apparitions so great similitude in their motions and apparitions so many rules and differences vpon long experience haue beene giuen to discerne them and so great skill cunning is requisite to apply them Sith there be so many and so dangerous wayes to take as of Pagans Iewes Turks Heretikes all differing condemning one another all depending vpon the motions of these spirits Sith such and so high is the excellency of the nature of these spirits to be discerned such and so weake the infirmity of man to discerne them such and so subtile malicious and powerfull is mans enemy the Diuell to deceaue in them by counterfeit dissimulation of piety or by forged illusions insteed of reuelations or by outward apparitions in forme of Saints Angels or God all by verity of examples confirmed Sith so speciall extraordinary so rare and vnvsuall is this gift of discerning these spirits Sith I say all this is so as is proued with what reason and iudgment can any man make this priuat spirit or rather selfe-seeming conceit of his owne braine a competent sufficient and infallible iudge to discerne and decide al these questions and difficulties arising vpon them What braine-sicke madnesse senslesse presumption is it for euery silly simple and vnlearned person man or woman all of which challēg this spirit to assume so much to themselues and presume so farre vpon their owne conceit as to discerne and declare which of euery one of these spirits is of God the deuill or nature which is good or bad which true or false either in thēselues or others and vpon this presumption to ground the certainty of their religion faith and saluation What greater temerity and rashnes can there be then to build a worke so great and important as is the eternity of saluation or damnation vpon no more solid and certaine a ground then is the proper conceit of euery priuate motion of an vncertaine spirit Surely if men were not blind or bewitched and that either willfully or foolishly blinded or bewitched and both so deeply that they eyther will not or cannot see what both sense reason doth dictate to their owne conscience what both authority and testimony of God and holy men doth lay before them what both examples experience of so many ages doth confirme vnto thē surely they could not but often doubt and distruct many tymes stagger and relent their owne iudgment conscience doubtlesse pricking them in this their ostentation of the certainty of their spirit they could not but sometyms enter into consideration yea and feele a sensible touch of trepidation in soule and stand in a wonder and amazemēt at themselues how they dare venture so far and stand so confidently in so weighty a matter vpon the judgement of so vncertaine vnconstant vnwarranted yea corrupted deceitfull and partiall a Iudge as is this their priuate spirit conceit imagination What man of reason and discretion or of care conscience will not hould it farre more secure and safe in these points of eternity with euery good Catholike to ioyne his spirit with the spirit of the Saints and seruants of God now reigning in heauen to subiect his spirit to the spirit of Gods holy Church heere on earth guided infallibly by an infallible spirit of God and by conforming themselues to this spirit to imbrace and follow that Fayth and religion that doctrine and discipline that sacrifice and sacraments which so many Saints and holy men so many Confessours and learned Doctours so many Churches and Councells in all ages throughout all Countryes belieued in their harts professed by their liues defended by their writinges and sealed and confirmed with their liues bloud And thus much for the first reason against the priuate spirit drawne from the difficulty to discerne spirits THE PRIVATE SPIRITS AVTHORITY To interprete Scripture and iudge of Fayth confuted by reasons drawne from the true and infallible authority and meanes of interpreting holy Scripture CHAP. V. VVhat Interpretation Authority and meanes are necessary infallible for the sense of Scripture SECT I. SVBDIV. 1. What Interpretation of Scripture is necessary THE better to vnderstand the reasons drawne from the infallible authority and meanes of interpreting of Holy Scripture by which the priuate spirits authority is confuted we may consider 1. What interpretatiō that is which is required as necessary 2. What authority as infallible is required to this intetpretation and in whome it is resident 3. What meanes are to be vsed and followed as certaine by these Interpreters to this interpretation Out of all which may be inferred and proued the insufficiency of the priuate spirit to be eyther authour or meanes of this interpretation of Scripture First therefore when we speake of the sense and interpretation of scripture we speake not of that sense and interpretation which is only probable and credible but of that which is certaine and infallible Not of that which is only for the pulpit and documents of manners or which is for the schooles and subtiltyes of diuinity but of that which is for doctrine of Fayth and articles of beliefe Not of that which is only to confirme and increase vs in that fayth which we already belieue but of that which is to persuade and produce fayth a new eyther in our selues when and why we first belieue or in others whome we persuade first to belieue And this is that sense of Scripture which as it is being rightly vnderstood in the sense which the holy Ghost intended a firme and solide foundation of true fayth so being falsly vnderstood and wikedly peruerted by false teachers it is the Mother or nurse of al heresies For as nothing is persuaded as worthy of beliefe but which is true or vnder the shew of truth and as the scripture is by all granted to be most true so all vse the text of Scripture as a meane to persuade that which they would haue to be belieued as true the true teachers in the true sense the false in the false sense both cyting the wordes and text but the one in that sense and meaning which the holy Ghost intended the other in that which they themselues inuented Which course of false sense as the Diuell first beganne when he would haue by Scripture persuaded Christ to cast himselfe downe headlong saying It is written he hath giuen his Angels charge ouer thee So the members of Sathan follow the same way and labour by the same Scripture to seduce the members of Christ as the faythlesse the faythfull the sacrilegious the religious the Heretikes the Catholikes For the Iewes would by Scripture haue proued that Christ was not only not Messias saying Search the Scriptures and see that from Gallilee a Prophet ryseth not but also that he was a malefactour and such a one as ought to dye saying VVe haue a law and according to our law he ought to dye And the same is continued both by Turkes
but to belieue what euery one will and best likes to reiect what he will not belieue or doth dislike him and so to make euery one 's owne will conceit or affection the rule of his fayth and beliefe Thirdly it followes that euery Protestant is not only as sure of his own saluation as he is of Christs that he cānot be damned except Christ be damned which Luther Caluin Zuinglius expresly though absurdly hold but also that he is as iust holy as any Confessour Martyr Apostle or the Mother of God yea euen as Iesus Christ himself For sith all are iust according to them not by any iustice internall and inherent in the soule but externall and imputed by Fayth which fayth apprehending the iustice of Christ which was in him makes it the iustice of euery one in particuler for which he is accounted iust it followes that this iustice of Christ which is equally imputed to all the iust doth equally couer all sins maks equally iust all persons yea all as iust as Iesus Christ whose iustice is theirs and with whose iustice they are equally couered and thereby counted equally iust before God Whence ensues that all are as iust at the first instance of their iustification as Christ was both at first and euer till his ascension and that they cannot increase in iustice be made more iust and iustified still because from the first instant of their iustification they haue all the iustice imputed to them which Christ had euer inherent till his ascension in him are as iust at the first as he euer was at first or last Which though absurd senselesse and impious yet it hath not wanted expresse defenders among them as Luther who affirmed all faythfull to be as iust as Peter Paul our B. Lady and all Saints As Bucer who affirmed euery minister to be as iust as was S. Iohn Baptist then whome was not by the testimony of our Sauiour a greater among the borne of women And Zuinglius who affirmes that God fauours no lesse euery faythfull Christian then he doth Christ himselfe and that euery one hath as great right to heauen as Christ hath Fourthly it followes that not only all faythfull Christians but that all people whether good or bad Iewes o◠Gentils Christians or Pagans yea all who euer haue liued or euer shall liue in this world shal be all saued as sure as Christ is saued This is deduced out of the Protestant doctrine two wayes first out of diuers their positions which by many of them chiefly by Caluin are belieued and taught as 1. That only fayth doth iustify and that it being once had cannot be lost 2. That this fayth is promised to all faythfull and their seed as it was to Abraham and his seed that therefore all the children of the faythfull are sanctifyed in their Mothers wombe as being within the Couenant made to their Parents and their seed as Caluin stifly maintaines 3. That the Sacraments and chiefly Baptisme are seales or signes of fayth and so are to be ministred only to the faithfull and the children of the faythfull for which Farellus at Geneua refused to baptize a child whose parents were Papists and Caluin approued the fact 4. That therfore the children of the faythfull shal be saued though they neuer be baptized as the English Catechisme teachs because they are borne of faithfull Parents so are in the couenāt and sanctifyed before they be borne If al this should be true it would follow that because the couenant and promise of fayth and saluation was made for example to Abraham and his seed that because Abraham had fayth was sealed with the signe of fayth was iust by Fayth must continue in fayth and was saued by fayth that therefore his seed Ismael and Isaac and as Isaac so his seed Iacob and Esau and as Iacob so all his seed all the twelue Patriarches his sonnes were likewise included in the couenant were all borne of faythfull parents all sanctifyed in their Mothers wombe all sealed as faythfull with the Circumcision the signe of faith all made iust by fayth all continued in the same fayth and so all saued in heauen by vertue of that fayth And as they so their seed and children and their childrens children from generation to generation must be likewise included in the Couenant be likewise sanctifyed in their Mothers wombe be likewise sealed with the signe of the Couenant or Circumcision be likewise iust by fayth continue iust in fayth and be likewise saued by fayth And the same which it inferred of Iacob and his children and childrens children vnto the worldes end may also be inferred and auouched truly either more generally of Adam and all his posterity or more particulerly of any one faythfull and his posterity for euer For if Adam and Eue or this particular faythfull person were faythfull iust and saued then their children after them and their childrens children for euer were likewise faythfull iust and saued because as the Parents had the promise of fayth made to themselues and their children so their children were borne sanctifyed of these faythfull parents were sealed with the signe of fayth Circumcision or Baptisme were made iust continued iust by fayth were saued as iust by fayth and as these children so also all their children and childrens children by the same reason were all included in the couenant or promise of Fayth were al born sanctifyed by fayth were all to be sealed with the signe of fayth were all made iust by fayth all cōtinued iust by fayth so are all saued by fayth and so all the posterity of Adam Nati natorum quotquot nascentur abillis as they were included in the promise of fayth made to their parents and them and therby were all faithfull and continued and ended all faythfull so were they all saued By which it should follow also not only that all the whole world should be saued and none damned but also that fayth iustification and saluation should descend by inheritance from generation to generatiō as Landes should by entayle which cannot by any fine or recouery be cut off sold or lost And as they are all thus faythfull iust by fayth apprehending the iustice of Christ and had the iustice of Christ equally imputed to them for their iustice so are they all equally iust as iustifyed by the same iustice of Christ and all equally iust with Christ as hauing the same iustice theirs which was Christs and so are all iust and perfect as any Saint or Christ are all as certaine of saluation as any Saint or Christ and shal be all as blessed in heauen as is any Saint or Christ with whome as they had the same iustice in earth so for the same they shall haue the like glory in heauen Which absurdity as of all absurdities it is most absurd so doth it follow out of the
in soule and that not to the lowest Hell but only to the graue or buriall and so Act. 2. Thou shalt not leaue my soule in hell they change soule into carkasse and hell into graue translating it Thou shalt not leaue my carkasse in the graue as Beza and Bucer 5. By those who admit his descension to haue beene in soule but yet suffering the very paines of hell and of the damned either after his death in hell as Luther Gerlachius and some other mentioned by Beza or before his death in the garden and vpon the Crosse as Caluin VVillet and others before cited 6. By those who question this article as suspected to haue beene intruded into the Creed after it was made as Caluin All which opinions as they either deny any Limbus Patrum to haue euer beene or any reall torments of hell as yet to be or as they affirme Christ to haue descended only in vertue and merit not in body or soule or only in body to the graue or in soule to suffer the paines of hell either after death in hel or before death vpon the Crosse and in the garden are all contrary to this part of this article in which is affirmed Christs descending into hell that is in soule to Limbus to free the Fathers and Patriarches there and to carry them with him into heauen Secondly his Resurrection from the dead in the same article is oppugned 1. By those who according to Beza deny all resurrection as yet of Christs body more then of other mens 2. By the Vbiquitarians who affirme his body to haue had immensity and therby to haue beene euery where in all places euer after his Incarnation 3. By Caluin Beza and other who deny his Resurrection with the guift of subtility or penetration and affirme that his body could not pierce through the stone of the sepulcher or enter the doors to his Disciples without either the remouing or altering of the nature of the dores and stone by resoluing them into some liquid matter 4. By Caluin and others who deny the rysing againe of his bloud that was shed vpon the Crosse thereby the resurrection of his whole and entire body All which as they deny either any resurrection at all or the complete Resurrection of Christs body or the resurrection of the same with subtilty or penetration do euery one oppugne this article of Christs resurrection from the dead in such due sense as it ought to be belieued Seauenthly in the seauenth article attributed to S. Bartholomew is oppugned both the ascending of Christ to heauen and his sitting at the right hand of God the Father by power and dignity equall to him in person and excelling all creatures in his humane nature 1. By the Vbiquitarians who by the all-presence of Christs body in euery place take from it all possibility of ascending to a new place 2. By Caluin who by giuing to Christ a power not equall with God but Vicary or deputary to him and an honour not the same but only second in degree to Christ after God the Father by denying al situatiō either of sitting or standing of Christs body in heauen doth oppose both his Ascension and sitting at the right hand of God 3. By the same Caluin and others who deny all Ascension through the heauens by way of penetration and admit it only by diuision and by cutting off the heauens 4. By those who yield the Patriarches a priority and deny Christ the primacy of tyme in ascending to heauē All which as they either affirme an euery where presence of Christs body or a difference of honour between◠Christ as God and God the Father or as they deny either any penetration of Christs body through the heauens or any priority of his ascending before other soules are all opposite to the manner of Christs ascension and sitting at the right hand of God in glory Eightly in the eight article attributed to S. Matthew is oppugned the Cōming of Christ to iudge the quicke and the dead by their generall doctrine that God is authour and worker of all sinnes that the Commandements of God are impossible that man hath no freewill that there is no reward for good deedes that all sinnes be mortall and damnable For these supposed no way is left to discusse rightly the differēce of sinnes to punish iustly mens sinnes or to reward duly their good deeds Ninthly In the ninth article attributed to S. Iames the lesser is oppugned the beliefe of the holy Ghost and of the Catholicke Church both which S. Augustine makes one article Of the holy Ghost in that some as hath been shewed make it only the vertue not the substance of God others expung it out of their Letanies Others as the Geneuians deny the adoration of it Others as before do make it the authour worker of all sinne the sauiour of all sects who by a perswasion they cōceiue of it do euery one assure themselues of saluation which authority reason and experience conuince to be false Of the holy Catholicke Church in that some reiect the name Catholicke as vaine and change it into Christian others leaue it wholy out of the Creed as superfluous and all of them do generally affirme the Church for many ages to haue beene latent inuisible erroneous adulterous and antichristian without either head to gouerne it or authority to end any controuersies and to conserue vnity or to punish offenders in it and without any sanctity in the professours of it whom they make all to be sinners and that in all sinnes generally and in great sins mortally then how can such a Church be truely holy vniuersall and infallible in deciding the beliefe of articles determination of controuersies Tenthly In the tenth article attributed to S. Simon is oppugned the Communion of Saints and forgiuenesse of sinnes The communion of saints is oppugned 1. The communion of saints in earth one with another by denying all meanes of vnity in faith vnder one head and Iudge 2. The communion of saints in earth with the soules in purgatory by denying all prayer for the dead 3. The communion of Saints in earth with the Saints in heauen by denying all honour or praying by vs vnto them and all knowledge and praying by them either for vs in earth or others in purgatory The remission of sinnes is oppugned by denying al power of priesthood in Gods church to pronounce any sentence of absolution all vertue in Sacraments to haue any operation as instruments in the remitting of sinne all infusion of grace to blot out and wash away all vncleannesse and deformity of any sinne either originall or actuall which according to them are neuer remitted or taken away but only couered and not imputed Eleuenthly In the eleauenth article attributed to S. Iudas Thaddaeus is oppugned the resurrection of the body by all who before oppugned the resurrection of Christs body and
and cleane and bright like to heauen Secondly how can they in the first petition say Hallowed be thy name and hope that they by true loue honour and obedience to God can sanctify and make holy his name by their life and actions who belieue that euery action they do euen the best they can do is a sinne and that mortall damnable Surely to pray that by actions which are prophane we may sanctify Gods name that by workes which are offences to God we may please God that by deedes which are damnable and deserue hell we may prayse God and deserue heauen is a prayer not only so hoplesse as it is not possible but also senslesse that no reasonable man can be imagined to make it Thirdly how can they wih confidence say Thy kingdome come that is that Christ may raigne as a King either in his Church by fayth or in the faythfull by grace or in heauē by glory who belieue and professe that Christ was not able to preserue his Church for so many ages togeather without errour of Antichristianity and Idolatry no not so much as in extancy or visibility nor yet hath power by grace so to raigne in any his seruants as to maister any sin or temptation to sin or to performe any one commandement or to do any one action which is iust and not sinnefull Surely weake is that King poore is that Kingdome where neither the King hath power to protect his subiects from the inuasion of the enemy nor the subiect hath ability to performe any action which may tend to the honour and seruice of the King Againe what needes any man to pray that either Christ may raigne in him by grace present or that he may raigne with Christ in glory to come who is certaine and sure by his speciall fayth as all Protestants say they are that both he is for the present in state of Gods fauour and also shal be for the future in state of glory in heauen Surely he that belieues this needs not to pray either for pardon of sinnes which he is sure are pardoned or for his obtaining heauen which he is sure to obtaine Fourthly how can any one in the third Petition say Thy will be done in earth as it is in heauen Vnderstanding that Gods will should by vs be performed in doing good deedes and auoiding bad that we should conforme our selues to the will of God both in the materiall obiect by doing that which he will haue done and in the formall by doing it both for the end and after the manner as he will haue it done who belieues 1. That man hath no freedome or power to worke the will of God 2. That Gods will is wrought in euery action as well bad as good 3. That the will of God in performing his commandements is impossible 4. That good workes in this life are neither meritorious nor necessary nor yet possible 5. That in earth euery man and euery action of his is sinnefull and vncleane and in heauen euery Saint Angell and euery action of theirs is good pure and perfect For as it is needlesse to pray that Gods will be performed which ineuitably shal be performed both in good and bad actions in which man hath no liberty or power so it is bootlesse to pray that men may either be freed from sinne or may do good workes or may fullfill Gods commandements or may do his will in earth as Saints and Angels do it in heauē because according to their beliefe all this in this life is impossible and neither euer was nor euer shal be by any at any tyme performed In vaine therefore is it for vs to pray that we may conforme our selues to the will of God either in the affirmatiue precept in doing that which he commaunds or in the negatiue precept in omitting that which he forbids either in the materiall obiect in doing what he commands or in the formall in doing how and why he commands sith both and all are either necessary and so must be done or impossible and so cannot be done Fifthly how can any man say Giue vs our dayly bread Vnderstanding either of temporall sustenance for the reliefe of the body or of Sacramentall food the body and bloud of Christ who belieues either that the decree will and ordinance of God doth impose an infallible and an ineuitable necessity vpon all things whereby all thinges necessary wil be prouided for vs as God hath ordayned without our prayer or that the Eucharist is not the true body and bloud of Christ but only a figure or signe of it because the beliefe of the former takes away all necessity of praying for temporall sustenance and the misbeliefe of the latter opposes all desire of the supersubstantiall bread of the body of Christ in the Eucharist Sixthly how can any man with confidence say Forgiue vs our trespasses as we forgiue them that trespasse against vs Vnderstanding by trespasses his debts or sinnes by forgiue remit or take away the same For if Fayth be precedent and presupposed to prayer as it is for els how can we as we ought with fayth and confidence aske and pray and the same faith as they say doth assure vs by a certaine and infallible perswasion that our sinnes are already forgiuen or not imputed then surely in vaine needlesse yea foolish is our petition to haue them remitted or not imputed 2. If euery good worke be a sinne as they defend and that mortall then by sinne and that mortall such as is the saying though neuer so deuoutly of this prayer and petition is sinne remitted and so comitting of sinne should be a meanes to obtaine remissiō of sinne which is most absurd as though the committing of a new offence should be a motiue to pardon the old 3. If no sinne be remitted in this life but only couered and not imputed then in vaine and hoplesse is our prayer for remission and taking away our sinnes as of a thing impossible and needlesse and bootlesse is our prayer for the not imputation of the same because as before in the elect they are already not imputed in the reprobate they neuer shal be imputed either therefore fruitlesse and hopelesse as a thing impossible is the remitting and taking away of our sinnes or needlesse fearelesse as a thing certaine is the not imputation of the same by this petition demanded sith the one is impossible to be obtained and the other is certainly already possessed and enioyed needlesse therefore or hopelesse is this petition of forgiuenes of our sinnes by their principles Seauenthly how can any man with confidence in the sixt petition say Lead vs not into temptation that is into no danger or occasion of sinne into no consent or act of sinne to to come who belieues 1. That God wills and workes all sinnes and occasions of sinnes 2. That as he hath already decreed so euery action and
for the faithfull dying before Christ and Purgatory for faithful dying without full satisfaction 2. The locall place and the materiall fier and the reall suffering of the present paines of hell by the soules of the damned and withall that it is a worke good though not the best to auoid sinne for feare of hell In all which we extoll the iustice of God mixt with mercy in punishing al sorts according to their deserts and deterre men from liberty of sinne for feare of punishment in hell And thus we haue in this second part confuted this priuat spirit which in the former part we proued to be the sole and whole ground of the Protestant faith and saluation 1. By authorities of holy Scripture 2. By testimony of auncient Fathers 3. By reasons drawne from the difficulty of discerning spirits 4. By reasons drawne from a right interpreter of Holy Scripture 5. By reasons drawne from an infallible iudge of controuersies of fayth 6. By reasons drawne from the nature and certainty of fayth 7. By Circular absurdities to which this spirit leadeth 8. By Doctrinall absurdities which follow vpon it and the doctrine of it against Fayth and the Creed against Hope and the Pater noster and against good life morall vertues the ten Commandements and all laws of God Church or CoÌ„mon-wealth In which also we haue made plaine how this their doctrine grouÌ„ded vpon this their priuate spirit doth derogate from God and the Blessed Trinity whome it makes the authour of all sinne a sinner lyer dissembler and tyrant the only sinner and a greater sinner then either the Diuell or man doth derogate from Iesus Christ and his birth life passion and resurrection whome it dishonours in making him neither PhisitiaÌ„ Lawyer Iudge Priest or perfect Redeemer or Sauiour but one ignorant impotent sinnefull and damned doth derogate from the Church of God triumphant in heauen which it dishonours in taking from it knowledge charity in Saints and Angels and honour and reuerence to them and from the Church militant on earth which it dishonours in taking from it all authority visibility vniuersality perpetuity or extancy and being vpon earth so many ages How it derogates from fayth which it dishonours in taking from it all groundes whereon it is to be builded all meanes wherby it is to be attained and in making it contradictory rash presumptuous sinnefull and preiudicious to all Hope and Charity How it derogates from man whome it disables depriues of all Free-will of all inherent grace of all good life and workes of all possibility to obey Gods Commandements to abstaine from sinne to merit any reward How it derogates from all morall vertues and good life from which by many principles it doth withdraw withall doth draw to all vice and wickednesse doth giue the reines to all Epicurean liberty and loosenesse In all which the spirit of our Catholike Church and the doctrine of it is shewed to be contrary and to giue duâ— honour to God to Christ to his Saints Angels Church to Fayth Sacraments and the rest And to be a meanes to encourage all Christians to the practise of all vertue and perfection and to auoid all sinne and wickednes All this we haue carefully painefully laboured to performe in this second Part of the treatise of that pri-Spirit THE PROTESTANTS OBIECTIONS and proofes taken out of Scripture for the defence of their priuate Spirits authority to inrerpret Scripture and iudge of Controuersies proposed and answered CHAP. X. Of certaine obseruations profitable for the solution of Obiections SECT 1. HITHERTO we haue battered that I hope sufficiently the maine fabricke of this imaginary edifice of the Protestant priuate spirit It remaines only for this second Part that we raze demolish the foundation vpon which this their conceit of their priuate spirits authority is built and erected that is that we solue the reasons or rather obiections taken out of holy Scripture vpon which they ground their conceit for which we may note that as our Catholike doctrine doth not deny either the being or permanency of the Spirit of God in euery faythfull both person and Doctour for all faythfull by the spirit of God haue faith or the effect and operation of the same in assisting theÌ„ in the finding out of the true sense of holy scripture for neither are the faithful prohibited from all reading nor the learned debarred from all interpreting of holy scripture so there is a great difference betweene the effect and operation of this spirit in the Protestant and Catholicke as well simple as learned as both do chalenge it and rely vpon it For as for better illustration we may obserue in a naturall body and the spirit or soule of man in which comparison we imitate S. Paul the soule or spirit doth giue information or operation to the whole body and euery part thereof yet so that euery member hath not euery operation all members haue not one action but the head one as to iudge the handes another as to worke the feet another as to walke and the mouth is to receaue the belly to containe the stomake to disgest the meat and so it is proper to the eye to see to the eare to heare and to neither to discourse and reason which belongs only to the braine so in the spirituall body of the Church and the faythfull members of it the spirit of God doth assist all and euery one in particuler as well the meanest as the greatest as well the most simple as the most learned VVho are many but one body in Christ yet so that as euery member is different one from another so the operation of euery one is different and not the same but as some are Lay some Ecclesiasticall persons some secular some Religious some simple some learned some common people some Pastours and Prelates so to euery one of vs is giuen grace according to the measure of the donation of Christ according to the measure of fayth and to euery one for his profit that hauing all gifts according to the grace which is giuen to vs euery one may remaine in the vocation in which he is called wherupon all are not Prophets all are not Doctours all are not Euangelists All are not Iudges of faith and interpreters of holy Scripture though all haue the spirit but God diuiding to euery one as he will giues to some the spirit to heare and obey to others to direct and command to some the spirit to labour and worke by practicall offices to others to contemplate and study by speculatiue functions yet to all so and in that manner that as euery member hath need of another for the eye cannot say to the hand I stand in no need of thy helpe so euery one member hath his gift and the vse and operation of it for the benefite of the whole body with dâ—pendance and subordination to the whole and
their owne priuate spirit iudgement and opinion for matters of fayth religion preferring it before the sentence of the whole Church and Pastours of it are Heretikes sinnefull subuerted to be auoided according to S. Paul but such are all those who make their priuate spirit the rule and iudge of their fayth religion and exposition of Scripture as is apparent because neglecting the direction of the spirit of God which directs his whole Church they preferre before it their own priuate spirit which directs themselues therefore are iustly condemned and so to be auoided as Heretikes Out of diuers places of Scripture condemning the relying vpon our owne iudgement SECT VII THE last proofe which I will vse is out of these places of Scripture which as in generall they exhort vs not to be wise in our owne conceit nor to trust in our owne opinion iudgement so in particuler they do condemne this relying of euery man vpon his priuate spirit which is nothing els but his conceit and opinion First the Wiseman sayth Leane not vpon thy owne prudence be not wise in thy owne conceit The way of a foole is right in his owne eyes but he that is wise heareth counsaile There is a way that seemeth to a man iust but the later end thereof leades to death◠I say sayth VVoe to you that are wise in your owne eyes and prudent before your selues Moyses sayth You shall not doe there the thinges that we do heere this day euery man that which seemeth good to himselfe Of all which S. Paul giues a reason and denounceth a punishment because hauing not glorified God they are become vaine in their imaginations and their foolish hart hath beene hardened for saying of themselues that they be wise they are become fooles And to them that are of contention obey not the truth wrath and indignation In the flame of fire giuing reuenge to thē that know not God and that obey not the Ghospell Out of which places I argue thus They who leane on their owne prudence are wise in their owne conceit are vpright in their owne eyes are wise and prudent before themselues doe that which seemes good to themselues say themselues are wise these become vaine foolish contentious hard-harted know not God obey not truth resist the Ghospell and are cursed according to holy Scripture But such are all they who in mysteries of fayth in matters of religion and in expositions of Scripture forsake the direction of the spirit of God promised and giuen to his Church and rely and depend vpon their own spirit or self seeming conceit who by it choose their fayth and vpon it ground their saluation as all Protestants do who are guided by this priuate spirit therefore in this miserable and desperate case of ignorance vanity folly obstinacy and cursednes are all those who in their fayth religion and exposition of Scripture are thus guided directed and instructed by their priuate spirit And if these sayinges of Scripture be verified in affaires morall or domesticall publique or politique which are in the compasse of our naturall iudgement reason of which they are properly vnderstood and in which experience also teaches that they who in any arte science or negotiation most rely vpon their owne iudgement and follow their owne wayes do often commit the greatest errours and fall into the deepest dangers wheras they who are aduised by others and goe the ordinary way doe for the most part proceed more securely and succeed more prosperously Then much more is the verity of them confirmed in mysteries of fayth which are aboue our capacity in verities of religion which are not measured by reason and in explication of Scripture which is a booke sealed and that with seauen seales which none in heauen or earth could open or looke vpon but the Lambe nor any spirit interprete it but that which did make it In all which euery mans proper iudgement must needes be weake and euery ones priuate spirit doubtfull whether it can attaine to the true and proper vnderstanding of them All which is confirmed by the authority of that famous Doctour S. Augustine who sayth Quis mediocriter intelligens non plané viderit c. VVho though of meane capacity doth not plainely see that it is more profitable and secure for the simple to obey the wise then to liue according to ones owne direction and if this course be safer in small matters as in tilling of ground marrying of wiues education of children and ordering of ones family much more it is in religion for humane thinges are more easy to be knowne and in diuine things there is more danger of sinne and offence And againe No science or trade though meane and easy is learned without a Maister what therefore can be more audacious and temerarious then to seeke to vnderstand bookes of diuine mysteries without Interpreters And againe Men to vnderstand a Poet do seeke for a maister Asper Cornutus Donatus and others and darest thou without a guide aduenture vpon the diuine bookes which be full of diuine mysteries as all confesse and darest thou giue thy iudgement or interpretation of them And thus is this priuate spirit defining of fayth decyding of controuersies and determining of religion confuted by authority of holy Scripture expresly confuting and condemning it and the aforesayd function assigned to it He who wil see more testimonies to proue the right Iudge of controuersies and the infallible interpreter of Scripture which are the authority of Gods holy Church and the chiefe Pastours of it let him read Bellarmine where he shall see the practise and testimony of antiquity and the euidence of reason all at large cited for the same THE PRIVATE SPIRITS INTERPRETING OF HOLY SCRIPTVRE AND Iudging of Mysteries and Controuersies of Fayth confuted by the testimony of holy Fathers CHAP. III. WE haue confuted this pretended power and authority of the priuate spirit by the authority of Gods holy Word it remaines that we do the same by the testimony of ancient holy Fathers For which we may note that as S. Augustin alleadging the Fathers before him against the Pelagians sayd That he would not assume to himselfe to alleadge the sentences of all Fathers nor yet all the sentences of them whome he alleadged but some sayings of some few which yet are such as will cause our aduersaries to blush and yield if eyther feare of God or shame of man will ouercome so great an obstinacy in them So we will not vndertake to alleadge either all the Fathers or al the testimonies of those whom we alleadge no more then we haue done al the Prophets or Apostles or all the authorities of them whome we haue cyted which labour in both we leaue to thē who are more expert in both yet I hope we haue collected some and those in euery age such as being wel pondered
the Diuell that if he were Christ he should shew the Crosse on which he suffered he thereupon and at the signe of the Crosse vanished away and left him How he appeared to other two mentioned by Gerson and S. Bonauenture in the same forme saying I am Christ to whome the one shutting his eyes and saying I desire to see Christ in heauen not on earth and the other saying I am not worthy to see Christ because I am a sinnefull man the Diuell vanished How he appeared to S. Pachomius saying I am Christ and am come to thee my faythful seruant which the holy man by the perturbation of his mind perceauing to be a Diuel with the signe of the Crosse made him to vanish How to Valens a Monke he appeared like Christ accompanied with many Angells and caused him to come forth of his Cell and adore him left him so distracted and raging that they were forced to bind him Of examples of later tymes we read that he molested the holy man S. Ignatius in the founding of his Order of the Society not only interiourly by suggestions which he did at his study when by high and mysticall illuminations he withdrew his attention from his learning the Grammer rules to which he had seriously applyed himselfe but also by visible apparitions when at Manresa in his first entrance into a spirituall course he appeared in the forme of a beautiful person with many colours and eyes compassing the Crosse before which he prayed which S. Ignatius by the pensiuenes and perturbation of his mind discouering caused him by his prayer to vanish 2. That in the Alpes the Diuell hauing seduced a Priest who had the B. Sacrament about him to go in curiosity with him to see a wonder brought him to a pallace most beautiful pleasant where a Lady in a throne was presented by many prostrating themselues before her with rich guiftes vntill the Priest offering the B. Sacrament to her thinking it was our B. Lady she and all vanished away and left him in a strange place many miles distant from his habitation 3. Thirdly to an Hermite and a Religious man deceaued by him in Germany in a desart place to which they were carryed he appeared in the shape of Christ a King and our B. Lady a Queene both glorious set in a rich pallace vpon a shining throne with thousands of Angells and Saints about them and receaued al adoration from them till by the B. Sacrament which the Religious had in a Pixe offered to them al vanished away That he appeared to certaine women about Milan the yeare 1590. in the habit now of a Monke now of S. Vrsula with many Virgins with her and now of our B. Sauiour amōg whome he persuaded one to be Religious and leaue the world and would not desist till she tould him she would not do any thing without the aduice of her Ghostly Father And to conclude we read how while S. Norbert the foūder of the Praemonstratenses was meditating vpon the B. Trinity the Diuell appeared with three heads telling him that for his deuotion he had deserued to see the B. Trinity which by the perturbations of his mind he perceauing to be the Diuell defied him and so was rid of him All which with many more the Diuels apparitions and illusions in histories most authenticall recorded what are they but so many conuincing arguments to proue both the difficulty of discerning spirits and also the impossibility of euery priuate spirit to do it The difficulty to discerne Spirits proued by scripture SECT V. THE last reason to proue the difficulty of discerning spirits is authority which is a confirmation to all the former experiences and examples of holy Scripture and holy men placing the guift of discerning of spirits among the guifts of graces gratis giuen to some the discerning of spirits doth shew that as the rest of the guifts to wit miracles tongues prophesies and interpreting of Scripture of which before and the rest are rare extraordinary and giuen to few and that vsually and necessarily conioyned with grace or fayth in euery faithfull belieuer so also this of discerning spirits is in like manner a guift not cōmunicated to euery faythfull belieuer who hath the spirit of God but rarely and extraordinarily to some who haue the priuiledg of this benefite bestowed vpon them for the benefit of others For as it is proper to God both to be and to be called Ponderator spirituum The weigher and discerner of Spirits in the same manner as he is the knower of harts VVho only knowes the hartes of all the children of men so doth he communicate this guift to some speciall persons whome he makes as the Prophets cal them Proouers and strong proouers in my people who shall know and prooue their wayes in the same manner as in the common wealth are tryers of gold to discerne true from false And to these by a speciall prerogatiue he giues this guift that they may prooue spirits if they be good and try them as Gold is tryed in the fire and separate the precious from the vile declaring when it is good or a good Angell who knocks at the doore and when it is Sathan and the bad Angell who transfigures himselfe into an Angell of light And as this guift is rare giuen only to some so it is for the most part giuen to Superiours who are to direct others in the way of vertue and perfection amōg these to them who are men humble as Cassianus affirmes and very spirituall also because Not the sensuall man but the spirit of God perceaues the thinges which are of God These partly by long experience partly by wholesome documents partly by diuine inspirations attaine to this perfectiō of discercerning spirits By which is apparent that the science of discerning spirits is hard and difficult because it requires so speciall and supernaturall a guift which is so rare and extraordinary and that to speciall kind of persons for the good of others Which is also confirmed by the testimony of holy men who haue laboured much and beene experienced long in this science S. Bernard a man extraordinarily spirituall confesseth that he knew not VVhen the spirit entred or when it departed which way it came or which it went sometyms he could perceaue it to be present or to haue beene present but neither when it came or how it went Gerson a man learned who laboured and writ much about this discerning of spirits after much discussion sayth That it is a most hard thing to discerne among so many spirits since in diuerse and contrary spirits there is sush a similitude of inspirations Thomas à Kempis one much enlightned in spirituall affaires sayth Marke the motions of thyne own nature and my grace for in very contrary and secret manner these are moued and can hardly
not only of Infants but also of Nations that they should teach all Nations As he was light of men so they should be the light of the world As he gaue testimony to the truth so they should giue testimony and be witnesses of him to the end of the earth That as the Father did sanctify him so he prayed to his Father to sanctify them As he was sent by his Father into the world so he sent them As by a voice from heauen it was sayd of him heare him so by his owne mouth he sayd of them he that heareth you heareth me The Apostles therefore were appointed for Maisters specially sanctifyed made the light of the world ordained witnesses of his truth sent with authority and commission as himselfe was for that end that they should be heard and obeyed as himselfe was and the same power they receaued from him not only themselues challenged and practised after him and with him but also their Successours after them and with them For as Christ was giuen a light of the Nations so they sayth S. Luke were also the light of the nations As the spirit of God was on him to euangelize to the poore so God chose them sayth S. Luke that the Gentils by their mouth should heare the word of the Ghospell and belieue As he did reconcile the world to himselfe so he sayth S. Paul placed in them the word of reconciliation As he came an Embassadour from his Father to be a messenger of iudgment to the world so sayth S. Paul we are Legates for Christ. As our Sauiour sayd of himselfe He that is God doth heare the wordes of God therefore you heare not because you are not of God so doth S. Iohn say of them He that knoweth God heareth vs and he that is not of God heareth vs not Therefore as Christ thought it no robbery to be equal to his Father in diuinity so they thought it no iniury to him to be in some sort participant with him in his power and authority And that Christ gaue this authority to the Apostles not only for themselues and their owne time but also for their successors and for all ages so that it is to reside and remaine in the Pastours and prelates of holy Church their successors continually till the end of the world is euident for if he haue this authority as necessary for the peace and gouernement of his Church and if the Church stand as great need of it in all ages as in that time of the Apostles as it is certaine it doth then without doubt it was as well giuen to the Pastours of the future tymes of the Church as to them of the present for which end Christ sayth S. Paul gaue some Apostles some Prophets some Euangelists some Pastours and Doctours and for what end For the consummation or perfection of Saints that is of all faythfull for the worke of the ministery to teach his truth for the edification and propagation of his body to conserue and increase his Church for the vnity of fayth vntill all concurre in one least men be wauering and vncertaine in faith like little ones least they be carryed with euery wind of doctrine least they be circumuented by craftines in errour All which dangers as they remaine in all tymes so the remedy prepared against them must remaine for all tymes Whereupon S. Peter did not only himselfe exercise this authority but at his departure gaue the same to the Pastours of Pontus Galatia and Bythinia to whome he writ his Epistles willing them to feed the flocke of God which is among them S. Paul did not only practise it himselfe but also left it to the Pastors of Ephesus to rule the Church of God To Titus to ordaine Priests through all Citties in Creet as he had disposed To Timothy to commend to faithfull men what he had heard of him and willed the conuerted Iewes to obey their Gouernours and be subiect to them because they watch as being to giue an account of their soules Whereupon not of the Apostles only but of all Pastours and only of Pastours it is sayd My spirit which is in thee and my wordes which I haue put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed frō this present for euer What is this word my spirit which is in thee but to compare the prophesy and the performance the Paraclete the spirit of truth which the Father will giue to you What are the wordes in thy mouth but the wordes and vnderstanding which thou Father gauest to me I gaue to them and they receaued of me What is thy seed and seeds seed but those who are to belieue by their word in me What is from this tyme for euer but that I will be with you euen to the consummation of the world And so doth the prediction of the Prophet concurre with the performance of our Sauiour To all Pastours and only of Pastours it is sayd Sonnes are borne to thee for thy fathers and thou shalt make them Princes ouer all the earth that is according to S. Augustine for Apostles thou shalt haue Prelates To al Pastours and only to Pastours it is sayd He that heares you heares me And He that knowes God heares vs and he that is not of God heares vs not That is sayth S. Cyprian all Gouernours who by subordination succeed the Apostles Because sayth S. Augustin In the chaire of vnity he hath placed the doctrine of verity Of al and to all Pastours it is sayd How shall they preach except they be sent No man assumes to himself honour but he that is called of God as Aaron To all and only of Pastours it is sayd If he heare not the Church let him be to thee as the Heathen and Publican that is sayth Chrysostome and Theophilact if he heare not the Pastours of the Church And if he be worthy to be esteemed so who despises them that admonish him of his fault much more worthy is he to be deemed so who despises him who instructs him in fayth To all and only Pastours it is sayd That the gates of hell shall not preuaile against the Church In so much that all the promises of Church-stability and perpetuity in fayth cōsists chiefly in this infallible authority of the Pastours who are to instruct in fayth direct in fayth and to iudge of fayth and what promises are made to the Church are made chiefly to the Pastours as the principall partes of it and by thē to the rest as inferiour To them therefore is giuen the word of reconciliation the dispensation of the mysteries the function of Embassages the
his grace and to man also and that the other doth as much derogate and take away all honour and giue all dishonour to the same Which that we may the better vnderstand we may coÌ„ceaue how the Diuell that Rebell against God and the enemy of man as he labours by all meanes to auert man froÌ„ the loue of God and to conuert him to the loue of the creature so his chiefe desire is to depriue God of his honour due to him and to deriue the same to his creatures thereby to draw man to an affectation of Deity to rob God of his honour and to giue it to man Thus in paradise he perswaded our first Parents that they should be as Gods as himselfe had before in heauen attempted to be like to the highest For this end this Pluto or Lucifer of his Proserpina that is Infidelity his spouse begat two daughters the first and eldest is Idolatry the next and second Heresy Idolatry he begat in the law of Nature which raigned long from soone after Adam vntill some yeares after Christ Heresy he begat in the law of Grace which presently after Christ rebelled and sought to tyranyze against Christs Church Idolatry insteed of one God made many and the true honour of one God diuided to many false Gods Heresy insteed of one fayth introduceth many false opinions diuides the vnity of Christs Church in many sects Idolatry was ingendred as snakes of dunge out of the corruption of vertue and piety and out of the increase of lust ambition and cruelty Heresy in like manner sprung vp out of disobedience pride and lust being like as one egge is to another to Idolatry of one Viper begat another of one Heresy many till at length a whole brood and sinke full of viperous Heresies burst out and infected a great part of the Christian world When therefore by the light of iustice Christ Iesus Idolatry the elder sister with her the long night of Pagan darknesse was expelled according to that of Apollo Me puer Hebraeus diuos Deus ipse gubernans cedere sede iubet tristemue redire sub arcâ—m and the true light of Christian verity piety shined in the Church of Christ then began the second sister Heresy as an obscure mist to couer the sunne of true fayth and to bring in a new darkenes of nouell and erroneous opinions into the Church of God And as Heresy is a kind of idolatry both being vipers of one venter or rather idolatry it selfe for so do S. Cyprian Tertullian Hierome Augustine and other Fathers expresly tearme it because not only the authour but the worke being all one and the same Heresy doth frame out of mans braine a new Idoll of false opinions and proposes them as diuine reuelations from God whereby it either detracts from Christ and his truth which is simple totall and indiuisible some point of verity or els addes to the same some falsity in the same manner as Idolatry takes from God his true deity and honour due only to him and giues the same to man to whom no deity or Godhead is due so this heresy following the stepps of Idolatry hath in this our late age made the same manner of beginning progresse as Idolatry did in the first age Wherefore it will not be amisse to obserue the manner and to compare the progresse and fruit of both First therefore Idolatry the first borne of Satans imps the greatest enemy of God hauing raised vpon earth a generall commotion and rebellion against the only true God and Lord of heauen and earth and wrought in man a conceit of deity and an affectation of the diuine excellency thereby to depriue God of his only and all due honour and to deriue the same vnto man his creature and vassall did first feine in the mindes of men an imagination that before the world was made all was a Chaos that this Chaos made to it selfe finem fundum a depth a bottome like an egge which being sitten and hatched brought forth a man-woman called Planeta this man woman broughr forth substance motion and generation of these was begot Caelum and Terra Heauen and Earth Heauen begat six men called Titans that is Oceanus Ceus Tyus Hyperion Iapetus and Cronus who was Saturne The earth begat six women Thya Rhea Themis Mnemosyna Thetis and Hebe which marrying one to another of Saturne and Rhea were borne Pluto Neptune and Iupiter Saturne receauing from some Oracle that he should be expulsed by his sonnes deuoured Pluto and Neptune intended to haue done the like to all his male children but Rhea to saue Iupiter gaue a stone insteed of the child to be eaten by Saturne which stone being deuoured thrust out of Saturns belly Pluto Neptune the one into Hell the other into the Sea wherby they were made Gods Pluto of Hell and Neptune of the Sea and Iupiter being sent by Rhea his mother to Heauen was made the God of heauen Thus were Saturne and Rhea made parents of Gods and Iupiter the chiefe God this Iupiter was notorious first for cruelty for he not only killed his Vncles the Titans and deuoured his daughter Medea and tormented his sonnes Tantalus and Titius but also butchered and tormented his owne Father Saturne secondly for lust he passed so farre that by incest of his owne sisters Iuno and Ceres he begot of Iuno Vulcan the God of Smithes and of Ceres Proserpina the Queene of Hell as likewise out of his owne braine he begat Minerua and out of his thigh Bacchus Also by adultery of other mens wiues he begat Mercury of Maie the wife of Atlant Apollo and Diana of Latona the wife of Cea the graces Thalia Euphrosine and Aglia of Hermion the wife of Cleanus Eudimion of Phenissa the wife of Alphion Musaeus of Helena the wife of Pandion with many others Not thus content he transformed himselfe into diuers shapes as of an husband and begat of Alcmena Hercules and of Cassiopeia Andromedes of a Sheepheard and begat of Mnemosyna the nine Muses of a Satyre and begat of Anthiope Amphion Zetas of an Eagle and begat of Egina Eacus of a Vulture and begat of a Nymphe the Palisci in Sicily of a Swanne begat of Hellen Leda and of a Goose Nemesis like a Bull he begat of Europa Minous Rhadamantus Sarpedon like a Beare he begat of Mantea Arctos and like a pismire Mirmedon of Euradremusa being also transformed and shewing himselfe as a starre he begat Castor and Pollux of Leda as Gold Perseus of Danae as a Shower of raine Ganean of Manta Thus a man as wicked as great was made the greatest God his chiefe actions of wickednes cruelty parricide incest adultery fraud were deifyed for diuine And as the God Iupiter so also the other Gods begat younge Gods and made them like themselues Gods thus Neptune of a Sea-nimph begat TritoÌ„ of Amphitrite the Cyclopes
of Christs Church it begat in the braine of Manes Marcion Sabellius Arius Macedonius Nestorius Eutiches and others the wicked errours against the B. Trinity of one God three Persons in the Deity against the sacred IncarnatioÌ„ of one person and two natures in the person of our B. Sauiour Christ by which as by so many bastardes of impiety such an infinit brood of heresyes haue since that tyme beene ingeÌ„dred in the Christian world that the increase of theÌ„ hath filled or rather defiled a great part of the East Church both in Asia Africke and left behind them the stincke of no fewer then 300. rotten heresies and hereticall opinions So also in this last age of Christ it begat in the braines of an Apostata Frier Martin Luther which it coupled with a like Apostata Nunne and of other Apostataes Bucer Martyr Bale Knox c. whome it wiâ—ed in like incestuous bed of double Apostacy and of all sort of impurity such a number of brats or rather vipers of hereticall opinions and errours as neither the number of them can be recounted of which some haue found out 300. and more nor can the mischiefe of dissention and cruelty be conceaued with which they haue pestered the most florishing Kingdomes of Europe and brought in an horrible confusion and desolation in place of former piety and religion In which we may obserue that as Idolatry made Chaos or confusion the mother of all so hath Heresy made the priuate spirit which is nothing but a Chaos or confused conceit which euery one hath of his owne opinion the mother and conceauer of all hereticall opinions As Idolatry diuised that out of Planeta the Man-woman or fruit of Chaos issued HeaueÌ„ and Earth and of them so many Gods Goddesses so hath Heresy caused that out of the commixtion of a Friars and Nuns concupiscence such a number of hereticall opinions and wicked practises should receaue their origen and progresse As the Pagans made Iupiter a man of life most wicked and exercised in all practise of cruelty and incestuous carnality a God and the chiefest among the Gods so do the Protestants canonize Luther a man of a most carnall proud and enuious both disposition course of life as an Apostle an Euangelist a Prophet and a man of God As Saturne the false God by Idolatry was made the Father of many Gods chiefly of three Iupiter Neptune and Pluto who also begat many petty Gods and filled the world with many innumerable false Gods whereby adoration was giuen euen first to men then to the basest and meanest creatures so Luther the false Apostle and Prophet by the instigation of his priuate spirit did beget and deuise foure most monstruous imps of hereticall doctrine and impiety out of which as so many vipers such a number of erroneous and wicked opinions haue flowed that the light of true fayth and Religion hath beene obscured and the beauty and splendor thereof hath beene attributed to most false errours fond heresyes And thus hath Heresy succeeded and imitated her elder sister Idolatry Now these foure heades or principall heresies which the priuate spirit the eldest daughter of Heresy did beget in Luther and his followers braines and out of which as sequels issued such a number of falsities and heresies are these The first is that the Church and Bishop of Rome is fallen from being the spouse of Christ to be the very Antichrist himselfe as wholy opposite to Christ and corrupted with all abominable errours of idolatry and superstition out of which haue issued these and such like brats of heresy that therefore the visible and knowne Church was latent inuisible and not extant for many ages and that true fayth and doctrine was banished from the same visible Church which was only the Roman Church and that for many ages some of them say six some ten some twelue some fourteen ages euen since the Apostles tyme all which tyme truth lay smothered ouerwhelmed and buried in the dregges of Antichristian errour superstition and idolatry That all the Councels Prouinciall or Generall were the assemblies of Antichrist All the Fathers and Doctours were deceaued and subiected to Antichrist All the Christian people Princes or Prelates liued in the externall obedience of Antichrist That no lawfull mission or vocation no right ordination or consecration no continuall succession or deriuation of Pastours was for all this tyme to be found in the Church That no preaching of the word of God no administration of Sacraments no offering of sacrifice no saying of seruice no discipline of Church orders and gouernment was holy and lawfull for so many ages till God extraordinarily raysed vp Martin Luther and by his spirit reformed all Whereupon since that tyme hath ensued as the fruits of the wombe of this priuate spirit and new doctrine all neglect and contempt of Church orders lawes or obseruances as of Masse and Mattins of fasting and festiuall dayes of single life and chastity of obedience and pouerty of pennance and mortification of confession and satisfaction of benedictions and peregrinations and of all Workes of austerity piety and deuotion Hence hath ensued all rapine robing of Churches Church-goods and Church-ornaments all destruction of Monasteries and Religious houses all prophanation of holy thinges all cruelty against Priests Religious men all incestuous and sacrilegious lewdnesse against vowed persons all rebellion against Princes for Religion all contempt of them and their lawes as not obliging in conscience and all liberty of life and manners to practise whatsoeuer profit or pleasure proposed as most plausible to euery mans humour and disposition The second and next ofspring of this spirit was Iustification by only fayth in which as they all agree in generall so it hath beene the mother of many notorious new impietyes from whence as out of a Troian-horse issued these and such like prophane paradoxes as that this fayth is a sole fayth not informed with charity or good workes a speciall fayth assuring certainty of saluation a perpetuall faith neuer lost a rare fayth giuen only to the Elect a fayth couering not curing sinnes imputing not making vs iust apprehending not possessing the iustice of Christ A faith that admits no good workes no merit no profit no necessity yea no possibility either of being iustifyed by any or of hauing power to do any good workes at all because all works euen the best workes of the best men are sinnes and that mortall deseruing eternall damnation though by fayth not imputed to the elect Hence it is that the keeping of the law is impossible that no lawes oblige in conscience that grace is not sufficient that man hath no free-will and cannot but sinne and offend that Sacraments are not instrumeÌ„ts and meanes but seales and signes of this iustice and iustification by fayth that Baptisme is to be giueÌ„ only to the faithfull and children of the faythful that the Eucharist is a signe or figure
only a shadow a faigned diabolicall Fayth not a true diuine and supernaturall Fayth tending to iustification by which euery Christian belieues these articles 2. Is oppugned the vnity of God Deum by Caluin who houldes that the Sonne hath an essence distinct from the Father By Beza and Stegius who hould that the essence is diuided into three persons 3. By Luther who houldes that the Diuinity is threefold 4. By Melancthon who houldes that there are three Diuinities or essences in God By Sanctius who entitles his booke De tribus Eloim of three Gods 5. By the Tritheits in Polonia who expresly hould there are three Gods and three Eternalls 6. Is oppugned the God-head it selfe and his mercy and goodnesse 1. By all those who make God the authour willer commander and worker of sinne and damnation because so is his will and pleasure Who make him a sinner a great sinner the only sinner Who make him a lier a dissembler a tyrant and transforme him into a very deuill himselfe as is before proued and deduced 2. By those who make the diuinity of God passible as with Eutiches the auncient condemned hereticke Luther and Iacobus Andreas do 3. By those who affirme the diuinity to haue beene not only a mediatour betweene God and man as Caluin and Beza did but also to haue beene obediēt to God as Melancton and after him many Lutherans Tigurins also did And further to haue exercised the office of a Priest offering sacrifice to God as Iewell did affirme All which opinions do make many Diuinities in God one inferiour to another because where one is a mediatour is obedient doth offer sacrifice to another there must be a subordination subiection and distinction there one must be inferiour and distinct from the other and so there must be many distinct Diuinities and these inferiour one to another which is contrary to the nature of diuinity God-head 4. Is oppugned the person of the Father and with him the whole B. Trinity by Luther who affirmes that the diuinity is as well three and of three sorts as are the three persons that the word Trinity is an humane inuention a word which sounds coldly and is not to be vsed but insteed of it the word God and did therupon thrust out of his Letanies that prayer Holy Trinity one God haue mercy on vs. And did leaue out of his Germane bible those words of S. Iohn alleadged by Athanasius Cyprian Fulgentius to proue he blessed Trinity against the Arrians There are three which giue testimony in heauen the father the word and the holy ghost and these three are one To all which also Caluin subscribes who not only affirmes that the prayer Holy Trinity one God haue mercy on vs doth displease him as sauouring of barbarisme but also wrests all those places by which the Fathers out of the old and new Testament did proue against Iews and Arrians the diuinity of Christ to a contrary sense and meaning as the Lutherās in diuers bookes on set purpose against him haue conuinced And Danaeus his successor after Beza followes him who affirmes that the same word Trinity and the same prayer Holy Trinity haue mercy on vs is a foolish and dangerous prayer All which are directly contrary to the auncient orthodox and Catholicke doctrine of the B. Trinity three persons and one God 5. In the same first article is oppugned the omnipotency of God almighty by Beza VVhitaker others who affirme 1. That God cannot place one body in two places by replication or other wayes that is Christs body in heauen and on the altar at the same time 2. That God cannot place two bodies in one place by penetration one of another that is that Christs body with the stone of the sepulcher at his resurrection with the dores of the house at the entring to his disciples and with the solidity of the heauens at his ascensiō could not be togeather in one place but the stone dores or heauen were diuided opened or resolued into some liquid matter 3. That God cannot draw a camell or a cable-rope as it is said in the Ghospell though a needles eye 4. That God hath no absolute power to do any more then he hath already done 5. That the position of the archangell Gabriel Any word is not impossible with God is not generally to be belieued nor vniuersally to be admitted Al which if they be true that is if the diuinity be passible be a mediatour be a priest and be three and distinct as the person are if God be the authour and worker of all sinne and euill if the word Trinity and the prayer Holy Trinity haue mercy on vs be to be left out as barbarous foolish and dangerous if God cannot place one body in two places or two bodies in one place cannot draw a cable-rope through a needles eyes can do no more then he hath done then is the Deity the vnity the Trinity the goodnes and the omnipotēcy of God all which are by this first article belieued by this doctrine and these Doctours oppugned and so the Fayth of the first article reiected Secondly in the second article attributed to S. Iohn is oppugned the worke of the whole Trinity the Creation of heauen and earth 1. By Caluin who will haue only the Father properly to be creatour of heauen and earth as to whome alone the name of God by excellency is due and the Sonne to be the Vicar of the Father and to haue the second degree of honour after him 2. By Stenberge Seruetus Blandrata Somarus Francus others cyted by Kellison who deny the Diuinity of the holy Ghost as the third person in the Trinity and admit only a vertue from the father which they call the holy Ghost But if the father be only God if the sonne be inferiour as his vicar and second to him if the holy Ghost be only the vertue of the father not a person distinct from him then is only the father and not the sonne and the holy Ghost with the whole Trinity the creatour of heauen and earth Wherby the second article is oppugned Thirdly In the third article attributed to S. Iames the greater is oppugned the diuinity of the sonne second person Iesus Christ his only sonne our Lord. 1. By Luther who detested the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or consubstātiall signifying the sonne to be of the same substance with the father and made the diuinity of the sonne passible with Eutiches as I haue shewed before 2. By Caluin Beza and Whitaker who admit Christ to be sonne of the father but not to be God of the father or of the essence of the father or God of God as the Nicene Creed expresseth but God of himselfe and withall affirmes that the father doth not continually eternally beget the sonne 3. By Caluin Beza others before cited who make Christ as
by many who now a dayes euen in England admit a resurrection in a like body but not in the same body which was before Twelthly In the twelth article attributed S. Matthias is oppugned the life euerlasting 1. By Luther who one while affirmes that the soule is made by propagatiō ex traduce not by creation and that the immortality of it is a popish fiction out of the dunghill of the Popes decrees anotherwhile that the soules of the iust of many damned do sleepe senselesse vntill the day of iudgment and that dogges sheep oxen and fishes shal be in heauen for our recreation 2. By Caluin who affirmes that the soules of the blessed remaine sleeping in the porch are not as yet entred into the kingdome of glory that faith is remaining in heauen that it is foolish temerarious to enquire where the soules of the iust are and whether as yet they be in glory or not All which many such like opinions of theirs as they are the inuention of this priuate spirit and are both absurd wicked or blasphemous so are they all plaine contrary to the Apostles Creed and do directly oppugne the articles of it And thus much of this priuate spirits doctrine as it oppugneth the articles of the Creed and in them all faith and beliefe Of absurdities against Prayer and the Pater noster SECT VII SVBDIV. 1. In generall making all Prayer needlesse or hopelesse SECONDLY This doctrine oppugneth the petitions of the Pater noster and all manner of prayer and deuotion to God for which we may note that as by faith we come to know God and his reuealed verities so by this hope we are animated to attaine to the fruition of God all that is good for vs. An effect of this hope is prayer by which we are emboldened in hope to obteine to speake to God and aske of him what we stand in need of Prayer therfore as it is according to S. Augustine an eleuating of the mind and a sacrifice to God a reliefe to man a terrour to Sathan a safegard to the soule a comfort to the Angells the perfect glory the certaine hope and incorrupted preseruer of all religion As it is an incense moūting vp to heauen a messenger we sēd to God where our selues cannot yet come a ladder by which we climbe to the throne of God and God descends to our vale of misery a hand which we reach to heauen which God returnes filled with benedictiōs to vs againe so it is not only a speciall vertue commended vnto vs by Christ who wils vs to pray and to pray often yea without intermission but also a chiefe practise the particulars wherof Christ himselfe did deliuer to vs both for the matter what and the māner how we should pray and make our petition This he did in the Pater Noster and the seauen petitions of it which being a compendium of all we are to aske as the Creed is of all we are to belieue we make in it besides the preparatory preface which teaches vs to haue confidence in God in that he is to vs not only a maister but a Father charity to our brethrē in that he is our Father and we all brethren his children by creation and adoption and a Reuerence both to Gods Maiesty as residing in heauen and also to his Saints and seruants in whom specially as in the heauens he dwels and reignes by grace as S. Augustine expounds it besides I say this preface or preparation we make seauen petitions of seauen seuerall things vnto God in which we desire blessings at Gods hands either positiue of good things to be obtained or preseruatiue from euill things to be auoided The positiue blessings we craue are either spirituall or corporall the spirituall are 1. the sanctification of Gods name in the first petition that is either true knowledge of him or right honour to him or constant perseuerance in him 2. The coming of his kingdome in the second that is the dilatation of his Church on earth the increase of his grace in our harts the obteining of his glory in heauen 3. The obedience to his will in earth as it is in heauen in the third that is as Gods will is done by Angells so it may be done by man as it is done by the iust so it may by sinners as it is wrought in the spirit so it may be in the flesh The corporall blessings we craue are our dayly bread in the fourth that is either temporall food for the body or doctrinall for knowledge of the vnderstanding or sacramentall of the Eucharist and whatsoeuer is conuenient for both soule body these are the four first petitions of positiue blessings The preseruatiue blessings are from euils from which we desire to be freed those either euils past as sin forgiue vs our trespasses in the fifth against God our neighbours or ourselus by commissiō or omission by thought word or deed or euils present lead vs not into tēptation in the sixt that is permit vs not to fall into any occasion or danger of sin by concupiscence of the flesh vanity of the world and malice of the Diuell Or euils to come deliuer vs from euill in the seauenth that is from all paine due to sinne originall or actuall by affliction in this life or by torments in the next life either in Purgatory or in hell and from whatsoeuer may hinder vs from God and all goodnes in this or the next life In which are summarily contained all the thinges pertaining to the honour of God or necessary for our body or soules in this life or the next It remaines to shew that the former positions of the Protestants do make all these petitions needlesse or fruitlesse needlesse as of thinges certaine which need to be asked fruitlesse as of thinges impossible which cannot be obtained which is shewed two wayes first in generall of all prayer secondly in particuler of these petitions In generall thus 1. That prayer is needlesse which prayes for that which is certaine cannot faile vs as either already past or assuredly possest or to come as for example that Christ should be borne or crucifyed which is past or that I should be a man or an English man which I am sure I am or that to morrow the Sunne should ryse or that men should rise at the day of iudgment which they are sure to do Againe that prayer is fruitles which prayes for that which is impossible to be had as for a mother to pray that she were a Maid and Virgin againe or for that an old man to pray that he were young againe and might neuer dye both which are impossible though not both equally But according to the Protestant grounds such are generally all their prayers for if they pray for remission of sins for the fauour of God for perseuerance in Fayth or for the glory of heauen their
prayer is as needlesse as to pray for the birth of Christ past or for the day of iudgment to come because euery one by his speciall faith belieues as certainly that his sinnes are forgiuen him as by his generall fayth that Christ was crucified for him as assuredly that he shall perseuer in fayth and come to heauen as that there shal be a day of iudgment and resurrection of his body therefore prayer for the one is as needlesse as for the other Againe if they pray for Gods grace to wash them from sin to keep Gods commandements to auoid concupiscence and lust and to loue God aboue all and not to offend him their prayer is as fruitlesse as to pray for Gods grace to keep them euer being sicke or euer dying or to leape ouer the sea or fly to the starres because according to them the one is as impossible as the other therefore as hopelesse to be obtained by prayer as the other 2. To pray for the preuenting of any euil whether it be malum culpae as sinne or malum poenae as punishment and whether it be punishment temporall as losse of goods affliction of body or death of friends or spirituall as losse of fayth of Gods fauour and of the ioyes of heauen or to pray for the obtayning of any good either temporal as riches health or the life of friends or spirituall as the good of Gods Church the remission of our sinnes and our perseuerance in state of grace or obtaining the kingdome of heauen is both needlesse and fruitlesse because all as well euill as good shall infallibly fall out as God hath according to his owne irrespectiue immutable ineuitable will pleasure decreed and appointed it therefore needlesse it is to pray for the obtaining of good and fruitlesse to pray for the preuenting of euill because both must fall certainly as God hath ordained decreed What end or vse therfore is there of prayer since the euent and the effect will be the same as well without prayer as with prayer all as God without any respect or foreseene consideration of vs or our deserts or prayers or other works hath according to his owne absolute will decreed and appointed to happen to vs. Thirdly willingly to do any act which is belieued and supposed to be a sinne and that mortall deseruing eternall damnation is vnlawfull sinnefull and damnable and so not to be done with a good conscience but such is all prayer euen the best and deuoutest we can vse according to their principles because euery worke euen the good workes of the best persons according to Luther Illyricus Caluin Beza Paraeus VVhitaker Tindall and others are sinnes mortall sinnnes damnable sinnes and nothing but sinne euen in the iust and elect though no more imputed to them then their bad workes of adultery murder c. which they say are not at al imputed to them Therefore all prayer how good or deuout soeuer is a sinne and that mortall and damnable so is vnlawfull sinnefull and damnable and not to be vsed more then swearing lying drinking both being sinnes and neither imputed punished as sinnes in the elect in whome they are couered and both imputed and punished as sinne in the reprobate in whome they are neuer forgiuen All which is confirmed diuers wayes by the expresse wordes first of Luther who affirmes 1. That no man obtaines any thing at Gods hand for any dignity either in his prayer or in himselfe but only by the bounty of God Also which he constantly auouches that the iust man doth sinne euen in praying according to that of Dauid Let his prayer be a sinne 2. By the wordes of Illyricus who affirmes that prayer is no good worke but a begging of wages And of Bucer and Caluin his scholler who both affirme that Christ did not prescribe vs to pray in these very wordes of the Pater noster but shewed to what end and with what affection we should pray 3. By the practise of many Precisians or Familists in England witnesse D. Smyth who vse to protest they will rather dye then say the Lords prayer 4. By the practise of the purer forte of Protestants who haue left off condemne all saying of canonicall houres and deuotion in the Church haue not only turned all publicke praying into preaching neuer vsing any at all in their meetings but also did for example in France pull downe destroy witnesse Richeâ—me in one six monthes no fewer then ten thousand houses of prayer or Churches in 400. Citties which they by rebellion kept froÌ„ their soueraigne King and Prince By all which is apparent not only how little they esteeme either Prayer or houses of prayer but also that according to their grounds all prayer in generall is needlesse and fruitlesse yea sinnefull and damnable and so not to be vsed and practised SVBDIV. 2. In particuler opposing all the seauen Petitions of the Pater Noster IN particuler that by this doctrine is oppugned all euery part and petition of the Pater noster shall likewise be proued For first in the preparation Our Father which art in heauen how can they call or esteeme him a louing Father whome they belieue to be a cruell and vniust iudge who decreed and created them to sinne that for that he might damne them Or what confidence can they haue in the mercy of this Father who is thus rigorous to them in his iustice and more then iustice How can they call or esteeme themselues his children by adoption from whome they receaue no inward grace of iustification How can they call him our Father or the Father of all whome they belieue as a Father to haue predestinated called and giuen meanes only to a few and as a cruell Iudge to haue excluded all the rest and the greatest part of which euery one may iustly feare himselfe to be one from any possibility of vocation grace or saluation How can they expect from him a crowne of glory in heauen of whome they belieue they cannot merit any reward in earth Why should they not feare a heauy hand of iustice yea despaire of any kind of mercy from him who beyond iustice hath proceeded so terribly as to predestinate so many to so great paines as are the paines of hell who had deserued or giuen no cause of any paines at all Who can imagine that God dwelleth in the iust and elect as in the heauens who are so fowly stayned in euery part of their soule with the deformity of all sinne and iniquity that no one part or action of them is cleare and vnstained from sinne Surely they who belieue this of God and his cruelty and of man and his deformity cannot confidently say neither Our Father which imports Gods mercy to man mans confidence in God or VVhich art in heauen which specifyes that as God dwels in the iust so they as the temple of God should be pure
animate them to increase in grace goodnesse and perfection They make the auoiding of bad or the doing of good works the keeping of Gods commandements or the performing his will to be impossible and therby disharten men from attempting either to keepe his precepts or to obey his will or to please him in any worke or action We belieue his yoake to be sweet and his burthen easy and the obeying of his commandements auoiding of sinne by grace to be possible facile and therby encourage all to labour that they may obey his precepts and performe his holy will and pleasure They make no bad works to be imputed to the elect and no good works to escape punishment in the reprobate and therby make the one fearlesse carelesse of any bad and the other hopelesse and desperate to do any good We make good works in all to be good and in the good to be meritorious and bad works in al to be bad and to deserue punishment and depriue men of Gods fauour till by repentance they be washed and pardoned and therby inuite all to do good and to auoid bad and repent them of bad They hould that no sinne in the faithfull can depriue him of faith which once had can by no sinne be lost and therby lull men in a security of saluation and allure them to a liberty of sinne which they belieue cannot depriue them of Gods fauour We hould that grace once had may be lost and is lost by mortall sinne and therby warne men carefully to keep Gods grace diligently to preuent sinne before it be committed and presently to report after it be cōmitted Tenthly For good Works they their priuate spirit hould that no good works are good iust perfect or meritorious yea that none are necessary or possible but that al are sinfull and therby make it bootlesse and needlesse to striue to do them We hould that good works are not only good but may be perfect meritorious of an eternal reward wherby we animate all to the working of them They hould that cōtinency virginity is no vertue but a suggestion of Sathan wicked diabolicall and a rebellion against God in religious persons and that matrimony is a state more noble perfect spirituall then it and therby induce all to marry We hould that single life chastity and continency is a vertue more perfect noble and holy then marriage and therfore is preferred by God as more spirituall before marriage and more to be esteemed by men is more honourable They hold that fasting and punishing the body by mortification watching discipline is no vertue is needlesse and no part of pennance or satisfaction but a killing of ones selfe wherby they withdraw men from austerity strictnesse of life We hould that it being vsed discreetly and in measure is good and pious as commended in the old and new Testament and practised by all Saints and holy persons therby animate all to it They hould that the forsaking the world liuing in a retired Religious life is a meere human tradition and an vnprofitable will-worship of God We hould that it is a meane of perfection an imitation of an Apostolicall life and therfore cōmendable in them who can vndertake it They hould that vowes of perfection are a curiosity presumption pride contrary to God not to be vsed by Christians We hould that to vow obedience pouerty and chastity are gratefull to God great helps and meanes to perfection as counsailed in holy scripture and laudable in all the professours of them In all which as they take from all sinne all punishment due to it all offence to God inseparable from it and all malice annexed to it as they take away all difference by which one sin is damnable rather then another all feare which may bridle any from committing sinne in which they make men fearlesse of sinne and carelesse to commit it so they take from good works in generall all goodnesse and participation of good al iustice and vprightnesse before God all valew and dignity by grace all benefit and grace of merit all hope or comfort of pleasing God all necessity of doing them and all possibility of doing them without offence of God And from good works in particuler they take away also from all vowes their obligation to be performed from chastity all possibility to be obserued from fasting pennance and mortification all necessity to be vsed from prayer and deuotion all meanes to obteine that they aske and from charity all efficacy to iustify before God and from all and euery one in their proper kind all power and necessity to do them all courage and alacrity to do them hopefully Al which is contrary in vs our Catholicke doctrine Eleauenthly From the glory of heauen the ioyes of it they and their priuate spirit do derogate in affirming 1. That neither any reward is iustly giuen in heauen for any good done vpon earth nor any crowne of iustice in that life for suffering of iniustice in this nor any lawrell of Martyrs Confessours or Virgins there for the confessing the name of Christ 2. That in heauen are no differences of mansions or diuersity of degres of glory and that all are like and al equall in glory and beatitude euen to the Apostles and the mother of God wherby they remoue a strong motiue to draw men to labour for perfection in this life that they may attaine to a higher place of glory in the next We and our Catholicke doctrine doe belieue 1. That God doth iustly reward in heauen all our good deedes done on earth and doth giue crownes of glory for our sufferings for him and bestow variety of glorious lawrels by gifts of accidentall beatitude for our glorifying him in any eminent manner of perfection 2. That as starres so Saints do differ in clarity hauing their seuerall mansions places and glory according to their degrees of grace and merit wherby al are encouraged to aime at perfection in hope of so high a remuneration For hell and the place and paines of it they and their priuate spirit take from it 1. The difference of places as Limbus patrum puerorum Purgatory 2. The materiall and reall fier of hell denying as many do all true fier and admitting only a metaphoricall and imaginary fier 3. The suffering of soules in it before the day of iudgment 4. The corporall place or prison of hell admitting only a torment of cōscience before the day of iudgment 5. The lawfulnesse to auoid sinne for feare of hell which they make a sinne and vnlawfull by all which they make the paines and torments of hell to be lesse feared and sinnes for the feare of them lesse auoided We and our Catholicke doctrine do hould 1. The difference of places according to different estates and deserts as the Limbus puetorū for children dying without Baptisme the Limbus patrum