philosophers and contrarily the trees may bee good as grafte vpon the true Catholique Religion and yet the fruites degenerate from the stocke Be it graunted that Christs meaning was no more generally to be taken in the one then in the other and that it followeth thereupon that euen as sometime a man through hypocrisie may speake well and thinke ill so a good tree may sometimes by some occasion haue some fruite not answering the goodnesse thereof intermingled with the good yet you shall neuer be able to proue but that Christes speech here is so generallie true as that alwaies a good tree bringeth forth good fruite and a bad tree bad fruite as alwaies it is true that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh at one time or other though at sometimes also and in some thinges the mouth be bridled For Christ doeth not deny but that euen of a good tree there may bee founde here and there a rotten apple a worme-eaten one or otherwise not answerable to the naturall fruite of that tree For hee knewe what imperfections there were and would bee alwaies founde in the best men neither doeth hee that saied Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh saie it would alwaies be so For he knewe how through hypocrisie oftentimes the abundance of filthie matter lying in the heart would bee dissembled It is sufficient for the verifying of these two Prouerbes generallie in that sence that Christ meant them that the good tree naturally bringeth forth good fruit and the bad bad fruit and that the abundance of the heart will make the mouth at sometimes bewray that which lieth in the heart let otherwise hypocrisie doe what it can And therefore you conclude more then your premises will beare For though it bee graunted you that the one prouerbe hath some limitations as well as the other yet it must bee onelie in maner as I haue saied Whereupon will neuer more followe that an ill tree may haue sometimes naturallie good fruite growing vpon it and a good tree bad fruite then it will euer be found false that at one time or other out of the abundance of the heart euerie mouth will speake And the examples you haue set downe are both vnfitte For neither were the workes of the heathen philosophers what shewe soeuer they had outwardly of goodnes good workes indeede nor euer will it be graunted you of any that can distinguish betwixt good and euill that a Catholique in your sence with doubtles with you is one of the Popish Religion that now is is a good tree The reason of the one is because howsoeuer the works of those philosophers had in them the matter of good workes in the cōformity they had to the outward actions commanded by the law yet they lacked the forme of good workes in that they neither proceeded from a right fountaine were done to a right ende nor in right maner and you know that forma dat esse rei the forme is that that causeth the thing to bee this or that and that it is writen whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne Romans 14 and it is impossible to please God without faith Heb. 11. which faith they were without The reasō of the other is that your religiō being naught Antichristian it selfe cannot make any man or woman a good tree but bad like it selfe for qualis causa talis effectus such as the cause is the effect will be Wherefore for any thing you haue saied as yet euery good tree will so bring forth good fruit and euerie bad tree bad fruit as that by their fruit they maie bee discerned And indeed cauill you to the contrary as much as you list this is most certaine all the difficultie is in knowing the good and bad fruit that Christ meant of and how alwaies to discerne the one from the other In my iudgement and I thinke likewise in the iudgement of euerie one that well weigheth Christes words and the circumstances thereof by the good fruit wee are to vnderstand pure religion ioined with an holie life by the bad fruit a bad religion and like life the good tree that beareth the former are onely the children of God whom he hath regenerated and iustified indeede in Christ Iesus the bad tree that beareth the later are those that remaine in their sinnes and vnder the burdē thereof not yet hauing had their eies truely opened to see the trueth nor their hearts effectually touched and taught to beleeue aright in Christ And these trees are to be discerned by sound triall and examination which of their fruites are iustified by the writē and vndoubted word of God and which not The XXXIIII Chapter IF that the sence of this prouerbe be harde for you to disgest I a◠content to staie vntill your stomacke be somewhat better assuring my selfe that you can interprete it no waie vnto your aduantage There is nothing more certaine then the good tree to beare good fruite if one doeth not make him change his owne nature but if one doe grafte vpon it some crabstocke or some other kinde of wilde fruite the tree can beare no other but crabs or wiledings euen so we Christian persons who are the trees of God planted by the pleasant fountaine of his grace and purged with the holy water of Baptisme to beare fruite at our season so that we take euer to prosper withall the dewe of his grace that planted vs I meane the faith of our sauiour Iesus Christ so long we beare good fruite as it is saied before alleadging the a The 5. you would say as before 3. of S. Iohn ill vnderstood by Iouinian he that is borne of God doeth not sinne for the generation of God doeth preserue him and the enemy of our health shall not touch him b If yo◠had lookt into the booke you should not haue found both these testimonies in one chapter for the first is in the fift this in the third And in the saied Chapter he saieth againe all men or euery man that is borne of God doeth not sinne for the seede of God is in him and he cannot sinne because be is borne of God By this it is not meant that Baptisme the which he doeth call the beeing borne c He speaketh of reall not simply of sacramentall regeneratiō of God doeth take awaie from man the power or libertie to doe euill for if he will degenerate from the grace that he hath receaued by the sacrament of regeneration and that in steede of growing graft vpon the stocke of the loue of God which is the true life that he will fructifie towards his death and destruction in this case hee is no more the sonne of God for as Christ saieth * John 8. If yee be the children of Abraham doe the workes of Abraham But as hee doeth continue and hath this good will which was taught by the Angell vnto the sheepheardes and that hee doeth continue
the philosophers of outward good works wherof you brag lustily in the later ende of this Chapter yet you shall neuer be able to proue your selues good trees because your Religion by the sound and perfect touchstone of the scriptures wil be proued false and Idolatrous This your selfe giue to be the very reason why the philosophers were bad trees notwithstanding that in respect of outward shew of holines we may truely confesse with you that euen their liues at the day of iudgement shall will confound a number of Christians in name which led Painims liues And therefore vntill it be set out of question that your Religion is not false nor Idolatrous which is impossible as long as the Scriptures keepe their place if you bragge of ten times moe outward workes then either you doe or can yet your owne mouth will condemne you as yet to haue saied nothing to proue your selues good trees And on the contrary euen by this your owne saying if we can proue our religion to be the sound Christian faith taught indeede by Christ and his Apostles and therefore that neuer since hell gates could preuaile against it which we doubt not of whensoeuer you will enter into this controuersie with vs then for all your saying here to the contrary Christes sentence shall giue vs very good aduantage Thus hauing shewed your cunning in restraining and collecting of this prouerbe of Christ as I haue now as one that after some wresting found it stronger for you then you would haue thought you graunt it to be most true the naturallie a good tree bringeth forth good fruit not bad at all and a crab-tree nothing but crabs And this you labour to proue first by certaine testimonies of S. Iohn affirming that he that is borne of God sinneth not then by other places as Iohn 8. Sap. 1.1 Cor. 10. you confirme that doctrine of S. Iohn lastly by a similitude shewing that as the rottennes wormeatennes or any such fault in the fruite of a good tree letteth not but that still naturally that tree may be saied to beare good fruit because these things fall out by some accident vnnaturall to the tree euen so the good tree alwaies as it is a good tree bringeth forth naturally good fruit Here in effect you let go and giue ouer the former restraining of Christs words and recant that you saied before the aâ—il tree as the philosophers may bring forth good fruit a good tree as a Catholique in Religion by whom you meane a Papist may bring forth ill fruits and will you nill you you are enforced to confesse that Christes wordes are generally true simply therefore alwaies verified of both good trees and bad trees as they are naturally considered But yet you adde the tree is knowen by his fruit and faith by workes so as then the fruit bee ripe in due season not otherwise Wherein I take your meaning to be that not euery shew of fruites nor vnripe works but works indeede good both in matter and maner of doing are the fruits whereby a good tree iustifying faith is discerned You yet proceede and say that as a rotten and wormeaten apple hanging vpon a good tree seeing that came not thorow the nature of the tree but by meanes of wormes birdes or some other such accident ministreth not a sufficient argument to proue that tree to be an ill tree so the ill workes of Christians ought not to staine their holy Catholique religioÌ„ For the corruption of their fruits commeth not from the nature of these religion which forbiddeth such fruits or workes but from themselues In all this vnderstanding not as you doe but as you should the holie Catholique Religion indeede which yours will neuer proue we ioyne with you and allow what you haue saied And as you supposing your religion to be the holy Catholique religion haue thus answered the obiection drawen from the good workes of professours of our religion and from the bad workes of yours so euen in the same words and maner supposing our religioÌ„ not yours to be that true holy religioÌ„ your obiection against vs grounded vpon the good workes of some of yours lewde liues of some that yet professe ours is also answered For we tel you as you seeme here to tel vs that your works are not ripe works such as good works should be both in matter and maner and therefore no argument more of the goodnes of your religion then the Philosophers works were of the goodnes of theirs that the ill works fouÌ„d in some of our professours ought not to steine our religioÌ„ forasmuch as none of them are iustified but condemned by the same But in the vttering of these things you haue vttered diuers things whereof it is needful to admonish both you and your Reader First in examining S. Iohns words you seeme simply to vnderstand that by being borne of God hee meant nothing else but being baptized as though they were both one or at least so inseparably coÌ„ioined that whosoeuer were outwardly baptized were certainely forthwith thereby inwardly regenerated and new borne wherein you and al that ioyne with you therein shew both great errour and ignorance in the doctrine of that sacrament For though by that sacrament al that haue receiued it are sacramentally new borne and receiued into Christs Church and therein haue had the washing away of their sinnes in the bloud of Christ represented vnto them offered vnto them and sealed and ratified on Gods behalfe to belong vnto them if they inwardly also will imbrace it yet to confound the sacrament of regeneration and the washing away of our sinnes with regeneration and remission of sinnes it selfe or to tye the later so vnto the former as that of necessity whosoeuer is partaker of the former is also partaker of the later is against all good diuinity Scripture and experience For diuinity admitteth not a confounding of the outward signe with the inward grace in a sacrament the scripture experience withall teacheth vs the SimoÌ„ Magus was baptised and yet no sounde diuine euer helde that forthwith thereby he was inwardly regenerated for by his fruites the contrary by and by euidently appeared Act. 8. Againe if outwardly to be baptised were by by to be regenerated then al that haue beene baptised haue beene inwardly regenerated all that are baptised once must needs be so which thing if it were so why how coÌ„meth it to passe that many neuer shew any fruites of regeneration and die giuing plaine euidence that they were neuer borne anew notwithstanding they were baptised and that there is no more hast made to baptise Turkes Iewes and whomsoeuer we can come by But it seemeth that as you holde this errour of baptisme that to defend it withall you are of opinion that a man once may be truely regenerated and so the childe of God iustified and sanctified in the bloud of Christ through grace and yet
of himselfe For now in effect you tell vs that he came and did those thinges which hee did in his owne person not thereby in and by himselfe to beginne and finish our saluation but to merit by his doings and sufferings that these thinges done by vs and others for vs should bee the formall cause of our righteousnesse and so of our iustification and saluation So that now Christ is onely a Sauiour in meriting that these thinges which otherwise should neuer haue had that force and efficacy should haue a power to deserue and procure our saluation Is not this now a trimme office that you haue deuised for Christ that hee should bee a Sauiour onely in procuring habilitie to these thinges to saue What one iote of Scripture haue you for this Nay as the Scripture doeth manifestly take from workes yea euen from the morall and most righteous workes done by the faithfull after regeneration the office of iustifying as it may appeare in that Abrahams workes and Pauls when they were in that state though they were neuer so full of them are disallowed to haue any such effect Rom. 4.2 Phil. 3.8.9 so doeth it teach vs that Christ came not to make other persons or things to haue the office of sauing mens soules but to beginne and go thorowe that worke so himselfe as that no part of that glory shal be cōmunicated to any other person or thing For therein we reade that his owne selfe bare our sinnes in his owne body on the tree that by his stripes wee are healed 1. Pet. 2.24 so perfectly that it is writē Heb. 10.14 we are sanctified by the offring of the body of Iesus Christ once made with one offering hath he cōsecrated for euer thē that are sanctified Whereupon he calleth himselfe Alpha Omega Reuel 1.11 that is the first beginner and last accomplisher of our saluation or as it is saied Hebr. 12. the authour and finisher of our faith Whereas by this newe Iesuiticall diuinity in the matter of iustification and saluation Christ hath but so borne our sinnes in his owne bodie and offered himselfe to death for vs that howsoeuer thereby hee hath begunne to heale and cure vs the ending and finishing it must be by those other thinges and he hath done all this to no purpose vnles his worke begunne be ended by these things following in our selues and others O what intollerable blasphemie is this and into what a bottomles pitte of desperation doe these men the authours of this doctrine wilfully cast themselues For if the case stand so as they say how is it possible for any man at any time euer to haue a faith without wauering which kinde of faith S. Iames determineth to be fruitles Iam. 1. For when can any mā tell that he hath hit of all those things that are left besides Christs merits to accomplish the full merit for his saluation Or how can the soule of man stāding before the iudgement of God without any warrant from God and contrary to all reason perswade it selfe that it shall haue heauen for these things so full of imperfection and vanity if not impiety Further to proue that you deny Christ his owne office and pinne vpon him an office of your owne deuising it appeareth also in this that you will not let him be King Prophet Priest to his Church as the scriptures teach him to bee For neither will you suffer him to gouerne his kingdome according to his owne orders neither to teach his people onely with his own word nor to saue them onely by his own obedience and merits But in all these you crosse him in bringing in a number of fashions lawes and ordinances yea officers and offices into his house that he neuer saied Amen vnto in teaching men rather the traditions and inuentions of men then doctrine onely that hath warrant from his mouth and in setting vp a number of meanes to saluation besides him Now as for vs wee neither with the ancient heretiques nor yet with you hold any heresie concerning either his person or office For concerning the one we holde and beleeue that he is perfect God and perfect man and yet but one person consisting of those two natures and concerning the other that he is such a Sauiour as that he hath begun and finished whatsoeuer was necessary to merite or deserue our full saluation by And therefore when we haue done al the good workes that possibly by his grace we can yet though we know and beleeue that God will both accept of vs of those our good workes for his Christes sake for feare of robbing him of any part of that office that he tooke vpon him we dare not thinke that therby we haue any maner of way merited any part of our saluation That onely we seeke at his hands and through him and his merits alone we looke for it This doctrine in euery point hath warrant from the Scriptures and from all sound antiquity And this and the rest of our whole doctrine tendeth greatly to aduaunce the glory of God both in setting forth the seuerity of his iustice against sin euen to the least sin and the infinitenes of his free mercy in Christ and altogither to throw downe man vnder the burden of his sinnes both original and actual that he may seeke to rise againe not at all by any strength of his owne but onely by the grace of God in Christ Iesus Whereas yours contrarily tendeth to this end to lift vp man in a conceit of himselfe and to abscure both the iustice and the mercy of God As your doctrines of free will mans ability to keepe and ouerkeepe the law of veniall sinnes euen for the littlenes of them and of mans owne iustifying of himselfe may make most euident to them that consider of them And therfore seeing it is writen that God resisteth the proude giueth grace to the humble Iames. 4.6 and that it is his property to send away the rich empty and to fill the hungry with good thinges Luk. 1.53 to iustifie the publican to sende the pharisie home without Luk. 15. a great signe this is yea a good proofe that we rather then you are led by the spirit of God And as for these olde heretiques you are bound to beleeue vs rather then them because our doctrine not onely by the testimony of the Scriptures but also I dare say euen in your owne consciences is sounder both concerning the person and office of the Messias then theirs and thus you are answered both to your first and second question which you put vnto vs in this Chapter But yet you go on and say they alleadged Scriptures as well as we that we denie for they alleadged them corruptly to proue their heresies and would not be drawen to expound one Scripture by another but peeuishly vrged the literall or wrong sence of some hard places against the circumstances both of the same places and that which