notwithstanding all the miracles they had seene him worke in allmost 4. yeares tyme they continually cōuersed with him which appeareth plainely by the discourse of the disciples going to Emaus when they sayed we hoped c. And expressed their sadnesse for the contrary successe to their expectation and by saint Thomas his saying that he would not belieue his resurrectiō vnlesse he saw him and pnt his fingers into his woundes c. And by the rest of the Apostles that were so long before they would belieue his resurrection as hauing giuen ouer the thought of his diuinity and after his death considered him but as a pure man like other mē Therfore it was necessary that some inward light should be giuen them so cleare and so strōg and so powerfull as the senses should not be able to preuaile against it but that it should onerflowingly possesse ād fill all their vnderstandings and their soules and make them breake out in exteriour actions correspondent to the spirit that steered them within And the reason is euident for whiles on the one side the senses discerne apparantly miracles wrought in confirmation of a doctrine and on the other side the same senses doe stifly contradict the very possibility of the doctrine which those miracles testifye the soule within hauing no assistāce beyond the naturall powers she hath belonging originally vnto her is in great debate and anxiety which way to giue her assent and though reason doe preuaile to giue it to the party of the present miracles yet it is with great timidity But if it happen that the course of those miracles be stopped thē the particular seeming impossibilies of the proposed faith remayning alwayes alike liuely in their apprehension and the miracles wrought to confirme it residing but in the memory and the representatiōs of them wearing out dayly more and more and the present senses and fantasy growing proportionably stonger and stronger and withall obiecting continually new doubts about the reality of those miracles it cannot be expected otherwise but that the assent of the soule should range it selfe on the side of the impossibilityes appearing to the present senses and renounce the doctrine formerly confirmed by miracles vnlesse some inward and supernaturall light be giuen her to disperse all the mistes that the senses rayse against the truth of the doctrine Now the infusion of this light and feruour we call the giuing of the holy Ghost which Christ himselfe foreknowing how necessary it was promised them assuring thē that he would procure his father to send them the Holy Ghost the spirit of truth that should for euer remaine among them and within them and suggest vnto their memory and instruct them in the right vnderstāding of the faith he had preached vnto them And this was prophesied long before of the state of the law of grace by Hieremy whose authority S. Paule bringeth to proue that the law of the Gospell was to be written by the holy Ghost in mens hearts and in their mindes and accordingly he calleth the faithfull of the Corynthians the faith of Christ not written with inke but with the spirit of God nor grauen in stony tables but in the fleshy ones of their hearts And in performance of this prophesy and of Christs promise the hystorie telleth vs that on the tenth day after the ascension of Christ when all his disciples who were then all his Church and were to preach and deliuer it to all the world were assembled together the holy Ghost was giuen thē and that in so full à measure as they not onely were confirmed so perfectly in their faith as they neuer after admitted the least vacillation therein but they immediatly casting away all other desires and thoughts were inflamed with admirable loue of God and broke out into his prayses and into a vehement ardor of teaching and conuerting others and when by reason of that zeale of theirs any thing happened to them contrary to flesh and blood and humane nature as persecutions ignominies corporall punishmēts and euen death it selfe they not onely not shunned it as before but greedily rann to meete and embrace it and ioyed and gloryed in it all which were effects of the holy Ghost residing in them and filling their myndes and gouuerning their soules Where vppō by the way we may note that in what Church soeuer we find not à state of life for sanctitie and neere vnion with God and contempt of wordly and transitory things raysed aboue the pitch of nature and morality we may conclude the holy Ghost inhabiteth not there for euery agent produceth effects proportionable to the dignity of it and the excellency of any cause shineth eminently in the noblenesse of its effects Now that this guift of the holy Ghost is to remaine with the Church as long as the Church remaineth to illuminate it with the spirit of truth and to giue it a supernaturall and diuine vnction will appeare manifestly vpon consideratiō of the cause why the holy Ghost was to be giuen at the first which remaineth alwayes the same and therfore the same effect must alwayes follow and accordingly Christ promised his Church vpō his ascēding into heauen that he would alwayes ramaine with them vntill the end of the world to witt by this holy spirit for he was then at the point of withdrawing his corporall presence from them 15. Our next conclusion shall be that this Church or congregation of men spread ouer the world cōseruing and deliuering the faith of Christ from hand to hand is euen in its owne nature perpetuall in tyme and cannot faile as long as mankinde remayneth in the world This needeth noe further proofe then that which we haue already made which is deriued from the necessity of supernaturall faith to bring mankinde to the end it was created for and that there is no meanes to deliuer this faith to mankinde in the ages after Christ but by the traditiō of the Church and therefore as long as mankinde lasteth this meanes must be cōtinued Yet in this way of reasoning that I vse we are to examine our conclusions as well by the genuine and orderly causes that beget them and by their owne particular principles as to assent vnto them for the necessity that we see in them in regarde of the end that they are referred vnto And when we haue retriued those and euidently discerned theire force it giueth an admirable content and satisfaction to the vnderstanding Thus then as Philosophers conclude that it is impossible any whole species or kinde of beastes should euer be vtterly exterminated and destroyed that is diffused vp and downe ouer the whole face of the earth because the amplitude of the vniuerse is greater then the variety of causes can be from which such a generall and entire corruption must proceed In like manner we may confidently conclude that it is impossible any depraued affections should so vniuersally preuaile and so absolutly raigne in mens mindes throughout the
we remaine here in our earthly habitations imprisoned in our houses of clay as we cannot lift vp our heauy and drowsie eyes ād steddily fixe our dimme sight vpon the dazeling and indeed inuisible Deity nor entertaine an immediate communication with him like the childrē of Israel who desired that Moses not God might speake vnto them it was necessary that God himselfe should descend to some corporall substance that might be more familiar and lesse dazeling vnto vs And none was so conuenient as humane nature to the end that he might not onely conuerse freely and familiarly with vs and so in a gentle and a sweete manner teach vs what we should doe but also preach vnto vs by his example and himselfe be our leader in the way that he instructed vs to take The conclusion then of this discourse is that it was necessary Christ God and man should come into the world to teach vs what to belieue and what to doe 10. The tenth conclusion shall be that those vnto whom Christ did immediatly preach this faith and vnto whome he gaue commission to preach it vnto others and spread it through the world after he ascended to heauen ought to be belieued as firmely as he himselfe The reason of this assertion is that their doctrine though it be deliuered by secondary mouthes yet it proceedeth from the same fountaine which is God himselfe that is the prime verity and cannot deceiue nor be deceiued But all the difficulty here in is to know who had this immediate commission from Christ and by what seale we should discerne it to haue bin no forged one The solution of this ariseth out of the same argument which proueth that Christ himselfe was God and that the doctrine he taught was true and diuine which is the miracles and workes he did exceeding the power of nature and that could be effected by none but by God hmiselfe for he being truth it selfe cannot by any action immediatly proceeding from him witnesse and confirme à falsehoode In like manner the Apostles doing such admirable workes and miracles as nether by nature nor by art magicke could be brought to passe that must necessarily inferre God himselfe cooperated with them to iustifie what they sayd it is euidēt that their doctrine which was not their owne but receaued from Christ must be true and Diuine 11. Te eleauenth conclusion shall be that this faith thus taught by Christ and propagated by the Apostles and necessary to mankinde to belieue as well that part of it which is written as the whole which is not dependeth intrinsecally vpon the testimony of the Catholicke Church which is ordayned to conserue and deliuer it from age to age By which Catholike Church I meane the congregation of the faithfull that is spread through-out the whole world for we haue proued before that the way to the true faith ought to be open and playne to all men of all abilities and in all ages that haue a desire to embrace it and this cannot be but ether by the immediate preaching of Christ or else by the information ether in writing or by word of mouth of them that learned it from him and their deliuering it ouer to others and so from hand to hand vntill any particular tyme you will pitch vpon But from Christs owne mouth none could haue it but those who liued in the age when he did therfore there remaineth no other meanes to haue it deriued downe to after ages then by this deliuery ouer from hand to hand of the whole congregation of fathers or elders dispersed throughout the world to the whole congregation of sonnes or youngers which course of deducing faith from Christ we call tradition so that this conclusion proueth that the Church is the conseruer both of the whole doctrine of faith necessary for saluation and likewise of the diuine writ dictated by the Holy Ghost and written by the Prophetes Euangelists and Apostles which we are also bound to belieue And the same assent that we are to giue to the truth of Scriptures that is to say that the Scriptures we haue are true Scriptures the very same we are to giue to other articles of faith proposed vnto vs by the Church for they alike depend of the same authority which is the veracity of the Church proposing and deliuering thē vnto vs to be belieued And we may as well doubt that the Church hath corrupted the Scriptures as that she hath corrupted any article of fayth 12. The twelueth conclusion shall be that into the Catholike Church noe false doctrine in any age can be admitted or creepe in that is to say no false proposition whatsoeuer can euer be receiued and imbraced by the Catholike Church as a proposition of faith For whatsoeuer the Church beleeueth as a proposition of faith is vpon this ground that Christ taught it as such vnto the Church he planted himselfe and so it left it in truste to be by it deliuered ouer to the next age And the reason why the present Church belieueth any proposition to be of faith is because the immediate preceeding Church of the age before deliuered it as such And so you may driue it on frō age to age vntill you come to the Apostles and Christ. Therefore to haue any false proposition of faith admitted into the Church in any age doth Suppose that all they of that age must vnanimously conspire to deceiue their children and youngers telling them that they were taught by theire fathers to belieue as of faith some proposition which indeed they were not Which being impossible as it will euidently appeare to any prudent person that shall reasonably ponder the matter that so many men spread throughout the whole world so different in their particular interests and endes and of such various dispositions and natures should all agree together in the forgery of any precise lye it is impossible that any false doctrine should creepe into the Church But because the force of this argument may peraduenture not appeare at the first sight to your Ladyshipp that happily hath not had much occasion to make deepe reflection vpon the certainty that must needs be in the asseueration of any history of matter of fact subiect to the sense which shall be made by a great company of men so distant from one another and of such different interests and affections as they cannot conspire together in the forgery of a falsehood But that you may happily thinke since any one man is lyable to be deceiued or out of some indirect end may be iuduced to deceiue another it is also possible that a whole multitude of men be it neuer so great consisting of particular men may allso deceiue or be deceiued I will therefore for a further declaration of this matter propose for the thirteenth Conclusion that fayth thus deliuered is absolutly more certaine and infallible then any naturall science whatsoeuer And yet sciences are so certaine I meane such as depend of
goodnesse of God to permitt those persons that most affectionatly seeke him and who for his sake out of pure deuotion and desire of contemplating truth doe abridge themselues of all other wordly contentmeÌ„ts to haue theyr vnderstandings worse blynded with false doctrine then other men that seeke him more coldly and care lesse for him and to haue their wills more depraued then theirs with erroneous and false deuotion as of necessity it would follow theyrs were if the doctrine that the Catholicke Church professeth were not true and the holy Ghost resided not in it to worke those effects Now on the contrary part lett vs make a short inquiry whether it be probable that the late pretended reformers haue beene illuminated by God in an extraordinary manner to discouer truth which they say hath for many ages layen hidd Surely if any such thing were they would haue expressed in they re manner of life by some extraordinary sanctity and excellent actions and supernaturall wisedome that extraordinary coÌ„munication which they would persuade vs they had with the diuinity For as by a radiant beame of light shining in at the chinke of a window wee know assuredly the sunne beateth vpon it although we see not his body soe likewise there should haue broken out froÌ„ them some admirable and excellent effect whereby wee might rest confident that the diuine sunne illuminated theire vnderstanding and enflamed they re will Moyses when hee came downe from the mountayne where hee soe long conuersed with God expressed euen by the luster glittering from his face that it was not an ordinary or naturall light which had shined vnto him the Apostles when they were replenished with the holy Ghost receiued immediatly the guift of tongues and a cleere intelligence of all the Scriptures whereby they made cleare vnto the auditors the obscurest passages of them and continually wrought miracles and all those that euer since them haue introduced the Gospell into any country where formerly it was not receaued haue still had thyre commission auctorised by the same seales and shall our late particular Reformers be credited in theyr pretended vocation and in theyr new doctrine that shaketh the very foundations of the faith that hath beene by the whole Christian world for soe many ages belieued and deliuered ouer from hand to hand when as nothing appeareth in them supernaturall and proceeding from a diuine cause This Madame is as much as I shall trouble your La withall vpon this occasion which indeed is much more then at the first I intended or could haue suspected my pen would haue stollen from mee The substance of all which may be summed vp and reduced to this following short question namely whether in the election of the faith whereby you hope to be saued you will be guided by the vnanimous consent of the wisest the learnedst aÌ„d the piousest men of the whole world that haue bene instructed in what they belieue by men of the like quality liuing in the age before them and soe from age to age vntill the Apostles and Christ and that in this manner haue deriued from that fountayne both a perfect aÌ„d full knowledge of all that ought to be belieued and likewise a right vnderstaÌ„ding and interpretation of the Scriptures as farr as concerneth faith the true sense of which so farr is alsoe deliuered ouer by the same tradition Or whether you wil assent vnto the new and wrested interpretations of places of Scripture made by late men that rely meerely vpon theire single iudgement and witt too slight a barcke to sayle in through soe immense an Ocean and whose chiefe leaders for humane respects and sinister ends not to say worse of them made a desperate defection from the other maine body since which tyme noe two of them haue agreed in doctrine and among whom it is impossible your ladyshipps greate iudgement and strong vnderstanding should finde any solide stay to repose securely vpon and to quiett all those rationall doubts that your perceing wit suggesteth vnto you And here Madame I shall make an end haeâ—ing sincerily and as succinctly and playnely as I can deliuered you the chiefe considerations that in this affayre turned the scale of the balance with mee which in good faith I haue done with all the simplicity and ingenuity that I can expresse my sense with being not at all warmed with any passion or partiality nor raysed out of my eueÌ„ pitch and temper with any spirit of disputation or siding humor which few haue auoyded vpon this subiect but I haue giuen you a true picture of my seriousest and saddest thoughts and resolutions to my selfe in this most important busynesse wherein you will belieue I would take the greatest paines I was able to be sure not to be deceiued I haue not sought to show wittinesse or acutenesse of learning in the debating of these points or haue affected polished langage in the committing them to paper for this matter should not be handled for oftentation but for vse and though peradueÌ„ture if this discourse should fall into the view of some learned man hee may at the first sight sett but a slight valew vpon it yett I perswade my selfe whosoeuer he be if hee will ponder it seriously and leasurely and with a like interior recollectioÌ„ as I at the first setled the grounds of it in my owne soule he will then finde it toucheth the life of the matter and though I haue not deliured my conceptions smoothly and well yett hee will not thinke his tyme lost in reading them and hauing stronger parts then I hee will make cleerer vse of them then I haue done This I am sure of that allthough I haue sett this downe for your La in 2. or 3. dayes for it is noe longer since you commanded me to doe it yet it is the production and result of many howers meditations by my selfe or rather of some yeares and how drye soeuer they may appeare to your La at the first yet I dare promise you that vpon your secoÌ„d and third readings and reflexions vpon them they will gaine more credit with you and you will I know by such application of your thoughts vpon them enlarge and refine what dependeth of the maine heads far beyond any thing I haue sayd For such is the nature of notions that are wrought like the silke wormes ball of ones owne substance they afford fine and strong threads for a good workman to weaue into a fayre peece of stuffe whereas they that like bees doe gather hony from seuerall authors or that like Aunts doe make vp their store by what they picke vp in the originall crude substance from others labours may peraduenture in their workes seeme more pleasant at the first taste or appeare to haue a fayrer heape at the first view but the others webb is more vsefull more substantiall and more durable I beseech God of his grace and goodnesse in this life to enlighten your La vnderstanding that you may discerne truth and to dispose your will that you may imbrace it and in the next to giue you part among those glorious Apostles Fathers Doctors and Martyrs that deriuing the same truth from him haue from hand to hand deliuered it ouer to our tymes FINIS