of Salvation In the second Homily there I have read thus Iustification is not the office of man but the office of GOD. and againe Iustification is the office of GOD onely and is not a thing which we render unto him but which we receive of him not which we give to him but which we take of him by his free mercy and by the onely merits of his most deerly beloved Sonne our Lord our only Redeemer Saviour and Iustifier IESUS CHRIST And yet it is Popery in M. MOUNTAGU to have said and written Properly to speake GOD only justifieth who alone imputeth not but pardoneth sinne En quo vaecordia caecos For yet moreover is it not your owne Beleefe and Profession for which if he should say otherwise M. MOUNTAGU should be cryed downe Papist that Iustification consisteth in Remission of sinnes or not imputing of them unto the man justified Ne posthac dubites saith CALVIN Instit III. XI XXII and you subscribe it quo modo nos DEUS justificet cum audis Reconciliare illum nos sibi non imputando delicta and againe Nos justificationem simpliciter interpretamur acceptationem illam quâ nos DOMINUS in gratiam receptos pro justis habet Eamque in Peccatorum remissione ac justitiae CHRISTI imputatione positam esse dicimus Sect. 2. to whom per omnia agreeth M. PERKINS in mo places than ten defining Iustification to be an Act of GOD absolving c. And yet with you M. MOUNTAGU is a Papist for affirming GOD only justifieth properly when your selves confesse that Iustification at least properly consisteth in Remission of sinnes and that none can forgive sinnes properly but GOD. How this should hang together I professe my ignorance I cannot tell For eyther Iustification in your opinions must not consist in forgivenesse of sinnes or else others beside GOD must have power of imputing or of not imputing sinnes And heere it is worth the while to observe how these detracters doe crosse their owne shinnes It will not be long before that M. MOUNTAGU with them be accounted a Papist for saying A Priest GOD'S Minister in GOD'S place can forgive sinnes and heer he is a Papist for saying GOD only justifieth properly when themselves will have Iustification to bee meerly forgivenesse of Sinnes and yet hold that none doth or can forgive Sinnes but GOD. May I not say well ô vertiginem In sober and not in madde Puritanicall sadnesse dare you say that some other beside GOD some creature over and above GOD can forgive Sinnes This is contrary to the doctrine of the Church of England in that Homily which you remember indeed but can produce no testimonie thence Because all men bee sinners saith that Homily and offenders against GOD and breakers of his Lawes and Commandements therefore can no man by his owne acts workes or else deedes seeme they never so good be justified and made righteous before GOD but everie man of necessity is constrained to seek for another righteousnesse or justification But where shall he find it where is it to bee had It is expressed according unto truth To be received at GOD'S hand It is GOD then that justifieth in this opinion of the Homily And againe in the second Homily of that argument as is already remembred Iustification is the office of GOD only it is not the office of man Credimus SPIRITUM SANCTUM in cordibus nostris habitantem voram nobis fidem impertiri ut hujus tanti mysterij cognitionem adipiscamur saith the Belgick Confession which is the POPERY of M. MOUNTAGU as pleaseth these Great Masters in Israel Lyars against their owne knowledge in saying it contradicteth the Doctrine of the English Church Or if this be not the thing they meane what is it That GOD imputeth not sinnes unto the justified or that Iustification is not in pardoning and not imputing sinnes whereas the Papists doe clamour against us for maintayning that Iustification to be received at GODS hands is forgivenes of sins and trespasses in such things as hee hath beene offended in I confesse I am a Papist if this be Popery or else that which followeth after Remission of sins against which they informe in the next place CHAP. IX Holinesse of life added unto Iustification and Remission of sins GOD justifieth originally and Faith instrumentally INFORMERS AGaine WHO only can and doth translate from death unto life reneweth a right spirit and createth a new hart within us MOUNTAGU WHo can doe this but only GOD most high It is a work of Omnipotencie to create they say it is a greater work to recreate Where sinne is pardoned by GOD and a man is become regenerate borne anew and in state of Grace with GOD there GOD by his HOLY SPIRIT worketh inward renovation Where sinne is graciously and freely pardoned there holy life and conversation doth est soones ensue This is the divinitie that I have learned in our Protestant Schooles touching this point And to my understanding it is observed and tendred by DAVID in Psal L. X. Hide thy face from my sinnes and put away all mine iniquities which is Remission of sinnes Then followeth to make up a complete worke Create in mee a clean heart O LORD and renew a right spirit within mee which to me seemeth an Infusion of Grace And S. PAUL doth everie where after vocation unto and acceptation of us with GOD urge walking according unto vocation in newnesse and in holinesse of life But because GOD was moved thereunto by a true and a lively faith in him and his mercies in CHRIST Faith is by mee said to iustifie instrumentally That GOD justifieth causally hath beene suspected of Popery and challenged therefore Now that Faith justifieth instrumentally cannot avoide the same imputation And yet the maine exception of all Papists against the doctrine of our Church is that we hold a man is iustified by Faith which must be originally or instrumentally THAT wee exclude with the forenamed Homilies That we be iustified by Faith in CHRIST only is not That this our owne act to beleeve in CHRIST or this our faith in CHRIST which is within us doth iustifie us for that were to account our selves to be iustified by some act or vertue within our selves For saith S. PAUL Rom. VIII XXXIII It is GOD that iustifieth THIS we embrace as also in the same Homily Faith doth directly send us to CHRIST for remission of our sins And by Faith given unto us of GOD wee embrace the Promise of GOD'S mercie and of Remission of sinnes which accordeth with the traduced passage of M. MOUNTAGU because GOD was drawne unto it by our Faith which laying hold upon his mercy in CHRIST obtayneth this freedome and newnesse and renewing from Him Faith is therefore said to justifie that is instrumentally or applicatorily And so I am content to passe for a Papist with the CHURCH of England CHAP. X. An Accesse declaratory made to the act of Iustification by the works of a lively Faith S.
lives according to his doctrine and example and to the setting foorth of his glory hee will TAKE FROM THEM his holy word his KINGDOME whereby hee should raigne in them because they BRING NOT FORTH THE FRUIT that he looked for Can your Learning and Understanding make any other construction of these words than that a man may FALL away FROM GRACE become NO childe of GOD at all If you can advance and teach mee that which passeth my poor apprehension They were TRULY called that did TRULY beleeve they were justified by faith that were so called as I conceive it that beheld the face of GOD'S mercie in CHRIST that had their hearts so enlightned with GOD'S SPIRIT that they were meerly transformed from Darknes unto Light into the Image of GOD reformed If these be not attributes of Justified men good Sirs teach us some new Divinity yet in the Doctrine of the Church of England expounded in this Homily these men may prove unthankfull negligent and lose the Interest they had in that his Kingdome of grace by his holie word And yet further in the second part of this Homily wee are sent unto a conclusion more ad oppositum not onely of TOTALL Lapse for a time but also of FINALL Separation and for ever Which is also according to the doctrine expressed in the ARTICLES for he that saith A man may fall away and may recover implieth withall that some men may fall away and may NOT recover which the Homily declareth thus They shall be NO LONGER governed by GOD'S HOLY SPIRIT they shall be PUT FROM the GRACE and BENEFIT which they had and EVER MIGHT have enjoyed in CHRIST they shall be DEPRIVED of the heavenly light and LIFE which they had in CHRIST while that they abode in HIM They that thus fall away unto the state of damnation were TRULY justified for it is said They were in CHRIST they continued sometime in CHRIST for they abode in him But yet this is not all for it followeth They shall bee GIVEN UP unto the POWER of the DIVELL who beareth RULE in all that are CAST-AWAYES from God as he did in SAUL and IUDAS I suppose this is plaine and home enough If you be acquainted with the LITURGY and publicke religious SERVICE of our Church as to your shame few of you and your Divines are or will be unlesse it bee to oppose and cavill at it there you shall find also as much as Falling from grace commeth to In the Forme of holy Baptisme we are taught otherwise than your Masters teach that every child which is duly baptized being before borne in originall sinne and in the wrath of God is now by that Laver of Regeneration received into the number of the CHILDREN of GOD and HEIRES of EVERLASTING LIFE For our Lord IESUS CHRIST doth not deny his GRACE and mercy unto such infants c. So heere they bee put into the state of GRACE And lest it should be left to mens CHARITY as you use to tell the world wee are there taught earnestly to BELEEVE that CHRIST hath favourably RECEIVED these infants that are baptized that he hath EMBRACED them with the armes of his mercy that he hath GIVEN unto them the BLESSING of ETERNALL LIFE and out of that BELIEF and PERSWASION wee are to give thankes faithfully and devoutly for it c. To make which doctrine the more sure against all Novelists it is againe repeated in the Catechisme to the end that children might likewise bee noursed up in it and taught that in their Baptisme they were made the MEMBERS of CHRIST and the children of GOD and that it is CERTAINELY TRUE by the Word of GOD that children being baptized have ALL things necessary for their salvation and if they die before actuall sinne shall be UNDOUBTEDLY SAVED According whereunto all Antiquity hath also taught us Now let this bee acknowledged to bee the doctrine of our Church that children duly baptized are put into the STATE of GRACE and SALVATION which you see you cannot you must not deny and both your and my experience will shew that many so baptized children when they come to age by a wicked and leud life do fall away from God and from that STATE of GRACE and SALVATION wherein hee had set them to a worse STATE wherein they shall never be saved If you grant not this you must hold that all men that are baptized are saved which I know you will never doe To make an end then In my judgement this is the doctrine of the Church of England not delivered according unto private opinions in ordinary Tracts and Lectures but delivered publickly positively and declaratorily in Authenticall Records And you cannot bee ignorant for it is still extant upon Record that your prime Leaders have understood the Tenet of the Church of England to be as I have reported it and accordingly they have complained against it as you have against mee and objected it as one of their reasons why they refused to subscribe Let there then be added EXPRESSE SCRIPTURE EZECHIEL XVIII XXIV and a common UNANIMOUS FATHERS expounding that and other places of Scripture which consent our Church doth by open profession maintaine in these Canons which she set forth to be subscribed unto together with the XXXIX Articles Anno M. D. LXXI and I see no reason wherefore I might not have been as confident in maintaining falling away from grace as you and your Divines are upon weaker grounds in defending the contrary But I have ever bin solicitous to preserve peace and to give as little occasion of disturbance thereof unto distempered humours as was possible Salus Ecclesiae non vertitur in istis and therefore I thought it not tanti and being not urged upon necessity in my Answer to the Gagger to handle this question otherwise than I did I suspended mine owne judgement and lay off aloof in a kind of neutrality Neither doe I now say more than I am urged to doe by the PLAINE and EXPRESSE words of our ARTICLES and Doctrine publickly professed and established in our Church which I hope your selves will give mee leave to doe the rather because I knowe you have subscribed the same with your Hands though what became of your Hearts in the meane time I cannot tell CHAP. V. Touching PREDESTINATION Of Arminians Lutherans Calvinists forraine Divines Of the Church of England Submission thereunto The Question between them and us INFORMERS THe whole XXI chapt of his book savoreth strongly of ARMINIANISME wherin depraving odiously reporting the Doctrine of OUR DIVINES commonly called CALVINISTS and declaring himselfe to consent with the LUTHERANS in this point he hath these words That PETER was saved c. MOUNTAGU MAy not your Sense deceive you in the Savor The Object we know is often represented unto the Sense not as it is but as it seemeth If your Sense be out of frame the Savor of Arminianisme may deceive you and
Church of England whose Discipline in that and in other DUTCH Synods is held unlawfull What Ends men had in that Synod I knowe not nor am curious to enquire how things were carried I as little understand or care Whether any or all subscribed absolutely or with protestation I cannot tell Let them looke unto it and answer for it whom it doth concerne This I am sure IOHN DEODATE Minister and Professor in the Church of Geneva and imployed unto that Synod of Dort from his Countrey being lately with me at Eaton professed there unto me his owne opinion in some points contrary to the conclusions of Dort as also the dissension of their Church at Geneva from the PRIVATE opinions as he called them of CALVIN and BEZA And I am as sure that the Church of England never so concluded nor determined it in her Doctrime I am sure it hath been opposed in the Church of England otherwise taught and professed in the Schooles when I was an Auditor there It hath been prohibited to be enjoyned and tendred or maintained as the Authenticall Doctrine of our Church by supreme Authority with sharp reproofe unto those that went about to have it tendred then when those Conclusions or Assertions of Lambeth as they are called in the Conference at Hampton Court were upon sending downe to the Universitie of Cambridge likely enough to have beene there applauded by some through the opinion of the great worth and learning that they had of the then Professor a thorough man everie way upon YOUR Side and an earnest Promoter of the novell opinions against other learned Divines part dead and yet part alive Since which time at the Conference of Hampton Court before HIS MAIESTY by Doctour BANCROFT the then Lord Bishop of London it was stiled against the Articles of Lambeth then urged by the Puritans a Desperate doctrine as I take it to be without reproof or taxation of any And can wee conceive this should have been acted spoken or tolerated against a Doctrine approved by the Church of England Besides in all probability the publick Doctrine of the Church of England is not very likely to have beene or to be upon the Party of a Faction that hath so long had a Schisme on foot against it to bring in Genevanisme into Church and State wholly totally were it possible at least so partially that sensim sine sensu it might creep upon us not as once 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by opposing the DISCIPLINE ex adverso but by complying with That formerly oppugned cum infortunio to winde in with the DOCTRINE point per point that men being so seasoned and infected with the ONE may at length more readily willingly and sooner incline unto the OTHER It being so in the nature of man that opinion settled for the excellent worth temper desert and conveniency of any one invention or proposall of some one man men may be disposed unto him in any or all other things though of another nature Considering then your Side your Comportments your Ends it is not in reason probable that you should have the Doctrine of the Church on YOUR Side against Mr. MOUNTAGU your affection to the Church setting reason of profite and interest aside being such as it is well knowne to be Say I it is not probable I say it is directly otherwise For the Church holdeth and teacheth punctually and that in the Opinion and with the dislike of the Learnedst of Your Side that Faith true justifying Faith once had may be lost and recovered againe that a man endued with GOD'S holy Spirit and enlightned with the Heavenly light may LOSE that HOLY SPIRIT have that Light put out become like unto SAUL and IUDAS may be brought into so vile a condition that hee shall be thought meet for no other purpose than to be condemned into Hell Now to your own understanding my good Brethren can the Church of England be thought to patronize YOUR Predestination and so farre to crosse and thwart YOUR Perseverance It is your own GOD hath appointed them to Grace Glorie GOD according to purpose hath called and justified them therefore it is certain that they must and shall be saved infallibly But if the Once justified by a lively Faith may in the opinion of our Church lose that justification they are not saved by an absolute necessitie IRRESPECTIVE without relation unto their Repentance For whatsoever thing may be otherwise than it is is not necessarily to continue one way and ever the same DAVID and PETER falling as they did unlesse they had repented as also they did should have perished eternally which because they repented they did not Certissimè liberantur qui liberantur No man taketh CHRIST'S sheep out of his hand none of GOD'S Elect doe perish for ever which although it be true it is so true upon supposition of the meanes Faith Repentance and finall Persevering in obedience without which they are none of GOD'S Elect nor belonging to CHRIST these being the appointed instrumentall causes of all their salvation as the proper immediate cause of the wicked's destruction is their impenitencie infidelity and disobeying GOD which the very Synod of Dort denieth not that define the wrath of GOD to remaine on them that Beleeve not That life eternall is for them that Beleeve which calleth them Praeteritos or non Electos that perish a Title that cannot accrue unto those that as the Doctrine of YOUR Divines was at least were made by GOD to perish everlastingly Quod ante Gehennam mali pereunt non est DIVINI operis sed HUMANI Quòd autem in Gehenna perituri sunt hoc facit DEI aequitas cui placere nulla potest Peccantis impunitas with FULGENTIUS so I conclude CHAP. VIII Touching Free-will the III. point of Arminianisme INFORMERS HE calles the Question of Freewil betwixt us and the Papists in this point a Question of obscurity MOUNTAGU I CALL it so indeed and in my poor understanding and small capacitie I ever took it to be a Question at least as it is intangled of perplexed obscurity You my good Brethren as it seemeth esteeme it not so Queis meliore luto finxit praecordia Titan. You can easily foord over all the depths therof and cleerly còmprehend all the darkest mirksomnesse therin Admiror stupeo why are you enraged against me if I cannot attaine the measure of your transcendentnesse but confesse my disability and imperfection But cleere or obscure light or darknesse in the point of Free-will in my Opinion what is it to Arminianisme in your information Was ARMINIUS also in the same opinion that the Question of Free-will was obscure Surely so and yet what meaned those dangers you talk of for opposition seeing men are not peremptory but upon resolution and resolution groweth not but upon perswasion which is ever upon evidence to the understanding If not so then wherein doth N. MOUNTAGU Arminianise But esto as you will every way What Error is in it
gratiâ NULLA possunt esse liberi arbitrij bona merita saith the Controversor But wee need a supply continually of Divine Operation Protection Direction and new Inspiration to goe on with Free-will which is Comes non Dux Pedissequa non Praevia as S. AUSTEN speaketh Epist 106. If this were not so then faith and repentance were not the actions of man neither could man be said to beleeve or repent but the holy Spirit that infuseth grace Now Id agit gratia ut sanata natura quod vitiata non potest POSSIT per cum qui venit quaerere salvare id quod perierat S. AUGUST Retract 1. cap. XIII We may saith RUARD TAPPER consider in every vertuous action of man two things the qualitie of goodnesse and the work it selfe The qualitie of goodnesse is WHOLLY from grace the worke it selfe is wrought by the FREE-WILL of man ASSISTED by grace Opera pietatis Credere poenitere c. fiunt per NATURALEM virtutem liberi arbitrij in quantum LIBERE fiunt OPERA sunt à gratiâ verò ut PIETATIS opera sunt Tamen UT SIC à libero arbitrio gratiâ informato EFFECTIVE fiunt non autem à SOLA gratiâ He that saith thus doth not say nor thinke that man can by any NATURALL power EXCITE and prepare himself to grace or apply himselfe unto GOD to the motions of his Spirit as if GOD'S concurse needed not or that man by the power of his owne will without any speciall help of grace could sorrow for sinne or by his PURE NATURALS had power to love GOD above all or to do works holy and acceptable unto GOD as some have prodigiously thought and written nay not that the grace of GOD and power of WILL are ex aequo joint copartners to goe passibus equis much lesse that man's will can outstrip the grace of GOD. This is denied and cannot be inferred upon the activenesse intended or actions insisted on in and of our wills prevented and enabled by grace all that is said is COOPERAMUR SEQUIMURQUE PATREM NON PASSIBUS AEQUIS as that childe did his father in the Poet. This is I conceive it the doctrine of the Protestant Schooles Vbi interim DUO observanda esse docemus say the Helvetians in their Confession PRIMUM regeneratos in boni electione operatione non tantùm agere PASSIVE sed ACTIVE Aguntur enim à DEO ut AGANT IPSI quod agunt Rectè enim AUGUSTINUS adducit illud quòd DEUS dicitur noster ADIUTOR nequit autem ADIUVARI nisi is qui IPSE ALIQUID AGIT S. PAUL speaking of Beleevers saith You have obeyed from the heart that forme of Doctrine whereunto you were received ROM VI. XVII And SALOMON saith PRO. IV. XXIII Keepe thine heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life OUR SAVIOUR saith A good tree bringeth foorth good fruit The WILL of man is a true naturall faculty given to man in his creation In the state of corruption this naturall faculty is a true efficient cause of sinne and this naturall faculty is punished for sinne In the state of justification the same naturall faculty is truely and really endued with grace and bringeth forth the works of righteousnes and shall be rewarded with glory and immortality In both these states the WILL is a TRUE Efficient but differently a PRINCIPALL Efficient in the first state a SUBORDINATE Efficient in the second because the holy Ghost activateth and enableth it For By the grace of GOD wee are that wee are and that grace is not in vaine in us in the Doctrine of the Church of England ARTIC X. working with us when we have that good will GOD'S preeminence in the worke of our salvation his chiefe hand in the businesse his GRACE preventing inspiring enlightning exciting upholding sustaining and concurring doth not take away mans FREE-WILL in cases where Will hath any interest at all The STOICKS amongst others held that Paradox of old DEUM ire per omnes Terras tractusque maris coelumque profundum they meant it substantially and so impiously CHRISTIANS doe hold and beleeve it too but disposingly c. in his providence according to that Axiome of the wise Perting it à fine ad finem fortiter disponens omnia suaviter according to the severall natures and exigences of things to which he gave being and power to worke so not DESPOILING them of their OWNE by CONCURRING with them nor by any accesse ANNIHILATING his former grants or indowments conferred on them Thus having with as great diligence as I could examined this question inter partes of FREE-WILL so farre as was coïncident unto my purpose I do ingenuously confesse that I cannot find any such MATERIALL difference between the Pontificians at least of better temper and OUR Church But if the Informers can make the contrary appeare submittam fasceis and turne over a new leafe even in this Article opposing the Church of ROME as farre as any of the preciser Cut or zealous Disciples of THOMAS CARTWRIGHT'S Schoole whosoever Then then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am a man reserved abhorring to multiply controversies where is no cause CHAP. X. The Councell of Trent not wholly to bee condemned Man's Will not meerely passive but active and free in the proper acts thereof The memorable saying of SCOTUS The power of the Will in things divine INFORMERS IN the next page thrice hee approveth the Doctrine of the Councell of Trent touching Free-will MOUNTAGU WHolly or in part It would have beene explaned by honest men For say I beseech you will not your owne wisedomes or charity or common sense or understanding or what you will call it commend and approve some Determinations of the Councell of TRENT Saepè etenim est olitor valdè opportuna loquutus And why not they learned men at least resolve some thing truely where was no cause of Faction to be opposite Secondly whatsoever I approve in that Councell is not thrice approved as you doe enlarge in your suggestions but twice at most nor yet twice but by repeating the same thing twice remembred occasionally That which is so approved is this Sess VI. cap. V. Si quis LIBERUM hominis ARBITRIUM post ADAE lapsum amissum extinctum esse dixerit aut rem esse de SOLO TITULO imò TITULUM SINE RE FIGMENTUM denique A SATANA INVECTUM in Ecclesiam Anathema sit And so say I and so I hope if your wits be your owne will you say Man ever since the Fall of ADAM is not senselesse a stocke a stone meerly PASSIVE in all things active and AGENT voluntarily in nothing That which hee doth at least something that hee doth he doth it willingly and freely QUUM homini non sit per peccatum adempta neque intelligendi neque volendi facult as sed duntaxat RECTE intelligendi volendi facult as saith BEZA at least hee doth it according to his WILL not compellable in the
it were true which is most false wherewith I am charged by these honest men yet I might answer and what if I doe Who bound the Church of England or Me a Priest and a Member of the Church of England unto defence of all the Decrees or Determinations of that Synod Hath Prince or Parliament or Convocation Edict Statute or Canon I knowe none I have heard of none nor ever shall I hope And till I heare of such quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I answer Let them that are interessed plead for themselves For my part I nor have nor ever will subscribe that Synode absolutely and in all points for in some it condemneth upon the Bye even the discipline of the Church of England but so farre forth onely as their Determinations shall bee found and made conformable unto the doctrine of OUR Church nor I think will the Ferventest amongst you subscribe it in every point For sure I am YOUR Divines as you call them have disavowed sometimes some things resolved of in that Synod as for instance Cooperation of Free-will and Grace Reprobation negative rather than positive But as I said the Synod of Dort is not MY Rule and your Magisteriall Conclusions are NO Rule I hope all not violently precise will say Ampliandum upon your bare imputations who bring nothing to prove me an ARMINIAN but your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hee saith thus and thus and we say this is ARMINIANISME Absque hoc And thus much for Arminianisme THE SECOND PART TOUCHING POINTS OF POPERY IN GENERALL CHAP. I. The Author uncharitably traduced His profession for the doctrine and discipline received and commanded in the Church of England Conformable Puritans Furious zeale The Church of Rome not a sound yet a true Church Private opinions disclaimed The Church of England asserted to her owne publick and proper Tenents The cause of all these Imputations NOw come they to POPERY in a larger extent A strange imputation in my opinion considering the subject upon which they work which may argue in them with any indifferent Reader an uncharitable unchristian fiery Puritanicall zeale malice and indiscretion too For did I prevaricate was it a compact between Me and the Papists to collude If I favoured them would I so have handled them as few have beside me in so exasperating a stile Sure A Kingdome I know divided cannot stand But the truth is As with the IESUITE he is an Heretick that is not furioso more a Roman Catholick so with the PURITAN he is a Papist that will not run a-madding with them It is not the first time for this very cause I have been talked of esteemed of traduced as a Papist which I can the better brooke because they have meted this measure to the Church of England it self as sympathizing with Papists in her Liturgy Discipline and Doctrine too It were to be wished that such transported spirits were taught to be more submisse and sparing in their talk I call GOD and all his holy Angels to witnesse I nor am nor have beene nor intend to be heerafter eyther Papist or ROMISH Catholick a Papist of State or of Religion but a Priest a member a follower of the Church and Doctrine of the Church of ENGLAND The Originall grounds of Popery are to my understanding against Reason have not their warrant from revealed Truth stand not with the purer practice of prime Antiquity I have been born and bred and brought up in the Confession of the Church of England I have learned loved admired and proposed unto my selfe to follow indeclinably not onely the Discipline of the Church of England whereunto the Puritans and Schismaticks themselves at least the wiser and subtiller sort of them come off roundly now for ends best known amongst themselves remaining quod erant quoad doctrinam tantum non in EPISCOPATU Puritani but the whole and entire Doctrine of that Church proposed in Synods confirmed by Law commanded and established by Act of PARLIAMENT This totall both Doctrine and Discipline I willingly and thoroughly embrace In profession thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have lived and will die and will maintaine it by GOD'S grace to bee Antient Catholick Orthodox and Apostolicall I say it againe a never was or will be a Papist no not in heart though many be arrant Puritans in heart that onely for preferment do conforme hold with the Hare and runne with the Hound who so they might vivere and valere would as willingly have up the Presbyterian Anarchie as would THO. CARTWRIGHT were he living though many once Puritans turne often Papists And no marvell for fleeting is commonly from one extreme unto another Men of moving violent Quick-silver Gun-powder spirits can never rely upon middling courses but dum furor in cursu est runne on headlong into extremes And so I may avow I will not bee a Papist in haste because I never was a Puritan in earnest or in jest having found it true in my small observation that our Revolters unto Popery were Puritans avowed or addicted first And yet it must bee granted All powder doth not take fire alike nor are all Puritan Spirits of one disposition With some of them more braine-sick than the rest all my Booke against the Gagger is quickly branded with Popery or scurrility With others more discreet I doe but walk upon the brinks of Popery wherein is some allaying of that former fervency for upon their better advice I am but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the next dore unto it What they thinke or speake I cannot hinder nor doe I greatly care I professe my selfe none of those furious ones in point of difference now-a-dayes whose profession and resolution is That the farther in any thing from communion with the Church of Rome the neerer unto GOD and Truth that we ought to have no commerce society or accordance with Papists in things divine nor almost humane upon pain of eternall damnation but must bid defiance irreconcileable unto them for ever I am absolutely perswaded and shall bee till I see cause to the contrary that the Church of Rome is a true though not a sound Church of CHRIST as well since as before the Councell of Trent a part of the Catholick though not the Catholick Church which wee doe professe to beleeve in our Creed a Church in which among many tares there remaineth some wheat In Essentials and Fundamentals they agree holding one Faith in one Lord into whom they are inserted through one Baptisme Ecclesia Papalis saith FRANCISCUS IUNIUS neither Papist nor Arminian quâ id habet in se quod ad definitionem Ecclesiae pertinet est Ecclesia And I verily am perswaded that I ought not to goe farther from the Church of Rome in these her worst daies than she hath gone away from her selfe in her best dayes I hold it to bee furious zeale without discretion issuing out of ignorance or malice or both in them who proceed so farre in their extravagant
Nice it was an Error in debating though not fundamentall touching that yoke of single life which they had meant once to have imposed upon the Church but in conclusion they erred not PAPHNUTIUS gave better advice and they followed it The Article may very well have aimed at this difference in Prosecution and Decision in saying ALL are not governed with the Spirit and word of GOD which is most true but some are and those some in all probability ever may prevaile as ever hitherto in such Councels in those cases they have prevailed against the greater part formerly resolved otherwise Againe the Article speaketh of Generall Councels indefinitely without precisely determining which are Generall which not what is a Generall Councell what not and so may and doth conclude reputed or pretended GENERALL Councels univocè GENERALL though not exactly and truely indeed such as was the Councell of Ariminum whereof I did not so much as intend to speak my speech being limitted with true and lawfull of which sort are not many to be found Lastly the Article speaketh of things that are controversae fidei and contentiosi juris I speak of things plainely delivered in HOLY SCRIPTURE for such are the Fundamentall points of our Faith And that it is so the ensuing words of the Article doe insinuate Things necessary unto Salvation must bee taken out of SCRIPTURE alone COUNCELS have no such over-awing power and authority as to tye men to Beleeve upon paine of Damnation without expresse warrant of GOD'S Word as is rightly resolved in the Article They are but Interpreters of the Law they are not absolute to make such a Law Interpretation is required but in things of doubtfull issue our Fundamentals are no such COUNCELS are supposed not to exceed their commission which warranteth them to debate and determine questions and things litigiosi status If they doe not hoc agere sincerely if they shall presume to make lawes without warrant and new articles of Faith who have no farther authority than to interprete them lawes without GOD'S word that shall binde the conscience and require obedience upon life and death our Church will not justifie their proceedings nor doe I. Non debet se Ecclesia CHRISTO praeponere cùm ille semper veraciter judicet Ecclesiastici autem Iudices sicut homines plerunque fallantur saith S. AUGUSTINE against CRESCONIUS the Donatist but he speaketh not there of Fundamentals indeed not of the Church representative as I explaine my selfe Nor doth that principall place of all make against me which is in him contra Donatistas concerning the erring of Generall Councells Et ipsa Concilia quae per singulas regiones provincias fiunt plenariorum Conciliorum authoritati quae siunt ex universo Christiano orbe cedunt ipsaque plenaria saepè priora à posterioribus emendantur cùm aliquo experimento rerum aperitur quod clausum er at cognoscitur quod latebat For he taketh Councells in a generall acception as it is plaine by him and hee speaketh not of Fundamentall points of Faith as both the cause it selfe argueth and his assigning of better information in tract of time to direct consequent Councells in determining contrary to precedent who for any thing he saith to the contrary might have truely determined as things then stood To conclude this Information is a meer cavill De tali Concilio saniori parte conclusionibus in fide probabile est No more CHAP. III. Strange accusations Antiquity reverenced not Deified Fathers accused of some error by Iesuites The occasion of their enlarged speeches concerning Free-will The Author acquitted of Popery INFORMERS AGaine speaking of the Fathers in generall hee professeth his opinion to bee that Those worthy Lights did not any way faile nor did darkenesse possesse their cleere understandings CHAP. XVI pag. CXIII The which is a saying more Popish than learned Papists durst ever affirme MOUNTAGU NAy more sottish than any Puritan but your selves would ever quarrell Malice and Ignorance whither wilt thou As if M. MOUNTAGU had affirmed that no Father ever Erred in any point whatsoever Masters Informers you may goe range this calumny under some other head for Popery will not admit nor entertaine it No ignorant Papist lesse learned than your selves nedum LEARNED Papist either taught or thought that no Father ever Erred And as for M. MOUNTAGU he utterly disclaimeth it Though no man living carrieth a more awfull regard and reverent respect unto Antiquity than hee doth yet never did hee so doate upon them It is more than ever entred into the compasse of his thoughts so to overlavish transcendently in their commendation as to give them prerogative of not erring at all and so to advance them unto their MAKERS seate It belongeth not to these Ancients but to the Ancient of Dayes not to Erre And so much M. MOUNTAGU had expressed in that former passage of his penne Take them at large and they lavish so farre sometimes that the greatest Patrons of the power and efficacy of Free-will dare not joine issue with some of them Then followeth that calumniated piece by those Pure Ones Not as if those worthy Lights had at any time failed or darkenesse possessed their cleer understanding Now you Promoters could your Christian charity be so defective or your common wit sense or understanding at so low an ebbe or your honesty so little or none at all as out of these premises so laid together to inferre so mishapen a calumny that M. MOUNTAGU Delivered and Published this Error that the Fathers none of them eyther did or could Erre at all as if he had erected to himselfe a new frame and fabrick of Popery never heard of in the world Whatsoever became of their Lights and Understandings deep Malice possessed your malignant Passions thus shamelesly to slander him with indeed more than the grossest Popery Thus it is M. MOUNTAGU speaketh not of all the Fathers in generall nor of their opinions in any one point 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but onely of their opinion in and concerning Free-will who have meddled with and written about Free-will This then is the first untruth by false suggestion fastned on him Secondly he professeth plainly that in and concerning this point of Free-will those Fathers did so farre outlavish and speak sso inlargedly that the very IESUITES post mot a certamina PELAGIANA for feare of seeming to Pelagianise dare not say so much as they have said at least wise some of them for which I have the warrant of Bishop MORTON in his Appeale to bee according to the confession of most learned Papists SIXTUS Senensis MALDONATE TOLET and PERERIUS His words are that In the roote of the doctrine of Free-will CHRYSOSTOME CYRILL THEOPHYLACT EUTHYMIUS OECUMENIUS AMMONIUS and most of others especially in the Greeke Church did yeeld too much unto the power of Nature in the Free-will of man These tearmes are farre from acquitting and discharging the Fathers of all Error in
very best works you I hope will say so are abomination unto GOD. Quando naturalibus dotibus censendi sunt à vertice capitis ad plantam usque pedis scintilla boni non reperitur nisi fortè velimus insimulare falsi SCRIPTURAM dum hisce Elogijs universes filios ADAE commendat quòd pravo sint praefracto corde quòd omne figmentum cordis corum pravum sit à primis annis quòd vanae sint corum cogitationes c. breviter quòd caro sint quo nomine intelliguntur opera illá omnia quae enumerantur à PAULO Gal. V. XIX So CALVIN Instit III. XIV I. The reason then of that so great a distaste which GOD hath of the best works of meer carnall and naturall men is that great disproportion betwixt GOD and man that much discongruity betwixt HIM and us The Fountain is impure from whence these works proceed man himself not accepted that is Author of them Agent in them And why not accepted Because hee is uncleane GOD is of pure eyes hee seeth whatsoever so is most secret in the boughts and turnings and windings of the heart so pure that he cannot behold vanity nor look upon that which is defiled and unclean And as hee cannot endure vanity so neither will he look upon iniquity to approve it or call him righteous that is unholy and unsanctified before him As he beholdeth the forms of things as they are so hee calleth everie thing by the name it hath Man by nature as he is and what he is is wholly and altogether vanity The person with GOD must be made acceptable then accepted before any work of his become approveable or approved This is not cannot bee hee continuing statu quo a naturall man unclean defiled as he was For Odio est ei impius impietas ejus so far saith CALVIN that quae vel summo splendore conspicua sunt opera in hominibus nondum verè sanctificatis tam procul absint à justitiâ coram DOMINO ut peccata censeantur Ac proinde verissimè illi qui non conciliari personae apud DEUM gratiam per opera tradiderunt sed è converso tum demum placere opera ubi persona gratiam prius in DEI conspectu invenerit This I hope is not Popery Now that hee may bee fully and thoroughly accepted with GOD that himselfe first and then his workes may please GOD there must as I conceive bee a change an alteration in him and his he must become a new man a man renewed a man changed a new creature and the like I. Cor. V. XVII Gal. VI. XV. Colos III. X. Ephes IV. XXIII II. Cor. IV. XVI I. Cor. V. VII Psal LI. X. Now in common sense and reason as I take it there nor is nor can be any renewing of the inward man nor any the least change of the minde nor any new creature nor any translating from darknes to light c. without alteration without destruction of the first and privation of former Being and induction of the second without abolishing of the body of sinne and induction of the Spirit of righteousnesse Man cannot possible passe from one state unto another without ceasing to bee what hee was and becomming what hee was not before If it can bee done otherwise good Sirs let mee knowe the manner how the place where the time when the parties in whom this alteration is made and I shall wonder at it For as yet to my conceipt this furpasseth humane capacity and understanding that there should be a new creature a renewing an alteration and yet no change CALVIN hath taught you otherwise Instit. 111. 3. 9. If then there be granted a change in man that of the childe of wrath becommeth the childe of GOD renued in the spirit of his minde as what childe can or will deny or doubt of that then this alteration must needs bee inter terminos as I thinke all mankinde beside your selves will confesse and acknowledge with mee out of grounds and experiments of even naturall reason A sicke man recovered is changed in state and habitude of body disease and disposition ceasing to be what he was becomming what hee was not When of a sick man hee became whole and sound his change was from Sickenesse to Health and this his changing was Motion the termes betwixt which Sicknesse and Health A dead man reviving as the widows SONNE of Naim or LAZARUS quadriduanus raised out of his grave is changed in state constitution c. when of a dead man hee becommeth a living Naturall men regenerated are in like case In the opinion of some men haply sick not dead in your opinion and in mine dead unto GOD and to good works so long as they consist in statu quo are necessarily changed when they are revived and made alive unto GOD and Righteousnesse heyres of promise co-heyres with CHRIST Et haec mutatio est dexterae Excelsi If S. PAUL had come within these Informers fingers when the promoting humour was predominant in them doubtlesse they would have informed also against him for Error Popery and what not For he telling the CORINTHIANS what they had been 1. Cor. VI. XI faith even in terminis as I have spoken of the regenerate man But you are washed but you are sanctified but you are justified in the name of our Lord IESUS CHRIST and by the SPIRIT of our GOD which Text M. CALVIN Inst 111. 14. 6. glosseth thus Si CHRISTI sanguine in purificationem per spiritum aspergimur ne putemus nos alios esse ante hujus modi irrigationem quà m est sine CHRISTO peceator Here is a change admitted from Being so and so to Subsisting thus and thus betwixt termes Maneat ergo illud Principium nostrae salutis esse quandam velut à morte in vitam Resurrectionem Quia propter CHRISTUM ubi nobis datum est in eum Credere tunc incipimus demum transire à morte in vitam Iust the Popery that M. MOUNTAGU in this point is informed against for A sinner is then justified when he is made just that is when he is translated from the state of Nature unto the state of Grace as Coloss 1. 13. And if this was not Actio inter terminos though wrought in instanti as also mutation and change is and needs must be for complement of the Act I must confesse my owne dulnesse I cannot otherwise understand or comprehend it To denic a principle of Reason in practice of Religion I dare not Surely if Popery be a masse of absurdities this Taxation of the Informers is rather extreme Popery than any thing here avouched by M. MOUNTAGU looking toward Popery They deny such a Principle that denie mutation to be betwixt two Termes or that in the justified Sinner there is mutation and change of former state and alteration of his sometime Being But haply it is better Popery which ensueth and it is indeed the point which with any colour