perswade Valens the Emperor that the variety of sects was a thing much pleasing to God seeing by that meanes he was worshipped after diuers manners This though Constantine the great did at the first whose fact we will not at this time examine yet afterward he commanded all the temples of the Idols to be shut vp and the Christian religion to be only vsed whose sonnes Constantius and Constantinus so far followed as Saint Austin saith the example of their Father that Constantine threatned banishment to al those who rested not in the determination of the Nicene councel The contrary was practised by the Emperors Iouinian Valens and Iulian who giuing a liberty to all heretickes sought nothing more then the ouerthrow of the vnity of the Church But wisemen haue euer seene that the peace and tranquilitie of the common wealth seldome or neuer ariseth but out of the concord and agreement of the Church it selfe The dissentions whereof as they serue to hinder religion so they kindle that flame wherewithall doubtlesse in the end the common wealth it selfe must needs perish But how farre all sides are from allowance of reconcilement both the times present can testifie too well and the ages to come must needs witnesse which shall possesse a Church as sonnes doe the inheritance of contentious parents the best part whereof is wasted in vnnecessarie sutes The sound knowledge of religion as well perishing in the middest of dissention as the true practise doth faile by the plentifull abundance of too much peace There haue beene in the world from the verie first foundation thereof but three religions Paganisme which liued in the blindnesse of corrupt and depraued nature Iudaisme embracing the law which reformed heathenish impietie and taught saluation to bee looked for through one whoÌ„ God in the last dayes would send exalt to be lord of al finally Christianisme which yeeldeth obedience to the Gospell of Iesus Christ and acknowledgeth him the Sauiour whom God did promise Now the question is whether the dissenting parties in this last religion be so farre not in opinion but in the obiect differing as that there is no hope of reconciliation and the one part only hath but the priuiledge to be tearmed the Church For the matter of reconcilement it is no businesse which lieth within the compasse of this labour and whether and how it may be done we are willing to referre it to the iudgements of men who haue better abilitie to decide the cause A booke in Latine was published in the first beginning of these bitter contentions without name bearing the title of the dutie of a godly man but since Bellarmine saith that the Author was one George Cassander this booke perswading that Princes ought to make an agreement betwixt the Catholikes the Lutherans and Caluinists as he tearmes them which whilest they cannot find out the meanes to performe they should permit to all men their seuerall religions so that they held both the Scripture and the Apostles Creed for all saith he are the true members of the Church howsoeuer in particular doctrines they seeme to differ This booke was first confuted by Caluin on the one side and then by one Iohn Hessels of Louaine on the other side that all the world might see how loth both sides were to be made friends This hath since beene esteemed by others a labour much like to those pacificants in the Emperour Zeno his time or the heresie of Apelles who held as Eusebius writeth that it was needlesse to discusse the particulars of our faith and sufficient only to beleeue in Christ crucified But least any man should thinke that our contentions were but in smaller points and the difference not great both sides haue charged the other with heresies if not infidelities nay euen such as quite ouerthrowe the principall foundation of our Christian faith How truly both haue dealt those that are learned can best iudge but I am sure that in the greatest differences there are great mistakings which if they were not it is like their dissentions had beene much lesse Now for the second whether both parts may bee called the Church this is that which concerneth the cause that wee haue in hand The Church of England confesseth that the Church of Christ is a company of faithfull people among whom the pure word of God is preached and the sacraments rightly administred according to Christs institution so that as our reuerend Fathers say without Christ there is no Church and those particular Churches are more perfect which in their religious worship haue lesse failed in both these now when enemies become iudges sentences are often partiall and each side with bitternesse of tearmes doth condemne other whilest neither part is willing to confesse their errour or amend themselues Wee haue not suffered the contemptible reuiâ—ings of the Church of Rome without telling her aloud that her faults are not so few as she imagineth that her chastitie and puritie are not so great that she need to boast and that if she will needes bee proud and confidently striue to be the chiefe and the onely Church wee must tell her in zeale that what she was she is not that pride and prosperitie haue corrupted her as other Churches This though we speake out of zeale seeing her faults and knowing her contempt of vs yet out of iudgement we say which Maister Hooker doth that with Rome we dare not communicate concerning sundrie her grosse grieuous abominations yet touching those maine parts of Christian truth wherein they constantly still persist wee gladly acknowledge them to bee of the familie of Iesus Christ therefore wee hope that to reforme our selues if at anie time wee haue done amisse is not to seuer our selues from the Church wee were before in the Church we were and we are so stil as also we say that they of Rome notwithstanding their manifold defects are to bee held and reputed a part of the house of God a limme of the visible Church of Christ. This is that whereat your hote spirits haue taken offence speaking out of the same ignorant zeale against our Church as ye wish our Church to speake against the Church of Rome accounting vs for perfection of a Church as farre short of you as Rome is of vs or your selues of the Angels that are in heauen and therefore you affirme that our statute congregations of England are no true christian churches Which error as you haue at last beene from an vnresistable wisedome taught how to recant so no doubt at length vpon better aduise you wil learne in iudgment how to censure of the Church of Rome And yet mistake me not to giue her her due is not to grant more then shee ought to challenge nor to account her a part of the Church is not to affirme that shee is absolutely perfect There is no one word that from the varietie of acceptation hath bred greater difference in the Church
of the SacrameÌ„ts the effect of the thing ordeined by Christ is not taken away or the grace of Gods guift diminished as touching them which receiue by faith and orderly the things offered vnto them which for the institutioÌ„ of Christ and his promise are effectuall although they be administred by euill men But to inferre heereupon that the same actions howsoeuer don scoffingly and in iest contrary or besides the holy institution of the Church are truly Sacraments It is a conclusion too violent and not warranted by any truth For howsoeuer the grace of Sacraments dependeth not vpon the Minister who maie faile of these vertues that are fitte to bee required in him yet it is necessarie that there should bee an intention to administer a true Sacrament least we put no difference betwixt that which either derision imitatioÌ„ chance or the Church doth For if the conuersion of Lucius first Christian king of this land were to be acted vpon a stage and that two persons were to represent â—ugatius and Damianus sent by Eleutherius the Pope to baptize Lucius could any man in reason thinke how orderly soeuer performed that this were true baptisme were not this to make the bare action all and the intention a circumstance not belonging to it But we must know as M. Hooker saith that SacrameÌ„ts are actions mysticall and religious for no man can truly define them otherwise which nature they haue not vnlesse they proceede from a serious meaning yet what euery mans priuate minde is as we cannot know so neither are we bound to examine for in these cases the knowne intent of the Church doth generally suffice and where the contrary is not manifest as circumstances will serue easily to discouer we must presume that he which outwardly doth the worke hath inwardly the purpose of the Church of God Now this beeing a discreet rule wisely to put a difference betwixt Sacraments holie actions and the like irreligiousâ—â—e and prophanely performed is that whereat your zealous wisdome doth take offence and which you pursue with that bitternesse of speech calling it meere Popery a humane inuention and inducemeÌ„t to fides implicita as though the dangers were neither few nor small which came vnto y e Church by this opinion Let me intreat your patience a little vouchsafe to be but aduised by him who in all humilitie wil be readie to follow y e sound directions of the meanest in Gods church and I doubt not to make it apparant that Maister Hooker hath deliuered that truth the contrary wherof is no way fit to be admitted or allowed by vs. Some are of opinion that no intention at all is required in the Ministers of the Sacraments but that if the thing and the words be present though either in â—est or otherwise performed yet notwithstanding it is a Sacrament The first Author of this as Bellarmine saith was Luther whose words I must needes say are violeÌ„tly wrested to make him speake that which he neuer ment It is like that heout of whom by misunderstanding you haue collected this opinion was Maister Caluin who rightly deriuing the vertue of Sacraments from the Minister to God himselfe the author of the first institution saith thus I refer so much to the holy institution of Christ that if an Epicure inwardely deriding the whole action should administer the supper by the commandement of Christ marke the words and according to the rule by him giuen which no man could that wanted the intention of the Church I would account them saith he the true pledges of the body and the blood of Christ Where we are willing to confesse with him and with truth it selfe that Sacraments for their vertue depeÌ„d not vpon the intention of the Minister though without the intention of the Church they are not Sacraments Where by intention we meane not a particular purpose of all that the Sacraments require a thing peraduenture aboue the capacity of many lawfull Ministers but a generall intention of performing that sacred action according to the meaning of the Church Where by church we mean not any one particular but the true Church or as M. Caluin saith Christs rule or that intention which Christians in that action haue and yet if one in this should follow the intention of a particular Church that did erre it were not a reason sufficient to make the Sacrament to be none at all for euen his intention in following that particular Church though erring were an intentioÌ„ of following the true Church that doth not erre Neither is it required as the scholemen say that this intention necessarily be actual nor it sufficeth not to be habituall which may be in men either drunke or asleepe but vertuall that is in the power of that intention which howsoeuer now distracted before was actuall Neither doe we meane that the Minister should necessarily haue the same intent of the end which the Church hath but of the action the end being perhaps without the compasse of his knowledg but the action cannot vnlesse we suppose him to be a Minister weaker then any church hath For it is one thing to intend what the Church intendeth and another thing to intend what the Church doth For those that intend by baptisme an vtter acquittance from originall sinne and those that doe not there is a diuersitie in the end but the action is all one and therefore not reiterated though the end be diuers Now to do the externall action and yet in iest is no more to doe what the Church intendeth to doe then their speech and action Haile King of the Iewes was any honor or true reuerence to our Sauiour Christ. The necessity of this intention not for grace but to make it a Sacramentall action will more euidently appeare if wee consider what kinde of instrument the Minister is Man may be the instrument of another agent many waies First in respect only of his bodily members his hand his backe or such like without any vse of the will Secondly in respect of his outward parts with the vse of sense as to reade to watch to tell what he seeth and to this also the will is no further required but to the outward action Thirdly in respect of the bodily members together with sense and reason as in Iudges appointed by Princes to determine causes wherein wisdome and the will are to be instruments Now the Ministers of the Sacrament must be of this third kinde And therefore saith Hugo if a father should take his sonne to a bathe and should say Sonne I wash thee in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost and so dip him in the water it were ridiculous to thinke that hee were thus baptized Where although such prophaners are without excuse for vnreuerend imitation of holy things yet these actions without the intention of the Church can no wayes bee tearmed sacraments For if those who hold a sermon read to be
This will appeare more fully howsoeuer you mislike it â—f we consider but a little those seruices and duties about which they were imployed The first were doorekeepers for we omitte the first tonsor which was not any order but a preparation whose office was as Maister Caluin noteth to open and to shut the doores of the temple we agree in this with the Church of Rome our diffrenece is for the ordination of them The second were readers the duty of these as Zanchy saith was only to reade the Bible without any exposition in a pulpit or place more eminent then the rest so that in the compasse of a whole yeere it was fully finished and read ouer this was to make the people who could not read more familiarly acquainted with the holy scriptures Of this duty S. Cyprian in his Epistles hath written most as of one Aurelius beeing made a Reader of one Saturâ—s as also of Celerinus which afterward was a Martyr The difference betwixt vs in this point and the Church of Rome is that they make it a certaine degree and order which Maister Caluin doth not which in my opinion is no material difference seeing vndoubtedly the Church by speciall ordination without Ecclesiasticall order appointed those whom she vsed in those places The next were exorcists with vncleane spirits but this was rather doubtlesse a peculiar gift then any ordinary office in Gods Church The next were disputers which were appointed with all commers to defend the religion against the heathen The next were Acolouthi attendants vpon the Bishops with whom these had for their learning and reuerend behauiour that familiarity that they were thought fittest to succeede in the place of Bishops This as it was an imployment of great respect so it is retained in the Church of Rome at this day with too meane a regard for so reuerend a place The next were Singers for it was thought vnfit that a Bishop a Presbyter or Deacon should doe this The last which we wil reckon was the Catechists whose office was to teach children and others conuerted the summe of Christian doctrine This dutie was referred to learned men sometimes Presbyters Doctors or Deacons but not euer For though Origen and Clemens were both Doctors and Catechists in Alexandria yet all that were Catechists and so allowed to expound and teach the Scriptures were not of necessitie admitted to holy orders and so consequently as the word is properly taken by Maister Hooker none of the Clergie I say properly for Clergie is a general name for all those whose lot and portion is the Lord More specially for those who are students in diuinity after are to enter into holy orders Of these there were Colledges after the Apostles as before Colledges of the Prophets And out of these were taken such as the Church without Ecclesiasticall ordination vsed in those seruices which before are mentioned Out of all which it is most apparant that from the Clergie in respect of ministeriall power these are iustly seuered This is that which you mislike esteeming it a thing vnfit for any man to preach that hath not a ministerial calling Neither doth Maister Hooker determine how fit it is that this should be performed by men who are not entred into orders but that this hath sometimes beene the practise of the Church howsoeuer now performed by men of another calling there is no man of anie reading can possibly doubt Neither is the practise in some Colledges of diuines at this day altogether vnlike where men are admitted euen for exercise or triall to interpret expound the Scriptures which are not as yet but hereafter may be consecrated to an Ecclesiasticall function Now whereas you scoffe at the word Character as if there were no stamp at al which made a difference betwixt the Clergie and the Laity know that where there is a chaÌ„ge of estate with an impossibility of returne there we haue reason to account an indeleble character to bee imprinted This faith the Church of Rome is in Baptisme Confirmation Order Of the last of which we only contend at this time For any thing that I reade Saint Austin was the first that vsed the word in this sense and no doubt of it in Baptisme there is that mark stamped vpon vs in that we are baptized that there is a passiue power as the Schoolemen call it which maketh a man in time fit to receiue the rest which they cal Sacraments and without which they are truly accounted void This forme figure impession or character is called indeleble because that is not to be reiterated froÌ„ whence it commeth The character of Order is an actiue power as the Schoolemen speake which giueth an abilitie publikely to administer the SacrameÌ„ts vnto those whoÌ„ the church hath esteemed fit From whence proceedeth the second great exception which you haue taken in this Article namely that Maister Hooker seemeth to grant a libertie as for Catâ—chists to preach who are no Ministers so also for women in cases of some necessitie to Baptise contrary say you both to that most Reuerend Archbishop and others who constantly affirme that God wel ordred Churches forbid women all dispensation of holy mysteries Wee are not to dispute what lawes giue allowance to the performance of this office nor what care ought to make restraint from too vsuall a libertie of doing it without great necessitie seeing weaknesse is commonly bold and boldnesse a presumptuous intruder where it hath least cause But this we say which M. Hooker hath proâ—ed already that Baptisme by women is truly Baptisme good and effectual to those that haue it neither doe all those exceptions of sexe qualitie insufficiencie or whatsoeuer serue to frustrate such as the Church of her indulgence is willing to admit from being partakers of so great a benefit To make women teachers in the house of God were a grosse absurditie seeing the Apostle hath said I permit not a woman to teach and if any from the same ground exclude them froÌ„ other publike offices in the Church wee are not much against it But to womens Baptisme in priuate by occasion of vrgent necessitie the reasons that concerne ordinarie Baptisme in publike are no iust preiudice neither can we by force thereof disproue the practise of those Churches which necessity requiring allow Baptisme in priuate to be administred by women We may not from lawes that prohibite any thing with restraint conclude absolute and vnlimitted prohibitions For euen things lawfull are well prohibited when there is feare least they make the way to vnlawful more easie it may be the libertie of Baptisme by women at such times doth sometimes embolden the rasher sort to do it where no such necessity is But whether of permission besides law or in presumption against law they do it which now is no part of the question in hand it is not hereby altogether frustrate void
and as if it were neuer giuen True it is that seeing God from whom mens seuerall degrees preheminences proceed hath appointed them in his Church at whose hands his pleasure is that we should receiue Baptisme and all other publike helpes medicinable to the soule perhaps thereby the more to settle our hearts in the loue of our ghostly superiors they haue small cause to hope that with him their voluntarie seruices will be accepted who thrust themselues into functions either aboue their capacitie or besides their place and ouerboldly intermeddle with duties whereof no charge was euer giuen vnto them In which respect if lawes forbid it to be done yet therefore it is not necessarily void when it is done For many things are firme being done which in part are done otherwise thē positiue rigor and strictnes did require Actions vsurped haue often the same nature which they haue in others although they yeeld not him that doth them the same comfort What defects then are in this kind they redound with restraint to the offender only the grace of Baptisme commeth by donation from God onely That God hath committed the mysterie of Baptisme vnto speciall men it is for orders sake in his Church and not to the intent that their authoritie might giue being or adde force to the Sacrament it selfe Infants haue right to Baptisme we all know that they haue it not by lawfull ministers it is not their fault Mens owne faults are their owne harmes So then wee conclude this point with Maister Hooker that it is one thing to defend the fact for lawfulnesse in the doer which few do and another thing the fact being done which no man hath reason to disallow for though it is not lawfull for women to vndertake that office to baptize which peraduenture belongs not vnto them yet the Baptisme being done we hold it lawfull ARTICLE XIIII Of the Sacraments IT is not a thing lesse vsuall in the apprehension of truths through the weaknesse of our vnderstanding to ascribe too little to that which in all reason hath great vertue then to allow ouermuch to that which hath no vertue at all It fareth with men in this kind as it doth with some deceitfull artificers who bestow most arte and outward additions where inwardly there is least value whilest they leaue that altogether vnfurnished which is able to expose it to sale by his owne worth It is our fault no lesse violently to extoll what our fancies make vs to account excellent then to dispraise things truly commendable in their owne nature because onely they haue gained this disaduantage to bee disliked by vs. So that whosoeuer maketh either praise or dispraise to be a rule of iudgement or the iudgement of some few to bee a signe of value he with like hazard equally erreth in both For times and places violent circumstances of that which men say with or against breed infinite varietie of alterations where things are the same and out of commendation alone a strange effect dispraise like a monster doth spring vp It being cause sufcient to distempered humours vehemently to dislike only in this respect that others doe commend the same Wherein the safest and most charitable direction will bee absolutely in that violent opposition to beleeue neither but euen from both to deriue a truth much sounder then that which either holdeth From hence hath it come to passe that whilest they of the Church of Rome haue peraduenture ascribed too much to works some of vs too little others haue set downe an equality dissenting from both Thus in the matter of the sacraments things of greatest and most hidden vertue left vnto the Church for they are called Mysteries some haue bin thought to deriue that power to them which belongeth to God only which whilest others sought to auoide they haue euen depriued them of that grace which God doubtles in truth hath bestowed vpon them In this kinde you are of opinion that M. Hooker hath erred who as you imagine hath ascribed to the sacraments farre more following therein the steps of the Church of Rome then either the Scripture the articles of our Church or the exposition of our Reuerend Bishops and others do For the Fathers say you make the Sacraments only Seales of assurance by which the Spirit worketh inuisibly to strengthen our faith And therfore they call them visible words seales of righteousnesse and tokens of grace That they doe and say thus there is no man doubteth but we are not yet perswaded that this is all or the furthest as you alledge that they saie because vndoubtedly we are assured that they haue learned both to know and to speake otherwise For the Sacraments chiefest force and vertue consisteth in this that they are heauenly ceremonies which God hath sanctified and ordained to be administred in his Church First as markes to know when God doth impart his vitall or sauing grace of Christ vnto all that are capable therof and secondly as meanes conditionall which God requireth in them vnto whom he imparteth grace For doubtles it must needes be a great vnthankfulnesse and easily breed contempt to ascribe only that power to them to be but as seales and that they teach but the minde by other sense as the worde doth by hearing which if it were all what reason hath the Church to bestow any Sacrament vpon Infants who as yet for their yeares are nor capable of any instruction there is therefore of Sacraments vndoubtedly some more excellent and heauenly vse Sacraments by reason of their mixt nature are more diuersly interpreted and disputed of then any other part of Religion besides for that in so great store of properties belonging to the selfe same thing as euery mans wit hath taken hold of some especiall consideration aboue the rest so they haue accordingly giuen their censure of the vse and necessity of them For if respect bee had to the dutie which euery communicant doth vndertake we may cal them truly bōds of our obedience to God strict obligations to the mutuall exercise of Christian charity prouocations to godlines preseruatiōs frō sin memorials of the principal benefits of Christ. If we respect the time of their institutiō they are annexed for euer vnto the new testamēt as other rites were before with the old If we regard the weakenesse that is in vs they are warrants for the more security of our beleefe If we compare the receiuers with those that receiue them not they are works of distinctiō to separate Gods owne from strangers and in those that receiue them as they ought they are tokens of Gods gratious presence whereby men are taught to know what they cannot see For Christ and his holy spirit with all their blessed effects though entring into the soule of man we are not able to apprehend or expresse how doe notwithstanding giue notice of the times when they vse to make their accesse because it pleaseth Almighty God to communicate by sensible
that the Sacraments by the worke done actiuely doe not affoord grace though rightly vnderstood passiuely they may by the worke done for in that iustification and meanes of righteousnesse whereof man is made partaker by the Sacraments manie things concurre First in Gods behalfe a will that we should vse those sensible elements in Christs behalfe his passion from which the sacraments haue their vertue in the Ministers behalfe his power his will in the receiuers behalfe will faith repentance in respect of the Sacrament it selfe the externall action which ariseth out of the fit application of the matter the form of the Sacraments Now that which in all this actiuely and instrumentally bringeth grace is the externall action which is commonly called the Sacrament This hauing his vertue from his institution and not from anie merit either in the Minister or in him that receiueth For the wil of God which vseth the Sacramēts as that meanes of grace which it hath ordained concurreth actiuely but as a principall cause the passion of Christ concurreth as a cause meritorious the power and the will of the Minister necessarily concurre but as causes further remoued hauing their vse only in effecting the sacramentall action in whose due circumstances of administring he is vnwilling to faile Will faith and repentance are necessarily required in the receiuer that is of yeares not as actiue causes but as fit dispositions for the subiect for faith and repentance make not the sacramentall grace nor giue power to the Sacrament but onely remoue those lets which are hindrances that the Sacraments exercise not that vertue that is annexed to them So that in infants in whom no such disposition is required the sacrament of Baptisme is auaileable without these And therefore to satisfie your demaunds in this Article wee conclude that a man dying without faith and receiuing the sacramentall signes for sacraments he cannot receiue shall not be saued and not receiuing them if his want bee not either negligence or contempt may be saued Yet the latter to vs is fearefull and ordinarily impossible whereas the former is an euidence of our hope and giueth most iust reason charitably to iudge So that we say with Saint Austin he that eateth and drinketh vnworthily eateth and drinketh his owne damnation but he that contemneth to eate hath not life and therefore shall not come to eternall life And yet those things that hurt the vnworthy receiuer do much profit him who receiueth them as he ought ARTICLE XV. Of Christs Institution IT is not an apprehension equally incident vnto the iudgments of all wise men rightly to conceiue the true dependance of things for those who allow and confesse actions to haue much vertue oftentimes do mistake from whence that vertue commeth this as it happeneth in causes of more vsuall and knowne nature so it is sometimes euen in those things where the authour is but one and he incomparably the best Because he vouchsafeth to admit instruments of a lower conditiō to be agents in the performance of things of so great an vse This maketh men in the sacraments those holy institutions of God left vnto the Church often to faile in a due estimation of them And when they do graunt their vse to be singular yet euen then to doubt whereupon this dependeth because the same things performed by diuers are not the same and those which admit no difference in respect of substance yet are subiect in regard of some circumstance to an alteration either more or lesse From hence hath proceeded the difference in this article which ouer violently you vrge to be betwixt Maister Hooker and our Church of whom as vsually you do you carie too iealous a suspition of too great agreement with the Church of Rome That sacraments haue a vertue euen more then to be onely signes is already proued but whether this vertue be lesse where the Minister hath moe faults or none at all where his intention is not to administer a sacrament that commeth now to be discussed in this place To make the Sacraments depend for their grace vpon the integritie of men were to denie the benefit to a great number without cause and to punish men for a fault that were none of theirs The first of these is denied by fewe nay some are so farre from opinion that sin in the Minister is anie let to the sacrament that they are not affraid to affirme that Sacraments are effectuall though administred by Satan himselfe Doubtlesse few sauing onelie some Anabaptists denie the efficacie of the Sacraments for the defects of life in the lawfull dispensers of them They are inestimable fauours vnto Gods Church not to be measured by the hand from whom immediately wee receiue them but by that Almightie power the fountaine of all goodnesse from whence they do first come For as amongst men it were want either of iudgement or ciuilitie or both lesse to esteeme of the benefit for the meannesse of the messenger where we are vndoubtedly assured that it is the princes seale so in the Sacraments we must esteem them as the seales fauours of God himselfe whatsoeuer the imperfections are in those Ministers from whom we haue them For the defects of men being in the Church and lawfully called to those functions no way touch the efficacie of the Sacraments whose vertue dependeth vpon a higher power And therefore we denie all reiteration of Baptisme whatsoeuer the defects for manners are in those that do first giue it For we are equally baptized into the name of the Father the Sonne and the Holy-ghost what vnworthines or inequality soeuer remaine in the persons that do baptize For the holinesse of the Sacraments is no way polluted by the vncleannesse of the handes that giue them For those Sacraments which vnreuerently being handled as Saint Austin saith doe hurt the giuer yet euen by their hands profit those that receiue them worthily It was both in Asia and Africk an error longe since that the Sacraments were not firme which were administred by Heretickes or Schismatickes separated from the vnity of the Church The first author of this was Agrippinus Bishop of Carthage whom Saint Cyprian succeeded as Saint Austine writeth and was a little infected with the same errour After these were the Donatists but we wil not labour for confirmation of this point because you obiect nothing against Master Hooker in it And it is no controuersie at all betwixt vs and the Church of Rome and therfore we say with the auncient Fathers Stephanus Siricius Innocentius the first Leo Anastasius the second in his epistle to Anastasius the Emperour with the councels first the generall councell of Nice often alledged by Saint Austin to this ende the first councell of Carthage the last assembly at Trent with the testimonies of Fathers and Doctors and according to the articles of our Church by you alledged That by the malice of wicked men which are ouer the administration
the Christians to please Iulian was noted with this marke of leuity for writing Panegyricks or orations of praise to commend Constantius while he liued against whome afterward he wrote most bitter inuectiues when he was dead Thus some small discontentment serued to turne the heart and open the mouth of Porphyry against the Christians what cause of griefe these zealous professours haue I know not but in my opinion the whole tenor of that vncharitable and vnchristian letter argueth some inward discontent either enuious that other men should be excellent or that themselues being excellent are not more regarded Wherein though they dislike the dim eie of gouernment that loketh not cleerely into mens vertues and the niggardly hand that doth not bountifully reward such as deserue well yet they mighte out of patience and charity worthily haue forborne to haue inueied against his honour which consisted in no other wealth but in his religious contentment and in that true commendation which was the due merit of his own vertues For the world had not much to take from him because hee had not taken much from the world for he neuer affected flatteringly to please her nor she neuer cared fauninglie to please him For as all that Scipio brought from Africa after his danger and trauell to be called his was only a Surname so the greatest recompense that his labours had was the iust commendation that he was a very reuerend learned and graue man For his iudgement taught him out of a Christian patience the resolution of Cato if I haue anie thing to vse I vse it if not I know who I am And seeking to profit in knowledge and that this knowledge might profit the Church he shewed that hee was borne for the good of many and few to bee borne for the good of him For as S. Hierom speaketh of Nepotian despising gold he followed learning the greatest riches But peraduenture his learning had puft him vp and his pride had made his writings impatient and full of bitternes and this moued you to vndertake this vncharitable and vnchristian letter for you say if we beleeue them meaning the Bishops we must thinke that Master Hooker is verie arrogant and presumptuous to make himselfe the onely Rabbi That you had no cause to prouoke him in these tearmes all men know that do reade his writings for dealing in an argument of that kinde with aduersaries of that nature and in a time growne insolent by sufferance hee hath written with that temperat moderation rather like a graue father to reforme the vnstayed errors of hot young violent spirits then seuerelie correcting them with the vntemperat bitternes of their owne stile and sighing at the scurrilous and more then satyricall immodesty of Martinisme he feared with a true sorrow least that honourable calling of Priesthood which was ruinated by slaunder amongst ourselues could not long continue firme in the opinion of others Well for all this the gouernment of his passions was in his owne power as Saint Bernard speaketh of Malachie the Bishop And he was able to rule them for he was truly of a milde spirit and an humble hart and abounding in all other vertues yet he specially excelled in the grace of meekenes for the grauity of his lookes as Saint Bernard speaketh of Humbers was cleered by those that did sit or conuerse with him least he should be burdensome vnto them but a ful laughter few euer discerned in him Some such our Church hath had in all ages a few now aliue which are her ornament if shee can vse them well but moe that are dead whome she ought to praise For all those were honourable men in their generations and were well reported of in their times there are of them that haue left a name behind them so that their praise shall be spoken of for whose posterity a good inheritance is reserued and their seede is conteined in the couenant their bodise are buried in peace but their name liueth for euermore the people speake of their wisedome and the congregation talke of their praise In this number vertue hath placed him whom you accuse and are not afraid being now awaked out of a dreame to account a deceiuer As though in his labours he had meant by intising speech to deceiue the Church or as though by a colourable defēce of the Church discipline he purposed as you say to make questionable and to bring in contempt the doctrine and faith it selfe beating against the heart of all true Christian doctrine professed by her Maiestie and the whole state of this realme Therfore you haue made choice of the principall things conteined in his bookes wishing him to free himselfe from all suspicion of falshoode and trechery accounting your selues to rest contented if he will shew himselfe either all one in iudgement with the Church of England or else freely and ingenuously acknowledge his vnwilling ouersight or at the least shew plainely by good demonstratiō that al our reuerend Fathers haue hitherto bin deceiued To this you craue a charitable direct plaine sincere and speedy answeare this is the summe of the preface to your Christian letter It is too true that al ages haue had deceiuers and that the most dangerous deceiuers haue strongly preuailed vnder pretence of Religion and therefore whereas all bodies are subiect to dissolution there are vndoubtedly mo estates ouerthrown through diseases within themselues which familiarly do steale vpon them then through violence from abroade Because the maner is alwaies to cast a doubtfull and a more suspicious eie towards that ouer which men know they haue least power therfore the feare of apparant dangers causeth their forces to be more vnited it is to all sorts a kind of bridle it maketh vertuous minds watchful it holdeth contrary dispositions in suspence and imployeth the power of all wits and the wits of all men with a greater care Whereas deceits couered with good pretenses are so willingly interteyned so little feared so long suffered vntill their cruelty burst forth when it is too late to cure them vice hath not a better meanes to disperse it selfe nor to gaine intartainment and fauour then by borrowing the counterfeit name and habit of seeming vertue Thus that rebellious Sandracot vnder pretence of liberty mooued the Indians against the officers of Alexander the Great which when they had slaine he that was the author of their liberty turned that into a more cruell bondage oppressing the people whom he had freed from strangers vnder the cruell tyranny of his owne gouernment But of all deceits there is none more dangerous then when the name of God or religion is pretended to countenance out heinous crimes And howsoeuer euen in this kinde this age hath not wāted examples who beeing dangerous vnder holy pretenses the hand of Iustice hath cut off yet the imputation of this fault can in no reason cleaue to him who hath so
proceeding of the holy Ghost as the Schoolemen obserue is threefold one vnspeakeable and eternal whereby the holy Ghost eternally and without time proceedeth from the Father and the Sonne the other temporall when he is sent from the Father and the Son to sanctifie the elect Of this latter proceeding saith Beza is that place vnderstood which you peremptorily alleage for to proue the first So then we say for our answer to this cauill that as yet we see not expresse literall mention of these points but that they are truly and soundly collected by the Church we neither doe can or dare deny secondly that the deniall of expresse literall mention ought not to make any scruple in the minds of weake Christians concerning these articles the substance wherof are plaine scripture though for the words we finde not as yet any expresse literall mention nor last of all as you seeme to feare it can be no vnderpropping to the traditions of the Church of Rome which if they can proue with the like necessary collection out of the holy scripture we are readie to imbrace them with all our hearts In the meane time we account it a wrong to haue an article of our faith for want of expresse literall mention out of scripture to be compared to traditions of that kinde for which in scripture there is no warrant at all To conclude then this article we say that in the Trinitie there is that Identity of essence that it admitteth equality but not plurality the Father is one the Sonne another the Holy-Ghost another but not another thing For that thing that they all are is this one thing that they are one God So that Saint Austin saith I and my Father are one heere both the words of the sentence one are in that he saith one he freeth thee from Arrius and in that he saith are hee freeth thee from Sabellius For are hee would not say of one and one he would not say of diuers for euery person hath his owne substance which no other besides hath although there be others besides which are of the same substance For the persons of the Godhead by reason of the vnity of their substance doe as necessarily remaine one within another as they are of necessitie to be distinguished one frō another because two are the issue of one and one the ofspring of the other two only of three one not growing out of any other For sith they all are but one God in number one indiuisible essence or substance their distinction cannot possiblie admit separation the Father therefore is in the Sonne and the Son in him they both in the Spirit and the Spirit in both them He that can saith Austine conceiue let him comprehend it but hee that cannot let him beleeue and pray that that which hee beleeueth he may truly vnderstand ARTICLE III. Whether the holy Scriptures containe all things necessarie to saluation TWo things are requisite to mans better life a faith to beleeue what he ought a knowledge to comprehend what hee must beleeue For saith our Sauiour in this is eternal life to know thee to be the only verie God and whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ. Because therefore the want of this knowledge is the cause of all iniquitie amongst men as contrariwise the verie ground of all our happinesse and the seed of whatsoeuer perfect vertue groweth from vs is a right opinion touching things diuine this kind of knowledge wee may iustly set downe for the first and chiefest thing which God imparteth to his people and our dutie of receiuing this at his mercifull hands for the first of those religious offices wherewith wee publikely honour him on earth Now our Church holdeth and wee most willingly confesse that the scripture is the true ground of all that holily we beleeue But yet for all that not the onely meanes concerning God of all that profitably wee know For that new impression made into our nature euē by the hand of the Almightie after the first sinne and the wise beholding of his excellent workmanship in the making of all his creatures are two volumes wherein wee may read though not directly the mercy of that power that hath saued vs yet the greatnes and the might of that hand that hath first made vs which though it be not all that we must beleeue yet it is not the least part of that which we ought to know For this as it maketh vs without excuse so it serueth euen to leade vs to a better knowledge and vntill it be perfect to vtter out of the light of nature those voices which may argue vs though not to be sonnes for by this we cannot crie Abba Father yet to be reasonable creatures of that power which we do adore this made Euripides in Troas and manie of the heathen to vtter those prayers which had they beene offered vp in Christ had not bin vnbeseeming a good Christian so that though the Scriptures containe all things which are necessarie to saluation and that our chiefest direction is from them yet we are not affraid to confesse that there is besides a light of nature not altogether vnprofitable the insufficiencie whereof is by the light of Scripture fully and perfectly supplied and that both these together as Master Hooker affirmeth which you mislike doe serue in such full sort that they both iointly not seuerally either of them be so compleat that vnto euerlasting felicity we need not the knowledge of any thing more then of these two I cannot but maruaile that men indued with reason should finde anie thing in this assertion which in the hardest construction might be wrested as detracting frō the sufficiency of the holy scripture And only for this cause by reason that we reade darkly by the light of nature those first elements out of a naturall knowledge which by the accesse of a better teacher serue afterward for the full perfecting of that knowledge which is requisite to mans saluation For as the schoolemen say man standeth in need of a threefold lawe to a morall vprightnes setting aside that righteousnes requisit for his heauenly country First an eternall law which Saint Austin calleth the cheifest reason secondly naturall last of all humane vnto which if we adde that man ouer and besides these is in an ordination to a supernaturall ende then it is manifest that to make him a heauenly Citizen there is requisite a fourth lawe which man must learne to obei◠out of the holy scripture But as in the greatest and fairest buildings euen those stones that lye lowest are of an vse not be contemned though peraduenture not comparable to those last exquisite perfections by which the worke is finished so euen the light of nature for the acting of morall vertues hath his vse though not absolutely compleat to make vs Christians And therefore in the nature of mans will the very Philosophers did seldome erre but
of mans hart yet in his mercy he hath not left him altogether destitute of a better guide The first seruing to teach him that there is a God the latter what that God is and how he will bee worshipped by man This light wee call the scripture which God hath not vouchsafed to all but to those only whome he gathereth more neerely and familiarly to him selfe and vouchsafeth that honor to be called his Church that as men through infirmity seeing weakely prouide vnto themselues the helpe of a better sight so what man cannot reade by the dimnes of his seeing out of the creatures he may more apparantly reade them in the holy scriptures For as there is no saluation without religion no religion without faith so there is no faith without a promise nor promise without a word for God desirous to make an vnion betwixt vs and himselfe hath so linked his word and his Church that neither can stand where both are not The Church for her part in her choice allowance testifying as well that it is the scripture as the scripture from an absolute authority doth assure vs that it is the Church For as those who are conuerted haue no reason to beleeue that to be the Church where there is no scripture so those who are not conuerted haue no great reason to admit that for scripture for which they haue not the Churches warrant So that in my opinion the contention is vnnaturall and vnfit to make a variance by comparison betwixt those two who are in reason and nature to support each other It was a memorable attonement that Abraham made with Lotte let there be no strife I pray thee betweene thee and me neither betweene thy heardsmen and my heardsmen for we be brethren so vndoubtedly may the Church and the scripture say it is then to be feared that those who treacherously make this contentious comparison betwixt both are in very deede true friends to neither For though we dislike of them by whome too much heeretofore hath bin attributed to the Church yet we are loth to grow to an error on the contrary hand and to derogate too much from the Church of God by which remoouall of one extremity with another the worlde seeking to procure a remedy hath purchased a meere exchang of the euill which before was felt We and our aduersaries confesse that the scriptures in themselues haue great authority inward witnes from that spirit which is the author of all truth and outward arguments strong motiues of beleefe which cleaueth firmely to the word it selfe For what doctrine was euer deliuered with greater maiesty What stile euer had such simplicity purity diuinity What history or memoriall of learning is of like antiquity what oracles foretold haue bin effected with such certainty What miracles more powerfull to confirme the truth What enemies euer preuailed lesse or laboured more violently to roote it out To conclude what witnesses haue dyed with more innocency or lesse feare then those that haue sealed the holinesse of this truth This the scripture is in it selfe but men who are of lesse learning then these reformers are do not vnworthily make question how that which ought thus highly to be esteemed for it selfe commeth to be accounted of thus honorably by vs for the weakenes of mans iudgement doth not euer value things by that worth which they doe deserue For vndoubtedly out of that error hath proceeded your suspition of him whose inward worthines must now be content to receiue testimony from a witnes by many thousand degrees inferiour to himselfe To them of Samaria the woman gaue testimony of our sauiour Christ not that she was better but better knowne for witnesses of lesse credit then those of whome they beare witnesse but of some more knowledge then those to whome they beare witnes haue euer bin reputed to giue a kind of warrant and authority vnto that they proue Seeing then the Church which consisteth of many doth outwardly testifie what euery man inwardly should be to swarue vnnecessarilie from the iudgement of the whole Church experience as yet hath neuer found it safe For that which by her ecclesiasticall authority she shal probably thinke define to be true or good must in congruity of reason ouerrule all other inferiour Iudgements whatsoeuer And to them that out of a singularity of their owne aske vs why we thus hang ou◠iudgements on the Churches sleeue wee answere with Salomon Two are better then one for euen in matters of lesse moment it was neuer thought safe to neglect the iudgement of many and rashly to follow the fancy and opinion of some few If the Fathers of our Church had had no greater reasō to auouch their forsaking of the Antichristian Synagogue as you call it then this point wee might iustly haue wished to haue bin recōciled to the fellowship society of their church For this point as it seemeth rightly vnderstood affordeth little difference betwixt them and vs and therfore there was no mention of it in the last councell their Church had And Bellarmine himselfe doth apparantly complaine that we wrong them in this point for doubtles it is a tolerable opinion of the Church of Rome if they go no further as some of them do not to affirme that the scriptures are holy and diuine in themselues but so esteemed by vs for the authority of the Church for there is no man doubteth but that it belongeth to the Church if we vnderstand as we ought those truely who are the Church to approue the scriptures to acknowledg to receiue to publish to commend vnto hir Children And this witnes ought to be receiued of all as true yet wee doe not beleeue the scriptures for this only for there is the testimony of the Holy-ghost without which the commendation of the Church were of little value That the scriptures are true to vs wee haue it from the Church but that wee beleeue them as true we haue it from the Holy-ghost We confesse it is an excellent office of the Church to beare witnes to the scriptures but we say not that otherwise we would not beleeue them We graunt that the scriptures rightly vsed are the iudge of controuersies that they are the triall of the Church that they are in themselues a sufficient witnes for what they are but yet for all this wee are not afraid with Master Hooker to confesse that it is not the word of God which doth or possibly can assure vs that we do well to thinke it is the word of God For by experience we all know that the first outward motion leading men so to esteeme of the scripture is the authority of Gods Church which teacheth vs to receiue Markes Gospell who was not an Apostle and refuse the Gospell of Thomas who was an Apostle to retain S. Lukes gospel who saw not Christ and to reiect the Gospell of Nicodemus that sawe him For though in themselues
they haue an apparant great difference as there must needs be betwixt Scripture and no Scripture yet to those that are vnable to discerne so much the matter stands ouerruled only by the authoritie of the Church For though as Maister Hooker saith the Scriptures teach vs that sauing truth which God hath discouered to the world by reuelation yet it presumeth vs taught otherwise that it selfe is diuine and sacred And therefore the reading of the Scripture in our Churches is one of the plainest euidences we haue of the Churches assent and acknowledgement that it is the Scripture And yet without any contradiction at all who so assenteth to the words of eternall life doth it in regard of his authoritie whose words they are Those with whom the Church is to deale are often heretikes and these will much sooner beleeue the Church then the Scriptures Therefore saith Saint Austine in that knowne place I had not beleeued the Scriptures if I had not beene compelled by the authoritie of the Church And howsoeuer the Church may seeme now little to need her authoritie because the greatest haruest of heresies is past yet we must not contemne her for all that because euen the weedes of heresie being growne vnto a ripenesse doe euen in their verie cutting downe scatter oftentimes those seedes which for a whilely vnseene and buried in the earth but afterwards freshly spring vp againe no lesse pernicious then at the first Therfore the Church hath and must haue to the end of the world foure singular offices towards the Scripture First to be a witnesse and keeper of them as it were a faithfull Register whose fidelitie in that behalfe vnlesse we be bastard children we haue no reason at all â—o suspect witnesses of lesse truth and authoritie hauing oftentimes the credite to be beleeued Secondly to discerne and iudge betweene false and adulterate and that which is true and perfect in this respect it hath a propertie which other assemblies want to heare and discerne the voice of her husband neither can she be thought a chast spouse who hath not the abilitie to do that But as the Goldsmith either in his ballance or with his touchstone discerneth pure gold from other mettals of lesse value yet doth not make it so dealeth the Church who hath not authoritie to make scripture that which is not but maketh a true difference from that which did only seeme Neither in this respect is the Church aboue the Scriptures but acknowledgeth in humilitie that shee is left in trust to tell her children which is her husbands voice and to point our to the world as Iohn Baptist did Christ a truth of a farre more excellent perfection then her selfe is As if I doubted of a strange coine wherein I rest satisfied in the resolution of a skilfull man but yet valuing the coine for the matter and the stampe of the coine it selfe The third office of the Church is to publish and diuulge to proclaime as a cryer the true edict of our Lord himself not daring as Chrysostom saith to adde anie thing of her owne which shee no sooner doth but the true subiects yeeld obedience not for the voice of him that proclaimeth but for the authoritie of him whose ordinances are proclaimed The last is to be an Interpreter and in that following the safest rule to make an vndiuided vnitie of the truth vncapable of contradiction to be a most faithfull expositor of his owne meaning Thus whilest the Church for that trust reposed in her dealeth faithfully in these points we are not afraid to acknowledge that wee so esteeme of the Scriptures as rightly wee are led by the authoritie of Gods Church Those that are of that iudgement that they dare giue credit without witnesse though we follow not their example in ouermuch credulitie yet we blame not their iudgmeÌ„ts in that kind Touching therfore the authoritie of the Church the scriptures though we graunt as you say that the Church is truly distinguished by the scriptures that the scriptures which is a straÌ„ge phrase warraÌ„t y e trial of Gods word that it was euer beleeued for the words sake yet without feare of vnderpropping anie popish principle as you tearme it we say that we are taught to receiue it from the authoritie of the Church we see her iudgement we heare her voice and in humilitie subscribe vnto all this euer acknowledging the Scriptures to direct the Church and yet the Church to affoord as she is bound her true testimony to the Scripture For the verse of Menander Aratus or Epimenides was and had beene euer but the saying of Poets had not the Church assured vs that it was vttered since by an instrument of the holy Ghost ARTICLE V. Of Freewill IN searching out the nature of humane reason whilest wee reach into the depth of that excellencie which man had by creation we must needs confesse that by sinne he hath lost much who now is vnable to comprehend all that hee should but wee dare not affirme that hee hath lost all who euen in this blindnesse is able to see something and in this weakenesse strong enough without the light of supernaturall Iustifying grace to tread out those paths of moral vertues which haue not only great vse in humane society but are also not altogether of a nature oppositely different from mans saluation And therefore the naturall way to find out lawes by reason guideth as it were by a direct path the will vnto that which is good which naturally hauing a freedome in herselfe is apt to take or refuse any particular obiect whatsoeuer being presented vnto it Which though wee affirme yet we neither say that Reason can guide the will vnto all that is good for though euery good that concerneth vs hath euidence inough for it selfe yet reason is not diligent to search it out nor we say not that the will doth take or refuse any particular obiect but is apt rather noting the nature wherby it hath that power then shewing the ability wherby it hath that strength For though sinne hath giuen as the Schoolemen obserue foure wounds vnto our nature Ignorance Malice Concupisence and infirmity the first in the vnderstanding the second in the will the third in our desiring appetite the last in the Irascible yet the will is free from necessity and coaction though not from misery and infirmity For as Saint Bernard saith there is a threefold freedome from necessity from sinne from misery the first of nature the second of grace the third of glory In the first from the bondage of coaction the will is free in it owne nature and hath power ouer it selfe In the second the will is not free but freed from the bondage of sin And in the third it is freed from the seruitude of corruption Now that freedome by which the will of man is named free is the first only and therefore we dare
the end of all we doe This is confessed euen by our aduersaries themselues with whom seeing we doe agree there can be no suspition that we should dissent from that which our Church holdeth and this may serue rather to tell you what in these points is the iudgement of our Church then to defend him whose words you haue wrested to a far different sense ARTICLE VIII Works of supererogation THe neerenes oftentimes to euill is warrant enough for suspition to accuse of euill and because all errors are not equally distant from truth some men in their true assertions are supposed by weake iudgements not to differ at all from error From hence commeth it that those men who haue no other iudgement but zeale which is the best excuse I can make for your accusation in this article haue run so far with a desire of safety from those opinions that were thought dangerous that they haue come at length vnto those that were much more daungerous in truth Which practise though it argue a good care yet it proceedeth from a timorous nature wanting the ability to put a difference in the causes of true feare so that this circumspection is but cowardlinesse as he that were loth to be taken amongst his enimies trenches would get himselfe so far distant that he would outrun euen the vtmost limits of his owne armie Thus haue you dealt in this article fearing to approue any thing that might tend to supererogation you haue misliked euen the allowance of those works which are good and yet not commanded for say you to hold as Master Hooker doth that God approueth more then he commandeth what is it else but to scatter euen the graines of Popery and to lead men to those arrogant works of supererogation Herein your feare if it would haue giuen you leaue to haue looked behinde you it may be peraduenture you would not haue run away in such haste especially in cases of no great daunger And therfore giue me leaue to tell you that there is no treachery no danger no cause of flying from this opinion All the vnforced actions of men are voluntarie and all voluntarie actions tending to their end haue choice and all choice presupposeth the knowledge of some cause wherefore we make it and therfore it is no absurditie to thinke that all actions of men indued with the vse of reason are generally either good or euill And although whatsoeuer is good the same is also approued of God yet according to the sundry degrees of goodnes the kinds of diuine approbation are in like sort multiplied for some things are good yet in so meane a degree of goodnes that men are only not disproued nor disallowed of God for them as that no man hateth his owne flesh it is a matter of approbation and allowance but of no great or singular acceptation So saith our Sauiour if you do good vnto them that do so to you the verie Publicans themselues do as much Wherein to come short of them as it were a great vice so not to exceed thē is no great vertue Some things in such sort are allowable that they be also required as necessary to saluation by way of direct immediate and proper necessitie finall so that without performance of such wee cannot by ordinarie course be saued nor yet by any meanes be excluded from life if we obserue those As nature gaue light vnto the former so the Scripture is a guide to teach these wherein because all faile it is the obedience and merit onely of one that must make all righteous that must be saued Some things there are although not so required of necessitie that to leaue them vndone excludeth from saluation yet notwithstanding are of so great dignitie and acceptation with God that most ample reward in heauen is laid vp for them Of these we haue no commandement in nature or Scripture that doth exact them in particular at our hands yet those motiues there are in both which may serue to draw our minds most effectually to the performance of them In this kind there is not the least action but it doth somwhat make to the accessorie augmentation of our blisse which men haue as much reason to desire as to desire that they may be blessed no measure of blessednesse hauing power to content sauing onely where the blessed wanteth capacitie to receiue greater Vpon this dependeth whatsoeuer difference there is betweene the states of Saints in glorie Hereunto we referre whatsoeuer belongeth vnto the highest perfection for all perfection in this life is not equall of man by way of seruice toward God hereunto that feruor and first loue of Christians did bend it selfe causing them to sell their possessions and lay down the price at the blessed Apostles feete hereunto Saint Paul vndoubtedly did aime in so far abridging his owne libertie and exceeding that which the bond of necessarie and enioyned dutie tied him vnto to ease those Churches to whom he preached with his handie labour knowing that although it were not a duty which hee was commaunded yet it was an aduantage to his preaching and acceptable to God who doubtlesse approueth much more then he doth commaund Thus when a man may liue in the state of matrimonie seeking that good thereby which nature principally desireth to make rather choice of a contrarie life in regard of Saint Paules iudgmēt he doth that which is manifestly allowed and yet not commanded in Gods word because without anie breach he might doe otherwise Thus when a man who might lawfully possesse his riches yet willingly doth bestow them to religious vses vertuously imbracing that pouertie which he esteemeth as an aduantage to eternall riches doth that which argueth a greater perfection and for which he hath warrant though no precept at all because that which is a great vertue in him is not a fault simply in those that do not the like Precepts and counsels hauing this difference that the one is of absolute necessitie the other left vnto our free election where both tending to the same end yet in this differ that both tend not after the same maner both looking at the meanes but the one after a more exquisite and excelling perfection For euery man being placed in this life betwixt the things of this world and spirituall good things the more hee cleaueth to these the more perfect and excellent he is and yet to cast them away wholy is no precept of necessitie but an aduise of greater perfection He that obeyeth not a precept is guiltie of deserued punishment but he that faileth of these counsels onely wanteth without sinne that measure of perfection For it is not a fault not to vow but to vow and to performe it is a praise Hee that performeth the one shall haue greater glorie but he that faileth in the other without repentance shall haue certaine punishment Neither is it said saith Saint Austine as thou shalt not commit adulterie
thou shalt not kill so thou shalt not marie for those are exacted this is offered This if it bee done it is praised those vnlesse they bee done they are punished For saith Saint Hierome where it is but aduise there is left a freedome but where there is a precept there is a necessitie Precepts are common to all counsel the perfection of some few The precept being obserued hath a reward being not obserued a punishment but a counsell or aduise not obserued hath no punishment and being obserued hath a greater reward In these points all haue not holden the same opinions some thought these counsels to be of the same necessitie with precepts as those heretikes called Apostolici mentioned by Saint Austine and Epiphanius Others esteemed them as things indifferent and of no greater perfectâ—on Others as things forbidden which errour is accuseâ— by some of our aduersaries to bee an opinion of our Church He that amongst vs of learning is most earnest in this point is Peter Martyr and all that anie of them say is but this that these counsels are sinne if we esteeme them as meritorious of theÌ„selues that they are not sinful but sometimes foolish these men rather looking at the folâ—ies which hath accompanied the superstition of some few then the vertuous perfection which attendeth vpon the thing it selfe Nay there is none of any sound iudgement in our Church which doth not thinke that willing pouertie humble obedience and true chastity are things verie commendable and do bring with them great aduantage to the true perfection of a Christian life not that we can supermerit by these more then we ought but that by these we do more then without these we should for nature common wealths and religion as they haue a being so they refuse not a perfection and a being well ARTICLE IX None free from all sinne IT caÌ„not chuse but seeme strange that this should bee an act of many which in the most fauourable construction commeth far short of that wisdome which should be in one But it may be peraduenture that as it falleth out in things naturall actions are then best done when one doth but one distraction being a let to a finite power and vsually arising from diuersitie of iudgements For all not looking with the same eyes nor following the like principles of vnderstaÌ„ding though they agree in the generall to reprehend yet for the most part they faile in a particular resolution of what they thinke worthie to bee reprehended And therefore as in elections whilest two of the worthiest are competitors stiffe factions vnite themselues in allowance of a third inferiour to both It seemeth that you haue dealt so in this article wherein either all your consents made a hindrance to what you meant or a diuisioÌ„ made you agree to mislike a thing of the least importance Wherin if you had not discouered a weaknes to be pitied you might iustly haue expected an answer of more learning but as men failing eueÌ„ in those things wherein it is no great vertue not to faile ad little vnto any maÌ„ y t shall direct theÌ„ because it is smal praise to teach that which is ashame not to know so to omit our direction eueÌ„ where we wonder that any man should need it must needs be esteemed in a high degree an vnexcusable neglect of a necessarie duty No man I thinke not of those that are thought to be out of the compasse of the Church maketh a doubt whether all men sin leauing the redemptioÌ„ of man so the freedome from sin to him only who was eternally the Son of God It was as necessary that he should be without sin as it is certaine that except him in many things we offend all This is our frailty that all of vs doe amisse which we know and the best of vs do offend when we know not and therfore Dauid with an humble hart desired to be cleÌ„sed from his secret faults making that euen a step to keepe him from presumptuous sins As it is therfore an infirmity that we doe amisse in many things so it is a vertue that we would do amisse in nothing this being the perfection of our country that the desire of our way which because clothed with corruption we cannot attaine we say daily as we are taught forgiue vs our trespasses And they pray in vaine to haue sin pardoned which secke not also by prayer to haue sin preuented yea euery particular sin except men can haue some transgression wherwith they ought to haue truce For although saith Maister Hooker we cannot be free from all sin collectiuely that is generall for so none was free sauing only Christ in such sort that no part therof shal be fouÌ„d inherent in vs yet distributiuely at the least al great and greeuous actuall offences as they offer themselues one by one both may and ought by all meanes to be auoided so that in this sense to be preserued from all sin is not impossible This assertion seemeth in your opinions to be vntrue and for proofe you alledge that we which are baptized and regenerated in many things do offend all did euer Maister Hooker denie this Nay in the very same place are not these his words In many things we doe all amisse But say you if that be so how can we auoide all great and greiuous sins Or if we can why may we not be preserued also from all small sins and so being free from both small and great preserue our robe pure to the coÌ„ming of our Sauiour Christ In these few words in my opinion are three of the most strange and most violent conclusions that I haue euer read and those which are by no meanes agreeable to any Church First we say In many things we offend all therfore say you in all things we offend all SecoÌ„dly we say we may auoid some particular great greeuous sins therfore fay you why not lesse also as if it were all one not to small not to sinne at all Thirdly we say y t we are to pray and hope to be preâ—erued froÌ„ any euery speciall sin therfore say you we may keep our robe pure to the coÌ„ming of Christ. I would be loth to make euill arguments worse by repeating and therfore I haue vsed a direct sincerity in rehearsing your own words wherein I shall not need to bestow any labour to ouerthrow a ruinous building of such weakenes but only to tell you in these points what is the iudgement and sentence of the whole Church First no man doubteth but that all men are sinners for all the imaginations of the thoughts of mans hart are only euill continually In iniquity are we borne and in sin are we conceaued who can vnderstand his faults For the hart is deceitfull and wicked aboue all things who can know it For vnlesse a man bee borne of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into
of God then the word Church Somtimes it is taken for any assembly somtimes for a faithful religious assembly and theÌ„ it sometimes noteth out the whole bodie of the elect in all ages times places both in heauen earth and only them So it is in the article of our faith I beleeue the catholike church that is all those who are or shal be saued both Angels men so it is taken in that speech of our Sauior VpoÌ„ this rock will I build my church that is the whole catholike church Somtimes it is taken for that part only which is in heauen as when it is said that the church is without spot or wrinckle which can be verified of no part whatsoeuer the Anabaptists dreame but of that which triumpheth Sometimes it is taken for that part of the catholike church which is militant that thou maist knowe howe thou oughtest to behaue thy selfe in the house of God which is the church of the liuing God the piller and ground of truth So feare came vpon all the church Sometimes it is taken for the pastors and gouernours onely of the church as when it is said Tell the church that is the heads and gouernours of the church Sometimes for the people Take heede therefore vnto yourselues and to all the flocke whereof the holy Ghost hath made you ouerseers to feede the church of God which he hath purchased with that his owne bloud Somtimes for particular churches professing the doctrine and religion of Christ as To the Angell of the church of Ephesus so we say the church of Rome the church of Corinth the church of England now from the mistaking of this worde Church doubtlesse much harme and needlesse contentions haue come vnto the church of Christ. For in the first great contention of what persons the Church consisteth in my opinion wee dispute of one Church namely the true Catholike all which must be saued they dispute of the visible wherein are hypocrites also So that the reasons that are brought on both sides are smally to the purpose seeing both sides directly mistake the question Thus in the iudgment of those of the Church of Rome persons excommunicate though vniustly are cut off froÌ„ the particular Church but not froÌ„ the catholike excommunication being only the censure of a particular Church Therfore saith our Sauior Christ many are called with an externall calling to the society of the â—isible Church but few are chosen that is to the Cathoâ—icke For though both be a folde yet of the visible Church saith Saint Austin In the Church there are many wolues and out of the Church there are many sheepe but in the Catholicke without any other mixture are sheepe only Now visible and inuisible maketh not two Churches but the diuers estate condition of one the same Church Hence coÌ„meth it to passe that in this question of the visibility of the Church there is the like mistaking as in the former for they of Rome say we haue made this distinction because our Church hath not bin alwaies visible but we say if our Church had bin as glorious and as famous as any Church in the world we would haue accounted the Catholicke Church inuisible Which no doubt of it they of Rome doe vnderstanding Catholick and visible as we meane For the Church of Christ which we properly tearme his mystical body can be but one neither can that one be sensibly discerned by any man in as much as the parts therof are some in heauen already with Christ and the rest that are on earth albeit their natural persons be visible yet we cannot discerne vnder this property wherby they are truly and infallibly of that body only our minds by internal conceit are able to apprehend that such a real body there is a body collectiue because it conteyneth a huge multitude a body mystical because the mystery of their coniunction is remoued altogether from sense Whatsoeuer we reade in scripture concerning the endles loue and the sauing mercy which God shewed towards his Church the only proper subiect therof is this Church They who are of this society haue such markes and notes of distinction from al others as are not subiect vnto our sense only vnto God who seeth their harts and vnderstandeth al their secret cogitations vnto him they are cleere and manifest In the eie of God they are against Christ that are not truly and sincerely with him in our eies they must be receiued as with Christ that are not to outward shew against him to him they seeme such as they are but of vs they must be taken for such as they seeme Al men knew Nathaniel to be an Israelite but our Sauiour pearsing deeper giâ—eth further testimony of him then men could haue done with such certainty as he did behold indeede an Israelite in whom is no guile Now as those euerlasting promises of loue mercy and blessednes belong to the mystical Church euen so on the other side when wee reade of any duty which the Church of God is bounde vnto the Church whom this doth concerne is a sensible knowne company and this visible Church in like sort is but one continued from the first beginning of the world to the last end which company beeing deuided into two parts the one before the other since the comming of Christ that part which since the comming partly hath imbraced and partly shal hereafter imbrace the Christian Religion we tearme as by a proper name the Church of Christ. For all make but one body the vnity of which visible body and the Church of Christ consisteth in that vniformity which al seueral persons thereunto belonging haue by reason of y e one Lord whose seruants they all professe theÌ„selues to be that one faith which they al acknowledge that one baptisme wherwith they are al receiued into the church As for those vertues y t belong vnto morall righteousnes honesty of life we do not speake of them because they are not proper vnto Christian meÌ„ as they are Christian but do concerne theÌ„ as they are men True it is the waâ—t of these vertues excludeth from saluation so doth much more the absence of inward beleefe of heart so doth despaire and lack of hope so emptinesse of Christian loue and charity but we speake now of the visible Church whose Children are signed with this marke One Lord one Faith one Baptisme In whomsoeuer these things are the Church doth acknowledge them for her children them only she holdeth for aliens and strangers in whom these things are not found For want of these it is that Saracens Iewes and infidels are excluded out of the bounds of the Church others we may not though you doe denie to be of the visible Church as long as these things are not wanting in them For apparant it is that al men are of necessity either Christians or not Christians if by externall
profession they be Christians then are they of the visible Church of Christ and Christians by externall profession they are all whose marke of recognisance hath in it those things which we haue mentioned Yea although they be impious Idolaters wicked hereticks persons excommunicable such as we deny not to be euen the lims of Satan as long as they continue such Is it then possible say you that the selfesame men should belong both to the Synagogue of Satan and to the Church of Christ Vnto that Church which is his mystical bodie not possible because that bodie consisteth of none but only true Israelits true sonnes of Abraham true seruants and Saints of God Howbeit of the visible body and Church of Christ those may be and oftentimes are in respect of the maine parts of their outward profession who in regard of their inward disposition of minde yea of externall conuersation yea euen of some parts of their very profession are most worthily both hatefull in the sight of God himselfe and in the eies of the sounder parts of the visible Church most execrable From hence haue proceeded those bitter speeches wherewith many of our reuerend Fathers haue censured the Church of Rome as also those violent courses and vnseemely which they haue hitherto vsed against vs. Therefore our Sauiour compareth the kingdome of heauen to a net whereunto al that commeth neither is nor seemeth fishe his Church he compareth to afield where tares manifestly knowne and seene by all men doe grow intermingled with good corne and so shall continue til the final consummation of the world God hath had euer and euer shall haue some Church visible vpon earth But for lack of diligent obseruing the difference first betwixt the church of God mystical and visible then betweene the visible sound and corrupted sometimes more sometimes lesse the ouersights are neither few nor light that haue bin committed This deceiueth them and nothing else who thinke that in the time of the first world the family of Noah did containe al that were of the visible church of God From hence it grew and from no other cause in the world that the Affrican Bishops in the councel of Carthage knowing how the administration of Baptisme belongeth only to the church of Christ and supposing that hereticks which were apparantly seuered from the sound beleeuing church could not possiblie be of the church of Iesus Christ thought it vtterly against reason that baptisme administred by men of corrupt beleefe should be accounted as a Sacrament Some of the Fathers were earnest especially Saint Cyprian in this point but I hope you haue not yet proceeded so farre This opinion was afterwards both coÌ„demned by a better aduised councel and also reuoked by the chiefest of the Authors therof themselues And therfore as it is straÌ„ge for any man to denie them of Rome to be of the church so I cannot but wonder that they will aske where our church was before the birth of Martin Luther as if any were of opinion that Luther did erect a new church of Christ. No the church of Christ which was from the beginning is and continueth in substance the same vnto the end of which al parts haue not bin alwaies equally sincere and sound In the daies of Abiha it plainly appeareth that Iuda was by many degrees more free from pollution then Israel In Saint Paules time the integrity of Rome was famous Corinth many waies reproued they of Galathia much more out of square in Iohns time Ephesus and Sâ—yrna in better state then Thiatyra and Pergamus were and yet all of them no doubt parts of the visible church so standeth the cause betwixt Rome and vs so farre as lawfully we may we haue held and do hold fellowship with them we acknowledge theÌ„ to be of the family of Iesus Christ and our heartie prayer vnto God Almightie is that being conioyned so farre forth with them they may at length if it be his will so yeeld to frame and reforme themselues that no distraction remaine in anie thing but that we all may with one heart and one mouth glorifie God the Father of our Lord and Sauiour whose church we are As there are which make the church of Rome no church at all vtterly so we haue them amongst vs who vnder pretence of imagined corruptions in our discipline do giue euen as hard a iudgement of the church of England it selfe But whatsoeuer either the one sort or the other teach we must acknowledge euen heretikes themselues to bee though a maimed part yet a part of the visible church For as to baptize is a proper action belonging vnto none but the church of Christ which is true in the church of Rome howsoeuer some Anabaptists account it but a mockerie so if an infidell should pursue to death an heretike professing christianitie onely for christian profession sake could the church denie him the honour of Martyrdome Yet this honour all men know to be proper vnto the church and therefore where the Fathers make opposition betwixt the visible church and hereticall companies as often times they doe they are to bee construed as separating heretikes not altogether from the companie of beleeuers but from the fellowship of sound beleeuers for where profest vnbeleefe is there can be no visible church of Christ there may be where sound beleefe wanteth Infidels being cleane without the church denie directly and vtterly reiect the very principles of Christianity which heretikes imbrace and erre onely in misconstruction And therefore it is strange that you dare affirme the Turke to hold any part of the christian faith or to bee in that respect comparable to the church of Rome For that which separateth vtterly that which cutteth off cleane from the visible church of Christ is as Maister Hooker saith plaine Apostasie direct deniall vtter reiection of the whole christian faith as farre as the same is professedly different from infidelitie Heretikes as touching those points of doctrine wherein they faile Schismatikes as touching the quarrels for which or the duties wherein they diuide themselues from their brethren loose licentious and wicked persons as touching their seuerall offences or crimes haue all forsaken the true church of God the church which is sound and sincere in the doctrine that they corrupt The church that keepeth the bond of vnitie which they violate the church that walketh in the lawes of righteousnesse which they transgresse This verie true church of Christ they haue left howbeit not altogether left nor forsaken simply the Church vpon the maine foundations whereof they continue built notwithstanding these breaches whereby they are rent at the top asunder But peraduenture you will say why then doe wee refuse to communicate with the church of Rome more then Zacharie Elizabeth Anna and others did with the high priests corruptions being in both and both remaining parts of the church of God I answer that in the time of our Sauiour Christ the synagogue
of the Iewes although it was not in regard of the high Priests and chiefe Doctors in all respects the true visible church yet in some sort it was because the remainders of religion were left the worship instituted of God himselfe was not wholy taken away so with the Papists we would not be affraid to communicate in our liturgie if it were not in respect of their superstitious order some prayers which are idolatrous for which we haue some reasons as yet to doubt that they haue no warrant We must all of vs be ioined to the true church else we cannot be saued that is to the catholicke not the visible for doubtles a man may bee saued that liueth not in any particular Church or that is excommunicated from all yet we say thus much That we must ioyne ourselues to some particular Church if wee will be saued with this twofold caution If such a Church be knowne vnto vs or if it be possible to ioyne vnto it Wherein because euerie particular may erre yet none absolutely exclude from saluation all men haue reason to ioyne with that that is most sound This then were the fittest point to bee discust with moderation and learning That seeing all Churches haue some vnsound parts in them which Church is to be reputed at this day the soundest of all the rest Doubtlesse the Church of Rome was once a light to all the Churches of the world but through the corruptions of some those diseases haue somwhat infected the Church which now to the sorrow of Christendome like a canker or leprosie haue inlarged themselues As there is a contention when Adam fell so histories varie when this defection beganne Some make fiue or sixe hundred yeares to be the continuance of her sound estate some three hundreth some to erre euen from the Apostles time Doubtlesse in the Apostles time there were heretikes in the Church the Nicholaitans Simon Magus Cerinthus others Eusebius reporteth out of Egesippus that although as long as the Apostles liued the Church did remaine a pure virgin yet after those times immediately errours crept into the Church Clemens Alexandrinus to confirme that there was corruption of doctrine presently after the Apostles time alleageth the prouerbe There are few sons like their Fathers Socrates saith of the Church of Rome and Alexandria the most famous Churches in the Apostles time that about the yeare 430. the Roman and Alexandrian Bishops leauing their sacred function were degenerate to a secular rule or dominion Yet we say not that all before Gregorie were sound nor all after corrupt yet their errours grew on by little and little euen from those men whose reuerend names gaue warrant to what they held they thinking nothing â—esse then by those meanes to haue corrupted the Church But shee may when it pleaseth God recouer her former soundnesse againe if we had but so much care of them as they seeme to haue of vs or that all sides peaceably with indifferencie would admit the true vse of a generall Councell But let their errours be as they are we leaue them to bee reproued by those whom that businesse doth concerne and to bee iudged by the searcher of all hearts yet for all that we affirme them to be parts of the Church of Christ and that those that liue and die in that Church may notwithstanding bee saued Of those who are of a contrarie opinion in a good meaning I say with Lactantius With howe good a meaning these poore soules do euill To conclude least you should thinke Maister Hooker to bee arrogant and presumptuous to make himselfe as you say the onely Rabbi know that hee hath saide nothing which that honourable Frenchman of worthie memorie hath not said before with great wisdome moderation and learning But if you cannot bee resolued without a miracle as you scoffingly seeme to desire wee can but in our prayers recommend your weakenesse to the God of all power and the fountaine of all light ARTICLE XII Of Preaching HOw hard it is for those who are in loue with themselues to carâ—e a well tempered indifferencie betwixt that which they out of ignorance performe and others out of iudgement auoid this Article alone may serue as euidence sufficient to perswade all For euen in the matter of greatest vse vnto Gods church the dispensation of the word of life a vehement dislike of those things which they cannot attaine hath wrought too violeÌ„t an opposition for the ouerthrow of that course which learning and truth haue held not to be the weakest meanes to support the same Hence commeth it to passe that whilest al grant the word to be powerful and effectual some thinke this is only true of the word preached which otherwise hath smal vertue except it be in sermoÌ„s those sermoÌ„s only to haue this power which are of their own making Causing the holy ghost whose streÌ„gth is perfected in weakenes to be necessarily tied to a defect of al outward ornaments as though that almighty power vpon whom euer excellency depeÌ„ds eueÌ„ in the weakest meanes were of lesse authority or lesse power wheÌ„ the meanes which he vseth were more excellent thus depriuing the church of variety of guifts who out of obedience and humility hath learned how to profit by all But as to tie the power of conuerting sinners to that which is eloquently strong in humaine wisdome were a thing not safe iniurious to the church so to bee too earnest against al outward ornaments through an affectation of pure simplicity is an error no lesse dangerous then the former was For seeing those that teach are not all either capeable or furnisht with the same guifts and that continually there is no lesse variety in those that heare it is the wisdome and discretion of the church for a better attainmeÌ„t of a more perfect estate to learne with thankfulnes and reuerence how to profit by all For as it is impossible that anie one forme of teaching should please or perswade all men a prerogatiue which was not graunted to the first and best sermons whose excellencie was that they conuerted many but not all so the rest who yet are not but must be conuerted are to expect though not with curiosity to affect a variety for the manner euen of that which in substance and end is but meerely one For the mysticall body as it is ful of variety and diuersity in his parts yet in it selfe but one so the working is manifold different though the beginning and the end Gods power and his glory be in truth to and for all men but one For sometimes the word by being read proposeth and preacheth it selfe to the hearer sometimes they deliuer it whom priuately zeale and piety moueth to be instructors of others by conference sometimes of them it is taught whom the church hath called to the publick either reading thereof or interpreting by them after a most diuers manner but
is what kind of necessity there is of baptisme a thing already fully haÌ„dled by M. Hooker therfore we wil be more sparing in this point All things which either are known causes or fit meanes wherby any great good is vsually procured or men deliuered froÌ„ greeuous euil the same we must needs confesse necessarie now we know there is a necessity absolute there is a necessity conditionall euen that conditional for the end in ordinary estimation is absolutely necessarie Thus to a man in the sea to escape drowning we account a ship a necessary meanes euen of absolute necessity in respect of our iudgement howsoeuer some few haue escaped by other meanes so our Sauiour saith of Baptisme vnlesse a man be bornâ—â—gaine of water and of the Holy-ghost he cannot enter into the kingdome of heauen Which place we vnderstand howsoeuer some deny it of Baptisme by materiall water according to the generall consent of the auncient Fathers For it is a rule in expounding the Scriptures that where a literall construction will stand as in this place the farthest from the letter is commonly the worst And therefore water the spirit both concurring in that sacrament why should there not be though not an equall yet a necessity of both For as the spirit is necessary to regeneratioÌ„ so regeneratioÌ„ is necessary to eternal life which so far dependeth vpoÌ„ the outward sacrameÌ„t that God wil haue it imbraced not only as a signe or token what we receiue as you affirme but also as an instrument or meane whereby we receiue it and this without any inthralling as you seeme to feare of Gods mercifull grace Neither as Hugo saith doe these giue speaking of the Sacraments that which is giuen by these and yet ordinarily as necessary to receiue these as those graces are necessary which we receiue by these For though Baptisme bee not a cause of grace yet the grace which is giuen by baptisme doth so far depend vpon the very outward sacrament as God will haue it imbraced as a necessary meanes whereby we receiue the same and howsoeuer we dare not iudge those that in some cases do want it yet we may boldly gather that he whose mercy now vouchsafeth to bestowe the meanes hath also long since intended vs that wherunto they leade For to imagine nothing necessary but saith is to come neere the error of the old Valentinian hereticks who ascribed all to knowledge only So saith Tertullian Some account the Sacraments as vnprofitable without faith so needeles where faith is but no faith can bee profitable saith Saint Bernard to him who when he may yet refuseth to receiue the Sacraments Therefore if Christ himselfe which giueth saluation require Baptisme it is not for vs to dispute or examine whether those that are vnbaptized may be saued but seriously to doe that which is required and religiously to feare the danger which may grow by the want thereof For doubtles the sacrament of Baptisme in respect of God the author of the institution may admit dispensation but in respect of vs who are tyed to obeie there is an absolute necessity For it is in the power of God without these to saue but it is not in the power of man without these to come to saluation And yet the Church holdeth constantly as well touching other beleeuers as Martyrs that Baptisme taken away by necessity taketh not away the necessity of Baptisme but is supplied by the desire therof For what is there in vs saith Saint Ambrose more then to will and to seeke for our owne good Thy seruant Valentinian who died before he was baptized Oh Lord did both For as the visible signe may be without true holinesse so the inuisible sanctification saith Saint Austin may sometimes be without the visible signe And yet these are no iust reasons either to make vs presume or to take away the necessity of this holy sacrameÌ„t For euen those haue it in their wishe as the Schoolemen say who indeed do want y e same And howsoeuer as they of Rhemes confesse such may be the grace of God towards men that they may haue remissioÌ„ iustification sanctificatioÌ„ before the external sacrament of Baptisme as in Peters preaching they all receiued the Holy-ghost before the sacrament yet this is no ordinary thing now in infants and whosoeuer therefore shal contemne them cannot be saued Yet God who hath not bound his grace in respect of his owne freedome to any Sacrament may and doth accept them as baptized which either are martyred before they could be baptized or else depart this life with wiâ—he and desire to haue that Sacrament which by some remediles necessity they could not obtaine For the iust by what death soeuer he be preuented his soule shall be in rest And whereas you demaund whether our sacraments be not the same in nature vertue and substance that the sacraments of the Iewes were vnder the law and therefore baptisme to be of no more necessity then circumcision we answeare with Saint Austin The Sacraments deliuered by Christ are for number fewer taking as Maister Zanchy noteth sacraments largly for al those ceremonies as he did for performance easier for vnderstanding more excellent for obseruation more chast And therefore though all sacraments for their substance be one that is Christ and that more particularly baptisme succeedeth circumcision yet their difference is great both in their rites which were diuers in the maner of the obiect the one Christ to come the other already come the one a corporall benefit to be of that Church which should haue her certaine seate vntill the comming of the Messias in the land of Canaan the other expecting a spiritual kingdom The one bounde to an obseruation of the whole lawe Ceremoniall Iudiciall Morall the other only to the moral law and for want of true fulfilling of it to faith and repentance The one to Israel only the other to the whole Church The one to continue till the comming of the Messias in humility the other vntill his comming in glory The one belonged vnto the males only the other to all So that as the differences were many and not small euen so we doubte not to affirme that the benefits are far more and the necessity is much greater And therfore as Maister Hooker saith we haue for baptisme no day set as the Iewes had for circumcision neither haue we by the law of God but only by the Churches discretion a place therunto appointed Baptisme therefore euen in the meaning of the law of Christ beloÌ„geth vnto infants capable therof froÌ„ the very instant of their birth which if they haue not howsoeuer rather then lose it by being put off because some circumstances of solemnity do not concur the Church as much as in her lieth marke the words for she cannot disappoint Gods eternall election but as far as is in her power by denying the meanes casteth
away their soules and therefore there is a more absolute necessity in the Church to giue Baptisme which she can neuer willingly refuse to doe without cruelty then there is in the faithfull to receiue it who how willing soeuer yet alwaies cannot ARTICLE XVII Of Transubstantiation SEeing the Church hath nothing left vnto it either more powerful or more reuerently to be esteemed then the holy Sacraments it hath bin the policie of Sathan from the beginning to darken the cleere light of these with infinit clouds of vnnecessary questions wholy impertinent and vnprofitable to that cause So that out of due consideration of this great euill wisemen haue thought it more fit by application to make vse of that which concernes them in this kinde rather then by curious inquisition to desire to finde out what concerneth them not The whole benefit which the Church hath is from Christ and this by no other meanes but by participation For Christ to be what he is is not to be what he is to the Church but only by a participation of all that he is as a mediator betwixt him and vs. This we cal the mutuall inward hold which Christ hath of vs and we of him in such sort that each possesseth other by way of speciall interest properly and inherent copulation for what soeuer we are eternally according to his election wee are actually no longer in God then onely from the time of our actuall adoption into the body of his true Church into the fellowship of his children wee are therefore adopted sonnes of God to eternall life by participation of the onely Sonne of God whose life is the welspring cause of ours This participation besides the presence of Christs person and besides the mysticall copulation thereof with the parts and members of his whole Church importeth a true actuall influence of grace whereby the life which we liue according to godlinesse is his and from him wee receiue those perfections wherein our eternal happinesse consisteth This is partly by imputation of his merit partly by habituall and reall infusion of his grace the first whereof as the ground of all the rest being the Spirit maketh a blessed vnion of all those howsoeuer distinguisht by place or time who mystically belong vnto that body and this being the common vnion of all Saints we fitly terme the communion of Saints That of imputation maketh vs al sonnes in which number how farre so euer one may seeme to excel another yet touching this that all are sons they are all equals some happily better sonnes then the rest are but none anie more a sonne then another Neither doth this participation include anie grosse surmise of any mixture of the substance of his flesh with ours but is actually deriued vnto his Church by the vse of his holy Sacraments Wherein Baptisme doth chalenge vnto it self the inchoation of those graces the consummation whereof dependeth vpon other mysteries For the grace which we haue by the holy Eucharist doth not begin but continue life and therefore no man receiueth it before Baptisme because nothing is capable of nourishment that doth not liue Now life being propounded to all men as their end those which by Baptisme haue laid the foundation and attained the first beginning of a new life haue in the Eucharist foode prescribed and giuen for the continuance of life in them In both the same thing being affoorded which is a participation of Christ in our infancie we are incorporated into Christ and by Baptisme receiue the grace of his Spirit without any sense or feeling of the gift which God bestoweth In the Eucharist we so receiue the gift of God that we know by grace what the grace is which God giueth vs. The degrees of our increase in holinesse and vertue we see and can iudge of them we vnderstand that the strength of our life begun in Christ is Christ that his flesh is meat and his bloud drinke not by surmised imagination but truly euen so truly that through faith we perceiue in the body and bloud sacramentally presented the verie taste of eternall life the grace of the Sacrament is heere as the food which wee eate and drinke And howsoeuer it was to bee feared that by the meanes of some men should be brought to account of this Sacrament but only as of a shadow destitute emptie and voide of Christ yet now at length for any thing that I can see all sides are growne as it is fit to a generall agreement concerning that which alone is materiall namely the reall participation of Christ and of life in his body and bloud by meanes of this Sacrament The maner how which ought to be the least part of our consideration is in this question the greatest difference So that considering the small successe that bitter contentions haue had in this cause it were to be wished that men would giue themselues more to meditate with silence what they haue by the sacrament and in humilitie lesse to dispute of the maner how This being the true difference betwixt Christes disciples and others that the one because they enioyed not disputed the other disputed not because they inioyed For doubtlesse this heauenly food is giuen for the satisfying of our emptie soules and not for the exercising of our curious and subtill wits It is sufficient that the sacraments reallie exhibit what they promise though they are not really or doe not really containe in themselues that grace which with them or by them it pleaseth God to bestow Now the first by all sides being granted why doe we vainly saith Maister Hooker trouble our selues with so fierce contentions whether by consubstantiation or els by Transubstantiation the sacrament it selfe be first possest with Christ or no a thing which no way can either further or hinder vs howsoeuer it stand because our participation of Christ in the sacrament dependeth vpon the cooperation of his omnipotent power which maketh it his body and bloud to vs whether with change or without alteration of the element such as they imagine we need not greatly to care or enquire for That being admitted wherein all agree which is a reall presence why should not the rest in question rather be left as superfluous then vrged as necessarie This is that which being vttered by Maister Hooker out of great wisdome argueth as you surmise that hee maketh light of the doctrin of Transubstantiation whereas the reuerend Fathers of our Church doe so much detest it and that so many blessed Martyrs haue suffered death for denial thereof Whether the doctrine of Transubstantiation be true or false howsoeuer it is plaine what Maister Hooker thought yet that is no part of the contention at this time The matter in question betwixt you and him is only this Whether it be not curiosity to contend for the manner how seeing all sides are agreed that the thing is For as in those who were to bee cured by our Sauiour Christ we