Then to reuiue vs in al goodnes that we may be newe creatures in him The redemption is perfect and was paid by Christ in his owne person on the crosse and resteth vppon his proper discharge in whome wee haue redemption through his blood that is the remission of our sins Phil. 1.14 The life wee liue in Christ through the vertu of his passion and operation of his spirit whereby we are mortified to the world hath not these degrees of perfection because of the imperfection of the flesh wherein wee yet are detained the Law of our mindes beeing hindered by the frowardnesse of our members and fettering vs somewhat in the waies of our full deliuery but yet of our ful deliuery we neede not doubt For as the prisoner being acquit at the bar feeleth the comfort of his release and yet he must go backe to the prison and then in expedient order of time his bolts shall bee knockt off and hee perfectly released so wee albeit wee are pronounced quit by Christ and the enditement bee cancelled and the world and al be crucified and we in hart find the ioy thereof yet in processe of time the perfection of our ioy is finished and not by and by perfected And as they which are ransomed from the Turke though the price be all paide and they are sure it is so and in part their bandes are taken from them yet while they are in their iourney homeward in remembraunce of this old captiuity for a submission al along as they go through the territories of the Turk they are not without some kind of bonds or fetters euen so while wee yet remaine in the vale of sinne in the tabernacle of the body and till wee can quite get out of the Turkes dominions till this corruption shall put on incorruption in another woorlde this present woorld is an hinderance and an hampering and a fettering vnto vs but the nearer wee come to our owne countrey the more wee take our leaue of the world and in the end we relinquish all and enter the perfect perfection of all perfections in Iesu Christ Verse 16. As manie without distinction as walke and are directed according to this rule which is the Canon of the Gospell and the scepter of Christ Paul wisheth them mercy and peace or signifieth vnto them that they haue the promises of peace mercy because they they are the Israel of God for God is not the God of Israel according to the flesh as the false Apostles bear them in hand but according to the faith For circumcision auaileth nothing neither yet is vncircumcision any thing there is no difference in eyther But the new creature in Christ is the Israel that preuaileth with God Circumcision Circumcision was a couenant of righteousnes and a seale of faith and a bond to doe al that God should command his people to do so he that was circumcis◅ was expresly afterwarde bound to the Law which God commanded But as it was a couenant of righteousnesse and of faith so was their faith of a righteousnes in christ to come and therefore because Christ is come that fashion of the seale is dashed out and the forme of righteousnesse commeth by Christ that is to come and to that ende is come that hee might deliuer vs from the Law and be the accomplishment of al in himselfe euen to all that beleeue in him thorough out al the woorld But of this matter hath beene debated very often To draw to an end 17 From henceforth let no man put mee to busines for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Iesus There is no ende of wrangling if a man will follow them who make no conscience what they say or doe For the whole matter as of the pretences of Moses Law of Abrahams name of the people of Israel c. enough hath beene debated if any thing can bee enough and namely diuerse times of circumcision a marke which they laboured vnfruitfully now vnder the Gospell to set in the flesh wherein Paul opposeth the marks which were imprinted in himselfe which hee calleth significantly the marks of the Lord Iesus Whereof a word or two Neither prosperity nor aduersitie are the proper and necessarie markes to discerne the trueth by Since the first beginning when I consider generally the Church of God floting in the waters turmoiled in Aegypt wandering in the wildernes wasted with wars destroied with corporal plagues and led into sundry captiuities I began as Ruth after the haruest of Booz so I after the labors of many others wiser than my selfe to make these euentes as certaine markes to know the Church by In special when I looked vpon the murdering of Abel the sale of Ioseph the lake of Ieremy the den of Daniel the desert of Elias and the like Vnder the new testament when I beholde the pouerty of Bethlehem where our Sauiour was borne and therein the stable and manger wherein hee was laide and so his exile ensuing and likewise the race he ran hauing not any where to rest his head And since til our time for the first 300 yeares when I see the Church most afflicted with tyranny the next 300. most infested with heresies for 800. yeares following beseeged with apostacie and the last 100 and od yeares abounding with swarmes of inconueniences I began as afore so againe to make no reckoning of a florishing successe in the cause of truth and I reade it the better marke of the two to measure doctrine by the hard lotte of the true professor than by the faire prosperity of the world affourded Notwithstanding I would be loth to repute that as a speciall marke of the sheepe of Christ which may bee common to a company of Gotes and may be not incident to the Church of Christ at some better seasons Agar troubled Sara but yet Sara tombled Agar out of doores Ismael persecuted Isaack but the bond brat had no part in the inheritance And albeit there bee a farther learning in these ensamples of spiritual cōfort yet they were also literally true and for the time trouble was vpon the vngodly and the godly for a season was not to be discerned by the marke of aduersity The aduersitie may be the same but the cause being diuerse doth distinguish the aduersity and maketh it sometimes a tast of farder pumshment sometimes a monument of desert and a recalling from sinne sometime a triall of faith an exercise of patience an experience of hope a duety of all men to endure al in expectation of better thinges purchased by Christs suffering and laid vp in heauen whereinto a man must enter by many tribulations On the crosse there were three who suffered a damned theefe a saued soule and the Sauiour of vs al. The penalty of the crosse was one to them al. But yet there was an incomparable difference in their persons The vnquiet man maie purchase a great deale of trouble to no purpose but
this calling is either ordinary and appointed orderly by imposition of handes according to the right touch of conscience in the called and the good choise of the caller or els calling is extraordinarie whensoeuer and of whomsoeuer it pleaseth God immediatly by himselfe to call vnto and enable for the worke of his spirituall haruest Such a calling was Pauls by a voice from heauen at noone whereof himselfe speaketh * Acts. 26.9 I was not disobedient to the heauenly vision and voice Thus was he ordained to his office and as he here addeth neither by men called neither by men instituted but extraordinarily in heauenly thinges a * Numb 10.2 consecrated trumpet put * Rom. 1.1 a-part to preach the Gospel euen from heauen and by God himselfe Called not of men nor by man but by Iesus Christ and God the Father which raised him from the dead Both natures in our Sauiour By the way you will obiect that if Paul were called by Christ and therefore not by man then belike Christ was not man I answere these wordes deny not our sauiours humanity though they rather proue his Deity and Godhead For if ye marke in the same tenor of speech they couple him equally with God and expressely they term God his Father and such as is the Father such in substance is the Son And because the Father is God therefore by consequent necessarily ensuing the Son also is very God And yet marke withall his Father here is said to raise him from the dead Which must needs be spoken of Christs humanity For the Deity neither dieth nor reuiueth neither falleth nor riseth nor is raysed againe Wherefore Paul was called by him that is not denied to be man but by the * 1 Tim. 2.5 man Christ who was both very God and perfect man and so a fit mediator betweene God and man And nowe being thus called in the second third fourth and fifth verses he sendeth greeting wherein would be considered 1. The sender 2. The persons to whom he writeth 3. His entry with an holy salutation 1 He that sendeth chiefly is Paul of whom in part hath beene and in part hereafter shal be declared then they with Paul who sent their greeting are annexed Al the brethren who were with Paul My note is that whereas flesh and blood is of a corrupt nature ful of wrath pride and swelling whereas euery man deemeth his lead to be siluer his glasse diamond whereas some can brooke no superiour some no equal Paul was altogether of a contrary minde of an humble meeke and lowly spirit And albeit his giftes were moe than were al the giftes of many his labours incomparable and his calling Apostolical yet hee calleth euery of them that were with him brethren and conioyneth them with himselfe in his owne Epistle A charitable consent in Christians most forceable to persuade in cases of Christianitie And this was then and wil be euer as it were a twisted cord of greatest strēgth the better able to draw men to christ when Christians drawe all one way and driue against sinne and lift all with one shoulder to further the trueth and altogether liue in charitable manner like brethren one with an other Paul and all the brethren He excepteth none that includeth all and he accepteth of all that excludeth none The persons to whom the Epistle is directed 2 To the Churches of Galatia The * The name of the Church taken diuersly name of the church is diuersly takē either for the whole Church catholicke in times persons and places or for the parces of the whole professing in earth the Catholicke faith And therein as euery part of the sea is called the sea as the English the Spanish and the French Sea is termed the Sea euen so euerie part of the whole Church professing the trueth may and doth well receaue the name of the Church as the Church of England is the Church and the Church of Scotland the Church c. And because in Galatia their congregations were copious they are plurallie termed the Churches Whole churches may be seduced And herein it were not amisse to be noted that not only some smal church truly so called though in some pointes vnperfect but many Churches may tread awry whole populous Churches may be seduced Psal 116.11 For truely men whether sole single or assembled and making a Church or churches are but men and therefore prone to sinne and soone deceaued and as the moone doth often ecclypse so Churches may sometimes erre Men cannot his stil the white shal they not therefore aime at the marke And yet an other good obseruation it is that if any man therefore will needes be wilfull vnwilling to contend to perfection because all men necessarily haue imperfections verily that man is vnwise and wanteth grace and can be no child of the Church of God which is an house of such men as inuocate and call vpon the holy name of God 2 Tim. 2.19 And whosoeuer so doth of duty must euermore more and more depart as far as he possiblely may from all iniquitie And to this end both euery where Paul preacheth and here writeth and wisheth as followeth The greeting 3 Grace and Peace Grace is Gods fauour peace signifieth gods blessing in * Gen. 43.23 a prosperous estate Grace goeth before and Peace followeth after and both proceede by the meanes of Christ our Sauiour Rhemish Test Pag. 384. Wherein I cannot omit a Rhemish and a peeuish note that misliketh the vsage of this salutation appropriating it to the Apostles without all reason and foolishly inferring that because Heretickes and namely Manicheus haue vsed it therefore we maie not vse it * The salutations were vsed of the Apostles may be vsed by others I pray you why did Paul request that mutuall prayers bee made for him if others might not praie for him as hee did for them And why may not al pray especially for Grace and Peace Or may I not wish them to my selfe Or if to my selfe why not to my * Rom. 13.9 neighbour Or wherein lieth the lette May I not wish a man Gods grace Or may I not pray for the peace of men Or may I pray at all and can I praie almost for anie thing and not for these thinges and with these wordes For the other point that Manicheus did vse it * Epiphanius haeres 66. I finde hee did And what of that The best things either in hypocrisie may be pretended for hypocrites pretend not the worst or else the best thinges to purposes may bee abused And what then The Pharisie abuseth his long praiers the tempter abused the holie Scriptures the Corinthians abused the Sacraments Baptisme and the Supper and Manicheus abused this good salutation which yet is not the thing is so found fault with in him But hee tooke vpon him to be an Apostle as the woorde is
these vnwise Galathians that would gadde and runne after euery false Apostle that would but holde vp his finger The reproofe of the seducers 2 These are reproued as they well deserued for corrupt minded men purposely set egerly bent and fully * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intending to tourmoile the Church and peruert the Gospell of Christ To sower his dowe and to soder his goulde to trouble his trueth and the cleare water of their Christian profession they were entred into by Pauls teaching and their Baptisme Therefore Paul is earnest because the mysterie of the false Apostles endeuours had not altogether peruerted them yet hee forewarneth what in part they had doone and what in fine their sleights would effect euen in precise terms a full diuorst betwixt Christ and them And therefore he foretelleth the imminent daunger to the seduced and bouldly denounceth a Vae and woe to the seducers And whereas not only the name of Moses but of Peter Iames and Iohn also were pretended and therein for that it might bee thought a priuate matter of enuy to name any of these wisely and figuratiuely 1. Cor. 4.6 as vnder the persons of Apollo and of himselfe vpon like cause he dealeth with the Corinthians so here hee putteth a case and maketh a supposall and thereupon auerreth that if not man who euer but if a very celestiall spirit and an Angel from heauen should play the pranckes these men had doone in melling together things of intempered natures namely the Gospell with the Lawe they should defie him and in defiance say Christs curse come to him The Gospel The preaching of the Gospel was so carefully regarded of Paul so certainely receiued of the Galathians so glorious in it selfe so respected of God that neither the Lawe of Moses nor the names of men nor the Doctrine of Angels were to be compared much lesse preferred Yet lest in caring neither for high nor lowe the Apostle might be deemed to haue ouer-shotte himselfe in choler of minde and heate of wordes distinctly and aduisedly he repeateth them once again and farther manifestly to shew that hee doth what hee doth and speaketh what hee speaketh vpon due considerations and firme grounds he laieth open his hart and meaning more at large 10 Doe I nowe perswade men or God Either doe I seeke to please men For if I yet pleased men I should not bee the seruant of Christ The sense is not obscure What doe I saith Paul perswade I man or God Doe I curry fauour with the world Or pretend I mens names in Gods matters Seeke I to please mens fansies Or feare I their faces Serue I two so contrary masters I cannot I doe not You may ghesse who iugled in this case with both For the Apostle seemeth to point at or rather to paint out some In this speech I marke two thinges The hard lot of the preacher but yet his necessarie duetie manie times to displease 1. The great frowardenesse of man 2. The strict or hard condicion of the man of god to serue him alone and in seruing him to displease man Mans wisedome must not be controled or his will thwarted corruption will not be salted but we are the salt of the earth and the seruantes of God Saint Paul could not glauer we must not flatter If we doe as he did we doe as we should If otherwise wee serue not God but men and men and not God must pay vs our wages But were wee the suger of the earth and seruantes of men to feede their fancies and to speak to their humors how would men admire vs and our doctrine flocke to our sermons and frequent our lectures But because we are * Mat. 5.13 salt and salt is sharp because our endeuour is to profit you and to please God whom wee serue and not your itching eares our persons are the lesse esteemed and our teachings refused But to the text Now when Saint Paul had shewed his encent and vttered his meaning and declared how he stood vpon his necessarie duetie due to Christ and in Christ alone hee putteth it downe plainly whence he receiued this doctrine and how and wherevpon grew this his so weighty a charge 11 Now I certifie you brethren that the Gospel which was preached of me was not after man 12 For neither receaued I it of man neither was I taught it but by the reuelation of Iesus Christ Saint Paul goeth not to woork at auentures hee standetâ—â—ot vpon vncertainties hee neither bought not stole the letters of his orders hee was not as * Iere. 28.15 Hannany that ran before hee was sent neither was his doctrine as * Num. 3.4 strange fier For he taught them that which himselfe was taught euen by Christ In somuch that if others were immediatly called to the Apostle ship so was Paul and that by no means of men as wel as any But hereof before 13 For ye haue hard of my conuersation in time past in the Iewish Religion how that I persecuted the Church of God extremelie and wasted it 14 And profited in the Iewish Religion aboue many of my companions of mine owne nation and was much more zealous of the traditions of my fathers Paul enlargeth the former matter of the vnlikelihood of his learning any thing by man most euidentlie by the tenour and race of his former life His whole conuersation continual practise his earnest zeale was quite a contrarie way and might he haue had his own foorth when he caried other manner of letters to Damascus Acts. 9.3 than are these he now writeth to Galatia hee would haue made a quick dispatch of Christian profession Yet no doubt many an olde heade might did get before Paul in deuising harme but Paul hied him after not * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an equal of his in yeares but was his inferior yea far behind him in his zeale So fast he profited in the Iewish religion that it was impossible for a maÌ„ to hold him back or hinder his course But wheÌ„ he was thus in al hast posting to Damascus God turneth him another waie sendeth him into Arabia then brought him back another man 15 But when it pleased God which had separated mee from my Mothers wombe and called me by his grace 16 To reueile his Sonne in me that I should preach him among the Gentiles immediatlie I communicated not with flesh and blood 17 Neither came I againe to Ierusalem to them which were Apostles before me but I went into Arabia and turned againe into Damascus When you looke vpon Paul in part describing himselfe or when you read his fury laid foorth in the Acts by Luke Acts. 9. 22. no maruel if you maruel how he should be thus chaunged But looke also and see the meanes of his chaunge for hee sheweth in these verses wherein because the Text is plaine some fewe obseruations wil be best as 1. Of the cause of
cause Pauls doing is a better president But such wisedome courage constancy are not euery where found and not alwaies there perfourmed where they are much expected and greatly required Of all things a busie waspe and a quarelling or stubborne curst nature is woorst But if the cause be Gods if thy calling and giftes be according there is no * Eccl. 4.28 relenting at al no starting backe no shutting neck out of the coller in such cases in cases whereunto a man is expresly duly enabled warranted commanded Zeale without discretion is naught discretiō without zeal is nothing worth Wherefore 1. zeal without wisedome is neuer good 2. And yet what is wisedome without zeal 3. But zeal and discretion seemely vnited in one as it was in our Apostle is as the throne of wise Solomon and as the strong * 1 King 10.20 Lions at the staies and ascending vp vnto his throne 6 By them which seemed to be somwhat I was not taught whatsoeuer they were in time past it maketh no matter to mee God accepteth no mans person the chiefe added nothing to me 7 But contrariwise when they sawe that the Gospel ouer the vncircumcision was committed vnto me as the Gospell ouer the Circumcision was vnto Peter 8 For he that was mightie by Peter in the Apostleship ouer the circumcision was also mightie by me toward the Gentiles 9 And when Iames and Cephas Iohn knewe of the grace that was giuen vnto mee which are counted to bee pillars they gaue to mee and to Barnabas the right handes of fellowship that we should preach vnto the Gentiles and they vnto circumcision 10 Warning only that we should remember the poore which also I was diligent to do Paul in his conference gaue no place to the chiefe and the chiefe brethren gaue nothing to Paul by waie of authorizing his person or adding to his doctrine 1. and hee sheweth why it should be so 2. and withall declareth the chiefe Apostles due consenting vnto him 3. and onely requesting him to haue a careful eye to the poore which Paul respected and did ful diligently The motiue of Antiquity Among the argumentes the false Apostles vsed against Paul a maine matter was made and drawen from Antiquity that the other Apostles were ancienter than Paul and therefore questionles to be preferred Truly personal preferment was not the mark Paul shot at For he could be euer and was often wel content in all things to giue and yeeld so far foorth as might stand with the glory of Christ But in this ceremonious quarel opposed against the trueth of Christ and Christian libertie as before hee defied an Angell if to that end he should come from heauen so now he declareth that the name of Antiquitie in the Apostles might not cary him away nor driue him aside They were his auncients What mattereth that to me saith he And indeede it skilleth litle There is no prescription against the Prince and why should there be any against the trueth be it later or sooner in whomesoeuer This or that time past or present or future and to come is not in the nature of trueth neither are matters of faith measured by yeares nor is any point of religion liable to be decided by continuance pretended Iob. 32. Elihu said well There is a spirit in man but the inspiration of the Almightie giueth vnderstanding As if he had said man is made not onlie of a body but of a bodie and a soule and that soule is a reasonable spirit and that spirite in processe of yeares and tract of time gathereth politique experience as it were a stone that hath been long pitcht in one place gathereth much mosse But all that experience is but mossy terrene and earthly true wisdome is from aboue from the Father of lights and God of knowledge reueiled in his Son which illuminateth euery man not onely comming into the worlde but either entering into or els continuing priuatly or publiquely in the house of his church And therfore Elihu reformeth his thoughts voucheth that he was mis-conceited when he thought that it was the length of daies should speake and that the multitude of yeares should teach wisedome But yet of old and stil many men embrace rather Elihu his first opinion concerning age and antiquity than his later iudgement afterwarde wel rectified and truly reformed So an old prophet soone deceaued the young Prophet whom neither the threats nor entreaty of * 1. King 12. a king could moue at al. So * Iosh 9. old shewes olde battles findes bread torne sackes tottered rags like rotten relickes with profered seruice seruus seruorum and pretence of comming from far deceaued Iosue because hee rather respected such trinkets and consulted not with the Lord. Our aduersaries knowe how humane affections leane this way and therefore they beare the poore people in hand that theirs is the old religion and ours is an yesterdaies bird but with the like trueth and with the same spirite the Iewes said our sauiours doctrine was new the Apostles preaching new wine and the false Apostles here obiect that Saint Paul was an vpstart and deuoid of Apostolick warrant Sooner or later called it skilleth not old or new if true it forceth little If the name of new were alwaies naught why would Christ cal his louely commandement * Iohan. 13.34 a new commanded If the name of old were alwaies good why did S. Paul cōmand aduise the Corinthians that the * 1 Cor. 5.7 old leuen the incestuous person be purged out If you wil recourse to the first heade of all in this question it were another matter For God is for euer and before Sathan and Sathans fal the Lawe was first giuen and then ensued the transgression first the husbandman sowed his ground and afterward the enimie came sowed tares And which is to be obserued there was no long time betweene For Sathan took the next oportunitie of ignorance and securitie euen the next night as it were when the ground was yet new turned and trimmed for seede the enemie sparst some of his tares in the fielde and Church of God And then while truth and error were yet but greene in the blade the difference was not so easily discerned * Mat. 13.25 til the growth was greater And as it is this in the cause of truth compared with error so is it in the professors and Doctors of trueth compared among themselues the first teacher is not alwaies best for then the vsher must needes bee better than the schoolemaister and the country schoolemaister than the vniuersitie Reader Peter and Andrewe Iames and Iohn and others were called before Paul Hee asketh what was that to him There was no difference or prestancy therin He had antiquity enough that had Christ for his author So that in all materiall respects if they were Apostles so was Paul Nay * 1 Cor. 15.10 2 Cor. 11.23 hee laboured more
is the spouse of God and euery beleeuer is a part of the spouse And euery one as in some respects he hath the resemblance of a child so in some considerations he may receaue the name of a mother according to the proportion of duty whereunto he is called For the whole church doth the mothers duty by some of hir principall members as Paul did the mothers part in traueling and being with-child with these Galathians yet Paul himselfe was a child of the vniuersal Church and he that is not a member of this mysticall body is none of Christs the head nor of GOD the Father of all And God as hee is the Father of all things generally by his creation so more specially he is the father of vs his children by regeneration whereby we are ascited into his Church and incorporated into the body of his chosen But this is performed from aboue but yet in the lap and wombe of the Church and by the meane of preaching by the helpe of sacraments and such like benefits of motherly care and prouision in spirituall maner And as the good mother doth conceaue and beare hir children and doth * 1 Sam. 1. nurse them too so doth the Church nurse hir children also and that with the syncere milke of hir two dugges of both the Testaments I say syncere as being neither mingled with water nor marde with soute nor burnt to the pan but * 1 Pet. 2.2 most syncere * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is hir part to offer it so and it is your duties so to receaue it so Wanton children and vnwise lust after and had rather eate chalke dirt and baggage cerimonies rites traditions and such like stuffe But these are but false appetites The true mother and Church will debarre hir children of such foode This our mother is a free woman no Berta not bond as Agar was and such as is the mother such are al hir childrē For she is not partialy fond vpon some of hir children more than vnto some Such then is the state of Gods Church euen a house-ful of Isaakes Sara hir litle-ones Ierusalem yea a heauenly Ierusalem hir free children Not that Ierusalem that thē was now is not but a free city which was from the beginning is from aboue for euer the mother of vs al the chosen of the father the elect of God and the Catholicke Church 1 The Romish stepdame chalengeth these priuileges and layeth claime to this motherhood 1. King 3.22 euen as truly as the harlot before Salomon made title to the other womans child whē she had stifled hir own and had rather the child should be diuided a-sunder than she would seeme to loose hir pretended title And so our mistres of Rome had rather al christendom should be diuided rent in peeces than that shee should not seeme to bee that which shee is not the oecumenicall and catholike mother of al the world Yet 1. shee is Romish and how can shee be Catholicke 2. Shee is too too ceremonious she cannot be free 3. She holdeth by the visibility of the place and therefore is not from aboue as our mother is which is most 1. Catholicke 2. and 3. Spirituall The Church of Rome is not the Catholicke Church 1 Will you that I examine this womans claim a litle The Romish Church is but a particular Church if yet it be a Church and if shee be a mother she is a mother in the Churches behalfe at Rome and not the mother of vs all Paul making mention of our generall mother hath not the least reference in the world to Rome at all As Augustine saith touching the Donatistes that would compasse Christs kingdome within the territory of Africk Ager non est Africa sed mundus so we tel the Papists the fielde of Gods Church is not included neither in Africk nor Italy nor in places annexed and tied necessarily to any one place vnder heauen A local conceat in cases spiritual is a mere fancie It is a special error of the wicked to put confidence in places more in some than in some that with great contempt of some places whom they will not like or doe not loue or cannot fancy The * 1. King 20.23 Aramites being conquered in the mountaines thought that some speciall gods were protectors of the mountaines * Nomb. 22.41 Balaack caused Balaam to change his standing twise as if the effects of blessing and cursing stoode only or rose only out of the places How disdainfully speak our aduersaries as the Iewes did of Bethleem and Nazareth so they of Witenberg Tigurine and Geneua and of * Brist Replie to D. Fulke Pag 120. Rome so proudly that any indifferent man may soone discerne the spirit of Antichrist the tunes of hir that sitteth as a Queene and mother of spirituall fornications vpon the seauen hils and being but a particular place challengeth to be the Catholicke Church of Jesu Christ and mother of Christians The motiue of Names But doe not men call the Romane Church the catholicke Church Indeede they call themselues so as Iezabel called hir selfe a Prophetesse to teach the trueth beeing in trueth a vile witch to seduce the people and to make them to commit fornication The minister of Sardi had a name to liue but he was dead In the Gospel Ierusalem is called the holy city then when she had polluted hirselfe and became profane Bad names fained vpon men by enimies proue nothing And good names shew a duty of doing they proue not the doing of duties The Romane Church should be catholike sound in the truth she cannot be catholcike for direction of the truth in all the world necessarily she more than other places For God that accepteth not persons accepteth not places Act. 24.14 If things went by names Paul should haue bin an arch-hereticke his enimies should haue bin the friends of truth Our * To the reader Robert Points in his Testimony of the Real presence Countriman Robert Pointes thinking this motiue of names able to moue mountaines and desirous to haue themselues fairely cleeped and vs skornfully by a name reproched and specially for that wee are commonly called Protestants either wilfully or witlesly abuseth corrupteth the woordes of Scriptures to his foolish purpose and saith * 2 Par. 24. Quos protestantes illi audire nolebant In the 2. of Chronicles the PROTESTANTS forsooth would not hear the prophets which God sent vnto them In which few words saith Master Pointes the malice of our chiefe Protestants of our daies is manifestly prophesied of and plainly described And this he voucheth to be an admonishment both in name and conditions expresly of their the Protestants extreme malice and stubburnes Of such motiues I doubt not yee haue good store as * The displaieng of Protestants in prol P. 2. Miles Huggard Queene Maries hosier bodged vp to your hands But I
is praised in hir youth I graunt yet no otherwise than other * 1 Thes 1.8 churches but that Rome that was is not the Rome that now is She was a chast virgine while shee was young but hir old bones now are rotten and putrified with innumerable fornications and her praises in hir highest honour were neuer comparable to Hierusalems estimation Why Peter taught in Rome What then Christ taught in Hierusalem But Peter was martyred in Rome And what of that Christ suffered at Hierusalem And I take it the death of either is rather is the shame than the praise of the places But where in what one place not only in the Actes but in anie place in all the Scripture is Rome termed the Hierusalem of the Church Or why is god bound to a visible Church now made vp of the Gentiles more than hee was to the Iewes for to speake of Peters rotten chaire at Rome is a roming vagrant imagination Nay are not the promises of God made with the same couenantes of duety and with the same condicions and prouisoes of forsiting our estate like as did the Iewes if we shal do as they did The ensamples of the old Testament are warnings vnder the new If God forsake Bethel is that nothing to Silo Or if God forsooke Bethel and Silo is that to be neglected of Hierusalem Or if Hierusalem Sion Silo and Bethel be all forsaken is this not to be regarded of the Gentils Cannot shal not may not the church made vp of Gentils with her Hierusalem which is pardy Rome be diuorsed May she not can shee not shal she not be diuorsed If Sem shoulde bee thrust out and Iaphet admitted were this no enstruction to Iaphet Or why are the * 1 Cor. 10. ensamples of former times written Or is God the God of the Iewe and the God of Israel to take vengeance where they sinned and not on the Gentils Or brake hee off the naturall Oliue and will he spare the wild And to whom by name were these last words written Were they not written to the Church at Rome Rom. 11. where she stoode in case then to be broken off which is a word equiualent and of like meaning to the word of diuorsed I graunt shee may crie out the Church the Church the visible Church the Mother-Church and yet the Romish papacy is but a lying strumpet and a harde stepdame to the true members of the Church of Christ and this is the mystery of iniquity sitting in the Church or as Saint Austine saith Aug. de ciuit Dei lib. 20. c. 19. In templum Dei for and in steed of the church and is not the Church but an Antichristian company so that the visible brag and shewe of the Church is not the Church and that 1. Is one point in this question and 2. The other point was that God is not bound to a visibility at all and for both points wee haue shewed sufficiently For for that of the inuisible case of the Church the complaint of Elias is pregnant and then that numbers bearing the name of the Church and bragging of the Temple are but lyars is prooued by the Prophets and Scriptures to haue beene exemplified euen in the best places and whereof in special Rome hath a fair warning by the Apostle to the Romanes We doe not deny but professe and thank God therefore that hitherto since the ascention of our Sauiour Mat. 15. the little musterd seede hath growen to that height that the litle birds haue made their nests therein but the puttock the kite and birds of cruel kind haue come to their nestes and dealt hardly with the small foule yea they haue taken their places and their owne possession and that vnder faire pretences no doubt And the Church and kingdome of God being of condition as the waters of Siloe at the foote of Sion running softly shee maketh small noyce when shee receaueth great iniury yea euen when the Scote Otter haue taken vp their lodging in her tree For if we reuolue such stories of ancient time as but scriueners and writers could afford vs when printers were not and while no enemies wanted yet shall we find that the spawne of heresies was infinit and to this day we see the number of infidels are without number alas what discerning coulde there bee of some one graine or two in comparison amongst so much chaffe At such seasons when the whole church as the Church of Sardy had defiled her clothes Reuel 3. that is to say that outside and outward sight and shew of her selfe might not Bertram in Germany Hus in Bohemia Sauonarola in Italie Wicleue in England Armochane in Ireland take vp almost euen Elias complaint that they were left alone And this was an old course of most ancient time to see the church brought to a narrow strait and a low eb In the dayes of Noe but eight persons were left when the find came In the time of Lot he alone and a few of his were saued when whole fiue cities were destroyed and as Elias complayned that he was alone so Micheas stoode post alone against foure hundred who were called Prophets as well as hee and if then as many tymes else a man should haue be-taken himselfe to the more visible number should he haue done well But you say in the new Testament euer ioine to the most that professe the name of Christianity and you cannot misse In deed I know that the * The motiue of multitudes Motiue of multitudes and generalities is linckt in with the demaund of the visiblenes of the Church For euer the mo the more visible And you thinke you haue the greater number and the mator part yet how long you shal keep them God knoweth but therfore you argue that the truth should be ouerborne with the number of your voyces and the visiblenes of your glory because your pomp is great and your number many and the waters innumetable where the whore sitteth Giue me leaue a litle and pardon mine vnaccustomed length in these quarrels of great importance for as I wish to open the very truth so would I not willingly pretermit their pretenses of truth for maintenance of error While they run alone they are euer foremost and when they buz into your eares and you heare no man but them what maruell if they seduce them that are ready to be missed Actius the Poet. When Actius an old Poet plaied on the stage he pleased euery man very wel when hee pleaded at the bar he neuer got cause and being demaunded the cause thereof his aunswere was that on the stage hee made euery mans part and no man spake but what he deliuered them first and gaue to euery one his kue as himselfe thought best but saith he in the pleading place I cannot carry it so away Mine aduersary replieth opposeth aunswereth and sifteth matters so that I cannot bolster vp a had cause as I
error without al controuersie al-most al the Bishops not only of the East but also of the West whether by force or by fraud relented and consented thereunto yea euen Liberius himselfe was brought to that bent as I haue shewed before And I ask first the faith was in Liberius alone and when he yeelded where and in whom was it then to see to and now can you think that it is good going euer with the most And that the most must needs be best And that it cannot chuse but bee so at the least vnder the newe testament You see it far otherwise in this very ensample The Pope refuseth the motiue of multitudes that Liberius for answere to Constantius motiue of multitudes replieth that his lonenesse marred not the cause for comfort thereof he respecteth the story of old of the three children who were left alone not denying but comparing time with time said that if it might be with the church nowe as it hath beene with her of oulde time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But you call vs to our text the barren woman hath mo childreÌ„ than she that bare many This text toucheth doth it not If she haue mo than many belike she hath very many Compare the number of beleeuers that were in Iewry and the numbers in Christendome and questionles the calling of the Gentils surpasseth innumerably Yet this maketh nothing for sette numbers in a visible forme here in this or that place euer The greater part is not necesarily the better for goodnes is not made of quantities And compare the whole world and the church together and as the Church is better than the world so worldly men are mo than are not onely the true members but then the externe profession of christian faith Shal I argu thus These are many and beeing many make a visible countenance ergo they are therefore the hest and best to bee trusted No. But rather of the twaine the maior part ergo many times and most likely they are the worse part The Church of Christ is a little flock a flocke and therefore many but a litle flock and therfore a small many and smally respected and though many are called vnto yet fewe are chosen and the Church is a chosen company effectuallie called and euen the outward calling and profession is not imbraced of the more part For the way is narrow and fewe take this way but the broade way is trodden of euery foote and it is a beaten path and soone discerned and seene of all and followed of most See saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 1.26 consider your * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 calling not many wise not many mighty not many welthy If not many of these ergo surely not many at al. For the wise the mighty the noble and the wealthy cary long traines after them And as it fared thus in the first entraunce of Christianity and for sometime after yet it was somewhat better in processe and yet returning againe to the condition of the first beginning the wayning will bee like the wexing and when the sonne of man shal come shal he find faith but euen scant and scant as it were an Oliue or two in the outmost bowes after the gathering or as a grape here and there after vintage or as a slender gleaning after haruest True But there are similitudes and parables much sounding to the contrary as that the Church should bee woonderfully populous and that not only in comparison to the Iewish estate but in it selfe it should be as 1 1. A Tabernacle in the sun 2 2. As the city on the high hill 3 3. As the candle on the table al in sight and 4 4. If any man would seeke the Church in the wildernes out of sight nolite exire it were sinne to go after him Sirs so you say and huddle vppe places togither at your pleasures but with litle truth and euer to least purpose in special for your Romane mart and visible monopoly whither you inuite al the merchants of the world to come and buy of you Whether the Church be a tabernacle in the sunne and how 1 In order to answere these your fairest obiections you say god placed his tabernacle in the sunne His tabernacle is the Church the sun doth signifie a visible clearnes and therefore euer you require a clear aspect for the Church And that it may not he said that you suckt all this out of your owne fingers ends or as it was said of him Solus enim hoc Ithacus nullo sub teste canebat you alleage Augustine and that not in one place alone but in sâ—…ry as in Psal 18. Epist 166. contra literâ—… Petill. Lib. 2. Cap. 32. We haue heard you oppose will you heare vs answere 1. First a false translation may corrupt a text and doth not make a text to fit a purpose in commenting without a ground Vndeniably the Psalm treateth of the wonderous works of god and namely that God made a tabernacle for the Sunne in the heauens and not that he put his tabernacle in the Sun 2. Secondly Austens so vsing that translation which hee had doth but allegorize And allegories without other euidences are but conuenient allusions and no probatiue allegations that by Austines owne iudgement Epistola 48.3 3 Thirdly Austen disputing against the Donatists argueth a visibility when it was and which might be against the Donatists who necessarily woulde driue the Church to corners and hide her vnder a cloke and bury her in one hole of the worlde 4 4. Fourthly I might obserue that which Austen himselfe obserueth that at the most the Church is called but a tabernacle a moueable tent no fixt permanent house but a tent a tabernacle now placed in Silo as it were in the Sunne and sometimes in Mispa an obseurer place which thing Austen himselfe obserued and knew wel-enough August in Psal 10. 5 5. Fiftly metaphors borrowed speeches such as these are when the Church is likened to the Sunne to the City on the hill c. They are true according to the distinction of some happy times and not at all times alike come what come shall for an euerlasting continuance Yea occasions may happen when the Sunne may change into darckenesse the Moone into blood the one may blush and the other be ashamed In the Canticles Cant. 6.6 the Church is compared to the Sunne to the Moone and to the Starres but saith Austen when the Sunne shal be darckened and the Moon shal not giue hir light the Stars shal fal from Heauen Ecclesia non apparebit impijs persecutoribus vltra modum saeuientibus the church shall NOT * Aug. Epist 80 APPEARE by reason of the exceeding cruelty of her persecutors And then according to Austens iudgement where wil be that visibility of a Tabernacle in the Sunne when the very Sun in his tabernacle shal be darckened 2