THE WAY TO HEAVEN SHEVVING 1. That Saluation is onely in the Church 2. What that Church is 3. By what meanes men are added to the Church 4. The Author or Efficient of this addition 5. The time continuance of that worke 6. The happinesse of those that are added to the Church By Iohn Phillips Bachelor of Diuinity and Pastor of Feuersham in Kent Isa. 30.21 This is the way walke in it LONDON Printed by FELIX KINGSTON 1625. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL THE MAIOR and the IVRATS his BRETHREN AND TO THE COMMVNALTIE of the Towne and PORT-LIMME of FEVERSHAM in KENT I. P. wisheth happy societie with the heauenly Ierusalem heere and in heauen Right Worshipfull and Beloued HAppinesse is the common obiect of euery mans desire so that as Seneca saith Viuere omnes beatè volunt There is not a man that would not be happy But there are two obstacles that hinder the attainement of this desired Happinesse One is as hee saith well Sed ad peruidendum quid sit quòd beatam vitam efficiat caligant Their sight is so dimme that they cannot perceiue what that thing is that makes a man happy The other is Si viâ lapsus est If a man misse of the right way In which case Ipsa velocitas maioris interualli causa fit The faster he runnes the farther hee is out of the way Therefore this wise Heathen man doth giue good counsell Decernatur it a que quò tendamus qua We must looke both to the end whereunto wee ayme as also to the way whereby wee may attaine vnto it For the course of the world is vtterly against reason Pecorum ritu se qui antecedentium gregem pergentes non qua eundum est sed qua itur That men indued with reason should imitate the brute and vnreasonable creatures which follow one another though it bee out of the way as if men should goe on not considering what way they ought to goe but what way is usually gone of others But this is non ad rationem sed ad similitudinem viuere not to liue according to reason but according to example not like men but like Apes Now our good Guide who is the Way the Truth and the Life and therefore a better Instructer then the wisest heathen hath directed vs Christians both to the end and to the way leading vnto that end which is true Happinesse in deed and consisteth in the fruition of God by the meanes of sauing knowledge and grace in this life with the rest of the Church Militant heere in earth as also by inioyning his glorious presence with the Church Tâ—iumphant in heauen So that if we follow his direction wee shall know quò qua both whither and by what way we must goe to attaine true felicity here below as S. Augustine saith by faith and heereafter aboue by sight And this is the scope which I haue propounded to my selfe in this Treatise that I might not onely by liuely voyce say This is the way walke in it but as it were by the hand leade you in the way for I am obliged by the bond of dutie as being your Pastour and you my flocke both to pray for you and to direct you the best I can in this heauenly course Which as I haue carefully indeuoured to doe amongst you by the space of almost twenty yeeres so I wish I may with good successe happily continue to our mutuall ioyes through Gods blessing For I can truly say with the Apostle My hearts desire and prayer to God for you is that ye might be saued and with the Prophet Samuel God forbid that I should sinne against the Lord and cease praying for you but I will shew you the good and right way Giue me leaue then I beseech you to stiree vp your Christian mindes to an vnfained desire and indeuour to enter into this way tending to life and happinesse In worldly benefits wee would not haue others to goe before vs why should wee not haue as great nay greater care of heauenly things Our Sauiour vpbraided the chiefe of the Iewes for that Publicans and Harlots went into the Kingdome of God before them And what a shame is it as S. Augustine saith Vâ— simplices Idiotae rapiant nobis Coelum nos cum nostra scientia mergamur in infernum That simple Idiotes should snatch heauen from vs and we with all our knowledge and learning should be plunged into hell Oh let vs not doe our selues so great aniniurie It is the propertie of worldlings who liue not according to faith as S. Augustine speaketh to angle for all their peace and prosperitie in the sea of temporall profits whereas the righteous liue in full expectation of the glory to come Which that you may also doe take for your furtherance this weake helpe in good worth vse it and peruse it I hope you shall finde your labour well bestowed The occasion of this Worke was the interring of our neighbour Master Edward Lapworth Doctor of Physicke It is for the method and matter the very same that was then publikely deliuered by liuely voyce but is now not onely amplified by accesse of those things that the strictnesse of time would not then permit but is also further inlarged into a conuenient Treatise the waight of the matter and fitnesse of these times so requiring If any desire to know the reason of the publishing of it I must ingenuously confesse it was neuer liberally intended on my part but rather extorted and wrung from mee for had it not beene for a furious and ouer-hasty Midwife that drew it out of the wombe by violence this Embryon had neuer seene the light Yet when I did call to minde That Samsons Lyon had honie in it so that out of the eater came foorth meate and out of the strong came foorth sweetnesse I did willingly set vpon this Worke hoping that by the blessing of God some wholesome food and sweet repast might issue out of these bitter beginnings to the refreshing of the hungry soule But to leaue Parables and to speake plainely This Gentleman deceased was noted of all that knew him to bee inclined to the Romish Religion At the Funerall I tooke occasion to speake something of the deceased which either of simple misprision or sinister acception was misconstrued and by some officious hearers carried as newes to such whose eares are patent and gates wide open to receiue the tale-bearer Heereupon the poore Predicant was rated as if it had beene a Schoole-boy by some austere Pedantee and yet the Censor had nothing to obiect praeter auditum but onely by bare heare-say not one auditor obiecting any thing against the Teacher but some godly and well-minded shewing their acceptance did giue him thanks for his labours Now forsooth the criminations or faults obiected were these 1. That the deceased partie was commended being accounted a Papist yea and a seducer The
being a mixt company consisting of good and bad And in this acception it is taken sometimes for the generall â—ompany of professed Christians liuing in any one or more ages thus we call the prime Christians in the Apostles time and the neere adioyning ages wherein the assemblies continued Orthodoxe and sound in the faith The primitiue Church Sometimes also the name Church is giuen to particular Congregations being members of the Vniuersall is The Church of Rome The Church of Corinth The Church of Ephesus and the like Againe in particular Churches the name of Church is sometimes giuen to the Pastors as where our Sauiour saith Tell it vnto the Church Sometimes to the people as may appeare by Saint Pauls charge giuen to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus Take heed saith he vnto your selues and to all the flocke whereof the holy Ghost hath made you Ouerseers to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his owne blood Sometimes the name Church includeth both Pastors and people as in the Reuelation where it is said To the seuen Churches which are in Asia is meant both the Angels or Ministers of those Churches and the Candlesticks or Churches themselues as afterwards it is expounded In this sense is it so often said Let him that hath an eare heare what the Spirit saith to the Churches These distinctions as heereafter we shall see are of great vse for the cleering of many necessary truthes And first of all from hence we may deriue the true definition of the Church whereunto they must bee vnited that euer looke to bee saued It is out of all controuersie that such must be of the number of the Elect according to the first Notion of the Church as hath beene shewed before vpon the point of Election being the first grace and fountaine of all other graces accompanying saluation But yet because the Elect are not subiect to the eyes of men but are onely knowne to God the sacred Scriptures direct vs euery where to the visible Church according to the second Notion for whomsoeuer God doth elect vnto the end those he doth appoint vnto the meanes tending to that end Such therefore as desire saluation must ioyne themselues to the visible Church by the ordinary way and meanes of Effectuall calling Iustification and Sanctification all which Graces expresse themselues visibly to the eye of the world by their effects and properties causing the faithfull to shine as a light in a darke place Let vs come then to the definition of the visible Church which I cannot better commend vnto you then in the words of our Church of England and it is this The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithfull men in the which the pure Word of God is preached and the Sacraments be duly ministred according to Christs Ordinance in all those things that of necessitie are requisite to the same Where we haue the essentiall parts of a true definition namely The generall common matter whereof the Church is materially constituted in these words A congregation of faithfull men And the difference whereby the Church is formally distinguished from all other societies partly in the former words partly in these words following viz. In the which the pure word of God is preached and the Sacraments duly ministred c. To open the definition more distinctly and plainely We call the Church A congregation of faithfull men to distinguish it both from Ciuill and Prophane societies that are without as also from Hypocrites and vnsound members that are within the Church but not of it Againe we say that the Church is a congregation of faithfull men in which the pure Word of God is preached and the Sacraments duly ministred according to Christs ordinance to distinguish the Orthodoxe and true Church from Hereticall assemblies which maintaine doctrine against the foundation as also from Idolatrous and superstitious societies who serue not God aright according to his will reuealed in his Word but after the inuentions and Traditions of men concerning whom Christ alledging the Prophet saith In vaine they doe worship me teaching for Doctrines the commandements of men We adde further In all those things that of necessitie are requisite to the same both to meete with will-worshippers as also with Schismaticall conuenticles who make euery externe and indifferent ceremonie an essentiall part of the worship of God and therefore flye the assemblies of the most Orthodoxe Churches for such externall rites as if they were grosse Idolaters and not lawfully to bee communicated withall From this definition thus explained wee gather three remarkable points carefully to be noted of all that laying aside all preiudice and partiality desire to bee rightly inâ—ormed in what Church they may finde saluation 1. That it is wheresoeuer the society of the faithfull may be found and is not alledged or tyed to any one particular place or person 2. That it is to be discerned from all others by the purity and soundnesse of Doctrine and by the due administration of the Sacraments 3. That it admitteth nothing as of necessitie to saluation or as an absolute and necessary part of Gods worship that is not consonant to the Word of God and according to Christs ordinance in the same Touching the first point that wheresoeuer the society of the faithfull is there is the true visible Church and is not locally or personally tyed to any let Saint Peter the prime Bishop of Rome as they call him determine it Of a truth saith he I perceiue that God is no accepter of persons but in euery nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousnesse is accepted with him Heere is no one Africa in it no one Cartenna no one person or order of Bishops whereunto the Church should be tyed Heere is no Italie no one Rome no one Pope or succession of Popes challenging an allegation or dependance of all Churches vpon it but where true faith and the feare of God is there is the Church of Christ. This was reuealed to S. Iohn in a vision where we may see that the Church is the company of the redeemed out of euery kindred and tongue and people and nation Hee receiued no reuelation concerning any one eminent place aboue all others vpon which all other Churches and their members should depend as their Oracle onely this was shewed vnto him by vision that that great Citie which then raigned ouer the Kings of the earth and that wee know was Rome was resembled to a woman called The great Whore by whom the Kings and inhabitants of the earth haue beene made drunke with the wine of her fornication If our Romists like this let them take it and make much of it wee enuy them not When the Apostles conuerted any to the Faith did they direct them to any particular Country Citie or Church of note and namely to Rome as whereunto they
of Saints for as the Doue found no rest for the sole of her foote but was faine to returne into the Arke againe so let a man compasse the whole world yet shall he neuer bee able to finde rest to his soule till by entering into the Church he take Christs yoke vpon him Let him with Salomon try all things vnder the Sunne pleasures riches honours and what the world can afford he shall at the last be driuen to cry out Vanitie of vanities and conclude when all is done He are the end of all Feare God and keepe his commandements for this is all of man all his duty and all his dignity and without this all that a man is or hath is but meere vanity So much for the first branch The next point to be considered is What that Church is where saluation is to be had A very necessary question for these times wherein we liue in regard there is not a sect or faction in all the Christian world that doth not challenge the name of the Church to it selfe But wee must know that there is nothing more childish then to boast of the name of a thing when the thing it self is wanting We haue a maxime in Logick A nomine ad rem non valet consequentia To argue from the name to prooue that the thing is so because it is so named is an argument inconsequent Our Sauiour â—eâ—s the Church of Smyrna that there are that say they are Iewes and are not but are the Synagogue of Satan And to the Church of Sardi he saith I know thy workes for thou hast a name that thou art aliue but thou art dead The Church of the Laodiceans was of al the rest of the Seuen Churches in the worst condition being neither cold nor hot as we may see in that our Sauiour giueth them not any one commendation at al as he doth to the rest of the Churches giuing them their due praise notwithstanding he doeth withall taxe them for their errours no doubt to this end both to shew his detestation of luke-warmenesse and that where luke-warmenesse in Religion is there is no goodnesse to be expected Yet these Laodiceans as fâ—rre as they were from the true zeale of Religion did notwithstanding boast themselues to bee rich and lacke nothing whereas indeed they were wretched and miserable and poore and blind and naked It is therefore a very silly and simple part to take men at their bare word as our seduced Romanists doe in so waightie a matter as Religion is The men of Berea are commended for that they searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so or no euen which Paul himselfe taught And it is recorded to the praise of the Church of Ephesus that they had tried them which said they were Apostles and were not and had found them lyers And indeed it is veritie that we ought to looke for and not suffer our selues to be carried away with words and shewes For whosoeuer is a good and true Christian saith S. Augustine must know that wheresoeuer hee shall finde truth it belongs to his Lord. Let vs therefore search into this truth that so wee may finde out the true Church where saluation is to be had The Greeke word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it doth signifie a company an assembly or congregation of people called together and is sometime taken for ciuill meetings in Townes and Cities or humane societies sometimes for Ecclesiasticall assemblies and meetings of the Church and people of God as in our Text and euery where is Scripture and Ecclesiasticall writers It is also vulgarly vsed for the place where the congregation doth meet to performe Religious seruice but improperly and abusiuely and is therefore reprehended by Laurentius Valla Many saith hee call sacred Temples by the name of the Church but I know not by what right for indeed the word doth signifie a congregation of men not places Which I would intreate you the rather to note because our Aduersaries in their Rhemes Testament doe with such spightfull words traduce vs for translating Congregation rather then Church They would make the world beleeue with their Bragadochio Campian that the very name of the Church is a Scar-crow to Protestants They might haue moderated their sharpe censure considering that the Translation was answerable to the propriety of the Greeke word or they might haue opened their eyes and looked into our Booke of Articles published twenty yeeres before their Rhemes Notes did see the light or they might haue seene if they had not beene wilfully blinde that in our Booke of Common Prayer the word Church is ordinarily vsed in euery passage in our Prayers and Collects in the administration of our Sacraments in the celebration of Matrimonie in the confession of our Faith at euery meeting of the Church By all which euidences it may appeare how farre the Church of England is from any distaste of the name of the Church But indeed they had their answere long agoe that their Note is false and foolish and that the Translator rather vsed the word Congregation then Church to auoide ambiguitie but after the people were taught to distinguish of the word Church and to vnderstand it for the mysticall Body of Christ the later Translators vsed that terme not that the other was any corruption or the later any correction but to declare that both is one Leaue we the word and come to the thing and matter it selfe The Church out of which there is no saluation is set foorth vnto vs in a diuerse Notion not that there is any more then one true Church but because that one Church is considered in a diuerse respect and is in the parts of it of a different condition The name of the Church comprehendeth sometimes the whole company and congregation of the faithfull that euer were are or shall be to the end of the world within this Notion are included not onely that part which is Militant in earth but that also which is Triumphant in heauen yea the very Angels themselues Therefore it is said that by Christ God hath reconciled all things vnto himselfe and set at peace through the Blood of his Crosse both the things in earth and the things in heauen These are the elect inuisible knowne onely to God in the iudgement of veritie and certaintie The Lord saith the Apostle knoweth who are his and knowne to men onely in the iudgement of Charitie as we may see by the same Apostle to the Thessalonians distinguishing the sound members of the Church from the counterfeit But wee ought to giue thankes alway to God for you brethren beloued of the Lord because that God hath from the beginning chosen you to saluation In a second Notion by the Church is vnderstood the society of those which make externall profession of the truth
It is said in the same sence by Saint Paul that the rocke was Christ because it typically and sacramentally represented Christ. Thus the ancient Fathers did speake and thinke of the Sacrament The Lord doubted not saith Saint Augustine to say This is my body seeing hee appointed it to bee the signe of his body Yet forasmuch as our Romish aduersaries harden themselues in their error vpon a conceit they haue entertained that we hold Sacraments to be onely bare and naked signes it must be knowne for their conuiction that it is but a meere slander which they take to be true vpon the bare report of their guides without so much as either hearing or reading what wee hold The truth is wee hold no such thing neither is the question betweene them and vs whether Christ be substantially present in the Sacrament but de modo concerning the manner of his presence They say by conuersion of the bread into the very body of Christ so that whosoeuer eateth y e consecrated bread eateth carnally the very body of Christ whether it be man beast or vermine that eateth We according both to Scripture and Fathers teach that Christ is pabulum mentis non dentis foode for the minde not for the mouth and is as truely receiued of euery true beleeuer as the bread and wine it selfe Our Church of England is in no point more cleere and plaine then in this affirming that such as rightly worthily and with faith receiue the same partake of the body and blood of Christ. And withall determineth de modo de medio both of the manner and of the meanes in these very words The body of Christ is giuen taken and eaten in the Supper only after an heauenly and spiritual manner And the meanes whereby the body of Christ is receiued and eaten in the Supper is faith Yea and Caluin himselfe at whom their spight is most and whom they most scādalize in this matter doth so plainely deliuer the truth herein with vs that Bellarmine is constrained to confesse that Caluin teacheth that the body of Christ is truly giuen vnto vs in the Supper That our soules are fed with the substance of the body of Christ and that it is not an empty and vaine signe But for the full conuiction of this error the nouelty of it may be sufficient for it is so farre from any Catholike antiquity that Erasmus affirmeth transubstantiation to bee but a late definition And their owne subtill Doctor Scotus auerreth that before the Councell of Laterane it was no Doctrine of faith Which was aboue twelue hundred yeeres after Christ for that Councell was held in the yeere of our Lord 1215. 7. Vpon the former error dependeth another and that is the adoration of the consecrated Host. For vpon this false ground that there remaineth no more substance of bread and wine but the very body and blood of Christ by conuersion they prostrate themselues before it and worship it as God himselfe with that kind of religious worship which they call latria peculiar onely to God And this they doe not onely in the vse of the Sacrament at the eleuation or lifting vp of it by the Priest to that very purpose but to the same end they make reseruation of it and vse circumgestion or carrying of it about in open shewes and processions contrary to the expresse institution of Christ who ordained no Sacrament extra vsum out of the vse of it nor euer said This is my body This is my blood but with an Edite bibite Eate ye and drinke ye so that they can pretend no bodily presence out of the vse of the Sacrament And in it as hath beene shewed before there is no conuersion or transubstantiation And therefore the adoration must needs determine and rest in the creature and so is none other but a meere artolatrie or bread worship and abominable Idolatrie The very heathen could say Who is so mad as to beleeue that to be God which he doth eate And indeede this madnes hath made the heathen abhorre Christian Religion and in contempt of it to say Seeing Christians doe eate the god whom they worship let my soule bee with the Philosophers 8. Their priuate or solitary Masse wherein the Priest onely doth participate the people as in a Theater gazing and looking on which they so highly extoll and make the most eminent part of their Religion and publike seruice consider we it seriously and wee shall finde it without all ground and warrant of Gods Word nay ex diametro directly aduerse and opposite to Christs ordinance For our Lord in the Supper did ordaine a communion of many together not a solitary eating and drinking of one alone by himselfe His mandate is Take ye Eate ye Drinke ye all of it And Saint Paul accordingly calleth the Sacrament The communion of the blood of Christ The communion of the body of Christ And yeldeth a reason from the correspondence betweene the elements and the Communicants For saith he wee being many are one bread and one body for we are all partakers of that one bread And this goodly Masse is so farre from hauing any acquiantance with antiquity excepting only the name that it was not knowne in S. Gregories time so many hundred yeeres after Christ. For then the voice of the Deacon openly in the Church was this Whosoeuer doth not communicate let him depart 9 Their dry diet in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper wherein they depriue the people of the Cup how sacrilegious is it and iniurious to the people In the prime institution our blessed Lord gaue this expresse charge Drinke ye all of it And S. Marke noteth their answerable obedience And they all saith he dranke of it And S. Paul faithfully reporting the institution and according to the practice of the Church often repeateth as well the receiuing of the Wine as of the bread by the people and so exhorteth Let a man saith he examine himselfe and so let him eate of this bread and drinke of this Cup. Here we may see was no drie feast heere was no lame Sacrament like theirs hopping vpon one legge Nay it is a truth so euident that it is by their owne Cassander ingenuously confessed that for the space of a thousand yeeres since Christ in the Romane Church it selfe it was ordinarily dispensed to euery mēber of the Church in both kinds and that saith he by the testimonies of innumerable Ancients both Greeke and Latine 10. Their inuocation of Saints offering vp vnto them as solemne and set praiers as to the sacred Deity it selfe what is it but a manifest derogation and robbing of God euen of his peculiar right which is to be the sole hearer of the prayers of his creatures O thou saith the Psalmist that hearest prayer vnto thee shall all flesh come For we must know that it is the act of