think he could be perswaded of the authority of Scriptures not by the authority of the Church nor by the perswasion of Moses or the Prophets but by the internal truth speaking in his heart Which is the holy Spirit And let them not make an instance against us that every one pretends the holy Spirit by reason pretension maketh no prejudice to truth Neither is the question betwixt us and the Papists as betwixt admitting the authority of the Scripture and denying the same by reason both of us do admit the same and then the question ariseth how or by what way we may be perswaded that these Scriptures which we embrace as divine are not prophane And if we or they answer more agreeably let every impartial Christian be a judg We conclude therefore as this question to be unworthy of a Christian man If the holy Bible be the Word of God so another assertion of a Jesuit Sambar de fide orthodoxa called Sambar to be very foolish viz. that the Protestant Churches have no Scriptures For besides that he defends this proposition for no other end but to escape the strength of the arguments derived out of the Scriptures likewise he confirmeth this proposition by no other medius terminus or reason but because the Protestant Church having no notes of a true Church is false and so she can have no Scripture being the Scriptures dependeth from the Church both in their material and in their formal part Whereas both the argument and its probation is false and they foolishly petunt principium take that for granted which we utterly deny viz. that the Scriptures and their sense doth depend from the authority of the Church as we did touch this point somewhat higher Moreover the Jesuit by this assertion doth shew his desperate cause by reason none of the ancient Fathers did deny the Scriptures to any Heretick as they suppose us to be that they might shew his case plain and Austin saith that the Scriptures are not belonging as proper to one Aug. lib. 3. contr Ma. Arian but that they are common witnesses of both the sides And if we would be so rude we could change the scene and affirm that the Papists themselves have no Scripture as to the formal part because we did plainly shew a little higher their Church not only to be false and erroneous but none at all But being I am not afraid of their arrows which they can take out of the Scriptures I will not deny them the Bible Having thus far secured the Sentiment of the Protestant Churches about the authority of Scriptures I descend to the proprieties of them I affirm therefore the holy Scriptures to be perfect as well touching the perfection of parts as of degrees and thence to be sufficient to our salvation The Law of God is perfect saith David Psal 119. and the sufficiency of it is shown by the Apostle in the forementioned words 2 Tim. 3.16 The accession of the New Testament to the old maketh no prejudice to the perfection and sufficiency of Scriptures because he that declared all the counsel of God spoke nothing other than what Moses did say and the Prophets as we writ before Hence the old Fathers said very well As the New Testament is hidden in the old so the Old Testament is declared in the new neither gradus variat speciem doth a degree change the nature of things that are of the same kind Neither do we dispute with the Papists of this or the other part of Scriptures but of the whole Canon as it is made by the Apostles declared by the ancient Church and enumerated by Hierom. Hierony in prol Gal. They are not therefore to commit a fallacy of division And as we do justly cut off from this perfection and sufficiency of Scriptures the books call'd Apocrypha by reason they contradict themselves and the holy Scripture neither were they found in the Jewish Church unto which were committed the Oracles of God Rom. 3.2 So we reject the distinction of the Papists betwixt the books Protocanonical and Deuterocanonical by reason a Canon cannot be changed And for this reason we do very little esteem Traditiones non scriptas not written Traditions because out of that is written Joh 20.31 2 Tim. 3.15 we may have sufficient instructions for the life-eternal To refer unto these Traditions the several Orders of Fryers and the sheaving of their Crowns the words of Christ John 16.12 I have yet many things to say unto you but you cannot bear them now is a very great folly Because if this was the meaning of Christ he could very easily have called a Barber and commanded the heads of those Disciples to be shaven But may be he could not by reason of their baldness Besides that Monks Hieronimus whose duty was to weep and not to teach as an old Father saith were not shaven for a sign of their honour and pre-eminence but for a sign of their penitence For the last Psal 19.8 Rom. 16.4 the Scriptures are easie to be understood The Commandment of the Lord is pure enlightning the eyes and whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Which could not be if the Scripture was not easie and light We affirm therefore that as those things which are absolutely necessary to salvation are few so they are plainly set down in the Scriptures But as for other questions I do not deny such things to be found in the Scriptures that can afford work enough for a human wit. Namely as one saith The holy volumes are of such a nature Chrysostomus that as well a lamb may wade in it as an Elephant swim Being then that the holy Scriptures are perspicuous as it is evident out of reason testimony and the consent of the ancient Fathers therefore the Protestants proceed very lawfully in attributing judicium discretionis or a judgment of discretion to every true Christian So that every believer by the often reading of the Word of God and by the conferring of one place of Scripture with the other may interpret the Gospel 2 Pet. 1.20 21. because no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation for it came not by the will of man but by the holy Ghost As for the Fathers of the ancient Church and the four Primitive Councils we imbrace them as interpreters of the holy Scriptures yea we affirm likewise that they may bind subordinately to Scriptures our conscience but not force them to the faith ligant non obligant yet we deny whether the Fathers or the Council or the Roman Pope to be a Judg of the Controversies about matters of faith Austin Fatetur Andradius contra Kâ—mnitium Defens Concil Triden l. 2. Bellar. sacra scriptura regula decidendi certissima tutissimaque est Heb. 4.12 but only the Holy Ghost speaking in his Word
THE Romish Priest TURN'D PROTESTANT With the REASONS OF HIS CONVERSION WHEREIN The True Church is Exposed to the View of Christians and Derived out of the Holy Scriptures Sound Reason and the Ancient Fathers Humbly presented to both Houses of Parliament By JAMES SALGADO a Spaniard formerly a Priest of the Order of the Dominicans LONDON Printed for Tho. Cockerill at the Three Legs in the Poultrey over-against the Stocks-Market 1679. To the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal with the Honourable the Commons of England in Parliament Assembled Sirs I Hope you will pardon my boldness because I presume to appear before your faces It is requisite I should give an account of my hope in Christ unto you who are next to the most Illustrious King Charles the II. Defender of the Faith the surest Maintainers of the Protestant Religion And unto whom else should I dedicate a Treatise of the True Church if not to the Parliament where as well the Commonwealth is to be found in the Church as the Church in the Commonwealth Namely There is a new resemblance in your Houses of the old face of Israel which maketh me the bolder as the countenance of Law-givers like that of Moses doth in its lustre go far beyond the rest Nature and Religion have made you of that constitution that you do not only shine for your selves but also spread out your beams for the benefit of others Sirs Be pleas'd to accept of this small token of my due submission and to look upon him with an eye of benevolence who desiring to depend upon your Sanhedrim will always remain Sirs Your most Obedient Servant James Salgado a Spaniard a Converted Priest THE PREFACE TO THE READER THere are so many of this kind of Books put out that one should think This to be superfluous But I was constrain'd to conform my self to the present Age not only for that I might wipe off the Calumnies of the Papists who commonly say That the Roman Priests desert the Roman Church for no other reason than this That they may have liberty to do what they please whereas God knoweth they amongst themselves have a freedom so unbridled that there is almost nothing found there but a great disorder and license and to satisfie the Protestants in the reason of my Conversion and shew to both the parties why I am turn'd a Protestant I composed this Book first in Latin but that my Conversion should be manifest to all yea even to the meanest I caused it to be Translated into English Kind Reader apply these newly-shuffled Cards as I may use the phrase of a Right Reverend Bishop of this Realm for thy own profit May be you will find that in it you never heard before So farewel From one that is desirous of thy Salvation JAMES SALGADO Chr. Ch. Oxon Dec. 26 78. Reverend Sir I Am to give you thanks for the occasion you gave me of acquaintance with the bearer hereof Mr. James Salgado whom I find by his discourse to be a right Spaniard born of a good Family and of very good parts and to have suffered very much by the Inquisition of Spain for embracing the Truth of our Protestant Religion This consideration and the great bounty and charity I saw used by his Countreymen towards ours when found in distress among them makes me think him an object singularly well deserving our common charity and benevolence especially considering how very rare a case it is to see a Clergy-man of his Nation come to us They have been civil to him in this Vniversity and I hope good men will be so to him with you To such as may desire to learn the Spanish or Italian Tongue he may be serviceable having good skill in both but in the former he is eminent as born and bred in Madrid I will presume to beg the continuance of your goodness to him affording him your instruction and commendation to good men there for some employment he may be capable of by which you shall oblige much Reverend Sir Your very affectionate humble Servant Andr. Sall. Courteous Reader I Do believe that the Author of this Book James Salgado was a Romish Priest according to the Order of the Dominicans and that he is now become a true Convert to the Protestant Religion as the ensuing Discourse will further evidence to the intelligent Reader Nic. Lloyd Rector of St. Mary Newington 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE True Church THE ancient Fathers commonly called the Church an Ark of Noah without whose bosom none could be freed from the peril of everlasting damnation as well as none that was out of the Ark could escape the danger of the flood And indeed they did not say it without reason because they knew that to them that were strangers from the Church her priviledges did not belong as Vocation Justification Sanctification the want of which disinables a man from coming to the perfection of the future world and to the enjoyment of it And as those members that are not joyn'd to a human body are destitute of sense and life so they that are rooted out from the Head of the Church which is Christ or have never been inserted into the Olive-tree can expect no spiritual influence which is able to make us the heirs of eternal salvation This was the reason for which David affirmeth That the Heathens did not know the statutes of the Lord namely because they have been without the communion of Israel where the Church was in the Old Testament Because the Lord shewed his Word unto Jacob his Statutes and his Judgments unto Israel and he hath not dealt so with any Nation Psal 147.19 20. therefore they have not known his judgments The Apostle doth ascend higher on this matter when he writing to the Ephesians saith At that time you were without Christ Ephes 2.12 you were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world Namely because they were not in the bosome of the Church and were without that Ark of Noah we spoke of they were also without the Communion of Christ who is a loyal Husband only to one Spouse as it is said in the Canticles My Dove my undefiled is but one Cant. 6.9 But when the Fathers did use this similitude they meant by it the Universal Church whose beginning Austin deriveth from Abel and deduceth the continuation of it until the consummation of the world Therefore no Church which is extant here or there or in any place of the world can go in that signification under a name of an Universal Church but that which was is and shall be and comprehends in its ambit as well the Triumphant as the Militant part And if that be Catholick Vinc. Lirin contra noph novitates according to the Rule of Vincentius Lirinensis in his Book against the prophane novelties Which has been believed always every-where and
stedfastly concluded with my self as soon as God would grant me an opportunity to associate my self in the Protestant Church and reject the Roman Idolatry Which I accordingly have done and having renounced the Popish Religion have adjoyned my self unto the body of our Saviour Christ Jesus that is unto the true Protestant Church Whose truth I am going to shew now as shortly as I can and that by this argument That Church which doth vindicate the authority of the Scriptures defends the proprieties of them and teacheth according to the Scriptures is a true Church but the Protestant Church doth so The Major is firm and without contradiction The Minor is to be proved which I am endeavouring to do Neither will I be so Scripturary as that I should reject the old Fathers and the Primitive Councils I will alledg them likewise as bearing witness unto truth which cannot be overthrown As to the first The Protestant Church doth vindicate the authority of Scriptures when she denieth the same to depend from the authority of the Church not so much as to us Robert Bellarmin seeing that these who affirmed without any limitation Bell. de V. D. l. 1. c. 46. the Divinity of Scriptures doth depend from the authority of the Church did not speak soberly enough he endeavoured to mollify the Proposition with this distinction viz. that the Scriptures must be considered either in themselves or in respect unto us As they are considered in the first manner they do not depend from the authority of the Church but as they are in the second But as the distinction is vain because every authority is Relative and is not so much to be considered in it self as in respect of the object so likewise the supposition is false viz. That the authority of Scriptures in respect or in relation unto us doth depend from the Church But before I come to the demolishing of this assertion we will consider the reason why Papists say and believe so And indeed I can find no other besides this that they seeing themselves unable for resisting the Arguments of the Protestants which are drawn out of the Scriptures endeavouring to pervert the sense of them asserting that the same dependeth from the interpretation of the Church and so consequently are constrained to affirm that also the authority of Scriptures dependeth from the Church of which Scriptures nor of the right meaning of them nothing can be certain without the Tradition of the Church And by this same they very handsomely tread in the footsteps of the old Hereticks of whom one thus speaks The Hereticks when they come to be argued by the Scriptures they presently fall to the accusing of them as if they could not be from or of a sufficient authority or not so to be understood and of which no certainty can be had without Tradition Here is the true Protraicture of our modern Papists But to the thing it self We deny the authority of Scriptures to depend any way from the authority of the Church but only from the holy Spirit speaking within the Scriptures 2 Pet. 1.21 2 Tim. 3.16 17. by reason he is the author of them and so he doth endue them with an irrefragable authority And as Christ desires no testimony from any besides from the Father so likewise his word which he hath been pleased to leave upon earth instead of his person And as it is very unreasonable that the Kings Proclamation should depend from a Crier or a Rule from a thing that is ruled or that the Sun should borrow its brightness from that Orb or Vortex which it is contained in so it is very disagreeable to affirm that the Scriptures should depend from the authority of the Church The Church is a Candlestick the Word of God is a Candle as our Saviour declareth Luke 8.16 Now as a Candlestick doth contribute nothing at all to the light of the Candle so neither doth the Church to the authority of Scriptures We do not reject the Ministerial Testimony of the Church in that case by reason the Church leads us unto the Gospel as the Samaritan Woman did lead her fellow-citizens to Christ as Austin saith yet for all that none of them can be call'd the cause of our faith but an instrument Yet the Papists do object against us viz. 1 Tim. 3.15 That the Church is call'd the pillar and ground of the truth and from thence they bring in this conclusion that she is the only cause from whom the authority of the Scriptures doth depend But very foolishly because first that I may pass by the Observation of Camero who affirmeth these words to belong unto the 16 verse by reason there is to be found in that verse a Copulative Particle which otherwise should be to no purpose c. the Apostle doth speak of the Church considered as a house and then sheweth which is the chiefest pillar or ground of the same and indeed if we speak reasonably a house cannot be a pillar but a pillar is in a house It is secondly to be observed that by this pillar is not to be understood an Architectonical but a Political one not one that should uphold by its strength the authority of Scriptures but one upon which the Proclamations and Constitutions of the Supreme King are affixed Neither is the exception of Bellarmin against this distinction of any value viz. That by this way the Church may be as well call'd a Library as a Pillar by reason we do affirm that the office of the Church is not only to keep the books as it is of a Library but to expose the Contents of the same to the view of people and to under-teach them in the way of their Superiors will which belongs to a pillar The Church then can be an external Motive unto us that the Scriptures are of divine authority but cannot perswade us unto it by reason it is only the propriety and the business of the holy Ghost whom the Lord joyneth with his word Ps 59.21 when he saith My spirit which is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth c. Austin speaketh very handsomely to that purpose Lib. de Confess speaking of the authority of Scripture But how shall I be perswaded to believe this Moses indeed did say so it is true he said but he is gone and although he should be present and talk Hebrew to me I should not understand what he meant but if he should speak Latin I should understand But by what means should I know that he speaketh truth Therefore inwardly inwardly I say in the Cabinet of my heart not the Greek nor the Hebrew nor the Latin neither the Barbarian truth but he that without the sound of lips or the noise of syllables should tell me he speaketh truth and I should say to this this man You speak truth You may see Christian and impartial Reader how Austin did
requires at the end of the greatest Controversies which are handled betwixt us and the Romanists yields to the truth and is more though an Italian a Protestant than a Papist So then we have by the grace of God shewn Justification as in relation to God to be a forensick pronunciation of the righteousness of a sinner and the passive one to be only by faith and a living faith which applys to her the merits of our Saviour As to Sanctification we will not speak any thing of it by reason the Papists do not dispute much against the Protestants in this matter only I utterly deny these works which we do to be meritorious which are conducing and necessary to our salvation necessitate medit as a means by which we should arrive to everlasting salvation Bernhard saith very handsomely of them Bernhard Opera bona sunt via ad regnum non causa regnandi Good Works are a way to Heaven but not the cause of it Neither doth the distinction of the Papists betwixt the works de congruo and de condigno mitigate their assertion For besides that the congruency of Gods reward for our works consists only in his own pleasure Fear not little flock for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom Luk. 12.32 Likewise which I always admired they have found no other place out of the Scriptures or in them for the asserting the condignity or meritoriousness as it is considered in it self of good works besides this place which doth contradict them to their faces Non sunt condignae passiones hujus temporis gloriae in nobis revelandae This is the only place where the word condignae is to be found Ex ungue leonem It is enough to give a small portraiture of truth because Wisdom which hath many sons can be justified by them I will go further and shew how the Protestant Church teacheth well of the Sacraments that are seals of the righteousness of faith Rom. 4.11 and give a short view of the Papists Errors As touching Baptism both of the parties confesseth the same to be a Sacrament of Initiation by which we are implanted in fide parentum which I hold in the faith of our Parents into the Church which is the Body of Christ But falsly do the Papists affirm that first it doth work ex opere operate by its own vertue in order to our Regeneration and the taking away of the Original sin not only because a thing corporal and outward can have no influence into things spiritual as to their amendment but all proceeds from God only Omne bonum donum omnis perfecta Donatio descendit a patre luminum saith James But because a sign of the Covenant cannot contribute the things in it comprehended neither is it apparent by the effect by reason those that have been baptized are and have been subject to everlasting damnation and have fallen from that former Illumination of which speaketh the Apostle Heb. 6.4 And if this Sacrament should work ex opere operato Heb. 6.4 Rom. 4.9 10. Grace or Regeneration c. Surely Abraham could not have been as he was counted righteous by faith in uncircumcision Moreover in the times Primitive and especially as to them that were baptized being at age Faith was required before the seal of Righteousness was stamp'd upon their souls and consciences Now being that faith is a cause of other vertues and graces and hath adjoyned to it self that great work of Repentance it must needs follow that the Apostle requiring faith as to the aged did suppose in them other graces not thinking that the same should be conferred upon them by the Baptism but rather sealed and confirmed Yea because the Sacrament of Baptism is a seal of the Righteousness of faith and not a thing working out by its internal Power Faith and Regeneration This same reason hath moved Austin and other of the ancient Fathers to affirm that Children are baptized either in fide parentum in the faith of their parents if faithful Christians or else in fide Ecclesiae in the faith of the Church viz. if their parents be unknown or Infidels because they were perswaded that faith is required before baptism rather than conferred by it So that we think that in these Children which are elected there is an operation of the Holy Ghost from the beginning which although not sensibly yet efficaciously worketh upon their tender hearts and minds and if it doth not work in them subjectively some kind of faith or else an actual faith yet it objectively applieth the benefits of Christ which are otherwise received by an actual faith Now that no body should think we do charge falsly our Adversaries the Papists with this assertion I will shew the Courteous Reader the reason why they do assert thus and then evince the same out of another custom of theirs in this holy Sacrament As to the reason why it is this Because they say that Children dying without being baptized cannot be saved but are in a limbus infantum a kind of a hole prepared for Children where they suffer paenam damni sed non paenam sensus that is they are deprived only from the Vision of God but are not subject to any sensible torment If then their election which is unchangeable Act. 2.39 and the being under the Covenant of Grace which as well belongeth to them as their Parents cannot save them because of their not being baptized Surely baptism which maketh them able to demand Heaven must work these graces by its internal vertue by which they may arrive to the eternal happiness 2. They say none can be saved without the Church and none can be counted as a Member of it unless he be baptized So then if the baptism only maketh us Members of the Church without which we cannot be saved Baptism likewise must operate by its internal vertue those graces by which we are saved As to the custom in some particulars it is this They think the holy Baptism to be so absolutely necessary to salvation that they in case of necessity do approve the baptism of Women if they only observe the form of the baptism Which evinces that they think baptism to work as we said formerly ex opere operato Having shewed the truth of our charge laid unto them I will shew with one argument the falsness of them both As to the first That not all Children that die without baptism are to be deprived of the beatifical Vision 2 Sam. 12.18 23. is as sure as that David who was saved was to go after his death to his child which was dead without circumcision instead of which baptism succeeded as we may infer out of Col. Col. 2.11 12. Act. 2.39 2.11 12. It is as fure as that the promise of everlasting salvation belongeth to the Children which argument is to be pressed as well against Anabaptists denying the seal to the Children unto whom belongeth
one part of his Priesthood which is his sacrifice viz. that there should be no more material sacrifices being the place to which they were bound was deftroyed The Papists do urge the old custom and the expressions of the old fathers who commonly speak about sacrifices but they are very much in them because they understood by the word of a sacrifice nothing else but Sacrificium Eucharisticum a Sacrifice of Thanksgiving which commonly was perform'd at the Lords-Supper which and alms joined together with prayers are a living sacrifice Rom. 12.1 Clem. Alexand l. 7 Stromat De vero cultu l. 6. c. 25. August de C.D. l. 10. c. 4. Psal 110. holy and acceptable to God. Hence Clemens Alexandrinus saith they will not believe that a holy altar is a righteous soul and holy prayer the incense And Lactantius There are two things to be offered a gift and a sacr fice both incorporal the gift is the integrity of mind the sacrifice is prayer and psalms Austin calls our heart an altar our sacrifice humility and praise our fire charity And so Hieronimus Ambrosius and others As to the Priest there is no other but Christ himself because he is a Priest for ever according to the order of Melchizedech and they cannot be Priests Levitical because they are ceased And so I having shewed there is no proper altar no proper Priest nor no proper Hoast besides Christ himself Who is our sacrifice Epiphan lib. 2. â—om 1. Haâ—s our priest our altar I conclude there is no proper oblation extant at this time for the sins of the living and the dead and by consequence no Transubstantiation upon which the sacrifice is builded And here falleth their Purgatory because besides that it is contrary to Scriptures to Reason to the ancient Fathers injurious to the satisfaction and merits of Christ likewise if there be no sacrifice there shall be no Mass and per consequens no money for the delivery of the souls out of Purgatory and so Purgatory must needs fall Here falleth likewise their Doctrine of Concomitancy Gelasius Pontif. Conc. Constant for which sake as their Pope saith they have committed a sacriledg in subducing the Cup from the Lay-man which although the Council of Constance professeth to be contrary to the Primitive institution of Christ and the use of the ancient Church yet notwithstanding all this for some foolish reason as that the hands of some doth shake that some have ugly beards c. it declareth the man to be an Anathema that will not believe it And it is and always hath been a great wonder for me why the same doctrine of Concomitance should not as well serve in the taking away of the bread and using the cup or else in subducing it as well from the Clergy as from the Lay-man why it is an observation and a fulfilling of Law to abstain from one and a sin yea a mortal sin from the t'other There is no Reason nor Scripture for it to be found Therefore the Protestants teach very well as well to the nature as to the integrity of this Sacrament as we may see in their daily practice The rest of the arguments which they have against or for this matter we will as I said refer to the aforementioned Treatise Only I will touch the point of the worshipping of Saints In which the Protestant Church teacheth according to the holy Scriptures and to the ancient Fathers August that Sancti honorandi sunt imitatione non adorandi religione The Saints are to be honoured by Imitation but not adored religiously and that for these true Reasons viz. 1. We cannot believe in Saints Ergo we cannot worship them it is the argument of the Apostle Paul Rom. 10.14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed 2. We are severely forbidden to worship any thing besides God Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God Mat. 4.10 Isaias Aquinas 1. p. q. 57. ar 4. Jer. 17.1 p. q. 12. ar 8. and him only shalt thou serve 3. Because they do not know our thoughts nor our prayers Abraham did not know us and Isaac was ignorant of us From thence saith Thomas Aquinas to know the cogitations of the heart is the property of God and elsewhere Ergo Angeli non cognoscunt secreta cordis therefore Angels know not the secrets of the heart And again Cognoscere singularia cogitata facta hominum non est de perfectione intellectus creati To know particulars and the thoughts and acts of men is not of the perfection of a created understanding This considering Durandus saith 4. p. 463. Si quaeratur an beati cogitatione beata cognoscunt orationes nostras dicendum quâ—d non If the question be whether the blessed Saints in their blessed knowledg do know our prayers It is to be answered they do not according to Austin Aug. in lib. de cur promort c. 15.1 Reg. 8.39 Proinde fatendum est nescire quidem mortuos quid his agatur Furthermore it is to be confessed that the dead know not what is done here because God only knoweth the hearts of all the Children of men seeing then that the Saints do not know our prayers nor our thoughts neither is it unlawful to adore them or worship them But I cannot pass by with silence an answer of a Jesuit Jesuit Anonymus upon this place we produced in our third Reason Abraham doth not know us He answereth that the Saints are said not to know the Israelites as Christ saith to the wicked Non novi vos I do not know you Mat. 7. yet he saith Christ knew them well enough It is an answer I never heard before But this good Socius doth not consider that 1. He contradicts his own opinion of the Fathers in the Old Testament being in limbo patrum where surely they could not be adored nor know our necessities as well as Christ knew theirs to whom he spoke I do not know you 2. When Christ saith I do not know you he means by it the knowledg of approbation that is that he doth not approve them nor their doings as it is plain ex antithesi of knowing one as David saith Psal 1. The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous that is he approveth it But when Abraham is said not to know one it is to be referred to a meer ignorance as we may see it out of the opposition made betwixt Abraham and God But thou O Lord c. So that when God is said not to know a thing it is to be understood he doth not approve it but when men are charged with ignorance it is to be understood properly But having past this Objection I will go on Peter the Apostle a Saint and a holy Man would not admit the worshipping of Cornelius saying I my self also am a man. Act. 10.26 The Angel of whom John knew he was such an one would not admit