cause to bee confident vpon them then your selues but only to vindicate the honour and dignity of the Scriptures which of your side are too basely sleighted and neglected And as touching this particular place of Saint Augustine notwithstanding all the flourish you make therewith yet shall you never be able to proue what you intend thereby as I come now to demonstrate This booke de vtilitate credendi I haue now twice for your sake throughly read ouer and with the best attention I could In it I find the authority of the Catholik Church made the first motiue or meanes vnto Faith by which we doe beleeue but not the first principle and reason of faith for which wee doe beleeue The occasion of writing it was this Saint Augustine hauing lately through Gods grace escaped out of the toiles of the Manichean Heretiks in which for the space of nine yeares hee had beene entangled is very desirous to recouer from them his friend Honoratus also as yet continuing in his error and held fast by them This he doubteth not through the same grace of God soone to effect may hee but find him duly prepared and disposed For vntill hee be wrought from his hereticall pertinacy and stifnesse vnto a more Christian moderation and equability he shall with all his arguments but wash a bricke as they say and spend his oile and labour to little purpose That which made him so vntoward and hard to be wrought vpon was the faire and plausible insinuation of the Manichees that they pressed no man to beleeue vntill they had first cleared and manifested the truth whereas others terrified men with superstition and commanded Faith before they tendred any reason vnto them Wherefore to remoue this preiudice and to frame him vnto a more indifferent temper he employeth in this booke all his strength and skill labouring to demonstrate the Vtility of beleeuing and how requisite it is to yeeld to authority before with pure minds we can discerne the truth And this is the only drift and scope he aimeth at in this booke neither medleth hee therein with any of the Manichean heresies but reserueth the confutation conviction of them vntill some other time as appeareth by the very closing vp thereof where he willeth Honoratus to remember that he hath not yet begunne to refute the Manichees nor to seâ— himselfe against those toies nor hath opened any great matter touching Catholike Doctrine Whence thus I argue If S. Augustin in this booke dispute against Honoratus from the Churches authority as the last resolution of Faith then hath he opened therein the greatest point of Christian religion and confuted thereby the Manichean heresie inasmuch as the Catholike Church vtterly condemned it But S. Augustin in expresse words affirmeth that he hath not so much as begun to refute the Manichees nor opened any great matter touching Catholike doctrine Therefore he disputeth not from the Churches authority as the last resolution of Faith True it is he is much in commending authority setting forth the benefit of beleeving it But what authority What beleeuing that authority which is grounded vpon the Generall opinion fame and consent of people nations that Beleeuing which is Morall and only prepares the minde to divine illumination If so then certainly cannot St Augustins authoritie be the last Principle of Faith For this is infallibile and absolutelie necessarie as well to the wise as vnwise that but an vncertaine step or staire to raise vs vp vnto God not necessarie to them that are wise What then is it in S. Augustins iudgment Surely the first inducement or Introduction to the search of divine Mysteries For saith he it is authoritie only which moueth fooles to hasten vnto wisdome And againe to a man that is not able to discerne the truth that he may be made fit for it and suffer himselfe to be purged authority is at hand Had hee thought it to be more then so he would never haue considered it without certainty of truth Yet so doth hee even in the passage by you alledged They saith hee that know the Church affirme her to be more sincere in truth then other sects but touching her truth is another question In a word as in other arts and sciences He that will learne must beleeue his teachers so in these heavenly mysteries also would Saint Augustine haue all those that are not initiated such as his friend Honoratus was to beginne with Authority Not that it is a sufficient warranty for whatsoever we learne but for that it is the readiest and likeliest way to bring vs vnto learning N. N. Thus Saint Augustine teaching his friend how he might both know and beleeue the Catholike Church and all that she taught simply and without asking reason or proofe And as for knowing or discerning her from all other Churches that may pretend to be Catholike wee heare his marks that shee is more eminent vniversall greater in number and in possession of the name Catholike The second that shee may be beleeued securely and cannot deceiue nor bee deceiued in matters of Faith he proueth elsewhere concluding finally in this place If thou doest seeme to thy selfe now saith Augustine to haue beene sufficiently tossed vp downe among Sectaries and wouldst put an end to these labours and turmoiles follow the way of Catholike discipline which hath flowne downe vnto vs from Christ by his Apostles and is to flow from vs to our posterity I. D. Out of that passage of St Augustine you obserue two things first what be the Marks by which the Catholike Church may be discerned secondly that shee may be beleeued securely as one that can neither deceiue nor he deceiued As touching the former you say Saint Augustines Markes are these foure Eminence Vniversality Multitude and Possession of the name Catholike Wherevnto I answere first that Saint Augustine maketh none of these things Notes of the Church For three of them namely Eminencie Vniversality and Possession of the name Catholike he doth not at all mention Eminencie I confesse is foisted into your translation but no where appeares in the Originall Of the fourth to wit Multitude all that he affirmeth is this that in his time there were more Christians then of any other religion and that among all Sects of Christians there was one Church consisting of a greater number then all the rest which is not enough to establish it for a marke of the Church Where by the way giue me leaue to demand why whereas Saint Augustine saith Christians are more then Iewes and worshippers of Images put together you render it the Iewes and Gentiles put together For what the reason should bee I cannot conceiue vnlesse it be the same for which you raze out of your Catechismes the second Commandement But I answere secondly that as St Augustine maketh none of them Marks so neither are they Markes for Proper they are not nor Perpetuall and
deserueth with no other then equal disdaine and contempt For it hath abundantly beene manifested to the world that as in the goodnesse of our cause wee are every way superiour vnto you so in all kinde of learning both Humane and Divine wee are no way inferiour to the best of you Howbeit seeing I am put in good hope by some of your best friends that you carry a minde prepared to imbrace the truth if at any time it shall bee discouered vnto you and your selfe haue freely professed vnto mee that your meaning is not any way to contest with me but only to be instructed by me I am content laying aside all advantages whatsoever to enter the lists with you by framing vp a short yet full answere to endeauour your best satisfaction God grant that as it is intended so it may redound first to his glory and then to the reducing of your straying soule from the servitude of Babylon into the liberty of Ierusalem which is from aboue and the right Mother of all true Beleeuers N. N. Catholike grounds for the Article of the Real Presence I. D. This title prefixed vnto your Writing intimateth that you craue resolution in the article as you terme it of the Real Presence and the Grounds thereof For the better performance whereof and to cleare the way of all rubs before vs you may be pleased to know that we denie not either the Presence or the Real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament Not the Presence For seeing therein his Body is delivered receaued eaten as the Scriptures testifie and that can no way be deliuered receaued eaten which is every way absent we cannot but beleeue with the heart confesse with the mouth that Christ is present Nor the Reall presence For seeing Eating betokeneth our Vnion and Incorporation with Christ whereby we are so closely joyned and joynted vnto him that wee are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones certainely vnlesse wee will question either the power of Faith or whether God be able to worke such an effect we cannot well doubt but that the Presence is True and Real not Imaginarie and Fained According herevnto S. Chrysostome Christ offereth himselfe vnto vs in these Mysteries not onely to bee seene but also to be touched and felt And S. Augustin We cannot with our hand feele Christ sitting in heauen but by Faith we may touch him Agreeing therefore in the Thing that there is a Real Presence wherein lies the difference betwixt vs It lies partly in the Manner of Presence and partly in the kinde of Change whereby the Presence is wrought As touching the Manner of Presence wee acknowledge it to bee double the one Sacramentall the other Spirituall The sacramentall is a Relatiue Presence of the thing signified vnto the signes partly for that they are significatiue represent Christ vnto vs even as the word spoken vnto the eare represents the thing signified thereby vnto the minde and partly because they are Exhibitiue God in them offering vs his Sonne vpon condition of Faith And in regard hereof it may also well be called a Pactionall presence The spirituall is a presence of Christ vnto the Faith of the Receauer or which is all one vnto the Receauer by Faith whereby we seeke him not here on earth in with or vnder the Accidents of bread but aloft in heauen where hee sitteth at the right hand of his father For where the carcase is thither saith Christ will the Eagles resort Whence S. Chrysostome He must climbe vp on high whosoeuer commeth to this Body And S. Augustine How shall I convay my hand into heauen that I may hold him sitting there Send thy faith thither and thou holdest him Now if any farther demand how this sacramentall and spirituall presence is wrought I answere it is done by a Change in the Elements of Bread and Wine By a change I say yet not of their Nature and Substance but of their Vse and Vertue For they are now no longer common but consecrated Bread and Wine ordained by Christ to bee effectuall symbols and Pledges of our Vnion and Communion with his Flesh and Bloud So saith Theodoret The visible symbols hath hee honoured with the name of his Body and Bloud not changing their nature but adding grace vnto nature And so the rest of the Fathers But all this little contents you except withall we yeeld you a Corporall and Locall Presence of Christ vnder the Accidents of Bread and Wine and that by way of Transubstantiation Transubstantiation a terme as lately devised so also inconvenient Lately deuised for it is but foure hundred yeares old or thereabouts bâ—ing forged in the Lateran councell vnder Innocent the third Inconvenient for properly it imports a Productiue kinde of Conversion by which one Substance is produced out of another or whereby one Substance is turned into another such as was the turning of Water into Wine by the power of Christ at Cana in Galilee But you vnderstand thereby an Adductiue kinde of Conversion by which as Bellarmine defineth it the Body of Christ which before was only in heaven is now also vnder the Accidents of Bread So that more fitly it might haue beene tearmed Cession or Succession or Substitution or Translocation or some such like rather then Transubstantiation the meaning you giue vnto it being no other then a succeeding of Christs Body into the roome of Bread vpon the abolishing of the Substance thereof Yet is it not so much the Newnesse and Inconvenience of the terme as the Impietie of the Doctrine intended thereby which we condemne For it crosseth the truth of Scripture ouerturneth the Articles of Faith destroyeth the Nature of a Sacrament gainesayeth the perpetuall consent of antiquity and implieth in it innumerable contradictions all which God willing shall in due place be demonstrated In the meane season hauing thus briefly stated the Question I come now to examine the particulars of your Writing and whether the passages you quote in such abundance reach home to that Corporall and Locall Presence which you hold or passe no farther then that Sacramentall and Spirituall Presence which we maintaine N. N. The first ground that Catholike men haue for these and all their mysteries of Christian Faith that are aboue the reach of common sense and reason is the Authority of the Catholike Church by which they were taught the same as Points of Faith revealed from God I. D. If by the first Ground you vnderstand the first introduction vnto Faith I grant the Authority of the Catholike Church to be the first ground that by it wee are taught the same But if thereby you meane as vndoubtedly you doe that highest Principle into which all the Mysteries of Faith are finally resolued and by which the Mind is staied and freed from farther doubting I deny the Catholike Church so to be the first ground For as Bellarmine truly writeth Faith beginneth from
the preaching of the Church as touching the Proposition of things to be beleeued but not as the reason of beleeuing For they who propound the doctrine of Faith withall admonish that that doctrine is revealed from God and that God not themselues is to be beleeved And what Is not the holy Catholike Church it selfe an Article of the Creed If it bee why should the rest of the Articles need to be sustained by an higher Principle more then it For if you may be bold to question any of them vntill it be resolued by the Churches authoritie I hope I may be as bold to question the Churches authoritie vntill it be warranted by some farther Principle I demand therefore why you beleeue the Church Because forsooth her authority is infallible And how know you that it is infallible Here of necessity you must either vouch her owne testimonie or betake you to some other thing To stick vpon her testimonie without farther enquirie is absurd For seeing her voice is not the first veritie that being the Prerogatiue of him only who is from all eternity her veracity must needs bee as doubtfull as her infallible authority And indeed this as a very learned Divine exemplifieth it were as if one whose authority is questioned taking vpon him to bee a law-giuer should first make a law and thereby giue himselfe power and afterward by vertue of that power exercise authority over others But if to establish the Churches authority you seek out of her to some other thing as suppose the Scriptures for so I remember you answered me being demanded the same Question then haue I obtained what I would namely that the Church is not the first ground of Faith because by your owne confession there is a former to wit the Scripture Neither is it true that Catholike men hold the Churches authority to be the first Ground For although some pretended Catholikes those I meane who call themselues Roman catholikes may so conceaue of their Church vnderstanding by the Church the Roman church yet neither are they true Catholikes neither is the Roman church the Catholike church neither doe any true Catholikes ground their Faith so True catholikes they are not because they hold a new Faith not that which Catholikely hath beene held in all ages as appeareth by those twelue new Articles lately added to the Creed vnknown vnto the purer times of the Primitiue church Neither is the Roman church the Catholike Church Not in regard of time for Christ had his Church when Rome was not yet Christian. Nor in respect of place for Catholike is Universall Roman Particular that the Church of the whole world this of one Citie or Diocese only Nor lastly in regard of her authority ouer al other Churches for that which she challengeth is but vsurped the Church of Africk in a Councell of two hundred and seuenteene Bishops of whom S. Augustine was a principall with much indignation reiected it and the Greeke church hitherto could never be drawne to acknowledge it And as for those that are true Catholikes they build not their Faith vpon so weake a Ground but rest both it and the Church her selfe vpon the Scriptures The Apostle S. Paul buildeth the whole Houshold of God vpon no other foundation then that of the Prophets and Apostles Knowe thou saith Origen that Christ alwaies appeareth on the mountaines and hills to teach thee that thou seeke him no where but in the mountaines of the Law and Prophets And the Auhor of the imperfect worke on Mathew The Lord knowing the confusion of things that would happen in the latter daies commandeth that such Christians as will receaue assurance of faith fâ—ie to no other thing but the Scripture And Tertullian Take from Hereticks that which they haue common with the heathen that they be content to stint all questions by the scriptures only and they cannot stand And S. Hierom The church of Christ hath for her cities the Law the Prophets the Gospell Apostles she passeth not beyond her limits that is the holy scriptures S. Augustine in the scriptures we learne Christ in the scriptures we learn the Church And againe I say not if we but if an Angell froÌ„ heauen shall deliuer any thing of Christ or his Church or of faith manners besides that which ye haue receiued in the Scriptures of the Law and Gospell let him be accursed And againe he affirmeth that the Church is to be proued by the Canonical bookes of Scripure and nothing else and that they only are the Demonstration of our cause the very foundation and ground plot whereon we are to build N. N. For proofe of this ground Saint Augustine handleth this matter in a speciall booke to his friend Honoratus deceiued by the Manichees as himselfe also sometimes had bin and he entituleth his booke De vtilitate credendi His discourse is this Suppose that wee now first of all did seeke vnto what Religion we should commit our soules to bee purged and rectified Without all doubt wee must begin with the Catholike Church for that shee is the most eminent now in the world there being more Christians in her this day then in any other Church of Iewes Gentiles put together And albeit among these Christians there be Sects and Heresies and all of them would seeme to be Catholikes and doe call others besides themselues Hereticks yet all grant that if wee consider the whole Body of the World there is one Church among them more eminent then all other and more plentifull in number and as they which know her doe affirme more sincere also in the truth But as concerning truth wee shall dispute more afterward now it is sufficient for them that desire to learne that there is a Catholike Church which is one in it selfe wherevnto diverse Heretickes doe faine and devise divers names whereas they and their Sects are called by peculiar names which themselues cannot deny Whereby all men that are indifferent and not letted by passion may vnderstand vnto what Church the name Catholike which all parts desire and pretend is to bee given Thus St Augustine c. I. D. So maine a point as is the last resolution of faith ought to haue beene better warranted then by the single authority of one Father who how eminent soever hee was in his time yet is not his sole word of strength enough to beare vp such a weight Why did you not vouch the testimony of Saint Paul or Saint Peter or some other of the holy penmen of Gods booke which cannot deceiue you then Saint Augustine or any other of the antient Fathers who both haue erred themselues and may mislead you But thus it is with Papists the more the shame the bare name of a Father swayes them more then the clearest passage of holy writ Howbeit this I say not as if we feared the triall of the Fathers for be it known vnto you wee haue more
later shorter and taller broader and narrower thicker and thinner greater and lesser then himselfe and such like of the same garbe But I study to be briefe it is high time to remoue my hand as they say from the Table Onely I must forewarne you that if being vnable to vntie these knots you shall attempt to cut them asunder with the sword of Gods Omnipotence you shall but loose your labour For if they be contradictions as vndoubtedly they are your Angelicall Doctor can tell you that they fall not within the compasse of Divine Power So that of force you must either demonstrate that these things are not contradictorie which I am sure you can neuer doe or as becommeth Christian ingenuity you must for ever bid farewell to Transubstantiation and yeeld vnto the truth discouered vnto you And thus at length by Gods assistance haue I finished the taske you haue laid vpon me fully answered whatsoeuer here you haue alleaged in maintenance of your Reall Presence My desire now is that laying aside all prejudice you will but with indifference read what I haue replied therevnto Which if you shall vouchsafe to doe I perswade my selfe it will make you to remit much of that confidence you had in this cause when first you sent this Schedule vnto me Especially if withall you consider that the wittiest and subtlest heads amongst you could never finde it so clearely and strongly grounded either vpon Scripture or Fathers as you pretend Scotus sirnamed the subtle Doctor affirmeth that there is extant in Scripture no place so expresse as without declaration of the Church can evidently constraine a man to admit of Transubstantiation And this saith Bellarmine is not altogether vnprobable For although the scripture may seeme vnto vs so clear as it may constraine a man that is not froward yet it may iustly be doubted whether it be so seeing most learned and witty men such as Scotus specially was haue thought the contâ—ary The same Scot farther saith that were it not for the authority determination of the Roman Church the words of Christ and of the Fathers might more simply plainely truly be vnderstood and expounded Nay hee yet farther addeth and your Cardinal Bellarmine confesseth it that before the Lateran Councell Transubstantiation was not a doctrine of Faith and he wondreth that being no principle article and such as exposeth the Christian Faith to contempt it could be receaued and beleeued The Cardinall of Cambray also doubteth not to avouch that that manner which supposeth the substance of Bread still to remaine is possible neither is it contrary to reason or the authority of scripture Nay it is easier to conceaue and more reasonable then that which saith the substance doth leaue the accidents And of this opinion no inconvenience doth seeme to ensue if it could be accorded with the Churches determination And he addeth that the opinion which holdeth the substance of Bread not to remaine doth not evidently follow of the Scripture nor to his seeming of the Churches determination Cardinall Cajetan is as peremptory that there appeareth nothing in the Gospell that can force a man properly to vnderstand these words This is my body and that were it not for the interpretation of the Roman Church they might very well admit another sense as that of the Apostle the Rocke was Christ. To these Cardinals may wee ioyne another Cardinall though happily he neuer ware the Cap I mean Fisher Bishop of Rochester who expresly averreth that in that place of Mathew where the institution of the Sacrament is recorded there is never a word whereby it may bee proued that there is made in the Masse the true presence of the flesh and bloud of Christ. Gabriel Biel also The Scriptures may be salved and expounded after a more easie vnderstanding And Occam This doctrine that the substance of bread remaineth is subiect to lesser inconveniences and is not so repugnant to reason the Scriptures And Durand It is great rashnesse to say that the body of Christ cannot by divine power be in the Sacrament but by converting bread into it Howbeit if that way which supposeth bread to remaine were indeed true many doubts which meet vs holding it not to remaine were dissolued The Master of the Sentences also freely confesseth that if it be demanded what that conversion is whether formall or substantiall or of another kinde he is not sufficient to define From these your Iesuits swarue not very much Gregory de Valentia saith that the Fathers spake of Transubstantiation somewhat obscurely simply as thinking they could not be vnderstood of Catholikes but Catholikely and least they should haue exposed the mystery to be laughed at of Infidels if in their popular Sermons they should haue vnfolded their minds Your Secular Priests affirme that it was concluded among the Fathers of the Societie and what Catholike would not beleeue them that the Fathers haue not so much as touched the point of Transubstantiation Finally not to muster vp any more it is well knowne that divers of your Priests being demanded if after sentence of death pronounced vpon them that very morning when they were to be executed they might haue leaue to say Masse to the intent they might be certaine of their owne intention to consecrate and not doubtfully depend vpon anothers whether after consecration for the confirmation of our Faith in the point of Transubstantiation they durst to say thus vnto the multitude Vnlesse that which is now in this Chalice whose Accidents you see be the very selfe same bloud which issued out of the side of Christ hanging on the crosse let mee haue no part either in the bloud of Christ or in Christ himselfe for ever and so with these last words bid farewel vnto the world being I say demanded whether they durst adventure to doe so they all with one voice denied it And Father Garnet in a conference with the Deanes of the Chappell Pauls and Westminster being in particular asked the like answered very perplexedly not daring to hazard his saluation therevpon All these testimonies duly pondered and considered you must needs acknowledge vnlesse you see better then these quick-sighted Eagles that you haue not so strong hold either in Scripture or Fathers or right reason as you imagined and that not only the name but the Doctrine also of Transubstantiation hath beene but of late created an article of your Faith It remaineth that I entreat you these things vndoubtedly being thus that you suffer not your selfe any longer to be beguilded with novelties vnder pretence of antiquitie but rather that you open your eyes and stretch forth your armes to embrace the truth now that she offereth her selfe so manifestly vnto you And this I intreat the more earnestly because of the great danger that followeth vpon this errour For if Christ bee not present in the Sacrament in such sort as you hold there
was never either seen or heard the like Idolatrie vnto yours as your own Coster confesseth For saith he it is a more tolerable error to worship Images of silver or gold or other stuffe with the Gentiles or a red cloath on a pike with the Lieflanders or liuing creatures with the Egyptians then to adore a morsell of bread Oh therefore let me yet againe beseech you and that by the dearest name of Iesus Christ to pitty your owne soule and with all speed to retire your selfe from Babylon the mother of all spirituall whoredome Heretofore happily your ignorance might in part excuse you but now that the light hath shined vpon you if wilfully you close your eies against it you are altogether vnexcusable and these papers one day will appeare in iudgement against you Oh how glad would the blessed Angels in heaven bee might they once behold your conversion How readily and louingly would the true Church of Christ entertaine you and how humbly thankfull would my poore selfe be vnto the Divine Maiestie if through his blessing these endeauours of mine might be a meanes to reclaime you For my part I haue done what belonged vnto me that truth I haue both propounded and demonstrated vnto you To turne the heart is not in my power that I leaue vnto God whose office it is Yet will I neuer cease to addresse my vowes vnto him for you if at any time hee may bee pleased in Iesus Christ to haue compassion vpon you FINIS A DEFENCE OF THE FORmer Answer against the Reply of N.N. OXFORD Printed by I.L. for E. F. 1633. A DEFENCE OF THE FORMER ANSWERE AGAINST the reply of N. N. SIR I perceiue would I follow the tract you seeke to set me in I might travell long enough and be never the neerer my journies end All the Passages alleadged by you in maintenance of Transubstantiation I haue fully answered adding therevnto sundry arguments clearly demonstrating the impiety thereof Wherevpon I expected either that you should yeeld being convinced by the evidence of truth or particularly acquaint me wherein I had not satisfied you Now what you Forsooth neither the one nor the other But insteed thereof you send me a fardle of idle Generalities pickt out of I know not what blind author all making no more to the matter in hand then as he saith a Cypresse tree doth to a table of shipwrack In regard whereof I could not hitherto perswade my selfe to reioyne vnto it For why should I stray with him that will needs out of the Way Neverthelesse fearing least by holding my peace I might seeme either to prejudice my cause or to disable my selfe and knowing what clapping of wings and crowing there vseth to be amongst you vpon every the least shew of advantage I haue at length resolued to vouchsafe you one encounter more and then if you still persist in your outlopes and impertinences to wast no more oile or paper vpon you For it is St Pauls advice to avoid an heretike after one or two admonitions knowing that such a one is perverted and sinneth being condemned of himselfe To proceed therefore in order let vs begin with your Preamble N. N. Musing why your kinsman delivered me not your papers you suppose it was because hee conceited not well of them or thought they would not pleasure I. D. You coniecture not amisse For being demanded the reason he answered because you had written nothing to the purpose and yet continue obstinated in your errour Which how could it be welcome to either of vs But take heed I beseech you how you close your eyes any longer against the light of truth For to them that receiue not the loue of truth that they may be saved God threatneth to send them the efficacy of errour to beleeue lies N. N. The passages now sent are taken out of your Papers These againe out of your author Yet truly And all to shew you build not vpon any one mans opinion I. D. You might haue done well to name your Author that we might know his worth and whether your Papers haue wronged him and if not whether your Authors selfe haue not wronged those out of whom hee hath taken his collections But suppose neither You nor your Author faile yet is your inference ridiculous For though the writers you quote be many yet is your Author but one And alleadging them vpon his sole credit without any particular knowledge of your owne you build herein but vpon one mans opinion N. N. No nor on Lutherans Anabaptists Protestants Puritans or tearmed Papists farther then they agree with the authority of the Catholike Church I. D. Lutheran is a name not chosen by vs who in point of Faith depend vpon no man but by you thrust vpon vs. Anabaptists we detest as much as you Puritan is the auncient name of the Novatians and better fitteth you then vs. For wee hold not as you doe that we can eschew all sinne all our life and perfectly fulfill the law yea supererogate and merit heauen by our workes The name of Protestant was first given vnto the Princes and Free citties of Germany Protesting their Faith at a Diet in Spire Ann. 1529. neither doe wee disclaime it But who I pray are those tearmed Papists For relying on the Omnipotency of your Lord God the Pope you are Papists indeed and your betters approue the terme Parsons saith that it importeth no more hurt then if in a sedition they that side with the King be called Royalists Florimond Raimond that it is a name of honour and whereat none should take offence Tho. Bozius that you haue good reason to glory in it And an old Catholike as Walsingham reports that it was a most honourable thing for men to stand with their Head and to haue their denomination from him Thus they But nor Papists nor others shall moue you farther then they agree with the Catholike Church And reason if thereby you vnderstand that of all times including the Apostles For they erred not And what they Preached they left in writing ever after to be the rule and ground of Faith But if you meane as I doubt you doe the Now-Roman Church besides that it is not Catholike there will be but little salt found in your speech For it will be as if you had said you will not rely on Papists or any other farther then they agree with Papists of which only that Church consisteth N. N. Succession continuance visibility vnitie are notes of the Catholike Church and only found in her I. D. These Notes are not Proper agreeing only and alwaies to the Church Certaine therefore and infallible they are not Not Personall Succession For in the beginning of the Church it was not and in the time of Antichrist you say it shall not be It hath also beene continued in the Churches of Hierusalem Antioch Alexandria Constantinople which yet you esteeme no true Churches The consideration whereof forced from
Scripture vnto all which I briefly answer thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I looked that they should punctually conclude Ergo Reading is no kind of Preaching but they insteed hereof substitute another conclusion Reading is not all that Preaching that is required in a Minister which who denies For wee freely confesse more is required then ability to Read except only then when sufficient Ministers or there where sufficient maintenance cannot be had In such a case better a Reader then none to publish Gods word to baptize children to administer the Communion and to performe other necessary duties which but by a Minister may not be done As for the descant vpon this plainsong what did Christ command no more then to come with a book in ones pocket and to read fairely from what spirit it proceeds I will not say sure I am it is a stale popish iest Thinkest thou saith Stapleton vnto Whitaker when Paul preached vnto the Gentiles to convert them hee deliuered them the booke of the old Testament or recited and read the same vnto them But besides testimonie of Scripture they vouch the authority of the booke of Homilies and Canons whereof the one distinguisheth Readers from Preachers which were great wrong vnto them if they be Preachers The other forbiddeth Ministers to preach in private whereby I may not so much as read a chapter in my house if Reading be Preaching This argument I thinke themselues make as little reckoning of as they doe of the authority whereon it is grounded For it is a plaine fallacy of Equivocation and they must needs be very blinde if they discerne it not For when our Church putteth a distinction betwixt Readers and Preachers shee vnderstandeth Preaching in the strict and speciall signification for one kinde of Preaching namely interpreting or making of Sermons And in this sense it is most true Reading is not Preaching and very simple must he be that holdeth bare Reading to be the making of a Sermon But when we say Reading is Preaching we vnderstand Preaching in a more large and generall signification as by and by you shall heare wherevnto because they speake not they speake not to the purpose Furthermore this doctrine say they is a maintainer of Idlers and dumb dogs and soule murtherers what not Pax mifrater good words I pray you for these are but the evaporations of a hot braine Farre be it from vs by any meanes to maintaine any such kinde of Cattle Wee wish with all our hearts that not only all Ministers but all the people of God could prophecie Howbeit were there not an idler nor dumb dog nor soule-murtherer as these men are pleased to tearme them in our Church yet if publicke Reading continue and I hope it will continue so long as the Sunne and Moone endureth Reading will ever bee a kinde of Preaching In the meane season I could wish that they who are so eager against dumbe dogges would sometimes remember to turne the edge of their tongues against bawling curres also with whom the Church of God is as much pestered as the other those I meane who behaue themselues so audaciously confidently in the pulpit yet haue neither the learning nor the wisdome to speake humbly discreetly and to the purpose One argument yet remaines Preaching was before the word written but before writing Reading could not be Reading therefore cannot be Preaching Pardon me my brethren if I call a spade a spade and in plaine English say this is a meere Popish argument For in like manner reasoneth Charron a French Papist to proue that Faith is not taught by Writing or Reading The Scripture saith he came but late into the world and the world had beene without it for the space of two thousand fiue hundred yeares namely all the time from Adam to Moses If then in the meane while the Faith was published to the world and receaued by it it could not bee by the word written or read which then was not but onely by the word preached and heard But in the same sort as Francis Iunius confronteth Charron so will I answere these men First although before Moses no part of the Canon was written yet happily there might be other godly and holy bookes penned out of which the true faith might be learned Secondly grant that at that time nothing at all was written yet the argument followeth not The world was a long time without Scripture Ergo neither now is it the purpose of God to teach by Writing or Reading For contrarily seeing it hath pleased God of his goodnesse at length to commit his word vnto writing it is manifest that he now intends men should learne the knowledge thereof even by Reading also Wherefore I conclude that as before Writing there was happily but one kinde of preaching namely speaking to the eare so now since the time that Gods word hath beene written there are more kindes then one namely speaking to the eye too Thus hauing remoued these rubs as it were out of our way let vs proceed in Gods name to maintaine the truth propounded that Reading is a kind of Preaching wherein I must intreat you againe againe not to mistake me as if I held bare Reading to be all that Preaching which is required in a Minister or that it is the making of a Sermon that is the expounding of a Text deducing of doctrines and particular application of the same by way of exhortation Farre be such vanitie and folly from mee What then Surely by Preaching generally I vnderstand the publishing or notifying or making knowne of Gods word Which seeing it may be done by sundry waies meanes as inwardly outwardly publikely privately by word by writing by speaking by reading by Catechizing by conference and the like I boldly affirme that there are diverse kinds of Preaching and that Reading is one of them And least any man should thinke I stretch the word Preaching too farre bee it knowne vnto you that I doe no more then Martin Bucer sometime Divinity Reader in Cambridge as he is cited by D. Whitgift hath long since done before me for as he granteth that there are sundry sorts of Preaching so among them he reckons Reading for one And whatsoever some punies avouch to the contrary I dare engage all the poore skill I haue in languages vpon it that the originall words vsually translated Preaching as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the old Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the new are not in Scripture no nor in other writers restrained vnto the mouth or scholying vpon a Text but are of far larger extent and capacitie even such as wee haue aboue deliuered So that to come to an issue when we say reading is a kinde of preaching our plaine meaning is that it is a way or meanes by which the word of God is pubâ—lished and made knowne Which being so what is it my bretheren that so much offendeth and angreth you Is it the inconvenience of the
with their territories and sundry other things of great value The Ministrie of the Gospell is more excellent then that of the Law lesse therefore cannot be allowed vs. Tithe is too little saith S. Augustin else how doe wee exceed the Pharisees who tithed all If we minister spirituall things reason will that we receaue of your temporalls The law of the Gospell requireth him that is taught to impart to him that teacheth of all his good And reason For as S. Paul saith to Philemon you owe your selues vnto vs. And vnlesse you vnder value too much the eternall saluatioÌ„ of your soules yee can never sufficiently recompence the benefit yee receaue of vs. It is manifest then that an honourable salarie is due vnto vs. But how I beseech you are wee paid our due Poorely God wot witnesse the multitude of impropriations the selling of benefices the detention of tithes or the false and repining paiment of them with the like It was once said What shall wee giue the man of God but now every one saith Come let vs take the houses of God in possession When Moses built the tabernacle he was faine to stay the people from giuing they were so forward but now would God wee could stay their hands from robbing the tabernacle Many there are who call for a learned Ministry in every parish yet keepe to themselues that which should maintaine the Minister A strange perversenesse to desire no benefice may be without a cure and yet to require a cure without a benefice Yea but they are content to allow a Competencie True But if they may be our â—arvers I presume it will bee after the rate of Cratis in his Ephemeris ten pound to the Cooke a groat to the Physitian ten talents to the Parasite one to the Curtizan and to the Philosopher three halfepence For every little is too much for vs but enough is superfluity Et quorsum perditio haec what need all this wasts The poverty of the Apostles they often remember but the bounty of Christians then they vtterly forget If they will haue vs follow the one why refuse they to imitate the other Let them sell all they haue and lay downe the prizes at our feet and then haue with them whensoeuer they please But I presse these points of Honor no farther for me thinkes I heare some say these words would haue sounded better in some advocates mouth in ours they may seeme to proceede of ambition or covetousnesse Wherevnto I answere first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if wee speake not for our selues who will and if wee doe alas what are wee All other sorts of men are allowed to defend themselues and must wee alone suffer wrong and say nought Secondly so to censure is a spice of the contempt wee speake of for indeede wee seeke herein not so much our owne honour and advantage as Gods glory and benefit Gods glory whose ordinance nay who himselfe by contemning vs is contemnâ—d They haue not reiected thee but mee saith God to Samuell Yee haue robbed me in tithes and offerings saith hee by Malachie He that despiseth you despiseth me saith Christ. And lastly He that despiseth despiseth not man but God Your benefit For to deny submission to those who rule over you and watch for your soules is vnprofitable for you saith the Apostle For first as Barnard saith Cuius vita despicitur restat vt praedicatio contemnatur if once our persons grow despicable little will our preaching availe If our preaching availe not neither can you beleeue nor be saued Secondly to contemne a Minister is a fearfull sinne otherwise Hoseas would never haue vsed this aggravation the people were as they that contended with the Priest Lastly God punisheth it accordingly with temporall punishment as vpon the Iewe with seaventy years captiuity with spirituall that hearing they shall heare seeing see yet neither perceiue nor vnderstand and vnlesse they repent with eternall also both in body and soule But of the contempt of the Ministry enough let vs now inquire the redresse thereof See that no man despise thee saith my text A strange speech For doe we steere at the helme of other mens affections Or haue we the command of their actions Why then doth he charge vs to looke to it that we be not despised Surely because wee our selues are mostly the causes thereof and for that it lies much in our owne hands both to prevent and redresse it To make this appeare obserue with me the words immediatly going before my text These things speake and exhort and rebuke with all authority see that no man despise thee Obserue with me againe what Saint Paul saith to Timothie These things command and teach let no man despise thy youth but be an example vnto beleeuers in word in conversation in charity in spirit in faith in purity Which two places being duly pondered and considered it is manifest that the Apostles meaning here is no other then this if we will not be contemned wee must not carry our selues contemptibly and that to avoide this contempt two things are necessary first that we be Good ministers secondly that we be Good men for if wee faile in eyther it cannot possibly bee avoided but wee must bee despised To avoide Contempt then first wee must be Good Ministers and to this end two things are requisite first a talent secondly due employment of the talent By talent I vnderstand fitnesse and ability And that this is necessary appeareth first by the act of God for hee never designeth any to a calling but hee furnisheth him before hand with sufficient gifts If Moses must be the chiefe governour and lawgiuer of Israell he shall be learned yea even in all the wisdome of the Aegyptians aend mighty both in words and deeds If Bezaleel and Aholiab must build the Tabernacle hee will fill them with his spirit in wisdome in vnderstanding in knowledge in all manner of workemanship in gold silver brasse stone timber and what ever else was needfull Esay being to doe an errand for the Lord hath his lipps first touched with a cole froÌ„ the altar Iesus the sonne of Mary being ordained to bee the Messias of the world is annointed with the oile of gladnesse aboue all his fellowes and receiueth the spirit without measure Finally the twelue Apostles being to carry the name of Christ through the world were first baptized with fiery tongues and replenished with the holy Ghost at Ierusalem The same appeareth also by the ordinance of God in his Church For the Priests lips saith Malachie should preserve knowledge and they should seeke the law at his mouth for he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts Saint Paul also saith that a Bishop must bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apt to teach and able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convince gainesaiers
meane season I answer by distinguishing of that tearme the Servants of God For by it you may vnderstand either all those holy men of God who haue beene since the creation downe vnto this present instant or onely those few Saints of God whom the Scripture maketh mention of If you take it in the former sense the Assumption is manifestly false that none of the Servants of God vsed lots in gaming at any time but only in weightie matters For I thinke there is no man so vncharitable as to say that all those who haue or doe sometime play at Cards Tables are vnregenerate and no seruants of God If you take it in the latter sense then is the Major false that what those few mentioned in scripture never did we may not doe For as their actions without a precept binde vs not to imitation so their omissions without a prohibition lay not vpon vs an obligation of forbearance If they did then might we not play at Chesse or the Philosophers game or bowles or the like because those Servants of God for ought we knowe neuer vsed any of them But let vs see how you proue that Gods Seruants neuer vsed lots but in serious matters Thus you proue it They vsed lots in serious matters Ergo they vsed them only in serious matters A sillie Consequence and neere a kin to that protrite Enthymeme The sunne shines in heauen Ergo the staffe stands in the bench corner But to satisfie the reader more fully I answere three things First where to proue your Antecedent you affirme among other things that Priests were chosen by lot you are fouly mistaken For Aaron and his posterity without intervention of a lot by the immediate voice of God were perpetually appointed to the Priesthood Secondly these lots here mentioned were all of them Extraordinary whence if your reason be good it would follow that none but Extraordinary lots may be vsed or rather that now adaies no lots at all may be vsed considering that God hauing not promised the like Extraordinary assistance it would be but tempting of God to expect an Extraordinary working from him in a lot Thirdly lastly it followeth not Wee read not in scripture that the Saints vsed lots in light matters Ergo they vsed them only in weightie For it is a meere Fallacie to dispute from authority negatiuely in a case of Fact In a question of Faith the sequele is good We read it not in scripture Ergo it is not a matter of Faith the reason because scripture containeth all matters of Faith But in questions of Fact it is not so because it was not the purpose of the holy Ghost to register downe in the Scripture all whatsoeuer his Servants had done much lesse their sports and recreations Had it beene his purpose so to doe hee would neuer haue said so often in the booke of Kings The rest of the acts of such or such a King are they not written in the booke of the Chronicles of the Kings of Iudah For to vnderstand these words of those two bookes of Chronicles written as it is thought so long time after by Ezra were in the iudgement of learned Iunius very ridiculous N. N. But it may be obiected some matters of small moment haue beene determined by Lots as for example who should be dore keepers of the Temple of Ierusalem I answere that was no light matter First it was Gods command expresly in his word which is neuer light or meane to Gods seruāts Secondly Dauid belike had a reverend respect of this office when he said that hee had rather bee a dore-keeper in the house of God then to dwell in the tents of wickednesse And is it nothing to be one of the King of Englands Porters Many a man if it should be tried had rather haue that office then twenty pounds by the yeare and that is a matter if it were of much lesse weight in which we may lawfully vse a Lot Now much more might the dore-keepers of Gods house be warranted from reason suppose they had no speciall command to cast Lots or to haue Lots cast vpon them to determine who should supply that worthy office DEFENCE As a pound compared to a scruple is weightie but light compared to a talent so the Porters office in regard of the Nethinims hewers of wood and drawers of water might be of some reckning but very meane in respect of the Priesthood So that a man may safely say the Porters office was but a low place and the lots were vsed in no very high matter But whether high or low it is not greatly materiall seeing the sinewes of your Argument are cut already Yet let vs heare what you say First it was Gods command and his command is neuer light True yet this letteth not but God may giue command touching light things as he did when he tooke order for every petty and small matter that the hearing and determining of them should bee referred vnto the inferiour officers And if his Providence reach euen to the smallest matters what impeachment can it be to his honour to giue commandment touching them also The Pins of the Tabernacle and the beesoms of the Temple were no great matters yet God disdained not to giue order for them And as in a building 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great stones can never bee well laid without the lesse so also in the gouernment of the world for the better ordering of the greatest things God takes care of the smallest also Secondly say you David so honoured the Office that he had rather be a dore-keeper in the house of God then to dwel in the tents of wickednesse But what if David in that place spake not of Dore-keepers What then is become of your argument The words in the Original are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I could wish rather to threshold it Iunius translates it limen frequent are often to passe ouer the threshold of Gods house and to be conversant in the Church which may belong vnto any other of the people of God aswell as the Porters But be it that he meane them inasmuch as the Psalme is inscribed to the Korhites who were Dore-keepers yet doth it not argue such dignitie in the office If a man should say I had rather be a Sexten or Dog-whipper in the poorest parish in England then the great Caliph of Egypt or Pope of Rome would any therevpon say hee spake reverendly of a Sextens or Dog-whippers place Nay verily but that he doth the more abase the Caliphat or Popedome Even so Dauid preferring a Porters place vnto the tents of wickednesse doth not so much intend to honour that as to avile these And hence is it that the Septuagint renders it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be laid as an abiect at the threshold and the vulgar translation Elegi abjectus esse in domo deimei I haue chosen to bee an abject in the house of my God and Calvin
without Christ are vnprofitable neither can they be fruitfull at any time but onely in Christ who alone is the Substance and Foundation of them all Wherevpon I conclude that those ancient Sacraments of the Iewes directly looked vnto Christs and prefigured him but were not properly Figures of ours No were What say you then to the Fathers who affirme they were I say two things first that their Authoritie is not a sufficient ground to build our Faith vpon as we haue elsewhere shewed at large For it is but Humane testimonie and argueth as your owne Thomas saith not necessarily but only probably Neither is it reason seeing your selues so often sleight and reiect it even in those points wherein many times they consent that you should so peremptorily vrge it vpon vs and binde vs absolutely to beleeue all they say I say secondly that the Fathers calling the Sacraments of the old Law Figures of ours meane not that they were bare and naked signes without the truth but that in them the thing signified was more darkly and implicitly shadowed then in ours Or rather that they were Figures corresponding vnto ours in the same sense that the Apostle S. Peter intendeth it when he calleth Baptisme the Antitype of Noahs Arke For vnderstanding whereof you are to knowe that Types or Figures are sometimes compared with that truth or thing whereof they are Samplars as where the Holy place of the Tabernacle is said to bee the Antitype of Heauen figured thereby Sometime with some other Secondary samplar and Figure of the same thing as in this place of Peter where Baptisme is made the Antitype of that deliuerance which befell the Church by the Arke in the generall deluge of waters So that the Arke properly was not ordained to be a Figure of Baptisme but both it and Baptisme represent vnto vs our Salvation from the danger both of sinne and death by Christ Iesus therein mutually respecting and answering one the other The same may you also say of the Cloud and the Passing through the Red sea of Manna and the Rock and all the rest And that thus the Fathers heare one for all who to vse your owne words spake in the sense of them all This Bread saith S. Augustine which came downe from heauen Manna signified this Bread the Altar of God signified They were Sacraments divers in signes but in the thing signified alike Heare the Apostle I would not saith hee haue you ignorant Brethren that all our Fathers were vnder the cloud and all passed through the sea and all were baptized by Moses in the â—loud and in the sea and all eat the same spirituall meat The same spirituall I say but another corporall because they Manna We another thing But the same spirituall that we yet our Fathers not their Fathers to whom wee are like not to whom they were like And hee addeth And they all dranke the same spirituall drink They one thing we another as touching the visible nature yet the selfe same in the signifying spirituall vertue For how the same drinke They dranke saith he of the spirituall Rock following them and the Rock was Christ. Thence the Bread thence the drinke The Rocke Christ in the signe true Christ in the Word Flesh. Thus S. Augustine But if the Fathers serue not your turne you haue the Fathers of the Fathers even Christ himselfe and his holy Apostle S. Paul who both affirme that Manna was an expresse figure of this Sacrament And if Manna why not by the same proportion other Sacraments also Indeed now you dispute not Topically but Apodictically you cannot but prevaile if it be true that you say But what are the words I pray you wherein this may appeare Certainely none at all For neither the one nor the other either expresly or implicitly make it a Figure of this Sacrament but of Christ himselfe and his Flesh. For as for the sixt of Iohn it is cleare that our Saviour speaketh not therein of the Eucharist or of Sacramentall Manducation but only of the Spirituall eating of his Flesh by Faith I saith he am the Bread of life hee that commeth vnto mee shall not hunger and hee that beleeueth in me shall neuer thirst Where although to continue the Allegorie hee might haue said He that eateth me shall not hunger and he that drinketh me shall not thirst yet hee chose rather to vse the words of Comming and Beleeuing to teach vs that hee speaketh not of an Oral eating and drinking by the Mouth but only of a Spirituall by Faith And this is so plaine that Bellarmine himselfe confesseth these words Properly not to belong vnto the Sacrament but to the faith of the Incarnation Againe that Eating is meant without which there is no life Except saith hee yee eat the flesh of the sonne of man and drinke his Blood there is no life in you But without Sacramentall eating a man may haue life in him Spirituall eating therefore is meant And thus also doe sundry of your owne Rabbies vnderstand this place as namely Gabriel Cusan Cajetan Tapper Hesselius Iansenius and others As for that place of S. Paul it is evident that the Apostle putteth no difference betweene the old Sacraments and the New saue only in regard of the externall signes for otherwise he affirmeth the same thing to be Signified and Exhibited in both to wit Christ. And so doth S. Augustine vnderstand it They did eat the same spirituall meat saith he it had sufficed to haue said they did eat a spirituall meat but he saith the same I cannot finde how we should vnderstand the same but the same that wee doe eat And againe Whosoeuer in Manna vnderstand Christ did eat the same spiritual food that we doe But whosoever sought only to fill their bellies of Manna which were the Fathers of the vnfaithfull they haue eaten and are dead so also the same drinke for the Rock was Christ. Therefore they drank the same drinke that we doe but spiritual drink that is which was receiued by Faith not which was drawne in with the Body If happily you stand vpon those words These things are types vnto vs you may knowe that hee saith not they were types of our Sacraments but Examples to vs that we sin not as they did For as they perished in the wildernesse notwithstanding their Sacraments so may we doing as they did notwithstaÌ„ding ours Which argument if that you say be true would be of no force at all For the Corinthians might thus haue replied though their Sacraments availed not them yet ours may vs because ours are Substance theirs but Shadows But enough of the Antecedent Yet before I proceed to the Consequence some of your By-speeches are also to be examined First you say that Bread aud Wine was mysteriously offered to Almighty God by Melchizedeck But both the Original and your Vulgar translation made authenticall by the Councell of Trent
enough to be numbred among the ancient Fathers In regard whereof as also because of those many shamefull errors and fabulous narrations every where appearing in his writings hee is one of little or no authority in the Church of God He was the first that removed the bounds of the ancient Doctors in this matter bringing in sundry new strange terms never heard of in former times the misvnderstanding of which by little and little prepared a way to that deformed monster of Transubstantiation Neverthelesse it is certaine that howsoever many of his speeches may seeme harsh and inconvenient and great advantage hath beene taken of them that way yet himselfe was cleane of another mind Let vs therefore heare what hee saith It is made saith hee by the Holy Ghost even as our Lord made for himselfe a body out of the Virgin mother If so then is it not made by Transubstantiation for Christ assuming a body turned not his Deity into it Yet was the worke of the Holy Ghost necessary for he alone is able to sanctify the Naturall element and to invest them with Supernaturall graces The same saith he of Baptisme He hath ioyned the Grace of the Holy Ghost to oile and water and hath made it the washing of Regeneration And Leo yet more fully vsing the selfe-same comparison Christ gave vnto water that which he gaue vnto his mother for the power of the most high and over shaddowing of the holy Ghost which made that Mary brought forth the Saviour hath made water to regenerate the beleeuer Whereby you see that the same power of Gods Spirit by which the blessed Virgin conceived may be emploied in a Sacrament without that change and conversion that you imagine of And that Damascen though hee aknowledged a change of the Bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ yet was not acquainted with your change may appeare by these words Because it is the manner of men to eat bread and to drinke wine with water he hath conioyned his divinity with them and made them his body and blood that by vsuall things and which are according to nature we might be setled in these things that are aboue nature Here you see hee conioyneth the Divinity with bread and wine Now coniunction is only of those things that are and haue a being Bread and Wine therefore still are If they be then are they not abolished And if they be not abolished then is Transubstantiation gone Adde herevnto that Accidents without Substance are not Vsuall things nor according to Nature and therefore not they but true bread and true Wine are the things which in Damascens judgement raise vs vp to those things that are aboue Nature But of him enough N. N. The perishing meat and pleasures of this world please me not I long for Gods Bread the heauenly Bread the bread of life which thing is the flesh of Christ the Sonne of God I. D. That Ignatius wrote an Epistle to the Romans both Eusebius and Hierom testify and that this which now passeth vnder that title may be the right Epistle I deny not Howbeit it is confessed of all that those Epistles which are granted to be his are not come vnto our hands perfect For some passages are cited out of them by some of the ancients as Hierom Theodoret and others which now are not found in them and some are manifestly corrupted and depraved as appeareth So that if Baronius and Bellarmine might challenge them of corruption in those places which make for Saint Pauls marriage and against halfe Communions I hope I haue as much liberty to challenge the place by you alleaged if it made any thing against vs. But it needs not for Ignatius speaketh not there of the Sacrament and therefore it maketh nothing to the purpose Neither doth it follow The bread is flesh Ergo by Transubstantiation N. N. We ought so to communicate with our Lords table that wee doubt nothing of the verity of his Body and Bloud seeing he said Except yee eat the Flesh of the Son of man c. I. D. Leo disputeth in this place against the Eutychians who denied the truth of Christs body and thus he argueth The Eucharist is a symboll of the body of Christ Ergo Christ hath a true body and whosoever will rightly communicate must nothing doubt thereof So reasoneth also Theodoret. For Orthodoxus demanding whether Bread and Wine were Symbols of the true body blood of Christ or no and being answered yea he thus concludes If the divine mysteries be samplars of the true body then the body of the Lord is now also true and not changed into the nature of the Divinity Hence may you see the weaknesse of your Argument Communicants may not doubt that Christ hath a true body or if you will that the true body of Christ is in the Eucharist Ergo bread is transubstantiated into body Ridiculous N. N. As therefore our Baptisme is made by reall washing with water and reall renewing of the Holy Ghost so now in the Supper of Christ it behooueth wee bee really fed with the fruit of the tree of life which is none other thing besides the flesh of Christ. I. D. If we yeelded Euthymius vnto you the matter were not great For he liued vpward of eleven hundred yeares after Christ and your owne Chronologers place him after Gratian and Peter Lombard Yet what saith hee It behooueth that in the supper wee be really fed with the flesh of Christ. Really fed Who doubteth of it But you are to know that Reall doth not necessarily import your Carnall manner For Spirituall is also Reall vnlesse you will say a spirit is no thing N. N. It is a remembrance of Christs death by the presence of the body which died It is the Body and Bloud of Christ covered from our eyes revealed to our Faith feeding presently our body and soule to everlasting life I. D. This Nicephorus also liued eleauen hundred yeares after Christ and therefore is none of the Fathers nor of any great authority Neither doth that which hee saith conclude your purpose For Christs Body may bee and is present Sacramentally and to our faith and presently feed both soules and bodies to everlasting life and yet Bread and Wine remaine still in the Sacrament Else where hee calleth the outward Elements symbolls and signes of the Passion of Christ. If symbolls and signes then not the Body it selfe N. N. They receiue not the fruit of Saluation in the eating of the healthfull sacrifice They eat the healthfull Sacrifice which surely is nothing else but the naturall body of Christ but the frute they receiue not As many men take an healthfull medicine but because their bodies bee evill affected it proueth not healthfull to them I. D. Thus you reason The healthfull Sacrifice is the naturall body of Christ Ergo Bread by Transubstantiation is made the body of Christ. How
in Rupertus himselfe by way of Impanation N. N. Let vs therefore beleeue God alwaies and not repine against him although that which he saith seemeth absurd to our sense and vnderstanding Let his words surmount and passe both our sense and reason which thing wee ought to doe in all things but chiefly in the mystâ—ries having more regard vnto his words then to things which lye before vs. For his words are infallible but our sense may very easily be deceaued they cannot possibly bee false but this sense of ours is many and sundry times beguiled Seeing therefore he said This is my Body let vs haue no doubt but beleeue and behold it with the eyes of our vnderstanding I. D. Whatsoeuer Christ saith must be beleeued although to our sense and reason it seeme neuer so vnlikely This I grant for he is truth it selfe and can neither deceaue nor be deceaued But Christ saith This is my body And this also I grant for they are part of the words of Institution Ergo these words must be beleeued And let them bee esteemed as Gentiles and Publicans that beleeue them not But what meaneth he when he saith Let vs behold it with the eyes of our vnderstanding In the words immediatly following he declareth it thus Christ deliuered no sensible thing vnto vs but by sensible things things intelligible And this he illustrats by the Sacrament of baptisme So also in baptisme saith hee by water a thing sensible the gift is giuen but that which is wrought namely Regeneration and Renovation is intelligible By all which you may easily see what St Chrysostome intendeth namely to draw our eyes from the sensible Obiect vnto the spirituall and Intelligible Grace exhibited to our vnderstanding by it as knowing that Water and bread are now become instruments in the hand of Christ of the spirituall Renovation and Refection of our soules Which as it is effected in Baptisme without the Transubstantiation of Water so for ought St Chrysostome saies it may bee done in the Lords supper also without Transubstantiation of bread N. N. What wil you say then if I shew you that so many of vs as be partakers of the holy mysteries doe receaue a thing farre greater then that which Elias gaue For Elias left vnto his Disciples his cloake but the sonne of God ascending into heauen left with vs his Flesh. And againe Elias went himselfe without his cloake but Christ left his flesh with vs and ascended hauing with him the selfe-same Flesh. I. D. Here Christ ascending into heauen and carrying his true flesh with him is compared to Elias who also ascended and carried his flesh thither with him But the flesh that he left here with vs is compared to Elias cloake which he left with Elizeus And the comparison standeth thus that as the Cloake which Elias left was a symbol of the spirit and Vertue which fell from him vpon Elizeus so the mysticall elements in the Sacrament are pledges and tokens vnto vs of the true flesh of Christ in the Church Thus therefore is St Chrysostome to be vnderstood as if he had said Christ ascending carried his true flesh with him corporally into heaven and left his mysticall flesh here vnto vs spiritually in the Sacrament N. N. The supper then being prepared both old and new ordinances met together at the Sacramentall and mysticall delicates and the Lamb being consumed which the old tradition did set forth our Master setteth before his Disciples a meat which cannot be consumed Neither is the people invited now to sumptuous costly and artificiall banquets but the food of immortalitie is giuen which differeth from common meats keeping the outward form of the corporall substance but prouing declaring that there is present by an invisible and secret working the presence of a divine power I. D. Thâ— booke of the Cardinal workes of Christ divided into twelue Tracts among which this De coenâ Domini is one is none of Cyprians that was Bishop of Carthage Pamelius staggers For although the Words and phrases and figures and the like seeme vnto him to make for Cyprian yet he professeth that of certainety hee hath nothing to say But Possevine is peremptory that it is falsly fathered on Cyprian So is Sixtus Senensis also and Cardinal Bellarmine And they render reasons For that Cyprian never refused to set his name to his bookes which this Author doth Neither would hee haue called his writings Childish toyes or haue said that the sublimitie of Cornelius ought to be delighted with his stammering tongue Nor finally would he haue vsed so many barbarismes nor haue written things contrary to himselfe As for this particular Tract de coenâ Domini Bellarmin ingeniously acknowledgeth that not Cyprian but some one later then hee wrote it Howbeit they all conclude that the Author of these Tracts is ancient How ancient It is cleare saith Pamelius that this booke was written in the time of Cornelius and Cyprian and therefore deserueth the same authoritie with Cyprian Nay not so saith Bellarmine for the Author thereof is later then Cyprian yea without doubt later then S. Augustine that is a hundred and fifty yeares yonger then Cyprian at least And who certainely knoweth but he may yet be much younger then so In the Library of All Soules College in Oxford there is a Manuscript very ancient of all these Tracts vnder the name of Arnoldus Bonavillacensis dedicated not to Cornelius as it is now falsely inscribed but to Hadrian the fourth the which Arnoldus liued not much lesse theÌ„ twelue hundred yeares after Christ. Which inscription if it be true as it is not vnlikely then is not this author the man you tooke him for namely that graue Father and Martyr as in the next Section you tearme him to wit St Cyprian If false yet because it is vncertaine who he is and in what age he liued his authority cannot be of of any great value Neverthelesse whatsoeuer he be let vs in a word or two examine his testimonie And first be it obserued that all the Presence hee speaketh of in these words is but the Presence of divine vertue or power which falleth short of that Real Presence of the naturall Body of Christ which you intend But after the Lambe saith Cyprian was consumed our Lord set before his Disciples an inconsumptible meat which cannot be Bread Indeed it cannot and who saith it is For the meat that cannot be consumed is the Body of Christ offered and exhibited in the Sacrament together with Bread And this is also that food of immortalitie which hee speaketh of represented and figured vnto vs by Bread it being so truly Bread sacramentally But it followeth differing from common meats and keeping the forme of bodily substance and these happily are the words which you thinke strikes all dead What for Transubstantiation Suppose then your Author had said The water in Baptisme differeth from common water
Mutation and the like I. D. Had you attentiuely read my Answer you would never haue said I excepted to two or three Passages only For I excepted to all the passages of Ignatius Cyril of Hierusalem in his Catechismes Ambrose de Sacramentis and Mysterijs initiandis Eusebius Emissenus Cyprian de caena Domini the Canon of the Nicen counsell and Magnetes as suspected by your owne Rabbies not to be the men whose names they beare Againe of Damascen Theophylact Euthymius Nicephorus and Rupertus as being Punies and too young to be Fathers besides those many Passages which are miserably either curtald or rackt or falsely alleaged Neither are their words so plain for you as you pretend For I haue made it to appeare that some of them say nothing at all for you some speak rather against you then for you and to those that seeme to say any thing I haue opposed a whole grand Iury speaking farre more plainely on our side For what words can be more plaine then these This is my body that is the figure of my Body that Christ said This bread is my body which your owne men grant cannot bee true vnlesse figuratiuely vnderstood that Bread and Wine still are what they were that the Nature of bread continues that the nature of bread and wine cease not to be but continue in the propriety of their nature that the signes after consecration depart not from their proper nature but remaine in their former substance figure and forme and suchlike many But perhaps your Fathers speake as plainely Let vs try that They say that the Body flesh and bloud of Christ is truly in the Sacrament Ergo a Reall Presence Who denies it Transubstantiation is that which you should proue which Reall Presence inferres not This you say you vnderstand not The more is your dulnesse For Really and Corporally are not all one and that which is Spiritually present is Really present vnlesse you will say that a spirit is Nothing Is not the Bloud of Christ really present in Baptisme to the washing away of sinne Is hee not Really also present to the Faith of every true beleever even out of the Sacrament Doubtlesse he is and none will deny it but he that never felt the vertue and efficacy thereof What should let then but the Flesh of Christ may bee present in the Eucharist Really and yet not after the Corporall manner Nay what if I should yeeld you a corporall presence Would that necessarily inferre a Transubstantiation Nothing lesse For it may be by consubstantiation the flesh being there together with the Bread without turning the Bread into Flesh. Neither may you deny this to be possible vnlesse you will deny the Omnipotency of God and your Transubstantiation withall for therevpon doe you build it Transubstantiation therefore and the Reall presence are not all one Yea but the Fathers vse the tearmes of Conversion Mutation What then Ergo Transubstantiation A pittifull consequence For this is to argue from the Generall to Speciall as if you should say It is a colour therefore it is blacke there being many colours besides blacke Learne then that Change is a generall word and there are divers kindes thereof of Substance by Generation and corruption of Quality by Alteration of Quantity by Augmentation and Diminution of Place by Lation Now he that affirmeth a Change doth not presently affirme Change of Substance for it may be some other either of Quality or Quantity or Quantity or Place The Fathers therefore speaking of a Change in the Sacrament may as well meane a Change of Alteration in the Vse and Uertue of the Elements as of Substance by way of Transubstantiation And so for ought the Fathers say Transubstantiation may still be a brat of the Lateran Councells disputed of perhaps before but neuer beleeved as an Article of Faith till then N. N. I allow no authority after 600. yeares Ergo I acknowledge the next 1000. to be contrary in this and all other controversies betwixt vs. I. D. To speake plainely I allow no Authority at all as Infallible but only that of Christ and his Apostles Those that afterwards succeeded were all of them subiect vnto errour and cannot be the ground of our Faith as I haue elsewhere answerably demonstrated Howbeit those of the first 600 yeares wee reverence more and rather admit then those of the 1000 following because they were freer from errour as liuing neerer the Apostles times and before the first discouery of Antichrist which was about the yeare 607. when Boniface the third purchased of that bloudy tyrant Phocas the title of Vniversall Bishop and with it the supremacy over all Churches Whereof his predecessor Gregory the great seemed to prophecy when writing against Iohn B. of Constantinople for vsurping that title he gathereth from thence that the times of Antichrist are at hand After which discouery although errours every day crept in apace yet wee yeeld you not that all your opinions instantly and at once leapt into the Church For as Rome it selfe was not built in a day so neither was that huge heape of Romanish impieties raised in one age It was a good while after this before Transubstantiation began to appeare Damascen in the East not contenting himselfe with the old language of the Church fell a coyning of new Phrases yet reached not home to Transubstantiation A hundred yeares after Amalarius in the west maintained in plaine tearms that the simple nature of Bread and wine is turned into a reasonable nature to wit of the body and bloud of Christ. And herein was he seconded by Paschasius Radbertus and others Yet could they not carry it so clearly but that they were mightily opposed by the most famous writers in their times whose names you haue in mine Answer But specially by Bertram vnder Carolus Calvus of whom Turrian the Iesuit thus to cite Bertram what is it other then to say the heresie of Calvin is not new And a good time afterwards againe by Berengarius on whose side many disputed both by word and writing and those not of one nation only but English French and Italians as Mathew of Westminster saith But all these Antichrist who was now in his height bare downe and at length anno 1215. vnder Innocent the third in the Lateran Councel was the Idol set vpon its base and adored So lately with so much adoe was your doctrine of Transubstantiation brought in and established N. N. For 900. yeares was no outward face of a Church in England but the Catholike In which it were vncharitable to say that none knewe the meaning of Scriptures and Fathers as well as we or all liued in ignorance till the true light came in with Luther Yet in this last age England hath yeelded many learned men among others an vnkle of yours and Master of Arts who left all his hopes for his conscience and would not bee perswaded to returne to his great possibilities which
the bookes de Sacramentis was wont to say thus If there bee so great force in the speech of our Lord Iesus that the things which were not began to be how much more operatiue is it that things still be what they were and yet bee changed into another things But now because that clause that things still bee what they were make sore against Transubstantiation in the Roman Edition and that of Paris an 1603. that clause is cleane left out and S. Ambrose must no longer say so S. Chrysostom or the Author of the imperfect worke vpoÌ„ Mathew was wont to haue these words If it be so dangerous to transferre vnto private vses those holy vessels in which the true body of Christ is not but the mystery of his body is contained how much more c. But what is become of them now In the edition printed at Antwerp by Ioannes Steelsius anno 1537. at Paris by Ioannes Roigny 1543. and by Audoenus Parvus 1557. not a syllable of those words in which the true body of Christ is not but the mystery of his body is contained appeares Why Because they make so strongly against your Reall Presence So likewise where he vsed in the elder impressions to say the sacrifice of bread and wine now in these latter editions hee is forced to change his language and to say the sacrifice of the body and bloud of Christ. More examples I might easily produce but these are sufficient to shew that Vincentius Lirinensis had good reason when hee gaue this Caveat But neither alwaies nor all kind of heresies are to bee impugned after this manner but such only as are new and late when they first arise while by straightnesse of time it selfe they be hindred from falsifying the rules of the ancient Faith and before that their poison spreading farther they attempt to corrupt the writings of the Ancient But farre spread and inveterate heresies are not to be set on this way forasmuch as by long continuance of time a long occasion hath layne open vnto them to steale away the truth But returne we againe to the matter from which we haue a little digrest The Fathers say you differed not in points essentiall True Neither doe we as is aboue shewed yet by your leaue their differences were not alwaies in petty matters vnlesse Rebaptization Communicating of infants the Popes vniversall iurisdiction and the like bee of small consequence with you Their differences were not so bitter as ours No were When they proceeded not only to curse one another but to fire bloudshed and banishment also And when casting off the rule of pietie they did nothing but increase strife threats envy and quaâ—rels every man with all tyranny pursuing his ambition whereby as S. Basil saith the Church of God was vnmercifully drawne in sunder and his flock troubled without all care or pittie Lastly say you they differed in matters vndecided by a generall Councell What then No danger No danger Then belike a man may safely beleeue all he lists before a Councell determine it The very high way to Atheisme For so the very Articles of the Creed during the first three hundred yeares after Christ should be but disputable points and not necessary For vntill Constantine the great there were no generall Councels By the same reason your Adoration of Images was no matter of Faith till the second Councel of Nice about 800 yeares after Christ nor Transubstantiation till the Councell of Lateran some 1200 yeares nor Merit nor Iustification by workes nor the most of your Tenents till the Trent Councell aboue foureteene hundred yeares after Christ. If they were I require you to shew what generall Councell had before determined them If you cannot then are you but novellers and hold not the ancient Faith The truth is Councells cannot make that an Article which was not but whether they decree or not decree whatsoever God affirmeth in his word as soone as it commeth to our knowledge is absolutely and vpon paine of damnation to be beleeued And it is horrible sacriledge and impiety to thinke that it is not necessary to beleeue God vnlesse a Councell of the Pope say Amen vnto it Yea but say you we nor haue nor can haue generall Councels No more can you nor any Church in Christendome without the generall consent of Christian Princes Synods of our owne Churches we may haue and haue had by the indulgence of our Princes More then this you cannot haue For you are but a handful of the Christian world and the greatest part thereof neither is nor will bee subject vnto you When you can get the Greek Church and that in Prester Iohns countrey with the Armenians and others to submit themselues vnto the Popes omnipotent and vbiquitaâ—y power then may you peradventure haue hope to call a generall Councell But that I think will be at the Greek Kalends that is in plaine English at Nevermasse Howsoever say you if you may not relie on the Fathers because of their differences neither may you on vs because of ours If this be a sound reason as I confesse it is neither may you rely on the Church of Rome because of theirs But you mistake the matter much if you thinke wee require men to relie on our bare authoritie That privilege belongs vnto Christ only and vnder him to those holy Pen-men of the Bible that wrote by inspiration To vs appertaineth to proue what we say by their authoritie and when wee haue so done to require assent and not before If Scripture and sound deduction from it according to the art of reasoning together with the proofe of the sense thereof by the circumstances of the place and the analogie of Faith will not moue you we can but pittie your wilfulnesse and leaue you vnto God till he turne your heart and haue mercy vpon you For certainely miserable is the case of that man who knowing the Scriptures to be Gods word and hauing the vse of right reason shall refuse triall both by the one and the other preferring therevnto the authoritie of man which may erre it selfe and lead others into errour N. N. Your conclusion is you meane not to forsake the religion taught in that Church which is descended from Christ and his Apostles by succession but with Litinensis to preferre it before all things That you will follow vniversality Antiquitie and consent in your beleefe that faith which hath beene held from time to time in all places in all seasons by all or the most Doctors of Christianity That Church which as S. Augustine saith had her beginning by the entring of nations got authority by miracles was increased by charity and established by continuance and hath had succession from S. Peters chaire to our time That church which is knowne by the name of Catholike both to friends and foes even Heretikes tearming her so calling themselues for distinctions sake Reformers Illuminates Vnspotted brethren In
were crept into the Church as needed Reformation and many worthy men that feared God earnestly wished and longed for it yet because it could not be obtained at the hands of those that then swayed in the Church it is true some Heroicall spirits of our side not without the singer of God attempted it and by Gods blessing effected that which the Saints of God reioyce to see and none but Superstitious and Idolatrous Papists greeue and repine at Howbeit they never tooke vnto themselues the name of Reformers but ascribed the whole worke vnto God and wee blesse his holy name for vsing them as instruments therein In regard whereof I see no reason why wee hauing reiected and pared off all those errours wherewith you had corrupted the true religion may not tearme our selues Reformed Catholikes as well as you still retaining them and resoluing to settle vpon your dreggs call your selues by the name of Roman Catholikes But a Roman Catholike you say you meane to keepe your selfe during life and it is likely you will doe so indeed First to avoide the imputation of inconstancie if you should returne to vs againe secondly because I see how obstinately you refuse to beleeue whatsoever wee say though never so strongly proved You adde that so doing if otherwise your life hinder not as you hope it shall not you shall enioy everlasting life after this Wherein I Will not be your Iudge You are servant vnto another and for me you shall stand and fall to your owne Master Only I would advize you not to be too confident For first whatsoever your life bee as I haue said it is as hard for you to attaine everlasting life in a Church so fearfully infected with so many pestilent and deadly heresies as it is for a man to escape with his life in a pest-house Secondly adhering vnto the Church of Rome conforming your selfe vnto the practise thereof you must needs make your selfe guilty of horrible idolatries many waies Whereof vnlesse you timely repent it cannot be but such a life must needs hinder your salvation Lastly although perhaps to many simple people that liue in Spaine or Italy where such meanes of knowledge cannot so well be had it may please God to be mercifull and gracious if they hold the Foundation and bee willing to know if they had the meanes yet I feare much of our English Recusants who liue in the bright sunshine of the Gospell and haue the meanes daily offered vnto them least their obstinacy in reiecting thereof and refusing to see worke vnto them in the end everlasting destruction Certainly if any of you be saued it is not by those doctrines wherein you differ from vs but those only which you hold in common with vs. Especially for that when you lye vpon your death-beds and perceiue that shortly you must yeeld an account of all whatsoever you haue done in the flesh you then thinke it good with all speed to turne Protestants that is to renounce all your owne works as insufficient to iustify you before God and to put your whole affiance vpon the mercies of God through the merits and obedience of Christ alone both for Iustification and Salvation For indeed this is a sure and a safe way even by the confession of Bellarmine himselfe By reason saith he of the vncertainty of our owne righteousnesse and the danger of vaineglory it is the safest course to set our whole affiance on the mercy and goodnesse of God alone And the like safety doe others of your side yeeld vs in other things also as namely in forbearing to make any image of God in worshipping none but the holy Trinity in praying vnto none saue only God in Christ in the marriage of Ministers and other such things as it is easy to demonstrate but that it is now high time to come to a conclusion Only I would haue you carefully to obserue that even they who perswade you to stick close vnto the Popish Faith sticke not themselues to acknowledge the Protestants Practise both in life and death to be many waies the more safe And thus much in Answere vnto this second Schedule It remaineth that I earnestly intreat you in the name of the Lord Iesus and as you tender the everlasting salvation of your soule that you would please to bethinke your selfe a little better of your present estate then heretofore you seeme to haue done You haue suffered your selfe now a long time to be lead vp and downe in the mist of I know not what generalities a path which they that loue to deceiue vse much to tread in They tell you of Vniversality Antiquity Succession Consent and the like and you presently beleeue them But what security haue you in so doing for infallible they are not If they bee matters of so great consequence it were good you knew thē yourselfe that you need not trust the vncertaine reports of others Know them your selfe you cannot vnlesse you acquaint your selfe with all the records of former times and search into them with much diligence and attention for otherwise you may herein also soone bee deceiued But this would proue too long and tedious a course for you and alas the well is deepe and you haue not wherewith to draw What then Surely you haue a shorter way if you would follow it For as Moses saith The commandement is neither too high for you nor farre off You need neither to mount vp into heaven nor to passe beyond the seas for it It is very neere vnto you For you haue at hand the Scriptures of God search them and therein shall you surely finde eternall life By them and no other did the ancient Fathers confute all the heresies of their times vnlesse happily they had to deale with such Hereticks as reiected the Scriptures And to this end were they written that the man of God might bee made perfect and wise vnto salvation Yea but they are obscure darke equivocall ambiguous subiect to divers constructions and each sect pretendeth to confirme their errours by them Strange that they should be the testament of our Father and the instrument of contract betweene Christ and his Spouse and yet they should bee drawne vp so perplexedly and doubtfully that by them neither can the children certainly know what legacies are bequeathed to them nor the Spouse what conditions are agreed vpon betwixt her and her husband But marke what farther followeth hereof For if the Scriptures bee indeed such as you say then haue not Papists any certain ground at all for their Faith Yes will you say the Church But shee speaketh not by her selfe but her heralds and particular messengers and I would faine know what assurance you can haue that they passe not beyond their commission or deliuer not some other errant besides that they are charged withall The Authority also and Vnerring power of this Church had neede to bee most soundly demonstrated I doubt of it how can you
warrant it By Scripture You haue barred your selfe from all hope of succour thence For it is obscure equivocall ambiguous every way vncertaine By Naturall Reason The Articles of Faith are aboue Reason and the Naturall Man is not capable of them By the Spirit then That is the thing you so much jest at in others And if by your doctrine you cannot assure your selfe that you are in the present state of Grace neither can you know whether you haue the spirit of God or no. What then may be your last refuge The testimony of the Church touching her selfe Ridiculous for no mans testimony may be admitted in his owne cause And what a reasoning is this You beleeue the Articles of Faith Why Because the Church biddeth you doe so How followeth this Because shee cannot erre And how proue you that Because she saith shee cannot erre If this bee not to expose the Christian Faith vnto the laughter of Atheists and prophane men I know not what it is Will you nill you when you haue said all you can say either you must haue no certaine ground at all for your Faith or you must rest vpon the Scriptures as the finall resolution thereof Returne therefore I beseech in the feare of God returne vnto the sure anchor-hold of your salvation Abandon those frothie generalities of your seducing authors which at the best are but coniecturall and labour to stablish your Conscience vpon the testimony of him that will not that cannot deceiue you Pray vnto him fervently and proceed in a syncere loue of the truth and you shall surely finde that if you be not defectiue to your selfe God will never faile you For my part I haue done what belongs to mee I haue planted I haue watered it is God that must giue the increase And to his mercy in Christ Iesus I commend you An advertisement to the Reader Vnto the Section of Pag. 27. I there freely confessed I could not certainly answere for want of Doctor Mortons booke Since that time I haue met with it and thereby I perceaue that though I answered only by conâ—ecture yet I coniectured not amisse Yet now farther be pleased to vnderstand first that the Doctor citeth not Bibliander as my adversary vntruly chargeth him but only answereth a passage quoted by his adversary Breerly out of him And he answereth in effect as I doe saue that he bringeth in Bellarmine confessing that which to my good man seemeth so strange namely that all Protestants acknowledge in the Eucharist a Sacrifice Eucharisticall or of thanksgiuing Secondly touching those Rabbins R. Cahana R. Iudas and R. Simeon hee belyeth the Doctor it is Breerly that cites them not hee Neither doth he Positiuely say that their testimonies make directly for Transubstantiation But conditionally if they were such Now that they are not such hee proueth For consulting with D. Smith D. Layfield and M. Bedwell very learned Hebricians about this matter they after their painfull and industrious search into the cited places returned vnder their hands this answere R. Cahana in that booke on the 49 of Gen. is not cited nor hath hee there any thing to that purpose R. Iudas in that booke on the 25 of Exod. hath no such thing nor in the whole Parasha Terumah R. Simeon wrote no booke carrying the title of Revelatio Secretorum And thus you see while simple Papists will beleeue nothing but what their guides tell them what pretty tales of Robin Hood they devise for them O that God would be pleased to soften the seared consciences of the one and to open the blindfolded eyes of the other Farewell IOHN DOWNE FINIS A Testimony taken from M. Perkins on Heb. 11. v. 7. to be added to those annexed to the first Sermon But how doth God worke this faith By his word For as God is the author and worker of Faith so God hath appointed a meanes whereby he workes it and that is his word which word of God is the only ordinary outward meanes to worke faith And that word of God is two wayes to be considered either as revealed by God himselfe as to Noah here or else being written by God is either preached by his Ministers or read by a mans selfe in want of preaching and these are all one and are all meanes ordained of God to worke faith and that not only to beginne it where it is wanting but to augment it where it is begunne END So much doth the originall word beare and therefore our last translators haue set it in the Margent M. Smith Preacher at Barstaple Ezech. 14.14 and 28 3. Ver. 1. V. 2. Ioh. 5.28.29 1 Chron. 28.9 ver 13. V. 14. V. 15. V. 16. V. 17. V. 18. 1. Tim. 4 16. Phil. 2.15 psal 34.5 Prov. 4.18 Math. 13.43 43.20 148 36. 2. Cor. 4.17 1. Pet. 5.4 1. Cor. 9.25 Act. 15.5 vers â— vers 4.6 vers 7. c. vers 13.14.15 vers 19.20 Num. 25.1 c Lev. 17.10 In Preachers plea. In Baron â—1 16. n. 23. Duplic cont Stapl. l. 1. c. 6. Act. 13.27 Deut 33.10.11 2 King 23.2 Nâ—h 8.3 Elias Levita Ben. Maimon Apol. against T.C. Eccles. Polit. l. 5. Hom. 1. p. 1. Marâ— 16.15 2. Cor. 2.16 2. Tim. 4.1.2 Defens eccles author l. 3. c. 7. Trois verites l. 3. c. 4. par 3. Confront ibid Canon 4. Can 11. In ans to the Abstract Esa. 29.12 Id. 61.1.2 Paraen ad Gentes l. 17. Strom. l. 1. p. 1. Doct. Christ. Prol. Cont. Bellar. contro 1. Confront l. 3. c. 4. In Rhem. Test Ro. 1. 15. Cont. Bellar. con 1. q. 6. c. 9. De Idol Eccl. Ro. ep ded Advers Cost de Script De S. script Against peril of idol p. 1. Preface to the Reader Rom. 15.4 Preface to the Reader Deut. 13.11 17.1 6.6 Ioh. 5.39 Col. 4.16 1 Thes. 5.27 Act. â— 27.15.21 Mat. 24.15 Eph. 3.4 Confes. l. 8. c. 12. Cont. Lindâ—n In vita sua Acts Mon. Preach plea. Def. of AdmoÌ„ Preach plea. Act. 2.41 Iob. 33.23.24 Contra Char. l. 3. c. 4. Prov. 29.18 Esaiah 1.1 1. Cor. 1.21 Duplic cont Stapl l. 2. c. 10 De S. Script Rom. 10 13.14 Ps. 19.1.2.3 Rom. 1.20 Deut. 17.11 2. Thes. 2.8 Act. 13.27 Rom. 10.8 Ioh. 19.37 Rom. 3.19 Heb. 12.5 Rom. 9.27 Ioh. 5.39 Heb. 4.12 Luc. 16.29 Gal. 4.21.22 Confront l. 3. c. 4. Ibid. De verb. scrip In Rhem. Test. Rom. 1.15 Dupl contr Stapl. l. 2. c 10. De script q. 5. c. 8. arg 2. Cont. A.D. c. 9 1. King 17.6 Ioh. 19.6 Act. 2.4 Act 9.3 c. Gal. 1.12 Dupl cont Stap. l. 2. c. 6. In the way to the true Ch. In Ps. 26. Ep. 3. Dial. cum Try phon L. 7. in Iulian Hom. 1. in Ioh De Script q. 2. c. 14. arg 5. De verb. scrip â—ut 28. Cor. 2.4 Dupl contr Stapl. l. 1. c. 9. 2. Pet. 1.15 Deut. 31.11.12 Ier. 36.2 c. V. 19. V. 5. Ioh. 20.31 Cap. 18. Comment in Psal. initio Ser. 35. Iohn 6.63