherefore Two kinds of calling now that we haue thus determined there appeare two kinds of callings one common an other effectuall Which distinction I first prooue out of the holie scriptures Rom. 8. 29. Paule saith Whome he hath called those also he hath iustified Wherfore it is some kind of calling wherevnto iustification is ioined for that is Paules chaine namelie to haue the linkes fast knit togither On the other part Mat. 20 16. it is said by
so straitlie driuen as Hadrian thinketh as though the same ought onelie to be vnderstoode touching that rule wherein it is saide that Sinnes are freelie forgiuen vs through Christ Indéede the same is the most happiest message of all other but yet it is the Gospell also which the Apostles taught in like manner of other principall articles Whereupon Paul in the 2. Epistle to Timothie the 2. Verse 8. chapter saith Remember that Iesus Christ made of the seede of Dauid was raised againe from the deade according to my Gospel Beholde nowe in the same place vnder the name of the Gospell is comprehended the doctrine which teacheth that both Christ is risen from the deade and is borne of the séede of Dauid And to preach the Gospell otherwise is nothing else with the Apostle than that which he saide in the first Epistle to Timothie the 6. chapter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say otherwise to teach Wherefore it must not be suffered that that same saying of the Apostle shoulde be restrained to one Article onelie Neither can there be anie reason assigned whie that cannot iustlie be called a good message and gladsome preaching whereby it is testified and declared vnto the worlde that God stoode vnto the promises who sent his sonne to take flesh of the séede of Eue of Abraham and of Dauid euen as in old time he promised by his Prophets to doe Therefore since we haue these generall sayings it is not to be looked for that we should shewe this or that errour to be condemned and suppressed by name and in expresse words in the scriptures For where shall we finde there that they be condemned and are estraunged from God which doe not receiue the bookes of the olde testament which opinion neuerthelesse was common vnto the Marcionites Manichees and manie other heretikes Neither are they at anie time condemned by expresse words which denie that the soules after the death of the bodie do liue but thinke that they die together with the flesh and that as touching life euerlasting they about the end of the world shal be raised vp againe together with their bodies Also they which woulde not that pardon and reconciliation should be giuen vnto the brethren that be fallen are neuer saide in the holie Oracles to be either condemned or to be out of the way of saluation Wherefore when Hadrian requireth this at our hands concerning the errour of the Anabaptists both he dealeth fondlie and whilest he taketh away one or two errours he openeth a verie wide gappe vnto manie For of verie fewe doeth the scripture speake in that forme and phrase which he nowe requireth of vs. Lastlie remaineth that wee should examine the syllogismes which Hadrian brought in against vs as our men had doone against him that those as he thinketh he might cōfute the more euidentlie but these I haue thought good for two causes to passe ouer First because it séemeth not verie lawefull for godlie men to be childishlie subtile especially in defending of an opinion the which as at the beginning hath béene sayde edifieth no man and may hurt verie manie Secondlie because we iudge that in this question those thinges are to be written which are vnderstoode of the greatest part of the holie congregation and that there be verie fewe which haue exercised themselues in the quirkes and subtilties of Logicke and sophistrie The trueth it selfe especially that which is euangelicall is plaine is taught and made euident by the apostolicall light and simplicitie Furthermore those thinges be alreadie before alleadged whereby is plainelie and manifestly discouered whatsoeuer deceite is in these trifeling argumentes Nowe for the finishing of this that wee haue written let vs adde this namelie let vs celebrate with high prayses the most ample mercie of God that in all thinges he discouereth himselfe with maruelous brightnesse and as Dauid singeth in the burden of his Psalme florrisheth for euer that is eternallie Howe farre foorth the praises of God must be celebrated But yet ought we so to celebrate his praises as on the other side the iudgementes of God towardes vnbeléeuers and heretikes be not thereby cancelled This is therefore written because Hadrian saith that he was verie much driuen to defende these thinges which hee defendeth for that they greatlie auailed to the worthinesse greatnesse of Gods mercie Howebeit after this manner they also perhappes did excuse themselues which reckened Caine and Iudas among the number of the saintes and blessed men Also Origen and his fauorers hadde vnmeasurable respect vnto the clemencie of God when as they taught that the punishmentes of the godlie should one daie at the last be finished and in verie déede the fires of hell should not be euerlasting and since they wrote that euen to the diuelles themselues after a multitude of ages shal be geuen pardon and saluation No iust prayses of the mercie of God are those which ouermuch obscure the seueritie iustice of God Wherefore letting this newnesse of doctrine goe let vs thinke with ourselues that we must by al meanes séeke the peace and quietnesse of the church Of intricate and vaine questions vndoubtedlie there is store enough Wherefore it shall be your parte that kéeping the trueth safe and sounde ye spéedilie returne into amitie thinking this diligentlie with your selues that it is a singular benefite vnto you to haue there where you are both the french and flemish Church This cannot the diuell abide and for that cause stirreth vppe discordes and contentions among you to the intent that strangers may be more and more hatefull to English men Wherefore watch yee with singular care and diligence that the euill spirit haue not his owne desire and that the Church of the sonne of God receiue no losse He that is reprooued let him beare it with no lesse patient minde than Peter did when he was reprehended by Paule And contrariwise they that haue taken vpon them the defence of the trueth if their brother which hath turned from the right waie not of mallice as it should séeme but rather of a certaine errour giue eare vnto them that admonish him well let them account him no lesse than before in the place of the minister of God and of a most louing fellowe in office Fare you well my verie good brethren assist vs with your prayers vsing your indeuour to maintaine peace among you as much as yée can From Zurick the 15. of Februarie 1561. An Epistle to the English Church 46. MY déere beloued brethren in Christ albeit wee doe maruelouslie loue your Church and doe iustly and worthilie make great account thereof yet are wee verie loath to determine of such nice questions as doe bring none or in verie déede small edification For since there are among you two sorts of the which one affirmeth and the other denieth it might easilie bee that they which cannot abide the doctrine set foorth had rather rent in sunder the Church than change their