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
For how could I entertaine any indifferent conceit of that whereof the authors selfe seemed to bee ashamed Neverthelesse before I began to pervse it so farre prevailed I over my affections that I throughly cleered them of all partialitie and presumption yea and grew so rigorous vnequall against my selfe that I was content to suppose I might be in error and he happily the Physitian to cure the disease of my iudgement resolving if I might plainely be convinced to take vnto me Christian severity and recant the same For if I may not hope in this life to aspire to the highest degree of wisdome yet would I willingly rise to some degree of modesty that if I may not in all things say that which is not to be repented of yet I may at least repent me of what I haue said amisse In this temper and disposition I tooke the booke and casting mine eye vpon the front thereof there I found it thus inscribed The answer of Nath. Baxter Bachelor in Divinitie and Warden of new Colledge in Yoghul to the arguments of Mr Io. Downe Bachelor in Divinitie in a controversie of justifying Faith preached by the said Mr Downe in Bristoll Then vnderneath the Question thus stated M. Downe Iustifying Faith is not assurance perswasion or firme knowledge of a mans salvatiō in Christ Iesus M. Baxter Iustifying Faith is an assurance and knowledge of our salvation in Christ Iesu And lastly vnder that againe this passage of Calvin vouched In ad Coloss c. 1. to 6. The Faith of the Gospell is properly called a knowledge of the grace of God because no man ever tasted of the Gospell but he which knew himselfe reconciled vnto God and apprehended his salvation offered to him in Christ In the inscription though it please him in such sort to stile himselfe I thinke to make the reader beleeue that I had met with my peer at least Horat. lib. 1. Sat. 7. and if I were a Bithus he were no lesse then a Bacchius yet could he not without great arrogance challenge those titles to himselfe hauing never taken such degree in either of the Universities and being no more Warden of Yoghul then was Captaine Stukelie Marques of Ireland Gentil exam Conc. Trid. Sess 1. or Robert Venantius in the Councel of Trent Archibishop of Armach As touching the Question that also is very defectiuely and imperfectly propounded for neither doe J maintaine negatiuely alone that Faith is not Assurance but affirmatiuely also that it is Affiance neither doth he only affirme contradictorily vnto me that it is Assurance but further granteth in his Answer that it includeth also my Affiance And as for the passage of Calvin to what end it is here prefixed vnlesse it be to preiudicate mee with the greatnesse of his authoritie I knowe not But as hee would hold it vnreasonable if another should vrge him therewith in the question of Ecclesiasticall Policie conformitie because himselfe is of another minde so neither hath he any reason to presse the same vpon me in this controversie wherein I professe my selfe but with all modestie to differ from him These flashings as it were and inflammations thus appearing in the very face of his booke made mee I confesse somewhat stagger in my former resolution and to doubt lest they might be symptomes of an vnsound and distempered bodie Neverthelesse I was not so driven from my station but that I easily recovered the same againe For fearing lest as the Physiognomer was foully deceiued iudging of Socrates only by his outward Physnomie and countenance so I also might be as much mistaken if by the front alone I should make an estimate of the whole Answer I was soone perswaded yet further to suspend my verdict vntill I had taken a full and thorow survay thereof Which when I had once done then indeed began I to be greatly abashed and vtterly to condemne my selfe of foolish lightnesse and credulity Mat. 7.16 that could hope so suddenly to gather Grapes of Thornes or reape other then tares in the field of the envious man For whereas touching the manner I looked hee should haue followed the Apostles counsell who adviseth to instruct with meeknesse those that are contrary minded if God at any time will giue them repentance to acknowledge the truth 2 Tim. 2.25 he as if he had to deale not with a brother erring of infirmity but some obstinate Heretike condemned of his owne conscience Tit. 3.11 inflames his affections against me in as high a degree as was Nabucodonosors furnace seven times hotter then Christian charity could haue made them And whereas touching the matter I expected that hee who stood so much vpō tearmes of schollership should vse nothing else but Syllogismes and necessary Demonstrations that by pure vertue and fine force he might captiue my reason vnto the obedience of Faith he rather like an idle declaimer trusting more to the noise and multitude of his words then the strength and pregnancy of his reasons traverseth a loofe in vnnecessary and impertinent discourses and puffs vp his empty Answer with the breath of many frivolous vainely affected phrases gaining perhaps thereby applause of the vulgar and simple but from the graue and learned no better entertainment then the Shepheards whistle In a word Cic. l. 1. ep 13. ad Attic. Hist nat lib. 12. c. 19. as the Troglodytes of whom Pliny reports venture vpon the maine Ocean withou◠either rudder or oare or sayle hauing in their boats nothing but man and boldnesse even so my adversary hazardeth himselfe vpon this deepe question and taketh vpon him the Confutation of my Treatise vsing therein nor naturall reason nor humanity nor divinitie but only impudent facing and desperate asseveration The consideration of all which halfe perswaded me at the first not to vouchsafe it any Replication at all but without farther ceremonie to commit it to the mercy of the Moth or the Grocer For how could I reply vnto it but either I must grace it by making it seeme worthy to be confuted or disgrace my selfe by cōfuting so vnworthy a ioy And what should I reioine vnto it That which is serious and of importance I could not because he giues me no occasion Reproch for reproch and slander for slander I might not because it is vnchristian and to answer a foole according to his folly were to proue like vnto him as Salomon saith Prou. 26.4 Howbeit vpon riper aduise and deliberation I held it for sundrie causes if not necessary yet very expedient and fitting to shape him an answer And first in respect of him if it may be to expresse his audaciousnes and to let him see that they oftentimes leap too short who thinke to make anothers impeachement arise for their owne reputation For if a foole be not answered according to his folly Prou. 26.5 he will saith Salomon waxe wise in his owne conceit Then secondly in regard of my owne selfe and the
credit of my Ministery to wipe away the slanderous aspersions and imputations of I know not what strange opinions and dangerous intentions wrongfullie if not maliciously charged vpon me lest if I dissemble them I bee thought to confesse them or to approue them if I refell them not Thirdly and lastly in regard of others and among the rest those my good friends especially who occasioned the preaching of this doctrine partly to preserue from recidiuation such as by the comfortablenesse thereof were recouered out of great distresse and partly to preuent others from falling into the like perplexitie Although therefore I denie not but that good houres bestowed vpon so bad a subiect might haue beene more profitably employed especially considering that by the violent struggling thereof against the rooke of truth it hath whollie turned it selfe into froth and hath not so much as a drop of cleere reason in it yet notwithstanding for the reasons aforesaid and that it may perfectly appeare how stedfast and vnmoued the rocke stands and how little the stormes and tempests raised against it haue preuailed vpon it I haue thought good to skim away the fome of Sophistrie wrought about it and to discouer the very ground whereon it is setled Which when I shall haue done I doubt not howsoeuer my aduersary with his tong-valiantnes and swelling words may haue made vnexperienced folke belieue that with the breath of his mouth hee is able to driue whole armies of arguments before him yet I shall approue euen to the iudgement of preiudice it selfe that whatsoeuer in this windie wordie Pamphlet he hath vented against me is vainer then vanitie it selfe And thus Christian Reader haue I at length fully acquainted thee with the whole story both of the originall and progresse of this controuersie Now it remaineth ere thou passe thy censure and sentence thereupon that thou be pleased to bestow a little paines in perusing our aduersary writings and what thou findest in them said or gainsaid diligently to examine not by the deceitfull ballance of priuate opinion but by the publicke beame of the Sanctuarie euen the Scriptures of God For mans siluer is mingled with drosse Esa 1.22 and his wine is tempered with water neither hath he receiued such a measure of the Spirit as to know all things or to be exempted from possibility of erring but God is light and in him is no darknesse 1 Ioh. 1.5 and truth is vnto him so necessary and essentiall as it is impossible hee should either deceiue or be deceiued it implying contradiction with his nature And therefore the priuilege of infallibility belonging vnto him alone to him alone belongeth also the prerogatiue of supreme iudicature so that whatsoeuer he saith is simply and absolutely to bee belieued whereas the sayings of men are by his word to be tried and determined This I say not to impeach the credit or estimation of any only I would reserue vnto God the Soueraigne authority due vnto him Which if any presume to arrogate or claime vnto himselfe as indeed the Bishop of Rome doth vnto his chaire as if it were made of Irish timber and might not endure a spider to hang his web thereon hee is vndoubtedly possessed with the Spirit of Antichristian pride and like another Lucifer vsurpeth vpon the throne of God But they that are led by the Spirit of Christ and haue beene reputed the worthiest instruments and ornaments in the Church acknowledging holy Writ to be the Standard of truth and the only vnmoued Principle into which all Questions of Faith are finally to bee resolued boldly exact the writings of other men thereunto and meekely submit their owne to be censured thereby Let one S. Augustin speake for all The disputations of men saith he Epist 111. ad Fortunatian how Catholicke or laudable soeuer we ought not to esteeme as Canonicall Scripture as if it were not lawfull sauing the honor due vnto them to disallow or reiect any thing in their writings if happily wee find ought in them swaruing from truth Such am I in the writings of other men and so would I haue others to vnderstand in mee Now therefore to draw to a conclusion seeing to thy vpright censure and arbitrement I referre my selfe and the rule by which thou art to proceed if thou wilt pronounce righteously is as we haue shewed not the opinion of man but the oracle of God I must entreate thee that laying aside all respect of persons thou suffer not thy selfe to bee swayed either with the multitude or greatnes of those that are contrary minded but conferring cause with cause and counterpoising reason against reason thou giue thy iudgement of them as the weight of Diuine euidence shall incline thee For otherwise if like a partiall Festus willing to doe the Iewes a pleasure Act. 25.9 thou demand of me Whither I will goe vp to Ierusalem and there bee iudged of these things before thee I must roundly and peremptorily answer thee with S. Paul V. 10.11 I stand at Caesars barre where I ought to be iudged to the Iewes I haue done no wrong neither may any man deliuer me vnto them I appeale vnto Caesar But if with the same Festus better aduised by his Counsell V. 12. thou say vnto me as hee did vnto Paul Hast thou appealed vnto Caesar Vnto Caesar shalt thou goe then looke what definitiue sentence soeuer thou shalt giue according to Caesars law I meane the sacred Scriptures I shall as becommeth a subiect of the Kingdome humbly submit my selfe vnto it and without further prouocation or appeale quietly and peaceably rest in it In the meane season I conclude with that holy and deuout prayer of Fulgentius beseeching the God of all truth De Praedest to Mon. l. 1. that by his preuenting and pursuing mercy whatsoeuer truths we know which sauingly are to bee knowne he would teach vs in those which already we know to be true hee would keepe vs wherein as men we faile and are deceiued he would correct vs in what truths we doubt of hee would confirme vs and from false and pernicious errors he would deliuer vs Eph. 4.13 that so at length wee may all meet as the Apostle speaketh in the vnity of Faith and knowledge of the Son of God vnto a perfect man euen to the measure of the age of the fulnesse of Christ Amen A TREATISE OF THE TRVE NATVRE AND DEFINITION of justifying faith IF it be true which Tertullian sayth that euen in the very smallest matters regard is to bee had of Truth surely in those weighty profound mysteries of Religion wherein errour doth so much hazard soule and saluation nothing ought more carefully to be respected then the search and finding out of Truth For as the same Father sayth Apol. aduer Gen. c. 46. Although Philosophers Player-like affect the truth as being ambitious of glory yet Christians studiously follow it as being carefull of their Saluation Now among
things Hence the ancient Fathers inuented the word Trinity to signify the plurality of persons in one substance Homousios to expresse the consubstantiality of the Sonne with the Father Theotokos to maintaine the personall vnion of both natures in Christ and six hundred such like words vtterly vnknown vnto former ages Ibid. old matters as the same Athanasius saith Cap. 18. receiuing new names those new names couching vnder them no new meaning According whereunto Vincentius Lirinensis though he would not haue his Timothie to broach new things yet giueth him leaue to teach the same things he hath learned after a new manner Being therfore warrāted both by the precept practice of the Primitiue Church I see no cause but that euen in this point also I may be permitted to vse new tearmes Perhaps you will say that not only the tearme wherewith it is inuested but the matter hereof is also new for so much your questions out of Hierome and Tertullian and the floud of words following with not a drop of reason in them seeme to import Whereunto though I haue already sufficiently answered yet now I adde by way of surplus that many Truths lye a long time hidden in their principles and vnheeded of the wisest which being at length disclosed and brought to light are not therefore new in themselues but onely vnto vs comming newly vnto our knowledge euen as the countrey of America is called the new world not because it is of a latter creation then Europe Asia or Africa but only because it is of a later discouery These Conclusions vntill their dependency and coherence with the principles doe manifestly appeare vnto vs it sufficeth to beleeue them implicitly and in the preparation of the Minde but when they shall bee vnfolded out of their principles and clearly demonstrated vnto vs by necessary deduction from them we are bound to yeeld distinct and expresse assent vnto them And then as it would haue been great folly in the Spaniard to haue refused the gold and treasures of the new world because it was found out not by the old Argonauts but by Christopher Columbus a late sailer so would it bee great sinne in vs to disclaime and renounce the benefit of a truth because it is made known vnto vs not by an ancient Father but by a man of yesterday or to day Iam. 2.1 For this were to haue the faith of God in respect of persons as S. Iames saith and to restraine the gift of the Spirit of Wisdome and reuelation vnto the times of our predecessors as if they only had eyes giuen them to spie out truths and it were impossible for vs to see what they saw not although wee caried the Sunne in our hands as Lactantius speaketh Now then to apply this vnto the matter in hand if the point you quarell at bee not onely new vnto the present custome De Ciuit. Dei lib. 22. c. 7. as S. Augustin speaketh but also contrary vnto reason and the grounds of Faith I confesse it is erronious and iustly may you come vpon mee with your demaunds out of Hierome and Tertullian Ep. 23. ad Paulin. De veland virg cap. 1. who are you whence when that after 400. yeeres you should goe about to teach vs what wee knew not before But if it bee new only vnto vs and not in it selfe then doe I answer your Hierome with Hierome Weigh not truth by time and Tertullian with Tertullian Nor space of times nor patronage of persons nor priuiledge of places may prescribe against truth For that which is no otherwise new is true and as the truth of God is with all reuerence and submission to bee embraced Howbeit this I say not as if I would be thought to bee the first discouerer hereof or that it had laine hid as it were in the pit of Democritus vntill this time For that there is a Faith whose obiect is the Person of the Mediator was neuer yet vnknowne in the Church but hath euer beene manifest euen from the beginning Search the Scriptures and you shall find therein nothing more cleere then this For as in the treatise sent you I haue shewed the whole tenor of them runs thus Hee that beleeueth in mee shall not perish Ioh. 3.16 Ioh. 14.1 Ioh. 1.12 yee beleeue in God beleeue also in mee As many as receiued him to them hee gaue power to bee the Sonnes of God that is to them that beleeue in him c. Rom. 3.22.26 Gal. 2.16.3.22 Phil. 3.9 Iam. 2.1 Reu. 2.13.14.12 Whereunto I adde that in sundry places it is expresly called the Faith of Iesus Christ not because it inhereth in Christ as in a Subiect but for that it hath relation and respect vnto Christ as vnto the right Obiect And that at length it appeareth both that the matter is euery way old though the tearme bee new and that new tearmes may bee giuen to old matters euen of this kind so as they bee proper determined and adequated thereunto It remaineth onely to shew that such is the tearme which here I vse For proofe whereof I say no more but this that if our best Diuines haue conueniently distinguished other Faiths according to their obiects calling one Faith of story because Scripture story another Faith of Promise because the Euangelicall promise a third Faith of Miracles because miracles are the proper obiect of them I see no reason why I may not as freely and as fitly call that Faith of Person which hath for its Obiect the Person of Iesus Christ Neither can I conceiue if this bee an inkhorne tearme as it pleaseth your elegancy to tearme it why Faith of Story Faith of Promise Faith of Miracles should not bee inkhorne-tearmes also But you are a very nice and dainty man you can tast no wine how old or generous soeuer vnlesse the cup out of which you drinke it bee grauen by Myron or Polycletus N. B. But this hath beene the course of all fanaticall spirits in all ages moued with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil 1.14 selfe-loue contention hypocrisie and couetousnesse De Haeresibus ad Quodvult Deum to condemne all others to set vp and stablish their owne fantasies Read Augustine yea see the Ecclesiasticall histories Eusebius Sozomen Euagrius Dorotheus Vincentius c. there shall you see whereupon these Schismes in the Church began Let mee therefore intreate you if you will needs deale in these graue causes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet that you will deale also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 well as becommeth a wise man For otherwise you shall bewray your mind desirous of nouelties hazard your credit offend the Church yea as hee saith take vpon you to glew an egge Diogenianus loosing your labour and making your selfe ridiculous to the best I. D. What hath beene the course of fanaticall spirits in all ages and whereupon they haue been moued to beginne their Schismes in the Church I am not now to learne
number of those wherein because wee all know many things but in part wee may vary in iudgement and yet the foundation of orthodoxall Faith stand safe But you take it I meane de adultis and as I haue said you doe not mistake mee and therefore you deny my Minor which when you say I proue by an instance and six reasons it seemes you passed ouer my reasons perfunctorily and without attention or cared not to let drop of your pen at aduenture whatsoeuer came next to head For I proue the Minor by one instance onely and the arguments following are no more but fiue and conclude not the Minor but the maine Question to wit that Assurance doth not iustify The instance is this Treatise I instance in those our Brethren of Germany who hold that Faith may totally and finally fall away and consequently that there can bee 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 probable Faith is not an Assurance N. B. Whatsoeuer our Brethren of Germany hold is true but they hold that a man may be saued without this Faith Therefore this position is true O hominis acumen argumentum lepidum What mood and figure I pray you was this Syllogisme borne in But proue your Maior for we haue learned Christ otherwise then to tie our Faith vnto the opinions of any one particular Church Yea this argument sauoureth mightily of Popery which I thought you had beene as far from as I know you are in this point from Christs verity and Christian vnity For why I pray you might I reason thus as you doe to proue that works doe iustify a man before God and merit eternall life The Church of Rome holdeth so Ergo the Position is true Ob. But you will say they are no Brethren A. I answer they bee the Church of God if wee belieue M. Caluin and M. Bunny citing this place Antichrist sitteth in the temple of God Ep. Tract of Pacif But hee sitteth at Rome Therefore Rome is the temple of God But I pray you let vs not bee bound to defend the errors of our Brethren neither too hasty to discouer them And that this opinion is an error let the whole course of the Scripture declare Darij Darij Whosoeuer liueth byaboue4 Faithaboue5 liuethaboue3 foraboue1 eueraboue2 But the Saints of God liue for euer Therefore they liue by Faith for euer All the gifts of God be without repentance Faith is the gift of God Therefore without repentance That which continueth vnto the end and is made perfect cannot finally fall alway Perficiet vsque ad finem bonum Phil. 2. Fides est opus Dei Ioh. 6. Ambr. 2. Cor. 6. Aug. in Ioh. Tract 106. col 513. But Faith continueth vnto the end and is made perfect Therefore it cannot finally fall away See what the Fathers say Neque fides vera est si non sit perpetua sed possit deficere Neither is Faith true Faith except it bee perpetuall and cannot fall away Credere verè est credere inconcussè firmè stabiliter fortiter To belieue truly is to belieue without wauering firmely stedfastly and strongly I. D. There is a little triobolar pamphlet commonly called Baxters Logicke the Authour whereof I thinke you esteeme as skilfull in that Art as euer was Zeno or Aristotle himselfe Though I could neuer find in my heart to loose an houre or twaine in perusing it yet I perswade my selfe no man can better resolue you in what mood and figure this Syllogisme was borne But if not satisfied herewith you will needs know my opinion also thus I thinke without all figure it was borne in a peeuish mood For it is farre from my thought and purpose to maintaine that Whatsoeuer our Brethren of Germany hold is true or that Faith once infused can either finally or totally fall away and if you were not either desperately impudent or brutishly ignorant you would not so haue forced my words and obtruded such vnreasonable reasons vpon mee For thus I argue Our Brethren of Germany may bee saued yet they haue not this Assurance Ergo some that haue not this Assurance may bee saued The Maior is grounded vpon the iudgement of Charity and the censure of Gods Church calling and counting them Brethren Such is the iudgement of Beza Sadeel Iewel Epist 2. ad Dudith Posnan Assert conf in notà vnitatis In Apol. and Defence of Apol. De Eccles q. 5. c. 8. In thesi 5. On the Creed Whitaker Reinolds Perkins and whosoeuer is borne within the temperate zone of Christian loue and not vnder the burning region of intemperate zeale or frozen climate of vncharitablenesse The Minor is thus proued because they hold that Faith may finally and totally fall away For whether this Position bee true or false is not materiall in this place onely if they hold so as questionlesse they doe then can they not bee assured which is my Assumption For to bee certaine of Saluation and in possibility of damnation are incompatible and cannot stand together These things being so to what end take you so much paines to shew that it is not alwayes true which some one Church holdeth troubling the Reader with your needlesse Obs and Sols and why doe you alledge so many Scriptures to proue that Faith cannot faile a truth I neuer doubted of For herein you doe but plow the Sea-shore and let flie at Sempronius when it was Titius that strake you Neither is it a matter of any hardnesse or difficulty to refell the most of your arguments if I would spend time and oyle about it for like a bungling work-man you haue marred a good cause with ill handling For example to giue you a little tast of your weaknes this way that wee are not to tie our Faith vnto the opinions of any particular Church you proue because the contrary sauoureth mightily of Popery And yet Popery teacheth not that a particular Church cannot erre nay doth not define that the particular Church of Rome cannot erre but only alloweth that priuiledge vnto the Catholicke or Vniuersall Church Againe to proue that Faith cannot finally or totally fall away thus you reason Whosoeuer liueth for euer liueth by Faith But the Saints of God liue for euer Therefore they liue by Faith for euer May I not now in requitall of your scoffing exclamation crie out O hominem obtusum argumentum stupidum For first you conclude that the Saints liue by Faith which is not the point in question Secondly you haue one tearme in the Conclusion not found in the premisses namely liue by Faith for euer and so your Syllogisme is a meere Paralogisme Lastly if to perfect vp the Syllogisme you vnderstand the Maior Proposition thus Whosoeuer liueth for euer liueth by Faith for euer then doe I flatly deny it for they that liue for euer liue onely in this life by Faith
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
it might bee a generall custome but not a generall opinion and so indeed some of your men turne it off and the Councell of Trent saith that as those holy Fathers had probable cause of their doing according to the reason of the time so without controuersie must we belieue that they did it not vpon necessity of saluation But first this is a question not of Faith but of Fact namely what those Fathers did belieue in this point and in a matter of Fact your selues confesse a Councell may bee deceiued Secondly the sayings aboue related are so plaine and expresse as none can bee more so that it must needs bee extreme madnesse to yeeld vnto this consequent the Councell of Trent that is a few men of yesterday say so and therefore though Pope Innocent and Augustin and other of the ancient Fathers say the contrary of themselues yet must wee not belieue them Thirdly the very Text of Scripture which they alledged to proue their opinion vnderstanding it of the Eucharist as they did manifestly argues they held a necessity of it to Infants Vnlesse you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drinke his blood yee shall not haue life in you Lastly you are to know that the Fathers brought in this of the Eucharist against the Pelagians to proue the necessity of Baptisme thus None can bee saued without partaking of the holy Communion None may partake of the holy Commumunion except hee bee Baptized Ergo none can bee saued except hee bee Baptized The Assumption they tooke for granted the Maior they warranted by the aforesaid text So that the Conclusion must of necessity fall to the ground and Baptisme cannot bee necessary vnlesse the Eucharist also bee necessary And thus haue I discharged this obligation also and haue made good my promise vnto you as touching this point From which together with the other particulars aboue mentioned I conclude that the Fathers haue generally erred and consequently that Consent of Fathers cannot bee a ground of Faith vnlesse you will consent with them in error Which will yet further appeare if you will please to take notice that your own men orderly reiect them notwithstanding their Consent For why should they doe thus after so many vaunts and brags if they thought the more part of them could not erre Yet that so they doe Loc. l. 7. c. 1. n. 1. Rom. 5. learne by these few examples Canus saith that from that place of the Apostle In whom haue all sinned all the holy Fathers with one mouth affirme the Blessed Virgin to haue beene conceiued in Originall sinne as namely Chrysostome Eusebius Remigius Ambrose Augustin Bernard Bede Anselme Erardus Martyr S. Antony Bonauenture Aquinas Vincentius Damascenus Hugo de sancto Victore Yet saith hee though there were no Author to stand against them the argument drawne from consent of all the Fathers is but weake and the contrary opinion is more probably and piously defended Salmeron also beeing hardly beset with the same army of Fathers in the same point quits himselfe like a man thus In Rom. 5. d. 51. To this multitude of Doctors we oppose another multitude to driue out one naile with another his meaning is the learned men of these latter times against the Ancient Fathers Michael Medina confesseth that Hierome Ambrose De Sacr. hom orig l. 1. c. 5. Augustin Sedulius Primasius Chrysostome Theodoret Occumenius and Theophylact to whom hee might haue added diuers others that I say they held there was no difference betweene a Presbyter and a Bishop yet hee reiecteth it as the opinion of the Heretike Aërius That Christ is the true Shepheard mentioned in the tenth of Iohn Augustin Chrysostome Hierome Caesarius Cyril Theodoret Aponius Gregorius Rom. Anastasius Sinaita Prosper Theophylact Euthymius Rupertus Cyprian Leontius Eucherius Lugd. Bede Bernard Anselme Cantear Liranus and many others affirme yet Antid Huang in Ioh. 10. saith Stapleton the Pope is vnderstood thereby All the Ancient Fathers in a manner as Gregory Nazianzen Origen Athanasius the Author of the imperfect worke on Mathew Saint Ambrose Antiq. Iud. l. 3. c. 4. De Decal de legg spec Saint Hierome and generally all the ancient Hebrewes as both Iosephus and Philo testifie diuided the Decalogue as wee doe making the first table to consist of foure Commandements concerning Gods worship and that against Images to bee the second your Church notwithstanding to couer her spirituall fornications and the sacrilegious razing of that Commandement out of your Prayer-books and Catechismes goes against all antiquity diuiding the first table onely into three Commandements Quaest 71. in Exod. and cutting the tenth into two hauing no other colour for it but onely one Augustins single authority To bee breefe In the exposition of this verse In Psal 31. saith Tolet nor the Greeks nor the Latins nor they who follow the Hebrewes seeme to mee to speake perfectly So almost all expound In Mat. 19.11 In Mat. 16.18 saith Maldonat with whom I cannot agree And againe The meaning of these words of Christ seemes not to bee that which all bring whom I remember to haue read except Hilary And yet againe The opinions of the Fathers touching this sentence are diuerse but to speake freely I rest in none of them In Mat. 11.11 13. In Ioh. 6.62 And All the Fathers almost so expound but their interpretation seemeth not to me fit enough And lastly Thus I expound it and although I haue no Author for this exposition yet I approue it rather then that of Augustin and the rest albeit most probable because if more crosseth the meaning of the Caluinists Which last clause I would pray you well to consider for by it not Consent of Fathers but crossing of Caluinists is the rule of truth O impudence O perfidiousnesse to boast and bragge so much of Fathers and yet in truth to make so little reckoning of them But to let you see how the world is cheated by these Impostors heare a little further If at any time saith Cardinall Cajetan Proaem in lib. Moysis yee meet with a sence agreeing with the text although swarning from the streame of the Doctors let the Reader shew himselfe an indifferent Censor neither let any detest it for this cause because it disagreeth from the ancient Doctors For God hath not tyed the exposition of the Scripture vnto the sences of the ancient Doctors otherwise all hope would bee taken from vs of expounding the Scripture This saying of Cajetan is I confesse reproued by some of your men yet is hee defended by Andradius who also saith Defens fid Trid. l. ◠We may forsake all the sences of the Fathers and bring a new vnlike vnto theirs and the Fathers spake not oracles when they expounded the Scripture Maldonat is very peremptory Whatsoeuer many ancient Fathers haue thought Sum. q. 12. 2. 4. whether it bee true Matrimony after a vow the contrary is now true And
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