man would much more will God performe his Word and Couenant although the seale be not set thereunto But if it may bee had there is Necessitas praecepti a necessity laid by Gods commandement vpon all those that are Filij praecepti the Sonnes of the commandement Those Sonnes all men are when they are grown to be Adulti and therefore if then they neglect to be baptized they deserue for their contempt to bee cut off and to bee eternally condemned But Infants while such are none of these Sonnes as being both vncapable of the precept and vnable to offer themselues vnto the Sacrament whence followeth that the commandement taketh hold onely of the Parents and those that haue the care of them So that although the Child dying vnbaptized may bee free from danger yet those that neglect to present him vnto Baptisme shall bee damned for breach of Gods commandement Leâ— Parents therefore by all meanes bee carefull to performe this duty and if by reason of weakenesse or some other impediment it cannot bee done publickely rather then left vndone let it bee done priuatly Wise men and amongst the rest M. Caluin would haue it so yea the Church of England requireth it prescribing a forme of Priuate Baptisme in case of necessity and commanding that what is priuatly done be by the Minister publickely made knowne in the Congregation An order heretofore too much neglected God grant henceforward it may be better obserued Finally and lastly seeing euery one that is Adultus must of necessity haue a Faith of his owne first it is the duty of Parents by all meanes to worke Faith in their Children when they are capable thereof that as they haue beene instruments to traduce Originall sinne vnto them to their perdition so they may againe repaire in them the image of God to their eternall saluation Secondly let euery one looke to himselfe and see that hee haue Faith for it is in vaine to trust to the Faith of another The righteousnesse of Christ indeed is a cloke large enough to couer the sinnes of all men but the Faith of another man is little enough for himselfe I cannot couer my nakednesse with it They were but foolish virgins that said Giue vs of your oile for our lamps are out and fitly were they answered by the wise virgins Wee feare there will not bee enough for vs and you but goe yee rather to them that sell and buy for your selues Let Papists blaspheme and say they can supererogate and more then satisfy for their sinnes and that one man may for a price buy out of the Popes treasury the Surplus of another mans merits yet am I sure the oile of another mans lampe will not serue my turne nor procure mee fauour to enter with the bridegroome God grant me therefore wisdome euen while it is called to day to get mee oile in my owne lampe NOT CONSENT OF FATHERS BVT SCRIPTVRE THE GROVND OF FAITH Written by the occasion of a conference had with Mr. Bayly by the late Reuerend and Learned Diuine Master Iohn Downe Bachelour of Diuinity and sometimes Fellow of Emanuell Colledge in Cambridge OXFORD Printed by IOHN LICHFIELD for EDWARD FORREST Anno Domini M.DC.XXXV NOT CONSENT OF FATHERS BVT SCRIPTVRE THE GROVND OF FAITH LOVING and Reuerend M. Bayly I acknowledge my selfe much endebted vnto you both for my kind entertainment and the peaceable Conference I had with you Would you but vouchsafe to visit my poore Cottage I should readily endeauour to satisfy some part of the debt if not with like entertainment yet with equall welcome The residue I know not how better to discharge then by pursuing my first intention that is by labouring to reduce you backe into the bosome of that Church out of which with such danger to your soule scandall to the brethren and vnkindnesse to her you haue withdrawne your selfe And to this end might I haue obtained from you in writing as at our parting I entreated what those speciall Motiues were which had wrought in you this sudden change I would haue strained my selfe by writing also to haue giuen them the best satisfaction But seeing for reasons best knowne to your selfe and into which I list not further to inquire you held it not fit as then to yeeld so farre vnto mee I haue thought good for the present to reflect vpon some passages of our Conference specially that ground whereon you then stood so much and vpon which you plainely professed that you would aduenture your Faith It may please you therefore to remember that being demaunded a reason of your departure you pretended that in reading the ancient Fathers you had met with sundry Bugbeares which so scared and affrighted you that vnlesse you would resist the light of Conscience and hazard your eternall saluation you could not chuse but bee swayed by them Whereunto it being replied that happily those Bugbeares were but Scarcrowes and that you should haue taken a safer and surer course if you had resolued your Faith into Scriptures nothing being sufficient to beare vp so weighty a peece but onely diuine testimony your answer was that vpon Scripture you relyed howbeit because it is obscure and subiect to manifold constructions vpon Scripture vnderstood according to the interpretation and doctrine of the Fathers nothing doubting but that as long as you held the Faith of them whom wee verily belieue to bee saued your selfe could neuer perish through misbeliefe In which answer howsoeuer in word you seeme to attribute some force and vertue to the Scriptures yet in truth you doe but cancell them and make them of none effect For if the Scriptures lie rather in the Sense then in the Letter and the Sense by reason of the darknesse and ambiguity of them bee not to bee found in themselues but elsewhere out of them in the writings of the Fathers it followeth clearely that in your account Paul and Peter and Iames and Iohn and the other Pen-men of holy writ are no better then Cyphers vnlesse Cyrill and Ambrose and Hierome and Augustin and the rest of that ranke as digit numbers vouchsafe to adde some value and signification vnto them So that now by your fauor this must bee my taske briefly and plainely to demonstrate that hauing remoued your Faith from the authority of Scripture vpon the exposition of the Fathers you haue built quite beside the rocke and layd your foundation vpon the sand But take this protestation first that wee neither disesteeme nor despise the Fathers as by Priests and Iesuites wee are ordinarily slandered but contrarywise with all duty wee rise vp to their gray haires and reuerence their venerable antiquity Withall wee acknowledge that they were in their times excellent ornaments and lights of the Church endued not onely with singular knowledge in the mystery of Faith but also with admirable sanctity and vprightnesse of life Whereby in all their combats and bickerins with Hereticks they maintained the truth of God so wisely and couragiously
is conditionall you denyed in your answer to the former argument now also you deny that Belieuing is commanded Whereby you bewray how inexpert you are in the Word of righteousnesse as the Apostle speaketh and that whereas by office you are Heb. 5.12 13. and concerning the time ought to be a teacher yet haue you need your selfe to be taught the very elements of the Christian Religion That therefore the Promise is conditionall I haue in the due place demonstrated now that Belieuing is commanded remaineth to bee poued or rather it is already proued thus No condemnation but for breach of a Commandement Condemnation for vnbeliefe for for vnbeliefe the world shall bee condemned Ergo Beliefe commanded But this reason according to your wont you cunningly suppresse and hauing found out a new Art of disputation thinke it enough to scorne the premisses and with a bold face to deny the Conclusion Yet for your further confusion vnto necessary consequence I adde the expresse words of Scripture This saith Iohn is his commandement that wee belieue in the Name of his Sonne Iesus Christ 1 Ioh. 3.23 And vnto diuine authority I adde the humble consent of holy men of God Beza expoundeth that place of Saint Iohns Gospell Ioh. 6.29 This is the worke of God that yee belieue in me De gra vniuer De Praedest gratia on this wise This is that which God requireth of you that yee belieue in me The Lord commandeth saith Hemingius that we belieue Together with the Promise saith Master Perkins is conioined the Exhortation or Commandement to Belieue which is more generall then the Promise because the promise belongs only to Belieuers but the Cōmandement both to Belieuers vnbelieuers Harm Conf. Sax. of remission of sins iustif Finally the whole Church of Saxony thus confesseth It is the eternall immutable commandment of God that we should belieue in the Son of God according to this saying which is my very ground the Spirit shall conuince the world of sinne because they Belieue not in mee Nay see the lucke of it that which here you affirme to be an vntruth not many lines before you haue auowed to bee a truth saying God commandeth all to Belieue and therefore the Reprobates Yea doe you not in this place vnsay that which you say saying it is vntrue that God commandeth when hee biddeth a Reprobate to Belieue For hee that Biddeth in my vnderstanding commandeth vnlesse you that complaine of nice and subtle Distinctions in others haue learned of late by some new-found nicetie to distinguish there where the letters and syllables onely differing there is otherwise an identie of nature and definition A man would wonder how you could so soone forget your selfe but that it is commonly seene a liar hath seldome or neuer a good memory But to proue that God commands not a Reprobate to belieue you come vpon mee with a most mighty and insoluble Enthymem What is that I beseech you Marie this A Reprobate if he could belieue he should then without doubt bee saued Ergo God doth not command him to Belieue A desperate Demonstration I promise you for by the same reason you may conclude that God commands him not to obey the Precepts of the Morall law neither Because if hee could keepe them he should bee saued What you conceiue may bee the knot and sowlder as it were of this Consequence I cannot well imagine vnlesse it be one of two either this God promiseth the Reprobate hee shall bee saued if hee Belieue Ergo hee commandeth him not to Belieue or this The Reprobate cannot belieue Ergo God commandeth him not to Belieue for your words seeme to bee indifferent either way If you intend the former first you contradict your owne selfe for in your answer to the former argument you deny Iustification and Saluation to bee promised vpon condition of Faith Secondly euery Catechumenus and Nouice in Diuinity knowes that God vnto Commandement vsually annexeth Promise to draw on Obedience as in the Couenant of works first hee Commandeth Doe this and then Promiseth if thou doe it thou shalt liue and in the Couenant of Grace also first hee Commandeth Belieue and then addeth the Promise if thou belieue thou shalt bee saued So that Promise and Commandement exclude not one the other neither doth it follow Faith is the condition of a Promise Ergo it is not commanded If you vnderstand the latter then know that as Augustin and Barnard and all Diuines not infected with Pelagianisme say God commandeth some things which man cannot doe to the end that knowing his owne insufficiency hee may craue of him the helpe of grace that hee may doe them And if God doe command any supernaturall action vnto the Reprobate as without doubt hee doth then doth hee also command some thing aboue his power for being meerely naturall he cannot produce any supernaturall operation Whereupon it followeth euidently that although a Reprobate cannot belieue yet neuerthelesse hee may bee commanded to Belieue Well yet you will proue that a Reprobate cannot Belieue To what end for it is not denied and you should rather strengthen your Consequence and proue that therefore Faith is not commanded Notwithstanding let vs heare your reason for it seemeth to bee very remarkable That hee cannot Belieue say you the reason is Christ hath not washed him If you had said as followeth Christ hath not opened his heart to Belieue or it is to bee imputed to the hardnes of his owne heart and had stopt there I should easily haue yeelded vnto you but now that you say the reason is because Christ hath not washed him I must needs tell you it is vnreasonable reason for it implies that wee are first washed and then Belieue whereas both Scripture and the analogie of Faith teach vs that we first belieue and then afterward are washed Search the booke of God Rom. 3.28 Act. 15.9 Rom. 3.25 and there shall you read that wee are iustified by Faith that the heart is purified by Faith that God hath set forth Iesus Christ to bee a reconciliation through Faith in his Blood Which Blood although it haue in it sufficient vertue and force to cleanse vs from the leprosie of all our sinnes yet doth it not actually wash or purge any vnlesse it bee particularly applied and accepted by Faith Otherwise as Ambrose excellently speaketh if thou belieue not Christ descended not for thee Christ suffered not for thee De fide ad Gratian. Wherby it manifestly appeareth that Remission of sinnes is an effect or consequence of Faith and that therefore the reason of the Reprobates vnbeliefe is not because Christ hath not washt him but rather the reason why Christ hath not washed him is because hee doth not belieue nor hath by Faith applyed the blood of Christ to himselfe for the remission of his sinnes Where you adde negatiuely that the Reprobates vnbeliefe is not to bee imputed to the falsity
the many excellent and heauenly graces wherewith the spirit of God beautifieth and enricheth the hearts of his Elect there is no one of more either necessity vnto saluation or importance for comfort and consolation then that of Iustifying Faith For as by the first Act of this faith our Iustification before God our peace with God our incorporation into the mysticall body of Christ Iesus our conuersion vnto God are first wrought and effected so by the consequent continued Acts of the same Fayth are wee being fallen dayly renewed and from both totall and finall falling away safely preserued and maintained This cōsidered me-thinkes no time can be better employed nor no paines more profitably taken then in the quest and enquiry of the true nature and definition of Iustifying Fayth And although I cannot deny but hee may haue fayth who cannot like a Logician define it and may haue the benefit of Iustification by it who cannot distinguinsh the nature of it yet this withall I boldly auerre that the ignorance hereof or a confused and indistinct apprehension of it disableth vs both from giuing and taking direct and euident comfort from it whereas a cleare and distinct knowledge thereof is able to satisfie and replenish with comfort any distressed or afflicted conscience For this cause haue I vndertaken so briefly and perspicuously as I can to set downe my opinion of the definition of Fayth perswading my selfe I doe not endeauouring at leastwise not to swarue from the wholesome doctrine of Christ and Gods word From the writings and doctrine of most learned and worthy Diuines peraduenture it doth and indeed it doth vary to whom although as farre farre inferior I owe all respect reuerence yet being Gods freeman I cannot endure to bee mans bond-man and sweare to all they say One Paphnutius sometime in the matter of Priests marriage preuailed against a whole Counsell of most learned and godly Bishops Socrat. l. 1. c. 8. and young Elihu may speake more oportunely pertinently then they that are much his Ancients Therefore as Nisus sayth in Virgill Neque hac nostris spectentur ab annis Aeneid l. 9. looke not how greene or how gray his head be that speaketh but let the touch of truth try all and what by it shall appeare to be base and counterfait refuse and reiect that which shall be found true and sound approue and embrace And that preiudice too strongly possesse thee not take my protestation that I neuer haue entertained this opinion rashly and inconsiderately but vpon mature aduise and deliberation nor broach it vpon a preposterous humour of nouelty or ambition to build vp mine owne credit existimation by the ruine and disparagement of so great Diuines for this were Subulâ leonem excipere to encounter a Lion with a bodkin as it is in the Prouerbe but vpon a sincere affection and desire to minister solid and found consolation to despayring and perplexed minds which as after shall appeare vpon this foundation may most firmely be raised And now trusting what I say shall be weighed in the ballance not of preiudice but vpright iudgement I leaue to preface any farther and come directly to the purprose Because I purpose not to raise my building very high I meane not to lay my foundation very deepe therefore neither will I play the Phylologer in shewing the diuers vses and acceptations of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Fides id est Faith or quote Ciceros Fiat quod dictum est or St. Augustines Fac quod dicis Offic. l. 1. to doe as a man sayes for the notation of Faith neither will I play the Phylosopher in discoursing of Physicall or Morall or Ciuill Faith wherein it were easie to wast much oile and paper nor lastly will I speake of that Theologicall Faith called Miraculous either in Agent or Patient which I take to bee none other then a diuine instinct for the working of a Miracle For albeit they who at the last day shall say Lord in thy name haue we not cast out Diuels may seeme to haue trusted in Miraculous Faith for Iustification Mat. 7.22.23 and acknowledgement of Christ yet notwithstanding neuer any controuersie about it hath exercised the Church of God To deferre your expectations therefore no farther three Faiths there seeme to be which lay claime and title to the priuiledge of justification giue me leaue to distinguish and denominate them according to their Obiects neither be offended if I handle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and giue new termes to old matters The first is Fides Historiae Historicall Faith which is an Assent of the mind vnto the truth of Gods word and specially the Gospell And this Faith whether it be according to the distinction of the Scoolemen Acquisite gotten by much hearing and experience without illumination or infused and reuealed by the spirit of illumination it hath no interest in the matter of Iustification For besides that it is absurd that so generall a Knowledge should iustify Acquisit Faith the Diuels haue according to that of St Iames Iam. 2. 19. The Diuels beleeue tremble Infused faith the Reprobates may haue as Balaam Iudas Magus Now the Scripture is plaine that justifying faith is propper and peculiar vnto the Elect and therefore Historicall faith cannot justifie The second is Fides Promissionum Faith of promises which is a Perswasion or Assurance that the promises of God made in Christ to wit Iustification Remission of sinnes Adoption Regeneration and finally Election it selfe and eternall Saluation doe particularly pertaine to me and are mine Now this although I deny not but in Scripture it is called faith and that euery Saint of God both may and ought to haue this particular perswasion and Assurance yet this I confidently deny that this perswasion is that which justifies a man before God and my reasons are these 1. If this were justifying Faith then whosoeuer liues and dyes without this particular Assurance he cannot be saued Heb. 11.6 Without faith it is impossible to please God But a man may be saued without it I instance in those our Brethren of Germanie who hold that faith may finally and totally fall away and consequently that there can be no certainty of Saluation whom yet the Church of God calleth and counteth brethren and it were vncharitable to censure of them otherwise Therefore or at leastwise probably Faith is not an Assurance 2. That which is in time after Iustifying Faith cannot be that faith This is vndeniable But this particular knowledge is in time after faith This I proue out of 1. Ioh. 5.13 These things haue I written vnto you that beleeue in the name of the Sonne of God that ye may know that ye haue eternall life Behold Beleeuing goes before and Knowledge comes after as for that which followeth in the same verse and that yee may beleeue I interpret it of Perseuerance growth in Faith Howsoeuer beleeuing Knowing are distinguished and
the mercie of God I. D. The Minor which in the former section you denied namely that Faith goes before iustification and Assurance followes after in my Treatise I thus proued because Iustification is promised vpon condition of Belieuing and seeing in Conditionall promises there can bee no Assurāce of the thing promised before the performāce of the Condition therfore in this promise we must Belieue before we can be iustified and be iustified before we can be assured we are iustified Now to this you say it is rather an encouragement then a Promise vpon condition as if it were impossible that Promise vpon condition might bee an encouragement Whereas me thinkes a Generall doth greatly encourage his Souldiers when he promiseth vnto them preferment and reward vpon condition of some peece of seruice well performed 1 Cron. 11.6 And Ioab peraduenture would not haue beene so forward and venturous in the battell vnlesse Dauid had promised the office of chiefe Captaine vpon condition of smiting the Iebusites But you haue reasons for your saying more then a good many for here like another Tertullian euery word almost you speake is a Demonstration First all the Church of God in all ages affirmeth with you and yet as shall plentifully appeare in the next Section the Church of God neuer vnderstood but that Remission of sinnes was promised vpon condition of Faith But as Anaxagoras when hee was driuen to his shifts and could not finde out the reason of some things was wont to say it was the doing of Nous euen so when you haue boldly affirmed that which you can by no meanes proue it is your manner desperately to auouch that it is the saying of the Church Secondly you say this speech Belieue and thy sinnes shall bee forgiuen thee is all one with this Thy sinnes bee forgiuen thee therefore bee of good comfort Which happily wee may thinke not to be altogether so witlesse if also you can perswade vs that a Physician saying vnto his Patient Vse carefully the course of Phisicke I shall prescribe vnto you and you shall surely recouer of your sicknesse meaneth thereby no other then as if hee should say Bee of good cheere for thou art already recouered of thy sicknesse Lastly by this meanes you say both the former and the latter to wit Forgiuenesse of sinnes and Beliefe may bee ascribed to the mercy of God As if Promise of Remission of sinnes vpon condition of Faith were any way derogatory vnto the Mercy of God but that both the one and the other may this notwithstanding bee ascribed thereunto For if when God out of his soueraigne authority commaundeth to Belieue it bee neuerthelesse of his grace that wee can and doe Belieue according to that of S. Augustin Giue what thou commandest and command what thou wilt why when out of his mercy hee promiseth Forgiuenesse if we doe Belieue should it not bee ascribed vnto the same his mercy that we doe performe the condition and Belieue But who knowes the salt that is in you Eupolis You are the onely Pericles of this age Suada sits vpon your lips and you alone leaue a sting behind you For had it not been for this threefold cord of yours I could neuer so easily haue been drawne from this truth N. B. Farthermore where you bring for the confirmation of your Minor to proue Iustification to bee conditionall with the Papists this place of Math. cap. 9. v. 2. M. Downes falshood in citing construing and adding to the Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Confide fili remissa sunt tibi peccata tua Bee of good comfort Sonne thy sinnes bee forgiuen thee you wrest it first to tell vs that Christ said to him Thy sinnes be forgiuen thee if thou wilt bee of good comfort which is false and no part of Christs meaning but rather the contrary bidding the man sicke of the Palsie be of good comfort because his sinnes being the cause of his disease were forgiuen him Tom. 9. in Mat. In Mat. c. 9. This could Saint Hierome haue told you yea Chrysostome and Master Caluin Erasmus and the Greeke Scholiast But what may wee expect will bee the sequell of this if you bee not hindred in your course Well you haue a mind to doe mischiefe but you want power as spake Plutarch to one Harm in Mat. 9. Archidamus Zeuxidis filius in Plut. M. Downe falsly translating the Greeke text and so I Hope shall The second point which I challenge you in is false translating of the Greeke text contrary to the words themselues and all the world for 1600. yeares You translate Mat. 9. v. 2. Crede fili remittentur tibi peccata tua Sonne belieue and then thy sinnes shall bee forgiuen thee when you should haue said with Saint Hierome Ambrose Beda Caluin Beza Erasm and the Church of England Sonne bee of good comfort thy sinnes bee already forgiuen thee The Greeke word can by no meanes signifie to Belieue but rather to bee confident or Bold to trust to and not to Belieue in as Opibus confidere Cicero to trust to his riches not to belieue in his riches to assure my selfe that they shall benefit mee not to belieue in them as my God to saue mee Beside the Greeke word to Belieue is farre off another name and nature Againe by what authority doe you translate Thy sinnes shall bee forgiuen thee when you should say thy sinnes are forgiuen thee Haue you any commission in contemptum omnium Grammaticorum to change tenses also as you take vpon you vnder pretence of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to coine Distinctions But I may easily spie your drift you would needs parget your rotten cause and miserable Minor with this vntempered morter Well all the Schollers in our countrey will thinke the worse of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as long as they liue for this tricke M. Downe addeth to the Scripture But what intolerable impudency is this and beyond all the rest to adde the word or coniunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to the Scripture saying by your commission 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Belieue Sonne and then thy sinnes shall be forgiuen thee Quite contrary is this to your knowledge and conscience Apoc. 22. Bethinke you therefore what a fearefull iudgement you incurre and craue mercy at the hand of God while you haue time confesse your errour and cancell your commission so shall you haue the Church your Mother and her Children your Brethren and friends I. D. That which in the former section you spake but lispingly here you deliuer more plainely and articularly for there you say it is rather an encouragement but now you affirme peremptorily they are none but Papists that hold Iustification to bee conditionall to such extremities straits am I driuen that I am faine to borrow aide and assistance of the common aduersary But if I bee mistaken herein I hope I shall the more easily find pardon because
Ergo Faith goes before Remission But Assurance as wee haue shewed followes after Remission Ergo it is not Faith But you will follow the ordinary translation I giue you good leaue for I take it to bee the truest yet from thence also thus I argue The Palsie man belieued yet was not assured his sinnes were forgiuen him till Christ told him so much for otherwise what needed Christ to tell him what hee knew already Ergo Assurance is not Faith Treatise That from whence followes a blasphemous absurditie cannot bee a truth for from truth nought but truth can bee concluded But from this that Faith is Assurance such an absurditie doth follow What is that That God commands to Belieue an vntruth and to bee assured of that which neuer shall bee For God being truth cannot command falshood to bee taken for truth Neither tell mee here of who art thou that disputest with God For this is a ruled case in Diuinity God cannot doe things which imply contradiction and therefore not make vntruth to bee truth or knowledge errour Now that this absurdity followes from thence thus I demonstrate God commands the Reprobate to belieue for for vnbeliefe the world shall bee condemned But no condemnation but for breach of a commandement for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore they are commanded to Belieue I aske you then what it is to belieue You will say to know to bee assured Therefore God commands the Reprobates to know and to bee assured But this is a blasphemous absurdity therefore is your opinion absurd which infers it N. B. Two things in this argument are betweene vs to be discussed First whether it bee a blasphemous absurdity to hold that God commandeth a reprobate to belieue that hee shall bee saued You affirme it I deny it Secondly whether in this point God commandeth a Reprobate to belieue an vntruth when hee commandeth a reprobate to belieue and hee shall be saued You affirme it I deny it I. D. That it is a blasphemous absurdity to say that God commands Reprobates to know and to bee assured that they are already iustified and shall bee saued I haue indeed affirmed and I thinke haue also sufficiently confirmed But that God should commaund a Reprobate to belieue an vntruth if hee command him to belieue and hee shall bee saued I neuer yet affirmed What then This that He should command him to belieue an vntruth if hee command him to belieue that hee is iustified and shall bee saued A small difference will you say betweene And and That So was there betwixt Shibboleth and Sibboleth Iude. 12.6 yet enough to discerne an enemy from a friend For this proposition Belieue and thou shalt bee saued is Hypotheticall and Conditionall as if it were said in other tearmes If thou belieue thou shalt bee saued But this Belieue and assure thy selfe that thou shalt bee saued is Categoricall and Absolute excluding all Condition Now that God commands all both Elect and Reprobate to Belieue in the Lord Iesus and promises vnto them Iustification and Saluation conditionally if they Belieue I grant but that hee commands the Reprobate absolutely to know and assure himselfe that hee is already iustified and shall hereafter bee saued and glorified I constantly deny Which yet your opinion that Faith is an Assurance necessarily infers and therefore cannot bee true This matter being thus cleared let vs now bring your answers to the ballance and weigh them N. B. First therefore I answer Mat. 16.15.16 God cammandeth all men to Belieue the Gospell to bee saued and therefore the Reprobates If you demaund why hee commandeth them to belieue that which neuer shall be I answer So it pleased him So answereth Iesus Christ the Sonne of God Math. 11. v. 26. Now goe Master Downe and dispute with Iesus Christ and tell him that his Father deliuereth a blsphemous absurdity Search not too farre into the counsels of God lest you bee ouerwhelmed of his Maiesty reuerence his doctrine if you cannot vnderstand it for who is able to search out the reason of his wayes and counsels Rom. 11. seeing they bee like a great deep I. D. No Master Baxter it is not for dust and ashes to contend with the Creator of all things nor for base clay to enter disputation with so glorious a Maiestie Whatsoeuer that eternall truth speaketh I reuerence and adore and dare not presume to search a higher reason of his actions then his will knowing full well that his will is the prime rule and cause of Iustice and therefore that it is both folly to seeke a former then the first and impiety to subiect Gods will vnto some extrinsecall director But yet with you who as I take it are made of no better moulds then my selfe and are not exempted from those humane infirmities whereunto the rest of your brethren are subiect I hope I may bee bold to enter argument and to hold disputation as in other matters so touching this present question also To you therefore this I say that God doth indeed command the reprobate to belieue vnto saluation and yet neuer shall he belieue nor bee saued The cause hereof I know to bee Gods will and am content with all lowlinesse and humility to say with Christ Mat. 11.26 Euen so O Father because thy good pleasure was such But what is this to our purpose For it is one thing to command a Reprobate to belieue the Gospell another thing to command him to know and assure himselfe that hee is already iustified and shall bee saued for to Belieue the Gospell is to assent vnto an infallible truth but to bee perswaded of the other is to yeeld to that which neither is nor euer shall bee true You should therefore euidently demonstrate out of the Scriptures that God commands a Reprobate so to bee assured and perswaded and then if I rested not satisfied with Gods reuealed will you might iustly bid mee goe and dispute with Christ and forbid to search into the counsels of God lest I be ouerwhelmed with his Maiesty But if in Gods booke you cannot shew it I hold it a humane fancy rather then a diuine truth and therefore though I may not curiously prie into the secrets of God yet may I freely trie and examine the ground of mens opinions N. B. Againe it is an vntruth that God commandeth when he biddeth a Reprobate to belieue and hee shall bee saued For if hee could belieue he should then be saued without doubt Ioh. 11. That hee cannot belieue the reason is Christ hath not washed him Io. 13.8 neither hath opened his heart to belieue So that if hee could haue belieued hee should haue this doctrine effectuall vnto him to saluation That he therefore could not belieue is not to bee imputed to the falsity of the doctrine but to the hardnesse of his owne heart I. D. The commandement of God is absolute Belieue the promise of Saluation is conditionall if we Belieue That the Promise
saith effectually called and they onely who are effectually called are iustified and shall bee glorified And if it were possible that they should bee saued then were there change in the vnchangeable decree of God which hath finally reiected them which is impossible 7. Hee that commands a Reprobate that is not iustified and shall neuer bee saued to belieue that hee is iustified and shall be saued implieth a Contradiction therein and makes Falshood to bee Truth and Faith errour For according to that infallible maxime Falshood is not vnder Faith and therefore if the Obiect bee Falshood it is not Faith which apprehendeth it for true if it bee Faith Falshood is not the Obiect thereof So that hee which commands that false Proposition to bee belieued makes that to bee Faith which cannot beare the definition of Faith and that to bee the Obiect which is not the Obiect thereof that is as I said makes Faith to bee error and Falshood Truth which are contradictories 8. God therefore neither doth nor can so command neither is it impure or impious to affirme so much being in the Word of God so manifestly reuealed Impious rather and blasphemous is it to say the contrary for it imputes impotency and weaknes vnto God making him to say Yea and Nay and to auouch that for truth which is euidently false 9. But this opinion that Faith is an Assurance infers this blasphemous absurdity For as I haue shewed God cōmands all men euen Reprobates to belieue now to belieue as you say is to bee assured of iustification and Saluation Ergo God commands the Reprobate to be assured of his Iustification and Saluation which is absurd 10. Absurd therefore is that opinion that Faith is Assurance which infers it For from truth no absurdity or blasphemie but onely truth can follow These few Positions I pray thee Gentle Reader consider diligently and compare Master Baxters reply with them and then bee iudge whether hee paint not gourds as it is in the Prouerbe and talke cleane beside the purpose Those places of Scripture which you desire may bee well waighed and then by mee either answered or reuerenced I haue according to your desire duly examined and doe from my heart adore them as being the words of the Eternall Verity and this answer doe I giue vnto them that not one of them touches the question in debate betwixt vs. Rom. 11.23 The first telleth vs that the Iewes if they persist not in infidelity shall againe by the power of God bee ingrafted Gal. 3.22 the second that the Scripture hath concluded all vnder sinne that the promise by the Faith of Iesus Christ might bee giuen to them that Belieue both which argue against your selfe that Faith is the condition of the Promise the third saith that as many as were ordained vnto eternall life belieued Act. 13.48 2. Thess 3.2 Mat. 13.11 the fourth that euery man hath not Faith the fift that to know the mysteries of the kingdome of Heauen is giuen to some and denied to other some by which three it is cleere that Reprobates doe not belieue Prou. 16.4 Rom. 9.18.19.20 but the Elect onely the sixt affirmeth that God made the wicked for the euill day the last that God sheweth mercy vpon whome hee will and hardneth also whome he will and that in this point there is no disputing with God intimating therein that there is both an Election and Reprobation and that both depend vpon the good pleasure of God But not one of them proueth that God commandeth a Reprobate to assure himselfe of his present iustification and future Saluation which is the matter in question and therefore I hope I may notwithstanding them all freely conclude that as God cannot command to doe that which is vniust because hee is iustice it selfe so he cannot command to belieue that which is vntrue because hee is truth it selfe Neither doe I I trust so concluding grieue the Spirit of God although perhaps therein I greeue your stubborne spirit which hath I feare me throughout this reply too much rebelled against the light and therefore take heed lest you your selfe greeue the Spirit of God Eph. 4.30 wherewith the elect are sealed vnto the day of Redemption Treatise Arg. 6. That which the wicked may haue cannot bee iustifying Faith for it is The Faith of the Elect But the wicked may haue this Perswasion yea and many haue beene most confidently perswaded that they are in the fauour of God You will say it is true Perswasion But I say if forme make truth they are as formally and therefore as truly perswaded of it as the godly If the Godly then are therefore and for this cause iustified because they are strongly perswaded they are Iustified then why should not the wicked likewise bee iustified by his strong Perswasion But in truth these kind of speeches are vnreasonable and senselesse and so that opinion cannot be reasonable N. B. Many die and are saued that haue not a full Perswasion and assurance of their Saluation yet are saued by Faith I will answer you when you shew mee the man that so did die and was saued and How you know that hee had at his death no full Assurance of his Saluation in Christ Iesu and yet had Faith and when you proue that there is at the houre of death when the elect are made without spot or wrinkle in the Saints of God a doubtfull Faith I. D. That many Reprobates and wicked men are strongly perswaded they are in the grace and fauor of God nothing is more cleere and manifest Prou. 30.12 There is a generation saith Salomon that are cleane in their owne eyes and yet are not washed from their filthinesse Reu. 3.17 And the Angell of the Church of Laodicea saith of himselfe that hee is rich and growne to great wealth and had need of nothing Vers 14. Vers 17. and yet in the iudgement of him that is Amen the faithfull and true witnesse was wretched and miserable Inst l. 3. c. 2. §. 11. and poore and blind and naked Yea Experience it selfe saith Caluin sheweth that Reprobates sometime are affected with the like feeling almost that the elect are that in their owne iudgement they differ nothing at all from the Elect. Such is the deceitfulnesse of mans heart and the blindnesse of his selfe-loue that it makes him easily ouerweene himselfe and to promise peace vnto his soule when hee is in the ready way vnto destruction You will say that the Perswasion of the Reprobate and wicked is built vpon a false and erronious ground and therfore is Presumption rather then true Assurance For answer hereunto consider that the Elect of God before his Iustification is but a wicked man whence Diuines vse to call it The Iustification of the wicked warranted therein by that of Saint Paul Rom. 4.5 To him that worketh not but belieueth in him that iustifieth the wicked his faith is imputed vnto
source of all Rebellion and Disobedience N. B. Your Genus is that Faith iustifying is a Rest which is false when you speake more learnedly I will deigne you farther answer I. D. That Rest is not the Genus of Iustifying Faith I easily grant you for as appeares manifestly in my Treatise I make Affiance or which is all one Rest to bee the Act or Forme of Faith and not the Genus thereof If I had thought it fitting to haue troubled the Definition therewith I was not so ignorant but I could haue called it either an infused grace or a gratious habit or a Theologicall vertue but because the Philosopher taught me that Habits are sufficiently defined by their Acts in reference vnto their proper Obiects I held it needlesse to expresse it But suppose I had made it to be the right Genus how doe you disproue it Forsooth it is sufficient for such a Pythagoras as you are to say it is false an inexpiable wrong would it be to demand a reason of your sayings Onely you adde Plut. in vitâ Alex. that when I shall speake more learnedly you will deigne me farther answer Brauely againe spoken and Alexander-like for neither would hee being a King contend with any but Kings neither may you being so transcendent for your learning and surmounting the most of men as farre as the Sun doth the lesser lights without impeachment of honour vouchsafe disputation with any but your Peers much lesse with such a one as is scarce to bee found in any Predicament Yet seeing the Sunne so surpassing in glory is no way enuious of his light but imparteth bountifully of his beames to the enlightning of the rest of the starres it may please you also with whom wisdome must liue and dye Ioh. 12.2 out of your benignity to send forth some influence of your learning vpon mee that I may more cleerely discerne at least in this question betweene truth and that which is onely seeming so N. B. Shew mee for your warrant one place of Scripture that so tearmeth it any one Father of the Church old or new for these 1600. yeeres Greeks or Latins that will auouch it and I will yeeld to your Genus The Hebrew word for Faith and the Greek word whereof you haue heard before doe vtterly condemne you they both signifying a perswasion and an Assurance and neuer a Rest I maruell you will teach the Holy Ghost to speake and the Church now to vnderstand what Faith is and that by such a woodden Definition which may rather moue to choller then consent I. D. If by denying vnto mee the warrant of Scriptures of Fathers old and new Greeke and Latin for 1600. yeeres and of the Greeke and Hebrew words for Faith you intend to proue that Affiance or Rest is not the Genus of Faith it shall without more a-doo bee yeelded vnto you for as appeares in the former section I make it to bee not the Genus but the Act or Forme thereof But if you would thereby perswade that Rest or Affiance is not the Act of Faith I must tell you that these reasons are cleane out of date and that you doe too much abuse your Readers patience setting againe before him these Coleworts now more then twice sodden For both in the beginning of this disputation and in the last section saue two before this I haue throughly scanned cleered this businesse shewing that I am so farre from teaching the Holy Ghost to speake and the Church to vnderstand what Faith is as you vnchristianly lay vnto my charge that I vse no other tearme but that which the Spirit of God hath in Scripture sanctified to this purpose and the Holy Church hath euer spoken and vsed But because I am loth to pester my paper with so many Tautologies and needles repetitions as you vse to doe thither must I entreate the courteous Reader to repaire for satisfaction In the meane season seeing both by expresse testimony of Scripture and cleere euidence of reason I haue warranted euery part of my definition and yet you without disprouing the weakest of my proofes tauntingly call it a woodden Definition you must pardon mee if I tell you plainely that this wood-kinde of answering deserues to bee reformed with a little woodden correction But where you say my Definition may rather moue to choler then consent a man would thinke reading this your answer that either your principles were so incurably hurt or your braine dam'd and ram'd vp with such a deale of dull and tough flegme that it were as easy almost to remoue a mountaine as to moue you either to the one or the other And yet indeed I find you of a cleene contrary complexion euen the most pettish and waspish gentleman that euer I met withall euery small petty occasion stirs your choler and works you presently out of temper But because I see it is your impotency disease I beare with you the more praying you notwithstanding to haue as much patience as you may if at times for the purging of this humor I play the Physician and minister some small quantity of rheubarb vnto you N. B. For alas Master Downe what Rest can a man haue vpon Christ without Assurance to bee saued by his death and Passion and knowledge of his Lord and Sauiour A full assurance therefore as a cause worketh Rest vpon Christ as an effect and is therefore the Generall word in the Definition of Iustifying Faith I. D. Your argument if I mistake not standeth thus That which is an Effect of Assurance cannot be the Act of Faith But Resting vpon Christ is an Effect of Assurance Ergo it cannot bee the Act of Faith I distinguish of Assurance for it is either of the generall proposition or of the Speciall and indiuiduall of the Generall when wee are assured that Whosoeuer Belieueth on Christ shall bee iustified and saued of the Speciall when wee are certainly perswaded that We are iustified and shall bee saued If you meane the former then I deny the Maior for such Historicall Assurance is a necessary pre-requisite vnto Iustifying Faith and is the cause without which wee cannot belieue on Christ and therefore that which is such an effect of Assurance may bee the Act of Faith If you vnderstand the latter then doe I grant the Maior for if such Assurance be as I haue demonstratiuely proued it selfe the Effect of Faith it is more then manifest that That which is an effect of such Assurance cannot bee the Act of Faith But then I deny the Minor that Resting vpon Christ is an effect of such assurance affirming that contrarily Resting vpon Christ is the cause of such Assurance and Assurance is the Effect of that Resting But what rest say you can a man haue vpon Christ without Assurance to be saued by his Death Passion Surely vnlesse wee know his Death and Passion to bee the onely meanes of saluation wee cannot rest vpon him for it but to
first infancy beene seasoned and sanctified with the Christian Faith cannot easily be conceiued or imagined Sixtly tell mee doe all that haue receiued Faith in their infancy loose it againe when they come to bee of more yeeres It seemeth so if then they receiued it for otherwise why are they put to their Catechisme and taught the elements of Faith againe But this were a very strange course For how should they loose it vnlesse perhaps God secretly steale that from them which earst he gaue them which to say is very derogatory to the bounty of God who neuer withdraweth grace once giuen vntill man by abusing it haue deserued to loose it Not loosing it therefore and yet learning it when they come to yeeres of capacity It is a plaine argument they neuer receiued it in their Infancy Seuenthly and lastly there is not the least Habit either acquired by custome or infused from aboue but maketh a man more apt and prone vnto their proper actions For example whosoeuer is possessed of the vertues of Iustice Temperance Liberality Fortitude will readily doe iustly temperatly liberally valiantly it being the nature of Habits to facilitate Actions Tell mee then are the Children of Christians when they come first to be instructed more capable of Christian Religion or more inclinable to holy actions then the Children of Infidels Experience tels vs they are not but are as waxe indifferently flexible any way It is absurd therefore and void of reason to place in Infants the Habit of Faith which yet inclines them no more to the Acts of Faith then those that are without it Now hauing thus briefly demonstrated that Infants haue neither Actuall nor Habituall Faith it followeth in the next place to answer the contrary arguments aboue set downe And first where it is said that Faith is a necessary meanes vnto Iustification and Saluation in as much as none can please God or liue without it I answer in a word it is to bee vnderstood not of Infants But de Adultis of those that are of riper yeeres vnto whom alone Faith is necessary These cannot please God nor liue nor bee iustified and saued without a particular Faith of their owne but Infants by reason of their incapacity through the indulgence of God may Adde hereunto that according to the Tenent of our Diuines it is not the Habit but the Act of Faith that doth iustify in regard whereof they define it by a Motion of the Will grounded vpon an assent of the Mind vnto the truth of the Gospell Vnlesse therefore you grant vnto Infants such a motion both of the Mind and Will which Papists expresly deny and Lutherans seeme to stagger at neither can they bee iustified by Actuall Faith hauing none And seeing without it the Habit auailes nothing at all as being an idle Faith I see not to what end the Habit should bee infused And if it bee to no end neither is it infused For if Nature doe not much lesse doth God any thing in vaine To that of our Sauiour where hee seemeth expresly to affirme that Little-ones belieue I answer first that those Little-ones are not Infants properly but such men as resemble little Children in holy Innocence Simplicity in regard whereof they are elsewhere called by Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Infants Secondly Mat. 11.25 grant it that Children bee also meant yet not such Children as are infants but growne to some stature and capacity For although the Child whom Christ tooke in his armes be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little Child yet was hee both a follower and hearer of Christ and such a one as in some measure could vnderstand such as were those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 little Children to whom Saint Iohn thought it not vnfit to write 1 Ioh. 2.14 For as the text saith hee was one that came of himselfe being called and farther hee was capable of scandall and offence which questionlesse is not incident vnto Infants Lastly to the example of Iohn the Baptist Ep. 57. I answer with Saint Augustin Nec quod factum est in Iohanne contemno nec inde regulam quid sentiendun sit de paruulis figo immò id in illo mirabiliter praedico quia in alijs non inuenio Neither doe I contemne saith hee that which was done in Iohn neither doe I from thence frame a rule what wee are to thinke of little-ones yea I acknowledge it to bee marueilous in him because I find it not in others Moreouer it is not said of him Credidit in vtero he belieued in the wombe but only exultauit he sprang in the wombe this exultation or Springing diuinitùs facta est in Infante non humanitùs ab Infante was done by the power of God in the Infant and not by any humane power of the Infant Or if vse of reason and will were so hastned vnto him as hee did belieue in miraculis habendum est diuinae potentiae non ad humanae trahendum est exemplar naturae it is to bee reckoned among the miracles of Gods power and not to be drawne into an example of human nature And thus much of reasons both for and against the Faith of Infants Now I know it will here farther bee demanded if Infants haue neither Actuall nor Habituall Faith of their owne how then and by what meanes are they Iustified and Saued For it is mercilesse and against all Diuinity to exclude them from either Whereunto I answer in the words of Bernard Epist 77. Saluantur ipsi per fidem non tamen suam sed alienam they are also saued by Faith yet not their owne Faith but anothers Anothers Will you say this seemeth very strange Heare then what the same Bernard yet further addeth Dignum est ad Dei spectat dignitatem vt quibus fidem aetas denegat propriam gratia concedat prodesse alienam It is fit and belongs vnto the dignity of God that to whom age denies a proper Faith of their owne grace should yeeld them the benefit of anothers Faith And againe Nec enim omnipotent is iustitia propriam ab his putat exigendam fidem quos nouit propriam nullam habere culpam for neither doth the iustice of God Almighty thinke that a proper Faith is to bee required of those whom he knowes to haue no proper fault of their owne In which words of Bernard two excellent reasons are rendred why the Faith of another through the grace and indulgence of God should bee auailable vnto them the first because their Jnfancy denies vnto them a proper Faith of their owne the second because besides that Originall Corruption traduced into them from their parents without their knowledge or consent they haue no other sinne of their owne Can they not then by reason of their tender yeeres haue a Faith of their owne It befits the goodnes of God that they bee holpen by the Faith of another Haue they no proper and particular
did the former Ioh. 16.13 Certainly the Spirit that leadeth into all truth is yet and euer shall bee amongst vs vnto the end of the world And as before the writings of the Fathers were hee directed his Church vnto the true sence of Scripture so now I doubt not but if all whatsoeuer they haue written were vtterly lost he would still guide vs therein as hee did them And verily vnlesse wee will bee too vnthankfull wee cannot but confesse that as age through Gods bounty hath had more meanes then those heretofore so through his blessing it hath made further proceedings also in the knowledge of Scripture For besides that wee haue whatsoeuer helps they had we haue ouer and aboue the benefit of all their works together with much skilfulnes in the Originall of the old Testament which most of them wanted and of the new also wherewith some were but little acquainted In regard whereof whosoeuer shall duly compare the ancient Commentaries with those of latter times must needs bee either weake in iudgement or obstinate in preiudice if hee preferre not these Your owne men ingenuously acknowledge so much Art 18. cont Luther It cannot bee vnknowne to any saith Fisher B. of Rochester that there are many things as well in other Scriptures as the Gospels now more cleerely discussed and throughly vnderstood then in ancient times namely because the Ancients had not the yce broken vnto them or because their age sufficed not exactly to sound the whole sea of Scripture In Rom. 5. disp 51. And Salmeron God hath not giuen to all men all that euery age might enioy some truths which the former knew not Euery age hath euer ascribed much to antiquity yet this wee auouch the yonger the Doctors the cleerer sighted And Dominicus Bannes Jt is not necessary that the more remote the Church is from the Apostles times the lesse perfect knowledge of the mysterie of Faith should bee therein because after the Apostles time there were not the most learned in the Church which had dexterity in vnderstanding the matters of Faith Wee are not therefore enwrapped in the more darknesse for that in respect of time wee are more distant from Christ but rather the Doctors of these latter times being godly and treading in the steps of the ancient Fathers haue attained more expresse vnderstanding in some things then they had For they are like children standing on the shoulders of Giants who being lifted by the talnesse of Giants no maruell if they see further then they themselues In Luc. 10. This similitude Stella also vseth to the same purpose God forbid saith he that I should condemne what such and so many wise men haue with one accord affirmed yet wee know well that Pigmies set on the shoulders of Giants see further then the Giants themselues doe Thus they Whereby you see the Fathers haue no prerogatiue aboue vs because they were before vs but wee rather haue the aduantage because wee come after them In a word bee they whatsoeuer you will their seruants wee are not but their fellow seruants sent from God with the same commission to the same end and with the same promises that they were Neither doth their authority more bind vs in that they are our predecessors then our authority shall bind them who many ages hereafter may be our successors But draw we a little closer The ancient Fathers say you are the ground of your Faith What seuerally and single by themselues 〈◊〉 12. I suppose no for there is not one of them as your owne side confesseth but hath his error and I presume you would bee loth to follow them therein The Fathers therefore either all iointly or the more part of them agreeing in one So Canus Loc. lib. 7. c. 3. What the greater part of the Fathers iudgeth that wee professe to bee of the Catholicke Faith So Salmeron also In 1. Ioh. 3. disp 25. When all or almost all Fathers agree in one it is an ineuitable argumeÌ„t And Gregory of Valentia It is infallibly true which they deliuer with one consent Anal. l. 8. c. 8. â—ea an infallible rule iudging And Onuphrius Prim. Pap. p. 1. c. 6. It is rash and foolish and terrible rashnesse to goe against a sense giuen by the Fathers for the vnderstanding of the Scriptures And finally the Councell of Trent which peremptorily chargeth that no man dare to interprete the Scriptures against the vnanimous consent of the Fathers This then vndoubtedly being your assertion as euery way according with the Tenet of the Church of Rome let vs in Gods name trie the strength thereof and see with what security and safety a man may aduenture his Faith and consequently his eternall saluation vpon this ground And first whosoeuer will stedfastly repose his Faith vpon consent of Fathers had need be right well assured which are the authenticall writings of the Fathers For if these bee doubtfull and vncertaine the whole frame raised vpon them must of necessity shake and totter Now that there are bookes more then a good many which in their forefronts are inscribed and entitled vnto the Fathers yet in truth are meerely suppositious and apocryphall I know you cannot bee ignorant Nor Origen nor Athanasius nor Basil nor Chrysostome nor Cyril nor Tertullian nor Cyprian nor Ambrose nor Hierâ—me nor Augustin nor any one almost of all the Fathers but hath suffered notorious wrong in this kind hauing base brats and misbegotten bastards fathered vpon him Which also is so cleere and manifest that Posseuin and Salmeron and Maldonat and Baronius and Bellarmine and all the rest of that side though too frequently they make vse of such refuse stuffe yet euery where in their writings are constrained to acknowledge so much Biblioth l. 4. But amongst the rest Sixtus Senensis especially who purposely recording the works of all the Fathers taketh vpon him to demonstrate as much in euery one of them as in his Catalogue hee passeth from one Father to another So that indeed it would bee but an idle wasting both of oile and time if I should spend many words in proofe of that which is denied of none and therefore I forbeare further to trouble you with particularity Only because in our Conference you so confidently affirmed that Dionysius the Areopagite euen he who was Saint Pauls conuert and Scholler was the right Author of all those books that are now extant vnder his name I must entreat you to haue a little patience while I maintaine against you the negatiue which I then held and for which I stand still engaged vnto you That this Denise is but a counterfait but Diuines proue by sundry vnanswerable arguments I will not vrge them all but cull out the choicest Omitting therefore the Stile sauouring more of three hundred yeeres after then those Apostolicall times and his curious speculations in the secrets of heauen as if hee had beene surueyer thereof or had taken a muster
to deserue or not to deserue credit Con. Parmen l. 5. And Optatus B. of Milenis you affirme wee deny betweene your yea and our nay the soules of the people wauer and stagger Let no man belieue either you or vs Wee are all contentious men Wee must seeke out iudges If Christians both sides cannot yeeld them and part taking would hinder truth Wee must seeke for a iudge without If a Pagan hee knowes not the mysteries of Christianity if a Iew hee is an enemie to Christian Baptisme Therefore vpon earth no iudgment touching this matter can bee found Wee must seeke a iudge from heauen But why knocke wee at heauen seeing herein the Gospell wee haue his will and testament With these Fathers your owne men accord The holy doctrine saith Thomas of Aquin Sum. p. 1. q. 1. a. 8. ad 2. vseth such authorities of profane writers as forraine and probable arguments but the authorities of Canonicall Scripture it vseth arguing properly and necessarily and the authorities of the Doctors of the Church as disputing indeed properly yet onely probably For our Faith relyeth on that reuelation which was made to the Apostles and Prophets who wrote the Canonicall books De verb. Dei l. 1. c. 2. but not on reuelation made to other Doctors if any such haue beene And Bellarmin The sacred Scripture is the rule of Faith most safe and certaine and God hath taught vs by corporall letters which wee may see and read what he would haue vs belieue concerning him And Stapleton Del. con Whit. l. 2. De rat Con. l. 2. c. 19. The diuine Scriptures alone yeeld infallible testimony and such as is meerely diuine And Persius also The authority of no Saint is of infallible truth for S. Augustin giues that honour onely to the sacred Scripture But why vouch I human authority hauing diuine God himselfe by the Prophet summons vs vnto the law and to the testimony Esa 8.20 affirming that if any speake not according to this word it is because there is no light in them Ioh. 5.39 Our Sauiour Christ commandeth to search the Scriptures as which testify of him and wherein eternall life is to bee had Luc. 16 3◠Abraham referred the rich gluttons brethren to Moses and the Prophets assuring himselfe that if they refused to heare them neither would they be perswaded though one rose from the dead The holy Apostle Paul chargeth vs not to presume aboue that which is written 1. Cor. 4.6 in as much as the Scriptures are able to make vs wise vnto saluation through the Faith that is in Christ Iesus 2. Tim. 3.15.16.17 and are profitable for doctrine for reproofe for correction for instruction in righteousnesse that the man of God may bee perfect Luc. 1.3.4 throughly furnished vnto all good works To what end did Saint Luke write his Gospell was it not that we might know the certainty of those things wherein wee are instructed Phil. 3.1 This saith Saint Paul is a very safe course And hence was it that the Bereans searched the Scripture so carefully Act. 17.11 that they might bee fully assured of those things which were taught thē We haue a more sure word of Prophecy 2. Pet. 1.19 saith Saint Peter whereunto yee doe well that yee take heed as vnto a light that shineth in a darke place vntill the day dawne and the day starre arise in your hearts But S. Paul is yet more peremptory Though we saith hee Gal. 1.8 or an Angell from heauen preach any other Gospell vnto you then that which wee haue preached vnto you let him bee accursed Contra Haer. c. 12. What is it saith Vincentius Lirinensis that hee saith though wee Why not rather though I His meaning is though Peter though Andrew though Iohn yea though the whole Colledge of Apostles preach vnto you otherwise then wee haue preached let him bee anathema A fearefull straine for the maintenance of the first Faith neither to spare himselfe nor his fellow Apostles It is but a little Although saith hee an Angell from heauen preach otherwise then wee haue preached vnto you let him bee Anathema It sufficed not for the preseruation of the Faith once deliuered to mention the nature of humane condition vnlesse he comprehended Angelicall excellency also Though saith hee wee or an Angell from heauen Thus you see that the Faith which was first deliuered and is now contained in the Scripture is the soueraigne rule and iudge of all the doctrines both of men and Angels For whatsoeuer the Apostles preached the same is written as Irenaeus testifieth Lib. 3. c. 2. Whereupon Saint Augustin As touching Christ or his Church Cont. Petil. l. 3. c. 6. or any other thing pertaining to our Faith or life I will not say if wee who are no way to bee compared with him that said Though wee but as it is added if an Angell from heauen preach vnto you otherWise then what yee haue receiued in the Legall and Euangelicall Scriptures let him be accursed Happily you will say the Scripture is indeed the rule of Faith and the law of the Church but not the Iudge or if Iudge yet but a mute and dumbe Iudge and if there bee not some externall visible audible infallible vnerring Iudge to interpret Scriptures and to stint all controuersies there will neuer bee an end of quarels neither will there euer bee peace and vnity in the Church Indeed the name of vnity and peace is a goodly thing and a finall end of all controuersies might it bee had were much to bee wished for But I feare the Church will not bee so happy so long as it dwelleth in tabernacles and is militant here on earth 2. Cor. 11.18.19 Otherwise the holy Apostle would neuer haue written thus to the Corinthians I heare that there bee diuisions among you and I partly belieue it For there must bee also heresies among you that they which are approued may be made manifest among you And the generall experience of former ages confirmeth the same wherein God continually hath exercized his Church either with the fire of persecutions that it might appeare who they are that loue him more then the present world or with the tempests of contrary doctrines that it might bee knowne who are chaffe and who wheat who sound in the Faith and who not Besides this mee thinks the facilnesse and easinesse of the way which your new Masters prescribe vnto you should make you much to suspect the goodnesse of it For whereas it is the good pleasure of God that all men should carefully diligently studie the holy Scriptures Psal 1.2 119. reading them and meditating in them night and day to the end they may grow rich in all knowledge and vnderstanding you by your rule may spare all this paines and though you sit still take your ease and fold your hands yet if you belieue whatsoeuer your externall human iudge
iustice but as it is an exercise or declaration or perfection of Faith 12 Concerning the word Faith sometimes it signifieth that sanctifying grace of Gods spirit whereby wee beleeue in or on God that is put all our affiance vpon God in Christ for Iustification and Saluation sometimes a naked assent or agreeing to all the truths contained in the Scripture specially such as are Euangelicall That is only of the Elect this the Diuels haue That either hath works following it as in Abraham or is great in child of works ready to trauell and bring forth if God giue time as in the theefe on the crosse This many times is without works and therefore dead and spiritles Of that S. Paul speaketh of this S. Iames. That sole but not solitary iustifies this being solitary iustifies not 13 In a word S. Paul speaks of the cause of Iustification S. Iames of the Effect S. Paul descends from the Cause to the Effect S. Iames ascends from the Effects to the Cause S. Paul resolues how wee may bee iustified S. Iames how wee may bee knowne to bee iustified S. Paul excludes works as being no Cause of Iustification S. Iames requires works as fruites of Iustification S. Paul denies works to go before them that are to bee iustified S. Iames affirmeth that they follow him that is iustified 14 Others distinguish and reconcile them thus Iustification is sometime vnderstood without implying Sanctification sometime as it implyeth also Sanctification with it In the former sence S. Paul taketh it when hee proueth that a man is iustified by Faith without works S. Iames in the latter when he concludeth that a man is iustified by works and not by Faith only And this I suppose to be a very sound interpretation 15 Howsoeuer that Faith alone without the works of the Law in the sence aboue deliuered doth iustifie these ancient Fathers auouch together with us Origen Cyprian Eusebius Caesariensis Hilarie Basil Chrysostome Ambrose Augustin Cyril Primasius Hesychius Gennadius Oecumenius whose direct and expresse words I can at any time produce Nay these late Papists also least it should be thought that none but Protestants hold it the Canons of Collein the authors of the booke offered by Caesar vnto the Protestant Collocutors in the assemblie of Ratisbon Pighius Cassander Stapulensis Peraldus Ferus and others who count themselues as good Catholiks as they that hold otherwise 16 And this only Faith is so sure an anchor of our soules and suchâ— fountaine of true comfort both in life and death that Charles the fift Steuen Gardiner Sir Christopher Blunt and sundrie others durst not at their death trust vnto their works but vnto Faith in Christ only And Cardinal Bellarmin after a long disputation touching the merit of works is faine to conclude that because of the vncertenty of our owne iustice and the danger of vaineglory the Safest course is to repose all our affiance in the only mercy and goodnes of God So that in his iudgement wee Protestants haue chosen the Safest course I for my part will neuer trust my soule vnto them who leauing so safe a course meane to hazard it through a more dangerous way OF THE AVTHORS AND AVTHORITY OF THE CREED AND WHY IT IS CALLED a Symbole THE inscription of the Creed seemes to father it on the holy Apostles calling it the Symbole of the Apostles So doe almost all the Fathers of the fourth age after Christ and downeward affirming that the Apostles hauing receiued the Holy Ghost at Ierusalem and being now ready to disperse themselues into all parts of the world to preach the Gospell thought it good before their parting to compile this Symbole that it might serue as a pledge of their vnity in the Faith and a canon for their doctrine and teaching Yea some of them proceed so farre as particularly to set downe what article was made by what Apostle whereof see Augustin in his hundred and fifteenth Sermon de tempore Now although it bee very hard for mee to sway against the streame of so maine authority yet can I not but doubt thereof Paraphr in Mat. Praef. and confesse with Erasmus I know not who made the Creed especially hauing so great probabilities for demonstrations I dare not call them that it should not bee done by the twelue Apostles For first were it compiled by them is it likely that Saint Luke writing the history of their Acts would haue omitted so principall a matter Sundry other things of farre lesse consequence hee hath carefully recorded but of this so important and weighty a businesse hee makes not so much as one word mention which certainly hee would neuer haue failed to doe had they done so Adde hereunto that not one of the ancient Fathers who liued within the three first Centuries of Christ speake of any such thing in any of their writings and yet they should best know it whose times were neerest vnto the Apostles This deep silence both of Saint Luke and all those ancient Doctors make it vnto mee more then probable that the Apostles neuer composed it Secondly as the silence of these worthies so the very language of the Creed conuinceth it to bee yonger then the Apostles For the word Catholike vsed in the Creed was not knowne in their time Can any man thinke that the Church should then bee called Catholike when it was not Catholike For when they say this Creed was compiled the Church was scarce begunne among the Iewes and the Apostles had no where as yet preached the Gospell among the Gentils But heare the expresse words of Pacianus Bishop of Barcilona Sed sub Apostolis Ad Sympronian Epist 1. inquies nemo Catholicus vocabatur Esto sic fuerit Vel illud indulge cum post Apostolos haereses extitissent diuersisque nominibus columbam Dei atque Reginam lacerare per partes scindere niterentur nonne cognomen suum plebs Apostolica postulabat quo incorrupti populi distingueret vnitatem neintemeratam Dei virginem error aliquorum per membra laceraret In the Apostles times you will say no man was called Catholicke Bee it so Yet by your leaue when after the Apostles heresies were risen vp and by diuersity of names they laboured to rent and teare in peeces the done and queene of God was it not requisite that those which were Apostolike should haue a sirname of their owne whereby the vnity of those that are vncorrupt might bee distinguished and the error of none might rent in peeces the immaculate virgin of God Thus hee Against which if it bee obiected that the Epistles of Iames Peter Iohn and Iude are called Catholicke I answer the Inscriptions and Subscriptions of the Epistles are not Apostolicall but added to them by some other and sometime vntruly Neither is there any reason they should bee so stiled aboue the rest For neither is the doctrine contained in them more Catholicke then of all the other Epistles neither were they written to all the
Iewes more then the Epistle to the Hebrewes neither were they all written to all Catholicks for the second and third of Iohn were sent vnto priuate persons onely and all the rest as vniuersally concerne all Catholicks as these few tearmed Catholicke doe I conclude therefore the word Catholicke being latter then the Apostles so must the Creed bee also which vses it Thirdly the different relation of the story bewrayes the vncertainty of it for they giue not all the same article vnto the same Apostle Some marshall them iust as S. Luke doth in the first of the Acts others thus Peter Andrew Iohn Iames the elder Thomas Iames the younger Bartlemew Mathew Simon Iude Mathias Againe some of them attribute vnto Peter part onely of the first article I belieue in God the Father almighty and vnto Iohn the other part Maker of Heauen and Earth But others attribute the whole article vnto Peter and giue another vnto Iohn The like may bee obserued in other articles If then they bee certaine of the tradition why doe they differ thus in their reports If they differ thus one from another who can bee certaine of the tradition Fourthly if the Creed both for matter forme were from the Apostles and they deliuered it precisely in those words in which we now haue it why is it not placed in the Canon of Scripture Certainly in the Church although it euer haue been much esteemed yet was it neuer counted Canonicall Neither hath it been preserued so safe from addition detraction mutation as the rest of the Scriptures always haue been For euen in the ancientest times we find great variety in it Ruffin writing a iust comment on it omits that clause Maker of Heauen and Earth And who knowes not how many there are who relating this Creed leaue out the article of Christ descending into hell De Christi anima c. 6 Euen Bellarmin himselfe confesseth that it was not found anciently in all Creeds and hee voucheth for it Irenaeus Origen Tertullian and Augustin though fiue times he expoūd it and finally the Creed of the Roman Church also as Ruffin witnesseth vnto whom if hee had been so pleased he might haue added a whole armie of others whom for breuities sake I omit Finally the ancient Doctors were so farre from equalling it with Scripture that they appealed from it thereunto as to an higher authority Catech. 4. Cyril plainely affirmeth that wee may not beleeue the Creed without Scripture Biblioth sanc Patr. tom 9. And Paschasius against Macedonius shrowding himselfe vnder some words of the Creed appealeth vnto the Canonicall Scripture for that of it saith hee the text of the Creed dependeth Which had they thought it had been from the Apostles in such forme and as now we haue it without question they neuer would haue done Fiftly the reason which they assigne why they composed this Creed discouers the vanity thereof What was that That it might be forsooth vnto the Apostles a canon rule according to which they should square and conforme their preaching What vnto the Apostles to whom Christ promised his blessed Spirit that should lead them into all truth And that himselfe would put into their mouths a ready answer vpon all occasions so that they should not need to bethinke themselues what to say Could they possibly doubt lest any difference or discord should grow among them in matter of Faith who were so guided by the Spirit of truth and vnity that they could not in any point either erre themselues or lead any other into error Surely so to thinke derogateth much from the truth of Christ and imputeth much weaknesse vnto the Spirit of God and detracteth from the certainty of our Faith which dependeth on their preaching So that for this cause it is vnlikely they made this Creed at leastwise to this end De Symb. ad Cat. l. 1. c. 1. Lastly Saint Augustin saith thus not that false Augustin vpon whom those Sermons de tempore are fathered and whose authority is vsually alledged to warrant this legend but the true S. Augustin saith Illa verba Symboli qua audiuistis per Scripturas sparsa sunt inde collecta ad vnum redacta those words of the Creed which you haue heard are dispersed through the Scriptures and being gathered from thence are reduced into one With him agreeth Paschasius De Spirit Sanct. c. 1. De sacris omninò voluminibus quae sunt credenda sumamus de quorum fonte symboli ipsius series deriuata consistit Let vs take out of the sacred volumes what things wee are to belieue out of which fountaine the order of the Creed is deriued Centur. 1. l. 2. c. 4. And Marcellus a Bishop in a letter to Iulius Bishop of Rome professeth hauing rehearsed the words of the Creed Se hanc fidem ex Scripturis accepisse a maioribus secundum Deum accepisse candem in Ecclesiâ Dei praedicare that he receiued this Faith out of the Scriptures and next after God from his ancestors and that hee preached it in the Church of God If then as these Fathers affirme the Creed bee gathered out of the Scriptures how can the Apostles bee authors thereof For out of the old Testament they could not gather that Christ was borne of the Virgin Mary or that hee suffered vnder Pontius Pilate And as for the new many of the Apostles were dead before all was written and Iames before any was written besides that no part of it was written when the Creed was compiled if it bee true which the legend saith And these are the reasons for which it seemeth vnto me more then probable that the Apostles were neuer Authors of this Creed If it be so will some say why doth it then beare the Apostles name I answere because as out of S. Augustin and others we haue shewed the matter therein contayned is perfectly agreeable with the Apostles writings and was collected out of them Moreouer Apostolicall is a terme extended by writers vnto the first three hundred years after Christ Haet sola fides saith Damasus Ep. 5. quae Nicaeae Apostolorum authoritate fundata est perpetua est firmitate seruanda this only Faith which was established at Nice by the authority of the Apostles is firmely and perpetually to be held So Scythianus and Terebinthus are said to haue liued temporibus Apostolorum in the time of the Apostles Epiph. Haer. 66. who yet liued in Aurelians time towards three hundred years after Christ And Isidor distinguishing betweene Apostles and the First Apostles saith that Apostles continued downe vntill Pope Syluester and that the times before the great Councell of Nice were Apostolicall Although therefore the first Apostles were not the founders of this Creed yet those succeeding Apostles were of whom it may be called the Apostles Creed These things being so let it bee obserued thereupon first how friuolously Papists cauill and quarell with vs affirming that wee hold