be overborne shal they be compast about by the wicked But the Prophet doth not only complaine Lorde how commeth it to passe that thou handlest vs so hardly of whom thy name is called and bearest with the heathen nations that dispise thee No he breaketh out through extremity of griefe and inferreth violently This procesding is perverse the righteous are thus handled therefore perverse iudgement doth proceede 9 Which illation containeth many things whereof it were better much both for you to heare me to speake if necessity did not draw me to an other taske Paule and Barnabas being requested to preach the same things againe which once they had preached thought it their dueties to satisfie the godly desires of men sincerely affected to the truth Nor may it seeme burdenous to me or for yee vnprofitable that I follow their example for the like occasiō vnto theirs being offered me When we had last the Epistle of S. Paule to the Hebrewes in hand and of that Epistle these words In these last daies he hath spoken vnto vs by his Sonne After we had thēce collected the nature of the visible Church of Christ had defined it to be a community of men a sanctified through the profession of the truth which God hath taught the world by his Son and had declared that the scope of Christian doctrine is the comfort of them whose harts are overcharged with the burden of sin and had proved that the doctrine professed in the Church of Rome doth bereaue men of comfort both in their liues and in their deathes the conclusion in the end wherevnto we came was this the church of Rome being in faith so corrupted as shee is and refusing to be reformed as shee doth we are to sever our selues from her The example of our fathers may not retaine vs in communion with that church vnder hope that we so continuing may be saved as well as they God I doubte not was mercifull to saue thousands of them though they lived in Popish superstitions in asmuch as they sinned ignorantly But the truth is now laide before our eies The former part of this last sentence namely these wordes I doubt not but God was mercifull to saue thousands of our fathers living in popish superstitions in as much as they sinned ignorantly this sentence I beseech you to marke and to sift it with the severity of austere iudgement that if it be found to be golde it may be sutable to the precious foundation whereon it was then laid for I protest that if it bee hay or stubble my owne hand shall set fire to it Two questions haue risen by reason of this speech before alleaged The one whether our fathers infected with Popish errors and superstitions may be saved The other whether their ignorance be a reasonable inducement to make vs thinke they might We are then to examine first what possibility then what probability there is that God might be mercifull vnto so many of our fathers 10 So many of our fathers living in popish superstitions yet by the mercie of God to be saved No this could not be God hath spoken by his angell from heaven vnto his people concerning Babilon by Babilon we vnderstand the church of Rome Go out of her my people that you be not pertaker of her plagues For answere wherevnto first I doe not take the words to bee meant only of temporall plagues of the corporal death sorrow famine fire wherevnto God in his wrath hath condemned Babilon and that to saue his chosen people from these plagues he saith Go out with like intent as in the Gospel speaking of Hierusalems desolations he saith Let thē that are in Iudaea fly vnto the mountaines and them that are in the midst thereof depart out or as in the former times to Lot Arise take thy wife thy daughters which are there lest thou be destroied in the punishment of the Cittie but for as much as here it is said Go out of Babilon we doubt their everlasting destruction which are partakers therein is either principally meant or necessarily implied in this sentence How then was it possible for so many of our fathers to bee saved sith they were so far from departing out of Babylon that they tooke her for their mother and in her bosome yeelded vp the ghost 11 First for the plagues being threatned vnto thē that are partakers in the sinnes of Babylon wee can define nothing concerning our fathers out of this sentence vnlesse we shew what the sinnes of Babylon bee and what they bee which are such partakers of them that their everlasting plagues are inevitable The sinnes which may bee common both to them of the Church of Rome and to others departed thence must bee severed from this question He which saith Depart out of Babylon least you be partakers of her sinnes sheweth plainly that he meaneth such sinnes as except we separate our selues we haue no power in the world to avoid such impieties as by the law they haue established wherevnto all that are among them either doe indeed assent or else are by powerable meanes forced in shew and apparance to subiect themselues As for example in the Church of Rome it is maintained that the same credit and reverence that wee giue to the Scriptures of God ought also to be given to vnwritten verities that the Pope is supreame head ministeriall over the vniversall Church militant that the bread in the Eucharist is transubstantiated into Christ that it is to be adored to be offered vp vnto God as a sacrifice propitiatorie for quicke and dead that Images are to bee worshipped Saints to be called vpon as intercessors and such like Now because some heresies doe concerne things only beleeved as the transubstantiation of the sacramentall elements in the Eucharist some concerne things which are practised and put in vre as the adoration of the elements transubstantiated wee must note that erroniously the practise of that is sometime received whereof the doctrine that teacheth it is not heretically maintained They are all partakers in the maintenance of heresies who by worde or deed allow them knowing them although not knowing them to be heresies as also they and that most dangerously of all others who knowing heresie to bee heresie do notwithstanding in worldly respects make semblance of allowing that which in hart iudgment they condemne but heresie is heretically maintained by such as obstinately hold it after holesome admonition Of the last sort as of the next before I make no doubt but that their condemnation without an actual repentāce is inevitable Least any mantherefore should think that in speaking of our fathers I should speak indifferently of them all let my words I beseech you bee wel marked I doubt not but God was merciful to saue thousands of our fathers which thing I will now by Gods assistance set more plainely before your eies 12 Many are partakers of the error which
of the medicine whereby Christ cureth our disease about the manner of applying it about the number and the power of meanes which God requireth in vs for the effectuall applying thereof to our soules comfort When they are required to shew what the righteousnes is whereby a Christian man is iustified they answere that it is a divine spirituall quality which qualitie receaued into the soul doth first make it to be one of them who are borne of God and secondly indue it with power to bring forth such workes as they doe that are borne of him even as the soule of man being ioined to his body doth first make him to be of the number of reasonable creatures and secondly inable him to performe the naturall functions which are proper to his kind that it maketh the soule amiable and gratious in the sight of God in regard whereof it is tearmed grace that it purgeth purifyeth and washeth out all the staines and pollutions of sinne that by it through the merite we are delivered as from sinne so from eternall death and condemnation the reward of sinne This grace they will haue to be applied by infusion to the end that as the body is warm by the heate which is in the body so the soule might be righteous by the inherent grace which grace they make capable of increase as the body may be more and more warme so the soule more and more iustified according as grace shall be augmented the augmentation whereof is merited by good workes as good works are made meritorious by it Wherefore the first receipt of grace in their divinity is the first iustification the increase thereof the secōd iustification As grace may be increased by the merit of good workes so it may be diminished by the demerit of sinnes veniall it may be lost by mortall sinne In asmuch therefore as it is needfull in the one case to repaire in the other to recover the losse which is made the infusion of grace hath her sundry after meales for the which cause they make many waies to apply the infusion of grace It is applied to infants through baptisme without either faith or works and in them really it taketh away originall sinne the punishment due vnto it it is applied to Infidels and wicked men in the first iustification through baptisme without works yet not without faith and it taketh away both sinnes actuall and originall together withall whatsoever punishment eternall or temporall thereby deserved Vnto such as haue attained the first iustification that is to say the first receipt of grace it is applyed farther by good workes to the increase of former grace which is the second iustification If they worke more and more grace doth more and more increase and they are more and more iustified To such as diminished it by veniall sinnes it is applyed by holy water Ave maries crossings papall salutations such like which serue for reparations of grace decayed To such as haue lost it through mortall sinne it is applyed by the sacrament as they terme it of Pennance which sacrament hath force to conferre grace anew yet in such sort that being so conferred it hath not altogither so much power as at the first For it only cleanseth out the staine or guilt of sinne committed and changeth the punishment eternall into a temporall satisfactory punishment here if time do serue if not hereafter to be indured except it be lightened by masses workes of charity pilgrimages fasts and such like or else shortened by pardon for terme or by plenary pardon quite removed and taken away This is the mistery of the mā of sinne This maze the Church of Rome doth cause her followers to treade when they aske her the way to iustification I cannot stand now to vnrip this building and to sift it piece by piece only I will passe by it in few words that that may befall Babilon in the presence of that which God hath builded as happened vnto Dagon before the arke 6 Doubtlesse saith the Apostle I haue counted all things losse and iudge them to be dounge that I may winne Christ and to be found in him not having my owne righteousnes but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousnes which is of God through faith Whether they speake of the first or second iustification they make it the essence of a divine quality inherent they make it righteousnesse which is in vs. If it be in vs then is it ours as our souls are ours though we haue them from God and can hold them no longer then pleaseth him for if he withdraw the breath of our nostrils we fall to dust but the righteousnesse wherein we must be found if we wil be iustified is not our owne therefore we cannot be iustified by any inherent quality Christ hath me rited righteousnesse for as many as are found in him In him God findeth vs if we be faithfull for by faith we are incorporated into Christ. Then although in our selues we be altogither sinnefull and vnrighteous yet even the man which is impious in him selfe full of iniquitie full of sin him being found in Christ through faith and having his sin remitted through repentance him God vpholdeth with a gracious eie putteth away his sinne by not imputing taketh quite away the punishment due therevnto by pardoning it and accepteth him in Iesus Christ as perfectly righteous as if he had fulfilled all that was commanded him in the lawe shall I say more perfectly righteous then if him selfe had fulfilled the whole law I must take heed what I say but the Apostle saith* God made him to bee sinne for vs who knew no sinne that we might be made the righteousnes of God in him Such wee are in the sight of God the father as is the very sonne of God him selfe Let it bee counted folly or frensie or furie whatsoever it is our comfort and our wisdome we care for no knowledge in the world but this that man hath sinned and God hath suffered that God hath made himselfe the sonne of man and that men are made the righteousnesse of God You see therefore that the Church of Rome in teaching iustification by inherent grace doth pervert the truth of Christ and that by the handes of the Apostles wee haue received otherwise then shee teacheth Now concerning the righteousnesse of sanctification we deny it not to be inherent wee graunt that vnlesse we worke we haue it not only we distinguish it a thing different in nature from the righteousnesse of iustification we are righteous the one way by the faith of Abraham the other way except wee doe the workes of Abraham we are not righteous Of the one S. Paule To him that worketh not but beleeueth faith is counted for righteousnesse Of the other S. Iohn Quifacit iustitiam iustus est He is righteous which worketh righteousnes Of the one S. Paul doth proue by Abrahams example that we haue it of
are not of the heresie of the Church of Rome The people following the conduct of their guides and observing as they did exactly that which was prescribed thought they did God good service when indeed they did dishonor him This was their error but the heresie of the church of Rome their dogmatical positions opposite vnto Christian truth what one man amongst ten thousand did ever vnderstand Of them which vnderstand Romane heresies and allow them all are not alike partakers in the action of allowing Some allow them as the first founders and establishers of them which crime toucheth none but their Popes and Councels the people are cleare free from this Of them which maintain popish heresies not as authors but receivers of them from others all mainetaine them not as masters In this are not the people partakers neither but only the predicauts and schoolemen Of them which haue beene partakers in this sinne of teaching Popish heresie there is also a difference for they haue not all beene teachers of all Popish heresies Put a difference saith S. Iude haue compassion vpon some Shall wee lay vp all in one condition Shall we cast them all headlong Shall we plunge them all into that infernall and everlasting flaming lake Them that haue beene partakers of the errors of Babylon together with them which are in the heresie Them which haue beene the authors of heresie with them that by terror and violence haue beene forced to receiue it Them who haue taught it with them whose simplicitie hath by sleights and conveiances of false teachers beene seduced to belieue it Them which haue beene partakers in one with them which haue bin partakers in many Them which in many with them which in all 13 Notwithstanding I graunt that although the condemnation of them bee more tollerable then of these yet from the man that laboureth at the plough to him that sitteth in the Vatican to all partakers in the sinnes of Babylon to our Fathers though they did but erroneously practise that which the guides heretically taught to all without exception plagues were due The pit is ordinarily the end aswel of the guid as of the guided in blindnesse But wo worth the houre wherein we were borne except wee might promise our selues better things things which accompany mans solvatiō even where we knowe that worse and such as accompany condemnation are due Then must we shew some way how possibly they might escape What way is there that sinners can finde to escape the iudgement of God but onely by appealing to the seate of his saving mercy Which mercy with Origen wee doe not extende to divells and damned spirites God hath mercy vpon thousandes but there bee thousands also which he hardeneth Christ hath therefore sette the bounds he hath fixed the limittes of his saving mercy within the compasse of these tearmes God sent not his owne sonne to condēne the world but that the world through him might be saved In the third of S. Iohns Gospel mercy is restrained to beleevers He that beleeveth shall not be condemned he that beleeueth not is condemned already because he heleeued not in the Sonne of God In the 2. of the Revelation mercy is restrained to the penitent For of Iesabell and her sectaries thus he speaketh I gaue her space to repent and she repented not Behold I wil cast her into a bed and them that commit fornication with her into a great affliction except they repent them of their workes I will kill her children with death Our hope therefore of the Fathers is if they were not altogether faithlesse impenitent 14 They are not all faithlesse that are weake in assenting to the truth or stiffe in maintaining things any way opposit to the truth of Christian doctrine But as many as hold the foundatiō which is pretious though they hold it but weakely and as it were with a slender thread although they frame many base and vnsutable things vpon it things that cannot abide the tryall of the fire yet shall they passe the fierie triall and be saved which indeed haue builded themselues vpon the rocke which is the foundation of the Church If then our Fathers did not hold the foundation of faith there is no doubt but they were faithlesse If many of them held it then is therein no impediment but many of thē might be saved Then let vs see what the foundation of faith is and whether we may thinke that thousands of our fathers being in Popish superstitions did notwithstanding hold the foundation 15 If the foundation of faith doe import the generall ground wherevpon we rest when wee doe belieue the writings of the Evangelists and the Apostles are the foundation of the Christian faith Credimus quia legimus saith S. Ierom o that the Church of Rome did as soundly interpret these fundamentall writings wherevpon we build our faith as shee doth willingly hold and imbrace them 16 But if the name of foundation do note the principall thing which is believed then is that the foundation of our faith which S. Paul hath to Timothy God minifested in the flesh iustified in the spirit c. that of Nathaniel Thou art the sonne of the living God thou art the king of Israel that of the inhabitants of Samaria This is Christ the Saviour of the world he that directly denieth this doth vtterly rase the very foundation of our faith I haue proved heretofore that although the Church of Rome hath played the harlot worse then ever did Israel yet are they not as now the Synagogue of the Iewes which plainely deny Christ Iesus quite and cleane excluded from the new covenant But as Samaria compared with Hierusalem is tearmed Aholath a Church or Tabernacle of her owne contrariwise Ierusalem Aholibath the resting place of the Lord so whatsoever we tearme the Church of Rome when we compare her with reformed Churches still we put a difference as then betweene Babylon and Samaria so now betweene Rome and the heathenish assemblies which opinion I must and will recall I must graunt will that the Church of Rome together with all her children is cleane excluded There is no difference in the world betweene our fathers Saracens Turks Paynims if they did directly deny Christ crucified for the salvation of the world 17 But how many millions of them were known so to haue ended their mortall liues that the drawing of their breath hath ceased with the vttering of this faith Christ my Saviour my redeemer Iesus Answere is made that this they might vnfainedly confesse and yet be farre enough from salvation For behold saith the Apostle I Paul say vnto you that if you bee circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing Christ in the worke of mans salvation is alone the Galathians were cast away by ioining Circumcision and the other rites of the law with Christ the Church of Rome doth teach her children to ioine other things likewise with him
therefore their faith their beliefe doth not profitte them anye thing at all It is true that they doe indeed ioine other things with Christ but how Not in the worke of redemption it selfe which they graunt that Christ alone hath perfourmed sufficiently for the salvation of the whole world but in the application of this inestimable treasure that it may bee effectual to their salvation how demurely so ever they confesse that they seeke remission of sinnes no other wise then by the blood of Christ vsing humbly the meanes appointed by him to apply the benefite of holy blood they teach indeed so many things pernicious in Christian faith in setting downe the meanes whereof they speake that the very foundation of faith which they hold is thereby plainely overthrowne and the force of the blood of Iesus Christ extinguished Wee may therefore dispute with them vrge them even with as dangerous sequels as the Apostle doth the Galatians But I demand if some of those Galatians hartily imbracing the gospell of Christ sincere and sound in faith this one only errour excepted had ended their liues before they were ever taught how perilous an opinion they held shall we thinke that the damage of this error did so overway the benefit of their faith that the mercy of God might not saue them I graunt they overthrew the very foundatiō of faith by cōsequent doth not that so likewise which the Lutheran Churches doe at this day so stifly and so firmely mainetaine For mine own part I dare not here deny the possibility of their salvation which haue beene the chiefest instruments of ours albeit they caryed to their graue a perswasion so greatly repugnant to the truth Forasmuch therefore as it may be said of the Church of Rome shee hath yet a little strength shee doth not directly denie the foundatiō of Christianity I may I trust without offence perswade my selfe that thousands of our fathers in former times living and dying within her wals haue founde mercy at the hands of God 18 What although they repented not of their errours God forbid that I should open my mouth to gainsay that which Christ himselfe hath spoken Except yee repent yee shall all perish And if they did not repent they perished But withall note that wee haue the benefit of a double repentance the least sinne which wee commit in deed thought or word is death without repentance Yet how manie things do escape vs in everie of these which we do not know how many which we do not obserue to be sins And without the knowledge without the observation of sin there is no actuall repētance It cannot then be chosen but that for as many as hold the foundation and haue all holden sins errors in hatred the blessing of repentance for vnknowne sins and errors is obtained at the hands of God through the gracious mediation of Iesus Christ for such suiters as cry with the Prophet David Purge me O Lord from my secret sinnes 19 But we wash a wall of lome we labor in vaine all this is nothing it doth not proue it cannot iustifie that which we go about to mainetaine Infidels and heathen men are not so godlesse but that they may no doubt cry God mercie and desire in generall to haue their sinnes forgiven them To such as deny the foundation of faith there can be no salvation according to the ordinary course which God doth vse in saving mē without a particular repentance of that error The Galatians thinking that vnlesse they were circūcised they could not be saved overthrew the foundations of faith directly therefore if any of them did die so perswaded whether before or after they told of their errour their end is dreadfull there is no way with them but one death and condemnation For the Apostle speaketh nothing of men departed but saith generally of all If you be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing You are abolished from Christ whosoever are iustified by the law ye are fallen from grace Gal. 5. Of them in the Church of Rome the reason is the same For whom Antichrist hath seduced concerning them did not S. Paul speake long before that they received not the word of truth they might not bee saved therefore God would send them strong delusions to belieue lyes that all they might be damned which beleeved not the truth but had pleasure in vnrighteousnes And S. Iohn All that dwell vpon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the booke of life Apoc. 13. Indeed many in former times as their bookes and writings do yet shew held the foundation to weet salvation by Christ alone therefore might be saved God hath alwaies had a church amongst them which firmly kept his saving truth As for such as hold with the church of Rome that we cannot bee saved by Christ alone without workes they doe not onely by a circle of consequence but directly deny the foundation of faith they hold it not no not so much as by a threed 20 This to my remembraunce being all that hath beene opposed with any countenance or shew of reason I hope if this be answered the cause in question is at an end Concerning generall repentance therefore what a murtherer a blasphemer an vncleane person a Turke a Jew any sinner to escape the wrath of God by a generall repentance God forgiue me Truely it never came within mine hart that a generall repentance doth serue for all sinnes it serveth only for the common oversights of our sinfull life and for the faults which either we do not marke or doe not know that they are faults Our fathers were actually penitent for sins wherein they knew they displeased God or else they fal not within the compasse of my first speech Againe that otherwise they could not be saved then holding the foundation of Christian faith we haue not only affirmed but proved Why is it not then confessed that thousands of our fathers which liued in Popish superstitions might yet by the mercy of God be saved First if they had directly denied the very foūdations of christianity without repenting them particularlie of that sin he which saith there could be no salvation for them according to the ordinary course which God doth vse in saving men granteth plainly or at the least closely insinuateth that an extraordinary priviledge of mercie might deliver their soules from hell which is more thē I required Secondly if the foundation be denied it is denied for feare of some heresie which the church of Rome maintaineth But how many were there amōgst our fathers who being seduced by the common errour of that Church never knew the meaning of her heresies So that although all popish heretiques did perish thousands of them which lived in popish superstitions might bee saved Thirdly seeing all that held popish heresies did not hold all the heresies of the Pope why might not thousands which were infected with other leven liue and die
vnsowred with this and so be * saved Fourthly if they all held this heresie many there were that helde it no doubt but only in a generall forme of words which a favourable interpretation might expound in a sense differing farre enough from the poysoned conceipt of heresie As for example did they holde that wee cannot bee saved with Christ without good works We our selues do I thinke al say as much with this construction salvation being taken as in that sentence Corde creditur ad iustitiam ore fit confessio ad salutem except infants and men cut off vpon the point of their conversion of the rest none shall see God but such as seeke peace and holines though not a cause of their salvation yet as a way which they must walke which will be saved Did they that hold without works that we are not iustified take iustification so as it may also imply sanctificatiō And S. Iames doth say as much For except there be an ambiguitie in the same tearme S. Paul and S. Iames do contradict each the other which can not be Now there is no ambiguity in the name either of faith or of workes being meant by them both in one and the same sense Finding therefore that iustification is spoken of by S. Paul without implying sanctification when he proveth that a man is iustified by faith without workes finding likewise that iustificatiō doth some time imply sanctification also with it I suppose nothing to be more sound then so to interpret S. Iames speaking not in that sense but in this 21 Wee haue already shewed that there bee two kindes of Christian righteousnes the one without vs which we haue by imputation th' other in vs which cōsisteth of faith hope and charitie and other Christian vertues And S. Iames doth proue that Abraham had not only the one because the thing beleeved was imputed vnto him for righteousnes but also the other because he offered vp his son God giveth vs both the one iustice and the other the one by accepting vs for righteous in Christ th' other by working christian righteousnes in vs. The proper and most immediate efficient cause in vs of this later is the spirit of adoptiō we haue received into our hearts That whereof it consisteth where of it is really and formally made are those infused vertues proper and particular vnto Saints which the spirit in the very moment when first it is given of of God bringeth with it the effects whereof are such actions as the Apostle doth call the fruits of works the operations of the spirit The difference of the which operations from the root whereof they spring maketh it needfull to put two kinds likewise of sanctifying righteousnes Habituall and Actuall Habituall that holinesse wherewith our soules are inwardly indued the same instant when first we begin to be the temples of the Holy Ghost Actuall that holynesse which afterwards beautifieth all the parts and actions of our life the holynes for the which Enoch Iob Zacharie Elizabeth other Saints are in the Scriptures so highly commended If here it be demanded which of these we do first receiue I answere that the spirit the vertues of the spirit the habituall iustice which is ingrafted the externall iustice of Iesus Christ which is imputed these wee receiue all at one and the same time whensoever we haue any of these we haue all they goe together Yet sith no man is iustified except he beleeue and no man beleeueth except he haue faith and no man except he haue received the spirit of adoption hath faith for asmuch as they doe necessarily inferre iustification and iustification doth of necessity presuppose them we must needs hold that imputed righteousnes in dignitie being the chiefest is notwithstanding in order the last of all these but actuall righteousnesse which is the righteousnes of good workes succeedeth all followeth after al both in order and time Which being attentiuely marked sheweth plainely how the faith of true beleevers cannot bee divorced from hope and loue how faith is a part of sanctification and yet vnto iustification necessarie howe faith is perfected by good workes and no worke of ours without faith finally how our fathers might hold that we are iustified by faith alone and yet hold truely that without works we are not iustified Did they think that men doe merit rewards in heaven by the workes they performe on earth The ancient vse meriting for obtaining and in that sense they of Wittenberg haue it in their confession We teach that good workes commaunded of God are necessarily to be done and by the free kindnes of God they merit their certaine rewards Therefore speaking as our fathers did and we taking their speech in a sound meaning as we may take our fathers and might for asmuch as their meaning is doubtfull and charity doth alwaies interprete doubtfull things favourably what should iuduce vs to thinke that rather the dammage of the worst construction did light vpon them all thē that the blessing of the better was granted vnto thousands Fiftly if in the worst construction that may bee made they had generally al imbraced it living might not many of them dying vtterly renounce it Howsoever men when they sit at ease do vainely tickle their hearts with the wanton conceipt of I knowe not what proportionable correspondence betweene their merits their rewards which in the trance of their high speculations they dreame that God hath measured weighed laid vp as it were in bundles for them notwithstanding we see by dayly experience in a number even of them that when the houre of death approcheth when they secretly heare themselues summoned forthwith to appeare and stand at the barre of that Iudge whose brightnesse causeth the eies of the Angels themselues to dazle all these idle imaginations doe then begin to hide their faces to name merits is then to lay their soules vpon the racke the memorie of their own deeds is lothsome vnto them they forsake all things wherein they haue put any trust or confidence no staffe to leane vpon no ease no rest no comfort then but only in Iesus Christ. 22 Wherefore if this proposition were true To hold in such wise as the Church of Rome doth that we cannot be saved by Christ alone without workes is directly to denie the foundation of faith I say that if this proposition were true nevertheles so many waies I haue shewed where by we may hope that thousandes of our fathers which lived in popish superstition might be saved But what if it be true what if neither that of the Galatians concerning circumcision nor this of the church of Rome by works be any direct denial of the foūdatiō as it is affirmed that both are I neede not wade so farre as to discusse this controversie the matter which first was brought into question being so cleere as I hope it is Howbeit because I desire that the truth even in that also should receiue
away the vse of reason doth notwithstanding proue them reasonable creatures which haue it because none can be franticke but they so Antichristianitie being the baine and plaine overthrow of Christianitie may neverthelesse argue the Church wherein Antichrist sitteth to be Christian. Nether haue I ever hitherto heard or read any one worde alleadged of force to warrant that God doth otherwise then so as in the two next questions before hath beene declared bind himselfe to keepe his elect from worshipping the Beast and from receiving his marke in their foreheads but he hath preserved and will preserue them from receiuing any deadly wound at the hands of the man of sinne whose deceit hath prevailed over none vnto death but only vnto such as never loved the truth such as took a pleasure in vnrighteousnesse they in all ages whose hearts haue delighted in the principall truth and whose soules haue thirsted after righteousnesse if they received the marke of error the mercy of God even erring and dangerously erring might saue them if they received the mark of heresie the same mercy did I doubt not convert them HOW far Romish heresies may prevaile over Gods elect how many God hath kept falling into them how many haue bin converted from them is not the question now in haÌ„d for if heaven had not received any one of that coate for these thousand yeares it may still be true that the doctrine which this day they do professe doth not directly denie the foundation and so proue them simplie to be no Christian Church One I haue alleaged whose words in my eares sound that waie shall I adde another whose speech is plaine I deny her not the name of a Church saith another no more then to a man the name of a man as long as he liveth what sicknesse soever he hath His reason is this Salvation in Iesus Christ which is the marke which ioineth the head with the bodie Iesus Christ with the Church is so cut off by many merits by the merits of Saints by the Popes pardons and such other wickednesse that the life of the Church holdeth by a very thread yet still the life of the Church holdeth A third hath these words I acknowledge the Church of Rome eveÌ„ at this present day for a Church of Christ such a Church as Israel did Ieroboam yet a Church His reasoÌ„ is this Every maÌ„ seeth except he willingly hoodwinke himselfe that as alwaies so now the Church of Rome holdeth firmely and stedfastly the doctrine of truth concerning Christ and baptizeth in the name of the father the sonne and the Holy Ghost confesseth and avowcheth Christ for the only redeemer of the world the iudge that shall sit vpon quicke and dead recieving true beleevers into endlesse ioy faithlesse and godlesse men being cast with Satan and his angels into flames inquenchable 28 I may will reine the questioÌ„ shorter theÌ„ they do Let the Pope take downe his top and captivate no more mens soules by his Papall iurisdiction let him no longer count himselfe Lord Paramount over the Princes of the world no longer hold kings as his servants paravaile let his stately Senate submit their necks to the yoke of Christ cease to dye their garment like Edom in blood let them from the highest to the lowest hate and forsake their idolatry abiure all their errors and heresies wherewith they haue any waie perverted the truth let them strippe their Churches till they leaue no polluted ragge but only this one about hir By Christ alone without workes we cannot be saved it is enough for me if I shew that the holding of this one thing doeth not proue the foundatioÌ„ of faith directly denied in the Church of Rome 29 Workes are an addition be it so what then the foundation is not subverted by everie kind of addition simplie to adde vnto those fundamentall words is not to mingle wine with water heaven with earth things polluted with the sanctified blood of Christ of which crime indict them which attribute those operations in whole or in part to any creature which in the wâ—â— of our salvation wholy are peculiar vnto Christ and 〈◊〉 open my mouth to speake in their defence if I holde my peace and pleade not against them as long as breath is within my body let me be guiltie of al the dishonor that ever hath been done to the Sonne of God But a dreadful thing it is to denie salvation by Christ alone the more slow and fearefull I am except it be too manifest to lay a thing so grievous to anie maÌ„s charge Let vs beware least if we make too manie waies of denying Christ wee scarse leaue any way for our selues truely and soundly to confesse him Salvation onely by Christ is the true foundation wherevpon indeed Christianitie standeth But what if I say you cannot be saved only by Christ without this addition Christ beleeved in hart confessed with mouth obeied in life and conversation Because I adde doe I therefore deny that which I did directlie affirme There may be an additament of explication which overthroweth not but proveth concludeth the proposition wherevnto it is annexed He which saith Peter was a chiefe Apostle doth proue that Peter was an Apostle hee which saith Our salvation is of the Lord through sanctification of the spirit and faith of the truth proveth that our salvation is of the Lord. But if that which is added be such a privation as taketh away the verie essence of that wherevnto it is added then by the sequell it overthroweth He which saith Iudas is a dead man though in word he granteth Iudas to be a man yet in effect he proveth him by that very speech no man because death depriveth him of being In like sort he that should saie our election is of grace for our workes sake should grant in souÌ„d of words but indeed by consequent deny that our election is of grace for the grace which electeth vs is no grace if it elect vs for our sake 30 Now whereas the Church of Rome addeth works we must note farther that the adding of works is not like the adding of circumcision vnto Christ. Christ came not to abrogat put away good workes he did to change circumcision for we see that in place thereof he hath substituted holy baptisme To say yee cannot be saved by Christ except yee be circumcised is to adde a thing excluded a thing not only not necessarie to be kept but necessarie not to be kept by theÌ„ that will be saved On th' other side to saie yee cannot be saved by Christ without workes is to adde things not only not excluded but commaÌ„ded as being in their place and in their kind necessarie and therefore subordinated vnto Christ by Christ himselfe by whom the webbe of salvation is spun a except your righteousnesse exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharises yee shall not enter into the kingdome of heaven They