never so much otherwise yet can it not be holy unlesse it be conformed to the word of God Quicunque Scripturam aliter intelligit quà m sensus spiritus sancti flagitat licet de Ecclesia non recesserit tamen haereticus appellari potest Whosoever interpreteth the Scriptures otherwise then the holy Ghost meaneth by which it is written may well bee called an hereticke although hee be not departed from the Church Are not the interpretations from God Ioseph teacheth us they are from God in expounding Pharaohs dreame then much more are the interpretations of holy Scripture from God By the same Spirit the Scriptures were written by the same they must be interpreted and understood For what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of a man that is within him even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God and those that are taught of God Scripture is not of private interpretation but must be interpreted by Scripture the darker places by those which be more plaine easie and as Tertullian writeth oportet secundum plura intelligi pauciora ne unus sermo multa alta subvertat secunduÌ„ omnia potius quam adversus omnia intelligendus erit The interpretations of the Scripture must be made according to the meaning of the more places and lest that one Text should warre against many others that is to be expounded in a correspondency to all the rest rather then in a repugnancy unto them And if you will try the Spirits whether they bee of God or no as S. Iohn adviseth us or examine every interpretation we have two rules to measure them by The first examination is whether their interpretations and expositions bee referred to the glory of God or no If they tend to the glory of God our Saviour Christ giveth them a warrant of truth Qui quaerit gloriam meam verax est He that in his expositions seeketh my glory is a true interpreter Let us now in the name of God come to the tryall of particulars by this rule Is it possible for them to seeke the glory of God in the question of Iustification which refuse the justification by Iesus Christ and attribute salvation to their owne merites who magnifie the abilities of humane nature and extenuate the unsearchable riches of Gods grace I conceive no possibility or apparance of it Quid illis miserius quorum saluti salus ipsa noÌ„ sufficit Alas how miserable are they which will not have salvation it selfe sufficient to save them Beloved let us not abrogate the grace of God for S. Augustine writeth truly Tutiores vivimus si totum Deo damus Wee live in more safety when wee ascribe the whole worke of our justification to God The second tryall of interpretations is whether they be agreeable with the proportion of faith For he that prophesieth must doe it accorcording to the proportion of faith Measure the doctrine of Romish Catholiques by this rule and I thinke it will not prove Catholique Can the invocation of Saints stand with the proportion of faith will they beleeve in Saints how can they call on them in whom they have not beleeved I cannot stand upon many such particulars which you all doe see might be alledged but am forced through straitnesse of time to conclude them in this generall De Evangelio Christi hominis faciunt Evangelium aut quod pejus est diaboli These interpretations of Scripture which doe not agree with the proportion of faith make of Christ a mans Gospell or a divels and that is worse The Arke of God and Dagon cannot stand together there is no agreement betweene light and darkenesse the purity of the Gospel will never admit sophisticatioÌ„s of humane devises howsoever the Councell of Trent would have both to be received alike namely the bookes of both Testaments and the unwritten Traditions with equall piety and affection of reverence It is true that the Apostles delivered many things ore tenê° which Apostolike men received and delivered againe faithfully to their disciples but let that be wel remembred withall which Ireneus writeth that all these things were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were all agreeable to the Scriptures and their writings Is it probable or shall we beleeve that the Apostles writing wee should take heed and beware of Images did leave any tradition that times would come wherein the use of pictures and images would be requisite or fitting in the Church Is it credible that the Idols of Iupiter Mars Mercury c. should be cast out of all Temples by the Apostles doctrine and a tradition from the Apostles to set up the portraitures of Christ of the blessed Virgin Mary or their owne pictures in place of the other Is it possible that they which taught us to worship and call upon one God alone did ever give any tradition for themselves also to be worshipped and called upon when they were departed this life That they which writ VVe have an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous did ever order that themselves also would be our advocates No no. It was impossible it is incredible it cannot be conceived without disparagement to the Apostles that men of their ranke and integrity inspired and governed by the holy Ghost should deliver or utter any thing by word of mouth varying or dissenting from the attestations they left in writing The pure word of God without addition or diminution is the true marke of the Church and so the Hucksters that chop and change it to serve their owne inventions or turnes carry not the right cognizance of Christians Touching Sacraments and the due administration thereof which is another marke of a true Church they that are most confident and make greatest vaunts of the Church do no wayes administer them rightly save that by God his providence the essential forme of Baptisme is reteyned amongst them otherwise they prophane it not a little when they apply it to senslesse things as to Bells when they add Salt Oyle and Spittle Is not the element of Water sufficient which Christ instituted to represent his precious bloud to wash away our sinnes without those mixtures The other Sacrament of the Lords Supper they have not defiled as they have done Baptisme but they have quite altered and changed it into a cursed and abhominable Idoll of their Masse And so have prevented and annihilated Christ his holy institution For first whereas two things bee necessary in Sacraments the signe and the thing signified they take away the Signes for establishing of their Transubstantiation Secondly they should distribute it unto others and they keepe it onely to themselves so make it private whereas it should be a publike banquet Thirdly they keepe the Cup from the people which our Saviour commanded should be given to all Fourthly in the Supper Christ offereth himselfe to us and their Priests offer him unto God who indeed cannot be offered but by
AN INQVISITION OF THE TRVE CHVRCH AND THOSE THAT REVOLT FROM IT BEING A SERMON pronounced at the second Session of the PARLIAMENT By CHRISTOPHER LO Archbishop of ARMAGH and Primate of all IRELAND â—â—â—N 21.10 Cast out this bond-woman and her sonne for the sonne of the bond-woman shall not be heyre with my sonne Isaac DVBLIN Printed by the Societie of Stationers Anno M. D.C.XXII TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE ARTHVR LORD CHICHESTER Baron of BELFAST Lord high Treasurer of IRELAND I Have dedicated this Sermon to your Lordship who heard it pronounced in our late Parliament here when you represented the State and Person of a great King It was then expedient as I thought for the duety of my place and instruction of the hearers in that Honourable presence out of holy Scriptures and writings of ancient Fathers to expresse such markes or demonstrations as might distinguish and make the Spouse of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ to be knowne from a step-dame The true mother nourisheth her children healthfully with bread of life and sincere milke of the Word the other setteth before them quelques choses of humane inventions and unsavory plants vvhich our heavenly Father never planted My endevours therein aymed at no other end but to leave Noahs fatherly blessing behinde me that is often in my mouth and never from my heart God perswade Iaphet to dwell in the Tents of Sem that living together like friends and countrey-men vvee might in some measure have our militant Church on earth resemble the triumphant congregation or citie of Angels and Saints in heaven Amongst whom nothing is more peculiar and proper then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that happy agreement and consent vvhich admitteth no strife no difference Such holy concord vvould grow here with us for all aspire to be joyned to that blessed Society if we were reduced into one Fold It may be that some small debates come from our own brethren comburgesses moving unnecessary and unprofitable questions in Ceremonies things indifferent and Christian liberty and therin I think we may say with Debora The divisions of Reuben are great thoughts of heart Those will undoubted-cease as they abate daily vvhen vve conteyne our selves under the rod and staffe of our shepheard Iesus Christ Let him possesse us wholly and ceremonies can give no impediment as they be used in this Church Wee put no merit no matter of salvation no worship of God in them but use them to nourish peace and charitie to keepe order and decencie in the Church not for exercises of pietie And most of them were used in the Church long before Poperie did beare sway The abuses mixed vvith them by the Romanists vvee affect not vve defend not vve allow not they have no portion no right no memoriall in Ierusalem Things that have beene abused neede not to bee cleane abolished vvere that proposition made generall it overthroweth Churches and many things else as vvell as the Rites and Ceremonies of our Liturgy Our vvorthy ancestors saith Saint Augustine tooke the Temples dedicated to Idolls and converted them to holy Oratories or houses of prayer vvhere CRIST IESVS is vvorshipped sincerely and his Gospel is purely taught They tooke the revenues vvhich were devoted to the gods of the Gentiles to Theaters to Vestals and turned them to the entertaynement of Ministers though they served not Antichrist before but Belzebub the chiefe of the Divels And Saint Augustine findeth no solecisme or incongruitie in it Hoc de illis fit quod de ipsis hominibus cum ex sacrilegis impijs in veram religionem immutantur The grave and learned Father avoweth that there is not any other thing done in matters of this kind but that vvhich happeneth unto men themselves vvhen they are turned from sacrilege and impietie unto Christian Religion The sacred Vessells of the Temple had beene fouly abused in Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar and Balthasser yet vvhen Cyrus had given commandement for the restoring of them againe Zorobabel made no scruple to imploy them in their former holy uses It vvas Saint Augustine his practise and is vvorthy to bee observed Wee correct those things vvhich Schismatiques or Heretiques have corrupted vvhen they come unto us from them but doe acknowledge and allow that vvhich they held as they received it lest suffering our selves to be carried away in offence vvith mens faults beyond the rules of Iustice vve should doe some vvrong to the things themselves For vvee see the Apostle Saint Paul even in an Altar of the Gentiles vvhere Idols vvere vvorshipped to confirme the name of GOD rather then to disavow it I vvill adde no more to the conclusion of this point but the lesson vvhich Saint Ambrose gave unto Saint Augustine and vvas by him ever after esteemed as an Oracle There cannot be a better discipline nor more beseeming a grave and discreet Christian then to doe that vvhich hee seeth observed in the Church vvheresoever hee commeth For that is ever to be held indifferent and to be performed for their sakes amongst vvhom vvee live vvhich is neyther against faith nor good manners The nature and use of these indifferent things is fully described by Saint Bernard Certaine things are simply good in themselves and men can challenge no obedience that vvay for they must be done because they are injoyned by GOD. Other things are altogether evill and follow the same rule Betweene these things that be good or evill in themselves there bee other vvhich bee indifferent and may bee good or evill as they bee used In this last sort the Christian Magistrate doth exercise his power or else hee hath no power left him and vvhen hee hath interposed his authoritie then doe they in a manner change their nature concerning the use of them for they are not then left free to bee omitted but are necessary to bee observed In his fas non est nostrum sensum sententiae praescribere magistrorum In his omnino praelatorum nec jussio nec prohibitio contemnenda In these indifferent things everie one may not follow his particular fantasie that vvould bring in confusion anarchy and infinite tyranny but all must comply vvith the Magistrate vvith the Church with the governors of it The spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets This limitation in the use of things indifferent brings no diminution to the freedome and libertie of a Christian that hath place or seate in the mind and as Luther teacheth gravely it resteth in the points that are betweene God and mee for example If I beleeve and am perswaded in minde and conscience that the Crosse in Baptisme the Ring in matrimonie Kneeling at the Lords Supper c. worke nothing with God and are not used in the Church to any such purpose I enjoy the full benefite of my Christian libertie in the very use of these and the like Ceremonies But if I goe about to draw my libertie into a freedome of actions too and to the things
when it is not appropriated or fixed to any certaine place as the Iewes did dreame of Ierusalem long agoe and the Papists doe now dote of Rome but reacheth unto all parts and places of the world secondly it is called Catholike in respect of persons comprehended in it because no sort of people are excluded or refused For now the wall of partition is pulled downe and wee are all one in Christ Iesus thirdly it is called Catholike in respect of time that whensoever it had beginning yet it continueth for ever eyther militant here upon earth or triumphant in heaven So the whole family or house of God is divided Fourthly and lastly the Church is called Catholike in respect of doctrine therein professed for it imbraceth maintayneth not parts or portions but the whole body of Prophetical and Apostolical doctrine The Church of Rome is not Catholique in any of these respects and therefore we pleade Not guilty of apostasie in leaving it Let our adversaries meditate rather how to cleere the Church of Rome of apostasie for it is fallen away from them of whom it received the Gospell Faith Religion and the name of a Church Let them refuse their Synagogues forsake their broken cisternes that will hold no water returne to that true ancient faith for which they were once renowned through the world and wee shall runne together againe in an holy union with them If they will not I call heaven and earth to record against them this day that they themselves are fallen from the Gospell from truth from word from Sacraments from ReligioÌ„ from Christ from the Apostles church of Christ all which wee uphold with great endevour For they have broken the bands wherwith they were coupled to the Apostles they have relinquished that coÌ„munion which formerly they held with the Church These bands be of two sorts outward and inward The outward bands may bee cut in sunder as the profession of true doctrine and the right administration of the Sacraments Both which bands are broken by our adversaries as wee have shewed some proofe of before And they shall never be able to throw any just aspersion upon us in that kind the Lord of heaven and earth be praised for it Amongst the inward couplings Election is first for all that belong truely to the Church are bound together in heaven in the bundle of life with their God The other is the band of Christ his holy Spirit which worketh the same faith and love in the members that is in Christ our head These inward bands cannot be dissolved or cut in sunder for neyther can God his eternall election be avoyded neyther can the faith of those that are elected faile totally or finally The visible Church hath in it selfe two different sorts of people the one make an outward bare profession onely the other by inward election are firmely joyned unto Christ The first are in the visible Church alone but not of the Church invisible They participate in the outward Sacraments of Christ but not with the inward blessings of Christ and so they may fall away they may be in the Church but not of the Church They which are inwardly coupled to Christ by his election and holy Spirit cannot fall away from Christ his church So our Text teacheth us their constancie and perseverance If they had beene of us they would have continued with us The outward joynts and participation may be dissolved for all they are not the Israel of God which are of Israel No many of theÌ„ are Israelites they were amongst the multitude that was called they were not of the small number that was elected Mali in Area nobiscum esse possunt in horreo non possunt Hypocrites and false Gospellers may bee in the Church with us they cannot be of the church they are like Summer fruit they hold not out they continue not On the other side they that bee of us they continue with us After they be matriculated have their names registred in the holy Rolls of the Church they doe not revolt but are established All that the Father giveth me shall come to mee and him that commeth unto mee I cast not away The counsell of the Lord endureth for ever Vnde saith Saint Augustine nisi de nobis quos antea praescivit praedestinavit Quis tollit praedestinationem Dei ante mundi constitutionem vidit nos fecit nos emendavit nos misit ad nos redâ—mit nos hoc ejus consilium manet in aeternum haec ejus cogitatio manet in secula seculorum How doth the Lords counsel endure for ever but in us whom he hath seene and predestinated Who can take away God his predestination before the foundation of the world he did foresee us he made us he reformed us he sent unto us he redeemed us this counsell of the Lord abideth for ever this thought of the Almightie remayneth thoroughout all ages Behold the ground and certainty of their faith marke how they which are inwardly coupled to Christ his Church cannot fall away from the one or the other for Christ sayes None can take them out of his hands Another reason is expressed in the same place My Father which gave them to mee is greater then all and none is able to take them out of my Fathers hands These reasons were not good if they might fall away from Christ which are inwardly coupled to him for then Christ and his Father must bee weaker then hee that did take them out of their hands and that is a blasphemie worthy to be detested If faith could fayle the elect might perish for without faith it is impossible to please God But our Saviour Christ doth testifie that it is not possible that the elect should perish therefore their faith cannot fayle If their faith could fayle the elect should be regenerate often but the elect are borne of incorruptible seed and as the seed is so must the generation also be incorruptible To that purpose S. Iohn writeth Hee that is borne of God sinneth not neither can hee because the seed of God abideth in him How should faith be variable that hath God his promise I will put my feare in their hearts that they shall not goe from me If God will not have his to fall away how should they fayle If he will put his feare into their hearts that they should not fayle how can they lose that feare No no. Besides that they have a further preservative namely the efficacie of Christ his prayers Keepe them in thy truth Ioh. 17 Againe I have prayed for thee that thy faith doe not faile Luc. 22. The mountaines shall remove and the hills shall fall downe but my mercy shall not depart from thee neither shall the covenant of my peace fall away saith the Lord Esay 54. You have not chosen me but I have chosen you and ordeyned you that you goe and bring forth fruit and that your fruit remaine If Christ