to be altogether the seruant of sinne because he is ouercome of sinne this free in part because he is made free by the Sonne not appointing him free in part lest he make him sacrilegious nor this altogether a seruant lest he might make him sluggish He doth not therefore take from the vnregenerate all power of willing but all power of well-willing that he may not lift vp the crest of his naturall pride and he granteth to the regenerate some power of well-willing that he may not weaken the strength of spirituall diligence And that God may giue life to the dead and renew and repayre the lost image of God z Ephes 3.10 he doth fasten and imprint the true knowledge of God and our selues into the minde and righteousnesse and holinesse into the will of man he doth enlighten the blinde with the light of his wisdome shining into him he doth couer him being naked with the robe of his righteousnes put vpon him and being vnsauorie he doth season him with the salt of his holinesse infused into him Whereby a 1 Cor 1.30 Christ is said to be made of God to the faithfull man wisdome righteousnes and sanctification Paul makes mention of a twofold righteousnesse and life of a Christian one whereby hee liueth before God thother whereby he liueth before men b Gal 2.20 By faith before God by apprehending of Christ c Gal. 5.6 by loue before men by the practise of holinesse So that good workes are not the cause of iustification but iustification is the cause of good workes as d Aug de Spi li. Austin affirmeth neither do we attaine faith by virtues but virtues by faith as Bede gathereth out of Gregorie One order is in morall matters another in heauenly one in Aristotle another in Paul e Arist 3. ethi There a man must doe iust things iustly before he be iust Here a man must be first iust in another before he can do iust things and iustly in himselfe As Christ is made sinne for vs so wee are made the righteousnes of God in Christ f 2 Cor. 5. vlt. For Christ himselfe most holy was made sinne by the imputation of our sinne we sinners therefore are righteous only by the imputation of the righteousnesse of Christ At g August in Euchirid c. 41. Austin doth expound the Apostle and Anselme Austin He therefore is sinne as wee are righteousnes not ours but wee are Gods not in our selues but in him as he is sinne not his owne but ours not in himselfe but in vs. So Austin So h Ansel in loc Anselme He is sin saith he as we righteousnesse not ours but Gods not in vs but in him as he is sinne not his owne but ours not in himselfe but in vs. Both of them doe acknowledge with vs the imputed righteousnes of Christ with the Apostle howsoeuer the Synode of Trent doe make inherent righteousnesse the forme of iustification and the Rhemists too prophanely scoffe at the imputation of righteousnes which Pighius that arch-papist doth confesse A sinner therefore dead in himselfe liueth righteous in Christ and liueth not to himselfe but to God but yet so liueth that he feeleth in himselfe the fight of the spirit and the flesh which the Apostle acknowledgeth not onely in other Christians but in himselfe for the comfort of others I do not that good I will saith the Apostle but the euill I would not that I do which a bad man did not badly expresse I hate and what I hate against my will must be What I would cast away to beare is greife to me But that the Apostle speaketh of the motions of concupiscence whereto the will doth not consent this of the beastly affections whereto the will is wholy addicted Which notwithstanding by the working of the naturall conscience hee saith he hateth But assoone as a man begins to liue in God sinne begins to dye in man For it hath receiued a deadly wound in the roote in respect of guiltinesse while it be cured by perfect buriall it remaines dead not cut off that we may be humbled not imputed lest we should be cast downe Sin dwelleth in vs as a Iebusite subdued not expelled subdued it taketh feare from vs not expelled it shakes off securitie that to striue with it it is farre more safe than to haue no enemie at all In this fight Gods grace doth helpe vs strengthning vs with a double sacrament of Baptisme and the Lords Supper there the fountaine of regeneration is powred out here the bread of life is set before vs there is a healthfull bathe to wash vs when we are fowle here is a spirituall feast to feede vs when we were faint so that from each we may take strength to resist So the power of God is made perfect in our infirmitie which when out of our owne skarres it stirreth vp in vs a courage to fight so from helpe ministred from thence it puts into vs sure hope that we shall ouercome For it bringeth griefe out of the fall for sinne and stirreth vp strife out of griefe with sinne and out of strife bringeth the victorie of sinne So out of poyson it gets a remedy and out of the sicknesse it getteth health Neither doth it in the meane while depriue vs of inward comfort while wee waite for the eternall tryumph But in the fight it shewes vs the propitiation after the fight which endeth in death it presently openeth the holy place of holyest so that neither peace of conscience is wanting to them being aliue and their soules shall haue rest when they are dead Thus it commeth to passe that these broken relikes of sinne in the sonnes of God by Gods grace do much profit when out of them they make an antidote against pride neither are puft vp with the merits of their owne works Wherby the doctrine of Trent ought to be accounted the more abominable which doth decree that eternall life is to be restored to the faithfull for the merit of workes which the Apostle propoundeth not as the reward of a seruant but the inheritance of a sonne not payed for spirituall obedience but giuen to the spirituall generation as Austin expounds the Apostle the crowne of righteousnesse in respect of Christ who merited a crowne of mercy in respect of vs for whom he merited to be giuen by the iust iudge not for the weight of mans merit but for the force of Gods promise to be rendred according to their workes not for their workes Gregor in 7. Psal peniten as Pope Gregorie distinguisheth out of the Apostle The studie therefore of good workes is to be vrged because God shall iudge according to thy works but merit is to be detested because it shall neuer saue thee for good works For whatsoeuer you do well is of God not of the merit of man but of the blessing of God You doe owe it therefore to God as the creature to the Creator as
a captiue seruant to his redeemer acknowledge thy selfe a seruant who of right dost owe dutie vnto thy Lord and whereas God doth call thee his sonne acknowledge grace and forget not nature Neither thinke thou hast deserued any thing if thou haue done well because thou oughtst to haue done so Besides remember that there is some filthines from the flesh mingled with thy worke though good which doth purely flow from the spirit that that very thing that we seeme to liue iustly is a fault if our work when Gods seueritie iudgeth it Gods mercie doe not excuse it before himselfe so that the fault in the worke must first be forgiuen to the penitent by grace before the worke it selfe bee crowned by promise Lastly the Apostle saith that the afflictions of this life are not worthy of the glory which shall bee reuealed that if a man should serue God a thousand yeares and that most zealously he should not deserue for the merit to be halfe a day in heauen Anselm de mensura crucis Anselme said although we die a thousand times although wee performe all the virtues of the minde yet wee can doe nothing worthy of earthly blessinges and such as are present which we daily receiue from God much lesse heauenly and future which wee looke for as Ierome Jerom. in hunc loc Chrysostome and Basill haue taught But take away merite and the desire of virtue will waxe cold It may be in bastardes who serue God with a seruile and mercenarie minde but in sonnes it is not so who worship God the father with a free voluntary spirit which the spirit of adoption hath giuen them who testifieth to their spirites that they be the sonnes of God the inheritors of heauen and coheires with Christ And if the free loue of God whereby he being moued did bring thee backe from death to life and forgaue thee all thy transgressions and healed all thy infirmities and hath crowned thee with his mercies marke what the Prophet saith not with thy merites but with his mercies if this free loue I say shall not drawe from thee free obedience nothing shall euer draw it from thee There be many forceable arguments whereby the Apostle perswadeth vs to liue holily soberly and iustly that with good workes we set forth Gods glory which workes though they appease not God yet they please God and make our election and vocation thereby sure vnto vs. But there is nothing more powerfull then the fatherly loue of God to prouoke to goodnesse the ingenuous mindes of sonnes This is the will of God euen the sanctification and saluation of vs all to the which endes he chose vs from eternitie hee called and iustified vs in time and he shall glorifie vs to eternitie So the mercie of Iehouah toward his sonnes is from eternitie to eternitie for whom he hath preordained saluation in chosing them declared it in calling them begun it in iustifying them and shall perfect it in glorifying them They that being perswaded by the spirit of God doe certainely know that they bee in the grace of God now present and shall be euer hereafter entring into the state of grace by faith and standing therein by faith and glorying vnder the hope of the glorie of God by faith as the Apostle teacheth which place Chrysostome doth thus expound that hee that hath giuen his faith to God that there ought not onely a full perswasion to be assured them of those things which are giuen presently but of those that are to come as if they were now giuen That the state of regeneration should be thought to bee more certaine then of creation The state of the first Adam was changeable of the second vnchangeable whose true and liuely members all the sonnes of God are to be esteemed Wherefore of the state of Christ be vnchangeable the state of them that are truely Christians who being grafted into Christ by faith do liue and shall liue by their faith as the Apostle noteth out of the Prophet must needes be vnchangeable For it was granted to Adam that hee was able not to die as Austin speaketh but to a Christian that he cannot possibly die Three things saith Bernard I consider wherein all my hope doth consist 1. The loue of adoption 2. The truth of the promise 3. And the power of the reward Which do so strengthen and confirme my heart that no want of merites no consideration of our profit no accompt of the heauenly blessing can driue mee from the depth of that hope wherein I am surely grounded Therefore let my foolish thought murmure all it can saying who art thou or how great is that glory or by what merites dost thou hope to obtaine it And I will confidently answere I know whom I haue trusted I am in great assurance because my God in great loue hath adopted me because he is true in his promise and able to performe it Thus Bernard out of the Apostle Who makes it plaine that the state of regeneration is most assuredly confirmed to euery sonne of God not onely by Gods promise but by Gods Oath Whom hee maketh partaker of the right faith and of working loue and of liuely hope and of earnest repentance and of new obedience and calleth him the heire of the promise To whom God as being willing to make the immutable certainety of his counsell knowne plentifully as to Abraham the Father so to Abrahams sonne did not onely promise but sweare that hee would performe that to him which he had promised Heb. 6. For in God it is all one to sweare and to say Yet that we should haue strong consolation who follow after to obtaine the hope set before vs which hee hath appointed as a sure and strong anker entred within the veile i. heauen whither Christ the forerunner is entred before vs he hath confirmed our immutable state vnto vs by two immutable things his promise and his Oath Let the prayer of Christ be ioyned to the oath of God wherein hee praieth to God the father that he would imbrace vs with the same loue that he embraced Christ himselfe i. with eternall loue and would crowne vs with the same glorie as hee crowned himselfe and did not onely pray for vs but died also and rose againe and was receiued into heauen that hee should for euer make intercession for vs. Who hath left vnto vs his holy spirit whereby he hath sealed vnto vs the heauenly inheritance And therefore God hath assured eternall saluation to his sons not onely by promise but by Oath but by prayer and sacrifice of Christ and by the seale of the holy Ghost that wee should not doubt thereof And yet that wicked Councell of Trent decreed that none could know by the certainetie of infallible faith that hee is in the state of Grace much lesse shall bee but that euerie one should bee in doubt and feare of his owne Grace That it seemeth to haue vtterly ouerthrowne all
to my selfe that I might lay open the new creede of faith gathered out of the new Articles of faith both open and secret by the Byshoppe of Rome himselfe not so much for our owne Countrimen that are Papists whom if so many bookes so excellently set foorth in English cannot satisfie nothing at all can satisfie as in a Latine Dialogue for their sakes that are in forrain parts And this Dialogue is diuided into three bookes whereof two of them are now set forth the third God willing which at this time lieth in scattered papers if my health will permit shall be committed to print assoone as may be In all which I first bring in a certaine Iesuite Robert Saturnine a turbulent and wicked fellow who with his choisest arguments doth egerly defend heresie and treason And I ioyne with him for an answerer Antonius Patriotta an Orthodoxall Diuine Cicero You know the manner of Dialogues that men speake those things in them which they neuer spake Therefore Saturnine will happily complaine that those things are laid to his charge which he neuer spake whenas I dare religiously affirme that this factious Priest doth not vse onely the arguments of the chiefest Iesuits but their methode and their wordes chiefly of Alan Bellarmine and Parsons that any of them in all things may seeme to be Robert Saturnine I haue prefixed before the Dialogue a true looking-glasse for the Pope i. a liuely picture of Antichrist prophetically drawne out by S. Paul and S. Iohn expounded by the antient Fathers as farre as they could foresee and by the new more certainely by the euent I thought good to set it together with short conclusions prest to that end wherein the Pope with all his rabble may discerne himselfe For the order of nature did require that he should euict the Pope to be Antichrist which appeareth by the Glasse who had a purpose to proue poperie to be Antichristianity which is taught in the Creede I thought good to set before them both the Glasse of Christ and a short compendium of Christianity fetcht out of the Gospell and expressed in my Epistle to the Christian Reader For you know that two duties belong to the Minister one that hee preach Christ sincerely the other that he plainely lay open Antichrist as that worthy man and Martyr of God Iohn Husse thought in his time Now all this I know not how little or nothing fathers and brethren I submit to your iudgement and commit to your patronage For those reasons which seemed equall to me to take in hand the defense of the busines should seem so to you for the defense of my person I when I read that there was mention made of the popish creede by our men but saw that it was laid open by none to my knowledge of set purpose with any of their discourses I tooke the matter in hand not so much in hope to performe that I should doe as for desire to trie what I could doe hoping thereby to stirre vp other mens cares who can deale in the busines more learnedly and eloquently You haue hitherto heard why I vndertooke this labor now if it please you vnderstand why I dedicated it to you For when I perceiued that the whole body of Religion was to be handled by me in this Creed I thought good most humbly to call together the Religious Clergie to bee Patron of this worke of whom the Romish Clergie haue taken so many deadly blowes that they feare no Clergies forces and blowes more and whom it greeueth them to see endowed of God with so many excellent parts of pietie knowledge tongues and prophesie Therefore that great Tiberine fisherman when as his trade of fishing began to be laid aside and waxe cold because that certaine great fishes had broken out of his netts torne and worne for age drew vnto him certaine skilfull workemen out of our Vniuersities with deceitfull rewards who might mend againe the netts being so tatterd and torne and make them fit to catch not Soules but Crownes and those whom he first caught with his golden baite as fishes he sent backe againe as fishermen Whereto agreeth that of Martiall He sent vs great rewards but sent them on a hooke How can the fish on fisherman in louely manner looke With the same cunning deceipt he doth daily endeuour to entangle young learned students and to entise them with deadly gifts vnto him that they may helpe and vphold his forlorne and desperate quarrell Wherein he seemes to be like to that Pithius the vsurer in Cicero Cic Offic 3. who that he might cosen Cannius a plaine countrey Gentleman calld to him all the fishermen and taught them what they should do that they should fish altogether and bring the fish when it was caught and lay them at his feete by which deuise hee might sell his farme at a dearer rate So the Bishop hath sent for fishermen out of Germanie Which is the Popes signet but chiefly out of England vnder the ring of the fisherman who should secretly returne to the fish ponds whence they came and being caught themselues should catch others and should bring their boates and fishes of all sorts to him that by that meanes he might make the marchandise of his Church the more salable This is the Bishops cunning Was this the reason he allured our youth vnto him with rewards and placed them in his Colleges of Rome and Rhemes that he should send them backe twise worse than hee found them This cousenage of our young men wherewith this grand cousoner of the world doth vphold his seat is to be preuented with all the aduise we can Whereby hee doth plainly shew what great confidence he puts in our mens witts wherewith he perceiueth that the tower of Babylon is both most egerly defended and impugned in this age of ours Hee hath none of his side more learned than the English-Priests chiefely the Iesuites who that they might infect the English write in English in the iudgement of wisemen elegantly in the iudgement of fooles probably that they may supply that by the goodnes of their style which is wanting to the goodnes of their cause Neither yet doe they bring any new matter but they pol sh and trim ouer their old stuffe obiected a hundred times by their side and refuted a hundred times by ours and they cast a new colour and flourish ouer there thred-bare and withered arguments that the Iesuites schoole may seeme to haue refined old poperie as Medea did Pelia with her enchantments The discription of a Papist But it doth bewray in the encounter both her feare and diffidence while she doth enlarge the Canon with the Apocriphals diminish the Scripture with her traditions ouerthrow the originall with her translation peruert the text with her glosse In the meane while she sends out bookes wherein she stuffes out hir arguments concluded commonly out of meere allegories enforced proportions lame similitudes fained miracles foolish
would bee much mooued to anger that I often vsed the name of their Pope in this manner For what will they say darest thou an obscure fellow speake so often to the Pope being so great a Prince or conceiuest thou any hope that being an hereticall minister thou canst conuert so great a Doctor Whereby thou hast got naught else for thy labour but that thy folly and pride should be knowne to all men These I presage will bee the embleames of the Iesuitish stile whereto thy selfe Reader shalt bee an Arbitrator I shortly answere I see that the Pope of his owne is accounted a great Father but thrust as a small Prince by his great neighbour Princes into a small corner of the south but how bigge soeuer he be I speak to the Pope as not to a politicall Prince but politicall Antichrist I fauour his ciuill dignitie whatsoeuer it be but I spare not his spirituall impietie But what doe I take in hand to conuert the Pope no more then I endeuour to wash an Ethiopian I am not yet so madde I know that the belly hath no eares And it may be Paul the fift as it is said is dead What then but Paul being dead the Pope is aliue One head groweth vp vnder an other For the popedome is a Hydra I doe not defend that this or that Pope but that the Pope is Antichrist It remaineth now Christian Reader that I exhort and intreat thee by thy saluation that the hatred of the Synagogue being contemned though thou well know Christ to knowe him with mee daily better out of the Scriptures that both of vs may more earnestly loue him and more earnestly follow him being loued and further that you know him peraduenture suspected by you to be Antichrist more certainely by the euent of the prophecie that being known each may pursue him with an holy hatred and right execration to which purpose I first set before thee the Glasse of Christ and view of Christianitie now I set before thee the Popes looking-Glasse and the picture of ANTICHRIST The Translator to the READER CHristian Reader I doubt not but a translation of such a nature will incur much reprehension euen of good men not onely in respect of the matter which it somewhat obscure for the vulgar but also for the manner which must needes come short of the originall For the first if the worke be so good that it was thought fit to be made knowne to some I see no reason but it may be made knowne to more and so may be Bonum quo communius eo melius And for the other I confesse it comes farre short of that sufficiencie wherein it was set out in Latin and so would haue been though it had fallen on a skilfull workeman in respect of our English which is farre more barbarous and is many times the worse when it is set out with bombasted words and incke-horne termes such as the world is too well acquainted with at this day What the Rom-Catholikes thinke of the worke I care not they are like to loose by it and loosers will haue their words The Latine hath been censured by them already as I am informed to be well written for the style but exceeding bad for the matter Whose censure I will regard contrary to Ciceroes censuring of a Gentlewomans dancing wherof he said the better the worse but I of their censures the worse the better For if nought that was good was heretofore look'd for from Galilie what good can be looked for at this day from Rome the forge of all slanders and villanies And if Christian Kings cannot be exempted from their obloquies and iniuries why should we poore men both the Author and Translator hope no escape the opprobries of such blacke-mouth'd Orators Howsoeuer it be and whatsoeuer befall the worke was first set out and now translated not only to reueale Antichrist who by his gadding Priests is ready to seduce thee but also to set forth Christ vnto thee who by his grace is most ready to saue thee If ought therein be amisse impute it to the weaknesse of men if there be any good for thy good yeeld glory to God to whom I commend thee and rest Thy Christian well-willer EDWARD SHARPE THE POPES LOOKING GLASSE CHAP. I. The dedication of the worke HAuing a purpose to report a Conference had in Latine among great learned men on both sides about the Popes new Creede lately reprinted by your selfe Pope Paul the fift I thought it good to prefix a short Treatise termed the Popes Looking Glasse which is nothing else but an euident and liuely deciphering of Antichrist prophetically painted out by S. Paul and Saint Iohn before the whole Dialogue and to set it forth dedicated to your name partly that I might shew your selfe to your selfe with those your sacrilegious swarmes of Locusts and Frogs about you partly that I might recall ingenuous Papists from the franticke loue of Popery when they shall throughly begin to know the Pope and lastly that I might vnite the Christian Kings and Princes that yet fauour the Pope The Pope an enemy to God and man in the defence and quarrell of Christ and Protestant Princes when they shall perceiue that he is a deadly enemy to Gods Testament and Princely gouernment I hope those excellent workmen that haue of late so copiously picturde the image of the Beast in euerie her seuerall member and ioynt will giue me leaue to doe it more compendiously in a lesser Table and narrower roome for I haue endeuoured to the vttermost of my power to contract the large discourses of other men and to draw them into short conclusions For this being concluded and proued that the Pope of Rome is that Antichrist which is shadowed out in the glasse it doth necessarily follow that Popery which is questionable between vs is that Antichristianisme which is contained in the Creed CHAP. II. Wherein as in diuerse following Chapters is set downe what Antichrist is In this the mistaking of the Prophet Daniel and the Apostle Iohn FIrst therefore I will trulie and briefly propound and expound the state and summe of the principall controuersie what Antichrist is least when I come to the combat that is to the conclusion I may seeme rather to fight with my aduersaries shadow then with himselfe Our men for the most part doe search out for the type of Antichrist in Daniel Antichrists type in Daniel himselfe in the Apocalypse and for Antichrist himselfe in Iohn your men doe seeke for himselfe in Daniel where his Type is and in Iohn where himselfe is they are afraid to seeke him for feare to find him For there in the place of the literall sense they vrge the mysticall here in stead of the mysticall they presse the literall There where Daniel the Prophet doth hystorically and properly paint out Antiochus Epiphanes they dreame that Antichrist is properly described here where Iohn the Propheticall Apostle doth mysticallie yet purposelie
of two sorts answering the double couenant One legale which beleeueth the promises and threatnings of the law to bee true the other Euangelicall which is rightly called iustifying faith which doth beleeue the promises of the Gospell grounded vpon my selfe not onely to be true in generall but doth apply them to euery beleeuer in particular to eternall life Now saluation is to be expected of you not out of the forme of each of these couenants but out of one of them The forme of the Legale couenant is as I said Do this and thou shalt liue the forme of the Euangelicall couenant is beleeue and thou shalt be saued If therefore you looke for saluation out of the legall couenant you must wholely and entirely and at all times doe that which is commanded You do it not you shall die therefore If you looke for saluation by the Gospell you must certainely beleeue that which is promised These bee the distinct formes of each couenant for the procuring saluation by no meanes to bee confounded yet the Pope hath confounded them Doe and beleeue and so hath brought in a third couenant which holy writ doth not acknowledge Thus the Prince of the couenant hath broken Gods couenant It is not to bee denied that faith and good workes are to bee ioyned together in a man that is iustified but to mingle and confound these two formes Doe this and beleeue that thereby a man is to be iustified is vtterly to bee denied as my Apostle Paul hath deliuered For as the Law doth not admit the least transgression so the Gospell doth not admit your least satisfaction Now what is more euident then that this hypocriticall enemie who vants himselfe to be a faithfull keeper of my will hath not onely in many places â—ased my will The Dominicans brought in a new Gospell but which is farre more heinous shuffled in a new will As when the Dominicans printed their new Gospell by the sufferance and conniuency of the Pope as when Paul the fift caused the conformities of Saint Francis that typicall Iesus my ape S. Francis typicall Iesus to be reprinted A meere forger who hauing abrogated my will hath brought in one of his owne A manâ— testament which is ratified by the death of the testator admitteth not either addition or detraction saith the Apostle much lesse Gods testament which is confirmed with my bloud and death But my testament say they is of two sorts The first nuncupatiue The second writen The last doth abrogate the former as my Apostle teacheth The Pope deuiseth Christs nuncupatiue will But I know what vexeth them The Legacies set downe in writing they thinke not sufficient to serue their turnes and therfore they haue deuised a will nuncupatiue not out of my Sermons but out of their decretals A fit similitude between the bodâ— of man Scripture of God How farre better did the old Rabins who compared the fiue bookes of Moses for the absolute knitting of the parts thereof within themselues to the body of man whereto if you adde a part as as finger to a hand you bring in a deformitie if you take away a part as a iaw from the face you bring in infirmitie if you shut vp a part as the mouth which nature hath opened or open a part as the side which nature hath shut vp you bring danger to the life So if the Pope do adde vnnaturall parts to the written will of God hee doth corrupt Gods booke as when he addeth Apocryphall and decretall Epistles if hee take away naturall parts he doth deceiue the soule of man as when he taketh the second commandement out of the decalogue and taketh the cuppe from the supper if he open those things that should be shut he offers wrong to God if he shut vp those that should be opened he offers wrong to men The Rabins shall rise vp in iudgement and condemne both the Pope and all Popelings who accuse all the written will of God of imperfection when as they iudge the fiue bookes of Moses to bee a volume most perfect They who diminish adde change euery thing at their pleasure shaue away with their censure what they mislike and what they like restore that curiously open secrets so that their owne Clergie thinkes basely of them and of enuie shut vp things to be reuealed that they bee not knowne of the people of God They I say are contumelious to God whose last will they haue either corrupted or abolished They are iniurious to the sonnes of men from whom they haue either openly stolne away or priuily filcht away God heauenly Legacies Here I appeale to all learned and ingenuous Papists It is no smale matter that is in hand but one of the greatest that euer was the thing in controuersie is Gods Testament The legacies of all the sonnes of God are in question which cannot be of force vnlesse Gods testament be safely kept Herein the sonnes of God must maintaine their right against men and Diuels Your Masters grant that Rome is Babylon the context and euent conuince it to be Byshoply Rome against whom my seruant Iohn doth denounce most certaine destruction Come foorth of her therefore assoone as possibly you can Yea out of the Catholike Church doth some of you say he is euer harping on this string he should say from the Catholike or common whore if he would harken to Iohn Bid her therefore farewell whose wellfare shee cannot endure I hartily beseech you that you would be pleased to be saued Saued you cannot be vnlesse Gods last will and testament wherein the saluation of man is conteyned be kept safe and sound from the corruptions of Antichrist The parts of the Testament are two Remission of sinnes The sanctifying of a sinner which consisteth in the true enlightning of the minde and the reforming of the heart The parts forme and Legacies of he new Testament The forme of the Testament is I will be your God You shall be my people Vpon these three Legacies doe depend The remission of your sinne The imputation of my grace The gift of eternall glory The forgiuenes of sinne is free is perfect is eternall It is free I blot out your sinnes for my owne sake not for your sakes but for my owne names sake I am that lambe that was slaine who alone take away your sinnes Are you then so mad that you will goe from the Lambe that is staine to the golden Calfe that is set vp that you beleeue the sinne of man can be forgiuen by the man of sinne The dispensing of grace is not in his power much lesse the forgiuenesse of sinne which as it is free so it is perfect For I doe not remit some sinnes and reteyne others I doe not remit the fault and reteyne the punishment but I wash away all your sinnes and forgiue all your punishment if your confession be earnest my pardon is perfect What Is it not also euerlasting Righteousnes
imputed I haue made an euerlasting couenant with you neuer to forsake you euer to blesse you and to send my feare into your hearts that you neuer forsake me The imputation of righteousnesse doth necessarily follow the forgiuenes of sinne the grant of life and that eternall life doth likewise follow imputation of righteousnes for he that beleeueth in the sonne of God shall neuer come into condemnation but shall go from death to life and let him surely perswade himselfe that being now iustified by me and now glorified by me that being saued by my grace he shall sit in heauenly places with me and enioy the reall possession of the highest heauens Your sanctification Sanctification is the second part of the new couenant the beginning of your glorification as your coronation hereafter is the full accomplishment For what is grace but glory begun ☜ and what is glory but grace perfected Eternall life therefore which is begun in this world and made perfect in the world to come doth not differ in kinde but in degree Therefore your sanctification is begun in this world so that the relikes of sinnes doe abide in the most holy but couered the inbred corruption did abide in Paul regenerated but weakned it remained in him to try him not to destroy him that corruption is remitted not finished the guilt is released but the act remaineth Sanctification is not therefore perfect but true which inlightneth your mindes to true knowledge and reformeth your wills to the sincere obedience of the Gospell and therefore doth change the whole man both the inward and the outward man into my likenes by the power of my spirit that beholding the same in the Gospell as in a glasse Glorification you may proceed from glory to glory that is from the glory of your sanctification here to the glory of your coronation hereafter And herein behold how ill the Pope and I agree How Christ Antichrist disagree I set before you free remission he a mercenarie I a categoricall and absolute he an imperfect and hypotheticall I an euerlasting he a temporarie I require a sincere sanctification of a sinner in this life but imperfect hee faines a perfect holinesse but a counterfeit Now your Christ Iesus as he is propounded in the free couenant and the new testament is appointed the only foundation of the Church by the Prophets and Apostles vpon whom they are taught to build their good workes as gold siluer and pretious stones as the superficies fit for that golden and pretious foundation but they denie good workes to be the foundation it selfe because your workes be they neuer so glorious cannot endure the weight and burthen of the kingdom of heauen They make Christ alone euen Christ alone apprehended by faith as it were that mightie Atlas that with his shoulders and his power can beare vp heauen being made of God for you wisdome iustice sanctification and redemption and therefore the foundation of the whole building Not that saluation is begun by him and made perfect by you for there is one great stone of the whole building as deepest in the foundation so chiefest in the corner as the ground and beginning so the roofe and accomplishment of saluation Which your Pope hath not only deformed with wood hay and chaffe built vpon it that is with foolish and absurd doctrines differing from the foundation but with wicked and pestilent doctrines ouerthrowing the foundation and by that meanes hath most wickedly taken away the beginning matter forme instrument and end of saluation The causes of saluation For whereas the holy Scripture doth appoint the free mercy of God the efficient cause of righteousnesse the meritorious my obedience both actiue and passiue the formall the imputation thereof by the Holy Ghost the instrumentall faith conceiued out of Gods word founded vpon a free promise the finall the glory of Gods diuine mercy and iustice when as the Pope doth ouerthrow all the foundations of saluation then doth hee take and stop from you all the meanes and lights of comfort While I set before you eternall life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a reward of grace he makes it a stipend for worke that I make a gift hee makes a debt that I make a patrimonie he makes a stipend what I make due to adoption he makes as paid for obedience Hee doth not say it to him that is obedient which is very true but for obedience which is very false that he forsooth might set my gifts to sale and by that meanes depriue me of glory and you of peace From whence it doth arise that the Romane Antichrist let him pretend what he will is a breaker of Gods couenant a corrupter of his will a subuerter of the foundation being full of Satan being busie about this one thing to bring destruction to my Churches and damnation to your soules Is it any maruaile then if he bring destruction to bodies and ouerthrow to Empires Papists as Doggs when as he secretly sends in his runnagate Priests into your Kingdomes who as mad dogs with their infamous libels may rent in sunder the good name and fame of Kings bring them into hatred contempt of others Who as subtle Foxes Foxes do with their cunning sleights alienate the Kings subiects from the faith of their obedience due by my commandement and to be performed by their oath Wolues And as cruell Wolues after they haue taken away the Kings good name by false calumniations and drawne away the Kings subiects from their fealtie and obedience doe spill the Kings blood by what meanes soeuer either by open rebellions or secret conspiracies and defend it to be a deed most lawfull and meritorious They shew their dogs tooth by rayling their fox-like subtletie by equiuocating and their woluish crueltie by conspiring They doe nothing else but deceiue the simple bite them that be sincere and deuoure those that be innocent They pretend faith but they teach periurie They say they reconcile men to Christ but in deed reconcile them to Antichrist in the meane while whom they get to adhere to the Pope they draw from the King For while they build vp spirituall obedience they cast downe the ciuill is not this the qualitie of a Fox They set vpon those that be weakest that they may ouercome the strongest as the Serpent seduced Eue that Eue might seduce Adam so these Serpents set vpon wiues that the wiues may deceiue their husbands they catch after women that they may entangle young men in whom is greater vigor and heat to commit any wicked enterprise So they haue a schoole full of masculine women and feminine men doth not here appeare to you the wilinesse of the serpent Now with what vilanous slanders these curres haue abused Princes both liuing and dead being the excellencies and glories of the earth witnes those infinite libels cast out against Elizabeth Queene of England and Iames King of Great