RVNNE FROM ROME OR A TREATISE SHEWING THE necessitie of Separating from the Church of Rome Disputed in these Termes EVERIE MAN IS bound vpon paine of Damnation to refuse the Faith of the Church of Rome By ANTONY WOTTON B. D. REVEL 18. 4. Come out of her my people that ye be not Partakers of her sinnes and that ye receiue not of her plagues LONDON Printed by W. J. for Nicholas Bourne and are to be sold at his Shop at the South side of the Royall-Exchange 1624. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE EDWARD LORD DENNY OF WALTHAM MY ESPECIALL GOOD LORD Right Honorable WHen the great God of heauen and earth proclaimed by his Prophet to Eli 1. Sam. 2. 30 that he would honor them that honour him he therein implied both an example and a charge for all men to do the like Therefore is this actioÌ„ of honouring theÌ„ that honour God one of those whereof the holy Ghost made choise Psal 15. 4. that he might by them giue vs notice of those men which shal abide in the Tabernacle of the Lord and dwell in his holy hill It is my desire to performe this dutie to God by this seruice to your Lordship wherein I feele and confesse that I receiue far more then I can possibly giue For by desiring to honour our Lordship for your zeale in honouring God I encrease mine owne hope that I am of their number who haue obtained already some part of his grace and shall hereafter haue entrance into his glorie Giue me leaue noble Lord to forget in this respect my particular obligation to your Honour for your continuall bountie to me and good opinion of me that I haue an vnfained desire to maintaine the truth of God profest in this famous Church of England against the subtill and dangerous errors of the Romish Synagogue For I truly and willingly professe that the consideration of your Lordships feruent zeale for the glory of God zealous loue of his truth and true detestation of Popery haue so possest and rauisht my heart with a longing after your Honour that it will not suffer any other of your noble vertues though many and great either to come into comparison with it or to haue the least place in my thoughts while it is in presence This in my apprehension is as much to true honour as in Demosthenes opinion pronuntiation was to true eloquence Let them that will dote vpon their worldly greatnesse as the Peacocke is in loue with his owne feathers It is true honour to be honourable in his sight who onely is worthy of honour and yet graciously vouchsafeth to giue and to command that honour be giue to his faithfull seruants This is the foundation of your Lordships honour in my heart and vpon this ground wil I daily offer vp my poore prayers to God for your good Lordship your noble and truly vertuous Lady and hopefull of spring that it would please him to shewer downe euery day more more the comfortable dew of his grace and blessing vpon euery one of you to the increase of all honour in this life and happinesse in the life to come through Jesus Christ our Lord In whom I shall euer be at your Lordships seruice to be commanded Antony Wotton Tower-Hill May 3. 1624. TO THE CHRISTIAN READER THe Councell of Trent confirmed by the Pope is the chiefe Oracle of the Church of Rome from it she receiues all doctrines necessarie to be beleeued vnto saluation Romish Catholikes hold it for a principle that whatsoeuer is deliuered therein for doctrine is an article of faith and must stedfastly be beleeued vpon paine of damnation he that doth not is pronounced an Hereticke and is made lyable to a supposed heauy curse What little reason there is that Papists should yeeld such blind obedience to the Canons of that Councell may appeare by a plaine but true testimonie which was giuen thereunto by a Bishop a member of that Church and Councell who was present thereat This testimonie I haue thought good to prefixe to this my Treatise because in it I dispute against the doctrine of faith deliuered in the said Councell Andraeas Dudithius Bishop of Quinquecclesiae Quinquecclesiae is acitty in Lungarie calleâ— in German â—unsâ—â—rchin in Turkish â—nden or 〈◊〉 and Embassadour in the Councell of Trent for Maximilan the second Emperour in an Epistle to the said Emperour wherein he deliuereth his iudgement about granting the Cup to the Laitie and the marriage of Priests writes thus of the Councell of Trent WHat good could be done in that Councell where voyces were taken by number not by weight If argument if reason might haue preuailed if we had had some and those not many to take part with vs though we should haue bin but a few yet had vve ouerthrowne the greÌ„at forces of our aduersaries but when all stood vpon number wherein we were much inferiour we could not get the better though our cause were the better The Pope was able to set an hundreth of his against euery one of ours and if an hundreth were not sufficient he could vpon a sundaine haue created a thousand to succour them that were readie to faint and perish Therefore we might see euery day hungrie and needie Bishops and these for the most part beardlesse younkers and wastfully ryotous come in flocks to Trent hired to giue their voices according to the Popes humour vnlearned indeed and foolish but of good vse to him for their audaciousnesse and impudencie When these fellowes were ioyued to the Popes old slatterers then iniquitie got the vpper hand and triumphed neither could any thing be decreed but according to their liking who thought it the highest point of religion to defend the power and royot of the Pope There was in the Councell a graue and learned man who could not endure this indignitie but the Councell by terrour threatning and bayting him as one that was no good Catholike drew him to yeeld to that which he did no way like of In a word things are brought to that passe by their dishonesty who came prepared and made for the nonce that it seemed to be a Councell not of Bishops but of puppies not of men but of images who as it is reported of Daedalus Statues were moued not by their owne but by other mens nerues and muscles Those hireling Bishops most of them were like Countrey Bagpipes which must haue breath blowne into them before they can sound The holy Ghost had nothing to doe with that Couenticle all things were argued by human pollicy which was wholly employed in maintaining the immoderate indeed most shamelesse Lordship Domination of the Popet From thence were answers looked and wayted for as it were from the Oracles of Delphos or Dodona from thence the holy Ghost who as they brag is President of their Councell was sent shut vp in the Carriers budgets and packes who a thing worthy to be laught at when the waters were vp as it falls
sent from God This appeared plainely in that cousening compannion Mahomet who yet was not so mad as in their opinion Antichrist will be to require that all men should acknowledge and adore him for God CHAP. XVIII A conclusion of the whole Treatise by way of exhortation to separate from the Church of Rome I Said a little more in that matter of Antichrist then I purposed to doe when I entred into it for it was my meaning onely to touch it by the way and that rather because I thought it would bee looked for then that I found it greatly necessarie for what neede I seeke any other reasons to inforce a necessitie of separating from the Church of Rome then those I haue already alleaged Therefore I will now adde a few words of exhortation and so end both the readers and mine owne labour It is reported by Irenaeus by Eusebius of the holy Apostle Irenaeus contra hares lib. 3. c. 3. Euseb eccle hist lib. 3. cap. 25. Saint Iohn that when he spied Ceriâ—thus the hereticke in the bath where he was he made all the hast he could to be gone thinking it dangerous to be vnder the same roofe with him Yea the very Heathen as Tully saith being at sea in a sore storme were much afraie they should Tully de natura Deorum lib. 3. haue beene cast away because they had Diagoras the Atheist abord amomg them I would to God some Protestants were as charie of their soules as I say not the Apostle but the Heathen of their bodies and had as much care to prouide for their eternall saluation as they had to procure their temporall safetie neither the Apostle nor the Heathen had any thing to doe with the impietie of Ceriâ—thus or Diagoras and yet both he and they doubted some euill might befall them because they were in in the companie of such prophane wretches And can any Protestant imagine that he may be free from danger though he ioyne in faith with the Pope of Rome It cost Iehosophat deare though he were otherwise a good King for going to warre with Ahab against a common enemy What said Hauani the Seer Wouldest thou helpe the wicked 2. Chr. 19. 2. and loue them that hate the Lord therefore for this thing the wrath of the Lord is vpon thee What then may they looke for who like the Ladiceans Reu. 3. 16. are luke-warme neyther bote nor cold altogther indifferent whether they be Papists or Protestants They are in better case yet not safe neither who are perswaded that Poperie is erroneous but doe not thinke it so dangerous a matter to be a Papist that a man neede flee out of the Romish Church as Lot did oun of Sodom That I may plucke or thrust these men out as the Angells did Lot I haue undertaken this discoverie of the danger by labouring to informe their judgement with the knowledge of the truth I must now proceed to inflame their affection with detestation of errour The glory of the vnderstanding is truth the height of the affection zeale To be zealous without knowledge is to fight without armes like the Israelites that had not a sheild nor spare amongst fourtie thowsand of them Iudges 5. 8. To haue knowledge without zeale is to haue armes without courage as the Ephraimites had Psal 78. 9. Who went up armed with bowes but turned their backs in the day of battaile In this fight against Popery you haue need of know ledge because your enemy is subtill to deceiue of zeale because your quarrell is great For you are to fight not for your wiues and children onely but also for your God and your religion not against an errour or two that disgrace your profession like a wen in a faire body but against such an heretick as like the disease in the hart will vndermine and ouerthrow the whole state of the body For as Iudas kissed his Lord and Master that thee might betray him so the Pope of Rome vnder a shew of humilitie hath taken the honour of God to himselfe and pretending to be his factour intendeth to rob vndo him Will he with the stubborne Iewes in Mallachy aske mee wherin I will not answer him as the Prophet doth In tithes and offerings What are tithes offerings to supremacy soueraignty This this is the robbery the Sacriledge whereof we accuse the Pope of Rome If he had but taken from his fellow Bishops and appropriated to himselfe the honour authoritie that is common to them with him we would haue holden our peace although this proud Haman could no way haue made recompence to the Church of Christ for the losse she sustaineth thereby Yea though he haue with the euill seruaut in the Gospell imprisoned beaten murdered his fellow seruants for doing their masters work we would as we haue done in dure it with patience and silence Shall I say more Albeit he had maintained as he doth diuers foule and grosse errours against the truth of God we would haue contented our selues with dissenting from him therein without breach of the band of peace But now so standeth the case that he hath claimed and vsurped the prerogatiue of the great God of heauen and earth Should we now forbeare to speake Should we in such a case look for commendation of modestie and peaceablenesse Haue we no more zeale of the glory of our father our King our God Hath the loue of our most deere Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ deserued no more kindnes at our hands If we could be so monstrously vnthankfull the very stones in the Church walls and the becames in the roofes would cry out against vs and him For hath he not made himselfe a foundation of the faith of all men yea the next and immediate foundation of all diuine faith so that nothing may be taken for matter of saith but vpon his authoritie Neither doth this authority of his lay hold on vs only which are as it were of the lower house but it reacheth also to the vpper house of the Apostles themselues For by vertue of that commission saith Ioh. 21. 15. Bellarmine The rest of the Apostles were made subiect to Peter and his successours the Bishops of Rome O ridiculous conceit O presumptious ambition was it not enough for you to trample on the necks of other Christians many of whom were at the least equall to the best of your Popes for learning and piâ—tie but that you may bring the Apostles heads vnder your Idols girdle Heare O heauen and hearken O earth The holy Apostle Saint Iohn liued by the record of Histories till the yeare after our Lords birth 100 Saint Peter was as it is also written martired at Rome in the yeare 68 therefore there were 32 yeares betwixt the death of Peter and Iohn In these 32 yeares not to reckon Linus who is thought to haue bin Pope there were 4 seuerall Bishops of Rome Clemens Cletus Anacletus and Euaristus By popish
to make use of that Instrument of instruments as Aristotle calleth it in every peece of worke I undertooke By this meanes it came to passe that I began to thinke as men commonly doe account highly of that wherewith they are most in loue that Logicke was if not the onely yet the principall Art for the obtaining of true knowledge in any kind of learning whatsoever If I lighted in reading upon any thing that was hard that I seemed to be in a Labyrinth Logicke was like Ariadnes clew of thrid to guid me in it to bring me out of it Was I desirous in any exercise of learning to take the right course in speaking or writting Logicke like Mercuries Statue poynted me out the way and shewed me all the turnings and windings in it To conclude my continuall practise in this Art hath given it such power over me that with the Hebrew servant my Exod. 21. 6. eare is fast nayled to the doro post so that I can nether stir from it nor willingly heare any sound without that may draw me from thinking on it This is the first degree of necossitie by which I am bound to this kind of writing The other is greater and streighter And therein as we are all ready like our first parents to excuse our faults I haue a good mindâ— to make a vertue of necessitie by perswading my selfe that I doe that out of iudgement which I doe indeed to help my weaknes in judging For I must and doe freely confesse that I haue neither such quicknes in apprehending nor such sharpnes in judging but that I find my selfe many times at a stand in understanding and at a losse in resolving What help haue I in this case but to flee to Logicke as to an Oracle By that I am instructed to take the frame in sunder to view every part by it selfe to trie how every tenant and mortuis is fitted each to other which principals are too weake which peeces are too long which too short whether they will serue in that building or no if they will how they must he ordered If any man be able without this labour at the first sight of a building to say all is right well I would intreate him to beare with my slownes and backwardnes upon promise that I will not repine at his quicknes and forwardnes As for them that thinke I troble my selfe more then needeth by taking this paines I hope they are not like him in Seneca as I remember Mendyrides who would yawne and stretch when he saw an other man labour as if he had ben wearied therewith himselfe Long experience aboue 40 yeare hath made me fearefull suspicious I haue many times perswaded my selfe of the strength goodnes of an argument which upon triall I haue found to be weake and naught Many times I haue thought I understood a thing at the first reading very fully wherein upon the review I perceived I was deceived In this disputation it had not ben possible for me to haue discerned the weaknes and sophistry of the Papists arguments if I had not brought them to the beame and weighed them parcell by parcell as I haue done But if I had now forborne to runne this course and written more plausibly to euery mans apprehension yet I must haue been faine to come to it hereafter whensoeuer the aduersaries shall assay to make good their arguments against my answers If this course be followed in examining Popish bookes we shall saue them and our selues a great deale of labour for they will be afraid to come to such a triall as will not suffer them to run the wild-goose chase but will tether them that they shall be kept within compasse as if they were coiured within a circle By this sifting we shal seuer the flower from the bran that a bushell will be brought within a peck that in a book of twentie sheets there will be no more to be answered then may well be contained in fiue or sixe But this course will be too hard for ordinarie mens vnderstandings it will till they be acquainted with all as strange things commonly vse to be perhaps they will not at the first be able to conceiue fully of euery answer if they will but take the paines to pause vpon it they may learne more by a few lines often read then by a great manie once posted ouer besides if they vnderstand not all yet I dare vndertake they shall by this course vnderstand more and more certainely in reading 3 leaues then by iunning ouer 13 in a loose discourse Logicke beloued is nothing else but the perfection of reason it is not a deuise of Schollers but a plant of nature euery man vseth it dayly in his speaking or writing the termes are vnknowne so are the termes of warre of Nauigation of husbandrie and of the meanest trade and occupation till they be knowne they are hard when they are known easie If I might find so much fauour with you as to get you to make a tryall I make no doubt but this course would soone haue entertainment and your knowledge thereby grow beyond your expectation At the least let me craue and obtaine pardon of you for making so bold with you in a matter as I take it so fit and needfull I hope it shall not fall out with vs reuerend fathers and brethren in the ministrie as it did with Aristotle and Isocrates they were both Platoes Schollers but followed diuers professions the one giuing himselfe to Philosophie the other to Oratorie each of them was so carried away with the pleasure he took in his own course that he wholy despised the other As it becommeth me I leaue euery one to his owne iudgement and practise desiring to be directed and aduised by any man that can and will doe it At some of you I wonder with delight other I commend there is none but I excuse as I desire to be excused my selfe Great wits may make a shift without artificiall Logicke ordinary men shall find extraordinary helpe by it The Lord in mercie so direct vs all that we may seeke and procure by his blessing the manifesting and maintaining of his truth to the glorie of his name the good of his Church and our euerlasting saluation in Iesus Christ our Lord. CHAP. II. Of the state of the question to be disputed THE Heathen taught by Plato alwayes held them for bad common-wealths men who in a ciuill broile when their countrie was in an vproare would not labour to informe themselues whether part had the right and ioyne with them but keepe aloofe from both that they might strike in with the conquerour to their most aduantage And what kinde of Christians shall we account those men that seeing all on fire euer since they were borne about matter of Religion haue not all their life resolued what is true what false but are still to make their choyse whon they are neerer their buriall then their
vnder the signes of bread and wine If there bee no such commandement of our Sauiours then 1 There is no Masse 2 The vertue of the bloody sacrifice is not applyed by the sacrifice of the Masse 3 The sacrifice of the Masse is not truely propitiatory All which are propounded for Articles of saith by the forenamed Councill sess 22. de sacrificio Messae I might say the like of many other points but these may suffice It remaineth that I proue the proposition which must be done by handling the points seuerally First therefore I thus begin with the first The sauing truth or verity taught by Christ and his Apostles Concil Trid. Sess 4. decret de Can. Script is contained saith the Councill in written bookes or in the Scriptures or in vnwritten traditions In this proposition or Article wee must vnderstand that the Scriptures and traditions are made diuers parts of that record wherein the sauing truth is contained so that neither of these parts containeth all but the one some the other some which appeareth plainly by the Council it selfe where describing Traditions it saith that They are not writen that They were receiued by word of mouth from the Apostles and were deliuered to them either by our Sauiour or by his spirit and haue beene so conueyed from hand to hand to the present Church And indeed if this were not the Councils meaning they said nothing at all against vs who make no question but that the ChristiaÌ„s which liued presently after the Apostles did truely gather diuers points out of the Scriptures which haue worthily beene receiued and maintained from time to time Such for instances were these points that our Lord Iesus is true God that the holy Ghost is true God that our Sauiour Christ consisteth of two distinct natures that He is but one person not two These points the Christians rightly drew out of the Scriptures For they bee not expressed there in so many words and these were acknowledged to bee Articles of faith by the foure first generall Councils against Arius Macedonius Eutiches and Nestorius Of this kind there are many traditions in the Church and will daily be more as it shall please God to blesse the labors of his seruants in the reading vnderstanding of the Scriptures Of these we dispute not but onely of such as are not comprised in the Scriptures It would also bee obserued that the Councill saith not barely and simply truth but sauing truth which in all likelihood was put into the decree because we grant that some things concerning rites and ceremonies were deliuered by Bellar de verbo Dei non scripto l. 4 c 3. Sect Secundo dissidemus our Lord or his Apostles which are not recorded in the Scriptures as Bellarmine confesseth Lastly whereas the Councill saith the sauing truth taught by Christ and his Apostles wee must inquire whether they meane vniuersally and wholly whatsoeuer our Sauiour and his Apostles taught not any one sentence excepted or onely so much as was intended for the perpetuall vse of the Church That it meaneth absolutely all sauing truth so taught it may be probably gathered out of the very words of the Councill For it saith that The preaching of Christ and his Apostles is the fountaine of all sauing truth and by and by addeth which truth is contained in written bookes and vnwritten traditions which is all one as if the Councill should haue said in plaine termes All sauing truth taught by Christ and his Apostles is contained in written books and vnwritten traditions Thus haue we the meaning of the Councill now that it may appeare what is true in it what false I will draw it into seuerall propositions namely these 3. 1 All sauing truth taught by Christ and his Apostles is recorded for future ages 2 Some sauing truth is contained in written bookes 3 Some sauing truth is comprehended in vnwritten traditions The two latter propositions viz. the second and third are manifestly in tâ—at article of the Councell the first of the three is necessarily implyed For if some things taught by them remaine not to posterity then all sauing truth so taught is not to be found in the Scripture and tradition because some of it is not at all recorded In the second proposition that Some truth taught by Christ and his Apostles is contained in the Scripture wee wholly agree with them and say farther in particular that All such truths are containd therein as the Lord appointed for the saluation of the Elect in all ages And this is the meaning of our Diuines when they say that All things necessary to saluation are comprehended in the Scriptures Which is manifest by Dr. Reynolds for D. Reynolds proface to his sixe conclusions at conclusion first D Whitaker de script q. 6. c. 6. saying that The Lord teacheth the Church all things necessary to saluation he expoundeth necessary to saluation thus which lead the faithfull to saluation and life And Dr. Whitaker propounding our opinion of the same matter in the same manner interpreteth necessary to saluation in these words by the way of life signifying thereby that Those things are necessary to saluation which teach vs the way to euerlasting life Reuerend B. Iewell speakes to the same purpose B. Iewells Apol. part .. 2. c. 9. diuis 1. that The Scriptures doe fully comprehend all things whatsoeuer bee needfull for our health and that they be the very might and strength of God to attaine to saluation Whereby it is manifest that Bellarmine dealt falsly and De verbo Dei non scripte l. 4. l. 3. Sect. Controversia deceitfully when he propounded the question The controversie saith he betwixt vs and the Heretickes is that we say The whole doctrine necessary to faith and manners is not contained in the Scriptures expresly and therefore besides the written word of God there is also an vnwritten word of God required that is to say Diuine and Apostolicall traditions Wherefore I will leaue Bellarmine with his frauds and debate the point as it is deliuered in the Councell of Trent For the first that All sauing truth taught by Christ and his Apostles is recorded for future ages Bellarmine bringeth no proofe and yet he could not choose but see that there is no necessity in the point it selfe why we should take it for true For it might well be that our Sauiour and his Apostles taught some things which tended to the saluation of some particular men not of all men and therfore might be left vnrecorded without any losse or damage to the Church Therefore we may iustly call for proofe of a point so vncertaine that is made by Bellarmine a matter of faith The third proposition at numb 5. is that Some sauing truth is comprehended in tradition For the better vnderstanding and cleering whereof wee are first to learne what vnwritten traditions are Which the Councell of Trent teacheth vs. Vnwritten traditions are things endicted by our
Concil Trident. Sess 4. decret de canon script Sauiour by word of mouth or by the holy Ghost and kept in the Church by continuall succession We may content our selues with this description without seeking any explication out of Bellarmine or any other because Bellarmines definition that A tradition is a doctrine not written by the first author thereof is so far from making the meaning of the Councell of Trent plaine that indeed it doth rather more obscure Bellarm. de verb. Deâ—l 4. c. 2. Sect. Vocatur it The Councell setteth downe no distribution of traditions but this that some of them concerne faith some manners But Bellarmine wearieth himselfe and his Reader with a number of distribâ—â—ions which as I said of his description are of no vse but to darken the question Tradition being thus vnderstood I say that third proposition is false and the contradictory thereof true No sauing truth taught by Christ or his Apostles is contained in vnwritten traditions which may thus appeare If no part of the Scripture refer vs to tradition for some part of Gods word not contained in the said Scriptures then haue we no reason to seeke for any part thereof in tradition For the Scriptures doe send vs to the scriptures for the knowledge of sauing truth Ioh. 5. 39. Search the Scriptures for in them ye thinke to haue eternall life And the Apostle Paul 2 Tim. 3. 15. saith that The 2 Tim. 3. 15. Scripture is able to make vs wise to saluatioÌ„ And wold not the scripture trow we haue sent vs to tradition for supply of that which was wanting in it if there had beene any supply to be had therein For it was as easie and as orderly for the Scripture to referre vs to tradition as to it selfe and as well beseeming the wisdome and prouidence of God to haue sent vs to both parts of his word by the Scriptures as to the one of them yea it was a great deale more needfull For no man could doubt but he was to haue recourse to the Scriptures because they were knowne to be the word of God But who could haue imagined that the Lord God teaching vs so plentifully in the Scriptures would leaue out some part of the sauing truth and not so much as giue vs any inkling thereof nor direct vs where we might finde it But they tell vs the Scripture doth put vs ouer for some of the diuine truth to vnwritten traditions Let vs see and examine the places that are brought to this purpose by Bellarmine Bellarm. de verb. Dei non scripto l. 4. c. 5. Sect. Ac primum who made choise of the best places that had beene or could be alledged in this matter The first wherof is thus to be concluded Those things which our Sauiour spake of Ioh. 16. 12. and Ioh. 16. 12. and 21. 25. 21. 25. Act. 1. 3. are comprehended in tradition For they are not written and it is not credible that the Apostles which heard them did not deliuer them to the Church Surely they were neither so enuious that they would not nor so forgetfull that they could not But those things which he spake in those places were sauing truths Therefore some sauing truths taught by Christ or his Apostles are contained in tradition Ere I answer to this argument particularly I must note in general that euery proposition of euery argument brought in this question must be certainly and euidently true because the point concluded is an article of faith which must be either expresly set downe by the holy Ghost or collected from the word of God by manifest and necessary consequence Therefore if we finde any proposition in any argument that is not in such sort true the conclusion cannot be an Article of faith because of those premises but is only at the most probable as they are Particularly I say of this argument that no Article of faith can bee concluded by it because the proposition or Maior with the proofe of it are at the most but probable as the examining of the reason will shew Either our Sauiors speeches theâ—e mentioned are contained in tradition or else they remaine not at all to posterity But they remaine to posterity for the Apostles did not omit the recording of them since they were neither enuious nor forgetfull Therefore our Sauiours speeches there mentioned are contained in tradition First this argument presumeth that whatsoeuer our Sauiour spake was some way or other committed to posterity And this was the first proposition in this doctrine of the Council denied by vs n. 5. 7. therfore Bellar. doth but play the sophister by begging the question proueth nothing Secondly I answer that if I should grant him that he beggeth yet his pâ—oposition would be false For the disiunction is nought What if I say those speeches of our Sauiour neither perished nor remaine in tradition but are recorded in some part of the Apostles writings in the new TestimeÌ„â— For since our Sauior promised Ioh. 16. 13. to send them his spirit which should lead them into all truth and Ioh. 14. 26 bring to their remembrance all things which he had told theÌ„ and performed what he promised Acts 2. 3. It is more then likely that they did coÌ„mend the things to posterity which he caused theÌ„ to remember for why else were they brought to their remembrance But wee find no other course that euâ—r they tooke to deliuer the Gospell to posterity but writing Why then should these points be kept vnwritten Suâ—ely they are neither greater mysteries nor smaller matters then some that are written The proposition then is either false or doubtfull and the assumption little better For how can Bellarmine tell whether those matters be recorded in any of the Apostles writings or no vnlesse he know what they were as he will not for very shame say he doth But If we doubt of it he would make vs beleeue wee accuse the Apostles of envie or negligence God forbid We will grant him any thing almost rather then lay such an imputation upon those glorious instruments of our salvation We haue a better way to answer then so namely that Bellarmine commeth short of his reckonig either of negligence or enuy What needeth that It may well be that they did not record every one of our Saviour speeches because they had no commission to leaue them on record and they were to doe according to their comission being to deliver the word of God as they were inspired by the holy Ghost not to set downe every thing they could remember as men doe that follow their owne naturall discretion Neither can Bellarmine any way make good the assumption of the principall Syllogisme negatiue that Those things which our Lord spake of in those places were saving truths except he can certainely tell what they were CHAP. XIII Of Bellarmines second and third Arguments to proue vnwritten traditions BEllarmines second argument in the place aboue named
nor shifting by willfull mistaken I began to declare the meaning of the termes in which I propounded my question but because I purposed to examine the matter in two seuerall disputations I forbare to expound the last words till I should come to the particular debating of the second point Now I am to enter vpon it and must therefore shew what I meane by those words Vpon paine of damnation and then proue that the faith of the Church of Rome is to be refused vpon so grieuous a penaltie Those words Vpon paine of damnation are not so to bee vnderstood as if I tooke vpon me to pronounce sentence of condemnation against all that beleeue as the Church of Rome teacheth but I would thereby giue all men to vnderstand that the beleeuing of that doctrine as matter of faith is a thing in it selfe damnable and such as maketh a man liable to damnation How it shall fall out with particular men in the euent I neither know nor meane to enquire Onely I say againe that their mis-beliefe is a sinne which setteth them in the state of damnation Now hauing proued alreadie that their faith is erroneous I shall not neede to make many words about the point For the Church of Rome against which I dispute holdeth it for a ruled case that an erroneous faith is damnable Wherefore else doe they thunder out so many Iâ—ai 8. 20. curses in the Councell of Trent against all that shall conceiue otherwise of the matters of faith determined by that Councell then is therein decreed Notwithstanding that I may the better perswade all men to keepe good watch for feare they be suddenly surprized or vnawares intrapt by the great army of locusts the Priests and Iesuites which haue almost couered the Land from sea to sea I will bestow a little paines to giue them warning of the danger There are two wayes by which sinne leadeth a man into to the state of damnation the one is the desert or fitnesse it hath to procure damnation the other is the actuall meriting or deseruing of damnation Into the former sinne casteth a man off it selfe Into the latter he falleth as by sinne so by the ordinance or decree of God who hath layd a penalty of damnation upon it Out of this I raise this disputation against receiuing the faith of the Romish Church That which maketh a man vncleane in Gods sight hath a fitnesse to procure damnation For vncleane things are vnmeete for the presence of God and consequently are meete for damnation But the faith of the Church of Rome maketh a man vncleane in the sight of God For it is erroneous in so high a nature that it maketh a man guiltie of treason against God by installing the Pope in the Throane of God giuing him power and authoritie to determine as a iudge what is matter of faith what not without commission or warrant from God as I haue shewed in the former part of this disputation Neither doe they onely giue him authoritie to interprete the Scriptures but also allow him to set vp a forge where he hammers what he list and venteth it to be receiued vpon paine of damnation for the word of the euer liuing 2. Thes 2. 4. God What is it To sit in the Temple of God shewing himselfe that he is God if this be not And are not they accessaries to this high treason that acknowledge this authoritie and yeeld obedience to it How can it then reasonably be denied that there is a worthinesse and fitnesse in the faith of the Church of Rome to procure damnation hereupon it followeth that euery one that ioyneth in faith with the Church of Rome is lyable to damnation There remaineth nothing now but the ordinance or decree of God to appoint damnation as a punishment of this sinne according to the desert thereof but that was passed long since by the Lord himselfe You shall put nothing to the word which I command you The penaltie is expressed Deut. 4. 2 12 30. Revel 21. 18. If any man shall adde to those things God shall adde to him the plagues that are written in this Bookâ— But more plaine The Lord shall send them strong delusions that they 2. Thes 2. 11. 12. should beleeue lyes that all they might be damned which beleeued not the truth Behold the Lord wrappeth them vp in damnation by his sentence that beleeue lyes that is false and erroneous doctrine not agreeable to the truth which they ought to beleeue What is wanting then to make the faith of the Church of Rome damnable and the professours thereof lyable to damnation when both the thing it selfe deserueth it and the Lord hath decreed that they which beleeue it should haue according to their desert I might as our writers commonly doe adde to that which hath beene said diuers foule and grosse errors which seeme more specially to touch the glory of God and secretly to vndermine the very foundation of our saluation namely the Mediatorship of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ But this as I take it will more plainly appeare and be more throughly inforced against them in the particular handling of the seuerall Articles to which I reserue it Neither will I enter into the common way of prouing popery to be damnable because it is Antichristianisme much hath beene disputed by our men to this purpose and it is like enough that much more may and will be added to their disputations But the controuersie is long and requireth more time then I can now afford it onely this I will say for the present that as his Maiestie hath prudently obserued there is no Church State nor man that hath beene since the penning of the Reuelation to whom those things foretold by the Apostle from the mouth of the Lord Iesus can in any reasonable sort agree but the Church and Pope of Rome alone And it is vtterly against reason to imagin that the Lord Iesus would direct Iohn to spend so many words in deliuering prophecies for some three yeares and a halfe in the end of the world and leaue so many yeares betwixt vnspoken of wherein such strange matters haue befallen the Church It is manifest that the Historie is prophetically continued for the first 300 yeares at the least and of that because it seemeth not much to concerne them the Papists make no great doubt he that will take the paines to reade the whole aduisedly may easily discerne that our Lord continueth his discourse to his beloued Disciple of such things as were to fall out to the very end of the world I forbeare to shew how vnlikely that I may speake most fauourably of the point because it hath some collourable allowance from antiquitie I will not say how vnpossible it is that any man should imagine hee can deceiue Christians as Antichrist by their conceite must doe or force them generally to denie the Lord Iesus and take himselfe to be either God or any man
diuinitie S. Iohn was so subiect to these successours of Peter that he was to receiue from them assurance of the truth that he deliuered of them he was to know whether his owne Epistles were the word of God or not yea whether they were his owne Epistles or not they or some of them were to assure him from God that his Reuelation was from God and not from the deuill if any doubt arose about any sentence in his Gospell Epistles or Reuelation he could not know by diuine faith what the true meaning of the place was but was to learne that of Euaristus then Pope whose office it was to deliuer an interpretation of the text to the Apostle or to allow of the interpretation made by the Apostle if he iudged it to be true Poore S. Iohn was an vnderling in all this businesse the Pope was Magister fac totum Most glorious Lord Iesus thou didst vouchsafe to shew thine extraordinarie loue to this thy holy Apostle tookest order to haue it made known to all posterity wouldest thou so much abase him as not onely to take from him the honour thou hadest bestowed vpon him by making him inferiour to S. Peter to whom before he was equall in authoritie and dignitie but also to appoint him to lacky if occasion fell out vpon foure Popes one after another to learne of them what was diuine reuelation or the word of God what was not Wherefore didst thou solemnely promise thy Apostles and Iohn amongst the rest that thou wouldest send them the comforter the holy Spirit to lead them into and to direct them in all truth Alas it was a poore comfort for them so to be taught by him that they must be faine to trauell or send to Rome to know whether he had taught them right or no. But who can be patient in this indignity offered to the holy Spirit Shall a wretched and ignorant man that I say no worse sit in iudgement to giue sentence of thy diuine Maiestie whether thou hast inspired thy seruants with truth or no Diddest thou instruct the Apostles as the deuills amongst the heathen did their counterfit prophets that they either knew not what they vttered or could not be assured what they meaned without the Pope like an Oracle made them vnderstand themselues as Daniell told Nebuchadnezar his dreame and the interpretation thereof If these things seeme to be as indeed they are absurd monstrous impious blasphemous what is the doctrine thinke you vpon which they are grounded I will repeate it againe that all men may learne to know and detest such foolish wickednesse and wicked folly S. Peter saith Bellarmine was made by Christ ordinary pastour of the whole Church his ossice was to determine what was matter of faith The Bishops of Rome Peters successours haue the same authoritie of ordinarie pastourship which he had Whosoeuer will not be thus fed by Peter and his successours belongeth not to the sheepefold of the Lord Iesus This is the arch whereon the Popes supremacie is built For the vpholding of this all the Romish Clergie are in armes If you hold not this whatsoeuer you hold you can be no true Roman Catholike From whence ariseth the impossibility of reconciliation betwixt vs and them wee cannot bee members of their Church but we must ioyn with them in this acknowledgment of this Papall authoritie They cannot renounce this opinion but they must withall viterly dissolue their Church the forme whereof as we heard out of Bellarmine consisteth in this very manner of gouerment This is thâ— boÌ„d these the ligameÌ„ts by which the whole body of their Church is coupled and knit together From the Pope thus feeding that is teaching and gouerning as from the head all life and motion is conueyed into the rest of that huge chaos take away the head all life and motion ceaseth and the parts fall asunder one from another that it can no longer be accounted the Church it was nor as they hold any Church at all We see the prophecie of the Apostle Paul fulfilled God hath sent these men strong delusions to beleeue lyes 2. Thes â— 11. For what greater delusion can there be then for a man to beleeue that of euery Pope that no Pope euer beleeued of himselfe or of any of his successours And shall we notwithstanding all this still halt betwixt two opinions Shall we suffer our selues to be so swallowed vp by the cares of this world that we can haue no leasure to know what belongeth to our saluation Shall wee so melt away in continuall voluptuousnesse that we will not spare one houre to learne which is the right way to true happinesse Shall we so please our selues in wilfull ignorance that we despise the knowledge of truth in matter of religion Doe these things concerne Preachers onely If our fore fathers had been of that minde the troups of holy Martyrs that now gloriously follow their puissant victorious leader the Lord Iesus in triumph would haue beene very thinne Oh that you could see them with your bodily eyes How many blessed Saints should you behold now triumphing in heauen that were as you are not Preachers but ordinary professours of the truth Brethren deceiue not your owne soules cast not your selues away wilfully Are not the people to be saued by the same meanes by which the Preachers are Is not the same faith in the Lord Iesus which must saue the Ministers required of the people also The Lord indeed hath giuen vs speciall charge to studie and know the holy Scriptures to what end think you surely as for our owne comfort so for your instruction The affaires of the world in your seuerall callings draw you away from oppâ—rtunity of studie the Lord in mercy to you hath commanded vs to labour in it that your want may be supplied by oâ—r aboundance Now especially hee looketh for this dutie of vs because he will now especially make tryall of your knowledge and constancy Do you not see many fall dayly on your right hand and on your left It is not your strength but Gods mercifull prouidence that holdeth you vpright he hath graciously vouchsafed to keepe you hetherto from occasion of being seduced he hath afforded you more time yet before the temptation like an armed man shall assault you if you prepare not now for the day of battell the enemy will surprise you are you be aware when you shall not be able to make resistance Many of you scarce know a friend from an enemie you are not able to discerne which be your owne colours It is an easie matter to carry you into the middest of Dothan while you seeke for the Prophet whom you know not if you meete him As he that walketh into the fields where there grow as well poysonous weeds as wholesome herbs if he know not the one from the other may as easily light vpon that which shal kill him as that which shal nourish him So he that is ignorant
what is true what false in matters of faith is as like to be led into errour that shall damne him as to be taught truth that shall saue him If then there be any desire in vs to obey the commandement of God if any feare of erring to damnation if any care of beleeuing aright to saluation let vs labour to vnderstand the misterie of iniquitie in the Romish faith that knowing it we may abhorre it and may auoide auoiding it we may embrace the loue of the truth and be saued What is it that leadeth thee out of the way to destruction doth the glorious outward shew of the Popish Churches blinde or dazle thine eyes It may perhaps admit some excuse in children that they haue beene deceiued by such toyes and gewgawes But it is ridiculous and vntollerable for men to runne after sights and shadowes Surely if thou hadst liued in our Sauiour Christs dayes or his Apostles times thou wouldest haue chosen the Temple and the beauty thereof with the Priests Scribes and Pharises rather then the barren mountaines or wildernesse with our Lord and his Disciples But what is it that maketh thee a papist discontent that thou art not honoured or inriched as thou desirest to be Perhaps thou ouerualuest thine owne worth and thinkest there is more due to thee then indeed there is but say thou hast not thy due doest thou not know that these things are ordered by the prouidence of God shalt thou haue no cause of discontent if thou become a papist are all papists râ—spected and rewarded I could name two great Earles the experience of whose miserie aboundantly refuteth this conceite Well say thou attaine to all thou hopest for the reckoning is behind What shall it profit a man though he winne the whole world if he loose his owne soule Antigone Math. 8. 36. in Sophocles was so wise that when her sister Ismente demanded of her how she durst bury her brother Polinices body against Creons commandement she answered her resolutely like a noble Lady that she knew it was a duty acceptable to the gods with whome she was to liue longer then vpon the earth with men and therefore had more care to please them Shall not this Lady this heathen condemne many men many Christians that choose rather to enioy the pleasures of sinne for a season then to raigne eternally in the glory of the Lord Iesus in his heauenly Kingdome Doth antiquitie vniuersalitie visibilitie consent like a looâ—stone draw thee after them Antiquitie is then onely a rule of truth when the pedegree of it can be fetched from the beginning For if euery opinion be truer as it is ancienter why should not the Scribes and Pharises traditions be of more account then our Sauiour Christs instructions certainely they had beene receiued and vsed in the Church of the Iewes many yeares before he was borne yea they had vniuersally the approbation and allowance of the whole Church and continued in good liking except with a few that followed our Lord for all his preaching to the end of his life what greater consent could there be all the Iewish Clergie Priests Leuites Scribes and Pharises agreed as one man to maintaine their owne superstitions and keepe downe the religion of our Lord Iesus These men the people depending vpon them were and had beene time out of minde the visible Church Oh that they had been as wise and learned as our papists now are to haue called to our Sauiour for a Catalogue of their names that had from time to time professed the Religion which he sought to bring in contrary to that they held doubtlesse he must haue beene faine vnlesse he had vsed his diuine knowledge to confesse that at the least for the last 300 yeares there was no such beadroll of names to be found I confessest Saint Luke in the geneallogy of our Sauiour rehearseth the names of his ancestours who were questionlesse holy and religious worshippers of God and trusted in the Messiah to come But I suppose it could hardly haue beene made plaine by any record of the Iewes and yet they were more diligent and carefull in such matters then Christians haue beene that the points wherein our Lord dissented from the Scribes and Pharises were distinctly knowne and publikely professed by them one after another But of this matter so much as concerneth the difference betwixt vs and the Church of Rome I said enough in the former Chapters and will not repeate it needlessely This one remaineth for conclusion that I humbly intreate all men which haue any true care of their own saluation that they would not be carried away with words but indeuour to enable themselues to iudge how those plausible fancies with which they are seduced may be applied to proue that which is vndertaken thereby To this end I haue employed my selfe in this course they that are desirous to see the truth may find direction therein for the iudging of it and thereby arme themselues against tho assaults and vndermining of furious souldiers and craftie pioners by obseruing their approches and discouering their works to the defeating of all their enterprises The greatest matter of all is that you would embrace the loue of the truth and resolue with your selues as those glorious martyrs I spake of did rather to indure torments and death then to forsake the religion of the Lord Iesus or to ioyne in profession with the Church of Rome This resolution will bring safetie in peace in war victorie that no ill tidings shall affright you no losses discourage you no discontent turne you out of the right way The Lord Iesus himselfe like the Angell in Iosua will march on the head of your troupes and be as a cloud to refresh you in the heate of Summer and as a fire to warme you in the cold of winter your swords shall eate the flesh of your enemies your pikes and bullets shall be drunke with their blood one of you shall chase a thousand and an hundred of you put ten thousand to flight Babylon shall be cast like Math a milstone into the sea and be found no more you shall reward the scarlet-coloured strumpet as she hath rewarded you and giue her double according to her vvorkes and in the cup that she hath filled to you fill her the double to the glory of God that hath appointed her this punishment the increase of religion the safety of the State and your honour in this life and euerlasting saluatioÌ„ in the life to come through Iesus Christ our Lord to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit one God in three Persons be all glory praise obedience and thanksgiuing now and for euer Amen FINIS