vpon the answerer whose person in this case I sustaine Besides I bring you the same proofe that Bellarmine bringeth for himselfe that is I say they were all of our Church If it be absurd to do so let your Cardinall learne to dispute better It were long to enter into particulars yet if I had brought the argument I would for shame haue said some what in proofe of it but let it passe as it comes for this once Against whom make you all this discourse to prooue that it is not possible to know certainly who are holy and who are not Surely not against the Protestants who confesse as much If hereupon you conclude that our Church hath had none holy because it hath had none certainly knowne to be holy the Maior of your syllogisme will be false as before viz. That Church which hath had no members of it reuealed to be holy by miracle or anie other certaine way from God hath had no members of it holy and I will answer to your Minor as I did that the Patriarkes Prophets and Apostles were members of our Church certainly knowne to be holy by reuelation from God But whereas you say that no man can tell whether himselfe be truely sanctified or no you affoord me proofe of that which before I affirmed that the Apostles were of our Church Prooue your selues saith the Apostle Paule whether you be in the faith examine your selues know ye not your owne selues that Iesus Christ is in you except you be reprobates And how doth the spirit of God beare witnesse to our spirit that we are the children of God if it be not possible to discerne his voice from the delusion of Sathan God hath giuen saith Bernard certaine manifest signes and tokens of saluation that it cannot be doubted but that he is in the number of the elect in whom those signes continue And in an other place whatsoeuer soule among you sath the same man hath at any time felt in the secret of his conscience the spirit of the Sonne crying Abba Father let that soule presume that he is loued with a fatherly affection which feeleth himselfe indued with the same spirit which the Sonne had Be confident whosoeuer thou art be confident nothing doubting By the spirit of the Sonne know thou art the daughter of the Father the spouse and sister of the Sonne Do you name Bernard for a principall Saint of your Church and go so directly against his doctrine As for that place of Ecclesiastes what prooueth it but onely that no man can truly iudge whether he be in Gods fauour or no by the outward things of this life or at the most that an ordinarie naturall man can giue no true iudgement of the matter This place saith Alfonsus Salmero no meane Iesuite doth not prooue that which some men draw from it that a man knoweth not the loue of God toward him because it followeth in the text he knoweth not whether he be worthie of hatred But the wicked know that they are most worthie of Gods hatred by reason of their grieuous sins The other place that No man can say his heart is cleane maketh nothing against the point you would disprooue For what though euerie man be tainted with naturall corruption which hath euen the nature of sinne in it may be not haue withall assurance according to his measure of Gods loue in Christ Yet if want of a pure heart be all the hindrance your doctrine teacheth vs that the partie baptised before he fall into some deadly sinne is wholly cleane originall sinne hauing lost in him the nature of sinne But the knowledge of the fauour of God dependeth not vpon the measure of our holinesse but vpon the truth of it Wheresoeuer the spirit of God hath begotten true faith there he hath begun true sanctification which according to his diuine power and pleasure be will in time bring to full perfection As if our Church had bene begun with Luther and not rather with Adam and the world continued in the Patriarches and Prophets and at last shewed most gloriously in the Apostles and Disciples of our Sauiour Christ As long as God hath giuen testimonie of the holinesse of these worthies our Church cannot be said to haue had none certainly knowne to be holy But though we builde not vpon any such ground tel me what it wanted of amiracle that a poore Frier should set himselfe against the Pope and the whole state of your Church and for all the malice persecution of the Pope the Emperor and generally all the estates of these westerne parts as well ciuill as Ecclesiasticall except a Prince or two in Germany conuerted by him continue and grow so many yeares and leaue behind him after a peaceable and godly death so many heires of his doctrine daily increasing and multiplying It is enough that the word of God beareth witnesse to the truth of his doctrine though we haue neither miracle nor reuelation of his holinesse But you would make the world beleeue that he and Caluin attempted to worke miracles If it had bene so it was not to breed an opinion of their holinesse but to auow the truth of their doctrine But to whom can it seeme likely that they which denied that any miracles were to be looked for and taught that Antichrist should come with signes and wonders would go about such a needlesse and doubtfull peece of worke What tell you vs of the Apostata Bolsec or Staphylus who solde themselues to lie for the Popes aduantage At the least name some likely men though partiall and not such knowne enemies and Sycophants I maruell you prooue not this point of holinesse by the examples of your Popes in whose persons holinesse is inuested and from them deriued to all other as honour is in and from temporall Princes If the Popes holinesse be not extraordinarily holy what should a man looke for of inferiour Papists Who would not rather name the Sunne then any starre of the first magnitude or the Moone her selfe to prooue that there is light in the skie But you knew how filthie that fountaine of your holinesse is Well let them go as they are you haue named vs three the ancientest of whom is not yet six hundred yeares old What say you of them First that they were certainly knowne to haue bene professors of that same Religion which was then and is now professed at Rome To whom is this certainly knowne How many of our men haue shewed that the Religion of the Church of Rome is altered in diuers points since Bernards time The Councell of Trent is the pit out of which the religiō of your present Church is digged I referre the Reader for this point to a Treatise lately written by a learned Diuine wherein many particulars to this purpose are deliuered Bernard was indeed a member of the Church of Rome as then it was yet either he dissented from
companie congregatio congregation multitudo multitude turba troope concio assembly exercitus armie But the two Greeke words are best knowne Ecclesia and Synagôga the former whereof commeth of the Hebrew retaining almost the signification and sound thereof In this they all agree that they note vnto vs a companie or assembly But because the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the word that most of all concerneth this question let vs enquire of that the more diligently The word for the nature of it signifieth any companie called together generally any assembly lawfully or vnlawfully orderly or disorderly assembled Of lawful assemblies there is no question of vnlawfull we haue an example in the Scripture where the people of Ephesus tumultuously ranne together against Paul and Apollos So doth the Hebrew word signifie in the Psalmes where the Greeke and Latine translate by the same word I haue hated the assembly of the wicked But in the new testament except that one place of the Acts it is alwaies applied to them that make profession of religion In which sense it is sometimes vsed indefinitely God hath ordained some in the Church first Apostles c. So the Apostle Paul saith that he had persecuted the Church of God Thus may we also vnderstād that The house of God which is the Church of the liuing God If we conceiue that the Apostle speaketh to Timothie as to an Euangelist and not as to the Pastor or Bishop of Ephesus Hitherto may those places be referred The Lord added to the Church from day to day And great feare came on all the Church Herode stretched forth his hand to vexe certaine of the Church and such like though they may also be vnderstood of the beleeuers at those times ordinarily abiding in Ierusalem and assembling themselues together in one or which is the likelier in diuers congregations for exercise of religion More particularly and vsually the Church is taken for anie one congregation assembled about matters of religion It seemed good to the Apostles and Elders with the whole Church Not as if the Apostles and Elders had bene no members of that Church but the principall being first named the generall terme is added which comprehended all as if they should haue said The Apostles and Elders and all the rest of the Church at Ierusalem whereof as it was a particular congregation the Apostles at that time were not members And in this meaning may a Councell of diuers parishes prouinces or nations be called by the name of a Church and in the like sort may we call the assemblies congregations in Rome Coriath Ephesus the Churches of Rome Corinth Ephesus because of some common synod or because by the terme Church the beleeuers are signified Most vsually the seuerall congregations in any countrie or Citie are called Churches because of their ordinarie assembling Then had the Churches rest through all Iudea When they had ordained them Elders by election in euery Church VVe haue no such custome nor the Churches of God When the title is applied to particular families it hath no other meaning as I take it then to note them for Christians or beleeuers Greet the Church that is the beleeuers which are in their house And thus much of the Church as it signifieth generally Beleeuers The word Church is vsed in the scriptures and that verie often not for all but onely for some beleeuers namely for such as are indeed true beleeuers in respect of true faith in Iesus Christ and these are alwaies of the elect who are then called the Church when they are brought to the knowledge of the truth and to Iustifying faith Therefore when we say that the Church signifieth the elect or predestinate we meane onely such of the elect as by faith are members of our Sauiours bodie he being the head For howsoeuer in the secret Counsell of God many not yet borne be predestinate to euerlasting life yet they are not to be accounted of this Church before it hath pleased God to call them to beleeue in Christ Examples of the Church thus taken amongst many are these Vpon this rocke I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not preuaile against it God hath giuen Christ aboue all the head of the Church So the Church is called Christs bodie This may serue concerning the meaning of the wotd out of which I obserue this point that since the terme Church is so diuersly taken in the scripture no argument from any place of Scripture can be of force to prooue any question till the signification of the word in that place be euident and certaine And therefore it is not enough for proofe of a matter in controuersie betwixt vs to alledge a text of Scripture where such a thing is spoken of the Church but it stands vs vpon to prooue that in the place we alledge by Church the companie we intend is signified This being vnderstood and remembred I come now to the seuerall points in your Minor A. D. §. 4. The promise of our Sauiour Christ we haue first in the Gospell of Saint Matthew Ego vobiscum sum omnibus diebus vsque ad consummationem seculi I am with you all the daies vntill the end of the world in which words is promised the continuall presence of Christ himselfe who is veritas the truth it selfe with his Church not for a while then or for a while now but all the daies vntill the end of the world Secondly we haue an other promise in the Gospell of Saint Iohn Ego rogabo Patrem alium paracletum dabit vobis vt maneat vobiscum in aeternum Spiritum veritatis I will aske my Father and he will giue you an other paraclite the spirit of truth that he may remaine with you not onely for 600. yeares but for euer And againe in the same Saint Iohn to shew vs for what purpose he would haue his holy Spirit remaine among vs for euer he saith Paracletus quem mittet Pater in nomine meo ille vos docebit omnia suggeret vobis omnia quaecunque dixero vobis The paraclite whom my Father will send in my name shall teach you all things and shall put you in minde of all things whatsoeuer I shall say vnto you And againe Cum venerit ille Spiritus veritatis docebit vos omnem veritatem When that spirit of truth shall come he shall teach you all truth A. W. The first point of your Minor is that Christ promiseth his presence and the assistance of his spirit to teach them all truth First I demaund whether our Sauiours presence be for the teaching of all truth or no or whether that be onely the office of the spirit If the former to what purpose is the spirit promised whom our Sauiour hath appointed his vicegerent as it were in that matter as the other places you alledge prooue
compendious resolution of faith Which before I examine let me here againe put you in minde that you condemne the greatest part of all your Schoolemens writings as needlesse and fruitlesse doubts questions and disputes and call them vnsetled minds that spend their time and spirits in such matters And surely such were many of the points they handled hauing nothing in them but vanitie and vexation of spirit as may appeare to name one for all by their articles and questions vpon Lombard and Thomas about the Masse But is anie man to be found so shamelesse as that he dare call it a needlesse and fruitlesse labour to search the Scripture for the finding out of the truth in such matters as are necessarily to be beleeued for the attaining to saluation Doth the neglect of this dutie bring a man good leisure and liking to build himselfe vp in the loue of God What loue of God can there be where there is no delight in his word Dauid makes it his meditation day and night and preferres the sweetnesse he finds in it and the account he makes of it before honie and the honie combe fine gold and all maner of riches But what should I heape vp vnnecessarie testimonies in a case not doubtfull Is it possible they should be Christians that make so small reckoning of the testament of Iesus Christ Can he be said truly to loue his father that neuer cares to see what his fathers loue to him is but contents himselfe with so much knowledge of it as men list to impart to him yea that knowes not whether he had such a father or no but onely as other men haue told him We say not that euery man is bound vpon hazzard of his saluation to know euery point of difference betwixt you and vs or to vnderstand the sense of euery place of Scripture but that all true Christians must labour for as much knowledge as by diligent hearing reading and meditating of the Scirptures they can attaine to Neither shall they by this study and endeuour either abate their loue to God or depriue themselues of the sense of his loue to them Nay rather both the one and the other shal be increased when a man shall feele the work of Gods spirit in his heart kindling in him a desire to vnderstand the mystery of his redemption by Iesus Christ to comprehend the infinitenesse of the loue of God the Father and enlightning him to conceiue that which by his owne skill he neuer were able to discerne But they that follow your resolution neuer come rightly to vnderstant what the loue of God to them is but if they will consider things aduisedly must needes thinke God hath dealt hardly with them as with seruants not with sonnes whom he shuts out from the knowledge of his will and view of his wisdome maiestie manifested in the writings of the old and new Testament affoording them no more of that heauenly Manna but such chippings and parings as their idle and prowd prelates will vouchsafe to cast them He that finds the loue of God toward him in opening to him the true sense of the Scripture in matters concerning his euerlasting saluation doth beare more true loue to God for it then any Papist can do that glorieth in his blind obedience to men maketh the end of his louing God the deseruing of euerlasting life by his ignorance of the Scriptures As for true holinesse of life whence doth it arise but from the feeling of Gods loue to vs whereby the spirit of God which dwels in vs inflames our hearts with the affections of kind children to so louing a father Can you imagine that he who hath at most but a kind of perswasion of I know not what holy inspirations blessings of Gods spirit vpon some Priests or Iesuits word can loue God as truely and feruently as he that knowes by the truth of God in the Scripture that the spirit of God dwels in all Gods children one of whom the same spirit assures him he is Your Papist must liue holily that he may become the temple of God a true Christian knowes he cannot liue holily but by the holy Ghosts dwelling in him and making him the temple of God And can it be a question whether of these two loueth God more deatly But I haue bene too long in your Preface Now to the Treatise it selfe A. D. A TREATISE OF FAITH CHAP. I. That true faith is absolutely necessary to saluation A. W. TRue faith whether we take it for an assent to the truth of that which God hath reuealed or for beleeuing in God is absolutely necessary onely for those which are come to yeares of discretion not for them that die in their infancie Which I deliuer not by way of confutation but of explication because I am perswaded you and I agree in this point A. D. §. 1. Whosoeuer hath a true desire to please God and an earnest care to saue his owne soule the which should be the chiefest desire and care of euery Christian man must first resolue and settle himselfe in a sound beliefe of matters of faith holding it for a most assured ground That there is a faith which whosoeuer wanteth cannot possibly please God nor consequently be saued sith none are saued that do not please God A. W. Faith being so diuersly taken both in Scripture and other writings it had bin fit for him that professeth plainnesse either to haue set downe the seuerall significations of the word or to haue shewed in what sense he himselfe vseth it in this treatise Bellarmine giues it foure significations Sanders six Vega nine Yea this author himselfe as it shall appeare taketh it not alwayes in one and the same sense but diuersly as it best fitteth his present purpose especially in one of these two significatiōs either for the habit or quality of faith whereby we are enabled to beleeue or for the obiect of the same faith that is for the things that are to be beleeued Example we haue of both in this first Chapter Matters of faith are such points as we are bound to beleeue That faith which whosoeuer wanteth cannot please God is the qualitie of faith in the soule And these diuers vses of the word are within the compasse of three lines To which I may adde a third sense out of this same chapter where by faith actuall beleeuing is vnderstood as in the places of Scripture alledged For i. is not the hauing but the vsing of faith that iustifieth So thē where he saith that true faith is absolutely necessary to saluation his meaning is that no man can be saued vnlesse he do assent to the truth of those matters which God hath enioyned all men to beleeue or that there are certaine points to be beleeued without assent to the truth whereof no man can be saued But what need was there of this discourse since both parties that were to conferre
the Church is of infallible and vndoubted truth and that the way not to be deceiued in an obscure question is to aske and follow the iudgement of the Church Wherefore worthily also do we all say Credo Ecclesiam Catholicam I beleeue the Catholicke Church and worthily also may I conclude that neither Scripture alone nor naturall wit and learning nor priuate spirit nor any other thing but onely the teaching of the true Church of Christ is that ordinarie meanes which Almightie God hath prouided whereby all men may learne that one infallible entire faith which I proued to be necessarie to saluation A. W. Saint Paul doth worthily call the Church the pillar and ground of truth but not as you would haue vs beleeue because it is the rule of faith The Greeke Scholiast taketh that speech of the Apostle to be vttered by way of comparison betwixt the Church of Christ and the Iewish Temple Not as the Iewish Temple saith Oecumenius but the pillar and ground of truth for the Temple was the ground of the shadowes of the truth Out of which we may gather that as the Iewish synagogue was the pillar and ground of those shadowes of the truth so is the Church of Christ the pillar and ground of the truth it selfe But that synagogue was not the rule of faith in that point because whatsoeuer it taught was to be held for infallible truth but for that to it were committed the oracles of God and the knowledge and vse of those ceremonies so hath the Church of Christ the truth of doctrine in the scripture and the exercises of Gods worship and religion Therfore is it called the pillar and ground of it because it constantly maintaineth that truth preaching and professing it in despight of all the practises and power of Satan and tyrants of the world As the thighs saith an ancient writer sustaine and beare vp the weight of the whole bodie so also the Apostles like pilars valiantly carry the vniuersall Church of Christians ouer the whole world being for the value of their inuincible courage and stedfastnesse of their holy purpose called marble pillars And a litle after They preached the Gospell with such wisedome and constancie that as if they had bene of marble or adamant they were afraid of no violence nor aduersitie but always continuing firme and inuincible against all the forces of men and diuels shining as it were in the darke by that light of their wisedome by preaching admonishing teaching and glistering with miracles at the last they most happily became conquerors To this effect speake your Glosses The ground of the truth of the Gospell which the Church constantly maintained euen in the greatest persecutions Well vpholding the truth in it self saith another Glosse That it may not fall to the ground though it be afflicted saith Lombard But let vs bring your reason into due frame The pillar and ground of truth is the rule of faith The Church is the pillar and ground of truth Therefore the Church is the rule of faith Your proposition or maior is false vnlesse you restraine it as I haue often said to the truth and then it is so far the rule of faith as it is the pillar and ground of truth Whatsoeuer it holdeth truly according to the scripture is the rule of faith for those points not because of the Churches authoritie but for the truth of the doctrine Yet may it easily come to passe that a Church maintaining the generall truth of the Gospell and all particulars necessary to soluation may faile in many other points of great importance and for all that continue both a true Church and the pillar and ground of truth though not the rule of faith Your minor also as you vnderstand it is vntrue First because the Apostle speaketh not of any such companie as you imagine Pope Bishop Councell but either of the Church of Ephesus in which Timothie to whom he writeth then abode or indefinitely of any and euery Church whatsoeuer where the true Religion of our Sauiour is or shall be professed according to the Gospell If Timothie were as you will not denie Bishop of Ephesus then it is apparent that the Apostle calleth the Church of Ephesus wherein Timothy liued taught and gouerned the pillar and ground of truth yet was it not the rule of faith for then had the rule of faith perished long since with that Church of Ephesus If he speake to him as to an Euangelist who was to follow him from place to place and to establish the Churches which the Apostle had planted then must euery one of those Churches wherein Timothy was to behaue himselfe as he had done in Ephesus be vnderstood to be the pillar and ground of truth and yet neither any nor all of them were the rule of faith which else must haue bene lost with them What remaines then Shall we expound it of all beleeuers in generall I grant it reacheth to all the faithfull but as to them considered in their seuerall Churches because among them so disposed of was Timothy to performe that dutie which the Apostle there enioyneth him But let vs so conceiue of the Church What shall it auaile you or endamage vs All beleeuers are not the companie you pleade for but onely the Pope and your Bishops whom you would haue taken for the rule of faith Secondly I denie your minor in respect of the sense you giue of those words the pillar and ground of truth For you so vnderstand them as if the truth of God depended vpon the verdict of the Church so that nothing may be held for truth but what the Church deliuereth for such and whatsoeuer she so propoundeth must so be receiued vpon paine of certaine damnation How contrary are you in this interpretation and doctrine to the auncient fathers The Apostles saith Irenaeus left vs the Scriptures to be the pillar and ground of our faith Nay say you they left vs the Church to be the pillar and ground of the Scriptures The Gospell and spirit of life saith the same father in the same booke is the pillar and ground of the Church Nay by your leaue reply you the Church is the pillar and ground of the Gospell But Chrysostome handling this place of the Apostle is not afraid to affirme that the truth is the pillar and ground of the Church not as if he would denie that which the Apostle saith for the Church indeed is the vpholder of the truth but to shew that although the Church maintaine and auow the truth yet it is built and founded vpon the truth which as Ierome saith vpholds the building Therfore to make short whē the Apostle saith that the Church is the pillar and ground of truth his meaning is that amongst Christians and among no other sort of men the truth is to be found and amongst and by them it is constantly and worthily
man should beleeue them but he that is giuen vp by God to strong delusions that he may beleeue lies Bethinke your selues and returne ere it be too late The Lord will be mercifull to your former ignorance if at the last you embrace the loue of the truth Leauing those euident proofes you speake of proofes indeed of your manifold errours you assay to draw vs by reason because it is more likelie that the vniuersall companie of Catholickes deserueth credit then any particular man or his followers First you beg that which is in question No true Catholicke euer held all the errours that your Antichristian Church maintaineth nor any one of those whereby you cast downe the foundation of religion Secondly the comparison is not betwixt the authoritie of a multitude or a few wherein number may either helpe or hinder but the reasons of each side are to be weighed all other respects whatsoeuer set apart And yet if we looke to reason are not the greatest number for the most part the worst Christs true flocke is a little one Feare not little flocke Not many wise men after the flesh not many mightie not many noble Was not the voice of the people euen of Gods people Make vs Gods to go before vs The voice of God is to be heard in the Scriptures One man that speaketh according thereunto is to be preferred before the whole world speaking otherwise Those obiections made to Luther in his priuate meditations proceeded from the same spirit by which the Pharisies spake to Nicodemus in their Councell Doth any of the Rulers or of the Pharisies beleeue in him This was that communicating with flesh and blood which the Apostle would not once hearken to Luther in his weaknesse was drawne into it and had perished in it if the Lord of his infinite mercy had not drawne him out of it with a worthie and admirable resolution VVith the like that it may appeare whose schollers you are you Iesuits and Priests set vpon simple people ticing them on in their ignorance your owne though the broad way that leadeth to destruction But let vs consider this your fleshly eloquence and answer to it You aske if we onelie be wise and all the rest in former ages were fooles As if we did not acknowledge that it is the mercie of God and not our wisedome that hath giuen vs the abilitie and will to vnderstand his truth We are not wiser then any other but haue found more mercy then many haue done at the hands of God for our saluation Many in former times haue bene partakers of the like mercie and bene made wise to saluation by the same truth we now professe yea it was generally held many hundred yeares til your master Antichrist draue it into holes and deserts After the reuealing of his pride and tyrannie the true way to heauen ceased not to be found though not so commonly till it pleased God to scatter those clowdie mists of ignorance and idolatrie by which you had hidden it that it could very hardly be knowne Diuers heretofore and more now adaies finde fauour with God to discerne and walke through it to the certaine and euerlasting saluation of their soules and bodies So iudge we as it becommeth vs in charitie of our forefathers that he which hath looked in compassion vpon vs their seed did not faile to shew mercy vnto them who neuer vnderstood the mysterie of your iniquitie but in the singlenesse of their hearts embraced the generall doctrine of the Gospell concerning saluation by faith in Christ This is the onely way by which all men haue gone that euer came to heauen and in this way we trauell with danger of the liues of our bodies as you speake because we are continually in hazard by reason of your conspiracies treasons massacres vnderminings and fier-works but with assurance of the saluation of our soules if we hold fast the shoot-Anchor of our hope and renouncing our owne righteousnesse repose our selues by faith vpon the gracious mercy of God our Father in Iesus Christ This doing we haue better certificate both for the securitie of our way and the end of our iourney out of the Scriptures and by the witnesse of the Spirit of God in our hearts then that lying Carier the diuel can bring by any shew of your counterfeit miracles whatsoeuer I must needs perswade my selfe sith that Apostolicall Romish Synagogue is as I haue shewed the seducer of the world by shew of authority without reason the ouerthrow and destruction of truth by denying the sufficiency of the Scripture and taking the vse of it from the people of God that all you which cleaue to it plunge your selues in hellish darknesse by refusing to see the light of Gods word and by drinking of the cup of abhomination presented to you by that strumpet of Rome loose the taste of truth and runne forward in wilfull ignorance to most certaine damnation The Lord is my witnesse whom I serue weakly as I can in the Gospell of his Son Iesus Christ that if it were possible and lawfull for me I could be content to procure your saluation by pouring out my heart bloud for euerie one of you that Iesus Christ my master might haue the glory of your true conuersion To that purpose and for the establishing of them which alreadie beleeue I first vndertooke and haue now at the last by the mercifull assistance of God finished my answer to this subtill Treatise Let me now earnestly intreat you by the care of your owne saluation by the zeale you haue in ignorance to glorifie God by the infinite loue of Iesus Christ by the vndeserued mercy of God the Father by the continuall gracious motions of the holy Ghost and by whatsoeuer is or ought to be deare vnto you that you would vouchsafe seriously in the sinceritie of your hearts without preiudice to consider whether it be not more ageeable both to the Scriptures and the light of reason to giue the whole glorie of our saluation to the mercie of God in Iesus Christ then to ascribe the enabling of vs to saue our soules to God and the vse or imploying of this abilitie to the choise of our owne free-will If your opinion be true euerie man that is saued is more beholding to himselfe then to God for his saluation For though he haue power from God to be saued if he will yet neither hath he this power but vpon preparation depending on his free-will and when he hath it the vsing of it well is from himselfe and not from God You will say he could not vse it well vnlesse he were assisted continually by the grace of God I answer that for all this assistance by that grace to vse it well the well or ill vsing of it when God hath done all he will do ariseth from the choise of a mans owne will That it was possible for me to be saued it was Gods doing that
of Idoll and Image p. 386. Papists worship the Image it selfe p. 386. No religious vse of any Image to be allowed p. 360. Ignorance the strength of Poperie p. 4. 70. All ignorance is not heresie p. 50. How it shuts men out from saluation p. 40. 44 49. 50. 274. Ignorance can excuse no man the Gospell being preached euerie where p. 113. Ieconiah childlesse p. 39. K 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 283. The keyes and power to bind and loose common to all the Apostles p. 325. 326. Why kings are called humane creatures p. 274. He refuseth not to be subiect to the king that doth not absolutely obey him in all things p. 275. L The Lawe cannot be kept perfectly p. 363. How it is not gricuous p. 363. One learned mans iudgement oftentimes drawes many to it p. 250. The Leuen of the Pharisies what it is p. 37. 141. No life but in the bodie of Christ p. 273 The light must shine to them that are in the house p. 182. The loue of God whence it ariseth p. 20 Is not alike to all p. 257. M Gregory Martins eauils were answered long since p. 69. Markes of the Church p. 221. 222. 226. 259. Must be proper to it always p. 222. 280. Easier to be knowne then the Church it selfe p. 222. 223. True doctrine in the fundameÌ„tal points is a sure marke of the Church p. 228. 229. 301. 374. 375. The Masse was brought in by peece meale p. 384. Ouergreat zeale of Martyrdome p. 189 Messiah not Salomons sonne p. 39. The ministery not the authority of men is vsed to beget faith p. 6. 19. 234. 243 244. Needful for the instruction of the ignorant p. 98. No charge practise or warrant for any vniuersal ministery since the Apostles time p. 179. Luthers preuailing in his ministery and his preseruation wanted litle of a miracle p. 355. Ministers to be heard so farre as they speake according to the Scriptures p. 36. 112. 137. 142. 146. Yet lesse danger not to heare them so speaking then not to heare the Apostles p. 43 112. Origen preached before he was a Minister p. 35. Antichrists miracles p. 114. 352. Miracles are often counterfetted p. 352. 358. Preferred before the authoritie of the Church p. 114. The vse of miracles is to confirme doctrine not to testifie of holinesse pa. 172. 351. There neuer was any true miracle wrought for confirmation of false doctrine p. 115. Miracles are not to be beleeued for any doctrine against Scripture p. 115. False miracles cannot alwayes be discerned by men p. 115. 352. 353. Luther and Caluin did not attempt the working of miracles p. 355. N A naturall man what he is p. 61. 236. Absurdly called sensuall pa. 60. 61. 236. 237. May vnderstand the Scripture though not beleeue it to saluation p. 236. Necessitie not constraint taught by Protestants p. 344 345. P Papists treason Nouemb. 5. 1605. pa. 8. 346. 347. 379. The wickednesse of Papists testified by their owne writers p. 340. 346. Papists rest vpon the Pope and Councels p. 51. 312. Are Pharisaicall boasters p. 338. 363. No Papist holding the authoritie of the Church and the impossibilitie of the Popes erring can be a good Christian or a faithfull subiect p. 72. Papists not sonnes of God but seruants of the law p. 343. 364. Papists count murdering of Princes a meritorious worke p. 361. Outward peace is not so tâ—â—ch worth as that for it the Church should be corrupted with errors p. 312. Must be prouided for by the ciuill magistrate p. 312. Saint Peter the Popes Lord. p. 388. Why our Sauiour prayed especially for him p. 326. Why hee asked him thrice if hee loued him p. 327. Peters accepting of the soueraigntie a poore proofe of his loue to Christ p. 327. His superioritie was in respect of age p. 315. It is vncertaine whether euer he were at Rome or no. p. 328. 393. The Pope the Papists Lord God p. 112. How he came to his height p. 382. Head of the Church though he beleeue not in heart p. 23. He that is no Christian may be Pope of Rome 23. 111. The Pope cannot erre p. 71. Can shew no charter for his not erring p. 37. 71. 72. May erre by the iudgement of Papists p. 323. Euen with a generall Councell p. 330. 331. It is not determined that the Pope alone cannot erre p. 320. Pope Iohn 22. doubted of the immortalitie of the soule p. 111. Pope Leo 10. counted the historie of Christ a fable p. 111. Many Popes haue bene found to be Apostataes from the faith p. 323 324. Many decrees of Popes are contrarie one to another p. 324. Pius 5. and Clement 8. â—â—â—olue concerning the words of consecration contrary to the Councell of Trent pag. 324. Popish religion cannot hold vp the head without the Popes authoritie p. 108. The Pope appoints the holy Ghost an office of his owne deuising p. 388. Our Sauiour and his Apostles hid themselues from persecutors p. 186. No necessitie to worship God publikly in time of persecution p. 190. 191. The Pharises were blind guides p. 249. To what purpose our Sauiors perpetual presence serueth p. 132. Predestination doth not take away free will p. 361. Without true beleefe of predestination and iustification there can hardly be any true religion p. 290. Prayer for the dead p. 96. How euery one that prayeth receiueth p. 116 117. Preaching the ordinarie means of faith p. 113. 409. No man might haue preached the Gospell without warrant from God pag. 113. How Luther may bee said to haue first preached Christ p. 392. Pride in opposition against a matter of doctrine is sometimes in a sanctified man p. 274. What outward profession of religion is how farre necessarie p 188 189 192. What it is to confesse with the mouth p. 191. False Prophets to be knowne by their doctrine p. 36. How all prophesies in the scripture are alwayes true p. 206. Purgatorie ends with the world p. 365 Q Questions of religion how to be decided pag. 61 R Reason how farre it may be required in points of diuinitie p. 16. 17. 18. Light of reason caÌ„not find out all things necessarie to saluation p. 25. The reason of Gods counsel and doings is oftentimes hid from men p 204. Nothing against reason is to be beleeued without warrant froÌ„ God p. 244. The religion of the Popish Church at this day is fetched from the Councell of Trent p. 358. 377. Our Sauiour did not pray that the reprobate might be one with his father and him p. 264. Reuelation of the spirit required by the Papists to beleeue that the Scriptures are the word of God p. 245. The Church of Rome sometimes a true Church p. 338. Rome was not built in a day p 382. S What is absolutely necessary to saluatioÌ„ p. 46. 55. 59. 65. 77. 188. 243. 319. Assurance of saluation p. 150. 354. Sufficient meanes of saluation prouided for euery man p. 53. 55. 58. Euery man hath not the meanes p. 57.