learning of the Aegyptians but their learning consisted rather in the hieroglyphick emblems then in letters And though there were Magicians and wise men among them before Josephs time Psal 105.21 Gen. 41.8 yet they are said to learn wisedome of Joseph and might also of the Patriarchs being in Aegypt four hundred years who had by tradition the sciences from Sheth which afterward might be called the learning of the Aegyptians who at that time had the Israelites in bondage and so took the name of learning to themselves But these books of Moses are most clearly divine and authentick declaring an history from the Creation for two thousand years forward with excellent revelation of divine oracles which teach men to know the true God 3. They be the word of God because it treateth of those works which are proper only to God and of which none can give evidence but the spirit of God and such as are inspired therewith As of the creation of the world the preservation and destruction of it the restauration of it again the qualifying of the Church with divine Oracles and religious services typicall and spirituall morall ceremoniall judiciall honouring it with unparalleld miracles declaring mans eternall redemption and by prophecies of the state of the Church to the worlds end Mathe. This proofe being taken only from Scripture will not suffice some who beleeve them not for their own sakes Phila. It is true such therefore may be confirmed of the truth of them from prophane writers who testifie of their truth and antiquity if they had rather beleeve such then the Scriptures themselves the Fathers or Ecclesiastick writers For many prophane Authors attest what is written in them as Homer and Plato and others Homer Plato Ovid. Hieron Aegypt Berosus Epolemus Plut. in l. ratio brutorum Vid Euseb l. 9. c. 34. de prop. Evangel Lactan. l. 4. c. 6. speak of the Creation others of the long lives of the Patriarchs as Ephorus and Alexander the historian before the flood others of the drowning of the world others of the Tower of Babel as Alydenus so Damascenus of Abrahams travels Plutarch of Noahs Dove so Pliny of Moses miracles Diodorus Siculus of Moses and Strabo with much reverence as well as Dionys Longinus The Sybils prophecied of mans Redeemer Suetonius in the life of Nero speaks of Christs miracles and Pliny of the wise mens star Macrobius of Herods massacring the infants of Bethelem Mathe. All this proves only the historicall part to be true Phila. If we beleeve the history to be a divine truth we cannot well doubt of the doctrinall part being interserted one with another and both of them equally attested by divine miracles both of Moses the Prophets and Christ and his Apostles which miracles being from the divine power would never have been produced to attest false doctrines in Scriptures therefore the Scriptures in doctrine as well as in history is the word of God But beside the rare modification of them sheweth them no lesse For though they transcend reason yet they deliver nothing contrary to right and pure reason nor any thing contrary in nature though things above nature Again the doctrinal part of them is agreeable to the nature of God is who Goodness Righteousnesse Love and Truth and Holinesse yea they discover to man all his secret corruptions which is the property only of God to do nor doth it in any thing contradict it selfe being rightly understood though written by divers men in divers ages and therfore surely were indited by that one eternall Spirit who is Unity in Verity as wel as Unity in Trinity Farther it shews man a way to be saved from sin and damnation without annihilating the Justice of God or making his mercy degenerate into fond pitty for want of satisfaction to his justice and this surpasseth the wisedome of Angels and men yea the effects of it are divine for it brings rest to a troubled mind which no book else can do and satisfieth mans knowledge in things worthy of faith and affords as much and more reason why we should beleeve them then any book beside Therefore the wisest and soberest men of all ages have consented to it and thousands of godly Martyrs have sealed it with their pious lives and constant deaths Vid. Martyrol Mathe. I pray give me some proofe that the Scriptures have as much reason and more to be beleeved then other writings Phila. 1. Because we can find no just exception against the Writers in regard of their abilities or their integrities and upon the same ground we beleeve all other Historiographers But if you say you know not whether those are the Authors of the books that are entitled to them as Moses and Paul I say you have as much reason to beleeve that as that any ancient writer is the Author of his own book 2. We may rather and ought rather to beleeve them then others not only because of the excellency of their matter as I said before but also because the Authors of them had no selfe interest in writing these books as either of gain or glory favor or the friendship of men nay they were content with labor and travell poverty and persecutions scorns and infamy misery and death Therefore certainly they be the Word of God Cyril 10. and so to be beleeved To call the Authors of them into question were to outdo Julian the Apostate who would not deny that Luc. Philo. and scoffing Lucian who did not deny Paul to be the Author of the second Epistle to the Corinthians twelfth chapter though he scoffs at his professed extasie Indeed they may challenge as much beleefe of their authors in this point as any writing both because they have been so successively delivered continually so mentioned and generally so acknowledged by all parties Mathe. Doth God declare himselfe in all the books of Scripture alike Phila. No but in some more historically as in the five books of Moses In some more my stically as in the Prophets In some more clearly as in the New Testament but in all instructively both for faith and manners perfectly and sufficiently Mathe. Why are some called Canonicall and some Apocryphall books Phila. They are called Canonicall which are the rule of faith and manners namely for us to beleeve and practice and they are numbred by the Church to begin with Genesis and to end with the Prophet Malachy for the Old Testament And the New Testament begins with St Matthew and ends with the Revelation of St John And all these are the subject of our faith but not all for our practice Mathe. Why so Phila. Because many precepts in it are temporall as the Ceremoniall Law some for the Jewes particular state only as the Judiciall Lawes the equity whereof we may observe though not according to the letter as we are bound to observe the charity which is the end of them though not the exact severity So many holy men had dispensation
who is and ever by Gods grace will be Thine as thou art Christs Benjamin Spencer These Books following are printed and to be sold by William Hope on the North side of the Royall Exchange at his shop next door to St Bartholomews Church THE Faith Doctrine and Religion professed in this Realm of England and the Dominions thereunto belonging Expressed in Thirty Nine Articles by Thomas Rogers The Balm of Gilead Or Comforts for the Distressed Also his Devout Soule and Free Prisoner by Jos Hall D. D. and B N. The New Covenant Or The Saints Portion by John Preston D.D. Bethel Or A form for Families in which all sorts of both Sexes are so squar'd and fram'd by the Word as they may best serve in their severall places for usefull pieces in Gods building by Matthew Griffith The Holy Lives of Gods Prophets by J. H. The Abridgement of the Body of Divinity of that Famous and Reverend Divine Mr William Perkins A True Relation of the Unjust Cruel and Barbarous proceedings against the English at Amboyna in the East-Indies by the Netherlandish Governor and Council there Godly Meditations upon the most holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper by Christopher Sutton Doctor in Divinity late one of the Prebends of the Collegiate Church of Westminster A Fountain of Teares by that Reverend divine Iohn Featley D.D. Chaplain to his late Majesty Some Sacramentall Instructions Or An explication of the Principles of Religion by T. B. B D. Pastor of M. O. London A Triumphant Arch Erected and Consecrated to the Glory of the Feminine Sex By Monsieur de Scudery Englished by I. B. Gent. The Generall History of Women Containing the Lives of the most Holy and Prophane the most Famous and Infamous in all ages exactly described not only from Poeticall Fictions but from the most Ancient Modern and admired Historians to our times by T. H. Gent. Heroick Education Or Choice Maximes and Instructions for the most sure and facile training up of youth in the waies of eminent learning and vertues by I. B. Gent. Gerardo the Unfortunate Spaniard Or a Pattern for Lascivious Lovers Originally in Spanish and made English by L. D. Poems By Francis Beaumont Gent. Colloquia Plautina viginti Ex totidem M. Plauti Comoediis excerpta Annotatiunculis marginalibus illustrata Opera Alexandri Rossaei A CHRISTIAN DIALOGVE between PHILALETHES and MATHETES Mathetes REverend Sir I have presumed upon your goodnesse and long acquaintance you being a lover of truth and of all those that love it to designe this day to wait upon you and to give you the trouble to satisfie some questions whereby my mind may be established in this wavering world wherein severall societies of Christians do all lay claime to truth as theirs only with as great fervency as the two women pleaded before King Solomon for the child which could not possibly have two mothers So surely there is but one truth and but one right and true profession of it Philalethes I hope your Religion is not now to seek Mathe. Not altogether but I confess I would be glad to find satisfaction more fully about that religion in which I was born and bred that so I may not beleeve implicitly as because my parents were of this or that religion but that I may be able to render a reason of mine own faith Phila. Your endeavour is good but I fear you are troubled with the staggers or vertigo a braine giddinesse bred by the inordinate motion of spirits in the ventricle of the brain so I beleeve your mind is made light and frothy by some evil notions unwarily received or by a multitude of good notions not wel disposed like unto good meat that being not well digested will breed a disease as well as vicious diet this may be some cause of your wavering Mathe. I think Sir you say right For I confesse to you that I have met with some spirits that have made me in such a maze and brought me into such a labyrinth that I have turned Seeker of what I had and a Shaker in what I held yet I find my first tenets in the Protestant Religion to be the best but I want confirmation For some tell me that I cannot prove there is a God or that man hath a soule immortall more then other creatures and that it comes only by generation and hath no existence after death And when I endeavour to confute them by Scripture they bid me prove the Scriture to be the word of God when I seek to prove that by Scripture they say it cannot bear witness to its selfe for that is to prove the same by the same If I flie to the tradition of the Church they aske me what Church is the true Church Or if I offer them the sence of Scripture to prove what they demand then they ask me who shall be judge whether that be the true sense or no If I say our Church of England Gabr. Ã porta Biâ—l in can miss lect 23. they deny her to be true If I say the Church of Rome others prove her and her Pope too Hereticall If I say the reformed Churches of Geneva Helvetia or Scotland they tell me they are schismaticall so that I am in a great straight with Job to know where wisdome is to be found Job 28.12 or where is the place of understanding Phila. You need not seek far the word is neer thee from whence such reasons may be deduced that will answer all these opinions But if men will not hear these reasons I must tell them they have no faith but either humane or divelish not divine faith which beleeves that there is a word of God and beleeves God upon that word But I will not anticipate tell me therefore what was the first thing which troubled you Mathe. Even the same with which I troubled my selfe being a child or something else troubled me by casting into my mind what that God was of whom my parents had told me whether he was before the world what he did then before he made it And I have met with some of as little wit as I my selfe then had or else of deeper reach either to bring us into some form which yet we have not had or else to bring us all to confusion and then out of that chaos to raise up a Church of their own framing and boast of it as did Nebuchadnezzer Is not this great Babel which I have built Phila. As these thoughts came into your mind for want of knowledge of God at first so do these scrupulous queries come into it for want of subjecting your selfe to that knowledge which God hath offered to you of himselfe For the soul of man being rational and discoursive will run into many vagaries and grow extravagant without rule and so misse God wherein standeth mans eternall happinesse Mathe. Is there a way then for a man to attain eternall happinesse Quest 1 Phila. Yes First if there were
himselfe to man by raising persecutions against those that professe it but especially against Christ and the Gospel which declares the manhood with God by Christs birth and mans redemption by Christs death And this argueth his first sin to be rebellion against the truth determined to be in due time manifested to the world Indeed Christ saith he did not abide in the truth nor indeed could abide it He did not abide in God who is truth it selfe nor in true obedience in which he was created nor in the truth determined concerning Christ to be mans Redeemer And indeed this seems to be truth from which he fell especially 1. Because Christ cals this Truth by way of eminence before Pilate saying I am come to witnesse the truth i. of Gods purpose and promise And he cals the Jewes the children of the Devill because they went about to destroy him and Judas a devill because he fell from him who was the Truth And because both refused to stand by his grace and favour as the Devill also did who hath ever been an opposer of this truth from the beginning as by preventing Adam of the sacramentall shadow of the tree of life and Cain of the comfort of true sacrifice both which were types of Christ And since that he made the Jewes to despise the figures of him Num. 21.56 in the Manna and Rock-water 1 Cor. 10.9 so he hath raised up many since Christs comming in the flesh to deny his Divinity or the truth of his Humanity Saviourship or justification power wisdome or holinesse And thus like the devill they love not that truth which was the actuall fulfilling of all the types law prophecies and promises in which regard it is said John 1. that Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ And I think the rather this was the main sin because neither he nor Judas never repented of it whom Christ called a devill for it is a sin cannot be repented of because committed directly against the method of God Christ and the Spirit of grace which is the only cause and means to true repentance So that he still setting himselfe like the Highest by designing to himselfe mans obedience and worship Mat. 4. sheweth his naturall pride 2. In seeking to destroy mans body and soule by tempting him to misbeleeve or disbeleeve his own redemption by Christ he sheweth his innate spight and envy 3. In striving to crosse Gods proceedings in nature or grace sheweth his rebellion from the beginning Mathe. But doth one devill do all this mischiefe in all men and all parts of the world at once this would argue a kind of infiniteness Phila. No sure for men are led aside by their own corruption and tempted of concupiscence to which the devill joins himselfe not only the Prince of Devils but some of his crew who are most fit to improve that temptation of a mans concupiscence Drusius quotations in lib. munus novum as we see one undertakes to seduce Ahab by becoming a lying spirit in the mouths of his Prophets Which was one of Pythons train whose way is by lies to delude people And the Scripture seems to intend some such thing by giving certain names to them as to some principall heads as Beelzebub whom the Jewes thought to be the Prince of Devils his name signifieth a master flie Jupiter Muscanius vide Clem. Alex. in protrept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Lord of flies Some say from his buzzing temptations which like flies swarm about us Others say because he drove away flies when the people sacrificed to him He is called the god of Ekron because they worshipped him So we find that God forbids consulting with familiar spirits Deut. 18.11 which in Hebrew is Schoel Aug. in 2. lib. de doct Christia cap. 23. and translated Python whom some writers take to be the head of that rank and order So we read of Belial a spirit of rebellion a vessell of wrath and ruine So of one Asmodeus a convincer and punisher Tobit 3.8 that strangled Sarahs seven husbands So of Satan who works deceits with Witches and Magitians and inflicts many miseries on mankind Revel as on Job c. 1. We read of another called Abaddon the master of misrule and confusion So of one Astaroth the chiefe head of all devilish accusations and so is all one with Diabolus the devill So we read of Mammon who tempteth to rapine and covetousnesse not that these only use such temptations for no doubt they officiate one for another and each faculty is imploied by each to mans ruine as the good Angels in their offices to mans good And it may be questioned whether these names signifie rather their persons or their faculties as Belemoh their beastly nature and Leviathan their vast increase in evill and Serpent their crafty folds windings and subtilties which Angels as they are dispersed in the world so they disperse their venome through the world Mathe. Doe they retain nothing of their created nature but evill Phila. Yes but they turn it all into evill They have their first knowledge and power but yet no farther then God permits them to use it for they are reserved like prisoners in chains by which they are confined For 1. They know not God with any comfort nor know his intentions nor his determinations whom he means to save or condemn for then it were in vain to tempt the one and needlesse to tempt the other Nor 2. Have they any certain knowledge of future events but make collections either from the stars or prophecies of Scripture or from mens temper or their actions and endeavors and therefore their answers in Oracles were dark and doubtfull as when he told the Pope he should die at Bethelem Sylvester it proved at a Monastery so called He told a King of England that he should not die till he had been at Jerusalem it proved that he died in a chamber so called Yet they beleeve and tremble because they fear justly they shall never enjoy the mercy they beleeve and because they do already feel partly the judgement ordained for them Againe they are stinted in their power they cannot do what they would Job was hedged in and till God opened a gap the devill could not invade him and when they are suffered to invade man yet are they subjected to the power of Christ and his Ministers Mathe. Are not these Angels in hell as yet Phila. No for had they been fixed to that sphere of punishment upon the fall they could neither have tempted Adam Aug. lib. 8. de civ dei c. 22. Jude 6. v. 17 nor us upon earth but they carry their hell about with them viz. the seat of damnation and the sense of Gods eternall displeasure Mathe. Where do you think Hell to be Phila. It is hard to say because the Scriptures do not plainly declare it only it saith such a place there is prepared for the devill and his
for fear of death but of the tyranny of sin death and the devill which they had got over mankind Next the great ingratitude of the most part of mankind the dispersion of little flocks the scandall they might take at his death the sad ruine of the Jewes which he foresaw and the wrath of God for mans sin of which now he began to have a sense as being surety for us And all this he suffered without any perturbation of sinfull passion And this was done surely to expiate our sinfull fears and doubts and to encourage us in any terrors that arise from a troubled conscience though they put us into great agonies But these were not all his sufferings For he suffered 1. By the consultation of his adversaries the Priests Scribes and Pharisees who when they should have been preparing for the Passeover they were consulting how to take away the true Paschall Lambs life and would have done it at that time but that they feared the people more then they feared God 2. He suffered by the treason of Judas one of his own disciples whom he made steward of his family and had washed those feet that were so apt to shed his blood And this he suffered 1. That the Scripture might be fulfilled that foretold it Psal and Joh. 13.8 2. To beware of coverousnesse which will make a man even to betray Christ at any rate 3. To fore warn Ministers of all others to take heed of being corrupted this way lest they become like salt that hath lost his savour 4. To teach us to beware of sin under what pretense soever For it is likely that Iudas did not intend to have Christ killed but only to get the mony supposing that he would make an escape which may be argued from that that he was so troubled when he saw he was condemned Also to beware of the smallest beginnings of sin For at the first Iudas his sin was but discontent that he loft the gain of Mary her ointment and she justified in her deed By this the devill entred his heart that he resolved to sell the anointed because he could not sell the ointment His next suffering was by being apprehended by wicked hands to unloose the hold of sin and Satan from us and in a garden to expiate the sin committed in Paradise Then bound to unloose the bands of wickednesse and the works of the devill Then toffed from pillar to post from one High Priest to another Then abused by the souldiers and Jewes Luke 22. who buffeted that face which the holy Patriarchs and Prophers longed to behold Cant. 8.1 And scoffed at his prophecying which never failed But it is no wonder if they that had scorned the Prophet of the Lord did also scoffe the Lord of the Prophets This was done to him to expiate our sinne of mocking God as if he could not see and our losing of his glorious image yet he would not die in a tumult but was solemnly brought before the Judge and there falsely accused to free us from his that accuseth the brethren And received sentence of death unjustly to save us from the sentence of Gods condemnation So he was charged with sedition and blasphemy to free us by his attonement from the guilt of high treason against God To all which he answered not saving to the High Priest that he was the Son of God because he conjured him by the name of God to tell him And to Pilate that he was a King though his Kingdome was not of this world that he might leave the Jewes without excuse and take away the occasion from Pilate of justly condemning him and to fulfill the Scripture Isa 53.7 that he was like a sheep dumb before the shearer and to comfort his people that they have a King in Sion though he regardeth not worldly glory Mathe. Methinks he doth not answer very plainly to Pilate and Herod nothing at all I pray what was the reason Phila. He said he was a King but such an one that meant not to stickle for worldly glory which seemeth strange because God had promised to give him the throne of David Luke 1.32 33. and that he should reign over the house of Jacob for ever but that is meant not literally but spiritually which teacheth not to expect that true Religion should stand in outward glory but pray that the eies of our understanding being opened we may see wherein consists the glory of Christs Kingdome Eph. 1.19 Col. 3.2 and therefore to employ our selves about heavenly things and not earthly things for our trading consisteth in such commodities as appeareth Phil. 3.20 for he never promised any great earthly possessions to his followers as that Impostor Mabomet did but exhorted them to seek the preferments of his spirituall Kingdome 2. He said he came to bear witnesse of the truth which though Pilate scoffed at it saying what is truth yet it was a truth for not submitting to which the Devill was cast down and all men are damned that wil not beleeve it viz. that all creatures that are capable of eternall happinesse must attain to it by dependance upon the Son of God by which we are informed what poor entertainment truth finds in the world that Christ is fain to descend from heaven to avouch it Therefore let us receive the truth with all respect and stand for it to the death for so we shall prove our selves of the truth and to be his subjects Now he would say no more to Pilate in his defence lest he should seem to endeavor to prevent the sentence of death By which silence he satisfieth God for our lavish tongues and that he might meritoriously plead for us in heaven Nor would he confesse himselfe the Son of God to Pilate because Pilate was uncapable of the doctrine of the Trinity and also because it was no time now to reveal his Deity but to die in his humanity This filence did so amaze Pilate that he sought to save him or at least to put his condemnation over to others And therefore first offers to the Jewes to judge him by their law Iohn 18.31 which they refusing brought to passe what Christ had sortold viz. what death he should die namely the Romane death of the Crosse by which we may see that all the policy of men cannot disappoint the purpose of God in his childrens sufferings Upon their refusing Pilate sends him to Herod who set him at naught with his men of war because he would not speak to Herod nor shew any miracle before him Luk. 23.8 9 10 thereby shewing how little he esteemed of Herods greatnesse that would not feed the lightnesse and vanity of his mind by casting his pearls before such a swine This scorn of Herod and his souldiers he suffered that we might be esteemed of God and his holy army of Angels Herod finding no fault in him Luke 23.15 yet he sends back to Pilate and in scorn of his claim to
Acts 2.46 that is in their private oratories or upper rooms set apart for holy occasions of which there was no use when Churches were built except for devotion of the private family Another meeting you find Acts 4.23 where God shook the place where they were assembled and they were all filled with the holy Ghost Another meeting you find Acts 6.2 about choosing the seven Deacons of whom Stephen was one who was the first Martyr that suffered death for Christ Acts 7.58 Then began persecution to wax hot by reason of Sauls being too zealous for the Law of Moses Acts 8.4 and so the Church was scattered but he was converted Acts 9. Then had the Church rest and multiplied exceedingly ver 31. and spread very farre and at Antioch they were first called Christians Acts 11.26 Then Herod Agrippa to curry favor with the Jewes Acts 12.2 killed James and imprisoned Peter but God smote him in the midst of his vain glory Acts 12.23 The next speciall meeting of the Apostles was Acts 15.16 the first Councill that ever was who determined the great Question of circumcision negatively that it should not be imposed on the Gentiles Other meetings there were in divers places according as the Church increased and was transplanted in divers regions as Acts 20.7 at Troas Mathe. But had they any publick meeting places called Churches in those times Phila. The first they had were those oratories which the Jewes had on tops of their houses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 called the upper rooms which though the Romans called caenaculum or a banquetting room because it was like their feasting rooms on the tops of their houses yet neither the Jewes nor Christians used it but in religious devotions And therefore where Christ eat the Passeover and celebrated his last supper was held a place sacred though appertaining to some private house of some of the disciples In this place some say that Christ appeared to his disciples on the day of his Resurrection Nicepho Bed de locis Sanct. to 3. c. 3. and on the eighth day after to Thomas with the rest and that here James was made Bishop of Jerusalem by the Apostles and the seven Deacons elected and the first Councill held Cyr. Hieros cat 16. Acts 15. And Saint Cyril cals it the upper Church of the Apostles where the Holy Ghost descended also upon them Acts 2. And it may possibly be the place prophecied of as being neer to mount Sion Psalm 50.2 out of Sion God appeared in perfect beauty in which Psalm the spirit also seems to refuse carnall facrifices which was Gospel-like doctrine Also it is prophecied that out of Sion shall go forth the Law and the word of God out of Jerusalem to which many people shall flock and so they did Acts 2. And thus his foundations were laid in the holy mountains and he hath shewed that he loved the gates of Sion more then all the dwellings of Jacob Vide Hier in Epitap Paulae epi. 27. because he i. Christ was there produced by the Gospels promulgation which never came from the Temple though divulged from a place neer to Sion which place was enclosed afterward if we may beleeve antiquity with a faire Church called the Church of Sion In process of time as the Church Christian increased no doubt they built places of recess for the worship of God as well as the Jewes had Synagogues whose religion was estranged as much from the religion of the Roman Empire as the Christians was and in these places they did ordinarily assemble to perform divine duties unlesse they were hindred by necessity Mathe. I pray give me some instances of these Phila. We read that as at first they had their upper rooms for oratories so afterward they had places of worship built in fields Euseb eccles hist lib. 2. c. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where they heard the Scriptures interpreted and had severall classes for men and women and sung Psalms and had distinctions of Bishops and Deacons We see also in Pauls Epistles that he salutes some with their houshold only as Aristobulus and Narcissus Assyncritus Rom. 16. Oecume in in Rom. 16. and Col. 4. and Phlegon But others he saluteth with the Church at their house i. all those that there commonly assembled So he salutes Nymphas Col. 4.15 and Philemon and Aquila and Priscilla Rom. 16. which sheweth their houses or part of them dedicated to pious uses in common So Theophilus to whom St Luke dedicates his Gospel Hiero. in ep 2. ad Galat. Clem. in Recog lib. 10. and Acts of the Apostles did dedicate his house at Antioch to this purpose this was about thirty eight years after Christ And Eusebius reports that St Mark had divers Churches in Alexandria in his history lib. 2. cap. 16. So St Paul at Corinth as we may collect from 1 Cor. 11.22 saying have ye not houses to eat and drink in or do you despise the Church of God So Joseph of Arimathea and his Colony of Christians built the Church of Glassenbury in England Hist Angli which being burnt was built again by King Henry the second his Letters Patents So Crescens caused a Church to be built at Vienna So in 79. Eus l. 3. c. 4. there was a great Church built at Ephesus by St John saith Eusebius lib. 3. cap. 20. And many were built also in Rome by the Apostles means Euseb l. 2. c. 25 And surely the reason of this dedicating places to holy worship was because Christians being taught by Scriptures that the majesty of God is most sacred and incommunicable so those things by which they worshipped should not be made common And indeed therefore Christians were well admonished by an ancient holy Writer Clem. in epist ad Corinth that we ought to do all things as God had expressed them to be done in regard both of times when and persons whereby and places wherein that so we may be accepted of him all these we find in the first hundred years after Christ Mathe. I pray go on and give me a further light Phila. We find Ignatius reproving Trajan in a Church lib. 3. cap. 19. as Nicephorus reports And 117. the Emperor Adrian commands Christian Churches to be built Dion in Adri. and forbade to place the Images of the Romane Gods therein And Ignatius writing to the Magnesians Vid. Epist ad ad Philad chargeth them to meet in one place to use one common praier with one heart as coming to one Temple of God one Altar and one Christ So we find Polycarpus receiving the Communion in a Church at Rome in the year 169. And Theophylus Antiochenus Eus l. 5. c. 25. in his Epistle to Autolycum saith that as the sea hath Ilands that are fruitfull so the world hath Synagogues called Churches wherein truth was preserved whereby men might be saved And Clemens Alexandrinus distinguisheth the Church
up some to maintain the cause of his truth As Arnoldus de nova villa a Spaniard who held in his time That the devill had seduced the world from the truth of Christ That the faith then commonly taught was the faith of devils That Christian people were led by the Pope to hell That the Cloisters had no charity and falsified the doctrine of Christ That the Ministers did not well to mix Philosophy with Divinity That masses are not to be celebrated nor that Priests ought to sacrifice for the dead All which the Protestants hold Gulielmus de Sancto Amore a Master of the University of Paris applied all the texts of Scripture that make against Antichrist to the Pope and his Clergy and proved the Friers to be false Prophets and writ against their wilfull poverty shewing that Christ when he said Mat. 19.21 Go and sell all thou hast and give it to the poor did not intend actuall but habituall poverty namely that we should not impoverish our selves when no need requireth but that in our affections we should be ready so to do when the confession of Christ and his glory shall require it that then we be ready to leave all for his sake So say the Protestants also But this man was condemned for an heretick and exiled and his books burnt So Laurence an English man and a Master of Paris 1300. and Peter John a Minorite and Robertus Gallus a Dominican Frier wrote that the Pope was Antichrist and Rome was great Babylon and that the Pope was an Idoll that had eies but would not see the abominations of his Church for desire of riches So the Protestants hold likewise Robert Gostred Bishop of Lincoln would not admit at the Popes command for an Italian boy to be one of the Prebends of his Church but writ to him that it was a devilish sin to defraud the people of the preaching of the Word by setting those in place that could not perform the Ministeriall office but only take the milke and wooll of Christs sheep He prophecied in his sicknesse that the Church should not be delivered from Romes Aegyptian bondage but by a bloody sword So think the Protestants Marsilius Patavinus affirmed that the Pope had not authority over other Bishops much lesse over the Emperour 1400. lib. defens pacis and that the Pope and the Clergy should be subject to Magistrates and that the head of the Church is Christ and that he never appointed any Vicar to be universall head thereof that Bishops ought to be chosen by the Clergy and that the marriage of Priests is lawfull and that St Peter was never at Rome that the Church of Rome is a den of theeves and that Popish doctrine leads to eternall death So hold the Protestants also Michael Cesenas Provinciall of the Grey Friers writ against the Popes pride and supremacy and cals him Antichrist and Rome Babylon the great whore drunk with the blood of the Saints that there were two Churches one of the wicked very flourishing wherein the Pope reigned the other of godly men afflicted over whom Christ reigned So hold the Protestants This man had many followers The Pope cursed him and burned many of them as they did also the Protestants John Wickliffe a Professor of Divinity in Oxford in King Edward the thirds time wrote many learned books of Logick and Philosophy Morality and Divinity and of the speculative Art He discovered the error of the Papists about Sacraments and so made himselfe many enemies But he had many friends and followers beyond the seas as John Huss and Jerome of Prague In whose defence fifty four Nobles of Moravia writ sharp reprehending the popish party for taxing Bohemia and Moravia with heresie Mr Moor. And many Nobles of England about the year 1385. did maintain Wickliffs doctrine namely Lord Montague Lord Clifford Earle of Salisbury Lord Latimer and Nevill Mathe. What were the points of Wickliffs doctrine Phila. That the substance of bread and wine remained in the Sacrament of the Altar after the words of consecration 2. That it is not found that Christ instituted or confirmed a Masse 3. That it is presumption to affirm that the children of the faithfull dying unbaptized are damned 4. That in St Pauls time there were but two orders of Clerks namely Elders and Deacons 5. That the causes of divorcement for spirituall consanguinity or affinity are not founded on the Scriptures 6. That he which is in the Church most serviceable and humble is Christ neerest Vicar in the Church militant 7. That if extrme or corporall unction were a Sacrament neither Christ nor his Apostles would have omitted it 8. That whatsoever the Pope commandeth without a cleare deduction from the Scriptures is to be accounted hereticall 9. That it is folly to beleeve the Popes pardons 10. That it is not necessary to beleeve the Church of Rome to be the supreme head of other Churches 11. That a Priest may preach the Word of God with authority from the Pope 12. That the Church of Rome is the synagogue of Satan nor is the Pope the Vicar of Christ nor of his Apostles 13. That if any man enter into a private Religion he is made thereby the more unfit to serve God The Protestants follow these positions John Huss the Bohemian followeth Wickliffe in time and doctrine for which he was burnt by the Councill of Constance though he was promised safe conduct His great offence was that he appealed to Jesus Christ which they took for a contempt of the Apostolike See Some report of this good Martyr that though they burnt the Goose for so Huss signifieth yet out of his ashes should rise a Swan so Luther signifieth that should trouble them worse then he had done So Luther did indeed Jerom of Prague died also as did John Huss about the year 1415. Hieronymus Savonarala an Italian Monk was a great adversary to the popish Clergy yet preaching nothing but the plain word of God as touching 1. The free justification in Christ through faith 2. That the communion ought to be administred in both kinds 3. That popish pardons were of no effect 4. Denied the Popes supremacy 5. Preached against the filthinesse of the Cardinals and Clergy 6. That the Keies were not only given to Peter 7. That the Pope did neither follow the life nor doctrine of Christ and that he attributed more to his own pardons then to Christs merits and therefore was Antichrist 8. That the Popes excommunications are not to be feared and he that doth fear them is excommunicated of God 9. That auricular confession is not necessary All which he stood unto with two Friers who were all three hanged openly and then burned And now began the Art of Printing which did ruine the Pope more then preaching Martin Luther was by the speciall providence of God called forth to fight the cause of truth against the Pope even out of the Cloister of Augustinian Friers in the
in the time of King Lucius who desired Baptism of Pope Elutherius for himself and his people that he nor any Priest that came with him into the Isle of Thanet Bed l. 1. c. 26. did preach till they had license from the King But it is of courtesie not duty the Pope hath had much regard in England as appeareth in that his Legats and Nuncioes have had here entertainment But this was no more then they had in other places of the world where their usurped authority was rejected So in Asia and Africa This proveth nothing of any right he had in England for though this Realm hath admitted sometimes appeals to Rome yet you shall find that they have been oftner prohibited and the Popes Buls condemned and his excommunications slighted and his decrees rejected and that the King made Lawes and Ecclesiasticall Canons by Parliaments and Synods without the Popes leave As you may see in the daies of King Egbert and Alfred about the appeale of Wilfride Archbishop of York who was the first that ever appealed before the Norman conquest to the Pope and in whose behalfe the Pope sent Nuncioes to England with a Letter or Bull to restore Wilfride to his pluralities of which the King and great Councill of the Kingdome the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Clergy had divested him But they would not yield to the Popes desire to restore Wilfride til he had submitted himselfe and resigned those Monasteries he held which had moved the contention So after the Norman conquest in the reign of Henry the first Pope Paschalis put a new oath upon Archbishops to be taken when they received their Pall which Anselme the Archbishop having taken thought himselfe obliged to maintain the appellations to Rome but King Henry pleaded the fundamentall lawes which forbad any such appeals without the Kings licence and that they were a violation to the Crown and a Law was made that if any should bring the Popes letter or mandate in the Realm Rog. Hoved. in Hen. 2. he should be executed as a Traitor to the King and Kingdome and every one was forbidden appeals to the Pope It is true that Pope Nicolas grants to King Edward the Confessor and his successors that which he stood in no need of namely the protection of all the Churches in England and to make Lawes with the advice of their Bishops and Abbots in his stead for governing the same This was to make the world beleeve in after time that their authority in these things was derived from the Pope Malm. de gest Pontif. Vâ—d Mat. Par. an 1164. For we find that this was alwaies done by the Saxon and Danish Kings before any such Bull was sent from the Pope yea and disposed of Bishopricks without the Pope so did King William and Rufus his son and they counted themselves as Gods Vicar to govern the Church and to correct any wrong done in Ecclesiasticall Courts Acts of Clarendon which course the Kings of England after the Conquest alwaies followed and acted with the advice and assistants of their Parliaments as we may see in the daies of King Henry the second and by the Statutes of Clarendon which prevents popish jurisdiction by forbidding appeals and disposing benefices and Ecclesiasticall dignities Stat. of Carlile 25. of Edw. 1. But in the reigne of King Edward the first is a notable statute which declares the holy Church of England to be founded in the estate of Prelacy not Papacy and within the Realm of England not without it and by the King and his Peers not by Popes and forreign Bishops and that the Popes encrochments did aim at the ruine of the Church disinheriting of the King and destruction of the Lawes 16. of Ric. 2. c. 5. And in Richard the seconds reign it is set down that the Crown of England hath alwaies been and is free and in no subjection earthly but only to God and to no other and ought not to be submitted to the Pope It is true that King John resigned his Crown to the Pope but that was but done in his distresse he could not do that lawfully wherein the whole Kingdome had the greater share So many Emperours have taken their Crowns from the Pope as you have heard but this hath been done by some of them for greater solemnity and some for fear or out of superstition some to make their party the stronger against their enemies and the Pope hath crowned them but that of right he had any power over the Crown I find none Now for the second Question how Christian Religion came to be corrupted Rom. 1.8 Gild. de exid Conq. Brit. being at first clear as Romes was in its Primitive profession of it 1. It is true that England had a light of the Gospell as it is thought by Joseph of Arimathea and his colony of Christians that came with him to Glassenbury which was in the time of Tiberius the Emperours reign Peter came not to Rome till the second year of Claudius to lay any foundation of a Church there Nor do we find any plain face of a Church in England till King Lucius and his subjects were baptized as you have read by Fugatius and Damianus two Ministers that Elutherius the Bishop of Rome fent to do it at King Lucius his request The Church of Rome continued faithfull 350. yeers after Christ as I have shewed and kept her selfe untainted with heresie and was a covert and protection unto the professors of truth But after the Emperour Constantine and his successors turned Christians Clergy men grew into great favour at Court and so wealth and ease first begate security then covetousnesse then pride next ambition then devising of false tenets to maintain it and superstitions to uphold it then also heresies to mask or depose truth At last getting the title of universall Bishop the Eastern Church falling to decay the world looked on the Pope though not as upon one that should be their superiour in secular matters yet as one that should direct them in doctrines He by subtilty of the Schoolmen and policy and power sowed tares and though he seemed to keep the foundation yet built beside it kept up the truth in unrighteousnesse and delivered to the people by retaile what he pleased shut up the Scriptures and gave them humane traditions Now Princes and Priests being some perswaded of his piety and cozened by his hypocrisie others reverencing of his antiquity and dazeled with his dignity and others being remisse and idle were contented to enjoy the world in quiet and take any Religion that was offered them Thus the world was made dark by Babylons cup and had no feeling of the losse of truth no more then the Pope had except he were touched in his honours and profits But God had pity upon his Church and raised up now and then some to set up his truth as you have see And lastly Luther to oppose the Popes errors and
spirit of judgement and burning Esa 4.4 both to condemn our selves and to consume our drosse therefore it continually lusteth against the flesh and makes our hearts to rise against sin Gal. 3. as it doth against any thing we hate and if at any time we yeeld to the flesh this good spirit becomes like a voice behind calling to us that we are out of the way Esa 30.21 by daily good motions and checks of conscience and by baptizing us with fire Mat. 3.11 inflaming our hearts with an holy revenge upon sin and with a love to all goodnesse righteousnesse and truth Then next he doth infuse divine graces into the heart which are like so many letters commendatory of us to God as faith to beleeve above reason naturall as Abraham did Rom. 4.17 and without any visible means Heb. 11.1 so also he worketh in us love to God by which we tender the pleasure of God above all things in doing and suffering of which we are never ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by this holy spirit which he hath given us Rom. 5.5 and makes us wait by hope for the righteousnesse to be revealed Gal. 5.5 with longing and sighing Rom. 8.23 and praying by the spirit of supplication poured by him upon us Zac. 12.11 and never leaves till he hath made us partakers of the divine nature resembling God in selfe-contentment though we be shut out of the worlds society and in being in love with good men that are begotten of God 1 John 5.1 therefore he is called the spirit of love Rom. 15.30 and in wisedome Mar. 13.11 whereby the elect discern those mysteries which none knoweth but God and they for they are not discerned by others 1 Cor. 2.14 and also in transforming them into the practise of those things they hear and beleeve by this spirit from one glorious grace to another 2 Cor. 3.18 and this through the sanctification of obedience 1 Pet. 1.2 by which he gives us comfort by giving us peace of conscience and joy in assurance of remission and freedome from the guilt of sin in which respect he is called the comforter John 16.7 and so he is but especially in the times of affliction wherein he gives them such tastes of heavenly glory as makes them to contemn all earthly things and rejoice in tribulations Rom. 5.4 because this spirit of glory resteth upon them 1 Pet. 4.14 Thus he goeth alwaies with the elect working in them a spirituall strength to persevere though sometimes they be like smoking flax almost choked in their sad melancholy fumes or like bruised reeds that have no strength then doth he establish the inward man Eph. 3.16 by nourishing the seeds of grace sown in our drie ground by his sweet dew from above Esa 44.3 and by his secret and powerfull assistance in the times of triall 2 Cor. 12.9 bearing witnesse to them that they are the sons of God for all their crosses in this world Rom. 8.15 which he sealeth to them by the promises beleeved concerning Christ and himselfe Eph. 1.13 All which considered we should make much of this spirit and not grieve it nor quench it Not grieve it by acting without it by our own sensuall desires and separating our selves from the societies where he doth affoord his gracious dispensations Jud. 19. or do not acknowledge his power in giving them skill and abilities to perform their severall places and callings nor asking counsell of him or direction from him Esa 30.1 but rather despise it even in his ordinances 1 Thes 4.8 and turn their ear from it as Neh. 9.20 30. and harden their hearts against it Zac. 7.12 and rebell against his doctrine and so grieve him in his ministers Esa 63.10 and Acts 7.51 as St Stephen told the Jewes yea to tempt him by venturing to try whether he will punish them or no as Ananias and Saphira did Acts 5.9 by all which they shew that whatsoever portion of the spirit they have received yet it is in vain Also we must not quench it as some do fire by casting on water or withdrawing that which should feed it â— Tim. 1.6 or lose it as we do springs for want of endeavor to draw or pump them And this men do when after they have had some taste of heavenly gifts in remorse for sin or some joifull apprehensions of Gods promises yet they fall away and having begun in the spirit yet end in the flesh Gal. 3. So when they fall into grosse sins after calling to grace they cause the Holy one to cease from them in his operation for a time and so lose the joy which formerly they found in Gods service So do they discourage the spirit of their Teachers so that they cannot do their work with joy but griefe Heb. 13.17 Thus by living in known sins they sad the spirit which would seale them to the day of redemption Eph. 4.30 which may possibly conduce to the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost if these be not repented of Mathe. I pray declare to me that sin as plain as you can Phila. It is a wilfull and totall falling away from the grounds and true beginnings of Christ and from that spirituall fellowship which one hath had with the people of God therein after ones illumination and outward sanctification contemning the Gospell and despighting the methods and operations of the Holy Ghost without repentance even to death All this may be gathered from Heb. 6.4 5 6. and Heb. 10.25 26 27. But this must be rightly understood As first that he must be one inlightned with some competent knowledge in true religion and sanctified by outward calling at least to the covenant of grace Heb. 10.29 and the seals thereof though not sanctified by saving grace which shewes it selfe by true repentance from all sin and by relying on Christ by faith for his salvation So next he must wilfully apostate Heb. 10.26 as it were without temptation not as David by lust or Peter by feare yea it must be a totall falling from all parts of truth which may possibly over-power his nature by the terrors of the law Also he must despise the Gospell and even loath the way of salvation by Christ and scorne the Gospel which is the meanes of sanctification and hath in some manner worked formerly upon himselfe some change of mind and manners Besides he must offer some despight by blasphemie and persecution and that not of ignorance as Paul did but of desperate malice and that not only to the person of the holy as many have done to the person of the Father and Son by many presumptuous sins but to the work of grace and operating power of the Holy Ghost in us by which God commeth more neer to us then in other things or to his power shewed outwardly for approving gospel-Gospel-truth So the Pharisees blasphemed the miracles of Christ saying that they were wrought by Beelzebub Mat. 12.24 whereas be did them
received and that is 1. Civility or common honesty and the next is restraining grace by which they may be said to be sanctified sacramentally or putatively Heb. 10.26 or disposed toward it Heb. 6.4 5. but this is but to have it fieri but non in facto esse i. in a way toward it but not in throughly or truly and therefore men must distinguish between civility which is wrought meerly by morall education according to naturall principles without any knowledge or desire of knowing Gods word but they are carefull to maintain equity and common honesty for the keeping up of trade and commendation of themselves upon which ground also they keep themselves from drunkennesse whoredome and enormous crimes without relation to Gods word Now sanctification though it incline to the same things or duties yet it doth it by the true medium of heavenly light which is the word of God and they that do not so are as far from sanctification as the heathen morallists Now their civility and all meer naturall mens honesty stands principally in the duties of the second table where the light of nature is most clear but for matters of piety in the first table they observe it but ceremoniously and so far as they conduce to preserve their credit among those they live withall but true sanctification hath an eie to both to give to Caesar and to God their severall duties Mat. 22.21 So the morall holy man rests only in negatives and thinks it charity enough not to do hurt but true holinesse doth both eschew evill and do good 1 Pet. 3.11 So the morall man thinks it holinesse enough to professe a dislike of popery and to quarrell with a Bishops dignity though they be utterly ignorant of the orthodox faith and the grounds of the true worship of God Again civility never goeth beyond the outward man Mat. because it takes hold only of the outward letter of the law but passeth over the spirituall sense of it So he that hath restraining grace which he takes for sanctification is much deceived for the difference between them is that restraining grace hath painfulnesse and discontentment at the bridle that God puts upon them and at the bands wherewith they are bound at which they rage Psal 2.1 3. as horses that some upon the bit by which they are guided whereas a man that is truly sanctified desireth that his very inclinations to evill were utterly abolished that it might not rebell against the law of the mind Rom. 7.23 Again they desire to extend their Christian liberty to the utmost without enquiring after the bounds of liberty or the expedience of putting it in practice but a man sanctified desireth to subsist within his bounds 1 Cor. 6.12 and had rather live where nothing is lawfull then where all things are lawful Beside there is great difference in their absteining from sin for restraining grace makes one abstaine from sin for fear or shame because they would give the greater liberty to some sin which they desire to nourish Aug. de civit dei l. 5. c. 12. as some heathens abstained from injustice intemperance and covetousnesse by that unbounded desire which they had after glory and dominion but he that is sanctified escheweth evill because it is evill and displeasing to God of whose love he hath had so large experience that he trembles to offend him Psal 130.4 Again they that have only restraining grace when the means of that straint is removed grow licentious as Israel when they had no King Judg. 17.6 and the 18.19 but they that are sanctified are a law to themselves 1 Tim. 1.9 they need none of the terrors of it though they are willing to be led by the doctrine of it By these rules thou maist know whether thou art sanctified or not and from these marks arise an assured hope of eternall glory because we carry about us the ground of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen of which at the first it may be we have but a conjecture i. a light inclination to the probability of Gospell truths next an opinion wherein the mind is more strongly swaied to think it true Next comes faith which makes a firm and undoubtfull perswasion of the truth of it Now in this case some have a little faith some a full assurance of it which is peculiar to Gods people and they may know they have it by the comfort that it affords to one under the pressures of sin and Gods justice Psal 73.23 24. and also by the ravishing of the affections to the love of those truths which is very strange and supernaturall for there is no greater antipathy in the world then there is between mans heart and Gods word and yet by faith is bred such affection to it that a man will give his life rather then one tittle of this truth should faile and beside it worketh a strange change in the whole man from sin to righteousnesse that one can hardly know him to be the same man Lact. de falsa sapient l. 3. c. 27 Non abscindit sed abscondit vitia This Philosophy could never attain to but rather hides sin then removes it but the word of God is so powerfull in operation that it not only removes sin but also all doubtfulnesse of the truth of Gospel-truth more then the authority of the Church can do which is variable and possibly erroneous So much of the rules of sanctification and hope of glory Mathe. Whereunto doth sanctification advance us more then common Christians Phila. To a true repentance and a communion with God and his Saints in the Catholick Church Mathe. I desire to know what these things are truly in themselves for I fear some do as much mistake true repentance as the Sectaries do the communion of Saints and the Papists do the Catholick Church Phila. You say true but repentance which is holy and sanctified is not a fretting griefe which some take at sin because it hath brought them into a dangerous condition for which they wish the sin undone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no place being left for other advice and counsell This hurts the mind and casts it from the hinges of deliberation except God turn it to a change of mind whereby one becomes more wise afterward to amend what he hath done amisse and to make amends for his error 2 Cor. 7.9 10. The cause of the one is the spirit of adoption whereby we are sealed the sons of God The cause of the other is the spirit of servitude the one arising from the Gospel-promises the other from the threatnings of the law for fear of condemnation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both are well distinguished by St Luke The godly repentance Acts 2.37 they were pricked in their hearts for their unkindnesse to Christ but Acts 7.54 is described the very spirit of remorse not the remorse of spirit by saying they were cut to the heart by