given him of his Father he may giue eternall life This I say properly and directly for accidentally he may be vnto some a rocke of offence and the savour of death vnto death namely to all those that shall presume to rise vp against that authority and power which his Father hath giuen him For the further vnfolding of this point foure things are here to bee observed Quid Vnde Quibus Quamdiu Quid what the gift is it is Life Vnde whence it is from the Sonne that hee may giue Quibus to whom it is giuen to as many as thou hast giuen him Quamdiu how long the gift lasteth it is eternall life And of these in order though not according to their worth and desert for who is sufficient for these things yet as it shall please God to enable and assist First Quid what is the gift It is Life Life is double Naturall and Spirituall Naturall is that which things liue by power of nature But this is not heare meant For the Father bestowes this generally on all men whereas the life here intended is to be conferred only on those whom the Father hath given vnto the sonne The Spirituall is likewise double Sinfull or Holy Sinfull is that whereby men liue vnto sinne But because they that so liue are dead vnto righteousnesse the wages thereof is nothing but death neither can this be here meant For this is to be counted rather a Death then a Life whereas the Life here-spoken of is the end wherefore so great power was giuen vnto Christ and so cannot bee but a happy and blessed life The Holy life is therfore here vnderstood a life which none can liue vntill he be dead vnto sinne and elevated by grace aboue nature even that life which in Scripture is called the new life and includeth in it both the life of grace and the life of glory Now because this Spirituall life is denominated Life from the proportion it holds with Naturall life especially that of man vnlesse we first know what this is distinct knowledge of that we cannot well haue any This we cannot know but by the direction of Naturall Philosophy For Naturall life is a terme properly belonging vnto it and the rule of Logicke teacheth that looke to what art the termes doe belong from thence are wee to fetch our demonstrations I must craue pardon therefore if I search a little into it Howbeit I resolue to be very briefe and to trouble you with no more then is necessary for clearing of what is intended Life is of some defined by motion and operation And so seemeth Aristotle to define it where he saith Vivere est intelligere sentire to liue is to vnderstand heare see touch and the like But this definition is more popular then proper For life is one thing the operations of life another and they differ as the cause and the effect Yet because it is best discerned by the operations thereof therefore haue they thought good so to describe it For those things are said to liue which any way moue themselues Moue I say for those things which moue not liue not And moue themselues by an internall principle of their owne For neither doe those things liue which are acted only by an extrinsecall and forreine principle such as was that statue or engine of which the Poet Duceris vt nervis alienis mobile signum and such as are also clocks and watches and the like devices The same Philosopher therefore elsewhere speaking more accurately of this matter defineth life by Being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith hee to liue is to be Which is not yet Simply to be vnderstood as if whatsoeuer had being had also life but respectiuely vnto things that liue for their life is their being And so much doth the Philosopher himselfe insinuate saying more fully 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 life to things that liue is being But such a Being as naturally moueth it selfe Whēce it is not vnfitly defined by one to bee essentia parturiens actiones such a being as is in trauell with action This naturall life is threefold Vegetatiue Sensitiue and Intellectual The Vegetatiue is in Plants that Being whereby they grow and receaue nourishment The Sensitiue is of Beasts Fowles and Fishes that Being whereby they see heare touch tast smell and moue from place to place The Intellectuall is of Angels and Spirits that Being whereby they vnderstand and will These all of them are iointly and together in man For with plants hee hath growth and nourishment with beasts fowles and fishes sense and lation with Angels and Spirits vnderstanding and will Wherevpon it is that the Philosopher maketh the life of man a rule to all the rest And therefore is to be defined Such a Being as is able to produce all these operations but specially those that are Rationall because they are most properly Humane To come then to an issue by all that hath beene said it appeares that to the constitution of the natural life of man and generally of all natural life three things are required Esse Posse Operari being ability and operation Being that there may bee ability and ability that there may be operation For no life where no operation no operation where no ability no ability where no being And such is the naturall life of man Proportionably wherevnto as to me it seemes Spirituall life may thus be defined Such a new or spirituall being as enableth to produce spirituall or supernaturall actions In which definition all those three things necessarily required vnto life are as you see comprehended And first Being not naturall but spirituall superadded vnto nature Superadded then when we are first ingrafted and incorporated into Christ. For no sooner doe we subsist in him but forthwith old things passe away and all things are made new From thence forth become we new creatures new men renewed in the inner man and in the spirit of the minde hauing new hearts new affections new senses all new In a word then are we made Spirituall men not only conformed vnto but also transformed into the image of Christ himselfe Secondly abilitie For together with our new being we receaue also the Spirit of power whereby as while we were out of Christ wee were able to doe nothing so now being in him we are able to all things For then the holy Ghost is pleased to infuse and imprint on our soules the gratious habits of Faith Hope and Charity and the rest and all to facilitate the performance of spirituall duties Lastly Operation without which abilitie is but vaine For to what end is power if it be never brought forth into act Operate therefore it doth and bringeth forth the fruits of spirit loue ioy peace long suffering gentlenesse goodnesse faith meeknesse temperance and the rest All which S. Paul reduceth vnto three Pietie Sobrietie Righteousnesse
man by bread Now the soveraigne prime cause of Faith is God God worketh it by his word The word worketh as a Doctrinall or Morall instrument by way of argument perswasion Before it can perswade it must be revealed God therefore revealeth it and that sometimes without meanes by an immediate impression of light and grace vpon the soule as he did vnto the Apostles on the feast of Pentecost and to S. Paul in his iourney towards Damascus But generally and for the most part he revealeth it mediately and by the intervention of meanes The Ordinary meanes is that which is setled and established to continue in the Church for ever That is the Ministerie of the Church whose office is by all meanes to publish the word whether by Writing or by Speaking and this againe whether by Reading or Interpreting All which if they haue in them an ability and fitnesse vnder God to convey into our hearts the knowledge of his word then vndoubtedly are they all Ordinary meanes to beget faith And such an ordinary meanes among the rest doe I affirme Reading to be Which hauing thus fully explained the tearmes I now come to demonstrate and first in that faith whereby we yeeld assent vnto the Scripture that it is the very word of God The last and highest principle whereinto Faith is resolued and wherevpon it finally stayeth it selfe is the Scripture yet is it not so vnto vs vntill we be perswaded that it is the word of the eternall verity which can neither erre nor lead into errour But how come we to bee perswaded hereof By Sermons I deny not but Sermons are vnder God a sufficient meanes to perswade it But when did you ever heare a Preacher treat of this argument or goe about to proue it Or if any haue done it did they not perswade you to that whereof you were already perswaded Yes questionlesse For besides the testimonie of the Church in the publike reading of the Scriptures as the word of God there shineth forth in them such a Majestie and divinenesse as is not to be found in other writings and when by Reading yet take notice of so many oracles and miracles and predictions and sundry other things farre exceeding the power of nature doth not reason it selfe tell you saith Whitaker that they must needs bee of God The same saith D. Iohn White Many times Pagans and Atheists without the Ministery come to Faith by only Reading whence but being convinced by Scripture it selfe If then the very Reading of holy Scripture may bring vnto our knowledge such remonstrances and arguments as convince the minde that it is the word of God certainely it is an ordinary meanes to beget this faith for what can be more ordinary then arguments and demonstrations But the former is true as we haue proued therefore the latter also If so then much more is it apt and fit to beget that Faith whereby we yeeld assent to those articles which are built vpon Scripture especially if two things may be granted first that it is perfect secondly that it is facile easie to be vnderstood That it is all-sufficient and containeth whatsoeuer is necessary either to bee beleeued or done vnto saluation none but a Papist will deny And surely if it be defectiue either it is from God or from the pen-men Not from the pen-men for they were but hands and could not but write what the head indited to them If from God then either because he could not or because he would not perfect it To say he could not is to derogate from his wisdome and power to say hee would not is to detract from his loue and to taxe him of envie But what need mee to spend more time in this point seeing I now deale against those who challenge vnto it such a perfection that nothing may be done no not to the taking vp of a straw without warrant from it The Scripture then is perfect is it also facile and easie to bee vnderstood Aristotle saith of his Acroamaticks that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 published in that they were writtē not published because of their darknesse In the books of Heraclitus there was so great obscurity that he was therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Obscure May wee iustly say the same of the Scriptures and the pen-men thereof Surely it cannot be denied but that some things are difficult yet as there are deepe places where the Elephant may swim so there are shallow where the Lamb may wade and as there is harder meat which the strong man may chew so there is milk also which the infant may suck And I boldly affirme that all fundamentall points and duties necessary to salvation are in Scripture so clearely delivered that if they were written with a sunbeame they could not bee more cleare God hath spoken so that not a few but all may vnderstand saith Hierom. Hee speaketh to the heart both of learned and vnlearned saith Augustin Scriptures are so plaine as they need not to be expounded saith Iustin Martyr They exceed no mans capacity saith Cyril of Alexandria They are easie not to the wise onely but women and boyes saith Chrysostome And againe They are easie to bee vnderstood to the Servant to the Countryman to the widow to the stripling to him that is very simple The same say all our Divines against Papist The Scripture saith Whitaker may easily be vnderstood of any if he will And Zanchie will a Father speake obscurely to his children in things concerning their salvation that they shall need to seeke interpreters No verily But God being wise was able to expresse himselfe and being good he would and it was necessary to speake plainely in things so necessary If then to come to a conclusion Scripture containe all what is necessary and that in such plaine tearmes that whosoeuer readeth may easily vnderstand how can it be but Reading should be an apt and fit meanes and consequently an ordinary meanes to beget this Faith For if once we beleeue that Scripture is the word of God we cannot but yeeld assent vnto those verities that are so plainely deliuered therein and which we knowe to bee witnessed by the truth it selfe The same doe I also affirme of that Faith which wee call iustifying and of the fruits thereof Repentance and New obedience that the Reading of Scripture is an apt fit meanes to beget that also For it presenteth vnto vs store of strong motiues to perswade sweet promises to allure terrible threatnings to affright notable examples to imitate and the like then which there cannot be a better outward meanes and there needs no more but the inward concurrence of Gods spirit to worke a perfect conversion Read among other places the 28 of the book of Deuteronomie and then tell mee whither the Sermons of any man nay whither the tongue of men and Angels be able to perswade more effectually Sermons you
say ordinarily beget Faith work Repentance and breed sanctity and newnesse of life not so Reading May it please you then to tell vs for our better satisfaction what such coherence there is betwixt Sermons and Faith which is not betwixt it and Reading And what that intrinsicall and proper quality of Sermons is whereby Faith is begotten which is not also to be found in Reading Is it in the doctrine and matter of Sermons It is the very same which wee read Is it in the arguments and motiues whereby they perswade We read either the same or as forcible in the Scripture What then Is it in the vtterance voice gesture behauiour or credit of the Preacher Much lesse for then should we be beholding for our Faith to accidents more then substance to the plausible inticements of humane wisdome rather then the evidence demonstration of the spirit Wherein then lies the vertue Forsooth in Gods blessing for Preaching is the ordinance of God and he hath promised to blesse it But stay my bretheren is not Reading Gods ordinance also And doth God having imprinted in it such an aptnesse and fitnesse ordinarily to beget Faith either curse his owne ordinance or suspend the operation of it so as it shall never worke but only extraordinarily What shall I say When they haue answered what they can vnto the question the summe of all as Hooker obserueth will be this Sermons are and must be the only ordinary meanes but why and wherefore we cannot tell And so I passe from the first argument drawne from the aptnesse and fitnesse of Reading to produce all these kindes of Faith Now in the second place I dispute ex concessis from that which is yeelded and granted by the adversarie First it is granted by Hieron and we haue proued it by the testimonie of M. Fox to be true that many of our forefathers in the blinde time of Popery were converted to the true Faith by reading only This say they was extraordinary but I infer that therfore it was ordinary For if reading be excluded sermōs be the only ordinary means it will follow that the Church at that time was without the ordinary meanes for wholsome Sermons then were not to bee had But it is a strange point in Divinity that the Ordinary meanes should at any time fayle in the Church and I presume when that fayleth the Church of God will fayle also If so then is there some other ordinary meanes besides Sermons and what can that bee but the written word and the Reading thereof It is further granted and that rightly that whosoever readeth the Scriptures or heareth them read is therevpon bound to beleeue And this is so cleare a truth that Whitaker could not forbare to charge his adversary Stapleton with much folly for holding the contrary Sic tu planè desipis saith he Art thou so very a foole as to thinke that the word of God hath no authority or bindeth no man to beleeue but then when it is preached Certainely if the doctrine of Christ and his Apostles was to be beleeued when it was deliuered by them in their Sermons it is as much now to be beleeued when it is convayed vnto vs by way of writing and reading Wherevpon saith Caluin Although the Apostles be dead yet their doctrine liueth flourisheth and it is our dutie to profit by their writing as much as if themselues were now publikely speaking before our eyes Vnlesse therefore Gods word cease to bee his word when it is read an obligation in reading is laid vpon vs to yeeld all credence and obedience vnto it Now God bindeth not but by a commandement He commandeth therefore to beleeue by Reading What Doth he command vs to beleeue by a meanes that is vtterly vnable and vnfit to worke beleefe And doth hee daily and hourely tye our Faith vnto that which hee meanes not to blesse vnto that end but once as it were in an age and extraordinarily Questionlesse seeing God hath ordained that his holy Scriptures be ordinarily read both in publike and private and hath bound vs all to beleeue whensoeuer we either read them or heare them read it cannot be but that Reading is an ordinary meanes to beget faith and that God will alwaies vouchsafe to blesse his owne ordinance to the same end In the third place I vrge the testimonie and authoritie of holy writ But happily so doing I may be counted in the number of those vile men who like venomous spiders suck poyson out of the sweetest flowres 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the die is cast and angry speeches may not hinder me from maintaining truth by the word of truth When all Israell saith Moses is come to appeare before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall chuse thou shalt read this law before all Israell in their hearing Gather the people together men and women and children and thy stranger that is within thy gates that they may heare and that they may learne and feare the Lord your God and obserue to doe all the words of his Law Here in expresse tearmes the Reading of the law is commanded and it is particularly commanded to this end that men may learne thereby What the feare of God and obedience to the Law God therefore hath appointed Reading to be an Ordinary meanes of conversion It is answered that such Reading is meant as was accompanied with interpretation So they dreame indeed but in the text there is no mention of interpretation Neither is it likely seeing now the whole law was to be read at once as is aboue said and the scantling of time would hardly beare any exposition Howsoeuer sure I am the holy Ghost ascribeth the effect vnto Reading and I thinke hee both knewe and meant what hee said In the Prophecie of Ieremie God commandeth the Prophet to write all his Prophecies in a booke that all the house of Iudah might heare them read for it may bee saith God that hearing they may returne every man from his evill way that I may forgiue their iniquity and their sinne According to this commandement Ieremie dictates all the Prophecies vnto Baruch Baruch writes them and being written reads them in the house of the Lord. Here againe Reading is commanded by God and to the same end that the people thereby might bee moued to repentance To this they answer first that God speaketh after the manner of men True when he saith it may be as if he knewe no more then man what the effect would bee Yet is it plainely intimated that Reading is an ordinary meanes of repentance Secondly say they Ieremie had preached the same before and so they are Sermons that are commanded to be read Be it so Yet then the very Reading of Sermons may worke Repentance which the Preaching of them could not To say nothing that these Sermons written were Gods word both for matter and manner so that if the Reading of them might be
Adam the tenour whereof runnes thus Hoc fac vives Doe this and thou shalt liue hee gaue it not vnto the person of Adam alone but vnto all those that were in his loines even to all his posterity who had the law printed in their hearts by nature In like manner when Christ commanded the Gospell of Faith and repentance to be preached he limited it not vnto a few but said vnto his Apostles Goe teach all nations and goe into all the world and preach the Gospell vnto every creature Neither from the law nor from the Gospell was any man excepted God is no accepter of persons the hand that swaies a scepter and that diggeth with the spade are both alike vnto him Idem ius Titio quod Seio one rule vnto all whether they be high or low noble or base rich or poore learned or vnlearned bond or free young or old of what state age sexe or condition soever they be God hath not strowed the way to Heaven with roses for great ones to dance vpon and with thornes for the meaner sort to tread vpon neither hath hee appointed a spacious and broad way for some and a strait narrow way for other some to passe vnto life everlasting by For the waies of the Lord are strait waies and as betweene two points there can be but one strait line drawne so can there bee but one strait way that leadeth vnto life Vno quisque modo bonus est mutisque nefandus a man may be wicked many waies but he can bee good only one way A thousand byâ—pathes are there which lead vnto destruction and but one only right path that leadeth to salvation For there is but one body and one spirit and one hope in which all are called one Lord one faith one baptisme one God and father of vs all in a word one Blessednesse which is the end and one Religion which is the way to that end through which way every man of necessity must passe that meaneth to arriue at that end Now I beseech you all that heare mee this day of what place soever you be whether high or low that you will be pleased every one to apply this individually and singularly vnto himselfe and to take notice that none of you can come after Christ but only by the same way Every one must deny himselfe every one must take vp his crosse daily every one must follow Christ or else yee cannot possibly come after him There is none of you so meane whom God overseeth or neglecteth none so great whom he priuiledgeth or exempteth And thus much of the generality of the Counsell The Forme of words in which the Counsell was deliuered is if any will let him which as wee haue said importeth the liberty of them that are counselled For it is as if our Saviour should thus haue said Behold I tell you all plainely no man can come after me vnlesse hee deny himselfe take vp his crosse daily and follow me Now if any will thus come after me I giue him good leaue let him doe so for my part I will neither force him from me nor after me if he come he shall come willingly If any will let him First therefore Christ putteth off and forceth no man from him For God would haue all men to be saved and to come vnto the knowledge of the truth neither is he willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance I haue no pleasure in the death of him that dieth saith the Lord God nay he sweares as he liues hee will not the death of a sinner but that the wicked turne from his way and liue And certainly seeing man is the creature of God and creation is the first emanation issue as it were of his loue it cannot be that hee should delight in his destruction He made not death as the wise man saith and when he inflicts it alienum opus facit he doth a worke not so pleasing him for he had rather shew mercy then execute iudgement Hence is it that he standeth at the doore of our heart and knocketh yea that he continueth knocking vntill his head be filled with dew and his lockes with the drops of the night that he requesteth vs so louingly to giue him entrance Open vnto mee my sister my loue my doue my vndefiled promising so bountifully that if wee shall open vnto him he will come in vnto vs and sup with vs and wee with him and threatning vs that as if we come vnto him wee shall finde refreshment so if wee draw backe his soule shall haue no pleasure in vs. Neither let vs thinke but that God meaneth seriously in all this for otherwise he should but mocke and deceiue vs pretending one thing and intending another and which I tremble to speake playing the hypocrite and dissembler with vs. Besides this he should make vs the ministers of the Gospell no better then false witnesses vnto him testifying things that are vntrue and which he never purposed whereas God being omnipotent needeth not our lye and being truth it selfe will not compasse his end by a lye Finally if Christ with his hands should push from him those whom by his word he inviteth to him then they that come not are the more excusable for every one may plead for himselfe that he suffered violence and Christ himselfe hindred him whose force no creature is able to withstand Christ then forceth no man from him If so whence then is it that many who are invited come not I answere the fault is in themselues they will not come I called saith Wisdome yee refused I stretched out my hand no man regarded yee set at naught all my counsells and would none of my reproofe And againe I called saith God and yee did not answere I spake and yee did not heare but did evill before mine eyes and did chuse that wherein I delighted not Wherefore he protesteth by the prophet Osea Perditio tua ex te Israell thy destruction is of thy selfe oh Israell and complaineth by the prophet Ezechiell why will ye dye ô house of Israell as if he should say if yee dye it is because yee will needs dye They refused to harken saith Zacharie and pulled away the shoulder and stopped their eares that they should not heare yea they made their hearts as an adamant stone least they should heare the law In like manner in the new testament How often would I haue gathered thy children together as the hen gathereth her chickens vnder her wings and yee would not Marke the words I would therefore Christ forceth no man from him yee would not therefore the fault is in our selues The Pharisees and Lawyers saith St Luke reiected the counsell of God against themselues our Saviour testifieth of the Iewes that they would not come vnto him that they might haue life
with their territories and sundry other things of great value The Ministrie of the Gospell is more excellent then that of the Law lesse therefore cannot be allowed vs. Tithe is too little saith S. Augustin else how doe wee exceed the Pharisees who tithed all If we minister spirituall things reason will that we receaue of your temporalls The law of the Gospell requireth him that is taught to impart to him that teacheth of all his good And reason For as S. Paul saith to Philemon you owe your selues vnto vs. And vnlesse you vnder value too much the eternall saluatioÌ„ of your soules yee can never sufficiently recompence the benefit yee receaue of vs. It is manifest then that an honourable salarie is due vnto vs. But how I beseech you are wee paid our due Poorely God wot witnesse the multitude of impropriations the selling of benefices the detention of tithes or the false and repining paiment of them with the like It was once said What shall wee giue the man of God but now every one saith Come let vs take the houses of God in possession When Moses built the tabernacle he was faine to stay the people from giuing they were so forward but now would God wee could stay their hands from robbing the tabernacle Many there are who call for a learned Ministry in every parish yet keepe to themselues that which should maintaine the Minister A strange perversenesse to desire no benefice may be without a cure and yet to require a cure without a benefice Yea but they are content to allow a Competencie True But if they may be our â—arvers I presume it will bee after the rate of Cratis in his Ephemeris ten pound to the Cooke a groat to the Physitian ten talents to the Parasite one to the Curtizan and to the Philosopher three halfepence For every little is too much for vs but enough is superfluity Et quorsum perditio haec what need all this wasts The poverty of the Apostles they often remember but the bounty of Christians then they vtterly forget If they will haue vs follow the one why refuse they to imitate the other Let them sell all they haue and lay downe the prizes at our feet and then haue with them whensoeuer they please But I presse these points of Honor no farther for me thinkes I heare some say these words would haue sounded better in some advocates mouth in ours they may seeme to proceede of ambition or covetousnesse Wherevnto I answere first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if wee speake not for our selues who will and if wee doe alas what are wee All other sorts of men are allowed to defend themselues and must wee alone suffer wrong and say nought Secondly so to censure is a spice of the contempt wee speake of for indeede wee seeke herein not so much our owne honour and advantage as Gods glory and benefit Gods glory whose ordinance nay who himselfe by contemning vs is contemnâ—d They haue not reiected thee but mee saith God to Samuell Yee haue robbed me in tithes and offerings saith hee by Malachie He that despiseth you despiseth me saith Christ. And lastly He that despiseth despiseth not man but God Your benefit For to deny submission to those who rule over you and watch for your soules is vnprofitable for you saith the Apostle For first as Barnard saith Cuius vita despicitur restat vt praedicatio contemnatur if once our persons grow despicable little will our preaching availe If our preaching availe not neither can you beleeue nor be saued Secondly to contemne a Minister is a fearfull sinne otherwise Hoseas would never haue vsed this aggravation the people were as they that contended with the Priest Lastly God punisheth it accordingly with temporall punishment as vpon the Iewe with seaventy years captiuity with spirituall that hearing they shall heare seeing see yet neither perceiue nor vnderstand and vnlesse they repent with eternall also both in body and soule But of the contempt of the Ministry enough let vs now inquire the redresse thereof See that no man despise thee saith my text A strange speech For doe we steere at the helme of other mens affections Or haue we the command of their actions Why then doth he charge vs to looke to it that we be not despised Surely because wee our selues are mostly the causes thereof and for that it lies much in our owne hands both to prevent and redresse it To make this appeare obserue with me the words immediatly going before my text These things speake and exhort and rebuke with all authority see that no man despise thee Obserue with me againe what Saint Paul saith to Timothie These things command and teach let no man despise thy youth but be an example vnto beleeuers in word in conversation in charity in spirit in faith in purity Which two places being duly pondered and considered it is manifest that the Apostles meaning here is no other then this if we will not be contemned wee must not carry our selues contemptibly and that to avoide this contempt two things are necessary first that we be Good ministers secondly that we be Good men for if wee faile in eyther it cannot possibly bee avoided but wee must bee despised To avoide Contempt then first wee must be Good Ministers and to this end two things are requisite first a talent secondly due employment of the talent By talent I vnderstand fitnesse and ability And that this is necessary appeareth first by the act of God for hee never designeth any to a calling but hee furnisheth him before hand with sufficient gifts If Moses must be the chiefe governour and lawgiuer of Israell he shall be learned yea even in all the wisdome of the Aegyptians aend mighty both in words and deeds If Bezaleel and Aholiab must build the Tabernacle hee will fill them with his spirit in wisdome in vnderstanding in knowledge in all manner of workemanship in gold silver brasse stone timber and what ever else was needfull Esay being to doe an errand for the Lord hath his lipps first touched with a cole froÌ„ the altar Iesus the sonne of Mary being ordained to bee the Messias of the world is annointed with the oile of gladnesse aboue all his fellowes and receiueth the spirit without measure Finally the twelue Apostles being to carry the name of Christ through the world were first baptized with fiery tongues and replenished with the holy Ghost at Ierusalem The same appeareth also by the ordinance of God in his Church For the Priests lips saith Malachie should preserve knowledge and they should seeke the law at his mouth for he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts Saint Paul also saith that a Bishop must bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apt to teach and able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convince gainesaiers
the Church may be without them So was it for some while after Christs Ascention for then neither was the Christian Church so Eminent as that of the Iewes nor was it Vniversall as being confined within Iudea nor great in number as consisting but of a very few nor in Possession of the name Catholike it being a word of a latter date and such as could not well be giuen it vntill it was growne Catholike So will it be also if wee may beleeue your owne writers in the time of Antichrist For then the Church shall bee darkned all externall communion with it shall cease there shall be no Sacrament in publike places all the glory and dignity of Ecclesiasticall order shall lye buried none shall come vnto the solemnity of the Lambe an innumerable multitude shall cleaâ—e vnto Antichrist even all besides the elect and those whose names are written in the booke of life But lastly whether these things be Markes or no is not now much materiall for it makes little to the purpose wee haue sufficiently proued that the Church is not the last Resolution of Faith As touching the second point that the Church may be beleeved securely for that shee can neither deceiue nor bee deceiued I demand what you meane by the Church If the company of all true Beleeuers that now are and heretofore haue beene including the holy Apostles together with them then I grant it For these were so lead by the Spirit into all truth that they could not possibly erre in any matter of Faith that was either to be taught by them or knowne by vs. But if you meane the Present Church in every age successiuely after the Apostles as here Saint Austin doth referring his friend Honoratus therevnto then I distinguish Either you must vnderstand thereby the whole number of true beleeuers who for the present life in the world or the Society and Fellowship of those that in their time rule and sway most in the Church If you take it in the former sense I grant what you say to be true in Fundamentall points but not in such as are not absolutely necessary nor preiudice the Foundation of Faith If in the latter then I affirme that the Church may both deceiue and be deceiued even in Doctrines of highest consequence neither can with such security bee beleeued Witnesse the time when the whole world groaned vnder Arianisme and the greatest part of the Prelates together with Liberius Bishop of Rome subscribed therevnto Neither doth the passage you alledge out of Saint Austin inferre the contrary For although the surest course to put an end to all labours and turmoiles be to follow the way of Catholike discipline which hath flowne downe to vs from Christ by his Apostles yet the Authority that swayeth most in the Present Church doth not alwaies either follow this way her selfe or direct others vnto it as for example it did not in the time aboue mentioned of the Arian heresy And thus much in answere vnto your generall ground N. N. Now I will shew first out of the old Testament how it was prefigured and prophecied and in the new both promised againe exhibited and confirmed by the intendment interpretation of the gravest and most ancient Fathers that haue lived in the Church of God from age to age who vnderstand so the said Figures and foreshewing of the old Testament As for example the Bread and Wine mysteriously offered vnto almighty God by Melchizedek King and Priest who bare the type of our Saviour The shew-bread among the Iewes that only could bee eaten of them that were sanctified And the Bread sent miraculously by an Angell to Elias whereby he was so strengthned as hee travelled forty daies by vertue only of that Bread These three sorts of bread to haue beene expresse Figures of this Sacrament of the true flesh of Christ therein contained doe testify by one consent the ancient Fathers as Cyprian â—lemens Alexandrinus Ambrose Hierom Chrysostom Augustine Cyrill Arnobius Euseb. many others as my author fetâ—eh downe Three other figures not expressed in the forme of Bread but other things more excellent then Bread as the Paschal Lamb the blood of the testament described in Exodus and to the Hebrues and fulfilled by Christ when he said This cup is the new testament in my blood and againe this is my blood of the new testament The Manna also sent by God from heaven was an expresse figure of this Sacrament as appeareth by the words of our Saviour and of the Apostle I. D. This Argument seemeth to be of great esteeme among you for who almost vrgeth it not and that with great confidence It standeth thus Melchizedecks Bread and Wine the Shew-bread Elias his Bread the Paschal-Lambe the Bloud of the Testament and Manna bee Figureâ— of our Sacrament Ergo Christ is corporally and locally present therein by way of Transubstantiation The consequence you maintaine in the next Section the Antecedent in this Wherevnto I answer first that the Legall sacraments and ceremonies if we may beleeue Scripture directly respected Christ So saith S. Paul They are a shadow of things to come but the Body is of Christ. And again Sacrifice and offerings thou wouldest not but a Body hast thou prepared me And hence is it that he doubteth not to call Christ our Passeouer or 〈◊〉 Lambâ— and to affirm that the Rock whereof the Israelites dranke in the â—â—ldernesse was Christ. Yea our Saviour himselfe plainly professeth that the Brasen serpent did prefigure him and that he was the Bread or Manna that came downe from heauen But that those Sacraments and Ceremonies are Types Figures of ours otherwise then by representing the same Substance together with ours I suppose if you searched every corner of Scripture neuer so narrowly you should never finde it therein Adde herevnto that our SacrameÌ„ts are themselues Figures being as S Augustine saith one thing and signifying another Whence it would follow that the old Sacraments being Figures of the New they should be Figures of Figures and Sacraments of Sacraments which standeth not greatly with reason For thus the Circumcision of the foreâ—kinne should figure the Water of Baptisme and water Christ and curious heads might runne on infinitely and as Irenaeus sometime obiected vnto the Heretikes of his time might ever bee devising of types vpon types and figures vpon figures Lastly if the Sacraments of the old Testament were but Signes of ours it would follow that they were ordained rather for the benefit of the Christian then the Iewish Church which is absurd For of our Sacraments which you say is the thing signified by theirs benefit they never reaped any as neuer being partakers of them and to leaue vnto them no more but bare signes that is emptie shels without the kernell how it might availe them I cannot conceaue Certainely all Sacraments
so doth Saint Augustine expound himselfe elsewhere Why preparest thou thy teeth and thy belly Beleeue and thou hast eaten Wherevnto St Cyprian also accordeth calling the blessed Body of Christ the food of the mind and not of the belly But St Augustine farther addeth No man eateth that flesh but first adoreth it Adoreth I grant that flesh which is hypostatically and inseparably vnited to the Deity but not the mysticall signes in the Sacrament for that were foule idolatry Now if to eat the flesh of Christ be to beleeue in him as the fame St Augustine oftentimes affirmeth and none adoreth but he that beleeueth it necessarily followeth that neither Iudas nor any other Hypocrite partaking of the Sacrament eat the flesh of Christ because they neither beleeue in him nor adore him which maketh strongly against Transubstantiation The third Author you alledge is Hesychius who saith no more but this that he gaue the selfe-same body which should be conceaued of the Holy Ghost which wee readily yeeld vnto you For the selfe-same Flesh is in the Sacrament truly offered and giuen vnto our Faith But that Hesychius never dreamed of your Reall Presence may appeare by these words His flesh saith he which before his passion was vnfit to be eaten for who desireth to eat the Lords flesh hath he after his passion made fit for meat For if he had not beene crucified wee had not eaten the sacrifice of his body but now wee eat that meat receiuing it in memory of his Passion From Hesychius you returne vnto Saint Chrysostome againe where he saith that Christ is seene on the altar and in the hands of a Priest What literally and with the eye of the body I trow no. For though Transubstantiation were granted you yet is it not the Body of Christ but the Accidents only of Bread and Wine which wee see How then Surely as your owne Sixtus Senensis obserueth Saint Chrysostome is full of hyperbolicall speeches which if they be rigorously interpreted cannot possibly bee true Such is this here and such are those other of touching Christ and feeling him with the hand of fastning our teeth in his flesh of making our tongues red with his bloud that we receiue not the body of God from a man but from the Seraphims themselues taking vp fire with their tongues such as Esaias saw and the like All which Phrases how they are to be vnderstood Saint Chrysostome himselfe teacheth vs oftentimes adding an as it were vnto them As hauing said The spirituall blood floweth on the table within a few lines after he saith Thinke that the saving blood issueth as it were out of the divine and vnpolluted side and that thou doest as it were sucke it from his side In like manner doth Theophilact his Abridger interpret him For whereas Chrysostome saith Wee are in this Sacrament mingled with Christ Theophylact for explanation addeth after a certaine manner Whereby it is manifest that the meanin of your author in this passage also is as if hee had said Thou seest him as it were on the Altar and as it were in the hands of the Priest that is Sacramentally and by Faith for with other eyes then those of the spirit he is not there to be discerned But if wee come with faith according to that which elsewhere he saith Without doubt wee shall see him lying in the cratch for this table is vnto vs insteed of the cratch Lastly you vouch Saint Augustine the second time where he saith that Christ in his last supper bare himselfe in his owne hands Wherevnto I might answere that Saint Augustine whether misled by a wrong translation or vpon some other mistake was much overseene to alledge that for Scripture and to make it his ground which is no where to be found in Scripture For the text intended by him hath it farre otherwise then so The vulgar Bible saith Hee fell downe or reeled betweene their hands Saint Basil He was carried by the hands of the servants The Originall He plaid the foole or madman in their hand or while he was in their power All which is much differing from that of Saint Augustine He was carried in his owne hands And no marvaile if a fained text which hee vnderstood not drew from him such a violent interpretation To say nothing how carelesse hee is of the letter in his Enarrations vpon the Psalmes and how hardly it beareth his Mysticall constructions But this notwithstanding Saint Augustine you will say plainely deliuereth his judgement touching the Sacrament when hee saith Christ therein was carried in his owne hands Not so plainely for your purpose if Saint Augustine who knew his owne meaning best may be his owne interpreter For thus doth he expound himselfe How was he carried in his owne hands Because when hee commended his very Body and blood he tooke into his hands that which the faithfull know and after a sort carried himselfe when he said This is my Body He saith not Really or Substantially or Corporally but after a sort even as elsewhere also The Sacrament of the body of Christ is after a certaine manner the body of Christ that is to say Sacramentally Significatiuely For if he had meant properly and litterally hee would never haue said after a sort but speaking in that manner it is evident he meant improperly and figuratiuely He carried himselfe that is the Sacrament or Symbole of himselfe N. N. But yet farther Thou must knowe and hold for most certaine saith S. Cyril that this which seemeth to bee Bread is not Bread but Christs body though the tast doth iudge it Bread And againe in the same Father Vnder the forme or shew of Bread is giuen to thee the Body of Christ and vnder the forme or shape of Wine is giuen to thee the Bloud of Christ. And S. Chrysostome to the same effect We must not beleeue our senses easie to bee beguiled c. We must simply and without all ambiguitie beleeue the words of Christ This is my Body c. How many say now alwaies I would see him I would behold his visage his vestments c. But hee doth more then this for he giueth himselfe not only to be seene but to be touched also handled and eaten by thee I. D. First what if I should except against this Cyril as an vnsufficient witnesse For perhaps he deserueth it and so doing I shall not at all wrong him That there was an ancient Father of that name Bishop of Hierusalem I confesse that he wrote Catechismes is testified by S. Hierom but withall that he wrote them in his youth and long before he was Bishop which much elevateth the weight of his testimonie Howbeit you are father to knowe that those Catecheticall bookes now entitled vnto him are but of a very late edition For your owne Harding acknowledgeth that in his time namely about sixtie yeares since
that receaue it The body of Christ not many Bodies but one Body Whence I argue as wee by receauing the Sacrament are made Christs Body so is the Bread But wee are not made his Body corporally by way of Transubstantiation Ergo neither is the Bread nay much lesse is the Bread But Saint Chrysostome saith Not by faith only but in very deed True Yet not as if he that is ioyned to Christ by Faith were not indeed ioyned for as Saint Augustine saith The Apostle deceiueth vs not who saith that Christ dwelleth in our harts by faith He is in thee because faith is in thee Nor as if he would exclude Faith and that a man might be vnited vnto Christ by some other meanes without Faith How then His meaning plainly is this that wee are ioyned vnto Christ by Faith and by charity and that this coniunction is not only imaginary as some may foolishly conceiue by the apprehension of the mind and phantasy or by participation of the spirituall gifts and graces of Christ but true and Reall by communication of his very Flesh vnto vs. Of which more in the next testimony Saint Cyril saith that wee are conioyned vnto Christ corporally by communication of his flesh and againe that in the Sacrament wee corporally and substantially receiue the Sonne of God Wherevnto I answere that Saint Cyril disputeth against a certaine Heretike who held that wee are one with Christ by Faith in his Deity and not by coniuction with his Flesh and to this purpose wrested that saying of our Saviour wherein he calleth himselfe a Vine vs the branches and his Father the Husbandman To refute this he endeavoureth to shew that wee are ioyned vnto him not only by that Faith whereby wee beleeue him to be the Sonne of God and that Charity whereby wee loue him and spiritually embrace him but also in our Flesh to his very Flesh and that therefore Christ not only in regard of Deity is the Vine and wee his Branches but also in respect of his Body May it not saith hee conveniently be said that his humanity is the vine and wee the Branches by reason of the identity of nature And to proue this he drawes his argument from this Sacrament for that by it not only the gifts and graces of his Deity but also his true reall Body is after an inscrutable and vnspeakable manner communicated vnto vs. True it is he vseth the word corporally but he saith also by the participation of the same flesh Whereby he insinuateth that hee intendeth not by that word to expresse the Manner how we are vnited but the Thing wherevnto wee are vnited after a Bodily manner but vnto the Body Else this absurdity will follow that wee by the Sacrament are after a Bodily manner in Christ as well as Christ is in vs for Saint Cyril affirmeth both that wee are corporally in Christ and Christ corporally in vs. Whereas therefore Cyril saith not only by Faith and charity but also corporally he doth not exclude the one but admitteth both as appeareth by that he saith both spiritually and corporally are wee the Branches and Christ the Vine And the plaine meaning is that not only in regard of the Spirit or Deity of Christ and our faith charity but also in respect of his very Flesh are wee truly ioyned vnto him More briefly wee are vnited not to his Divinity or Humanity alone but vnto both N. N. Wherevnto for more explication addeth Theophilact When Christ said this is my Body hee shewed that it was his very Body indeede and not any Figure correspondent therevnto for he said not This is the figure of my body but this is my body By which words the bread is transformed by an vnspeakable operation though to vs it seeme still bread And againe in another place Behold that the Bread which is eaten by vs in the mysteries is not only a figuration of Christs flesh but the very flesh indeed for that the Bread is transformed by secret words into the flesh And another Father more ancient then he aboue twelue hundred yeares past handled these words of Christ This is my Body saith It is not the figure of Christs Body and Blood as some blockish minds haue trifled but it is truly the Body and Blood of our Saviour indeed I. D. The testimonies of Theophilact I might safely if I would passe over in silence for that hee liued some nine hundred yeares after Christ and therefore is too young to be reckoned among the ancient Fathers Neverthelesse let vs heare what he brings Christ saith not This is the figure of my body but this is my body True neither was it fit to speake otherwise For in the institution of a Sacrament what forme can be more fit then that which is proper to a Sacrament That forme is to giue vnto the signe the name of that whereof it is a signe Hence is circumcision called the covenant and the Lamb the Passeover and Baptisme our Death and Buriall with Christ. The reason because of the resemblance that is betweene the Sacraments and those things whereof they are Sacraments as Saint Augustine saith As also to raise our thoughts from setling on that which is earthly and elementall in them to the contemplation of that heauenly grace which is signified and exhibited by them as Theodoret saith But of this what doth he collect That it is his very body indeed and not any figure thereof Not any Figure Those that are both his ancestors and betters say otherwise Tertullian The bread that was taken and given to the Disciples Christ made his body saying This is my body that is the Figure of my body Augustine The Lord did not sticke to say This is my body when hee gaue the signe of his body And againe The Lord at his supper commended and deliuered to his Disciples the figure of his body and blood Amhrose The new Testament is confirmed by blood in a Figure of which blood wee receiue the mysticall cup. Hierom Iesus tooke bread and giuing thankes brake it transfiguring his body into the bread Finally for it would be infinite to alledge all what more frequent in the writings of the Fathers then Signes Sacraments Figures Symbols Types Anti-types Mysteries Samplars Images Similitudes Remembrances and the like Against all whose yea Theophilacts Nay is not worth a straw Yet for all this if you will giue him leaue to interpret himselfe I see not but his Nay may easily bee reconciled to their Yea. For in the next passage by you vouched he faith It is not only a Figuration as if hee should say A figure it is but it is not only so not a bare and naked Figure but a Figure endued from on high with the efficacy of the Spirit according to that of St Cyprian The truth is present to the signe and the spirit to the Sacrament As
enough to be numbred among the ancient Fathers In regard whereof as also because of those many shamefull errors and fabulous narrations every where appearing in his writings hee is one of little or no authority in the Church of God He was the first that removed the bounds of the ancient Doctors in this matter bringing in sundry new strange terms never heard of in former times the misvnderstanding of which by little and little prepared a way to that deformed monster of Transubstantiation Neverthelesse it is certaine that howsoever many of his speeches may seeme harsh and inconvenient and great advantage hath beene taken of them that way yet himselfe was cleane of another mind Let vs therefore heare what hee saith It is made saith hee by the Holy Ghost even as our Lord made for himselfe a body out of the Virgin mother If so then is it not made by Transubstantiation for Christ assuming a body turned not his Deity into it Yet was the worke of the Holy Ghost necessary for he alone is able to sanctify the Naturall element and to invest them with Supernaturall graces The same saith he of Baptisme He hath ioyned the Grace of the Holy Ghost to oile and water and hath made it the washing of Regeneration And Leo yet more fully vsing the selfe-same comparison Christ gave vnto water that which he gaue vnto his mother for the power of the most high and over shaddowing of the holy Ghost which made that Mary brought forth the Saviour hath made water to regenerate the beleeuer Whereby you see that the same power of Gods Spirit by which the blessed Virgin conceived may be emploied in a Sacrament without that change and conversion that you imagine of And that Damascen though hee aknowledged a change of the Bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ yet was not acquainted with your change may appeare by these words Because it is the manner of men to eat bread and to drinke wine with water he hath conioyned his divinity with them and made them his body and blood that by vsuall things and which are according to nature we might be setled in these things that are aboue nature Here you see hee conioyneth the Divinity with bread and wine Now coniunction is only of those things that are and haue a being Bread and Wine therefore still are If they be then are they not abolished And if they be not abolished then is Transubstantiation gone Adde herevnto that Accidents without Substance are not Vsuall things nor according to Nature and therefore not they but true bread and true Wine are the things which in Damascens judgement raise vs vp to those things that are aboue Nature But of him enough N. N. The perishing meat and pleasures of this world please me not I long for Gods Bread the heauenly Bread the bread of life which thing is the flesh of Christ the Sonne of God I. D. That Ignatius wrote an Epistle to the Romans both Eusebius and Hierom testify and that this which now passeth vnder that title may be the right Epistle I deny not Howbeit it is confessed of all that those Epistles which are granted to be his are not come vnto our hands perfect For some passages are cited out of them by some of the ancients as Hierom Theodoret and others which now are not found in them and some are manifestly corrupted and depraved as appeareth So that if Baronius and Bellarmine might challenge them of corruption in those places which make for Saint Pauls marriage and against halfe Communions I hope I haue as much liberty to challenge the place by you alleaged if it made any thing against vs. But it needs not for Ignatius speaketh not there of the Sacrament and therefore it maketh nothing to the purpose Neither doth it follow The bread is flesh Ergo by Transubstantiation N. N. We ought so to communicate with our Lords table that wee doubt nothing of the verity of his Body and Bloud seeing he said Except yee eat the Flesh of the Son of man c. I. D. Leo disputeth in this place against the Eutychians who denied the truth of Christs body and thus he argueth The Eucharist is a symboll of the body of Christ Ergo Christ hath a true body and whosoever will rightly communicate must nothing doubt thereof So reasoneth also Theodoret. For Orthodoxus demanding whether Bread and Wine were Symbols of the true body blood of Christ or no and being answered yea he thus concludes If the divine mysteries be samplars of the true body then the body of the Lord is now also true and not changed into the nature of the Divinity Hence may you see the weaknesse of your Argument Communicants may not doubt that Christ hath a true body or if you will that the true body of Christ is in the Eucharist Ergo bread is transubstantiated into body Ridiculous N. N. As therefore our Baptisme is made by reall washing with water and reall renewing of the Holy Ghost so now in the Supper of Christ it behooueth wee bee really fed with the fruit of the tree of life which is none other thing besides the flesh of Christ. I. D. If we yeelded Euthymius vnto you the matter were not great For he liued vpward of eleven hundred yeares after Christ and your owne Chronologers place him after Gratian and Peter Lombard Yet what saith hee It behooueth that in the supper wee be really fed with the flesh of Christ. Really fed Who doubteth of it But you are to know that Reall doth not necessarily import your Carnall manner For Spirituall is also Reall vnlesse you will say a spirit is no thing N. N. It is a remembrance of Christs death by the presence of the body which died It is the Body and Bloud of Christ covered from our eyes revealed to our Faith feeding presently our body and soule to everlasting life I. D. This Nicephorus also liued eleauen hundred yeares after Christ and therefore is none of the Fathers nor of any great authority Neither doth that which hee saith conclude your purpose For Christs Body may bee and is present Sacramentally and to our faith and presently feed both soules and bodies to everlasting life and yet Bread and Wine remaine still in the Sacrament Else where hee calleth the outward Elements symbolls and signes of the Passion of Christ. If symbolls and signes then not the Body it selfe N. N. They receiue not the fruit of Saluation in the eating of the healthfull sacrifice They eat the healthfull Sacrifice which surely is nothing else but the naturall body of Christ but the frute they receiue not As many men take an healthfull medicine but because their bodies bee evill affected it proueth not healthfull to them I. D. Thus you reason The healthfull Sacrifice is the naturall body of Christ Ergo Bread by Transubstantiation is made the body of Christ. How
Mutation and the like I. D. Had you attentiuely read my Answer you would never haue said I excepted to two or three Passages only For I excepted to all the passages of Ignatius Cyril of Hierusalem in his Catechismes Ambrose de Sacramentis and Mysterijs initiandis Eusebius Emissenus Cyprian de caena Domini the Canon of the Nicen counsell and Magnetes as suspected by your owne Rabbies not to be the men whose names they beare Againe of Damascen Theophylact Euthymius Nicephorus and Rupertus as being Punies and too young to be Fathers besides those many Passages which are miserably either curtald or rackt or falsely alleaged Neither are their words so plain for you as you pretend For I haue made it to appeare that some of them say nothing at all for you some speak rather against you then for you and to those that seeme to say any thing I haue opposed a whole grand Iury speaking farre more plainely on our side For what words can be more plaine then these This is my body that is the figure of my Body that Christ said This bread is my body which your owne men grant cannot bee true vnlesse figuratiuely vnderstood that Bread and Wine still are what they were that the Nature of bread continues that the nature of bread and wine cease not to be but continue in the propriety of their nature that the signes after consecration depart not from their proper nature but remaine in their former substance figure and forme and suchlike many But perhaps your Fathers speake as plainely Let vs try that They say that the Body flesh and bloud of Christ is truly in the Sacrament Ergo a Reall Presence Who denies it Transubstantiation is that which you should proue which Reall Presence inferres not This you say you vnderstand not The more is your dulnesse For Really and Corporally are not all one and that which is Spiritually present is Really present vnlesse you will say that a spirit is Nothing Is not the Bloud of Christ really present in Baptisme to the washing away of sinne Is hee not Really also present to the Faith of every true beleever even out of the Sacrament Doubtlesse he is and none will deny it but he that never felt the vertue and efficacy thereof What should let then but the Flesh of Christ may bee present in the Eucharist Really and yet not after the Corporall manner Nay what if I should yeeld you a corporall presence Would that necessarily inferre a Transubstantiation Nothing lesse For it may be by consubstantiation the flesh being there together with the Bread without turning the Bread into Flesh. Neither may you deny this to be possible vnlesse you will deny the Omnipotency of God and your Transubstantiation withall for therevpon doe you build it Transubstantiation therefore and the Reall presence are not all one Yea but the Fathers vse the tearmes of Conversion Mutation What then Ergo Transubstantiation A pittifull consequence For this is to argue from the Generall to Speciall as if you should say It is a colour therefore it is blacke there being many colours besides blacke Learne then that Change is a generall word and there are divers kindes thereof of Substance by Generation and corruption of Quality by Alteration of Quantity by Augmentation and Diminution of Place by Lation Now he that affirmeth a Change doth not presently affirme Change of Substance for it may be some other either of Quality or Quantity or Quantity or Place The Fathers therefore speaking of a Change in the Sacrament may as well meane a Change of Alteration in the Vse and Uertue of the Elements as of Substance by way of Transubstantiation And so for ought the Fathers say Transubstantiation may still be a brat of the Lateran Councells disputed of perhaps before but neuer beleeved as an Article of Faith till then N. N. I allow no authority after 600. yeares Ergo I acknowledge the next 1000. to be contrary in this and all other controversies betwixt vs. I. D. To speake plainely I allow no Authority at all as Infallible but only that of Christ and his Apostles Those that afterwards succeeded were all of them subiect vnto errour and cannot be the ground of our Faith as I haue elsewhere answerably demonstrated Howbeit those of the first 600 yeares wee reverence more and rather admit then those of the 1000 following because they were freer from errour as liuing neerer the Apostles times and before the first discouery of Antichrist which was about the yeare 607. when Boniface the third purchased of that bloudy tyrant Phocas the title of Vniversall Bishop and with it the supremacy over all Churches Whereof his predecessor Gregory the great seemed to prophecy when writing against Iohn B. of Constantinople for vsurping that title he gathereth from thence that the times of Antichrist are at hand After which discouery although errours every day crept in apace yet wee yeeld you not that all your opinions instantly and at once leapt into the Church For as Rome it selfe was not built in a day so neither was that huge heape of Romanish impieties raised in one age It was a good while after this before Transubstantiation began to appeare Damascen in the East not contenting himselfe with the old language of the Church fell a coyning of new Phrases yet reached not home to Transubstantiation A hundred yeares after Amalarius in the west maintained in plaine tearms that the simple nature of Bread and wine is turned into a reasonable nature to wit of the body and bloud of Christ. And herein was he seconded by Paschasius Radbertus and others Yet could they not carry it so clearly but that they were mightily opposed by the most famous writers in their times whose names you haue in mine Answer But specially by Bertram vnder Carolus Calvus of whom Turrian the Iesuit thus to cite Bertram what is it other then to say the heresie of Calvin is not new And a good time afterwards againe by Berengarius on whose side many disputed both by word and writing and those not of one nation only but English French and Italians as Mathew of Westminster saith But all these Antichrist who was now in his height bare downe and at length anno 1215. vnder Innocent the third in the Lateran Councel was the Idol set vpon its base and adored So lately with so much adoe was your doctrine of Transubstantiation brought in and established N. N. For 900. yeares was no outward face of a Church in England but the Catholike In which it were vncharitable to say that none knewe the meaning of Scriptures and Fathers as well as we or all liued in ignorance till the true light came in with Luther Yet in this last age England hath yeelded many learned men among others an vnkle of yours and Master of Arts who left all his hopes for his conscience and would not bee perswaded to returne to his great possibilities which
vehemently as justly they might if this were his Tenet But there are who defend him affirming that it was but out of a mistake For acknowledging in Christ a threefold Righteousnesse Actiue passiue Essentiall of the Word for the Righteousnesse of God is not Accidentall but his very Essence hee holdeth that we are justified not only by the imputation of the Actiue and Tassiue Righteousnesse of Christ vnto vs but also by the admission of vs vnto the participation of the Divine nature as St Peter speaketh that is of his Essentiall Righteousnesse to the end that receiuing of his fulnesse wee might be replenished with all divine qualities and graces The reason why he so much vrged this doctrine was because he had obserued that many out of a perswasion they had to be justified and saved by the merits and obedience of Christ imputed to them cared not to haue any righteousnesse in themselues and vtterly neglected the practise of holy duties Wherefore hee taught that the Actiue and Passiue Righteousnesse of Christ imputed availed not either to the remission of sinnes or the purchasing of Gods favour vnlesse they were also made partakers of the divine nature for the avoiding of sinne and the leading of a holy and vertuous life This as it seemes was all Hosiander held If he held farther then this and his adversaries vnderstood him aright I am no Patron for him The last quarrell is touching our English translations of the Bible Wherein that divers things were amisse it was never denyed of vs. For being an humane act and humanity being subiect vnto errour it could not bee avoided but that some faults what through ignorance what through negligence what through other infirmities might passe vnheeded and vnobserved If the former translations had beene faultlesse the Church of England would never haue thought of setting forth a new as now it hath done Which it did not as if those aberrations were so dangerous and prejudiciall vnto the substance of Faith but out of a holy desire that our English streames as neere as may be might runne with the same purity that is found in the Hebrew Greeke fountaines So that her meaning was not as our late learned Translators say of a bad Translation to make a good for this had beene in a manner to acknowledge that our people hitherto had beene fed rather vpon husks and akornes then the flower of wheat but to make a good one better or out of many good ones to make one principall good one not justly to be excepted against But tell me in good sooth you that so busily object vnto vs our quarrels in this point is your Vulgar translation even that which your Trent Councell hath made authenticall and is every where read in your Churches free from errour Or are there no bickerings and contentions among you concerning it If it be faultlesse what needed other translations as that of Pagnine Vatablus and Arias Montanus How cometh it to passe that Valla Stapulensis Erasmus Vives Budaeus others finde so great fault with it wishing it were amended or another made in roome of it Nay that Isidorus Clarius a Spanish Monke should finde to the number of eight thousand faults and euery one as hee professeth changing the meaning of the text Pope Sixtus the fift did not thinke all was well when he went about to correct the faults thereof with his owne hand And who would haue thought but all had beene well when he set it forth so corrected charging that none should afterwards be published with any change addition or detraction of the least particle And yet some two or three yeares after this Pope Clement the eight finding all not perfectly amended alters addes detracts yea contradicts his predecessors edition For example where Sixtus saith there was not a citty which did not yeeld Clement saith which did yeeld Againe where Sixtus hath They built vpward to the horse-gate Clement hath from the horse-gate And where Sixtus reads iustice Clement reads Vniustice This for a tast whereof whosoever will haue his fill let him see Doctor Iames who hath written at large of this argument Wherevnto I might adde the barbarismes and solecismes of that translation together with those knowne and manifest faults which yet they suffer to passe in every print as Evertit for Everrit she overturned â—he house for she swept the house consum masset had perfected for consumpsisset had wasted or consumed Saeculi of this world for Sacculi of the bagge praescientiam foreknowledge for praesentiam presence sixe hundred like or worse errors But I forbeare for brevities sake only I cannot but acquaint you with the reasons hereof for they are feriall and pleasant Faults saith the Iesuit Mariana are still left in the vulgar edition first because there is no danger in them to faith and good manners Secondly least the novelty of an exact amendment should offend the eares of them that were enured vnto them Lastly that they might reverence the old edition and tread in the steps of their Ancestors who out of a holy kind of piety tolerated those errors Heare also what the same Mariana saith touching your bickerings about this matter Some Catholikes and those also in Spaine taxe the vulgar edition as defiled with many foule faults appealing every foot vnto the fountaines whence those rivers haue issued vnto vs contending that as often as they differ from them they are to be corrected by comparing them with the Greeke and Hebrew bookes men puffed vp with the skill of languages making a mocke of Ecclesiasticall simplicity whose boldnesse and temerity in pronouncing deserueth to be curbed On the contrary side others more in number through the hatred of their adversaries thinke it great sinne once to touch the vulgar edition and count them in the number of impious ones who adventure to correct the least word or to expound any place otherwise then the vulgar interpretatioÌ„ will beare whom certainly wee are not to follow men of little spirit filled with darknesse conceiuing too narrowly of the Maiesty of our religion who while they defend the block-houses as it were of opinions as articles of faith seem to me to betray the chiefest tower it selfe most shamfully to violaâ—e brotherly charity Therefore avoiding these extreames and by-waies which lead vnto a downe-fall wee haue resolved to hold the midle way c. Thus you see that there are as violent contentions among your selues about translation as there is amongst vs and that wee may justly say vnto you Physitian heale thy selfe before you haue to doe with the diseases of others N. N. Good Mr Downe calling to mind that you told me craving some certaine rule to know the true sense of Scripture that the true sense of Scripture is easy to bee vnderstood as much as appertaineth to Salvation I demand then if the doctrine of Baptisme be necessary If so then is some part hard
warrant it By Scripture You haue barred your selfe from all hope of succour thence For it is obscure equivocall ambiguous every way vncertaine By Naturall Reason The Articles of Faith are aboue Reason and the Naturall Man is not capable of them By the Spirit then That is the thing you so much jest at in others And if by your doctrine you cannot assure your selfe that you are in the present state of Grace neither can you know whether you haue the spirit of God or no. What then may be your last refuge The testimony of the Church touching her selfe Ridiculous for no mans testimony may be admitted in his owne cause And what a reasoning is this You beleeue the Articles of Faith Why Because the Church biddeth you doe so How followeth this Because shee cannot erre And how proue you that Because she saith shee cannot erre If this bee not to expose the Christian Faith vnto the laughter of Atheists and prophane men I know not what it is Will you nill you when you haue said all you can say either you must haue no certaine ground at all for your Faith or you must rest vpon the Scriptures as the finall resolution thereof Returne therefore I beseech in the feare of God returne vnto the sure anchor-hold of your salvation Abandon those frothie generalities of your seducing authors which at the best are but coniecturall and labour to stablish your Conscience vpon the testimony of him that will not that cannot deceiue you Pray vnto him fervently and proceed in a syncere loue of the truth and you shall surely finde that if you be not defectiue to your selfe God will never faile you For my part I haue done what belongs to mee I haue planted I haue watered it is God that must giue the increase And to his mercy in Christ Iesus I commend you An advertisement to the Reader Vnto the Section of Pag. 27. I there freely confessed I could not certainly answere for want of Doctor Mortons booke Since that time I haue met with it and thereby I perceaue that though I answered only by conâ—ecture yet I coniectured not amisse Yet now farther be pleased to vnderstand first that the Doctor citeth not Bibliander as my adversary vntruly chargeth him but only answereth a passage quoted by his adversary Breerly out of him And he answereth in effect as I doe saue that he bringeth in Bellarmine confessing that which to my good man seemeth so strange namely that all Protestants acknowledge in the Eucharist a Sacrifice Eucharisticall or of thanksgiuing Secondly touching those Rabbins R. Cahana R. Iudas and R. Simeon hee belyeth the Doctor it is Breerly that cites them not hee Neither doth he Positiuely say that their testimonies make directly for Transubstantiation But conditionally if they were such Now that they are not such hee proueth For consulting with D. Smith D. Layfield and M. Bedwell very learned Hebricians about this matter they after their painfull and industrious search into the cited places returned vnder their hands this answere R. Cahana in that booke on the 49 of Gen. is not cited nor hath hee there any thing to that purpose R. Iudas in that booke on the 25 of Exod. hath no such thing nor in the whole Parasha Terumah R. Simeon wrote no booke carrying the title of Revelatio Secretorum And thus you see while simple Papists will beleeue nothing but what their guides tell them what pretty tales of Robin Hood they devise for them O that God would be pleased to soften the seared consciences of the one and to open the blindfolded eyes of the other Farewell IOHN DOWNE FINIS A Testimony taken from M. Perkins on Heb. 11. v. 7. to be added to those annexed to the first Sermon But how doth God worke this faith By his word For as God is the author and worker of Faith so God hath appointed a meanes whereby he workes it and that is his word which word of God is the only ordinary outward meanes to worke faith And that word of God is two wayes to be considered either as revealed by God himselfe as to Noah here or else being written by God is either preached by his Ministers or read by a mans selfe in want of preaching and these are all one and are all meanes ordained of God to worke faith and that not only to beginne it where it is wanting but to augment it where it is begunne END So much doth the originall word beare and therefore our last translators haue set it in the Margent M. Smith Preacher at Barstaple Ezech. 14.14 and 28 3. Ver. 1. V. 2. Ioh. 5.28.29 1 Chron. 28.9 ver 13. V. 14. V. 15. V. 16. V. 17. V. 18. 1. Tim. 4 16. Phil. 2.15 psal 34.5 Prov. 4.18 Math. 13.43 43.20 148 36. 2. Cor. 4.17 1. Pet. 5.4 1. Cor. 9.25 Act. 15.5 vers â— vers 4.6 vers 7. c. vers 13.14.15 vers 19.20 Num. 25.1 c Lev. 17.10 In Preachers plea. In Baron â—1 16. n. 23. Duplic cont Stapl. l. 1. c. 6. Act. 13.27 Deut 33.10.11 2 King 23.2 Nâ—h 8.3 Elias Levita Ben. Maimon Apol. against T.C. Eccles. Polit. l. 5. Hom. 1. p. 1. Marâ— 16.15 2. Cor. 2.16 2. Tim. 4.1.2 Defens eccles author l. 3. c. 7. Trois verites l. 3. c. 4. par 3. Confront ibid Canon 4. Can 11. In ans to the Abstract Esa. 29.12 Id. 61.1.2 Paraen ad Gentes l. 17. Strom. l. 1. p. 1. Doct. Christ. Prol. Cont. Bellar. contro 1. Confront l. 3. c. 4. In Rhem. Test Ro. 1. 15. Cont. Bellar. con 1. q. 6. c. 9. De Idol Eccl. Ro. ep ded Advers Cost de Script De S. script Against peril of idol p. 1. Preface to the Reader Rom. 15.4 Preface to the Reader Deut. 13.11 17.1 6.6 Ioh. 5.39 Col. 4.16 1 Thes. 5.27 Act. â— 27.15.21 Mat. 24.15 Eph. 3.4 Confes. l. 8. c. 12. Cont. Lindâ—n In vita sua Acts Mon. Preach plea. Def. of AdmoÌ„ Preach plea. Act. 2.41 Iob. 33.23.24 Contra Char. l. 3. c. 4. Prov. 29.18 Esaiah 1.1 1. Cor. 1.21 Duplic cont Stapl l. 2. c. 10 De S. Script Rom. 10 13.14 Ps. 19.1.2.3 Rom. 1.20 Deut. 17.11 2. Thes. 2.8 Act. 13.27 Rom. 10.8 Ioh. 19.37 Rom. 3.19 Heb. 12.5 Rom. 9.27 Ioh. 5.39 Heb. 4.12 Luc. 16.29 Gal. 4.21.22 Confront l. 3. c. 4. Ibid. De verb. scrip In Rhem. Test. Rom. 1.15 Dupl contr Stapl. l. 2. c 10. De script q. 5. c. 8. arg 2. Cont. A.D. c. 9 1. King 17.6 Ioh. 19.6 Act. 2.4 Act 9.3 c. Gal. 1.12 Dupl cont Stap. l. 2. c. 6. In the way to the true Ch. In Ps. 26. Ep. 3. Dial. cum Try phon L. 7. in Iulian Hom. 1. in Ioh De Script q. 2. c. 14. arg 5. De verb. scrip â—ut 28. Cor. 2.4 Dupl contr Stapl. l. 1. c. 9. 2. Pet. 1.15 Deut. 31.11.12 Ier. 36.2 c. V. 19. V. 5. Ioh. 20.31 Cap. 18. Comment in Psal. initio Ser. 35. Iohn 6.63