IN this Article the thing which you mislike is not any matter of his iudgement but that he seemeth to cōfesse either out of lesse learning then you haue or more humilitie then you shew that the coeternitie of the Sonne of God with his Father and the proceeding of the Spirit from the Father and the Sonne are in Scripture no where to be found by expresse literall mention And yet you cannot be ignorant but that vndoubtedly he beleeued both Therfore in my opinion it is strange why out of the second fift Article holdē by our church you alleage that the Sonne is the word of the Father from euerlasting begotten of the Father and the holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son as though you dealt with an aduersarie that denied either You could not be ignorant hauing perused his writings with that diligence to reprehend but in this great mysterie of the Trinitie both concerning the equalitie of the Sonne with the Father and the Deitie of the holie Ghost who proceedeth from both see plainly that he held directly and soundly that doctrine which is most true and euerie way agreeable with the iudgements and expositions of the Reuerend Fathers of our Church Neither doe I know whether in this point anie of them haue left behinde them a more sound learned and vertuous Confession then he hath done For saith he The Lord our God is but one God In which indiuisible vnitie notwithstanding we adore the Father as being altogether of himselfe we glorifie that Consubstantiall Word which is the Sonne wee blesse and magnifie that coessentiall Spirit eternally proceeding from both which is the holy Ghost what confession can there be in this point of greater iudegment learning and truth and wherein there is lesse difference with that which our Church holdeth both hauing their ground as you may see by the places alleaged by M. Hooker in the Margent from the infallible euidence of Gods word This troubleth you that hee saith that these points are in scripture no where to be found by expresse literall mention which you out of your learned obseruation haue prooued as you thinke to be farre otherwise by those places of Scripture which his carelesse reading and weake iudgement was no way able to obserue Where first to proue the coeternitie of the Sonne you alleage The Lord hath possessed me in the beginning of his way I was before his works of old And againe In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God And againe Glorifie me thou Father with thine owne selfe with the glorie which I had with thee before the world was These places I confesse by way of collection may serue trulie to confirme in this Article that which our Church holdeth and yet they are not the plainest places that might be alleaged for this purpose But in all these where is there to be found expresse literall mention of the Coeternitie of the Sonne with the Father Nay for any thing that euer I could reade I do not thinke you are able to find the word Coeternall or Coequall in the whole Scripture in this sence For after the Arrians had long in this point troubled the Church the holy Fathers expresse what they held by the word Homousion which word Saint Augustine affirmeth not to be found in all the Scripture What then hath Maister Hooker said which Saint Augustine said not long since neither of them disprouing the thing but both denying the expresse literall mention of the word which I persuade my self your selues are neuer able to find Now for the proceeding of the holy Ghost you alleage as you say expresse words When the Comforter shall come whom I will send vnto you from the Father euen the Spirit of truth which proceedeth of the Father Out of this place as you thinke you haue sufficiently proued the expresse literal mention of this point we contēd not with you nor with any whether the truth of this point may directly be warranted by holy scripture but whether there be as you say expresse literal mention First then we call that expresse literal mention which is set down in plaine tearmes not inferred by way of consequence that it is so in this point we haue some reasō to doubt vntil out of your great obseruation you confirme it by more plaine and apparant Scripture For against this place which is but one which you haue alleaged we take this twofold exception as thereby accounting it insufficient to proue as you would haue it that there is expresse literall mention of the proceeding of the Spirit from the Father and the Son For first in that place alleaged out of Saint Iohn there is no mention at all of proceeding from the Sonne Secondly as Maister Beza whose authority you will not denie doth expound the place Christ speaketh not of the essence of the holy Ghost in himselfe but of the vertue and power of the holy Ghost in vs neither doth his interpretation which wee will not examine at this time any way preiudice the foundation of that truth which our Church doth hold For the Deitie of the holie Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Sonne though not by any expresse literall mention yet may easily be proued by infinite places of Scripture and other infallible demonstrations besides this In the dayes of Liberius the Pope and of Constantius the Emperour certaine fantasticall spirits held that the holy Ghost was not God but onely the ministeriall instrument of diuine working This began vnder Arrius and increased by Eunomius a leprous heretike but a subtill Logitian whom the Church hath strongly confuted with arguments impossible to be answered As first that the holy Ghost is euerie where to giue all things to know and search all things that we are commanded to baptise in the name of the Father of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost besides the greatnesse of the sinne against the holy Ghost So Ananias that lyed as Peter said to the holy Ghost lyed not to man but to God These and many such places warranted those ancient Councels to conclude the Deitie of the holy Ghost equall to the Father and the Sonne and equally proceeding from both As first the Councell of Constantinople consisting of an hundreth and fiftie Bishops vnder Theodosius the elder and Damasus the Pope which condemned the heresie of the Macedonians The same faith was confirmed by the Councell of Ephesus the Councell of Chalcedon the Councell of Lateran vnder Innocentius the third and diuers others And Athanasius himselfe maketh it most plaine that the Father is of none either made created or begotten the Sonne is of the Father alone not made nor created but begotten the holy Ghost is from the Father and the Sonne not made nor created nor begotten but proceeding In this nothing being first or last greater or lesse but all the three persons coeternall and coequall The
proceeding of the holy Ghost as the Schoolemen obserue is threefold one vnspeakeable and eternal whereby the holy Ghost eternally and without time proceedeth from the Father and the Sonne the other temporall when he is sent from the Father and the Son to sanctifie the elect Of this latter proceeding saith Beza is that place vnderstood which you peremptorily alleage for to proue the first So then we say for our answer to this cauill that as yet we see not expresse literall mention of these points but that they are truly and soundly collected by the Church we neither doe can or dare deny secondly that the deniall of expresse literall mention ought not to make any scruple in the minds of weake Christians concerning these articles the substance wherof are plaine scripture though for the words we finde not as yet any expresse literall mention nor last of all as you seeme to feare it can be no vnderpropping to the traditions of the Church of Rome which if they can proue with the like necessary collection out of the holy scripture we are readie to imbrace them with all our hearts In the meane time we account it a wrong to haue an article of our faith for want of expresse literall mention out of scripture to be compared to traditions of that kinde for which in scripture there is no warrant at all To conclude then this article we say that in the Trinitie there is that Identity of essence that it admitteth equality but not plurality the Father is one the Sonne another the Holy-Ghost another but not another thing For that thing that they all are is this one thing that they are one God So that Saint Austin saith I and my Father are one heere both the words of the sentence one are in that he saith one he freeth thee from Arrius and in that he saith are hee freeth thee from Sabellius For are hee would not say of one and one he would not say of diuers for euery person hath his owne substance which no other besides hath although there be others besides which are of the same substance For the persons of the Godhead by reason of the vnity of their substance doe as necessarily remaine one within another as they are of necessitie to be distinguished one frō another because two are the issue of one and one the ofspring of the other two only of three one not growing out of any other For sith they all are but one God in number one indiuisible essence or substance their distinction cannot possiblie admit separation the Father therefore is in the Sonne and the Son in him they both in the Spirit and the Spirit in both them He that can saith Austine conceiue let him comprehend it but hee that cannot let him beleeue and pray that that which hee beleeueth he may truly vnderstand ARTICLE III. Whether the holy Scriptures containe all things necessarie to saluation TWo things are requisite to mans better life a faith to beleeue what he ought a knowledge to comprehend what hee must beleeue For saith our Sauiour in this is eternal life to know thee to be the only verie God and whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ. Because therefore the want of this knowledge is the cause of all iniquitie amongst men as contrariwise the verie ground of all our happinesse and the seed of whatsoeuer perfect vertue groweth from vs is a right opinion touching things diuine this kind of knowledge wee may iustly set downe for the first and chiefest thing which God imparteth to his people and our dutie of receiuing this at his mercifull hands for the first of those religious offices wherewith wee publikely honour him on earth Now our Church holdeth and wee most willingly confesse that the scripture is the true ground of all that holily we beleeue But yet for all that not the onely meanes concerning God of all that profitably wee know For that new impression made into our nature euē by the hand of the Almightie after the first sinne and the wise beholding of his excellent workmanship in the making of all his creatures are two volumes wherein wee may read though not directly the mercy of that power that hath saued vs yet the greatnes and the might of that hand that hath first made vs which though it be not all that we must beleeue yet it is not the least part of that which we ought to know For this as it maketh vs without excuse so it serueth euen to leade vs to a better knowledge and vntill it be perfect to vtter out of the light of nature those voices which may argue vs though not to be sonnes for by this we cannot crie Abba Father yet to be reasonable creatures of that power which we do adore this made Euripides in Troas and manie of the heathen to vtter those prayers which had they beene offered vp in Christ had not bin vnbeseeming a good Christian so that though the Scriptures containe all things which are necessarie to saluation and that our chiefest direction is from them yet we are not affraid to confesse that there is besides a light of nature not altogether vnprofitable the insufficiencie whereof is by the light of Scripture fully and perfectly supplied and that both these together as Master Hooker affirmeth which you mislike doe serue in such full sort that they both iointly not seuerally either of them be so compleat that vnto euerlasting felicity we need not the knowledge of any thing more then of these two I cannot but maruaile that men indued with reason should finde anie thing in this assertion which in the hardest construction might be wrested as detracting frō the sufficiency of the holy scripture And only for this cause by reason that we reade darkly by the light of nature those first elements out of a naturall knowledge which by the accesse of a better teacher serue afterward for the full perfecting of that knowledge which is requisite to mans saluation For as the schoolemen say man standeth in need of a threefold lawe to a morall vprightnes setting aside that righteousnes requisit for his heauenly country First an eternall law which Saint Austin calleth the cheifest reason secondly naturall last of all humane vnto which if we adde that man ouer and besides these is in an ordination to a supernaturall ende then it is manifest that to make him a heauenly Citizen there is requisite a fourth lawe which man must learne to obei◠out of the holy scripture But as in the greatest and fairest buildings euen those stones that lye lowest are of an vse not be contemned though peraduenture not comparable to those last exquisite perfections by which the worke is finished so euen the light of nature for the acting of morall vertues hath his vse though not absolutely compleat to make vs Christians And therefore in the nature of mans will the very Philosophers did seldome erre but
the Christians to please Iulian was noted with this marke of leuity for writing Panegyricks or orations of praise to commend Constantius while he liued against whome afterward he wrote most bitter inuectiues when he was dead Thus some small discontentment serued to turne the heart and open the mouth of Porphyry against the Christians what cause of griefe these zealous professours haue I know not but in my opinion the whole tenor of that vncharitable and vnchristian letter argueth some inward discontent either enuious that other men should be excellent or that themselues being excellent are not more regarded Wherein though they dislike the dim eie of gouernment that loketh not cleerely into mens vertues and the niggardly hand that doth not bountifully reward such as deserue well yet they mighte out of patience and charity worthily haue forborne to haue inueied against his honour which consisted in no other wealth but in his religious contentment and in that true commendation which was the due merit of his own vertues For the world had not much to take from him because hee had not taken much from the world for he neuer affected flatteringly to please her nor she neuer cared fauninglie to please him For as all that Scipio brought from Africa after his danger and trauell to be called his was only a Surname so the greatest recompense that his labours had was the iust commendation that he was a very reuerend learned and graue man For his iudgement taught him out of a Christian patience the resolution of Cato if I haue anie thing to vse I vse it if not I know who I am And seeking to profit in knowledge and that this knowledge might profit the Church he shewed that hee was borne for the good of many and few to bee borne for the good of him For as S. Hierom speaketh of Nepotian despising gold he followed learning the greatest riches But peraduenture his learning had puft him vp and his pride had made his writings impatient and full of bitternes and this moued you to vndertake this vncharitable and vnchristian letter for you say if we beleeue them meaning the Bishops we must thinke that Master Hooker is verie arrogant and presumptuous to make himselfe the onely Rabbi That you had no cause to prouoke him in these tearmes all men know that do reade his writings for dealing in an argument of that kinde with aduersaries of that nature and in a time growne insolent by sufferance hee hath written with that temperat moderation rather like a graue father to reforme the vnstayed errors of hot young violent spirits then seuerelie correcting them with the vntemperat bitternes of their owne stile and sighing at the scurrilous and more then satyricall immodesty of Martinisme he feared with a true sorrow least that honourable calling of Priesthood which was ruinated by slaunder amongst ourselues could not long continue firme in the opinion of others Well for all this the gouernment of his passions was in his owne power as Saint Bernard speaketh of Malachie the Bishop And he was able to rule them for he was truly of a milde spirit and an humble hart and abounding in all other vertues yet he specially excelled in the grace of meekenes for the grauity of his lookes as Saint Bernard speaketh of Humbers was cleered by those that did sit or conuerse with him least he should be burdensome vnto them but a ful laughter few euer discerned in him Some such our Church hath had in all ages a few now aliue which are her ornament if shee can vse them well but moe that are dead whome she ought to praise For all those were honourable men in their generations and were well reported of in their times there are of them that haue left a name behind them so that their praise shall be spoken of for whose posterity a good inheritance is reserued and their seede is conteined in the couenant their bodise are buried in peace but their name liueth for euermore the people speake of their wisedome and the congregation talke of their praise In this number vertue hath placed him whom you accuse and are not afraid being now awaked out of a dreame to account a deceiuer As though in his labours he had meant by intising speech to deceiue the Church or as though by a colourable defēce of the Church discipline he purposed as you say to make questionable and to bring in contempt the doctrine and faith it selfe beating against the heart of all true Christian doctrine professed by her Maiestie and the whole state of this realme Therfore you haue made choice of the principall things conteined in his bookes wishing him to free himselfe from all suspicion of falshoode and trechery accounting your selues to rest contented if he will shew himselfe either all one in iudgement with the Church of England or else freely and ingenuously acknowledge his vnwilling ouersight or at the least shew plainely by good demonstratiō that al our reuerend Fathers haue hitherto bin deceiued To this you craue a charitable direct plaine sincere and speedy answeare this is the summe of the preface to your Christian letter It is too true that al ages haue had deceiuers and that the most dangerous deceiuers haue strongly preuailed vnder pretence of Religion and therefore whereas all bodies are subiect to dissolution there are vndoubtedly mo estates ouerthrown through diseases within themselues which familiarly do steale vpon them then through violence from abroade Because the maner is alwaies to cast a doubtfull and a more suspicious eie towards that ouer which men know they haue least power therfore the feare of apparant dangers causeth their forces to be more vnited it is to all sorts a kind of bridle it maketh vertuous minds watchful it holdeth contrary dispositions in suspence and imployeth the power of all wits and the wits of all men with a greater care Whereas deceits couered with good pretenses are so willingly interteyned so little feared so long suffered vntill their cruelty burst forth when it is too late to cure them vice hath not a better meanes to disperse it selfe nor to gaine intartainment and fauour then by borrowing the counterfeit name and habit of seeming vertue Thus that rebellious Sandracot vnder pretence of liberty mooued the Indians against the officers of Alexander the Great which when they had slaine he that was the author of their liberty turned that into a more cruell bondage oppressing the people whom he had freed from strangers vnder the cruell tyranny of his owne gouernment But of all deceits there is none more dangerous then when the name of God or religion is pretended to countenance out heinous crimes And howsoeuer euen in this kinde this age hath not wāted examples who beeing dangerous vnder holy pretenses the hand of Iustice hath cut off yet the imputation of this fault can in no reason cleaue to him who hath so
one that had a misfortune it was because hee honoured not his parents For the sixt nature hath made the Murderer to expect what he hath committed For the seuenth Flie the name of an adulterer if thou wilt escape death For the eight Demosthenes against Timocrates repeateth it as Solons law plainely in the verie words And for false witnesse the Romans did punish it by their twelue tables But the incarnation of Christ the Sacraments the Trinitie the Decree of God are matters of a deeper speculation wherin humilitie must follow the direction of faith and not seek vainely with curiositie to know that which our silly weaknesse is far vnable to comprehend For as those things that are manifest are not to bee neglected so those things that are hid are not to be searched least in the one we be vnlawfully curious and in the other be found daungerously vnthankfull Now specially for the matter of the Trinitie wherein you take exception in your two first Articles doubtlesse there are few errours more dangerous or that haue stirred vp greater tragedies in the church of God All men see in nature that there is a God but the distinction of persons Trinitie in Vnitie that faith in humilitie must teach vs to beleeue For who can comprehend by reason that in that holy and sacred Trinitie one is what three are and that two is but one thing and in themselues and euerie particular infinite and all in euerie one and euerie one in all and all in all and one in all Fire hath three things motion light and heat Arrius deuide this if thou canst and then deuide the Trinitie Out of this difficultie together with the rash presumption of ignorant men haue proceeded those dangerous errours that so long and so hotly haue troubled the church thus the Manichies haue denied the vnitie of Essence the Valentinians or Gnostici from Carpocrates held that Christ was man onely from both sexes borne but that he had such a soule which knew all things that were aboue and snewed them Those that haue in their erronious doctrine oppugned the Trinitie are of two sorts they haue either denied the distinction of persons or else the samenesse of Essence thus the Arrians for we will not stand to incounter or confute all other heresies held that Christ was a person before his incarnation but that he was true and eternall God equall and of the same essence with his Father that they denied for they hold that the Sonne is not eternally begotten of the substance of his Father and so that there is an inequalitie and indeed a distinction and prioritie of essence Into this dangerous and ignorant blind heresie confuted long since with powerfull and strong reasons it seemes you are of opinion that Maister Hooker is fallen both against the truth and against the true assertions of the Reuerend Fathers of our church The ground of this so great and so vncharitable accusation is because he saith that the Father alone is originally that Deitie which Christ originally is not Where you seem to inferre against the distinction of the Trinitie that the Godhead of the Father and the Sonne cannot bee all one if the Sonne be not originally that Deitie It seemes then in your opinions that this speech vttered verie learnedly and with great wisedome and truth The Father alone is originally that Deitie which Christ originally is not is both vnusuall new and dangerous First because it weakeneth the eternitie of the Sonne in the opinion of the simple or maketh the Sonne inferiour to the Father in respect of the Godhead or else teacheth the ignorant that there may be many Gods I know your owne Christian iudgements could easily haue freed him from all suspicion of error in this point if your charity had bin equall to your vnderstanding for he himselfe hath confessed in the very same place from whence you haue taken this wherof you accuse him that by the gift of eternall generation Christ hath receiued of the father one and in number the selfe same substance which the father hath of himselfe vnreceiued from any other Who seeth not saith S. Augustine that these words Father and Son shew not the diuersities of natures but the relation of persons and therfore the Son is not of another nature and of a diuers substance because the father is God not from another God but the Son is God from God his father heere is not declared the substance but the originall that is not what he is but from whence he is or is not for in God the Father and in God the Son if we inquire the nature of them both both are God and but one God neither greater or lesse in essence of Godhead one then the other But if we speake of the originall saith Saint Austin which you see Master Hooker did the Father is God originally from whom the Son is God but there is not from whom the Father hath originally his deity so that to mislike this kinde of speech is contrary to all truth to affirme that the Son is not eternally begotten of the father that the Father is not eternally a deity begetting But heere you must take heede of the errour of Arrius who against the truth reasoned thus If the Sonne be coeternall with his Father tell vs we beseech you whether he were begotten when he was or when he was not if when he was then there was before two vnbegotten and afterwards one begot the other if when he was not then he must needes be later and after his Father But saith Saint Augustine as we haue knowne onely the Father alwayes and without beginning to be vnbegottē so we confesse the Son alwaies and without beginning to bee begotten of his Father therefore because the Father is originally that Deitie from whence the Sonne is the Sonne though hee be the same Deity yet the Father alone is originally that Deitie which the Sonne originally is not The want of Identitie being not in the Deitie whereof we must needes with the Church of God acknowledge an Vnitie but in that it is not originally the same For euery thing that is a beginning is a father vnto that which commeth of it and euery ofspring is a sonne vnto that out of which it groweth Christ then being God by being of God light by issuing out of light though he be the same deity for in the Trinitie there is but one deity yet the Father is originally that deity alone which Christ originally is not Here if you note but the difference betwixt that Deity and originally that Deity you must needs confesse that M. Hooker speaketh with the consent of reformed antiquitie and hath said nothing to diminish the eternitie of the Sonne or to make him inferiour in respect of his Father or to teach the ignorant that there be manie Gods ARTICLE II. The coeternity of the Sonne and the proceeding of the holy Ghost
and as if it were neuer giuen True it is that seeing God from whom mens seuerall degrees preheminences proceed hath appointed them in his Church at whose hands his pleasure is that we should receiue Baptisme and all other publike helpes medicinable to the soule perhaps thereby the more to settle our hearts in the loue of our ghostly superiors they haue small cause to hope that with him their voluntarie seruices will be accepted who thrust themselues into functions either aboue their capacitie or besides their place and ouerboldly intermeddle with duties whereof no charge was euer giuen vnto them In which respect if lawes forbid it to be done yet therefore it is not necessarily void when it is done For many things are firme being done which in part are done otherwise thē positiue rigor and strictnes did require Actions vsurped haue often the same nature which they haue in others although they yeeld not him that doth them the same comfort What defects then are in this kind they redound with restraint to the offender only the grace of Baptisme commeth by donation from God onely That God hath committed the mysterie of Baptisme vnto speciall men it is for orders sake in his Church and not to the intent that their authoritie might giue being or adde force to the Sacrament it selfe Infants haue right to Baptisme we all know that they haue it not by lawfull ministers it is not their fault Mens owne faults are their owne harmes So then wee conclude this point with Maister Hooker that it is one thing to defend the fact for lawfulnesse in the doer which few do and another thing the fact being done which no man hath reason to disallow for though it is not lawfull for women to vndertake that office to baptize which peraduenture belongs not vnto them yet the Baptisme being done we hold it lawfull ARTICLE XIIII Of the Sacraments IT is not a thing lesse vsuall in the apprehension of truths through the weaknesse of our vnderstanding to ascribe too little to that which in all reason hath great vertue then to allow ouermuch to that which hath no vertue at all It fareth with men in this kind as it doth with some deceitfull artificers who bestow most arte and outward additions where inwardly there is least value whilest they leaue that altogether vnfurnished which is able to expose it to sale by his owne worth It is our fault no lesse violently to extoll what our fancies make vs to account excellent then to dispraise things truly commendable in their owne nature because onely they haue gained this disaduantage to bee disliked by vs. So that whosoeuer maketh either praise or dispraise to be a rule of iudgement or the iudgement of some few to bee a signe of value he with like hazard equally erreth in both For times and places violent circumstances of that which men say with or against breed infinite varietie of alterations where things are the same and out of commendation alone a strange effect dispraise like a monster doth spring vp It being cause sufcient to distempered humours vehemently to dislike only in this respect that others doe commend the same Wherein the safest and most charitable direction will bee absolutely in that violent opposition to beleeue neither but euen from both to deriue a truth much sounder then that which either holdeth From hence hath it come to passe that whilest they of the Church of Rome haue peraduenture ascribed too much to works some of vs too little others haue set downe an equality dissenting from both Thus in the matter of the sacraments things of greatest and most hidden vertue left vnto the Church for they are called Mysteries some haue bin thought to deriue that power to them which belongeth to God only which whilest others sought to auoide they haue euen depriued them of that grace which God doubtles in truth hath bestowed vpon them In this kinde you are of opinion that M. Hooker hath erred who as you imagine hath ascribed to the sacraments farre more following therein the steps of the Church of Rome then either the Scripture the articles of our Church or the exposition of our Reuerend Bishops and others do For the Fathers say you make the Sacraments only Seales of assurance by which the Spirit worketh inuisibly to strengthen our faith And therfore they call them visible words seales of righteousnesse and tokens of grace That they doe and say thus there is no man doubteth but we are not yet perswaded that this is all or the furthest as you alledge that they saie because vndoubtedly we are assured that they haue learned both to know and to speake otherwise For the Sacraments chiefest force and vertue consisteth in this that they are heauenly ceremonies which God hath sanctified and ordained to be administred in his Church First as markes to know when God doth impart his vitall or sauing grace of Christ vnto all that are capable therof and secondly as meanes conditionall which God requireth in them vnto whom he imparteth grace For doubtles it must needes be a great vnthankfulnesse and easily breed contempt to ascribe only that power to them to be but as seales and that they teach but the minde by other sense as the worde doth by hearing which if it were all what reason hath the Church to bestow any Sacrament vpon Infants who as yet for their yeares are nor capable of any instruction there is therefore of Sacraments vndoubtedly some more excellent and heauenly vse Sacraments by reason of their mixt nature are more diuersly interpreted and disputed of then any other part of Religion besides for that in so great store of properties belonging to the selfe same thing as euery mans wit hath taken hold of some especiall consideration aboue the rest so they haue accordingly giuen their censure of the vse and necessity of them For if respect bee had to the dutie which euery communicant doth vndertake we may cal them truly bōds of our obedience to God strict obligations to the mutuall exercise of Christian charity prouocations to godlines preseruatiōs frō sin memorials of the principal benefits of Christ. If we respect the time of their institutiō they are annexed for euer vnto the new testamēt as other rites were before with the old If we regard the weakenesse that is in vs they are warrants for the more security of our beleefe If we compare the receiuers with those that receiue them not they are works of distinctiō to separate Gods owne from strangers and in those that receiue them as they ought they are tokens of Gods gratious presence whereby men are taught to know what they cannot see For Christ and his holy spirit with all their blessed effects though entring into the soule of man we are not able to apprehend or expresse how doe notwithstanding giue notice of the times when they vse to make their accesse because it pleaseth Almighty God to communicate by sensible
is what kind of necessity there is of baptisme a thing already fully haÌ„dled by M. Hooker therfore we wil be more sparing in this point All things which either are known causes or fit meanes wherby any great good is vsually procured or men deliuered froÌ„ greeuous euil the same we must needs confesse necessarie now we know there is a necessity absolute there is a necessity conditionall euen that conditional for the end in ordinary estimation is absolutely necessarie Thus to a man in the sea to escape drowning we account a ship a necessary meanes euen of absolute necessity in respect of our iudgement howsoeuer some few haue escaped by other meanes so our Sauiour saith of Baptisme vnlesse a man be bornâ—â—gaine of water and of the Holy-ghost he cannot enter into the kingdome of heauen Which place we vnderstand howsoeuer some deny it of Baptisme by materiall water according to the generall consent of the auncient Fathers For it is a rule in expounding the Scriptures that where a literall construction will stand as in this place the farthest from the letter is commonly the worst And therefore water the spirit both concurring in that sacrament why should there not be though not an equall yet a necessity of both For as the spirit is necessary to regeneratioÌ„ so regeneratioÌ„ is necessary to eternal life which so far dependeth vpoÌ„ the outward sacrameÌ„t that God wil haue it imbraced not only as a signe or token what we receiue as you affirme but also as an instrument or meane whereby we receiue it and this without any inthralling as you seeme to feare of Gods mercifull grace Neither as Hugo saith doe these giue speaking of the Sacraments that which is giuen by these and yet ordinarily as necessary to receiue these as those graces are necessary which we receiue by these For though Baptisme bee not a cause of grace yet the grace which is giuen by baptisme doth so far depend vpon the very outward sacrament as God will haue it imbraced as a necessary meanes whereby we receiue the same and howsoeuer we dare not iudge those that in some cases do want it yet we may boldly gather that he whose mercy now vouchsafeth to bestowe the meanes hath also long since intended vs that wherunto they leade For to imagine nothing necessary but saith is to come neere the error of the old Valentinian hereticks who ascribed all to knowledge only So saith Tertullian Some account the Sacraments as vnprofitable without faith so needeles where faith is but no faith can bee profitable saith Saint Bernard to him who when he may yet refuseth to receiue the Sacraments Therefore if Christ himselfe which giueth saluation require Baptisme it is not for vs to dispute or examine whether those that are vnbaptized may be saued but seriously to doe that which is required and religiously to feare the danger which may grow by the want thereof For doubtles the sacrament of Baptisme in respect of God the author of the institution may admit dispensation but in respect of vs who are tyed to obeie there is an absolute necessity For it is in the power of God without these to saue but it is not in the power of man without these to come to saluation And yet the Church holdeth constantly as well touching other beleeuers as Martyrs that Baptisme taken away by necessity taketh not away the necessity of Baptisme but is supplied by the desire therof For what is there in vs saith Saint Ambrose more then to will and to seeke for our owne good Thy seruant Valentinian who died before he was baptized Oh Lord did both For as the visible signe may be without true holinesse so the inuisible sanctification saith Saint Austin may sometimes be without the visible signe And yet these are no iust reasons either to make vs presume or to take away the necessity of this holy sacrameÌ„t For euen those haue it in their wishe as the Schoolemen say who indeed do want y e same And howsoeuer as they of Rhemes confesse such may be the grace of God towards men that they may haue remissioÌ„ iustification sanctificatioÌ„ before the external sacrament of Baptisme as in Peters preaching they all receiued the Holy-ghost before the sacrament yet this is no ordinary thing now in infants and whosoeuer therefore shal contemne them cannot be saued Yet God who hath not bound his grace in respect of his owne freedome to any Sacrament may and doth accept them as baptized which either are martyred before they could be baptized or else depart this life with wiâ—he and desire to haue that Sacrament which by some remediles necessity they could not obtaine For the iust by what death soeuer he be preuented his soule shall be in rest And whereas you demaund whether our sacraments be not the same in nature vertue and substance that the sacraments of the Iewes were vnder the law and therefore baptisme to be of no more necessity then circumcision we answeare with Saint Austin The Sacraments deliuered by Christ are for number fewer taking as Maister Zanchy noteth sacraments largly for al those ceremonies as he did for performance easier for vnderstanding more excellent for obseruation more chast And therefore though all sacraments for their substance be one that is Christ and that more particularly baptisme succeedeth circumcision yet their difference is great both in their rites which were diuers in the maner of the obiect the one Christ to come the other already come the one a corporall benefit to be of that Church which should haue her certaine seate vntill the comming of the Messias in the land of Canaan the other expecting a spiritual kingdom The one bounde to an obseruation of the whole lawe Ceremoniall Iudiciall Morall the other only to the moral law and for want of true fulfilling of it to faith and repentance The one to Israel only the other to the whole Church The one to continue till the comming of the Messias in humility the other vntill his comming in glory The one belonged vnto the males only the other to all So that as the differences were many and not small euen so we doubte not to affirme that the benefits are far more and the necessity is much greater And therfore as Maister Hooker saith we haue for baptisme no day set as the Iewes had for circumcision neither haue we by the law of God but only by the Churches discretion a place therunto appointed Baptisme therefore euen in the meaning of the law of Christ beloÌ„geth vnto infants capable therof froÌ„ the very instant of their birth which if they haue not howsoeuer rather then lose it by being put off because some circumstances of solemnity do not concur the Church as much as in her lieth marke the words for she cannot disappoint Gods eternall election but as far as is in her power by denying the meanes casteth