their natures and substances are the visible signes and the materiall parts of the Eucharist and therefore are not transubstantiated into the very Body and Blood Aug. de Consecra dist 2 hoc est quod dico of Christ neither in truth can they be without the destruction of the Sacrament it selfe For as Saint Austin saith euery thing while it subsisteth retaineth the nature and truth of those things whereof it consisteth At the first institution of the holy Eucharist the Euangelists and the Apostle doe testifie that 1 Cor. 11. 24. our blessed Sauiour tooke bread and when he had giuen thankes brake it and gaue it to them saying Take eate this is my Body which was giuen for you Doe this in remembrance of mee It was Bread then in nature and substance that our blessed Sauiour tooke at that time and it was the very selfe-same thing that he consecrated by thankesgiuing and brake and gaue to his Disciples saying Take eate this is my Body that is this is that I ordain to be the Sacrament or sacred signe of my Body For the word comming to the Element doth not abolish it but consecrate it to an holy vse and so maketh it to be a Sacrament seeing it doth not change it in nature and substance but in vse And verily as S. Ambrose saith If there be such force in Ambros dâ— Sacra l. 4. c. 4. the words of the Lord Iesus that the things which were not at his very word begun to be how much more can it worke this that they shal be the same in substance that they were and yet be changed into another thing in vse For this Bread saith Chrysostome is counted worthy to be called the Lords Câ—rysâ—st ad Caesar Monach. Body albeit the nature of the Bread remayneth Yea as the Diuine and Humane natures in Christ being vnited together by personall vnion remaine in their proper essence and substance Gelas cont Eutâ—…h without being confounded or changed the one into the other Euen so as the ancient Fathers haue taught in the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ the visible Elements Theodor Dialog 2. mystically ioyned vnto the inuisible grace do not depart from their former nature and substance For he that honoured the signes which we see with the names of his Body and Bloud did not change the nature of the signes but did adde grace to nature And therefore the Apostle did often call it by the same name of Bread after it was consecrated to be the Sacrament 1 Cor. 11. of his Body But for that our Romanists doe so presse the bare words of our blessed Sauiour we may iustly demaund of them in what words of our Lord shall we find that he tooke Bread either to abolish the substance of it and to make the bare and naked shewes thereof to be the outward signes in the Sacrament and and to bring his body into the place of it or to turne the whole substance of it into the substance of his Body Yea where shall we find in these words This is my Body that this doth signifie either Christs Body it selfe or an Indiuiduum vagum that is an vndetermined particular or else as their owne glosle grosly affirmeth nothing at all And verily the words of Christ and explications thereof taken out of other like places of holy Scripture are nothing with them for that vnlesse they be sowly wrested and turned they will nothing at all further their turne QVEST. VI. The righteousnesse of the Law deliuered by Moses is that true righteousnesse whereby we are iustified before God and not that righteousnesse which is said to be obtayned by the obseruation of Popish Vowes The morall Law is Gods aeternall and vnchangeable righteousnesse it commandeth vs to loue the Lord with all our heart soule and strength and our neighbour as our selues which are duties most righteous and iust To the singular excellency of the which Law Moses the first pen-man thereof beareth witnesse saying What Nation is so great that hath Deut. 4. 8. Lawes and Ordinances so righteous as is all this Law that I set before you this day And to the righteousnesse that is obtayned by the perfect obseruation thereof he likewise beareth witnesse saying This shall be our righteousnesse euen before the Deut. 6. 25. Lord our God if we take heed to keepe all these Commandements which he hath commanded vs. As to the most ample reward obtained thereby not onely the Apostle beareth witnesse saying Doe this and thou shalt liue but also our Sauiour Christ Rom. 10 5. Matth. 19. 17. himselfe If thou wilt enter into life keepe the Commandements But this blessing is not promised but to the totall and continuall obseruation thereof seeing the failing in either bringeth Deut. 2. 29. Gal. 3. 10. the contrary curse Wherefore when all the Posterity of Adam was disabled by his fall fully to keepe all these Commandements Our most blessed Sauiour came in our nature to 〈◊〉 them for vs Gal 4 4. that so he might procure vnto vs righteousnesse and life And so our blessed Sauiour himselfe testifieth saying I came not to Matth 3 31. destroy the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill them For by the Gospell the Law is not made voyde but established For if our Rom 3 31. Sauiour Christ had not throughly fulfilled for vs that righteousnesse that is required in the Law vnto the which the promise is made he had not procured for vs righteousnesse and life Wherefore intollerable is the pride and presumption of the Founders of the Religious Orders of the Church of Rome which teach that their rules lay open a way to a more perfect righteousnesse then is contayned in the Law of God and that their superstitious Votaries can thereby not onely merit for themselues euerlasting life but also doe many workes of supererogation auaileable for the saluation of other men QVEST. VII We are not iustified by those workes of righteousnesse commanded in the Law of God which are wrought by our selues but by those which were wrought for vs by our Sauiour Christ in his owne person and are imputed to vs and made ours through faith Arguments drawne from the formall cause Moses saith the Apostle describeth the righteousnesse that is of the Law that the man that doth these things shall liue therein But the righteousnesse that is of faith speaketh on this manner Say not thou in thine heart who shall ascend it to heauen for that is to fetch Christ from aboue Or who shall descend into hell for that is to bring Christ from the dead but what saith it The Rom. 10. 5. word is neare thee euen in thy mouth and in thine heart and this is the word of Faith which we preach For if thou shalt confesse with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and beleeue in thine heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saued For with the heart man
seeke and ayme at After the same manner saith he the Lord drawing neare his death had care to set vs in the possession of his grace to the end that his inuisible grace might be giuen by some visible signe and for that end are all Sacraments ordayned QVEST. XII The outward Elements in the Eucharist are not Bread and Wine in shew but in substance The Sacrament of the Lords Supper was odrayned to this end that by the feeding and nourishing of our bodies by the outward Elements our soules might be assured of our spirituall feeding vpon Christ and of aeternall life obtayned thereby Now if we were willed to feed vpon the empty shewes of Bread and Wine and to cherish our selues therewith might we not iustly conceiue that we were bidden as it were to a Iuglers feast to haue our senses deluded rather then to haue our bodies nourished And what assurance could our soules haue thereby of their spirituall nourishing by the Body and Bloud of Christ Sacraments saith Saint Austin if they haue no Aug. Ep. 23. ad Bonifacium likenesse with the things whereof they are Sacraments can be no Sacraments at all Wherefore seeing the bare and empty shewes of Bread and Wine haue no true similitude with the substantiall Body and Bloud of Christ they can in no wise be the externall signes and Sacraments thereof QVEST. XIII There is no miraculous turning of Bread and Wine in the holy Eucharist into the very Body and Bloud of Christ nor any other miracle at all That which the Apostle auoucheth of the miraculous gift of tongues is true also of all miracles that is That they are for 1 Cor. 14. 22. a signe not for them that beleeue but to them that beleeue not And therefore miracles must be open and manifest euen to all such as haue but the sound vse of their outward senses that they may perceiue in them the power and might of the omnipotent God giuing testimony thereby of the diuine truth of Mar. 16. 20. that heauenly doctrine which is confirmed by such diuine witnesses Heb. 2. 4. But in the Lords Supper there is no turning manifest to sense of Bread and Wine into the Body and Bloud of Christ seeing the formes and also the qualities of Bread and Wine remaine there still and therefore in it there is no such miracle And verily Sacraments were not ordayned for Infidels to Act. 8. 37. conuert them but for the faithfull to confirme them in the faith And therefore as Saint Austin saith they may haue reuerence as things religious but they are not to be wondred at as things miraculous And whereas neither the booke entituled the Miracles of holy Scripture ascribed to Saint Austin nor Nazianzen intreating of the Miracles of our blessed Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ doe mention any miracle done by him in his last Supper it is manifest what was the iudgement of the true and Orthodoxe Church in their times concerning the same QVEST. XIIII Iustification is giuen by the free mercy of God in Christ and not mericed by our workes As all other the good gifts of God so Iustification especially is freely giuen to the faithfull in Christ to this end that they should not glory in themselues nor trust in the worthinesse of their owne workes but in the most free and vndeserued goodnesse of God in Christ who is made vnto vs of God 1 Cor. 1. 30. wisedome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption that he that glorieth should glory in the Lord. And that we should in no wise doubt of the truth thereof the Apostle vrgeth and inculcateth the same againe and againe By grace yee are saued Ephes 2. 9. through faith and that not of your selues it is the gift of God not of workes lâ—st any man should boast And againe All haue sinned and are depriued of the glory of God and are iustified freely by his Rom. 3. 24. grace through the redemption that is in Christ Iesus that our glorying in our owne workes should be vtterly excluded and that we should glory onely in Christ QVEST. XV. The faithfull after the end of this life are not punished in the fire of Purgatory The end that moueth a kind and a tender-hearted Father to chastise his deare child is his amendment insomuch that if hee Pro magno peccato pâ—… supplicij satis est Patri terrestri quanto magis Caelesti Esay 40. 2. Luke 15. 31. once perceiue that he is amended indeed then doth hee immediately cease from punishment but the deare children of God immediately vpon their deathes cease wholy from sinne and are throughly reformed therefore their heauenly Father which doth greatly reioyce euen at the first beginning of the amendment of his prodigall children here in this life doth not cause them when they are fully reformed after death to bee further grieued with the long induring of extreame torments in the fire of Purgatory For as Saint Bernard saith if all sinne be perfectly taken Bern. in Ps qui habitat Ser. 10. away which is the cause of all euill the effect that is the punishment thereof must needes cease In the Primitiue Church wheÌ„ grieuous pennances were imposed vpoÌ„ enormous sins by the Church Gouernours they were imposed to this end that therby the parties offending might be brought to true serious repentance Insomuch that when the offendor was found to be truely humbled for his sinne were it neuer so hainous none or very little pennance was imposed vpon him or if it were imposed it was soone released As it may appeare not onely by the Apostles readinesse to forgiue the incestuous Corinthian 2 Cor. 2. 4. vpon his serious repentance albeit his sinne was very haynous but also by the history of an incestuous woman who had bin brought with child by her owne sonne of whom it is recorded that she was so deepely displeased with her selfe for this her enormous and monstrous crime that taking in her armes the very child which was both the fruit and witnesse of her wickednesse she went openly to the Bishop as he passed along to the Church with a great traine and kneeling downe before him confessed her fact and craued for it at his hands condigne punishment The Bishop perceiuing by the outward demeanour of this paenitent person the great anguish of her heart for her great sinne inioyned her some abstinence for some forty dayes and so departed but the poore paenitent person thinking this paenance to be too too light for her so haynous and capitall a crime repaireth to the Bishop at another place and with bitter teares putteth him in minde againe of her most odious and enormous sinne and requireth at his hands a more heauy punishment but the Bishop well perceiuing her great sorrow and vnfained repentance lightneth the sentence of her former paenance and inioyneth her some abstinence for some three dayes How much more when we iudge our selues euen in this 1 Cor. 11.
31. life we shall not be iudged of the Lord but when wee cease from sinning the Lord will cease from punishing Wherefore if in this life when other may take encouragement to sinne by the impunity of others and besides the most paenitent sinner that is doth not wholly and fully cease from all sinne yet God and his Ecclesiasticall Ministers doe remit both sinne and punishment vpon the sight of the sinners vnfained repentance and amendment of liâ—e without all doubt the Lord of all mercy will much more doe the same in the life to come and not extreamely torment his owne seruants in Purgatory fire QVEST. XVI The carnall eating of Christs Body is nothing auaileable to eternall life but the spirituall Arguments drawne from the effects When our blessed Sauiour had taught his Auditors that vnlesse they did eate his flesh and drinke his bloud they could haue no life in them and the carnall Capernaits were greatly offended therewith because they thought that he had commended vnto them a bodily and a carnall eating of his flesh he answered It is the spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing Ioh. 6. 63. not intending hereby to recall his former words My Flesh is meate indeed and my Bloud is drinke indeed but to giue them to vnderstand that it is a spirituall eating of his flesh that is auaileable to euerlasting life and not a carnall seeing that profiteth nothing And verily it is not the bodily seeing touching or eating of Christ that can doe vs any good but the spirituall seeing touching or eating of him by faith which is the eye the hand and the mouth of the soule For when a woman hauing an issue of bloud came behinde Christ and touched the hemme of his Luke 8. 49. garment and was immediately healed of her issue at that very time the people thronged him and trod vpon him and receiued no benefit thereby And why the woman touched him with the hand of her faith and was healed thereby as our Sauiour testified saying Oh womaÌ„ great is thy faith be it vnto thee euen as thou wilt but the people were maimed and lacked that hand And so Saint Ambrose vnderstood our Sauiours words Christ saith he healed them that touched him by faith Amb. in Luc. l. 6. cap. 8. whereas to them that wanted faith the touching of Christ or his garments was no benefit at all Yea the blessed Virgine her selfe was more happy in conceauing the faith of Christ in her heart then in conceauing his flesh in her wombe as Austin saith And so he had learned of our blessed Sauiour himselfe Aug. de sancta Virgine cap. 3. Luke 11. 27. for when it was said vnto Christ Blessed is the wombe that bare thee and the Pappes that thou hast sucked Nay rather said he Blessed is he that heareth the word of God and keepeth it For by the Word reuerently receiued we obtaine faith and by faith Christ is receiued into our hearts and taketh Apoc. 3. 20. vp his habitation there Now if by our bodily mouthes to receiue Christ into our bodies be a thing altogether vnprofitable then our most wise Sauiour commanded it not to be done at the celebration of the holy Eucharist for he commandeth nothing to be done in the Lords seruice that is vnprofitable Why then doth the Church of Rome so eagerly contend for their transubstantiating of Bread into the Body of Christ and receiuing of it into their bodies by their bodily mouthes but for that albeit this thing be vnprofitable to Gods seruants yet it is not vnprofitable to them not onely by magnifying of their power for that they are able to create their Creator but also by enlarging their reuennewes seeing they haue turned the Bread into the Body of Christ and are able to offer him vp in their Masse as a propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of quicke and dead the which thing cannot be but much auaileable to themselues which are sure to be well payed for their paynes QVEST. XVII Concupiscence is sinne euen in the Regenerate themselues Why is the liuing man sorrowfull Man suffereth for his sinne So the Apostle By sinne death entred into the world and Lam. 3. 37. Rom. 5. 12. therefore all sickenesse and other miseries that lead thereunto Vnto the which seeing euen sanctified Infants which haue receiued the Sacrament of regeneration and are free from all actuall sinne are subiect therefore concupiscence in sanctified infants is sinne vnlesse we will lay to the charge of the most righteous Iudge of the whole world that he punisheth such persons that are without all fault Yea whereas infants giue no consent to their naturall corruptions and yet are punished for them therefore concupiscence is sinne albeit consent is not giuen to it See S. Aug. Serm. de Temp. 45. QVEST. XVIII Faith repentance and loue with all holy workes proceeding from them doe not deserue any thing at all at Gods hands but make the faithfull endebted to God for the same If Abraham saith the Apostle were iustified by workes hee Rom. 4. 2. hath wherein to reioyce but not before God For gifts and benefits doe not make the doner any whit endebted to the receiuer but they deserue at the hands of the receiuer and make him endebted vnto the doner But faith repentance and loue Phil. 1. 29. and all holy workes proceeding from them are the free gifts and blessings of God wrought in them by the operation of 1 Cor. 12. 11. the holy Ghost and therefore are called the fruits of the Gal. 5. 22. Spirit Wherefore hereby the faithfull deserue nothing at Gods hand but are made the more indebted to God So reasoneth Saint Bernard None by good workes can deserue eternall life Bern. Ser. 1. de annunciat at Gods hands seeing all the afflictions of this life are not worthy of the glory that shall be reuealed albeit one person could indure them all The merits of men are not such as vnto the which eternall life is by iustice due and that God should doe wrong to them if he did not reward them there with For that I may not let passe that all merits are Gods gifts and that man is thereby rather made a debter to God then God to man what are all merits being compared to so great glory And therefore Dauid cryed out Enter not into iudgement with thy seruant O Lord for in thy sight shall no man liuing be iustified QVEST. XIX The workes of God reuealed in the Scriptures doe manifestly declare them to be the word of God especially the worke of regeneration wrought by the Diuine and powerfull doctrines thereof in the hearts of all such as faithfully and sincerely embrace the same and therefore they are not to be receiued as such onely vpon the testimony of the Church Knowne vnto God are all his workes from the beginning Act. 15. 18. 1 Cor. 2. 11. of the world and to none other besides
of Christ whereby the pardon of their sinnes is sealed vp to the faithfull therefore it ought by no meanes to be taken away from the Lay people Yea whereas the faithfull are as well partakers of the Bloud of Christ as of the Body why should they not also be as well partakers of the visible signe of the one as of the other Act. 10. 47. Can anyman saith S. Peter forbid water that these should not be baptized which haue receiued the Holy Ghost as well as we So vpon the like reason it may be said Can any man forbid the Lords people to be pertakers of the Holy signe of his bloud with the Priests seeing they are partakers of the Bloud it selfe as well as they Especially seeing all the people of God ought to be most ready and willing to shed their owne bloud in the defence of the Faith of Christ why should they then be depriued of the Sacred signe of his Bloud whereby they are to be strengthened and confirmed for the couragious performance of that so great and weighty a worke How do we saith Saint Cyprian Cypr. ad Cornel. lib. 1. cap. 2. teach and perswade the people to shed their Bloud for the confession of the name of Christ if we deny them the Bloud of Christ that is the Sacrament of his Bloud For none can take from them the participation of the Bloud it selfe QVEST. XLII Matrimony is lawfull for the Ministers of the Gospell It is as lawfull in the time of the Gospell for the Ministers thereof to vse the same remedy against sinne and to enioy the same helpes and comforts of this life as it was for the high Priest and the residue of his brethren vnder the time of the Law But Matrimony was ordained for the auoiding of fornication Gen. 2. 18. and for to be an helpe in things concerning this life vnto the Priests vnder the Law and why should it not be so vnder the Gospell The Gospell requireth in the Ministers thereof as great if not greater labour about their spirituall worke then was required of the Priests vnder the Law why should they then not haue the same helpers as they had to supply their roomes for the better dispatch of their temporall affaires that so they may haue the more leasure to be imployed about their spirituall businesses And are not the Ministers of the Gospell especially in these last and worst dayes subiect to the like temptations of sinne as others were in former ages why should these then be more debâ—…red from the remedy then they were especially whereas 〈◊〉 Commandement of the Apostle is giuen generally to all For the auoiding of fornication 2 Cor. 7. 2. let euery man haue his owne wife and let euery woman haue her owne husband but where the remedy against this sinne is the authorised permission thereof by man with a Si non casse tamen cauâ—e there I must needs confesse is farre lesse need of the remedy appointed by God QVEST. XLIII The Nailes Speare and Crosse wherewith Christs pretious Body was tormented are not to be worshipped The Souldiers that vsed the Nailes Speare and Crosse to torment the most precious body of our most blessed Sauiour are not to be worshipped why then should the Nailes Speare and Crosse be worshipped which were the instruments of theâ—r outragious cruelty The Nailes and shooe of an horse that striketh therewith and killeth any meane person but casually are by the Law found guilty of the death of him that is slaine therewith how can we then otherwise iudge of the Nailes Speare and Crosse which were of a malitious purpose vsed to shed our blessed Sauiours most pretious Bloud and to take away his life from him for can that which is applied to a most wicked and vngodly vse be thereby sanctified and not grieously prophaned QVEST. XLIV The sinnes of the faithfull shall not after death be punished in the fire of Purgatory Arguments drawne from the greater proportion of reason to the lesse A true friend that howsoeuer he endanger himselfe will stead his deare friend that relieth vpon him in his great extremity will not faile him in a case of lesse danger Neither will our Sauiour Christ the fastest friend to his faithfull ones that possiby can be hauing by his owne death deliuered theÌ„ froÌ„ the euerlasting torments of hell fire suffer them to be tormented in the fire of Purgatory if there were any such fire Neither will God that for Christs sake doth freely pardon his faithfull the summe of 10000. talents cast them into a most horrible dungeon for the small debt of an 100. pence Vndoubtedly he that freely pardoneth them their sinnes which are the greater euils will not retaine the punishment which is the lesse And what manner of pardoning were this to forgiue the fault but not to remit the punishment Yea what manner of iustice were this to punish where there is no fault but a fault pardoned is no fault Wherefore seeing our most mercifull God in Rom. 3. 25. 1 Ioh. 1. 9. Christ doth presently in this life giue to all faithfull and penitent sinners the free remission of all their sinnes for Christs sake vndoubtedly after their deaths he will not punish them in the fire of Purgatory QVEST. XLV The Sacraments doe not conferre grace by the workâ— wrought vnlesse their vses be vnderstood The word of GOD is a more principall instrument of grace then the Sacraments are For otherwise our most wise and holy Sauiour while he conuersed in this world would not haue wholly omitted the administration of Baptisme and Ioh. 4. â— Luke 4. 16. 43. 1 Cor. 1. 17. haue giuen himselfe continually to the preaching of the word and testified also that he was sent for the dispatch of that businesse Neither would he haue sent forth his Apostles not so much to Baptise as to preach the Gospell vnlesse the preaching of the word had been the principall worke best befitting his principall Ministers Neither would the Apostle Saint Peter after that he himselfe had so effectually preached to Cornelius Act. 10. 42. and his company that the Holy Ghost fell on all that heard the word haue commanded them to be baptized and that in all likelihood by some inferiour Minister in the name of the Lord but would haue baptized them himselfe And verily the Sacraments were added to the word for the further strengthening of the weake faith of the Beleeuers and not for the confirming of the authority of the word seeing from it they receiue their power and efficacy when their right vse is made knowen thereby For how commeth it to passe that the water in Baptisme toucheth the body and cleanseth the soule but by the working of the word Neither are the Sacraments so forcible instruments to bring Christ to vs as the word is The Gospell saith Saint Hierome is the Body of Christ and Hieron in Psal 147. these words of our Sauiour Except yee
eate the flesh of the Sonne of Man and drinke his Bloud yee shall haue no life in you may be more rightly vnderstood of the receiuing of Christ in the Word then in the Sacraments And verily how was the whole world perswaded to imbrace Christ by the preaching of the Gospell or by the administration of the Sacraments The truth is that our most louing and gracious God by his Euangelicall couenant made with Abraham the Father of the faithfull and in him with all his spirituall â—eed doth giue vnto them Christ Iesus their Sauiour and in him eternall life and blessednesse and doth open and manifest the same by causing this his graunt to be set downe in the Gospell written in the bookes of the Old and New Testament as in the authenticall euidences thereof and to be sealed by the Sacraments as by his owne seales the which he hath ordained to be deliuered to his people as his owne deedes by the hands of his faithfull and painfull Ministers Now which is the chiefe instrument to ratifie vnto the faithfull this gracious graunt the deeds and euidences themselues or the seales annexed thereto that is the Word or the Sacraments Vndoubtedly the Word seeing without the graunt written the seale added to a blancke is nothing worth And yet the word it selfe doth not profite vnlesse it be mixed with faith the true sense thereof being rightly Heb. 4. 2. apprehended and a setled assent yeelded thereto and so neither can the Sacraments profit vnlesse the vse of them be rightly 1 Cor. 11. 29. apprehended and discerned by a true saith Moreouer heere also we may perceiue who in the execution of their Ecclesiasticall function come nearer to Christ and to his Apostles whether the Ministers of the Gospell in their painfull â—reathing or the Popish Priests in their continuall saying of Massâ— QVEST. XLVI No Images are to be worshipped with diuine worship If any images and representations of God are to be worshipped with diuine worship then the best and truest images of God euen such as were framed by God himselfe were so to be worshipped but men which are the best and truest images and representations of God made and framed by God Gen. 1. 26. himselfe are not to be worshipped with diuine worship much lesse any images of God made by man The Church of Rome maketh images of three faces to represent thereby the glorious Trinity but the Apostle teacheth that we which are the generation of God viz. in our soules rather then in our bodies Act. 17. 29. ought not to thinke that the Godhead is like to gold or siluer or stone grauen by the art or inuâ—…tion of Mâ—n Wherefore the Church of Rome which worshipâ—eâ—h such Images doth not therin so much as worship the 〈◊〉 of God but the inuentioÌ„ and fiction of her owne braine Now â—f the Images of God are not to be worshipped with Diuine worship inuâ—… lesse the Images of any men Nay if holy men themselues may not be worshipped with Diuine worship much lesse may their Images and Pictures be QVEST. XLVII The word of God is not to be read vnto people in an vnknowne tongue Such as in the Primitiue Church vttered Diuine Mysteries in strange tongues which were giuen them by the miraculous working of the Holy Ghost were commanded by the Apostle 1 Cor. 14. 28. to be silent in the Church vnlesse the meaning of the words were presently expounded that so the hearers might receiue instruction and edification thereby much more now such are to be silenced in the Church which vtter Diuine mysteries in an vnknowne tongue which they haue not receiued by the miraculous gift of the Holy Ghost where there is no exposition thereof QVEST. XLVIII In all matters that concerne the worship and seruice of God nothing ought to be taught or to be beleeued which is not warranted by the testimony of the Canonicall Scriptures If Saint Paul himselfe taught nothing concerning Christ but that which was deliuered by Moses and the Prophets Act. 26. 22. then ought none other of meaner gifts and priuiledges teach any thing that he hath not receiued from the Canonicall Scriptures So reasoneth Origen Paul as his custome is saith he will auouch that which he teacheth out of the holy Scriptures wherein he giueth an ensample to the teachers in the Church that they should produce such things as they teach the people not grounded vpon their own opinions but strengthened with the testimonies of God For if such and so great an Apostle did not thinke that the authority of his owne word might suffice vnlesse he knew that those very things were written in the Law and in the Prophets which himselfe deliuered â—how much more should we little ones obserue this that when we teach we vtter not our owne but the meaning of the Holy Ghost Against the which most wise aduertisement if we presume to offend albeit we were such as the glorious Angels Saint Austin is bold out of the penne of the Apostle to denounce against vs a most terrible curse If saith he I will Aug. cont lit Pelag. l. 3. c. 6. not say we our selues but if an Angell from Heauen shall teach coÌ„cerning Christ and his Church or concerning any thing else that doth belong to faith and life any other doctrine then that which is contayned in the Legall and Euangelicall Scriptures let him be accursed Accursed then is the Church of Rome and her children who affirme that their vnwritten traditions are of equall authority with the doctrine of the Canonicall Scriptures and command them with the like reuerence to be imbraced and receiued QVEST. XLIX The naturall man hath no free will to that which is religiously good If the Church her selfe had need still to pray to her deare Bridegroome Draw me after a sort vnwilling that thou maist Bernard in Cant. Serm. 2. make me willing draw me drowping that thou maist cause me to runne then certainly all such as are not indued with such spirituall graces as the Church is may iustly be challenged for persons not almost but altogether vnwilling to follow God and to walke in his wayes And if euery one of the true members of the Church had need to confesse vnto God and to pray Thou hast corrected me and I haue receiued thy correction Ier. 31. 18. as an vntamed Bullocke conuert thou me and I shall be conuerted for thou art my God Then how farre off from any willingnesse and readinesse to turne vnto God are all such as are not yet effectually called to the estate of Grace but are strangers from God and from the Couenant of mercy QVEST. L. Not the suffering much lesse the vowing of wilfull pouerty is the way to perfection The possession of riches which are yet Gods good blessings and testimonies of his goodnesse and loue is not the way Act. 14. 17. to perfection much lesse the vow of pouerty or pouerty it selfe which is the rod
and Man are of sufficient worthines to satisfie for sinne or to purchase the inheritance of the kingdome of Heauen The Bread and Wine in the Eucharist are not transubstantiated into the very Body Blood of Christ The righteousnes prescribed in the Law deliuered by Moses is that true righteousnes whereby we are iustified before God and not that righteousnes which is said to be obtained by the vndertaking of Popish vowes From the formall cause We are not iustified by those workes of righteousnesse commanded in the Law which are wrought by our selues but for those which were done by our Sauiour Christ in his owne person for vs and are made ours by the Lord 's gracious iâ—putation The forme and manner to attaine to true sanctification is not to receiue the holy Word of God and the Sacraments onely with our bodily senses but rather with the powers of our Soules nor to trauaile farre and neare on pilgrimage to see and kisse holy Reliques but to see and touch holy things by the inward powers of our mindes which are the proper subiects of sanctification From the finall cause Saluation and â—ternall life is from our blessed Sauiour and not from any other person or thing The outward Elements in the Eucharist are not Bread and Wine in shew but in substance There is no miraculous turning of Bread Wine in the Eucharist into the very Body and Blood of Christ nor any other the like miracle Iustification is by faith alone not by faith and workes ioyned together in that worke The faithfull after this life are not punished in the fire of Purgatory From the effects The carnall eating of Christ's Body is nothing auaileable to aeternall life but only the spirituall eating thereof by faith Concupiscence is sinne euen in the Regenerate The workes of God reuealed in the Scriptures doe manifestly declare them to bee the word of God especially the worke of Regeneration wrought by the wise and powerfull doctrine thereof in the hearts of all the sincere embracers of the same and therefore they are not to be receiued for such only vpon the testimony of the Church The Soule of our Sauiour Christ descended locally into hell From the Subiect Fasting or any outward thing doth not sanctifie any but only the inward graces of the spirit and such things as doe breed strengthen the same There is no such place appointed for the faithfull as Purgatory is faigned to be Christ is not corporally in the Eucharist but only in Heauen The City of Rome is the mysticall Babylon and the titulary Catholick Roman Church is the certaine seat of the great Antichrist of the latter times From the adiuncts The Word of God rightly vnderstood doth giue credit to it's selfe and doth cause it selfe to bee beleeued and embraced as the Word of God for the excellency of the diuine doctrine contained therein and not only for the bare testimony of the Church Kneeling is the fittest gesture of the body at the reuerent receiuing of the holy Eucharist Holines doth not consist in vowing to abstain from riches meates and marriages but rather in the holy and lawfull vse of them The Body of Christ is at one time but in one place Christ's Body and Blood ought not and in truth cannot bee often offered vp to God by the Masse Priests as a propitiatory sacrifice for the sinnes of quicke and dead Christ's flesh is not eaten with our bodily mouthes It is a property only belonging to God to forgiue sinne Enoch and Elias cannot come in their owne persons to resist Antichrist and to be slain of him FroÌ„ things that be diuerse Regeneration is not wrought by the power of free-will but by the operation of the spirit of God None are elected for foreseene workes FroÌ„ things that be contrary A true faith is not seated in that soule where infidelity raigneth or any other sinne Saluation is not merited by our own workes FroÌ„ things that bee opposite priuatiuely The naturall man hath no free will to that which is religiousty good FroÌ„ things depending vpon relation No diuine worship or seruice is to be giuen to any Angell or Saint FroÌ„ things that haue the same proportion of reason The faithfull are made righteous before God by the righteousnes of Christ imputed vnto them The faithfull may aswell know themselues to be endued with true loue as with true faith The Cup in the Eucharist is not to bee taken away from the Lords people The paines of Popish pennance or Purgatory cannot be satisfactory for the least sinne Matrimony is lawfull for the ministers of the Gospell The nailes and speare wherewith our blessed Sauiours most precious Body was tormented grieuously are not to bee worshipped with diuine worship FroÌ„ things that haue the greater proportion of reason The sinnes of the faithfull shall not be punished in the fire of Purgatory The Sacraments be not instruments of grace vnlesse their vses be rightly vnderstood Images are not to be worshipped with diuine worship The word of God is not to be read vnto the simple people in a strange tongue In all matters that concerne the diuine worship and seruice of God no doctrine is to be receiued which is not warranted by the authority of the Canonicall Scripture The naturall man hath no free will to that which is religiously good Not the suffering much lesse the vowing of voluntary pouerty is the way to perfection The people ought to be able to discerne the doctrine of their teachers Our whole iustification is by the free vndeserued mercy of God in Christ The going on pilgrimage to visit the relickes of the Saints doth not sanctifie The faithfull haue the assurance of their own saluation giuen vnto them FroÌ„ things that haue the lesse proportion of reason The least sinnes are mortall and damnable All things necessary to saluation are plainly deliuered in the Bookes of the Canonicall Scriptures The faithfull embrace the Scriptures aâ— the Word of God for it selfe not only for the testimony of the Church The naturall man hath no free will to that which is religiously good No man can make satisfaction to God for any one sinne The people ought not to embrace the doctrine of their teachers without tryall The faithfull are saued by their owne faith not by the faith works of any other God did praedestinate before all worlds some to aeternall saluation in Christ Iesus and others to aeternall damnation through their owne sinnes FroÌ„ things that be vnlike No image ought to be made to represent the Diuine Maiesty All the workes of Inâ—idels are sinnes FroÌ„ things that bee like The true seruants of God doe know themselues to be the true seruants of God God giueth saluation in Christ and not in any other Vngodly Hypocrites are no true members of the Church of Christ The testimony of God deliuered in the Canonicall Scripture and not receiued by bare tradition is the sure euidence ground of truth The
any one action that the Law requireth with our whole mind will and spirit therefore we sinne in euery action therefore all our actions are stayned and polluted and to euery one of them we transgresse the Law of God how farre then are wee from the perfect obseruation thereof in all our actions QVEST. III. The ignorance and not the knowledge of the Scriptures is the cause of all errours and sinnes The Law of the Lord is perfect conuerting the soule from walking in the by-pathes of errours and sinnes and leading it Psal 19. 7. in the right way of truth and righteousnesse the testimonies of the Lord are sure and giue wisedome to the simple For doth pure seed breed Tares or pure Corne And doth wholesome food breed noisome or wholesome humours Vndoubtedly light and sight preserue from stumbling and falling it is Ioh 11. 9. Matth. 22. 29. darkenesse and blindnesse that cause both Yee erre saith our blessed Sauiour to the seduced Sadduces not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God Euen as their seduced Fathers erred in their hearts because they knew not the Lords Psal 95. 10. Chrysost Hom. 3. de Lazaro wayes The ignorance of the Scripture saith Chrysostome brought in haeresies and a corrupt life and made a confusion of all things Wherefore it is a note of an euill person to hate the light Ioh. 3. 20. lâ—st his deeds should be reproued as it is a badge of an haereticke to accuse the Scriptures of ambiguity and obscurity as Irenaeus affirmeth for that in truth they doe without ambiguity Iren. l 3. c. 2. and obscurity giue definitiue sentence against their haeresies From the which badge and cognizance if the Romish Church will be set free let her purge out of the bookes of her deare darlings the slanderous accusations of the Scriptures which are in them and let her giue a generall liberty to the lay people to haue the Scriptures in a knowne tongue that so they may the more easily attaine to knowledge and let her not any longer commend a blinde faith nor teach that faith consisteth rather in ignorance then in knowledge QVEST. IV. Not the sufferings or righteousnesse of any mere Man but onely of our blessed Sauiour both God and Man are of sufficient worthinesse to satisfie for sinne and to merit the inheritance of the Kingdome of Heauen Arguments drawne from the materiall cause As in Adam was the common nature of all men he being the roote all other the branches that so he might be a fit person with whom the legall Couenant might be made which was that if he would stand stedfast in obedience to the Law of God which was written in his heart and the which he was enabled to performe he should conueigh ouer his nature holy and pure to all his posterity and be translated from an earthly to an heauenly Paradise but if by his fall he stayned and polluted it he should conueigh it ouer to them stayned and polluted and make himselfe and all that by ordinary propagation came from him subiect to all miseries and woes So in Christ Iesus the second Adam was the common nature of man he being the roote and the faithfull the branches and vpon him Rom. 11. 17. Ioh. 15. 5. Gal. 3. 17. Act. 3. 26. was grounded the Euangelicall Couenant that the sufferings which he endured and the righteousnesse which he performed in our nature not for himselfe but for vs should be auaileable to all that are vnited vnto him by a true faith both for their deliuerance from that condemnation which was due vnto them in respect of their sinnes and for the purchasing vnto them of the glorious inheritance of the Kingdome of Heauen Vnto all such as seeke to be saued and iustified by their owne workes our Sauiours answere is If yee will enter into life Matth. 19. 16. viz. by this doore keepe the Commandements but to all such as inquire and desire to enter into life by the right doore they must looke to the answere giuen by the Apostle to the Iaylor demaunding how he should be saued Beleeue said he in the Lord Iesus and thou shalt be saued and thy houshould that Act. 16. 31. ioyne with thee in the true faith So Saint Peter to the same demand Repent and be baptized euery one of you in the Name Act. 2. 38. of Iesus Christ for the remission of sinnes and ye shall receiue the gift of the Holy Ghost So our blessed Sauiour himselfe The Kingdome of God is at hand repent and beleeue the Gospell Now Mar. 1. 15. what this Gospell is that Christ himselfe first preached in Iury and commanded his Apostles to preach to the whole world The Apostle Saint Paul sheweth saying God hath made Iesus 2 Cor. 3. 21. Christ sinne for vs which knew no sinne that wee might be made the righteousnesse of God in him In all the which Testimonies we are giuen to vnderstand that we haue great cause to repent vs for all our workes which are nothing else but sinnes which are so odious to God and so dangerous to our owne soules that vnlesse Christ had made himselfe a sacrifice for them we could not haue beene freed from death and damnation and as concerning that righteousnesse vnto the which euerlasting life was due that we could not find in our selues but Christ was to performe it for vs also otherwise wee could not bee partakers of life euerlasting For there must be a due and an equall proportion betweene the satisfaction and the debt and betweene the price and the thing purchased if in iustice the one and the other shall discharge and deserue the one and the other But there is no equall proportion between the sufferings and righteousnesse of a meere man and betweene sinne and the loue of God and aeternall happinesse consisting therein but onely betweene the sufferings and righteousnesse of our blessed and glorious Immanuel God and Man For the effect proceeding from the cause cannot exceed the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Eth. l. 2. c. 1. vertue and power thereof seeing the dignity and worth of the one ariseth out of the worth and dignity of the other Now the workes of Christ proceeded from his humane nature personated in his Diuine and both his natures did concurre in effecting the most gracious and glorious work of the redemption of man whereas the faithfull are not personally vnited to the Sonne of God or to the Holy Ghost nor haue the spirit aboue measure but haue the remnants of originall sinne still staying in them and stayning their best workes and therefore not the workes of Christ wrought in vs by his Spirit but those that he performed in his owne person for vs are fully satisfactory for all our sinnes and absolutely meritorious of the Crowne of Glory QVEST. V. The Bread and Wine in the Eucharist are not transubstantiated into the Body and Bloud of Christ Bread and Wine in
feet but with their affections QVEST. IX The manner of receiuing Christ in the Eucharist is not carnall but spirituall The faithfull that liued before the Incarnation of Christ as the Apostle saith sed vpon the same heauenly Manna and 1 Cor. 10. 3. bread of life as we now doe but they did not eate the flesh of Christ with their bodily mouthes neither then doe the faithfull so now And verily whereas by the ministery of the word and baptisme in our new birth and inchoation of our sanctification we receiue not Christ after a bodily manner but after a spirituall and yet are thereby regenerated and quickened to an holy life Why then is not the growth and increase of our sanctification by the ministery of the same word and Eucharist wrought and accomplished after the same manner Verily Saint Austine so thought and therefore said that Aug. in Iohn tract 26. man is inuisibly fed because he is inuisibly regenerated Hee is saith he inwardly a babe and inwardly renewed and in what part he is newly borne in that part he is also fed therefore exhorteth the faithful not to prepare their iawes but their hearts Yea saith he why preparest thou thy teeth and thy Aug. de verb. Dom secundum Luc Ser. 33. Aug. in Ioh. tract 25. De consecrat dist 2. belly Beleeue and thou hast eaten Nay it is not lawfull if their owne glosse say the truth to presle the body of Christ with our teeth and if we entertaine any such grosse conceit we erre more dangerously then euer Berengarius did And verily it was the common opinion of the ancient Fathers that Christ was not a bodily but a ghostly food So Chrysostome This food feedeth not the body but the soule Chrysost in Iob. hom 4. yea it is the proper nourishment of the soule And therefore saith he when we come to the Eucharist we whet not our teeth to bite but we breake the sanctified Bread with a sound faith So Saint Ambrose de ijs qui initiantur mysterijs cap. 9. And how can it be otherwise For seeing our coniunction with Christ is not carnall but spirituall our feeding vpon him cannot be carnall but spirituall Our coniunction with Christ saith Saint Cyprian doth not mingle persons nor vnite substances Cypr. de câ—…na viz. After a bodily manner but it doth combine affections and conioyne wils with the affection saith Saint Bernard Christ is touched and not with the hand with the Bernard in Cant. serm 26. desire and not with the eye with faith and not with the senses So Saint Ambrose We touch not Christ by our bodily hands Ambros l. 10. in 24. Luc. de hora dominicae resurrectionis but by faith and therefore neither vpon the earth nor in the earth nor after the flesh ought we to seeke Christ if we will finde him And this very lesson hee learned of the Apostle For henceforth saith he know we Christ no more after the 2 Cor. 5. 16. flesh but if any man be in Christ let him be a new creature For by the qualities of the new creature planted in our hearts whereof faith is the principall we are ioyned vnto Christ and not after a bodily manner QVEST. X. Iustification and Saluation is wrought onely by Christ and not by any other whosoeuer Arguments drawne from the finall cause Sacraments were ordayned to this end that by visible signes apt to resemble inuisible graces a plaine and euident testimony might be giuen by the one vnto the other As in the Lords Supper by Bread and Wine being the aptest creatures to nourish vs in this temporall life this doctrine is cleared and confirmed vnto vs that iustification and life euerlasting is giuen vnto vs onely by Christ who is the true Manna that came downe from heauen and the very Bread of eternall life The which thing is repeated and inculcated againe and againe in the sixt of Saint Iohn that so we might be throughly perswaded Ioh. 6. 33. of the vndoubted truth thereof As likewise in Baptisme by Water being a most fit creature to cleanse our bodily vncleannesse is shewed and ratified vnto vs that it is the most pure and precious Bloud of Christ that is able to cleanse 1 Ioh. 1. 7. vs from all our sinnes which defile our soules Whosoeuer then ascribe our iustification and saluation not onely to Christ and his Bloud doe derogate from the testimonies of the holy Sacraments Yea they which ascribe these gracious blessings to the externall Sacramentall Elements which are the proper effects of the inuisible Grace signified by them doe as much as 1 Pet. 3. 21. in them lyeth cause these outward Elements to giue testimony flat contrary to that whereunto they were ordayned by Christ himselfe QVEST. XI The faithfull ought to be certainely assured of their owne saluation The Sacraments were not onely ordayned to shew and signifie vnto the faithfull that their iustification and saluation is onely by Christ but also to be seales of the same vnto them Rom 4. 11. and to giue them the assurance thereof in their owne hearts The which thing if it be true in the Sacraments of the Old Testament much more is it so in the sacraments of the New seeing they are instruments of greater grace The cup of blessing 1 Cor. 10. 16. saith the Apostle which we blesse is it not the Communion of the Bloud of Christ The Bread which we breake is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ That is ought not we that beleeue in Christ be as throughly perswaded of our spirituall participation of Christ the food of our soules and of eternall life in him by faith the mouth of our soules as wee are assured that we are partakers of the outward elements of Bread and Wine and of our bodily nourishment thereby in this temporall life and especially whereas the names of the outward signes are changed by the Spirit of God and receiue the names of things signified as the Bread is called the Body of Christ and the participation of the Bread the participation of his Body and that to this end that the religious receiuers of these holy mysteries should not looke to the nature of the things that are seene but beleeue the change made by grace in that they being Sacraments are not now common creatures but holy pledges and seales of our communion with Christ and all his Theodor. dial 1. blessings therefore the faithfull receiuing the one should rest assured of their participation in the other So reasoneth Saint Bernard A Ring is simply giuen for a Bern. de Câ—…a Dom. Ring and it carrieth no further signification with it it is also giuen to aduance a man to some place of dignity and honour or else to settle one in the possession of an inheritance insomuch that he that hath receiued it may say This Ring is nothing worth but it is the inheritance that I
presence Aug. cont Faustum l. 20. c. 11. Cyrill in Ioh. l. 11 c. 3. Vigil cont Eutychem at one time in the Sunne and in the Moone and on the Crosse So Cyrill Christ could not be conuersant with his Apostles after that he had once ascended So Vigilius writing against Eutyches The flesh of Christ when it was on earth was not in heauen and now because it is in heauen certainely it is not on earth Yea so farre it is from being on earth that we looke for Christ after the flesh to come from heauen whom as he is God the Word we beleeue to be with vs on earth but by your opinion saith he to Eutyches either the word is comprehended in a place as well as the flesh or the flesh is euery where together with the word seeing that one nature doth not receiue any contrary or different estate Now to be contained in a place and to be present in euery place be things diuers and very dislike And therefore for so much as the word is euery where the flesh of Christ is not euery where it is cleare that one and the selfe-same Christ is of both natures that is euery where according to the nature of his Diuinity and contayned in a place according to the nature of his humanity This is the Catholike faith and confession which the Apostles deliuered the Martyres confirmed and the faithfull persist in to this day Wherefore the Church of Rome hath made an Apostacy from the Catholicke faith in that shee teacheth that the flesh of Christ is both together in heauen and on earth and not contayned in one certaine place but is in all places wheresoeuer the Eucharist is administred albeit it be administred in innumerable places at one time QVEST. XXIX Christs Body and Bloud ought not and in truth cannot be often offered vp to God by the Masse-Priests as a propitiatory sacrifice for the quicke and the dead The often offering of the same sacrifice doth argue the imperfection thereof as the Apostle saith As the doing againe again of one the selfesame worke doth shew that it was vnsufficiently done at the beginning For no wise man will goe about to do the same work the second time which was sufficiently yea perfectly done at the first lest it be said vnto him Act not that which is acted already No wise stage-player will attēpt Noli actum agere to come vpō the stage where Roscius is to act the same Enterlude that he acteth As no Historiographer of any iudgement will take vpon him to write that selfe-same History that Livy Caesar or Salust haue already written And shall then euery Masse-Priest be so presumptuous as to take vpon him to offer vp Christ as a propitiatory sacrifice for the sinnes of quicke and dead where as that one oblation of Christ made once by himselfe was so sufficient and perfect that thereby he brought in eternall redemption and made perfect for euer them Heb. 7. 25. 10. 14. that are sanctified What will they put our deare Sauiour to death againe and shed his bloud surely this they must doe if in their Masse they will offer him vp a propitiatory sacrifice for sinne seeing that cannot be performed without a bloudy death For iustice cannot be satisfied for sinne vnlesse that which is due be rendred thereto But the wages and hire due to sinne is death The Rom. 6. 19. which is so euident and vndoubted a truth that the Apostle is bold to auouch that if our Sauiour himselfe should haue often offered himselfe to God as an expiatory sacrifice for sinne hee Heb. 9. 26. should haue often suffered and dyed But our blessed Sauiour dyed but once neither needeth he nay neither can he dye any Rom. 6. 9. more therefore he cannot be offered any more as an expiatory sacrifice for sinne Wherefore in that the Masse-Priests doe still presumptuously vndertake to offer vp Christ as an expiatory sacrifice for sinne what doe they therein but as much as in them lyeth murder and slay Christ againe and shed his pretious bloud and greatly derogate from the dignity of that sacrifice that he himselfe did offer at his death QVEST. XXX Christs flesh is not eaten with our bodily mouthes The pretended eating of Christs flesh with our bodily mouthes by the members of the Romish Synagogue is impious and wicked against Piety Religion and nature it selfe causing our Christian faith to be scorned and abhorred of the Heathen and therefore it was neuer intended much lesse commanded and commended by our Lord himselfe Our Sacrament saith Cyrill doth not command the eating of a man Cyr. ad obiect Theodor. drawing the minds of the faithfull to grosse conceits after an irreligious manner for as concerning these words of our Sauiour Christ Except ye eate the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his bloud yee haue no life in you Saint Austin affirmeth Aug de doct Christ l. 3. c. 16. that seeing there seemeth therein an impiety to be commanded therefore they are not to be vnderstood literally but mystically and spiritually And verily the grosse mistaking of these words by the Church of Rome hath caused some of the heathen to condemne Christians of more barbarous impiety and inhumanity then was vsed in the impious and inhumane Anthropophagi for that they did eate but the flesh of ordinary men whereas the other pretend that they eat the very flesh of their God QVEST. XXXI Enoch and Elias cannot come in their owne persons to resist Antichrist and to be slaine of him Enoch and Elias cannot be slaine of Antichrist seeing their bodies be glorified and therefore immortall and not subiect vnto death And if they should assume other bodies then were they not the same persons because they had not the same essentiall parts Moreouer if a soule may assume diuers bodies with which of them shall she be vnited at the day of the generall resurrection QVEST. XXXII It is a property onely belonging to God to forgiue sinne When Iesus said to the sicke of the palsie Sonne thy sinnes Mar. 2. 5. are forgiuen thee and some of the Scribes sitting there did thus reason in their hearts Why doth this man speake blasphemies who can forgiue sinne but God alone He perceiuing that they thus reasoned in themselues said vnto them Whether is it easier to say to the sicke of the Palsey Thy sinnes are forgiuen thee or to say Arise take vp thy bed and walke Whereby he gaue them to vnderstand that by a word to cure both the sicknesses of the soule and the body was a property belonging to one and the selfe-same power euen to God And therefore that seeing he did make it appeare euen to their outward senses that by his word he did cure the diseases of the body they should haue acknowledged his diuine power whereby he was also able to cure the sinnes of the soule For as Chrysostome and Hillary teach our
that wee may thereby obtaine our Iustification especially seeing he was 1 Cor. 1. 30. made as well righteousnesse for vs as he was redemption Nay may not his righteousnesse which was subiect to the Law Gal. 4. 4. for vs be imputed vnto vs by the Lords endlesse goodnesse and mercy that we may be made righteous thereby as well as the surplussage of the righteous workes of the Saints who yet were not crucified for vs may bee imputed by the Popes 1 Cor. 1. 13. Pardons and Indulgences to all such as will pay well for them QVEST. XL. The faithfull may as well know themselues to be indued with true loue as with true faith Doctor Bishop auoucheth that the faithfull cannot so well know themselues to be indued with true loue as with true faith for that faith is seated in the vnderstanding which is the lighter and loue in the will which is the darker part of the soule As if the spirituall soule had situation of parts as well as the materiall body Or as if the distinct powers of the soule were not therefore said to be placed in the distinct members of the body because in them there are diuers originalls of her manifold Organicall instruments whereby she produceth her manifold and different operations whereas shee her-selfe is wholly in the whole body and in euery part thereof But be it so that the soul as wel as the body may be coÌ„pared to an house or Temple in the which there may be Roomes some lightes and some darker yet may not the same cleare Candle of Gods word lighten our will as well as our vnderstanding and so make knowne vnto vs our loue as well as our faith Yea whereas the will is reasonable by participation from the vnderstanding the vnderstanding hiding nothing from the will whereof it hath notice it selfe why then is not the will lightened with that selfe-same lustre as the vnderstanding it selfe is nay whereas the light of naturall reason addeth her axiomes to the instructions of the word of God for the opening of the nature of loue rather then of faith why Dilectic est siâ—…ul viuendi fruendâ—que electio Anima est non vbi aâ—…at sed vbi amâ—t Prou. 14. 10. should not loue be better known then faith The heart saith Solomon knoweth the bitternesse of his soule and the stranger shall not intermeddle with his ioy The heart of a man knoweth what it loueth and ioyeth in as well as what it haâ—eth and is offended withall Verily if our Sauiour Christ had not well vnderstood that Simon Peters owne heart was well witting to it selfe of his great loue that he bare vnto him he would not haue demaunded of him againe and againe Simon Iohannah louest thou me Ioh. â—1 15. more then these neither would Peter haue so confidently answered him Lord thou knowest that I loue thee So if the Church had not knowen and felt euen the vehement paâ—gs of her loue towards her Bridegroome shee would not haue sent word vnto him by her Messengers that she was euen Cant. 5. 8. Aug in Ps 49. sicke of loue There is saith Saint Austin a kinde of glorying in the conscience when thou knowest that thy faith is sincere thy hope certaine and thy loue without dissembling In Saint Austins iudgement then our hope and loue may be knowne as well as our saith seeing otherwise wee could not reioyce in them When Abraham was ready at the commandement of GOD to haue slâ—ine his sonne Isaacke Gen. 22. 12. GOD calleth vnto him saying Now I know that thou fearest mee viz. with a filiall feare that proceedeth from loue seeing for my sake thou hast not spared thine onely Sonne GOD saith Saint Austin knoweth all things Aug cont Maximin lib 3 c. 19. before they come to passe it was not then that GOD first knew that Abraham feared him But as the Spirit of GOD is said to pray and to groane because hee maketh vs to pray and to groane so GOD is said to know when hee maketh vs to know Now I know then is as much as if hee had saide Now I haue made thee to know or I haue made it knowne to others also that thou fearest mee The which truth may further appeare by the very name that Abraham gaue to the place where the Lord spake vnto him at that time and by the addition ioyned thereto For Abraham called the name of the place The Lord will see as it is said this day In the mount will the Lord be seene Now the Lord doth see his faithfull seruants by taking notice of their sincere minds towards him and by prouiding for them and bestowing on them all necessary blessings and the Lord is seene of them in the spirituall gifts of faith and loue and all other graces giuen vnto them for the manifestation of his fatherly loue and affection towards them For when God by the light of the Gospell doth so make manifest vnto the faithfull his fatherly loue in Christ that they esteeme it as their highest happinesse and doe in all sincerity desire to inioy it as their greatest good they cannot but know that they beleeue and loue God seeing these are the most certaine properties of them both Now as a faithfull man may know that he loueth God so he may also know that he loueth the brethren By this saith Saint Iohn we know that 1 Iohn 3. 14. we are translated from death to life because we loue the brethren Wherupon Saint Austin speaketh after this manner Let a Aug. in 1. Ep. Ioh. tract 3. man looke into his heart and see if he haue loue and then let him say I am borne of God Now to what end doth Saint Austin command a man to looke into his owne heart and to seeke to find loue there if in seeking he cannot find and know whether it be there or no If then the Lord hath giuen to any one the sincere loue of God and of his Christian Brethren hee may know that he is indued therewith and thereby he may know himselfe to be in Gods loue to his owne vnspeakeable comfort and ioy the which being a great griefe and corrasiue to the Diuell he therefore seeketh by all meanes to hinder the same QVEST. XLI The Cup in the Eucharist is not to be taken away from the Lay people A man may as well ordaine a Sacrament or any essentiall part thereof as he may take away the one or the other but no man nor Angell can ordaine a Sacrament or any essentiall part thereof seeing he cannot make any grant or giue any assurance of these spiritual blessings and gifts which are only in the Lords hands and at his owne disposition neither ought he then to mangle or maime any part of the euidence that God hath giuen to the faithfull for their better assurance thereof But the Cup of the New Testament is an essentiall part of the Sacrament of the Body and Bloud
revelation of the spirit of God allow them that dignitie oâ—ely in the language of the vulgar Interpreter who was a man subiect to errour And why doe they charge them being thus translated to be obscure ambiguous and doubtfull and therevpon refuse the Text it selfe to bee the supreame Iudge vnlesse it be taken in that sense as it is expounded by the Churches glosse so making the glosse better then the text and seating it in the place thereof Yea why doe they yet charge the Text it selfe being thus expouÌ„ded by their Churches glosse to be an vnsufficient Iudge vnlesse there be ioyned vnto it as fellow Benchers and Peeres equall with it in authority the bookes Apochrypha vnwritten verities and traditions Vndoubtedly as it is a very strong presumption that hee which disgraceth the Lawes of his Prince is guilty of trespasse commitâ—ed against them and so liable by them to condigne punishment so is it an euident argument that many of the doctrines of the Church of Rome are condemned by the Canonicall Scriptures because they are so disgraced by her deare children with diuerse reproachfull imputations For it is the fashion of Hereticks as Irenâ—us saith when they are reproued by the Scriptures to reproach and disgrace Jren. l. 3. cap. 2. them as if they were not right and as if they were vttered ambiguously and as if the truth could not be learned out of them by such as knowe not traditions And therefore Tertullian calleth them â—ugitiues from the light of the Scriptures and further Lucifugae scripturarum Tertull de carnis resurr testifieth that if that were taken from them which they haue common with the Ethnickes and if they were brought to determine all their controuersies by the Scriptures only they could not prevaile And so I beseech God that our Romanists the defenders of all Antichristian heresies may no longer prevaile but that their madnesse may be made manifest to all men Amen FINIS The Questions that are handled in the first part of this Treatise QVEST. 1. THe Gospell is the only proper and immediate instrumentall cause of our conversion to God of our faith and loue and of all other spirituall graces and not miracles nor the holy liues and comfortable deaths of the dearest servants of God nor temporall blessings or corrections nor the authority of the Magistrate nor the wisdome of the Law of God and therefore much lesse the reason of the naturall man Chap. 1. pag. 25. 26. 2 The Word and the Sacraments doe not profit vnlesse the sense and vse of either be rightly apprehended and vnderstood Chap. 2. pag. 32. 33. 3 The meanes whereby we are to come to the right vnderstanding of the Word of God is the light of true reason Chap. 3. p. 43. 44. 45. c. For the opening of the truth whereof 13 propositions are explained ibid. 4 Saving Faith is Divine wisdome or a certaine knowledge and setled assent and adherence to all divine verities necessary to Salvation and especially to the covenant of grace as to the means of our highest happinesse our chiefest good Ch. 4. p. 86. 87. c 5 A sauing faith is alwaies accompanied with all other sanctifying graces and namely with Constancy and Perseverance as being the fruitfull mother and continuall nurse of them all Ch. 5. p. 93. 94. c. 6 The Divine doctrine of the Christian Faith doth giue to the sincere imbracers therof a sauing faith an assuranre thereby of Gods favour and loue and of â—ternall happinesse and blessednesse Chap. 6. p. 102. 103. c. 7 The vtility and dignity of faith and the great difficulty to attaine there vnto Chap. 7. p. 122. 1â—3 c. The Questions handled in the second part QVEST. 1. THe Church is not alwaies glorious and notorious as a Citty seated vpon an high hill Quaest 1. pag. 129. 130 2 All the workes of the faithfull are stained with sinne and therefore no man in this life doth perfectly fulfill the Law of God Q. 2. p. 131. 3 The ignorance and not the knowledge of the Scriptures is the cause of all errours and sinnos Q. 3 p. 131. 132. 4 Not the sufferings or righteousnesse of any meere man but only of uâ—blessed Saviour both God and Man are of sufficient worthinesse to satisfie for sinne and to merit the inheritance of the kingdome of heauen Q. 4. p. 132. 5 The Bread and Wine in the Eucharist are not transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of Christ Q. 5. p. 134. 6 The righteousnesse of the Law deliuered by Moses is that true righteousnesse whereby we are iustified before God and not the righteousnesse which is said to bee obtainâ—d by popish vowes Q. 6. p. 136. 7 We are not iustified by those workes of righteousnesse commanded in the Law of God which are wrought by our selues but by those which were wrought for vs by our Sauiour Christ in his owne person and are imputed to vs and made ours through faith Q. 7. 39. p. 137. 175. 8 The forme and manner to attaine to sanctification is not to receaue the holy word of God and the Sacraments with our bodily sensâ—s but with the powers of our soules nor to travell farre and neere on pilgrimage to see or kisse holy reliques but to see and touch holy things with the inward faculties of our mindes which are the proper subiects of sanctification Q. 8 p 139. 9 The manner of receauing Christ in the Eucharist is not carnall but spirituall Q. 9. p. 141. 10 Iustification and salvation is wrought only by Châ—ist and not by any other whâ—soeuer Q. 10. 66 〈◊〉 p. 142. 204. 1â— 11 The faithfull ought to be certainely assured of their owne salvation q. 11. p. â—43 12 The outward elements in the Eucharist are not bread wine in shew but in substance q. 12. p. 144. 13 There is no miraculous turning of â—read and Wine in the holy Eucharist into the very Body and â—loud of Christ nor any other miracle â—t all q. â—3 p. 144. 14 Iustification is giuen by the free mercy of God in Christ and not meritedly our works q. 14. 36. 52. p. 145. 172. 188. 15 The faithfull after the end of this life are not punished in the fire of Purgatory q. 15. 22. â—4 70. 93. P. 146. 159. 181. 208 224 16 The carnall eating of Christs Body is nothing availeable to eternall life but the spirituall q. 16. p. 147. 17 Concupiscence is sinne euen in the regenerate themselues q. 17. p 149. 18 Faith Repentance and Loue with all holy workes proceeding from them doe not deserue any thing at all at Gods hands but make the faithfull indebted to God for the same q. 18. p. 149. 19 The workes of God revealed in the Scriptures doe manifestly declare them to be the word of God especially the worke of Regeneration wrought by the Divine and powerfull doctrines thereof in the hearts of all such as faithfully and sincerely imbrace the same and therefore they
are not to be receaued as such onely vpon the testimony of the Church 1. 19. p. 150. 20 That the soule of our blessed Saviour after his death descended locally into Hell q. 20. p. 153. 21 Fasting or any outward thing doth not sanctifie any but only the inward graces of the spirit and all such things as doe enter into the heart of man q. 21. p. 158. 22 Our blessed Saviour is not corporally present in the Eucharist but in Heaven q. 23. p. 160. 23 The Citty of Rome is the mysticall Babylon and the pretended titulary 〈◊〉 Church is the most certaine seat of the great Antichrist of these last times q. 24. p. 161. 25 The word of God rightly vnderstood doth giue credit vnto it selfe and doth cause it selfe to bee beleeued and imbraced as the word of God for the excellency of the divine doctrines contained therein and not onely for the bare testimonie of the Church q. 25. 57. p. 162. 193 26 Kneeling is the fittest gesture of the body at the reverent receaving of the holy Communion q. 26. p. 165. 27 Holinesse doth not consist in vowing to abstaine from riches meats and marriage but in the lawfull and holy vse of them all q. 27. p. 165 28 The Bodie of Christ is at one time but in one place q 28. p. 166. 29 Christs Body and Blood ought not and in truth cannot be often offered vp to God by the Masse-Priests as a propitiatorie sacrifice for the quicke and the dead q. 29. p. 167. 30 Christs flesh is not eaten with our bodily mouths q. 30. p. 168 31 Enoch and Elias cannot come in their owne persons to resist Antichrist and to be slaine of him q. 31. p. 169. 32 It is a property only belonging to God to forgiue sinne q. 32. p. 169. 33 Regeneration is not wrought by the power of our owne free will but by the operation of the Spirit of God q. 33. p. 170 34 None are elected for their fore-seene works Q. 34. p. 171. 35 A true sauing faith is not seated in that soule where Infidelity raigneth or any other sinne Q. 35. p. 171. 37 The naturall man hath no free-will to that which is religiously good Q. 37. 49. 58 72. 91. p. 173. 185. 193. 209. 224. 38 No religious worship or seruice is to be giuen to any Angell or Saint Q. 38. p. 174. 40 The faithfull may as well know themselues to bee indued with true loue as with true faith Q 40 p 176. 41 The Cup in the Eucharist is not to be taken away from the Lay people Q. 41. p. 179. 42 Matrimony is lawfull for the Ministers of the Gospell Q. 42. 88. p. 180. 221. 43 The Nailes Speare and Crosse wherewith Christs pretious body was tormented are not to be worshipped Q. 43. p. 180. 45 The Sacraments doe not conferre grace by the worke wrought vnlesse their vses be vnderstood Q. 45. p. 182. 46 No Images are to be worshipped with diuine worship Q. 46. p. 183. 47 The word of God is not to be read to people in an vnknown tongue Q. 47. p. 184. 48 In all matters that concerne the worship and seruice of God nothing ought to be taught or to be beleeued which is not warranted by the testimony of the Canonicall Scriptures Q. 48. 68. p. 184. 205. 50 Not the suffering much lesse the vowing of wilfull pouerty is the way to perfection Q. 50. p. 186. 51 The people ought to be able to try and to discerne the doctrine of their Teachers Q. 51. 60. p. 186. 195. 53 The going on pilgrimage to see or touch the true Reliques of the holiest of the Saints doth not bring any Sanctification at all Q. 53. p. 189. 54 The faithfull that are sanctified by regeneration may and ought to assure themselues of their full and finall glorification Q. 54. p. 190. 55 Our least sinnes are damnable and mortall Q. 55. p. 191. 56 All things necessary to saluation are plainely deliuered in the Canonicall Scriptures Q. 56. p. 192. 59 No man can make satisfaction to God for transgressing of any of his holy Lawes Q. 59. p. 194. 61 It is not safe to trust to the Priests Masses nor to the Fryers prayers nor to the Popes pardons pretending to disburse the surplussage of the Saints workes and to neglect to seeke after such a faith of our owne as may make vs fruitfull in all good workes and giue vs interest in Christ and in all his gifts Q 61. p. 196. 62 God did predestinate before all worlds some to euerlasting saluation in Christ and others to perish through their owne sinnes Q. 62. p. 197. 63 No Image ought to be made to represent God Q. 63. p. 202 64 All the workes of Infidels are sinnes Q. 64. p. 203. 65 The true seruants of God know themselues to be the true seruants of God Q 65. p. 203. 67 Vngodly persons are no true members of the Church of Christ Q. 67. p. 204. 69 The doctrine of the Church of Rome ministreth occasion and prouocation to sinne and not the doctrine of such as professe the Gospell Q 69. p. 207. 71 Iurie is not now to be esteemed an holy Land Q. 71. p 209. 73 All the faithfull are Saints Q. 73. p. 210. 74 The Bishop of Rome is not the Vniuersall Pastour of the whole Church Q. 74. p. 210. 75 The Lawes of God only bind the conscience Q. 75. p. 210. 76 True religion bindeth only to the obseruation of such Canons and rules as are made by God himselfe in matters of substance whereas superstition imposeth other also which are aboue and beside the former Q. 76. p. 211. 77 The Laitie ought to be admitted to the dayly reading of the holy Scriptures Q 77. p. 212. 78 The Faithfull themselues and also their Churches ought onely to be dedicated vnto God Q. 78. p. 213. 79 The faithfull are witting to their faith and loue and to their saluation in Iesus Christ Q. 97. 84. p. 213. 217. 80 An implicite faith that is a blind and a folded vp faith is not the true Christian faith Q. 80. p. 215. 81 The breaking of a Popish vow is no sinne Q. 81. p. 216. 82 Popish Monkes as now for a long time they haue demeaned themselues are no Monkes Q. 82. p. 216. 85 The bare testimony of the Church cannot make knowne vnto the people any doctrine of Faith Q 85. p. 218. 86 A Bishop may be a Ciuill Magistrate or any other sufficient Ecclesiasticall person Q 86. p. 219. 87 The signe of the Crosse is not absolutely euill but may be lawfully vsed at the administration of Baptisme q. 87. p. 220. 88 Matrimony is lawfull for the Cleargy euen after the vow of single life q. 88. p. 221. 89 All Ecclesiasticall persons are subiect to the Ciuill Magistrate q. 89. p. 222. 90 It doth belong to the Ciuill Magistrate in his owne dominions to command all such things to bee obserued of his subiects that concerne Gods diuine seruice and his subiects happinesse and herein he hath highest authority q. 90. p. 223. 91 The naturall man hath no free will in diuine and heauenly things q. 91. p. 224. 92 The Church of Rome giueth to the Saints diuine honour q. 92 p. 224. 93 There are no persons appointed by God for Popish Purgatory q. 93. p. 224. 94 The miracles and doctrine of the Romish Church are fabulous and false by the testimonies of her owne vulgar people learned Writers the ancient Fathers Canonicall Scriptures q. 94. p. 225. Faults escaped in some Copies PAg 3. line 20. for shame read shunne p. 9 l. 22 for iustificable r. iustifiable p. 31. marg for P◠r. 11. p. 40. l. 23. for yet r. yea p. 42. l. 13. for house r. horse p. 45. l. 36. euldent r. euident p. 47 in marg 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p 64 l. 30. is in some copies left out p. 86. l. 25 for began r. begun p. 102. for Chap. 4. r. 6. p. 138. l. 1◠for possion r. possession p. 175. in mar for 29. r. 19. FJNJS