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spirit_n	father_n	good_a	holy_a	7,427	5	4.6212	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68090	An apology or defence for the Christians of Frau[n]ce which are of the eua[n]gelicall or reformed religion for the satisfiing of such as wil not liue in peace and concord with them. Whereby the purenes of the same religion in the chiefe poyntes that are in variance, is euidently shewed, not onely by the holy scriptures, and by reason: but also by the Popes owne canons. Written to the king of Nauarre and translated out of french into English by Sir Iherom Bowes Knight.; Apologie ou défense pour les chretiens de France de la religion reformée. English	Gentillet, Innocent, ca. 1535-ca. 1595.; Bowes, Jerome, Sir, d. 1616.	1579 (1579)	STC 11742; ESTC S103023	118,829	284

S. Ciprian all custome although it be neuer so auncient adde receiued ought to be set aside in respect of the truth all custome which is contrarye to the truth ought to be abolished There is yet another Canon which singeth thus In vayne do they alledge custome which are ouercome by reason as though custome were of greater force then the truth Or as though in spirituall thinges we should not follow that which hath bene reuealed by the holy Ghost Certaynly it is a true thing that reason and truth are to be preferred before custome But if custome be confirmed by the truth it ought to be constātly kept and retayned There is yet another Canō which speaketh fitly of this matter takē out of S. Ciprian saying thus The custome that is crept into any place ought to be no impediment but that the truth shold be preferred and get the vpper hand for custome without truth is nothing els but a geuing of contynuaunce vnto error Wherfore let vs leaue the error follow the truth knowing that in Esdras truth getteth the vpper hand according as it is written Truth preuayleth and getteth the mastery and lyueth for euer and shall indure world without end To come to an end I wil adde this one Canon no more For I should not haue done very soone if I would rehearse all the Canones that are to purpose touching this matter And thus sayth this Canon If only Christ ought to be heard then must we not depend vpon the thinges which other men that haue been before our time haue thought meete to be done but rather vpon that which Christ hath done who is before all For we ought not to folow the custome of men but the truth of God specially seeing that he saith by the mouth of Esay the Prophet In vayn doe they honor me by teaching the commaundements and doctrines of men And in very deede this Cannon should make the whole rable of the Canonistes Decretistes Sarbonists Sophistes and others which handell the bookes of the Romish diuinity to blush for shame that they should strayne them selues to vphold the doctrines which haue bene apparātly inuented by men For this one Cannon doth arregne them and cōdemne them al in few wordes Now to come to an end of this treatise I pray the Romish Catholikes to vouchsafe to looke aduisedly into the poynes hertofore by me discussed and to examine and ponder them throughly and without passion if it be possible For in so doing I am sure that as many as haue any naturall discression in them shall find that the Religiō of the Protestants is a farre other thing then they haue hitherto taken it to be or than it hath bine borne them in hand to be And when they shall perceaue that the sayd Religion at the least is neither wicked nor hereticall nor new as euen the most simple may easely discern by the points before treated of it may be a iust occasion for them if they be not strangely bereft of their right wittes to incline to liue henceforth in peace and concord with the professors of the sayd Religion And herewithall I beseech them to haue earnest consideration of twoo thinges The one is that without a good peace and concord betwixt the Catholicks and the Protestants the state of the Realme of Fraunce will not only run wholy to ruine but also come to vtter vndoing and destruction And he that seeth not this is very grosse ignorant For Ciuill warres when they contynue do neuer bring forth other effectes than the changes and destructions of common weales vnles some good and vertuous men that are louers of the common weale doe fortune to preuent such vnhappy and euil destinies by procuring some good and reasonable pacification as the histories do yeald vs infinite examples therof The other thing to be considered of is this That euery perticular person ought to bethink himselfe that he hath a soule to saue and that he ought to seeke the way of his saluation For to what purpose serueth it to haue gotten honor glory riches and other contentments of the world to him that followeth the way of damnation to his own wretched soule Now he that is determined to seeke the saluation of his soule will he say that he is contented to beleeue as his Curate doth beleeue Such resolution were to foolish and beastly Or will it suffice him to say that he will liue as his Predecessors haue done and follow custome That were also a wronge way and is already condemned by the Canones heretofore alleadged Then ought we to determine with our selues to follow the truth and to imbrace the true doctrine of Christ Iesus but lord Sauior or else we shall neuer attayn to saluation And when we be thus resolued we must take heed that our passions doe not blinde the eyes of our vnderstāding cause vs to take blacke for white For if we say stil we haue bene led and brought vp in this Religiō my father grand fathers which were good men haue died in the same I haue borne Arms and ventred my life to mayntayne it it were not now for my honor to follow the Religion agaynst which I haue fought I am of the opiniō that there is no ill in the religion that I hould I am now to olde to learne any other and such other trifling excuses we do greatly deceaue our selues for they are nothing auaileable before god with whom we may not dally in this sort For such shiftes of descant serue to no other ond but to trifle our mindes and to lull them a sleep in ignorance and darckenes that they may haue no skill of their saluation when they depart this world What is then to be done that we may come into the path of saluation we must seek the truth And where shall we find it euē there whether Christ did send vs whē he sayd search the Scriptures The father of all mercy who hath created and made vs for of his owne glory and honor sake geue vs all such grace that being inlightened by hys holy spirit we may be well edified in the pure doctrine of Iesus Christ hys sonne our Sauiour to the ende that being true Christians in name and effect we may liue in good vnitye peace brotherly and christianly loue together in his holy seruice Amen Τελοσ Tit. liu lib. 1. in praefacione Esd 3. cap. 3. 4. Trip. hist li 2. cap. 5. 〈◊〉 ●nne 〈◊〉 be co●●●●●ed w●●●●●t bei●●●eard speake nun 〈…〉 Molin de mon. Fran. art 154. 155. 156. e. sicut e. excomunicamus Ex. de haeret Aut. Gazaros C. de haret Diu. Inst. lib. 5. cap 1. The pagans condemned the christiās without hearing thē speake The decrees of Gratian authorised by the pope Annal. sur l. an 1168. The old canons are better thē the nevv We must not iudge of God as of man. Amb. in epist. ad Ro. c. 1. Math. 7.18 1. Iohn 2.1 Rom. 8.32 1.

witnes that no mā liuing can be iustified before god And therefore it may bee rightly sayd to these iolly doers of works of super erogation as Christ sayd to the Pharisies It is you that iustify your selues before men but God knoweth your hartes For that which is highly esteemed amonge men is abhominable before God. I knowe right well there are many textes in the holy Scripture to proue that who so will enter into euerlasting life must keep the cōmandements of god and that those which haue kepte the commaundementes shal possesse the kingdome of heauen and that those which haue not kept them shall goe into euerlasting damnation But it is not to be inferred vpō these textes that a man may be instified by his good workes for no man at any tyme doth performe Gods commandements to the full But euen the best of all doe breake them euery day many times For what man is so arrogant as to challenge to himself such sincerity of life that he loueth and hath alwayes loued God with all his hart and his neighbour as himselfe or hath not wished somewhat that was an other mans To be short there needeth no great disputation vpon this poynt for our conscience doth here accuse vs and of it selfe condemne vs. Now then if no man can fulfill the commaundements It followeth that no man can haue euerlasting life by his owne workes but must seek some other iustification than by workes if hee will be iustified before the face of god And in seeking an other iustification he commeth to the righteousnes of fayth which is by imputation through the free bestowed benefite of Christ For like as if a poore detter that were vnable to pay were kept in prisō for a det of ten thousād crowns and his creditor should tell him that if he paid the debt he would set him at liberty or els he should rot in prison he had no redier remedy than to get such a surety as would be so fauourable and frendly to him as to pay the det for him without trusting to his own substance which is vtterly vnable to discharge such a dette In like sort man knowing on the one side that without performing the Law throughout he is in danger of damnation and on the other side that he is not able to perform it hath no other shifte but to repaire to Iesus Christ to take holde of his righteousnesse by faith to the end that the same may be imputed vnto him and that by this meanes his sinnes may be wyped out and himselfe made capable of eternall life And as it may truely be sayd that that detter hath well payd his dette when his surety hath payd it for him euen so may a Christian say that he hath kept and fulfilled the commaundements of God when he doth assure himselfe through faith that Christ hath fulfilled them for him Thus should be vnderstoode those textes of Scripture which inioyne vs to obserue the commaundements to haue therby euerlasting life And after that sort we should make them to agree with the textes before alleadged which say that we cannot be iustified but by faith only By which saying euery man of sound iudgement may easely know that the doctrine of the Protestants is builded vpon the pure word of God and consequently that according to our secōd Maxime it is the most true and auncient and not to bee called new but of such as do not vnderstād it Neither may the Catholicks call this doctrine hereticall according to our third Maxime because it is ratified euen by their owne Canons For thus sayth one of the Canons Ciprian did call vnto him the Byshoppe Satyrus and did thinke that there was not any true grace sauing that which commeth by fayth c. And an other Canon sayth thus Looke where is no fayth there can be no righteousnes for the righteous liueth by faith c. There is another taken out of S. Augustine which speaketh yet more plainly saying thus The Lord purposing to declare playnly that mens sinnes are forgeuen by the holy Spirite which he hath geuen to the faithful and not by their own merites sayth thus in a certayne place Receiue the holy Ghost And immediatly he addeth whose sins ye remit their sinnes shall be forgeuen As if he should say it is the holy Ghost that forgeueth sinne and not you Which Canon doth shew playnly that the merites of good workes do no whit iustify vs and so consequētly that it is fayth onely without works which is that instrumentall cause of our iustification the very efficient cause therof is Iesus Christ working by the holy ghost And if the Romish catholicks themselues did wel vnderstand what they ment when they say cōfes that they be saued by the grace of our redeemer they would neuer depend any more vpon their good workes merits For as sayth an other Cannon Grace is not grace if it be not freely geuen and receiued And hereunto accordeth the saying of Saynt Basile A man sayth he doth then glory whollye and throughlye in God when hee doth not vaunt of hys owne righteousnesse but acknowledgeth himselfe destitute of the true righteousnesse and that hee is iustified thorough his onely fayth in Christ After the same manner speaketh Saynt Ambrose saying Dauid calleth them right happy whome God hath determined to iustify by fayth onely without any paynes taking or without their keeping of the law And in an other place in expounding these words of the Apostle freely iustified by his grace he sayth thus They be iustified freely because that hauing not done any thing nor requited like for like they be iustifyed by faith onely which is the gift of God. I coulde to this purpose alleadge many other canōs aūcient doctors but these may suffice For my purpose is not to build the doctrine of our reformed Religion neither vpon Doctors nor vpon Canons but onelye to rehearce and alleadge some of them to shew vnto the Romish catholicks that in condemning the same so boldly of heresy by the same meanes they vnaduisedly condemne their own canons and doctors And because they doe so greatly brag that they hold the fayth of the Romish Church I mean to proue that they do not so euen by their owne Canons Harken now what a Canon sayth in an Epistle written by Pope Marcell to the bishop of Antioch We beseech you deere beloued brethren sayth he that you neither teach nor allow any other doctrine than that which you haue receiued of S. Peter and of the other Apostles and Fathers For hee is the head of the whole Church to whom the Lord sayd Thou art Peter and vpon this stone will I build my church the seate whereof was first established in your Countrey and afterward remoued to Rome by the commaundement of the lord c. Hereby it appeareth that the fayth of the Romish Church ought to bee grounded vpon the pure and onely doctrine of

it appeareth by the canons that the saluatiō of men doth doth not depend wholly vpon Baptisme but principallye vpon fayth These be the very wordes of the Canon S. Ciprian to proue that the torment of death may stād in stead of Baptisme hath grounded his argument vpon these wordes of Christ spoken to the vnbaptised theefe This day shalt thou bee with me in Paradise In the examining whereof more narrowly I fynde that not onely the suffering of death for the name of Christ but also the harty beleuing in him and the confessing of him may supply the want of baptisme when the party is so distressed by some extremity of tyme as he cannot haue the sacrament of batisme ministred vnto him And there followeth an other Canon which sayth that if a learner of the Catechisme that is to say such a one as is but newly entred into the doctrine of the faith and is not yet baptised do suffer marterdome for the name of Christ he fayleth not to be saued although hee want Baptisme And the reasō herof as sayth the same canons is because that in this case such as haue not receiued the sacrament of Baptisme haue not wanted it through pride or disdayne but through inforcement of necessity In likewise it is forbidden by the Canons that women how wise so euer they bee shall either preach or baptise It is true that hereunto they do ioyn this one exception which is if it be not in case of necessity But if it be graūted according to the truth that the Infants which dye vnbaptised be not therfore excluded from saluation It followeth well that no necessity can be great inough to dispēse with women for intermedling themselues with the administration of the Sacramentes And truely in old time as the canons do witnes Baptisme was not ministred ordinarily but only at two tymes in the yeare namely at Easter and at Whittesontyde which well bewrayeth that they vsed no such haste as that women shoulde bee fayne to meddle with the matter Likewise it doth also appeare by the Canōs that Baptisme was not ministred to the infidels but only to such as had faith and did make confession therof when they were of age to do it And as touching the forementioned Ceremonies in deed there are some Canons how be it of the worst stamp which do allow thē But the best and most auntient canons do vtterly dissallow thē For by the auntient Canons men are permitted to baptise in Riuers in the Sea in fountaynes and in euery other place commodious for that purpose These be the wordes of a Canon taken out of the decrees of Pope Victor Let the Gentiles that are come to the faith be baptised in all seasons and all places fit for them be it in Riuer sea or Spring as being made cleane by confession of the Christian fayth And by an other Canon it is well shewed that wee ought rather to rest vpon the Baptisme of the couenaunt of fayth than vpon the Baptisme of water For it sayth thus The true baptisme doth not consist so much in the washing of the bodie as in the beleife of the hart as the apostolicke doctrine doth teach vs saying They make cleane their hartes through fayth And in an other Canon going before it is sayed that a catholicke not Baptised for it presupposeth that one may be a catholick without being baptised whiche hath an ardent zeale of deuine charity is to be preferred before a wicked man that is baptised As for example sayth the Canon Cornelius the Centener who was filled with the holy ghost before he was baptised is to be preferred before Simon Magus who was possessed with an vncleane Spirit after he had bene Baptised But if Cornelius hauing receiued the holy ghost had not bene willing to be baptised he had bene greuously guiltye of the despising of so excellent a sacrament By which canon it is easy to iudge that wee ought altogether to depend vpon that which the sacrament doth signifie vnto vs and vpon the graces which god doth thereby geue vnto vs and not to set our mindes vpon a sort of superstitious and vayn ceremonies as the Romish catholicks do in these dayes For they may easely perceiue by the things aforesayd that the doctrine of the reformed religion touching the sacrament of baptisme is better more auncient furder from heresy than theirs is according to our three maximes here before set downe to proue the points which are in question Let vs now speak of the supper of the Lord. ❧ Of the Sacrament of the holy supper The vii chapter THe difference betwixt the Romish Catholickes and the Protestantes concerning the Supper of the Lord doth consist in three points The one in the naming therof for the Catholickes call that the keeping of Easter which the Protestantes doe name the Supper of the lord But this diuersitie of speaking importeth not much for both of them are still a celebrating of the mistery of our redemtion True it is that the Catholickes vse the maner of speaking of the old Testament according to the phrase whereof the feast of Easter that is to say the passeouer was celebrated by the eating of a Lambe which did represent Christ in remembrance of the deliuerance of the people of Israell whom God had brought out of the thraldome of Egipt But the Protestantes vse the manner of speaking of the new Testament whereby the holy institution which our Lord Iesus Christ ordayned to celebrate the remembrance of his death and passion and to make vs partakers of his body and bloud is called the supper of the lord But we must not striue about words so it be knowen that to keepe the Easter and to celebrate the Lords Supper are at this day one selfe same thing The second difference which is much greater consisteth in the substance of the Sacrament For the Catholickes at leastwise the schoolmen vphold that assoone as the priest hath spoaken the words of consecration ouer one hoaste or ouer many they change their nature presently and are transubstantiated into the very body and bloud of Iesus Christ in the selfe-same greatnes bignes that it was vpon the crosse so as the bread of the hoast is thē no longer bread although the color and the tast of bread remayn still therin Their proofe of this doctrine is that when our Lord Iesus Christ did institute his supper as he gaue the bread to his disciples he said vnto them This is my body And in geuing them the cup he said vnto them This is my bloud They proue it also by a Canon which beginneth thus I Beringarius c. which Canon saith in expresse wordes that after the consecration the bread and wine become not only sacraments but also the very body and the very blo ud of Christ And that the priest doth sensibly handle the same very bodye and breake it And that the faithful in eating the Sacrament with