is moued by an impression of that waight which it put not into it self but the authour of nature moueth but one way so that it is far from freedome liberty euen in this motion also Liuing things moue themselues not one way only as the former but euery way as we see plants trees wherein the first lowest degree of life is discerned moue themselues downewards vpwards on the right hand on the left yet discerne they not whether neither do they moue themselues out of any discerning so are far from liberty Bruite beasts are moued by themselues in a more excellent sort for hauing discerned such things as are fitting to their nature condition there is raised in them a desire of the same so that they may very properly truely be said to moue themselues because they raise in themselues the desire that moueth them yet is there no freedome or liberty in them For there is no liberty truely so called but where there is an apprehensiō not of things of some certaine kind onely but of all things generally of the whole variety of things of the proportion which they haue within themselues of the different degrees of goodnes found in them answerable herevnto a desire of good in general a greater or lesse desire of each good according as it appeareth to be more or lesse good and so a preferr◅ng of one before another a choosing of what it thinketh best So that reason is the roote of all liberty for in that reason discerneth good in generall the will in generall desireth it in that it sheweth there is a good wherein there is all good no defect the will if it haue any action about the same cannot but accept it in that it sheweth that one thing is better then another the will preferreth or lesse esteemeth it in that it sheweth some reasons of good some defects and evils the will chooseth or refuseth when reason finally resolueth a thing now in this particular to bee best the will inclineth to it This generality of knowledge is not found in any thing below the condition of man other liuing creatures haue an apprehension of some certaine things onely they haue no knowledge of good in generall but of certaine good things onely nor no desire of good in generall in the extent of it but of such particular good things as are fitted to them these therefore haue neither free and illimited apprehension nor desire of good but limited restrained and shutte vp within a certaine compasse so that they are like to a man shutte vp in prison who though hee may moue himselfe and walke vp and downe yet cannot goe beyond a certaine limitation and bounds set vnto him But man was made to haue an apprehēsion of all things to discern the nature of each and the different degrees of goodnesse found in them and accordingly to desire good in generall to desire each thing more or lesse as it appeareth more or lesse good neuer to rest satisfied till he come to an infinite good to desire the same for it selfe as originally good and as the last end because aboue or beyond it there is nothing to be desired to desire nothing but in reference vnto it seeing nothing is good but by partaking of it And hence it is easy to see how the liberty of our will is preserued and how and in what sort it is lost for seeing the desire of the chiefe good and last end is the originall of all particular desires if God be proposed vnto vs as our last end and chiefe good in whom from whom and for whom all things are then our will without restraint and without all going aside and intangling or intricating it selfe shall freely loue whatsoeuer is good and each thing more or lesse according as it comes neerer to God and nothing but that which is pleasing to him thus is our liberty preserued and continued But if we depart from God and make any other thing our chief good last end then we seeke that which is infinite within the compasse of that which is finite and soe languish neuer finding that wee seeke because wee seeke it where it is not to be found and besides bring our selues into a strait soe as to regard nothing though neuer so good farther then in reference to this finite thing which wee esteeme as if it were infinite neither doe wee set vp any other thing vnto our selues to be our chiefe good but our selues For as Picus Mirandula noteth the ground of the loue of friendshippe is vnity now first God is more neere to euery of vs then we are to our selues then are wee nearer to our selues then any other thing in the third place there is a nearenesse and coniunction betweene other things and vs. So that in the state of nature instituted wee loued God first and before and more then our selues and our selues no otherwise but in and for him but falling from that loue wee must of necessity decline to loue our selues better then any thing else and seeke our owne greatnesse our owne glory and the things that are pleasing to vs more then any thing else and because the soule vnmindfull of her owne worth and dignity hath demersed herselfe into the body senses is degenerated into the nature and condition of the body she seeketh nothing more thē bodily pleasures as fitting to her declineth nothing more as cōtrary to her then the things that grieue afflict the outward man This is the fountaine of all the euills that are found in our nature this putteth vs into horrible confusions for hauing raised our selues into the throne of God by pride and fancied vnto our selues a peerelesse and incomparable greatnesse wee are no lesse grieued at the good of other men then if it were our evill nay indeede it is become our euill for how can our excellence be pearles and incomparable if any other excell or equall us or haue any thing wherein he is not subordinate to us thus doe wee runne into enuy and all other euills and endleslely disquiet and afflict our selues And secondly wee are hereby depriued of our former liberty for neither do we know all the variety of good things as we did our knowledge being from sense nor their different degrees that so wee might haue power to desire them and to preferre each before other according to the worth of it neither can wee desire any good but as seruing our turne so that what doth not so we cannot esteeme Touching the wil of man since the fall it is resolued by all diuines that it hath lost the freedome it formerly had from sinne and misery but some vnderstand this in one sort and some in another For some affirme that men haue so farre forth lost their liberty from sinne by Adams fall that they cannot but sinne in whatsoeuer morall act they doe which thing I shewed to haue beene
not in actuall apprehension wherein he did truly increase and and grow as also in experimentall knowledge For the humane knowledge that was in Christ was by conuersion to those Phantasmata sensible representations of things that from without are by the senses presented vnto the Soule was discursiue though not proceeding from things known to find out things altogether vnknowne yet from things actually known to such as he knew but habitually only and not actually before That the humane knowledge Christ had of things in thēselues was discursiue by conuersion to the sensible representations of them from without it is euident in that all perfectiōs are receiued according to the condition capacitie of the receiuer Now the condition of the Soule of man in the state of this life is to know nothing but by conversion to the sensible appearances of the same that not onely in respect of things naturall but mysticall also and supernaturall Quia impossibile est saith Dionysius Areopagita nobis aliter superlucere radium diuinum nisi sacrorū velaminū varietate circumuelatū that is because it is impossible the beame of divine light should shine on vs vnlesse it be vailed on euery side with the variety of sacred vailes Thus then wee see how it may be truely said that Christ grew in wisedome and knowledge as he did in stature of body non quoad habitus essentiam extensionem sed quoad actualem cognitionem experimentum that is not in respect of the essence or extension of the habit but of actuall knowledge experience That which Thomas others haue that Christ knew all things at first by an infused knowledge afterwards attained another kinde of knowledge of the same things which they named acquisite is not so fit for two formes or qualities of one kinde cannot bee in the same subject Now as the sight which is in men naturally that which once lost is restored againe by miracle is of the same nature condition so is that knowledge of things that is by infusion that which is acquisite howsoeuer these men seeme to make them of two kindes Wherefore passing by this conceipt as not probable to conclude this point euen as touching the condition of children which should haue been borne in the state of innocency there are diuerse opinions some thinking they should haue had the vse of reason perfection of knowledge at the very first so that they should haue grown encreased afterwards only in experimētal knowledge others that they should haue had no vse of reason at the first a third sort that so soon as they had bin borne they should haue had the vse of reason so farre forth as to discerne outward things good or euill seeing euen the little lambes by natures instinct doe know the Wolfe fly frō him seeke the dugges of their dammes but not to discerne things concerning morall vertue the worship of God So likewise some thinke that the Babe IESVS euen in his humane soule had the actuall knowledge of all things euen frō the beginning that he grew only in experimentall knowledge but there are other of as good judgment as great learning who think that howsoeuer he had the habit of al knowledge frō the beginning brought it with him out of the womb yet not the act vse of it this is all that either Luther or Calvine say yet we know how clamorously some inveigh against them as if they had broached some damnable heresie But some man will say if we grant that Christ in his Humane Soule knew not all things frō the beginning but in processe of time learned that which before he actually knew not wee fasten on him the disgracefull note of ignorance consequently bring him within the confines cōpasse of sin Hereunto Hugo de S. Vict. answereth sheweth the folly of this silly objection peremptorily resoluing that non omnis qui aliquid nescit aut minus perfectè scit statim ignorantiam habere seu in ignorantiâ esse dicendus est quia ignorantia non dicitur nisi tunc solùm cum id quod ignorari non debuisset nescitur that is we must not say that euery one that knoweth not a thing or doth lesse perfectly know it is ignorant or in ignorance because ignorance is only the not knowing of such things as should haue beene knowne Neither is there any distinction more triuiall or ordinary in the Schooles then that of nescience ignorance and therefore howsoeuer some in the heat of their distempered passions lay a heavy imputation of horrible impiety vpō Luther Caluin and others for that they say there were some things which Christ in his humane soule did not actually know from the beginning yet Maldonatus a man as ill conceited of them as any other confesseth that though some say Christ profited in wisdome and knowledge not in his owne person but in his mysticall body which is the Church others that his growing and increasing was onely in the manifestation of that which in all perfection was found in him from the beginning or in experimental knowledge of those things which in generall contemplation he knew before yet many of the ancient Fathers answering the objections of the Arrians and other like heretiques and rejecting as impious their conceit who thought Christ was absolutely ignorant of any thing denied not but that there were some things which Christ in his humane nature did not actually alwaies know This saith Maldonat I suppose Luther Caluin and the rest knew not for had they known that the Fathers taught that Christ did truly grow in humane knowledge and wisdome and that he knew not all things actually frō the beginning to be contrary to the Fathers they would haue been of another mind How charitable this his surmise and conjecture is let the Reader judge Howsoeuer we haue his cleare confession that many of the Fathers were of opinion that Christ in his humane nature did not alwayes actually know all things Yea vpon the 24 of Matthew hee testifieth that many of them sayd plainely that Christ as man knew not the day appointed for the generall judgement of the quicke and dead when he said That day and houre knoweth no man no not the Angels nor the Son himselfe but the Father onely It is true indeede that he goeth about notwithstanding this his cleare confession of the truth to construe the words of some of the Fathers in such sort as if they had not meant simply that Christ in his humane soule knew not that houre and time but onely that he knew it not by force of his humane nature but this commentarie I feare will not agree with their texts For Origen in his third tract vpon Matthew saith that Christ knew not the time and day of judgement when he sayd Of that day and houre knoweth no man no not the Sonne but that
that without which he knew it would not be done But some there be that feare thus to speake chusing rather to say that God onely permitted then that in any sense he decreed the sinne of omission in the first entrance of it Yet these if they rightly vnderstand that permission which they speake of agree with the other in sense and meaning For God may bee said to permit the not doing of a thing three wayes First when he requireth not the doing of it neither will dislike the omission of it and in this sense it is impious to say that God permitteth the sinne of omission For hee requireth the doing and will punish the not doing of that the omission whereof is sin Secondly God may be said to permit a mans not doing of a thing in that hee leaveth him to himselfe to doe or not to doe the same without any particular providence or care in ordering or disposing the motions and resolutions of his will which to thinke is no lesse impious then the former Thirdly hee may bee sayd to permit the not doing of a thing when hee doth not worke vpon a man in such sort as onely hee knoweth hee will be wrought to the doing of the same Deum permittere saith Cumel nihil aliud videtur esse quam subtrahere illam maiorem gratiam quam si tribueret Petrus non peccaret hoc quoad primum peccatum vt servet suavem modum providendi in omnibus vel vt servet multipliciter dispositionem concurrendi cum libero arbitrio vel vt ostendat se dare gratis illam gratiam cuicunque dat When God is said to permit sinne saith Cumel no other thing seemeth to bee meant but that hee deâ—…eth that more potent and prevailing grace which if hee should giue hee that now sinneth would not sinne and this hee doth in respect of the first sinne that hee may hold a sweete course in guiding all things so as to suffer them to worke according to the condition of their nature that in diuerse and different sorts hee may dispose of his concurrence with the liberty of mans will and that hee may make it appeare that to whomsoeuer hee giueth that more potent and prevailing grace hee giueth it freely In this sense God may truely be said to permit the sinne of omission And because hee knoweth infallibly such omission will bee whensoeuer hee doth not so worke vpon a man as hee knoweth hee must be wrought vpon if ever hee bee brought to the doing of that good which is required of him hee may bee sayd priuatiuely to decree it seeing hee may rightly be said in a sort to decree the not doing of a thing when hee decreeth the deniall of that without which he knoweth it will not be done Praefinitio duplex est sayth Rispolis positiua negatiua positiua quâ Deus apud se quasi deliberat velle in tempore determinare physicè per aliquod auxilium voluntatem hominis alicuius negatiua quâ deliberat non confeâ—…re alicuisuum auxilium efficax quia voluntas infallibiliter deficiet circa quamcunque materiam virtutis nisi efficaciter moveatur à diuina voluntate ad bene operandum in materia verbi gratiâ temperantiae cognoscit evidenter voluntatem creatam peccaturam Sic bona cognoscuntur praefinitione positiuâ mala negatiuâ quam potius permissionem appellabimus Et post Nos quando dicimus Deum praefinijsse peccatum hoc non intelligimus quantum ad decretum impositionis malitiae sed quantum ad subtractionem gratiae There is a two fold decree of God the one positiue the other negatiue the positiue is that whereby God determineth with himselfe in such time as he thinketh good to encline the will of man to the doing of a thing by his effectuall working and powerfull helpe the negatiue is when he determineth not so to worke a man to the doing of a thing and because man will not doe the same vnlesse he be so effectually wrought vnto it he seeth it will not be done and that man will sinne in omitting it So that God knoweth future good things because hee hath positiuely decreed them and future euill things because he hath privatiuely decreed them the which wee rather â—…all permission And againe When wee say God hath decreed sinne we speake not of any positiue decree of making a man euill but of a privatiue decree of not working him to doe good So that if there be any difference amongst Divines touching this point it is onely in forme of words The sinne of commission which is the doing of that the creature is bound not to doe is meerely positiue For as the affirmatiue part of Gods Law is broken by the not putting that in being which it requireth or not so as it requireth so the negatiue is violated precisely by putting that in being which it would not haue to bee or by putting it in being in such sort as it would not haue it to bee yet euery sin is an euill the nature of euill is privatiue For the clearing therefore hereof the Divines do note that we speake of euill formally and denominatiuely Formally euill is nothing but the not being of some good in that thing wherein it should be Denominatiuely a thing may be said to be euill either by actiue denomination because it depriueth some thing of that good it should haue in which sort poison is saide to be euill or by passiue denomination as those things are said to be euill that want and are depriued of that good they should haue The sin of omission is formally euill because it is negatio boni debiti inesse the not doing of that good act which should be done from it the sinner is denominated euill by passiue denomination as wanting that good which he should haue Sin of commission is an euill act Euill acts are of 2 sorts for either they are euill onely ex fine circumstantiis in that they are not done to a right end rightly or ex genere obiecto the former are denominated euill by passiue denomination as wanting some circumstances that should make them good the latter are such as no circumstances can make good neither are they denominated euil froÌ„ the want of circumstances which they should or might haue but by actiue denomination because by way of contrariety they depriue the sinner of that orderly disposition that should be found in him some other of that good which pertaineth to him As it appeareth in the acts of injustice spoyling men of that which is their owne and in the acts of blasphemie against God or the hate of God in which the sinner as much as in him lieth by attributing vnto God that which is contrary to his nature or denying that which agreeth vnto the same maketh him not to be that which he is hating him wisheth he were not endeavoureth to hinder what he would haue done From this kind
of Pelagius CHAP. 27 Of the heresies of Nouatus Sabellius and the Manichees THe sixt heresie that wee are charged with is that of Nouatus who would not haue those that fell in the time of persecution reconciled and receiued againe to the communion of the Church vpon their repentance But wee receiue all Penitents whatsoeuer and therefore this lying slander may be added to the rest to make vp a number But they will say the Nouatians were condemned for denying penance to be a Sacrament and that therein at least wee agree with the Nouatians This is as false as the rest for it is most certaine that the absolution which was giuen in the Primitiue Church disliked by Nouatus was not taken as a sacramentall acte giuing grace remitting sinnes but as a judiciall acte receiving them to the peace of the Church and the vse of the Sacraments which had beene formerly put from them This the best and most iudicious of the Schoole-men confesse besides the infinite testimonies that might be alleaged out of the Fathers to proue the same It was then an admitting to the vse of the Sacraments not it selfe a Sacrament But Caluin sayth that the speech of Hierome that poenitentia is secunda tabula post naufragium is impious and cannot be excused and therefore it seemeth he inclineth to the Nouatians heresie in denying the benefite of penitencie to distressed and miserable sinners that seeke it Augustine in his booke De mendacio ad Consentium maketh it a disputable question whether a man that vsually lieth speaking trueth at some one time with purpose to make men thinke it like the rest of his lying speaches wherewith they are well acquainted may not be said to lie when hee speaketh trueth because hee intendeth to deceiue and doeth deceiue Surely if this man should speake any trueth I feare the Reader would thinke it a falsehood because his ordinary manner is seldome or neuer to speake any trueth Doeth Caluine say the speach of Hierome is impious and not to bee excused as hee reporteth he doeth Surely no but that if it be vnderstood as the Papists vnderstand it it cannot bee excused For they conceiue thereby that the Sacrament of Penance is implied which Hierome neuer thought of But hee will say the Nouatians refused to haue those that they baptized to receiue imposition of hands with which was joyned in those times the anoynting of the parties with oyle Surely so they did but so doe not wee for we tâ—…inke of the vse of imposition of hands as Hierome doeth in his booke against he Luciferians But touching the vse of oyle though at that time there was no cause for the Nouatians to except much against it yet now that it is made the matter and element of a Sacrament and that by a kinde of consecration the ground whereof wee know not wee thinke we doe not offend in omitting it no more than the Church of Rome in omitting innumerable ceremoniall obseuations of like nature that were in vse in those times The seauenth is the heresie of Sabellius which he sayth was reuiued by Servetus So it was indeede that Seruetus reuiued in our time the damnable heresie of Sabellius long since condemned in the first ages of the Church But what is that to vs How little approbation hee found amongst vs the just and honourable proceeding against him at Geneva will witnesse to all posterity The eighth is the heresie of the Manichees which taught that euills which are found in the World were from an euill beginning so making two originall causes the one good of things good the other euill of things euill It is true that this was the damnable opinion of the Manichees But will the shamelesse companion charge vs with this impiety I thinke hee dareth not for hee knoweth that wee teach that all the euils that are in the World had their beginning and did proceede from the freedome of mans will which while hee vsed ill hee ouerthrewe and lost both himselfe and it that while hee turned from the greater to the lesser good and preferred the creature before the Creatour hee plunged himselfe into innumerable defects miseries perplexities and discomforts and justly deserued that GOD from whome thus wickedly hee departed should make all those things which formerly hee appointed to doe him seruice to become feeble weake vnfit and vnwilling to performe the same But saith he Luther affirmeth that all things fall out by a kinde of absolute necessitie whence the heresie of the Manichees may bee inferred The aunswere to this objection is easie for Luther taketh necessitie for infallibilitie of event thereby meaning that all things fall out infallibly so as God before disposed and determined but doth not imagine a necessitie of coaction enforcing nor a naturall and inevitable necessitie taking away all freedome of choyce as our adversaries injuriously impute vnto him If this of Luther faile as in deede it doeth Bellarmine hath another proofe and demonstration that wee are Manichees for that Calvine denyeth man to haue freedome of choyce in any thing whatsoeuer This is a most false and injurious imputation For though Calvine deny that man can doe any thing in such sort as therein to bee free from the direction and ordering of Almighty GOD yet hee confesseth that Adams will in the day of his creation was free not onely from sinne and miserie but also from limitation of desire and naturall necessitie and left to her owne choyce in the highest matter and of most consequence of all the rest and that man by making an euill choyce did runne into those euills which he is now subject vnto Calvin then is not worse than the Manichees as making God the Authour of those euills which the Manichees attribute to an euill beginning as Bellarmine is pleased to pronounce of him but is farther from that hellish conceit than Bellarmine is from hell it selfe if he repent him not of these his wicked and hellish slanders But sayth hee the Manichees blamed and reprehended the Fathers of the Olde Testament and so also doeth Calvine therefore Calvin is a Manichee This is as if a man should thus reason with Bellarmine Porphyry blamed Paul as an arrogant man for reprehending Peter that was his auncient and before him in the faith of Christ and Bellarmine diliâ—…eth him for persecuting the Church of GOD in the time of his infidility therefore Bellarmine is as bad or worse than Porphyry For the Manichees thought that the Old Testament was from an euill beginning and therefore exaggerated all the faults and sinnes of the Fathers that then liâ—…ed for confirmation and strengthening of this their blasphemie But Calvin hateth this impiety more than the Romanists who imagine a greater difference betwixt the state of the Iewes and the Christians that hee doeth It is therefore an ill consequence Caluine doth not hide nor excuse but condemne the murder and adultery of Dauid the drunkennesse of Noe and the
haue it not bee neuer so good they haue no true vertue Bernard in his booke de gratiâ libero arbitrio Liberi arbitrii conatus ad bonum cassi sunt si non gratiâ adiuventur nulli si non excitentur caeterum in malum dicit scriptura proni sunt sensus cogitationes hominis That is the endeavouring of freewill to doe good is in vaine if it bee not holpen by grace and none at all if it be not stirred vp by grace but the scripture saith the senses and thoughts of men are prone to euill Neither can they say that hee speaketh onely of meritorious good and such as is rewardable in heauen for hee speaketh generally of good as it appeareth in that hee opposeth it not to some other kind of good but to euill Anselme Archbishoppe of Canterbury fully agreeth with the rest affirming in the same words that Prosper and Beda did before that the whole life of infidels is sinne that there is nothing good without the chiefe good and that where the knowledge of the eternall and incommutable veritie is wanting if the manners and conuersation of them that haue it not bee nouer soe good and commendable they haue no true vertue Peter Lombard the master of the sentences sometimes Bishoppe of Paris writing vpon the same place hath the same words and soe hath the ordinary glosse Grosthead the renowned Bishoppe of Lincolne in his sermon vpon the Aduent the beginning whereof is this There shall be signes in the sunne and in the Moone hath these words Bright and glittering starres of vertue seemed to shine and appeare in the morall doctrine of naturall men and in the conversation of many Gentiles as of the Scipioes and others but now it is truly manifest and cleare that without the faith of Christ there is no true vertue in the doctrine or conuersation of any man And in his Enchiridion hee sayth that this was the opinion of St Augustine where treating of the foure Cardinall vertues and proposing the question whether Cato and the Scipioes had such vertues hee sayth thus Wee grant with Augustine that no man euer had or could haue true vertue without the faith of Iesus Christ and proueth it immediately after in this sort Non enim potest esse amor ordinatus vbi contemnitur non amatur quod maximè amandum est cum non ametur nisi quod scitur aut creditur vnde patet quod qui nescit aut non credit dominum Iesum Christum non amat aut contemnit quod maximè amandum est quapropter in tali virtus non est quod etiam probat Augustinus talibus argumentis dicens Absit vt in aliquo sit vera virtus nisi sit iustus c that is There can bee no orderly loue of things where that is contemned and not loued that is to be loued most of all whence it is cleere and euident that seeing nothing can bee loued but that which is knowne or beleeued hee who knoweth not or beleeueth not the Lord IESVS CHRIST contemneth or at least loueth not that which is most of all to bee beloued and therefore in such a one there can bee noe true uertue which also Augustine proueth by arguments of this sort saying GOD forbidde that true vertue should be conceiued to bee in any man vnlesse hee be iust c. By these passages of the Bishoppe of Lincolne it appeareth sayth Ariminensis that hee thought as wee doe that noe act morally good canne bee done without the speciall grace of GOD for if there bee noe vertue without such grace then canne there bee noe act morallie good which is yet more fully cleared for euery vertuous and morall good act either is orderly loue or presupposeth it soe that if there can bee noe orderly loue without GODS grace there can bee noe act of vertue or act morally good With this famous Bishoppe of LINCOLNE wee may ioyne Thomas Bradwardine the noe lesse famous and renowned Archbishoppe of CANTERBVRIE who is his Summe de causa Dei contra Pelagium at large confirmeth and proueth the same Soe that it seemeth by Beda Anselme Grosthead and this BRADWARDINE that this was euer the doctrine of the Church of England as now it is Pupperus Gocchianus that liued a litle before Luthers time saith The whole life of infidels is sinne there is nothing good without the chiefe good where there wanteth the knowledge of the eternall trueth if mens manners be never so commendable they haue no true vertue hee that offendeth in one that is in charity is guilty of all hee therefore that hath not faith and charitie every action of his is sinne And he addeth that when Augustine sayth that they that haue not charity may doe good things but not well his words are not to bee vnderstood as if the things which they doe without charitie were good when they doe them without charitie but that they would bee good if they were done in charity or that they are of such nature and kind which being done in charity may bee good otherwise hee should bee contrary to himselfe where hee sayth that every action of him that hath not charity is sinne Andradius saith that there was much difference touching this poynt not onely amongst the latter but the more auncient divines also and that some did so deiect all the actions and endeavours of infidels as to affirme that none of them are or can bee without sinne It is true indeede that there were ever some in the latter ages of the Church that contradicted this verity which wee haue hitherto proved but they were such as had a touch of Semipelagianisme Prosper speaketh of a rule found in the collations of Cassian Cauendum nobis est ne ita ad Deum omnia sanctorum referamus vt nihil nisi id quod malum est humanae ascribamus naturae That is Wee must take heed least wee so attribute all the merits of the Saints to God as to ascribe nothing to nature but that which is evill and perverse This rule sundry carefully followed in the midst of the Church in all the latter ages who so acknowledged that no man can merit heauen without Gods grace that yet they thought they might doe many things morally good by nature without grace But Prosper bitterly reprehendeth this his wordes are these Quasi natura ante gratiam non sit in damnatione non sit in caecitate non sit in vulnere aut non gratis iustificati sint quorum inde sunt merita vnde iustitia That is As if nature before grace were not in a state of condemnation were not in blindnesse and greivously hurt or as if wee were not freely justified all whose merits are from thence whence is our righteousnesse And all they that rightly vnderstood the doctrine of the Church cleared by Saint Augustine against the Pelagians concurred with Prosper and taught as wee doe now
which motion expresseth the condition of those things to the which God hath denied the knowledge and immediate enioying of himselfe which are established in the perfection of their owne nature and therein rest without seeking any further thing Some with circular motion by which they returne to the same point whence they began to mooue The motion of these expresseth the nature and condition of men and Angels who only are capable of true happinesse whose desires are never satisfied till they come backe to the same beginning whence they came forth till they come to see God face to face and to dwell in his presence None but immortall and incorruptible bodies are rolled with circular motions none but Angels that are heavenly spirits and men whose soules are immortall returne backe to the sight presence and happy enioying of God their Creator Each thing is carried in direct motion by natures force in circular by heavenly movers Every thing attaineth natures perfection by natures force and guidance but that other which is Divine and supernaturall consisting in the vision and fruition of God they that attaine vnto it must impute it to the sweete motions and happy directions of Divine grace This grace God vouchsafed both men and Angels in the day of their creation thereby calling them to the participation of eternall happinesse and giuing them power that they might attaine to the perfection of all happie and desired good if they would and everlastingly continue in the ioyfull possession of the same But such was the infelicitie of these most excellent creatures that knowing all the different degrees of goodnesse found in things and having power to make choise of what they would ioyned with that mutability of nature which they were subiect vnto in that they were made of nothing they fell from the loue of that which is the chiefe and greatest good to those of meaner qualitie and thereby deprived themselues of that sweete and happy contentment they should haue found in God and denying to be subiect to their great soveraigne and to performe that duty they owed vnto him were iustly dispossessed of all that good which from him they receiued and vnder him should haue enioyed yea all other things which were made to do them seruice lost their natiue beautie and originall perfection and became feeble weake vnpleasant and vntractable that in them they might find as little contentment as in themselues For seing nothing can prevaile or resist against the lawes of the omnipotent Creatour no creature is suffered to denie the yeelding of that which from it is due to God For either it shall be forced to yeeld it by right vsing of that which from him it receiued or by loosing that which it would not vse well and so consequently if it yeeld not that by dutie it should by doing and working righteousnesse it shall by feeling smart and miserie This then was the fall of men and Angels from their first estate in that by turning from the greater to the lesser good they depriued themselues of that blessednesse which though they had not of themselues yet they were capable of might haue attained vnto by adhering to the chiefe and immutable good and so by their fault fell into those greevous evils they are now subject vnto yet in very different sort and manner CHAP. 3. Of the Church consisting of those Angels that continued in their first estate by force of grace vpholding them and men redeemed THe Fall of Angels was irrecouerable For without all hope of any better estate or future deliverance out of those euils into the bottomlesse gulph whereof by their rebellious sinne they plunged themselues they are reserued in chaines of darkenesse to the iudgment of the great day But concerning the sonnes of men the Lord knew whereof they were made and remembred that they were but dust Hee looked vpon them with the eye of pitty and in the multitude of his compassionate mercies said of them as it is in the Prophet Ieremie Shall they fall and shall they not arise shall they turne away and shall they not returne as high as the heauens is aboue the earth so great was his mercie towards thē As farre as the East is from the West so farre remoued hee their sins from them hee redeemed their life from hell and crowned them with mercie and compassion The reason of this so great difference as the Schoolemen thinke is First for that the Angels are not by propagation one from another but were created all at once so that of Angels some might fall and others stand But men descend by generation from one stocke or roote and therefore the first man falling and corrupting his nature deriued to all his posteritie a corrupted and sinfull nature if therefore God had not appointed a redemption for man hee had beene wholy depriued of one of the most excellent creatures that ever hee made whereas among the Angels notwithstanding the Appostasie of some he held still innumerable in their first estate Secondly the Angels fell of themselues but man by the suggestion of another Thirdly the Angels in the height of their pride sought to be like vnto God in omnipotencie which is an incommunicable property of diuine being and cannot be imparted to any creature But men desired only to be like vnto God in omniscience and the generall knowledge of all things which may be communicated to a creature as in Christ it is to his humane soule which notwithstanding the vnion with God yet still remaineth and continueth a created nature and therefore the degree of sinnefull transgression was not so greevous in the one as in the other Fourthly the Angels were immateriall and intellectuall spirits dwelling in heavenly palaces in the presence of God and the light of his countenance and therefore could not sinne by error or misperswasion but of purposed malice which is the sinne against the holy Ghost and is irremissible But man fell by misperswasion and being deceiued by the lying suggestion of the spirit of errour Fiftly the Angels haue the fulnesse of intellectuall light when they take view of any thing they see all that any way pertaineth to it and so doe all things with so full resolution that they never alter nor repent But man who findeth out one thing after another and one thing out of another doth dislike vpon farther consideration that which formerly he liked Wherevpon the Schoolemen note that there are three kinds of willes The first of God which never turneth nor altereth the second of Angels that turneth and returneth not the third of men that turneth and returneth Sixtly there is a time prefixed both to men and Angels after which there is no possibility of altering their estate bettering themselues or attayning any good Now as death is that time prefixed vnto men so was the first good or badde deliberate action to the Angels that who would might be perpetually good who would not no grace should
ever after restore them againe Hoc est Angelis casus quod hominibus mors saith Damascene The reason why God limited so short a time to them and assigned so long a time to men was because they were spirituall substances all created at once and that in the empyreall heauens and so both in respect of nature condition and place were most readily prepared disposed and fitted for their immediate everlasting glorification so that it was fit there should be set vnto them a short time to make choice of their future state never after to be altered againe to wit till their first deliberate conuersion vnto him or auersion from him But man being created in a naturall body to fill the world with inhabitants by procreation being set in a place farre remooued even in an earthly paradise had a longer time set him before he should be in finall stay or haue his last judgement passe vpon him to wit till death for particular and till the end of the world for generall judgement when the number of mankind shall bee full These are the reasons that mooued Almighty God that spared not the Angels to shew mercie vnto the sonnes of men So that as god in the day of the creation called foorth all both men and Angels from among the rest of his creatures to whom he denied the knowledge enjoying of himselfe that these onely might know feare and worship him in his glorious Temple of the world and be vnto him a selected multitude and holy Church so when there was found amongst these a dangerous Apostasie and departure from him he held of the Angels so many as hee was pleased and suffered them not to decline or goe aside with the rest and raised vp and severed out of the masse of perdition whom hee would among the sonnes of men The Angels now confirmed in grace and those men whom in the multitude of his mercies he deliuereth out of the state of condemnation and reconcileth to himselfe doe make that happie society of blessed ones whom God hath loved with an everlasting loue This society is more properly named the Church of God than the former consisting of men and Angels in the state of that integrity wherein they were created in that they which pertaine to this happie company are called to the participation of eternall happinesse with the calling of a more mighty potent and prevailing grace then the other For whereas they were partakers onely of that grace which gaue them power to attaine vnto and continue in the perfection of all happie good if they would and then In tanta felicitate non peccandi facilitate in so great felicitie and facilitie of not offending left to themselues to doe what they would and to make their choice at their owne perill These are partakers of that grace which winneth infallibly holdeth inseparably and leadeth indeclinably in the wayes of eternall blessednesse CHAP. 4. Of the Church of the Redeemed ALl these aswell Angels that stood by force of grace vpholding them as men restored by renewing mercy haue a most happie fellowship among themselues and therefore make one Church of God yet for that the sonnes of men haue a more full communion and perfect fellowship being all delivered out of the same miseries by the same benefit of gracious mercie Therefore they make that more speciall society which may rightly be named the Church of the redeemed of God This Church began in him in whom sinne beganne euen in Adam the father of all the liuing repenting after his fall and returning to God For we must not thinke that God was without a Church among men at any time but so soone as Adam had offended and was called to giue an account of that he had done hearing that voice of his displeased Lord and Creator Adam where art thou that so he might know in what estate he was by reason of his offence the promise was made vnto him that the seede of the woman should breake the serpents head Yet for that Abel was the first that the Scripture reporteth to haue worshipped God with sacrifice and to haue beene divided from the wicked in whom GOD had no pleasure euen cursed Cain that afterward shed his innocent blood therefore we vsually say the Church or chosē company of the redeemed of the Lord began in Abel who being slaine by Cain God restored his Church again in Seth in whose race and posterity he continued his true worship till Noe. In whose time the wickednesse of men being full hee brought in the flood destroyed the whole world Noe onely and his family excepted whom he made a preacher of righteousnesse to the world before and after the flood and chose from among his children Sem his eldest sonne in whose race hee would continue the pure and sincere knowledge of himselfe and the expectation of that promised seede that should breake the serpents head This Sem was the father of all the sonnes of Heber of whom the people of god were afterwards named Hebrewes who was also as some thinke Melchisedech in whose posterity the true Church continued so that God vouchsafed to be called the God of Sem till the dayes of Abraham in whose time there being a great declining to Idolatry after the flood as there was in the dayes of Noe before the flood so that the defection was found not onely amongst those that descended of Cham and Iaphet but euen among the children of Sem and the sonnes of Heber also of whom Abraham was God called him out from his fathers house and gaue him the promise that he would make his seede as the starres of heaven in number that in his seede all the nations of the world should bee blessed and gaue him the seale of circumcision so that all posterities haue ever honoured him with the name and title of the father of the faithfull This man obtayned a sonne by promise in his old age when Sara his wife was likewise old and it ceased to bee with her after the manner of women and named his name Isaac of whom came Esau and Iacob concerning whom GOD pronounced ere they were yet borne or had done good or euill The Elder shall serue the yonger I haue loued Iacob and hated Esau. Iacob therefore prevailed with God and was named Israel the father of the twelue Patriarches of whom came the twelue Tribes of Israel and that chosen Nation of holy Hebrewes who were also named Iewes of Iudah the Patriarch to whom the Scepter and kingly dignity pertained to whom his fathers sonnes bowed according to the tenour of Iacobs blessing concerning whom the Lord did promise that the Scepter should not depart from Iudah nor a law giuer from betweene his feete till the Shilo were come Great was the honour of this people aboue all the Nations of the World for vnto them were committed the
Hee proposeth the sacramentall demaunds and wordes of holy stipulation whose mouth wordes send forth a canker He giueth the faith that is himselfe an infidell Hee giueth remission of sinnes that is himselfe most wicked and sinfull Antichrist baptizeth in the name of Christ he blesseth that is himselfe accursed of God hee promiseth life that is himselfe dead he giueth peace that is himselfe an enimy to peace he calleth on the name of God that is a blasphemer of God he administreth and executeth the holy office of Priesthood that is profane he prepareth furnisheth and attendeth the Altar of God that is a sacrilegious person All which objections howsoeuer carrying a faire shew at the first sight and view yet are most easily answered if wee consider that heretikes notwithstanding their heresies doe in some sort still pertaine to the Church and so consequently haue that degree order office ministerie and calling which is holy by vertue whereof they doe administer the holy Sacraments euen as in the true and Catholique Church many wicked ones are found that are no lesse the vassals of Sathan and possessed of the diuell dead in sinne accursed of God profane sacrilegious and enemies of peace than heretikes and â—…hismatikes who yet for that they haue that order office and degree of ministerie which is holy doe no lesse nor with lesse effect administer the holy Sacraments than they that are the samplers of all sanctitie pietie and vertue Whereupon the schoolemen rightly note that there are foure sorts of Ministers to wit good secretly bad openly and apparantly wicked but not put from their office and place nor cast out of the Church and lastly such as are depriued of their office and dignitie and remoued from the happie fellowship of right beleeuers The first administer the Sacraments with benefite profit and good to themselues others The second with benefit to others but not to theÌ„selues The third with hurt to themselues and scandall to others but yet to the euelasting good of them that receiue them if the fault be not in themselues The fourth administer those Sacraments that are holy in their owne nature the meanes pledges assurances of saluation but without any benefit to theÌ„selues or others because they are in diuision and schisme Whereas nothing though neuer so good excellent is aualeable to their good that are out of the vnitie the people of God should haue among themselues If I giue my body to be burned and haue not charitie it profiteth me nothing saith the Apostle CHAP. 15. Of them whom the Church casteth out by excommunication HItherto we haue treated of such as being once of the Church of themselues goe out from the companie of right beleeuers by schisme or heresie Now it remaineth to speake of them whom the Church casteth out by excommunication Excommunication is that sentence of the Church whereby shee ejecteth and casteth out wicked sinners out of her communion Which communion what it is and wherein it consisteth that we may the better vnderstand wee must obserue that communion is sometimes taken for hauing the same things in common and sometimes for mutuall doing and receiuing good to and from each other In the former sense the communion of the Church is of two sorts outward and inward The outward consisteth in those things which all they that are of the Church haue in common as the profession of the trueth reuealed in Christ and the Character of Baptisme which as a note distinctiue separateth Christians from Infidels and vnbeleeuers The inward consisteth in those things which only the best parts of the Church haue in common as faith hope loue and the like The Communion of the Church in the later sense consisteth in a mutuall and enterchangeable course of action whereby the parts thereof doe and receiue good to and from one another one supplying the want and defect of another This is of two sorts Publike and private The publike consisteth first in the prayers which the Church powreth foorth for euerie the least and most contemptible member thereof thereby obtayning of God the giuing supply and continuance of all necessary good ioyned with a most happie protection keeping them from falling into those evils they are subiect vnto Secondly in the dispensation of Sacraments by the hands of her Ministers Private in mutuall conuersation of one man with another Excommunication doth not depriue the Excommunicate of the former kinde of communion For euerie sentence of excommunication is either iust or vniust If it be vniust they may still retaine all those things which the best parts of the Church haue inward or outward as sometimes it falleth out through the prevailing of factious seditious and turbulent men that the best men are vniustly and vndeseruedly cast out of the true Church as Austine noteth who though they neuer be permitted to returne againe and reenter yet if they continue without gathering any conuenticles or broaching of heresies and still loue professe and seeke to promote what in them lyeth the trueth of God which is holden and professed in the Church of God from the assemblies whereof they are vniustly excluded and banished who dare denie them to be of the Church And therefore Bellarmine himselfe though he make shew as if he meant to proue that excommunicate persons are not of the Church as he endeuoureth to doe that Heretikes and Schismatikes are not yet hee altereth the matter cleane and saith only they are not in the Church corpore externâ communicatione as if hee would only proue that they are excluded from the meetings and assemblies of the Church and conuersing with the people of God There is therefore no doubt but that they are of the Church and that if they patiently endure these indignities iniuries and wrongs they shall be highly rewarded of Almighty GOD but saith Bellarmine they are not of the Church corporally and in outward Communion then which what could be more friuolously spoken For who maketh any doubt but that they are thrust out of the assemblies so that they may not be bodily present when the people of God doe meete together to performe the acts of diuine worship but that therefore they are not properly of the visible Church who that advisedly considereth what he saith would ever say Seeing they haue still the communion which onely is essentiall and maketh a man to be of the Church in that they haue all those things both inward outward which the best among them that remaine not eiected haue as faith hope loue and profession of the whole truth of God the character of baptisme obedient and humble submission to their lawfull superiors which things and no other are required to make a man to be of the Church For the performance of holy duties is an action of them that are already of the Church and doth not make a man to be of the Church Yea the performance of these duties is a thing of that
passionate zeale that they abandoned the societie of them that did held them not Christians and rebaptised them which came from them to their pretended purer societies The fift of the Luciferians who received men returning from heresie to the Catholique faith without rebaptization and enioyned them penitence gaue them imposition of hands But Bishops that had beene drawne into heresie they would not admitte vnlesse they forsooke their office and ministerie against these Hierom writeth his booke against the Luciferians All these did erre vrging overmuch the Church discipline in casting off the wicked and not admitting the vnworthy to her happie fellowshippe CHAP. 17. Of the considerations moouing the Church to vse indulgence towardes offenders BVt the true Church admitteth and receiveth all that with sorrowfull repentance returne and seeke reconciliation how great soever their offences haue beene not forgetting to vse due severitie which yet shee sometime remitteth either vpon due consideration or of negligence The due and iust consideration moouing the Church to remitte something of her wonted severitie is either priuate or publique perill Private as when the partie beeing of a tender timorous and relenting disposition if hee bee proceeded with rigorously is in daunger to fall into despaire or to bee swallowed vppe with ouermuch sorrow In this case the Apostle hauing excommunicated the incestuous Corinthian writeth to the Church of Corinth speedily to receiue him againe least hee should be swallowed vp with overmuch griefe and in this sorte the auncient Bishoppes were wont to cut off great parts of enioyned penance which remission and relaxation was called an indulgence Out of the not vnderstanding whereof grew the popish pardons and indulgences Publike perill is then when the multitude authority and prevailing of the offenders is so great as that if they be cut off and separated from the rest a schisme may iustly bee feared without hope of any good to be effected thereby in this case there is iust cause why the Church forbeareth to proceede to excommunication For whereas the end of excommunication is that evill doers being put from the company of right beleeuing Christians and forsaken of all may be made ashamed of their evill doing and so brought to repentance this cannot be looked for when the multitude of offenders hath taken away all shame These are the due and iust motiues which cause the Church sometimes to forbeare to punish with that extremitie which the qualitie and condition of the offenders fault may seeme to require But sometimes of negligence not led by any of these considerations shee omitteth the due correction of such as haue offended God and scandalized his people So the Corinthians before the Apostles Letter written vnto them suffered an incestuous person seemed not much to be mooued with so vile a scandall And the like negligence is often found in the Churches of God which notwithstanding their fault in this behalfe continue the true Churches of God still and priuate men may communicate with them that through the Churches negligence are thus tolerated and suffered and that both in publique actes of religion and priuate conuersation without being partakers of their sinnes if they neither doe the same things nor approue like and applaud them that doe and if they neglect not by all good meanes to seeke their correction and amendment CHAP. 18. Of their damnable pride who condemne all those Churches wherein want of due execution of discipline and imperfections of men are found THere are and haue beene alwayes some who possessed with a false opinion of absolute sanctitie and spotlesse righteousnesse reiect the societies and companies of them in whom any imperfection may be found which was the furious zeale of the Pelagians in old time and the Anabaptists in our time Others there are which though they proceede not so farre yet denie those societies of Christians to be the true Churches of God wherein the seueritie of discipline is so farre neglected that wicked men are suffered and tolerated without due and condigne punishment These while they seeme to hate the wicked and flie from their companie for feare of contagion doe schismatically rent and inconsiderately diuide themselues from the bodie of Gods Church and forsake the fellowship of the good through immoderate hate of the wicked Both these doe dangerously and damnably erre the first in that they dreame of heauenly perfection to be found amongst men on earth whē as contrariwise the Prophet Esay pronounceth that all our righteousnesse is like the polluted and filthy ragges of a menstruous woman And b David desireth of Almighty God that he will not enter into iudgement with him for that in his sight no flesh shall be iustified And Augustine denounceth a woe against our greatest perfections if God doe straitly looke vpon them The later though they doe not require absolute and spotlesse perfection in them that are in and of the Church yet thinke it not possible that any wicked ones should bee found in so happie blessed a societie not remembring that the Church of God is compared to a Nette that gathereth into it all sorts of fishes great and small good and badde which are not separated one from another till they be cast out vpon the shore that it is like a field sowen with good seede wherein the enuious man soweth tares like a floore wherein wheate and chaffe are mingled together like the Arke of Noah wherein cursed CHAM was aswell preserued from drowning as blessed SEM. But they will say there may be Hypocrits who for that their wickednes is not knowne cannot be separated from them who in sincerity serue and worship God but if their wickednesse breake foorth that men may take notice of it either they are presently reformed or by the censures of the Church cut off from the rest which course if it be not so holden but that wicked ones without due punishment be suffered in the middest of Gods people those societies wherein so great negligence is found cease to bee the true Churches of God and wee may and must diuide our selues from them This was the errour of the Donatistes in former times and is the errour of certain proud arrogant Sectaries in our time But if the Church of God remained in Corinth where there were diuisions sects emulations contentions and quarrels and going to law one with another for every trifle end that vnder the infidels where that wickednesse was tolerated and winked at which is execrable to the very heathens where Paules name and credite was despitefully called in question whom they should haue honoured as a father where the resurrection of the dead which is the life of Christianity was with greate scorne denied who dare deny those societies to bee the Churches of God wherein the tenth part of these horrible evills and abuses is not to be found We see then the difference betweene the turbulent disposition
hee findeth it professed and taught hee may know that society that so professeth as he now knoweth the trueth in Christ to bee is the true Church of God Euen as if one aske of vs how hee may know such a noble mans servants in the Princes Court we satisfie him if wee tell him they are clothed with scarlet if none other but they onely bee so clothed But if he know not scarlet and so aske of vs in the second place which is scarlet and who they are that weare it wee will not tell him they that weare it but shew him how hee may know it that so when hee seeth it he may assure himselfe he hath found the men he enquired after CHAP. 5. Of their notes of the Church and first of antiquitie THus hauing answered the reasons brought by our aduersaries against the notes of the Church assigned by vs let vs proceede to take a view of such as are allowed by them and see if they bee not the very same in substance with ours The notes that they propose vnto vs are Antiquity Succession Vnity Vniversality and the very name and title of Catholicke expressing the Vniversality Antiquity is of two sortes primary and secondary Primary is proper vnto God who is eternall whose being is from everlasting who is absolutely the first before whom nothing was from whom all things receiue being when as before they were not This kind of antiquity is a most certaine proofe and demonstration of trueth and goodnes Of this they speake not who make Antiquity a note of the Church Wherefore letting this passe let vs come to the other which for distinction sake we name secondary Antiquity This is of two sortes The first wee attribute to all those things which began to bee long agoe and since whose first beginning there hath beene a long tract of time This is no note or proofe of trueth or goodnesse For the divell was both a lyer a murtherer long agoe even immediatly after the beginning And there are many errours and superstitions which began long since yea before the name of Christians was once named in the world and sundry heresies that were coaetaneall and as auncient as the Apostles times and that began before the most famous Churches in the world were planted This kinde of Antiquity it is that Cyprian speaketh of Non debemus attendere quid alius ante nos fecerit aut faciendum putauerit sed quid qui ante omnes est Christus prior fecerit Neque enim hominis consuetudinem sequi oportet sed dei veritatem Et alibi Non est de consuetudine praescribendum sed ratione vincendum Et ad Pompeium Consuetudo sine veritate vetustas erroris est Wee must not regard what any other did before vs or thought fit to be done but what Christ did who was before all Neither must wee follow the customes of men but the trueth of God And in another place Wee must not prescribe vpon custome but perswade by reason And writing to Pompeius Custome without trueth is nothing else but inueterate errour There is therefore another kind of Antiquity which is not long continuance or the being before many other but the prime first and originall being of each thing this is a sure proofe of goodnesse and perfection For all defects found in things are swaruings deelinings and departures from their originall and first estate For trueth is before falshood and good before evill and the habit before privation Veritas saith Tertullian in omnibus imaginem antecedit postremò similitudo succedit The trueth is before any counterfeite similitude on representation the trueth is first and then afterwards there are imitations That therefore that is first in any kind or sort of things is truest and best and consequently that Church that hath prime and absolute Antiquity is vndoubtedly the true Church This Antiquity a Church may be sayd to haue three wayes either onely because the first constitution of it was most auncient as taking beginning from the first publishers of heauenly knowledge the Apostles of Christ the immediate indubitate and prime witnesses of the trueth of God whatsoever her declinings haue beene since Or because as her first constitution was most auncient in that shee receiued the faith from the Apostles or such as shee knew vndoubtedly to hold communion with them so she is not since gone from it in whole or in part but still hath the same being shee first had or thirdly because the profession it holdeth is the same that was deliuered by the prime immediate and indubitate witnesses and publishers of the trueth of God though it began to be a Church but yesterday The Antiquity of the first constitution of a Church is no sufficient proofe or note of the trueth or soundnesse of it Neither doe they that plead most for Antiquity thinke it a good proofe for any company or society of Christians to demonstrate themselues to bee the true Church of God because they haue had the profession of Christianity euer since the Apostles times by whose meanes they were first converted to the faith established in the profession of the same For then the Church of Ephesus might at this day proue it selfe a true Church of God yea many Churches in Aethiopia are yet remaining which haue continued in the profession of Christianity euer since the Apostles times But this is all they say that if any Church founded by the Apostles or their coadiutors left by them in the true profession as were the Churches of Rome Antioche Ephesus the like can demonstrate that they haue not since departed from their first and originall estate they thereby doe proue themselues to bee the true Churches of God And if any other that began since as innumerable did can shew that they haue the faith first delivered to the Saints they therby proue themselues no lesse to be the true Church of God then the former which had their beginning from the Apostles themselues and haue continued in a state of Christianity ever since Doe we not see thē that it is truth of doctrine whereby the Church is to be found out euen in the judgement of them that seeme most to say the contrary they admitte no plea of Antiquitie on the behalfe of any Churches whatsoeuer though established by the Apostles vnlesse they can proue that they haue not left their first faith So that this is still the triall if they may be found to haue the trueth of profession c. Wherevpon Stapleton saith Ad notam Antiquitatis sibi vendicandam non satis est quòd aliqua societas sub titulo Ecclesiae diu perdurauerit aut prior extiterit sed praetereà necesse est quòd sanam doctrinam semper priùs retinuerit Hoc autem contra veteres haereses maximè ipsis Apostolis coetaneas notandum est It is not a sufficient reason for a societie of Christians to chalenge to
of sin the sinner is denominated euill partly by denomination passiue in that he wanteth that orderly disposition that should bee in himselfe partly by actiue in that he depriueth as much as in him is some other of that good which pertaines to him Some not rightly obseruing these things finding that some sinnes are positiue acts whereas the nature of euill is privatiue distinguish that which is materiall in the sins of commission that which is formall the substance of the act the difformity of it making the one positiue the other privatiue consisting in the want of that rectitude which should be in it But these men seeme not rightly to conceiue the things whereof they speake For the sin of omission is formally euill a want of rectitude in that the good act that should be done is omitted But the sin of commission if it be an euill act ex genere obiecto is denominatiuely euill not by passiue denomination as wanting that rectitude that should be in it but by actiue in that by way of contrariety it depriueth the sinner of that orderly disposition that should be found in him others of that good that pertaineth to them That that sin of commission that is an euill act ex genere obiecto is not denominated euill passiuely froÌ„ the want of rectitude due vnto it it is evident in that no rectitude is due to such an act For what rectitude is due to the specifical act of hating God or what rectitude is it capable of Greg. de Valentia finding this to be true yet willing to defend the distinctioÌ„ of that which is formall that which is material of some thing positiue some thing privatiue in the sin of commission saith that euill acts as particularly the act of injustice may be considered 2 wayes First in the proper specificall nature of iniustice so it is no subiect capable of the perfection of vertue neque huius perfectionis negatio est in illo priuatio sed pura negatio neither is the deniall of this perfection in respect of such an act so considered a priuation but a meere pure negation 2l l Secundum communem quandam rationeÌ„ illi actui iustitiae vt versantur circa materiam communem ipsi iusticiae scilicet rem alienam sic subiectum aptum est ad perfectionem iustitiae et huiâ—… perfectionis negatio est in illo priuatio In a generalitatie in respect of that which is common to it the contrary act of iustice as they are both conuersant in things pertaining to other men and in this sort it is a subiect capable of rectitude and the perfection of vertue his meaning is that a morall act conuersant in things pertaining to other men considered in a generality is indifferent either to bee an act of iustice giuing to euery one his own or of iniustice depriuing others of that which pertaineth to them that the omission of the act of iustice is a priuation of such rectitude as might be found in this kind So that wheÌ„soeuer any act of iniustice is don first there is a want of rectitude that is an omissioÌ„ of the good act of iustice which might ought to haue bin donne 2ly the producing of an evill act contrary to that good act that is omitted 2 kinds of sin do allwaies concurre the one of omission the other of commission the one is a meere priuation of rectitude the difformity of it is priuatiue in the other which is a sin of coÌ„missioÌ„ specifically coÌ„sidered there is no priuatiue waÌ„t of rectitude for it is capable of none in it there is nothing but meerly positiue the difformity that is fouÌ„d in it is precisely a positiue repugnance to the Law of God Aluarez saith the sin of commission is a breach of a negatiue law which is not broken but by a positiue act contrary to the prescript of right reason as Tho Aquinas teacheth 2ª 2ae q. 79. ar 2. 3. 4. And the same is further confirmed because the same Thomas elswhere saith that in the sin of omission there is nothing but priuation if we consider it as it is in it selfe but the sin of coÌ„mission is some positiue thing Because saith Caietan sin consisteth aswell of a coÌ„version to an obiect contrary to the obiect of vertue as of an aversion from the Law there is in sin a double nature of euill the one arising from the obiect the other froÌ„ the not obseruing of the law the first is positiue the 2d priuatiue the first inferreth the 2l. For it cannot bee that a man should hate God but that in so doing he must breake the Law For there are some acts simply intrinsecally euill so that to doe them is to sin of which sort is the act of hating God Besides one coÌ„trary depriueth the subiect wherein it is found maketh it vncapable of the other so long as it is in it as the hate of God maketh a man vncapable of the loue of God of the hate of such things as are contrary to God should be hated So that there is a double nature of evill the one positiue the other priuatiue the one of these is the cause of the other Greg. de Valentia saith it is consequent vpon the opinion of Caietan that sin formally as sin is a positiue thing which thing he also expressly affirmeth in 1am 2ae q. 71. ar 6. There are that hold saith Cvmel that the formal nature of sin he meaneth the sin of commission consisteth in some positiue thing to witt in the manner of working freely with positiue repugnance to the rule of reason the Law of God Difformitas in actu coÌ„missionis saith Ockam non est nisi ipsemet actus elicitus contra praeceptum diuinum nihil penitus aliud dicit Qâ—…ando elicit quis actum quem non debet si non teneatur ad oppositum actum difformitas non est careÌ„tia alicuius rectitudinis debitae inesse nec illi actui nec voluntati sed si teneatur tunc est duplex peceatuÌ„ coÌ„missionis omissionis et hoc est carentia alterius actus debiti inesse et it a rectitudinis debitae inesse voluntati that is The difformity in an act of commission is nothing but the very act which is done contrary to the Law of God neither doth it imply any thing else So that when a man produceth an action which he should not do if he be not bound to do the contrary the difformity that accompanieth such an actioÌ„ is not the want of any rectitude that should be either in that action or in the will but if he be bound to do the contrary then there are 2 sins found in him the one of coÌ„missioÌ„ the other of omissioÌ„ this latter is the want of another act that should bee donne consequently of a rectitude
vertue of their owne proper for me Caietan confesseth that God doth not so produce them as an immediat agent but that the 2d causes doe mediate between him and them as secondary principal agents bring forth their effects Yet are not these that is the first the 2d causes partiall but totall causes of all those effects which they produce For the cleering whereof we must obserue that a cause may bee said to be totall either totalitate effectus that is because it bringeth forth the whole effect though some other cause haue such efficiencie also in respect of the same that without the helpe of it it cannot bring forth any such effect as when 2 men draw a ship either of them produceth the whole effect and moueth the whole ship but yet not so wholly but that either hath need of the others helpe and concurrence Or secondly a cause may bee said to bee totall totalitate causoe and that in 2 sorts either so as to produce the whole effect without any concurrence of any other cause in which sense neither God nor the creature neither the first nor the 2d cause must be said to be a totall cause or so as that though some other do concurre yet the being power of working and actuall cooperation of it is wholy from the agent with which it doth concurre and so God is a totall cause of all those effects that he produceth by and together with the 2d causes So that the opinion of them who thinke that God hath no immediat influence into the effects of 2d causes nor immediate concurrence with such causes in producing their effects is to be exploded out of all Christian schools Churches as profane heathnish Wherfore there are who finding that this first opiniō is not to be admitted flie to a 2d little better then the former For they acknowledge that God hath an immediate influence into the effects of all 2d causes but they think it to be general indefinit to be ◅ted determined by the different concurse of 2d causes It is true indeed that God worketh all things as an vniversall cause but this may bee vnderstood wayes For first a cause may be sayd to be vniuersall in the vniuersality of predication as opposit to speciall or particular as an artificer in respect of this that speciall kinde of artificers is generall and is an vniuersall cause of all workes of arte and they of such speciall workes as are incident to their seuerall kinds Secondly a cause may bee sayd to bee vniversall in that it extendeth it selfe to effects of all sorts in respect of something common to them all and not in respect of that which is proper to each of them vnlesse the working of it bee limited and directed by something else The fire warmeth the water with which poison is mingled in the same sorte that it doth any other water and without any difference of it own action And the actions of the sun fire are such as that men make vse of thē to vvhat purposes they please accordingly as their vvorking is differently applied bring forth differēt effects Thirdly a cause may be sayd to be vniversall because the efficiencie and vvorking of it extendeth it selfe to many things according to the seuerall differences of them without being limited and determined by any other thing These men suppose that God is an vniversall cause in the second sense and that his concurrence influence is indefinit generall and such as may be taken and applied by second causes in what sort they will So that the actions of free vvill the actions of euery other second cause haue from the freedome of the wil the particular quality of the second causes that they are of this or that sort good or bad not from the concurse or influence of the first cause which is finde◅init as is the concurse influence of the sun vvith other inferiour causes and as one man may make offer of his helpe concurrence to whatsoeuer another vvill make vse of it So they suppose that God offereth his concurse to second causes to be vsed by them to what purpose in what sort they will According to this conceipt they suppose they can easily cleere the doubt and free God from all imputation of being authour of sin though he concurre immediatly with second causes in to the producing of those actions that are sinfull For say they his concurse influence is indefinit and is by them applied in ill sorte to ill purposes But first this conceipt cleereth not God from being authour of sin And secondly it cannot stand with the grounds of Philosophie or diuinity That it cleereth not God from being authour of sin but rather layeth this imputation on him it is euident For if the concurse of God be generall indefinit indifferent and to be determined by the creature to the producing of good or euill it followeth that when the will of the creature determineth it selfe to the specificall act of sin God also determinately concurreth with it in particular to the producing of such an acte in kinde That this consequence is good it is evident because whosoeuer shall offer his help concurrence cooperation to another indifferently for the producing of good or euill the actes of sin or vertue as it shall please him he concurreth in trueth indeede to the producing of the acte of sin in particular as it is such an act if by the will of the other his concurrence cooperation bee determined to such an acte in particular Wherefore if God for his part offer onely a generall concurse such as is indifferent to the producing of actes of vertue or sinne accordingly as the will of the second cause shall determine it it will follow that God concurreth determinately or in particular to the producing of the acte of sin as being determined to the producing of such an act in particular by the will of the creature before he come to actuall cooperation or concurrence Secondly this conceipt cannot stand with the grounds of true Philosophie or diuinitie For if Gods concurse were onely generall and indefinit to bee determined by the will of the creature the will of the creature should bee before the will of God in respect of the particularity of things yea in respect of some reall acte as an acte it should be simply the first agent For according to this fancie because the creature inclineth to such an acte to put a thing in being therefore God cooperateth Whence it will follow that there are 2 beings of things that God is not simply the first cause of all those things that haue being 2ly It pertaineth to diuine prouidence determinately to will aforehand to appoint what afterwards shall be to moue second causes to certaine and determinate effects so to dispose all things that they may attaine the ends for which they were created But this could
omission are become euill such actions as are euill There are saith Cameracensis who hold that God hath an efficiencie and is a cause producing the action that is sinfull and that he may and doth cause will that which is sin as Ockam Bradwardine and sundry other renowned Doctors And elsewhere he saith that according to the opiniō of the master of the sentences God only permitteth those euils which are sinne that he neither willeth their being or not being For if he did will their being hee should be the cause of them which he thinketh must not bee graunted and if hee did will their not being they should not be But Bradwardine and others hold that God willeth those euils that are sinnes that in respect of euery thing he hath an act of will either that it shal be or not be and not a meere negation of such act If wee speake saith Ockam of the sinne of commission wee must not thinke that the will of the creature hath an efficiencie and is so the cause of that act but that God also who as immediately produceth euery act of the creature as the creature doth it selfe hath his efficiencie and is a cause also euen of the difformity that is found in such an act aswell as of the substance of the act Seeing as we haue already shewed the difformity in an act of commission is nothing else but the very act it selfe that is done contrary to the precept Yet doth not God originally moue the creature to doe any such euill act but contrarywise so made it and would haue so continued it if the fault had not beene in it selfe that it should neuer haue done any euill act But finding it by it owne fault averse and turned from him notwithstanding all the gracious meanes he vsed to retain it hee goeth on mouing carrying it forward with restles motions and produceth in and with it thus averse actions fitting to such an estate and such as it must needes bring forth if it bring forth any at all that is such as are euill Thus he doth without all fault of his who must not cease to doe his worke of mouing and carrying forward all things with restlesse motions though by their owne fault being put out of due course they doe not attaine their wished good but runne themselues into endlesse euills Thus then God did onely by substraction and denyall of that grace without which hee saw the creature would not be wonne to continue in that state of good wherein it was to be created decree purpose the entrance of the sinne of omission and auersion but presupposing this purpose and foreseeing that which would follow vpon it by his consequent conditiouall will he positiuely decreed the other which is of commission For seeing man must needes seeke an infinite good loue it infinitly if he seek it not in God must seeke it elsewhere God did decree that man not continuing to adhere to him should seeke his chiefe good in him selfe so consequently fall into selfeloue pride all other euils of that kind This is the opinion of many worthy diuines in the Romane Church and this is that Zuinglius Caluin Beza the rest meant if any where they affirmed that God doth effectually moue impell and incline sinfull creatures to do such things as are euill namely that God hath setled such a course in things that they that wil not do what they should shall do that they should not that hee will not suffer them that fall from him to doe nothing but will effectually moue them to will desire do that which is fitting to the estate into which they put themselues so long as they continue in the same will not be reclaimed wonne to returne to him againe And this is agreable to that of S. Augustine that God enclineth or moueth no man to euill but that hee enclineth such as are euill to this or that euill With whom Anselm writing vpon the epistle to the Romans agreeth where he saith that God may be said to deliuer men vp to their owne harts desires when being prone to euill he stayeth them not addeth that it is also manifest that God doth work in the harts of men to incline their wills whither soeuer he pleaseth either to choose things that are good out of his mercy or to choose things that are euill according to their deserts the reasons of his iudgement being sometimes manifest sometimes hid but alwaies iust For because men haue run into some sins they afterwards fall into many God that long expecteth the sinner looking that hee should returne when he findeth that he returneth not but cōtemneth both his iustice mercy he casteth some thing in his way at which hee may stumble fall yet worse then before Inter primum peccatū apostasiae vltimam poenā ignis media quae sunt peccata sunt poenae peccati Whatsoeuer sins do come between the first sin of apostasie the last punishment which is that of eternall fire they are both sins punnishmēnts therefore God may iustly deliuer vp such as fall from him by the first sin of apostasie depart from him vnto their owne harts desires for the committing of such things as are not seemly Thus then we may resolue touching the entrance of sinne First God purposed eternally to make man a rationall and intellectuall creature indued with knowledge of all things and faculty and power to make choise of what hee would Secondly Man could not be thus made and bee naturally free from possibility and danger of making an euill choise disposing amisse of himselfe offending against the lawes of his righteous Creator Thirdly God wanted not gracious meanes whereby to hold him inseperably to himselfe and to preserue him infallibly from falling away though hee were not nor could not be naturally free from possibility of falling Fourthly God foresaw that if man were so created and left to himselfe as afterwards hee was hee would sinfully depart from him Fifthly hee saw that it was best to create and leaue him so and that if sinne should enter hee could take an occasion thereby of the manifestation of greater good then the world otherwise could ever know Sixtly seeing the determination of mans will that if he should be thus created and left hee would auert from him and sinne would enter hee determined soe to create him and leaue him and to giue way that sinne might enter Thus then wee doe not say that God did absolutely without all prescience of the determination of mans will determine and decree that sinne should enter but that foreseing what would be the determinatiō of his will if he were so created and left to himselfe as in his diuine wisedome he saw it to be fittest he determined so to create and leaue him and purposed by subtraction of grace to giue way vnto the sinne of auersion
of it maketh not them that haue it more acceptable vnto God then others that haue it not vnlesse they excell them in vertue It is then a state of life wherein if all things bee answereable in the parties that imbrace it there are fewer occasions of distractions from God and more opportunities of attaining to the height of excellent vertue then in the opposite estate of marriage yet so as that it is possible for some married men so to vse that estate that they may be noe way inferiour to any that are single This doth Gregorie Nazianzene most confidently and peremptorily defende in his oration made in the prayse of Gorgonia his sister Our whole life sayth hee is diuided into two sorts or kinds to witte marriage and single life whereof the one that is single life as it is more excellent and diuine so it is of more labour and perill The other as it is more meane and of lesse esteeme so it is subiect to lesse perill Gorgonia auoiding the inconueniences of both estates whatsoeuer shee found in either of them behoofefull beneficiall and commodious shee tooke made the height of the excellent perfection of the one estate and the safety and security of the other to concurre and meete together Shee was chast and vndefiled without scornefull disdaine mixing the commodities of single life with marriage and shewing by euident proofe that neither of those estates is in it own nature such as that it should wholly ioyne us to God or the world or wholly diuide seperate vs from these so that the one of these should be a thing altogether to be avoided the other to be desired but that it is the minde which doth rightly vse both marriage single life that either of these is as fitte a matter for a skillfull workeman to worke vpon and to bring forth the excellent worke of vertue And in his Oration in the prayse of Basill hee sayth There haue beene some found that liuing in the state of Marriage haue so carried themselues as that they made it euident that marriage is no impediment or hinderance but that therein man may attaine to as great glory of vertue as in virginity or single life By which it may appeare that marriage and virginity are rather diuerse sorts and kinds of life then differences and degrees of liuing better or worse These sentences of Nazianzene are very different from the inconsiderate speeches of Hierome that hee is wont to vse in comparing these two states of life together For who knoweth not that hee was so farre in loue with the one and carried away with the admiration of it in such sort that hee spake too basely of the other and indeede otherwise then truth and reason would permitte If this bee not so let them that thinke otherwise tell mee what they thinke of these sayings of his Melius est nubere quam vri si per se nuptiae sint bonae noli illas incendio comparare sed dic simpliciter Bonum est nubere Suspecta est mihi omnis bonitas eius rei quam magnitudo alterius mali malum esse cogit inferius Ego autem non leuius malum sed simplex per se bonum volo Si bonum est mulierem non tangere malum est ergo tangere nihil enim bono contrarium est nisi malum c. Soe then as wee do not approue any priuate opinion of Iouinian contrary to the iudgment of Gods Church Soe on the contrary side wee dare not approoue these and the like rash and inconsiderate speeches of Hierome beeing contrary to the trueth of scripture and the iudgment of the rest of the Fathers who are wont soe to compare marriage and virginity that the difference betweene them should bee bonum melius both good but the one better then the other not bonum malum the one good and the other evill For soe to thinke is to fall into the heresie of Marcion and Tatianus CHAP. 31. Of the Heresies of Vigilantius THe next heresie that we are supposed to fall into is that of Vigilantius The opinions imputed to him by Hierome and disliked are these The first that the Saints departed pray not for the liuing The second that they abide in some certaine place and are not euery-where The third that the vigils of the Saints are not to be kept nor their bodies and the reliques and the ashes that remaine of them to be honoured but despitefully trampled vnder feete The fourth that Bishops are bound to marry and may not be admitted vnlesse they doe first marry The fift that it is better to giue almes of our goods according to that ability we haue and to retaine a sufficiencie to our selues then to sell away all and giue whatsoeuer wee haue at once to the poore Two other assertions there are where with Bellarmine chargeth Vigilantius to wit the impugning of the invocation of Saints and the condemning of the adoration of Saints and their reliques Thereby intending to make his Reader beleeue that there was a controversie betweene Hierome Vigilantius about these things That Hierome did defend invocation of Saints whereof yet he speaketh not one word and that he justified the adoration of Saints and their Reliques which yet in expresse words he disclaimeth and condemneth saying that the Church honoureth them but adoreth them not For the opinions wherewith Hierome chargeth him this wee briefly aunswere First if he absolutely denyed that the Saints departed doe pray for vs as it seemeth he did by Hieromes reprehension we thinke he erred For we hold they doe pray in genere Touching the second whether the Saints doe abide in some one place appointed for their rest or bee present euery-where how peremptory soeuer Hierome be wee wish the Reader to consider how doubtfully Augustine hath written of this matter in his booke de curâ agenda pro mortuis And that Tertullian Athanasius and sundry other haue resolutely deliuered that the soules of men departed doe neuer returne nor intermeddle with the liuing any more Touching the third which is the keeping of the vigils of the Saints wee know they were long since by the decree of a Councell condemned and forbidden and that the Church of Rome doeth not continue nor retaine any such vse or custome at this day But whereas he is said to haue denyed any honour to be giuen to the bodies of Gods Saints and despitefully to haue vsed them if so he did wee cannot but as much condemne his impiety therein as Hierome did Neither doe we suffer any with vs to despise the blessed Saints of God to trample their bodies vnder feete or cast them into the fire as Bellarmine most falsely vnjustly accuseth vs. But this indeede we confesse we haue done remembring the saying of Gregory and other of the Fathers affirming that neither the bodies of the Saints nor any parts of them ought to be brought into open
the Emperor cōcerning the necessary reformation of the Church one was that Happily it were to be permitted that in some places prayers faithfully translated into the vulgar tongue might be intermingled with those things that are sung in latine Likewise in the articles of reformation exhibited to the councell of Trent by Charles the 9◠In sacrificio paraecialibus Euangelium apertè dilucidè pro populi captu copiose ex suggestu exponatur quo in loco quae plebano praeeunte fient preces linguâ fiant vernaculâ peractâ autem re diuinâ latine mysticis precibus lingua etiam vernacula publicae ad Deum preces fiant ibidem plura Which thing if it had bin granted by the councell no new nor strang thing had bin brought in for as Hosius testifieth the Church neuer forbad to sing in the Churches in the vulgar tongue in time and place It were to be wished sayth Erasmus that the whole service of God might be celebrated and performed in a tongue vnderstood of the whole people as in auncient times it was wont to bee and that all things should bee soe plainely and distinctly sounded out that they might bee vnderstood of all that list to attend And Cassander fully agreeing with Erasmus and alleadging to this purpose the Popes permitting of it to the Slauonians vpon the hearing of a voice frō heauen the authority of Caietan sayth It were to be desired that according to the mandate of the Apostle and the auncient custome of the Church consideration might be had of the people in the publike praiers of the Church and in the hymnes and lessons which are there read and sung for the peoples sake and that the ordinary and vulgar sort of beleeuers might not for ever bee wholly excluded from all communion of prayers and diuine readings and hee addeth that vnlesse there bee a reformation in this and other things there is no hope of any durable peace or consent of the Church and professeth hee cannot see but that they to whom the government of the Church is committed shall one day giue an account why they suffered the Church to bee thus miserably disquieted and rent in sunder and neglected to take away the causes whence heresies schismes do spring as in duety they should haue done So that in this poynt as in the former we see the Church wherein our Fathers liued and died was a true Protestant Church CHAP. 5. Of the three supposed different estates of meere nature grace and sinne the difference betweene a man in the state of pure and meere nature and in the state of sinne and of originall sinne THey of the Church of Rome at this day imagine that God might haue created a man in the state of pure nature or nature onely aswell without grace as sinne and that in this state of pure or meere nature without any addition of grace hee might haue loued God aboue all and haue kept all the commaundements of God collectiuely so as to breake none of them at the least for a short time though happily hee could not haue holden on constantly so to keepe them all as neuer to breake any of them seeing there would haue beene a contrariety betweene reason and that appetite that followeth the apprehension of sense in that state of pure or meere nature So that according to this conceipt grace was added not to inable man to loue God aboue all to keepe the severall cōmaundements which hee hath giuen to doe the workes of morall vertue For all these hee might haue beene able to performe out of the power of nature without any such addition but to make him able constantly to keepe all the commaundements of God collectiuely so as neuer to breake any one of them and to keepe them so as to merit eternall happines in heauen Hence they inferre diverse things First that the losse of grace or originall righteousnes that was given to Adam doth not depriue those of his posterity of the power of louing God their Creator aboue all of keeping his commaundements divisiuely and doing the seuerall workes of morall vertue though happily not with that facilitie that in the state of grace hee might haue done them Secondly That Infidels and such as haue no fellowship with the Saints people of God nor any part in his grace may decline sinne and doe the workes of morall vertue Thirdly That all the contrariety that is found in the powers of the soule the rebellion of the inferiour faculties against the superiour the pronenesse to euill and difficultie to doe good would haue beene the conditions of meere nature without addition of grace or sinne and consequently that they are not sinne in the state wherein wee are that these evills are not newly brought into the nature of man by the fall that as man would haue beene mortall in the state of meere nature because compounded of contraries so out of the contrariety of sensitiue and rationall desire hee would haue found a rebellion in himselfe of the inferiour faculties against the superiour that as a heauy thing falleth not downeward while it is stayed but falleth so soone as the stay is taken away by reason of the same nature it had while it was stayed and as a ship that lay quietly while it was stayed with an anchor vpon the remouing of the same is driuen with the windes yet in no other sort then it would haue beene before if it had not beene stayed so all these contrarieties differences and pronenesse to desire things contrary to the prescript of right reason would haue beene in meere nature as the conditions of it would haue shewed themselues if grace had not hindered them and that there is no other difference betweene a man in the state of pure or meere nature and in the state of originall sinne then there is betweene a man that neuer had any cloathing and him that had but by his owne fault and folly is stript out of all betweene whom there is no difference in the nature of nakednesse but all the difference standeth in this that the one is in fault for not hauing cloathes the other not so For they suppose man would haue beene carried as strongly to the desire of sinfull things in the state of pure nature as now that freewill is not made more weake then in that state it would haue beene nor the flesh become more rebellious then it would haue beene without grace before the entrance of sinne This opinion ◠Bellarmin followeth and professeth that though some of excellent learning thinke that both Thomas and the best and most approued of the schoolmen were of a contrary iudgment yet they are deceiued in so thinking and that this is the opinion of them all Against these erroneous conceipts that are indeede the ground of all the points of difference betweene them and vs touching originall sinne freewill the power of nature the workes
entrance of sin precisely by the strength of his naturall faculties to do an act morally good then hee might haue made him selfe good of not good supposing that sometimes in the state of meere nature he had no act of will or at the least he might haue made himselfe of good better without the speciall helpe of God but this consequent must not be admitted for if Adam might thus haue done the good Angels might haue done soe but that is contrary to St Augustine his words are these Si boni Angeli fuerunt prius sine bonâ voluntate eamque in seipsis deo non operante fecerunt ergo meliores à seipsis quam ab illo facti sunt Absit At si non potuerunt seipsos facere meliores quaÌ„ eos ille fecerat quo nemo melius quic quam facit profecto bonam voluntatem quà meliores essent nisi operante adiutorio creatoris habere non possent that is If the good Angells were first without any good motion of will or the goodnesse of the will and afterwards God not working wrought it in themselues then they made themselues better then they were made of him which God forbid wee should euer thinke But if they could not make themselues better then he made them then whom no man can do any thing better truly vnles the helpe of their Creator wrought them to it they could not haue that goodnesse of wil whereby they might become better then they were before That which hee thus proueth touching the state of man before the fall is vndoubtedly true in the state of the fall and therefore all the most pious and iudicious men in euery age haue taught as wee now do that since the fall of Adam there is no power left in any of his posterity before they be renewed by grace to decline sinne or to doe any worke morally good and that may be truly named a worke of vertue And these cannot but farther agree with Ariminensis and vs touching the impotencie of nature before the entrance of sin to do any good act or act of vertue of it selfe without the addition of grace For if grace had not bin giuen in the state of the creation simply to inable to do good but that there had bin a power of doing good in nature without and before the addition of grace then vpon the losse of it there had followed no such impotencie in the present state as these men affirme there did and they that hold the other opinion denie All these affirme that all the posterity of Adam are plunged into such an estate of ignorance by this fall that without speciall illumination of grace they know not sufficiently concerning any thing that is to bee done or committed that it is to be done or committed and wherefore in what sort into such an estate of infirmity impotencie in respect of the will that they cannot will any thing that is to be willed for such cause and in such sort as it is to be willed and withsuch circumstances as are required to make an act to be morally good and truly vertuous St Austine sayth that Adam and Eue so soone as they had sinned were cast headlong into error misery and death that it was most iust they should soe be for what sayth hee is more iust then vt amittat quisque quo bene vti noluit cum sine vlla posset difficultate si vellet id est vt qui sciens rectè non facit aâ—…ittat scire quid rectuÌ„ sit qui rectè facere cum posset noluit amittat posse cuÌ„ velit that euery one should loose that which when with ease he might hee would not vse well that is that he that hauing knowledge doth not right should loose the knowledge of that which is right that he that would not do well when he might should loose the power of doing well when hee would And elsewhere speaking of the first sinne of the Angells and men hee sayth that when they fell Subintrauit ignorantia rerum agendarum concupiscentia noxiarum that is there entred in ignorance of things to bee done and desire of things hurtfull that are to be declined Prosper in his booke in defence of the preachers of grace against Cassian reprehendeth him because he had said in his collation de protectione Dei that Adam gained the knowledge of euill after his fall but lost not the knowledge of good which he had receiued telleth him that both these propositions are vntrue so that hee thinketh that Adam lost the knowledge of good Hugo de sancto Victore saith the first man was indued with a threefold knowledge cognitione scilicet creatoris sui ut cognosceret à quo factus erat cognitione sui ut cognosceret quid factus erat quid sibi faciendum erat deindè cognitione quoque illius quod secum factum erat quid sibi de illo in illo faciendum erat That is he was indued with knowledge of his Creator that he might know of whom he was made with knowledge of himself that he might know what he was made and what he was to doe lastly with knowledge of that which was made together with him what he was to doe with in it For no man is to doubt but that man had perfect knowledge of all those visible things that were made for him with him as much as pertained either to the instruction of his soule or the necessity of bodily vse This knowledge man hath not lost by the fall neither that whereby hee was to prouide things necessarie for the flesh and therefore God was not carefull afterwards to instruct him touching these things by the Scriptures but he was to bee taught that knowledge that concerneth the soule onely when hee was to be restored because he had lost that only by sinning And in the same place hee excellently describeth the knowledge of God that Adam had to haue bin not by hearing only from without as now but by inspiration within not that whereby now beleeuers by faith seeke after God as absent but that whereby by presence of contemplation he was more manifestly seene of him as knowing him And concludeth it is hard to expresse the manner of the diuine knowledge the first man had but that onely this is certaine that being taught visibly by inward inspiration he could no way doubt of his Creator In like sort the same Hugo sheweth most excellently that man hath lost all rectitude of will for whereas there was giuen to man a double desire iusti commodi of that which is just and that which is pleasing the one voluntary the other necessary that by the one he might merite or demerite by the other he might be punished or rewarded for if he had no desire of that is pleasing hee could neither be rewarded by hauing nor punished by being depriued He hath lost the one
the loue of the creator as the chiefest and vtter most good is not of God Now the loue of God whereby wee come to God is not but from God the Father by Iesus together with the holy Ghost By this loue of the creator each one vseth the creatures rightly and without this loue of the creator no man vseth the creatures well And againe Noveris non officiis sed finibus à vitiis discernendas esse virtutes Officium est autem quod faciendum est finis vero propter quod faciendum est Cum itaque facit homo aliquid vbi peccare non videtur si non propter hoc facit propter quod facere debet peccare convincitur Quae tu non attendens fines ab officiis separasti virtutes veras officia sine finibus appellandas esse dixisti Ex quo te tanta absurditas sequitur vt veram cogaris appellare iustitiam etiam cuius dominam repereris avaritiam Siquidem manus abstinere ab alieno si officium cogites potest videri esse iustitiae Sed cum quaeritur quare fiat respondetur ne plus pecuniae litibus pereat quomodo iam hoc factum verae poterit esse iusticiae cum serviat avaritiae And againe Absit vt virtutes verae cuiquam serviant nisi illi vel propter illum cui dicimus Psal. 79. Deus virtutum converte nos Proinde virtutes quae carnalibus delectationibus vel quibuscunque commodis emolumentis temporalibus serviunt verae prorsus esse non possunt Quae autem nulli rei servire volunt nec ipsae verae sunt Verae quippe virtutes Deo serviunt in hominibus á quo donantur hominibus Quicquid autem boni fit ab homine non propter hoc fit propter quod fieri debere vera sapientia praecipit etsi officio videatur bonum ipso non recto fine peccatum est ideo Virtutes non relatae ad Deum vitia potius sunt quam virtutes Nam licet à quibusdam tunc verae honestae putentur esse virtutes cum ad seipsas referuntur nec propter aliud expetuntur etiam tunc inflatae ac superbae sunt ideo non virtutes virtutes sed vitia iudicandae sunt Bona opera extra fidem simillima sunt celerrimo cursui extraviam And againe Quamlibet videatur animus corpori ratio vitiis laudabiliter imperare si tamen Deo animus ratio ipsa non seruit sicut sibi serviendum esse ipse Deus praecepit nullo modo corpori vitiisque rectè imperat Nam qualis corporis atque vitiorum potest esse mens domina veri Dei nescia nec eius imperio subiugata sed vitiosissimis daemonibus corrumpentibus prostituta Proinde virtutes quas sibi habere videtur per quas imperat corpori vitiis ad quodlibet adipiscendum vel tenendum nisi ad Deum retulerit etiam ipsae vitia sunt potius quam virtutes Prosper agrees with Saint Austine his words are these sine cultu veri Dei etiam quod virtus videtur esse peccatum est nec placere ullus Deo sine Deo potest Qui verò Deo non placet cui nisi sibi Diabolo placet That is without the worship of the true God euen that which seemeth to be vertue is sinne neither can any man please God without God And whom doth hee please that pleaseth not God but himselfe and the diuell And the same Prosper in his 3d booke de vitâ contemplativâ Apostolus non dixit omne quod non est ex fide nihil est sed dicendo Omne quod non est ex fide peccatum est declaravit quod omnia gesta sinon fuerint ex fide non sint aliqua bona credenda sed vitia quae non invant suos operarios sed condemnant inflatosque praecipitant atque à finibus aeternae salutis eliminant That is the Apostle did not say whatsoeuer is not of faith is nothing but by saying it is sinne he declareth that whatsoeuer things haue not beene done out of faith are not to be thought good but faults and vices which doe not helpe the workers of them but condemne them and cast them headlong downe being puffed vp and banish them out of the confines of eternall saluation And the same Prosper in another place Omnis infidelium vita peccatum est nihil bonum sine summo bono ubi enim deest agnitio aeternae incommutabilis veritatis falsa virtus est etiam in optimis moribus That is the whole life of Infidels is sinne and there is nothing good without the chiefe good and wheresoeuer the knowledge of the eternall and incommutable veritie is wanting let a mans manners be neuer so good it is no true vertue hee seemeth to haue There is nothing good without faith saith Chrysostome and that I may vse a similitude and make a comparison they that flourish in good workes and know not God seeme to me to bee like the reliques of the dead wrapped vp fairely Basil in his second booke de baptismate proposing the question whether it be possible or whether it be acceptable to God that he that serueth sin should doe the workes of righteousnesse bringeth the explication of this question out of the Olde Testament where GOD saith the sinner that offereth to me a calfe is as he that killeth a dogge and in the New Testament the Lord saith he that doth sinne is the seruant of sinne and no man can serue two masters wherefore we are to bee exhorted to make the tree good and her fruit good and first to purge and make cleane that which is in the inside of the cuppe and of the platter and then all that is without will bee cleane Gregory in his morals writing vpon those words of Iob If my mouth haue kissed my hand hath these words Sancti viri sciunt se non virtute propriâ—… sed praeveniente supernâ gratiâ ad meliora vota vel opera commutatos quicquid sibi mali inesse cognoscunt de mortali propagine sentiunt meritum quicquid verò boni in se inspiciunt immortalis gratiae cognoscunt donum eique de accepto munere debitores fiunt qui praeveniendo dedit eis bonum velle quod voluerunt subsequendo concessit bonum posse quod volunt Let them that are otherwise minded tell vs whether the morall actions of Infidels bee good or euill if good then they are from grace whereof they are not partakers if euill then haue they the thing proued about which we contend Beda writing vpon the 14th to the Romanes vpon those words Whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne saith as Prosper that all the whole life of Infidels is sinne that nothing is good without the chiefe good that where the knowledge of the eternall and incommutable veritie is not if the manners and conversation of them that
that all the workes of infidells and men not renewed and iustified by Gods speciall grace were sinnes Yea so great is the force of this trueth that since the councell of Trent some of great esteeme and place in a sorte giue way vnto it For Didacus Alvarez an Archbishop within the dominions of the king of Spaine hath written a learned worke de Auxiliis gratiae and dedicated it with good allowance to the king that now is wherein hee sayth that though euery morall acte that is good ex genere obiecto as to giue almes to a poore man out of naturall compassion bee of that nature that it may bee done in reference to God as loued aboue all as the authour of nature or as the cause and obiect of supernaturall happinesse yet no such can bee so done de facto but by the acte of charitie So that by a man vnregenerate no such acte canne bee done in reference to God formally or vertually Now I suppose there is no morall acte that canne bee done by man but it must bee referred formally or vertually to some last end and if not to God as hee sayth the workes of Infidells cannot then to some other end and then of necessity they must bee sinne for whatsoeuer is done in reference to any thing besides God as the last end is done perversely and sinfully The good man no doubt saw the trueth touching this poynt and therefore sayth that there is no true vertue without charity that the workes of Infidels are not onely not meritorious but not truely good nor the workes of vertue and proveth the same at large out of Augustine whence it will follow that they are sinne for every morall acte is either a worke of vertue and truely good though in an inferiour sort or sinne but this he durst not say and so putteth himselfe into a necessitie of contradicting himselfe for if an infidell when hee giueth an almes cannot doe this act in reference to GOD as the last end either formally or vertually then hee must doe it formally or vertually in reference to some other thing most loued by him and if hee doe so then he putteth an ill circumstance to this his action and so it cannot but bee sinne Thus then wee haue strongly proued out of the testimonies of such as best vnderstood the doctrine of the Church that grace was giuen to Adam in the day of his creation not onely to make him constantly and collectiuely to doe all the morall duties that were required of him and to merit supernaturall happinesse as if he might haue done the seuerall duties and performed the seuerall acts of morall vertue without it but simply to inable him to doe good and decline euill so that it being taken away man knoweth not his true good nor is any way inclined to seeke it as he should doe For whereas there was a threefold eye in Adam as Hugo de Sancto Victore noteth Carnis quo mundum quae in mundo cernebat rationis quo se quae in se contemplationis quo deum primum perfectè habet secundum ex parte tertium omninò non habet nam postquam tenebrae peccati intraverunt oculus contemplationis extinctus est ut nihil videret oculus rationis lippus factus est ut dubiè videret solus oculus carnis in suâ claritate permansit That is Of the flesh by which hee saw the world and the things that are in it of reason whereby hee saw and vnderstood himselfe and all the things that were in himselfe and of contemplation by which he was to see God the first he hath still in perfection the second in part the third he hath wholly lost for after the darkenesse of sinne entred the eye of contemplation was put out so as to see nothing at all the eye of reason was dimmed so as to see doubtfully only the eye of the flesh remained in perfection And two kindes of euill are brought into the nature of man Privativa amissio notitiae in intellectu rectitudinis in voluntate conversionis ad deum tanquam ad proprium obiectum positiva perpetuae tristes dubitationes de Deo de providentiá Dei iudicio promissionibus comminationibus in voluntate conversio ad obiecta contraria legi That is there are newly brought into the nature of man euils of two sorts privatiue as the losse of the true right knowledge of God in the vnderstanding of rectitude in the will and of due conversion to God as her proper object positiue as perpetuall doubtings of God of the providence of God his judgement promises threates in his will a conversion to the desiring of things the Law forbiddeth This corruption of mans nature is excellently described by Prosper Humana natura in primi hominis praevaricatione vitiata etiam inter beneficia inter praecepta auxilia Dei semper in deteriorem est proclivior voluntatem cui committi non est aliud quam dimitti Haec voluntas vaga incerta instabilis imperita infirma ad efficiendum facilis ad audendum in cupiditatibus caeca in honoribus tumida curis anxia suspicionibus inquieta gloriae quam virtutum avidior fame quam conscientiae diligentior per omnem sui experientiam miserior fruendo his quae concupiverit quam carendo nihil in suis habet viribus nisi periculi facilitatem And againe Omnes homines in primo homine sine vitio conditi sumus omnes naturae nostrae incolumitatem eiusdem hominis praevaricatione perdidimus inde tracta mortalitas inde multiplex corporis animique corruptio inde ignorantia difficultas curae inutiles illicitae cupiditates sacrilegi errores timor vanus amor noxius iniusta gaudia poenitenda consilia non minor miseriarum multitudo quam criminum By this which hath beene sayd it appeareth that the Church wherein our Fathers liued and died euer taught as wee doe touching the state of mans creation fall and originall corruption and euer reiected the fancies of those more then Semipelagians that brought in the errours the Romanists now maintaine and so was in this as in the former points a true orthodoxe and Protestant Church CHAP. 6. Of the blessed Virgins conception HAuing spoken of Originall sinne and shewed the nature of it the next thing that is questioned is the generality of it for wee say that amongst al them that haue beene borne of women there neuer was any found that was not conceiued in sinne besides Christ the Lord who had God for his father and a virgin for his mother of whose spotlesse conception his Fathers diuinity and mothers virginity were proofe sufficient But they of the Church of Rome at this day for the most part say that the blessed virgin the mother of our Lord was conceiued likewise without spotte of originall sinne Leo the tenth was moued to determine this question touching the conception of
vniversally so as to merite heauen But Augustine Prosper Fulgentius Gregory Beda Bernard Anselme Hugo many worthy Divines mentioned by the Master of Sentences yeaâ—…he Master himselfe Grosthead Bradwardine Ariminensis the Catholique Divine that Stapleton speaketh of those that Andradius noteth Alvarez and other agree with vs that there is no power left in nature to avoide sin to doe any one good action that may be truely an action of vertue therefore they say grace must change vs and make vs become new men Cardinall Contarenus noteth that the Philosophers perceiuing a great inclination to euill to be found in the nature of mankind thinking it might bee altered put right by inuring them to good actions gaue many good precepts directions but to no purpose for this euill being in the very first spring of humane actions that is the last end chiefly desired which they sought not in God but in the creature no helpe of Nature or Art was able to remedie it as those diseases of the body are incurable which haue infected the fountaine of life the radicall humiditie GOD onely therefore who searcheth the secret most retired turnings of our soule spirit by the inward motion of his holy spirit changeth the propension inclination of our will and turneth it vnto himselfe And in another place he hath these wordes Wee must obserue that at this present the Church of God by the craft of the diuell is divided into two sects which rather doing their owne busines then that of Christ seeking their owne glory more then the honour of GOD the profite of their neighbours by stiffe pertinacious defence of contrary opinions bring them that are not wary and wise to a fearefull downefall For some vaunting themselues to be professours of the Catholique Religion enemies to the Lutherans while they goe about too much to maintaine the libertie of mans will out of too much desire of opposing the Lutherans oppose themselues against the greatest lights of the Christian Church and the first principall teachers of Catholique verity declining more then they should vnto the heresie of Pelagius Others when they haue beene a little conversant in the writings of S. Augustine though they haue neither that modestie of minde nor loue towards God that he had out of the pulpit propose intricate things such as are indeed meere paradoxes to the people So that touching the weakenes of nature the necessitie of grace we haue the consent of all the best and worthiest in the Church wherein our Fathers liued and died The nextthing to be considered is the power of freewill in disposing it selfe to the receipt of grace Durandus is of opinion that a man by the power of free will may dispose and fitte him selfe for the receipt of grace by such a kind of disposition to which grace is to be giuen by pact and diuine ordinance not of debt Amongst the latter diuines there are that thinke that as one sinne is permitted that it may be a punishment of another soe God in respect of almes and other morall good workes done by a man in the state of sinne vseth the more speedily and effectually to helpe the sinner that hee may rise from sinne and that God infallibly and as according to a certaine lawe giueth the helpes of preuenting grace to them that doe what they can out of the strength of nature this is the merit of congruence they are wont to speake of in the Roman Schooles But as I noted before Gregorius Ariminensis resolutely rejects the conceipt of merit of congruence Stapleton saith it is exploded out of the Church And Aluarez that S. Augustine Prosper whom Aquinas the Thomists follow reiect the same August l. 2. contra duas epistolas Pelagii c. 8. Si sine Dei gratià per nos incipit cupiditas boni ipsum caeptum erit meritum cui tanquam ex debito gratiae veniat adiutorium ac sic gratia Dei non gratis donabitur sed meritum nostrum dabitur c. 6. lib. 4. lib. de praedest sanctorum de dono perseuerantiae Et Prosper lib de gratiâ libero arbitrio ad Ruffinum ait Quis ambigat tunc liberum arbitrium cohortationi vocantis obedire cum in illo gratia Dei affectum credendi obediendique generauerit Alioquin sufficeret moneri hominem non etiam in ipso nouam fieri voluntatem sicut scriptum est Praeparatur voluntas à domino Neque obstat sayth Aluarez quod idem Salomon Prouerb cap. 16. inquit hominis est praeparare animam Intelligit enim hominis esse quia libere producit consensum quo praeparatur ad gratiam sed tamen id efficit supposito auxilio speciali Dei inspirantis bonum interius mouentis sic explicat istum locum August lib. 2. contra duas epistolas Pelag. cap. 8. And so those words are to be vnderstood If any one open the doore I will enter in Reuela 3 and Isaâ—… 30. The Lord expecteth that he may haue mercy on you for he expecteth not our consent as comming out of the power of nature or as if any such consent were a disposition to grace but that consent hee causeth in vs. Fulgentius lib de incarnatione cap. 19. Sicut in nativitate carnali omnem nascentis hominis voluntatem praecedit operis diuini formatio sic in spirituali natiuitate quâ veterem hominem deponere incipimus Bernard de gratiâ libero arbitrio in initio Ab ipsâ gratiâ me in bono praeuentum agnosco provehi sentio spero perficiendum Neque currentis neque volentis sed dei miserantis est Quid igitur agit ais liberum arbitrium breuiter respondeo saluatur tolle liberum arbitrium non erit quod saluetur tolle gratiam non erit vnde saluetur opus hoc sine duobus effici non potest uno á quo fit altero cui vel in quo fit Deus author est salutis liberum arbitrium tantum capax nec dare illam nisi Deus nec capere valet nisi liberum arbitrium quod ergo a solo Deo soli datur libero arbitrio tam absque consensu esse non potest accipientis quam absque gratiâ dantis ita gratiae operanti salutem cooperari dicitur liberum arbitrium dum consentit hoc est dum saluatur consentire enim saluari est Yet must we not thinke that God moueth vs and then expecteth to see whether wee will consent Concilium Arausicanum Can. 4. Si quis vt a peccato purgemur voluntatem nostram Deum expectare contendit non autem vt etiam purgari velimus per sancti spiritus infusionem operationem in nos fieri confitetur resist it ipsi spiritui sancto per Salomonem dicenti praeparatur voluntas a domino Apostolo salubriter praedicanti Deus est qui operatvr in nobis
desinit esse gratia quoniam id adiuvat quod ipsa est largita Hugo de Sancto Victore Benefaciendi tres sunt gratiae praeveniens cooperans subsequens prima dat voluntatem secunda facultatem tertia perseverantiam So that in the matter of free will and grace the Church wherein our Fathers liued and died is found to haue beene a Protestant Church CHAP. 11. Of Iustification THey of the Church of Rome doe teach that there is a threefold iustification The first when a man borne in sinne and the childe of wrath is first reconciled to God and translated into a state of righteousnesse and grace The second when of righteous hee becommeth more righteous And the third when hauing fallen from grace he is restored againe The first Iustification implyeth in it three things remission of sinnes past acceptation and receiuing into that fauour that righteous men are wont to find with God and the grant of the gift of the holy spirit and of that sanctifying renewing grace whereby we may be framed to the declining of sinne and the doing of the workes of righteousnesse These being the things implyed in the first justification of a sinner it is agreed by all that when in sorrowfull dislike of former mis-doings wee turne vnto God all our sinnes past are freely remitted thorough the benefite of Christs satisfaction imputed vnto vs as also that for the merite of Christs actiue righteousnes consisting in the fulfilling of the Law wee are accepted and finde fauour with God as if wee had alwayes walked in the wayes of God and pleased him And both these are necessary for if a man cease to bee an enemie he doth not presently become a friend and though hee pardon him that offended him so as not to seeke revenge of the offence yet doth it not follow that presently hee receiueth him into fauour but it is possible hee should neither respect him as an enemie nor as a friend and neither will euill vnto him as to an enemie nor good as to a friend So likewise it sufficeth not that God remitte our sinnes and seeke not our euill for Christs passion but it is necessary also that hee bee so reconciled as to embrace vs as freinds and to doe good vnto vs this wee haue by the merit of Christs actiue righteousnes who having a two fold right to heaven the one of inheritance because borne the sonne of God the other of merit because he had done things worthy the reward of heauen made vse onely of the one and communicateth the other vnto vs. Neither is this all that the sinner when he is to bee iustified seeketh after for hee neuer resteth satisfied till hee haue not onely obtayned remission of sinnes past and acceptation with God but the graunt of the gift of the spirit also and of that grace that may keepe him from offending God so as formerly and incline him to doe the things that are pleasing vnto him And therefore in the conference at Ratisbon the Diuines of both sides agreed that no man obtayneth remission of sinnes nisietiam simul infundatur charitas sanans voluntatem vt voluntas sanata quemadmodum ait Augustinus incipiat implere Legem Fides ergo viva est quae apprehendit misericordiam Dei in Christo credit iustitiam quae est in Christo sibi gratis imputari quae simul pollicitationem spiritus sancti charitatem accipit So that it is evident that to bee iustified hath a three fold signification For first it importeth as much as to bee absolved from sinne that is to bee freed from the wofull consequents of that disfauour and dislike that vnrighteousnes and sinne subjecteth vs vnto Secondly To bee accepted and respected so as righteous men are wont to bee And thirdly to bee framed to the loue and desire of doing righteously And in this sort doth Dominicus à Soto explicate this poynt and with him doe all they agree who say that grace doth justifie formaliter charitas operativè and opera declarativè that is that grace doth iustifie formally charitie as that which maketh men doe the workes of righteous men and that good workes by way of declaration make it manifest that they are righteous that doe them For they vnderstand by grace a state of acceptation that is such a condition wherein men are not disfavoured as hauing done ill but respected as if they had done all righteousnes which is in trueth a relation as the Protestants teach For what is it but a relation in reference to another to bee respected by him and accepted to him And in this sense a man may bee iustified that is accepted as if hee had neuer done ill or failed in any good for the righteousnes of another Nay they all confesse that all they that are justified are so accepted for the obedience merit and satisfactory sufferings of Christ when they are first reconciled to God So that it is strange that they should vrge as sometimes they doe that a man canne no more bee justified that is accepted as if righteous for the righteousnes of another then a line canne bee or bee accounted straight for the straightnes of another For as Durandus rightly noteth though one mans merit and well doing cannot bee imputed to another as to bee or bee accounted his merit and hee esteemed to haue merited and done well yet it may bee so communicated as that the fruite benefit good of it shall redound to him he be accounted worthy respect for the others sake as if he had done well Neither doe they nor can they make any question hereof if they will but vnderstand what they say For whereas three things are required of a man if hee will bee subject to no euil and enjoy good viz. not to haue done euill to haue done good and to doe good in the present and time to come though we be framed to the doing of good hereafter yet wee canne neither bee freed from the punishment our former evill doings deserued but by the benefit of his sufferings that suffered what hee deserued not to free vs nor to be accepted hauing done nothing worthy acceptation but for his merit who did all good in our nature to procure vs acceptation Andreas Vega confesseth that men may be absolued from their sins that is freed from the punishment of them by the imputation of Christs righteousnesse and that they may become acceptable and deare unto God in such sort as iust men are formally by being beloued of him but that if we speake Philosophycally of iustice it is in the predicament of quality not of relation which we willingly yeeld vnto And though he say no man euer in expresse words affirmed before Bernards time that Christs righteousnesse is imputed to us yet he thinketh it may rightly be sayd to be imputed both for satisfaction merit that is so as to free us from punishment bring good vpon us
the more ancient for we intend not to accuse the just but to shew the infirmitie of man and the mercie of GOD vpon and towardes all Enoch as Ecclesiasticus testifieth pleased GOD and was translated into paradise but in that it is written in Genesis hee pleased GOD after he begat Methusalem Basil doth not without cause collect that hee formerly did not so please GOD and the same Basil saith that that great Father of the faithfull is found to haue beene some-where vnfaithfull and not without cause for when God first promised Isaak vnto him though he fell on his face yet he laughed in his heart saying thinkest thou that a sonne shall bee borne to him that is an hundred yeares old and that Sarah who is ninety yeares old shall bring forth Wherevpon Hierome speaketh of Sarah and him in this sort they are reproved for laughing and the very cogitation and thought is reprehended as a part of infidelity yet are they not condemned of infidelity in that they laughed but they receiued the garland of righteousnes in that afterwards they beleeued Besides these the Scripture giueth ample testimony to Noah Daniel Iob who onely in Ezechiel it saith may escape the anger of God ready to come on men yet Noah fell into drâ—…nkennes which is a sinne and Daniel professeth he prayed vnto the Lord and confessed his owne sinne and the sin of his people Iob also is commended in the Scripture and of God himselfe as being a sincere man righteous fearing God and departing from euill and that not in an ordinary sort but so as that none of the most righteous then in the world might be compared vnto him as St Austine rightly collecteth out of the words of God vnto Satan This man though hee were a singular example of innocencie patience and all holines and though hee indured with admirable patience horrible tribulations and trials not for his sinnes but for the manifestation of the righteousnes of God yet as Augustine and Gregorie who as loud sounding trumpets set forth his prayses freely confesse hee was not without veniall sinne Which thing is strongly confirmed in that the same most sincere louer of righteousnes confesseth of himselfe saying I haue sinned what shall I doe vnto thee ô thou â—…eeper of men And being reproued by the Lord and in a most mild sort willed to say what hee could for himselfe hee answered without any circuition that he had spoken foolishly and therefore the Scripture as it were carefully declining the giuing occasion to any one to attribute so great innocencie to Iob as to make him sinles sayd not that he sinned not but that hee sinned not in all those things that hee suffered before that time when he answered his wife if wee haue receiued good things of the hand of the Lord why should we not patiently suffer the evils he bringeth vpon vs Moses beloued of God men and the most meeke of all the inhabitants of the earth doubted something of the promise of the Lord when hee stroke the rocke twise with the rodde to bring out water for the people being distressed for want of water and that his doubting displeased the Lord God and hee let him know so much both by reprouing him and punishing him and therefore presently he sayd to him Aaron because yee beleeued mee not to sanctifie mee before the children of Israel you shall not bring in this people into the land which I will giue them The Scripture also highly commendeth Samuell but as August noteth that neither hee nor Moses nor Aaron were without sin David sufficiently declared when he said thou wast mercifull vnto them and didst punish all their inventions for as August noteth he punisheth them that are appointed to condemnation in his wrath the children of grace in mercy but there is no punishment no correction nor no rod of God due but to sinne Zacharie and Elizabeth are renowmed for eminent righteousnes for they are both sayd to haue beene iust before God walking in all his commandements without reproofe but that Zacharie himselfe was not without fault sinne Gabriel shewed when hee sayd vnto him behold thou shalt be silent and not able to speake And the same may be proved out of Paul who sayth that Christ onely needed not daily as the priests of the law to offer sacrifice first for their owne sinnes and then for the sinnes of the people And it is one thing as the fathers of the councell of Mileuis haue well noted in their epistle to Innocentius to walke without sinne another thing to walke without reproofe for he that walketh so that no man can iustly complaine of him or reprehend him may bee said to walke without reproofe though sometimes thorough humane frailety some lighter sinnes doe seize vpon him because men doe not reproue nor complaine but onely of the more greivous sinnes And to what end should wee runne thorough other examples of the Saints Whereas the lights of the world and salt of the earth the Apostles of Christ that receiued the first fruits of the spirit confessed of themselues that in many things they offended and sinned And therefore the Church taught this euer with great consent Tertullian Quis hominum sine delicto Cyprian proveth by Iob Dauid and Iohn that no man is without sinne and defiling Hilarie vpon those words thou hast despised all them that depart from thy righteousnes If God should despise sinners he should despise all for there is none without sinne Hierome shewing that the Ninivites vpon good ground and for good cause commaunded all to fast both old and young writeth thus The elder age beginneth but the youngger also followeth in the same course for there is none without sinne whether he liue but one day or many yeares for if the starres be not cleane in the sight of God how much lesse a worme rottennes and they that are holden guilty of the sinne of Adam that offended against God And in another place wee follow the authority of the Scripture that no man is without sinne And Saint Augustine whosoeuer are commended in Scripture as hauing a good heart and doing righteously and whosoeuer such after them either now are or shall be hereafter they are all truely great iust and praise worthy but they are not without some sinne nor no one of them is so arrogantly mad as to thinke he hath no need to say the Lords prayer and to aske forgiuenes of his sinnes And in his 31 sermon de verbis Apostoli he hath these words Haehetici Pelagiani Coelestiani dicunt iustos in hac vitâ nullum habere peccatum redi haeretice ad orationem si obsurduisti contra veram fidei rationem Dimitte nobis debita nostra dicis an non dicis Si non dicis etsi praesens fueris corpore foris tamen es ab ecclesiâ Ecclesiae enim oratio est vox est de
comparatione that is from him not before him by his gift but not in comparison with him For the clearing of this point Pet. Pomponatius noteth that there is defectus in specie defectus in genere and defectus in latitudine entis that is Things doe fail come short of perfection 3 wayes for there are some things that want that perfectioÌ„ that pertaineth to things of their particular kind some things that want not that perfectioÌ„ yet come short of that which some other of the same generall kind haue somethings that haue all perfectioÌ„ that any thing of their kind any way can haue yet come short of that which is found in the latitude extent of perfectioÌ„ being Examples of the first ignorance error blindnes c. in men Of the second the want of reason in bruit beasts which are liuing creatures as well as men yet come short of that perfection that is found in men and likewise the sonnes of men come short of that perfection of intellectuall light that is found in the Angels Of the third in all the most perfect creatures which come short of that which is found in God who is being it selfe they are this and not that they haue being after not being and would haue not being after being if they were left to themselues they are good but not connaturally they are no lesse capable of euill then of good they are good but mutably good and so in respect of GOD imperfectly good In this sense Iob saith God found folly in his servants and vanitie in his Angels This kind of defect or euill is without all fault sinne or blame of things wherein it is found and is incident to the nature and condition of all created things which are compounded of being and not being perfection and want and consequently haue some thing of good and some thing of euill That defect that is in respect of perfections that other things of the same generall kind haue is likewise a naturall consequent of the different degrees of things and nothing is blamed for being thus defectiue So the righteousnesse that was in Adam was inferiour to that of the Angels coÌ„firmed in grace yet was it not sinful But the righteousnesse of the iust commeth short of that which pertaineth to men And though it be right true sincere and not dissembled yet hath it such defects that it is impure What may all our righteousnes bee before God will it not bee found and esteemed as the Prophet saith to bee like the ragges of a menstruous woman and if it bee strictly examined will not all our righteousnes be found to be vnrighteous and defectiue What therefore will become of our sinnes when our righteousnes is not able to answere for it selfe Therefore crying out earnestly with the Prophet Lord enter not into iudgment with thy seruant let vs with al humility fly to mercy which only is able to saue our souls Bernardus super Cantica serm 61. Vbi tuta firmaque infirmis securitas requies nisi in vulneribus saluatoris Tanto illic securior habito quanto ille potentior est ad salvandum fremit mundus premit corpus diabolus insidiatur nec cado fundatus enim sum super firmam petram Peccavi peccatum grande turbatur conscientia sed non perturbabitur quoniam vulnerum Domini recordabor Ego vero fidenter quod ex me mihi deest vsurpo mihi ex visceribus Domini quoniam misericordia effluit nec desunt foramina per quae effluat Foderunt manus eius c. per has rimas licet mihi sugere mel de petrâ oleumque de saxo durissimo Cogitabat cogitationes pacis ego nesciebam Quis enim cognovit sensum Domini aut quis consiliarius eius fuit At clauis â—…eserans clavus penetrans factus est mihi vt videam voluntatem Domini Meum meritum miseratio Domini non planè sum meriti inops quamdiu ille miserationum non fuerit Nunquid iustitias meas cantabo Domine memorabor iustitiae tuae solius ipsa est enim mea nempe factus es tu iustitia mihi à Deo Nunquid mihi verendum nè vna ambobus non sufficiat non est pallium breve quod secundum Prophetam non possit operire duos But because happily some exception may bee taken to Saint Bernard as if hee had some singular opinion I will shew that all the glorious lights of the Church ever beleeued as hee did and as wee doe Theodoret in Ps 23. Quae existimantur remunerationes propter solam diuinam benignitatem hominibus praebentur Omnes enim hominum iustitiae nihil sunt ad dona quae à Deo nobis suppeditata sunt nedum ad futura munera quae omnem humanam cogitationem transcendunt Chrysost in Ps. 4. Etiamsi innumerabilia recte fecerimus à miserationibus clementiâ audimur Etiamsi ad ipsum virtutis fastigium pervenerimus servamur à misericordiâ Et in Ps. 6. super illa verba Miserere mei Domine quoniam infirmus sum Hâc voce omnes egemus etiamsi innumerabilia rectè ex virtute fecerimus vel ad summam peruenerimus iustitiam August in Ps. 142. Omnes dereliquistis me dicit Dominus quid vultis mecum in iudicium intrare vestras iustitias commemorare Commemorate iustitias vestras ego novi facinora vestra Nolo tecum habere causam vt ego proponam iustitiam meam tu convincas iniquitatem meam Ne intres in iudicium cum servo tuo Quare hoc Quare times Quoniam non iustificabitur coram te omnis viuens Omnis itaque viuens iustificare forte potest se coram se non coram te Quomodo coram se sibi placens tibi displicens coram te auteÌ„ non iustificabitur omnis vivens Quantumlibet rectus mihi videar producis tu de thesauro tuo regulaÌ„ coaptas me ad eaÌ„ et pravus invenior Grego moral vlt. Si autem de his diuinitus districtè discutimur quis inter ista remanet salutis locus quando mala nostra pura mala sunt bona quae nos habere credimus pura bona esse nequaquam possunt Beda in explicatione Ps. 24. Ne memineris delicta sed potius memento mei Domine ut miserearis secundum misericordiam tuam id est te condignam non secundum iram me condignam tu dico ad quem pertinet qui solus misereris solus mederis solus peccata dimittis hoc non facias propter merita mea sed propter bonitatem id est suavitatem tuam Et in Ps. 31. Beati quorum remissae sunt iniquitates c. Instruit videlicet vt nemo vel libertatem arbitrii vel merita sua sufficere sibi ad beatitudinem credat sed solâ gratiâ Dei se salvari posse intelligat Alcuinus in Ps. 50. Sordidare me potui sed emundare nequeo nisi tu
head and spouse and thirdly because it is led by the spirit of trueth These reasons will be found exceeding weake if we examine them Let vs therefore take a particular view of them First the Apostle say they calleth the Church the Pillar and ground of trueth therefore it cannot erre These wordes cannot proue that for confirmation whereof our aduersaries alleage them seeing hee speaketh in this place of a particular Church to wit the Church of the Ephesians in which hee left Timotheus when he departed from it Now that particular Churches may erre in matter of fayth and become hereticall our adversaries make no question That the Apostle speaketh of the Church of Ephesus and calleth it The pillar and ground of trueth it appeareth by all circumstances of the place These things haue I written sayth hee hoping to come shortly vnto thee but if I tarrie longer that thou mayest know how to behaue thy selfe in the house of God That house of God in which Paul left Timothie in which he directeth him how to behaue himselfe till hee come he calleth The Church of God and Pillar of truth that Timothie might bethinke him the better how to demeane himselfe in the government of it The Church of God is named the Pillar of trueth not as if the truth did depend on the Church or as if God could not otherwise man fest it than by her Ministery or that our fayth should be built on the authority of it or that we should thinke it absolutely free from all ignorance and errour but because it doth strongly hold and maintaine the sauing profession of the truth notwithstanding all the violence of wicked and cruell enemies as both the Ordinary glosse and that of Lyra doe interpret it and for that by instructions admonitions and comforts it strengtheneth stayeth and supporteth such as otherwise would fall as the Interlineall glosse seemeth to expresse it So then the Church is The pillar of trueth not because it is absolutely free from all errour or that our faith should be builded vpon the infallibility of it but because it alway retayneth a saving profession of heauenly trueth and by strength of reasons force of perswasions timelinesse of admonitions comforts of Sacraments and other meanes of sauing grace The powerfull force whereof the sonnes of God doe feele it strengtheneth and stayeth the weakenesse of all them that depend vpon it This is it that Calvine meaneth when hee sayth the Church is called The pillar of trueth because it firmely holdeth the profession of it and strengtheneth others by the knowledge of it Bellarmines cavill that if this were all the Church might more fitly be compared to a chest than a Pillar is not worth the answering for it doth not onely preserue the trueth as a hidden treasure but by publique profession notwithstanding all forces endeavouring to shake it publisheth it vnto the world stayeth the weakenesse of others by the knowledge of it in which respect it is fitly compared to a Pillar and not vnto an Arke or chest The second reason is much more weake than the former For thus they argue The Church is governed by Christ as by her head and spouse and by the spirit as by the soule and fountaine of her life therefore if shee erre her errour must be imputed vnto Christ and to the spirit of trueth This their consequence is blasphemous and impious For who knoweth not that particular men companies of men and Churches are governed by Christ as by their head and spouse by the spirit of trueth as being the fountaine of their spirituall life as the Churches of Corinth Galatia and the Churches mentioned in the Revelation of S. Iohn called golden Candle stickes in the midst whereof the Sonne of God did walke yet had they their dangerous and grievous errours and defaults for which they were blamed so that by the argument of our adversaries men may blame the spirit of trueth for their errours That which the Iesuite addeth that Christ the husband of the Church is bound to free it from all errour in matter of faith whence any great euill may ensue is as childish an argument as may be devised For if great and grievous euils may be found in the Church then notwithstanding this argument errours also Now that the Church is subject to great grieuous euils he that maketh any questiō seemeth to know nothing at all As therfore God giueth that grace whereby the children of the Church may avoyde great and grievous euils and neuer with-draweth the same but for punishment of former sinne and contempt of grace so he giueth the gracious meanes of illumination and neuer withdraweth the meanes of knowledge but when the contempt of the light of knowledge and the abusing of it procure the same So that the sinnes and errours of the children of the Church proceede from themselues and not from any defect or want of Christ the husband of the Church The third reason is he that heareth not the Church must bee holden for an Ethnike therefore it cannot erre But they should know that Christ speaketh in that place of the Sanedrim of the Iewes which whosoeuer refused to obey they held him as an Ethnicke Yet was not that great Councell of State among the Iewes free from danger of erring If these wordes of our Saviour be applyed to the Church as they are ordinarily by the Fathers they must be vnderstood by the censures of the Church which are not alwayes just and righteous as Augustine sheweth and not of her doctrinall determination But saith Bellarmine the Councels were wont to denounce Anathema to all that obey not their decrees therefore they thought they could not erre To this we answere that they denounce Anathema not because they thinke euery one that disobeyeth the decree of the Councell to bee accursed but because they are perswaded in particular that this is the eternall truth of God which they propose therefore they accurse them that obstinately shall resist as Paul willeth euery Christian man to Anathematize an Angell comming from Heauen if he shall teach him any other doctrine then he hath already learned yet is not euery particular Christian free from possibility of erring The other argument that because the Church is holy and her profession holy therefore shee cannot erre will proue as well that particular Churches cannot erre as the vniversall If they say the vniversall Church is holy and the profession of it holy in such adegree as freeth it from error it is petitio principii Their next argument is that if the Church be not free generally from erring but only from erring in things necessary to saluation many Catholike verities may be called in question doubted of for that there are many things that pertaine to faith which are not necessary to saluation This argument holdeth not for though the Church which comprehendeth onely the number of beleeuers that are at one time in the world may
themselues to another not of falsehood but of superfluitie the first instance whereof that they giue is the sixt of Mathew where the Lords prayer in the vulgar Latine endeth with that petition deliuer vs from euill leauing out for thine is the Kingdome the power and the glory which they suppose to bee superfluously added in the Greeke But these men should know that though it were granted that these words were superfluous yet nothing is thereby derogated from the Greeke seeing some Greeke Copies and they very auncient omit them as Beza sheweth Their next instance is Rom. 11. where the vulgar Latine hath If of grace not of workes otherwise grace should be no more grace to which is added by way of Antithesis and opposition in the Greeke If of workes not of grace otherwise workes should be no more workes It will be very hard for our adversaries to proue that these latter words are superfluously added being found not onely in the most Greeke Copies but in the Syriacke translation But if it were granted yet there is one Greeke Copie of great antiquity that omitteth these words as well as the vulgar Latine The next instance is the sixt of Marke and the 11. Verily I say vnto you it shall be easier for Sodome and Gomorrha c. If it were granted that these wordes were superfluously added which yet there is no reason to doe seeing besides very many Greeke Copies the Syriacke translation hath them also yet would this make nothing for the improuing of the credite of the Greeke seeing as Beza professeth there are three Greeke Copies that omit them The like may bee said touching the next allegation of Mathew the 20 22 23. where these wordes and bee baptised with the baptisme that I am baptised with are supposed to bee superfluous for there are some Greeke Copies that omit them as well as the vulgar Thus hauing examined the seuerall allegations of our adversaries against the authoritie and credite of the Greeke Text of the New Testament wee see that they faile in them neither being able to convince it of falsehood nor superfluitie Wherefore to conclude this matter wee say with Hierome that the Latine editions are to be corrected by the Greeke that by the providence of GOD the verity of the Scriptures of the New Testament hath euer beene preserued in the originall That those faults and errours which are crept into some Copies may easily by the helpe of others be corrected and that there is no difference in matter of substance in so great variety of Copies as are found in the world If any man say the Greeke hath beene corrupted since the dayes of Hierome and that therefore though hee in his time thought the translations might bee corrected by the originals yet now wee may not take the same course we answere it may easily be proued that all those supposed corruptions which they now finde in the Greeke were found in it in Hieromes time For there are but two places to wit 1. Corinth 15. and 1. Iohn 4. 3. where all Greeke Copies haue otherwise then they say the truth is and these places were corrupted if there bee any errour in the present reading before Hieromes time Thus much touching the sufficiencie of the Scriptures and the editions wherein the authenticall veritie of the same is to bee sought CHAP. 30. Of the Power of the Church in making Lawes NOw it remaineth that wee come to the next part of our diuision touching the power of the Church in making lawes As the will of God willing and purposing the being of each thing is the first and highest cause of things so the same will of God determining what is fitte to bee what of what kinde in what sort each thing must bee that it may attaine and possesse the vttermost degree of perfection the orderly disposition of things requireth to bee communicated to it is the first and highest lawe to the whole world And as the will of God determining what is fitte defining what ought to bee and what must bee if the Creatures attaine their highest perfection is a generall lawe to all Creatures soe when he maketh knowne to creatures rationall and of an vnderstanding nature which haue power to doe or omitte thinges thus fitte to bee done that though hee leaue it in their power and freedome of choise to doe or omitte them yet they shall be tyed either to doe them or to loose the good they desire to enjoy incurre the euils they would avoyd It is more specially named a lawe of commandement precept or direction binding them vpon whom it is imposed to the performance of that it requireth The Precepts and Commandements of Almighty God are of two sorts for either they are such as in respect of the nature and condition of the things themselues are good and soe binde all men at all times or else they are positiue prescribing things variable according to the diuersities of times and the different condition of men liuing in them The former kinde of lawes God imposed vpon men in the day of their creation or redemption and restauration together with the very nature and being which hee gaue them the later prescribing things not naturally and perpetually good but good onely at some time to some men and to some purposes and vses to which they serue were not imposed at first together with the institution of nature or the restauration of the same by grace but are then imposed when the things they prescribe are iudged good and beneficiall Soe God prescribed before the comming of Christ his sonne those sacrifices and offerings which now hee regardeth not and hath now instituted those Sacraments Ceremonies and rites of Religion which before were not knowne in the world Thus wee see that the originall of all lawes is the will of God who as hee reserueth for himselfe the honor of being the supreame first and highest cause of all thinges and yet communicateth part of his Diuine power to subordinate and inferiour causes so though he alone be the great lawegiuer to euery creature yet hee communicateth part of his authority to such among the sonnes of men as he is pleased to make greater than others giuing them power to command and prescribe lawes vnto them Touching this matter thus generally deliuered there is noe difference betweene vs and our aduersaries For it is confessed on both sides that God who is the great lawgiuer to the whole world hath chosen out some from amongst the rest of the sonnes of men whom hee hath beene pleased to honour with his owne name to set vpon his owne seat and to make rulers and lawgiuers vnto his people but the question is within what bounds this power is contained and how farre the band of lawes made by such authority extendeth CHAP. 31. Of the boundes within which the power of the Church in making lawes is contayned and whether shee may make lawes concerning the worshippe of God TOuching
merites of Christ was neuer knowne in the Primitiue Church nor any such forme of exorcising or blessing as they now vse That which the Rhemists alleadge touching the Liuer of a fish vsed by Tobie the piece of the holy earth where Christ was buried preseruing a mans chamber from the infestation of diuels and the force of holy reliques tormenting them maketh nothing to this purpose all these examples being miraculous Touching the harpe of Dauid quieting Saul there is a reason for it in Nature though the repressing of Sathans rage were miraculous That Infidels haue sometimes driuen away diuels by the signe of the Crosse it was by the speciall dispensation of Almighty God who would thereby glorifie his Sonne whose Crosse the world despised and not as if this Ceremonie had force ex opere operato to worke such effects That the name of Iesus did miraculously cast out Diuels in the Primitiue Church which is the next allegation who euer made doubt but what maketh this to the purpose That which they alledge that Saint Gregory did vsually send his benediction and remission of sins in and with such tokens as were sanctified by his blessing and touch of the Martyrs reliques as now his successours doe the like hallowed remembrances of religion is very vaine For Gregory did not send any such blessing of of his owne or remission of sinnes by force of it as nowe his successours do but onely certaine things that had pertained to Christ or his Apostles as part of the wood of the crosse of Christ or of the chaines wherewith the Apostles were bound and with them the blessing of Christ and those Apostles to such as should conforme themselues to his sufferinges or their faith That which they alledge out of the third Councell of Carthage touching the blessing of milke honey grapes and corne bewrayeth their ignorance For that Canon speaketh not of any such blessing but forbiddeth any thing besides bread and wine mingled with water for the matter of the Sacrament and grapes and corne to bee presented on the Altar The Canon of the Apostles is to the same effect forbidding any thing but newe grapes and corne in their season and oyle for the lights incense to be vsed in the time of the oblation to be presented on the Altar willing the first fruites to be carried to the Bishops house and prescribing what shall be done with such presents The sixt generall Councell finding that some did giue to the people with the Sacrament these grapes c forbad it and prescribed that being blessed they should be deliuered priuately to the Catechumens and others that they might praise God who hath giuen so good and pleasing things for the nourishment of mens bodies but speaketh nothing of blessing of them to be instruments of remission of sinnes and of the like spirituall and supernaturall effects Thus wee see our aduersaries cannot proue that the Church hath power to annexe vnto such Ceremonies and obseruations as shee deuiseth the remission of sinnes and the working of other spirituall and supernaturall effects which is the only thing questioned betweene them and vs touching the power of the Church So that all the power the Church hath more then by her authority to publish the Commaundements of Christ the sonne of God and by her censures to punish the offenders against the same is onely in prescribing things that pertaine to comelinesse and order Comelinesse requireth that not only that grauity and modesty doe appeare in the performance of the workes of Gods seruice that beseemeth actions of that nature but also that such rites and ceremonies be vsed as may cause a due respect vnto and regard of the things performed and thereby stirre men vppe to greater feruour and deuotion Caeremoniae Ceremonies are so named as Liuie thinketh from a Towne called Caere in the which the Romans did hide their sacred thinges when the Gaules inuaded Rome Other thinke Ceremonies are so named a Carendo of abstaining from certaine things as the Iewes abstained from swines slesh and sundrie other things forbidden by God as vncleane Ceremonies are outward acts of religion hauing institution either from the instinct of nature as the lifting vp of the hands and eyes to heauen the bowing of the knee the striking of the breast and such like or immediately from God as the sacraments or from the Churches prescription and either onely serue to expresse such spirituall and heauenly affections dispositions motions and desires as are or should be in men or else to signifie assure and conuey vnto them such benefits of sauing grace as God in Christ is pleased to bestowe on them To the former purpose and end the Church hath power to ordaine Ceremonies to the later God onely Order requireth that there be sette howres for prayer preaching and ministring the sacraments that there be silence and attention when the things are performed that womē be silent in the Church that all things be administred according to the rules of discipline Thus we see within what bounds the power of the Church is contained and how farre it hath authority to command and prescribe in things pertaining to the worship and seruice of God CHAP. 32. Of the nature of Lawes and how they binde Now it remaineth that wee examine how farre the band of such lawes extendeth as the Church maketh and whether they binde the conscience or onely the outward man For the clearing whereof first wee must obserue in what sense it is that lawes are sayde to binde and secondly what it is to binde the conscience Lawgiuers are sayd to binde them to whome they giue lawes when they determine and sette downe what is fitte to be done what things they are the doing whereof they approoue and the omission whereof they dislike and then signifie to them whom they command that though they haue power and liberty of choyse to doe or omitte the things prescribed yet that they will soe and in such sort limitte them in the vse of their libertie as that either they shall doe that they are commanded or be depriued of the good they desire and incurre the euils they would auoyd None can thus tye and limit men but they that haue power to depriue them of the good they desire and bring vpon them the contrary euils So that no man knowing what hee doth prescribeth or commandeth any thing vnder greater penalties then he hath power to inflict nor any thing but that whereof hee canne take notice whether it be done or not that so hee may accordingly reward or punish the doing or omission of it Hence it followeth that mortall men forget themselues and keepe not within their owne boundes when either they commaund vnder paine of eternall damnation which none but God can inflict according to that of our Sauiour Feare not them that can kill the body but feare him rather that hath power to cast both body and soule into hell fire
that his lot was to burne incense when hee went into the house and Temple of the Lord. Over euery of these companies of Priests in their courses attending there were certaine priests set that were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Principes Sacerdotum that is chiefe Priests or rulers of the Priests Of these the Evangelist S. Marke speaketh when he sayth They brought Iesus to the High Priest and the Chiefe Priests sought false witnesse against him that is the Heads of the Companies of Priests who came to consult with the high priest about the putting of Iesus to death For while the policie appointed by almighty God continued there was but one that properly was named the high Priest CHAP. 6. Of the Levites HAving spoken of Aaron and his sonnes whom God chose out of all the families of the tribe of Leui it remaineth that we speake of the employment of the rest of that tribe called by the common name of Leuites These were sorted by Dauid into foure rankes for some he appointed to bee ministers of the Priests and Temple who were most specially named Leuites some Singers some Porters and others Scribes and Iudges Touching the Leuites more specially so named that attended the seruice of the Sanctuarie their office was to carie the Tabernacle and the Arke of the Couenant in the Remoues of the people till God fixed the same in one place and then they were to take care of it and the sacred vessels that were in it appoynted to be vsed about the service of God In later times also they flayed the Beasts appointed for the Sacrifices according to that in the second of Chronicles The service was prepared and the Priests stood in their places also the Leuites in their orders according to the Kings commaundement and they slue the Passeouer and the Priests sprinkled the bloud with their hands and the Leuites flayed them Of the singers we reade in the first of Chronicles how they were appoynted by Dauid to sing prophesies with Harpes with Viols and with Cymbals The Porters were appointed to see that no vncircumcised polluted or vncleane person should enter into the house of the Lord and to guard the same that all thinges therein might bee in safety as the sacred vessels the treasure of the house and the treasure of the dedicated things To these were added as assistants the Nethinims or Gibeonites who serued as hewers of wood and drawers of water The Scribes were such as read and interpreted the Law of God in the Temple at Hierusalem and in the Synagogues that were in other parts of the land and are also called Doctors of the Law that is Interpreters of the Law of God CHAP. 7. Of the Sects and factions in Religion found amongst the Iewes in later times ANd here because we haue made mention of such Leuites as were Scribes that is Doctors and Interpreters of the Law of God it is not out of place to speake of the doctrine of the Iewes in later times and the seuerall sects into which their teachers and guides were diuided Epiphanius sheweth that there were seauen principall sects amongst them the first whereof was that of the Scribes who were Interpreters of the Law but such as deliuered many traditions as from their Elders that were not contayned in the Law and sought to bring in a more exact kinde of worship of God then Moses and the Prophets taught consisting in many voluntary observations and customes deuised by men The second Sadduces which were of the race of the Samaritanes these had their name from one Sadoc a Priest they denyed the resurrection and beleeued not that there is any Angell or Spirit and consequently ouerthrew all Religion The third sort were Pharisees these were the strictest of all other and most esteemed they beleeued the resurrection of the dead that there are Angels and Spirits as the Scribes also did and that all shall come into judgement to receiue according to the things they doe in this body whether they be good or euill they much honoured virginity and single life they payed tithes of the smallest things they possessed they washed cups platters and all kinde of vessels they vsed they fasted twice euery weeke they brought in the doctrine of fatall necessity and differed in their habit from other men The fourth sort were the Hemerobaptists who did thinke that no man could bee saued if he were not washed euery day that so he might be cleansed from the impuritie of sinne but as Epiphanius rightly noteth in refutation of the errour of these men it is not the whole floud Iordan wherein Christ was baptized nor the sea nor any fountaine abounding with water that can wash away the impurity of sinne by any naturall force thereof or voluntarie vse but repentance and the vse of such sacred ceremonies and sacramentall elements as God appoynteth to signifie expresse and communicate vnto vs the vertue of Christ Iesus and the sanctifying grace of the Spirit of God Next vnto the Hemerobaptists were the Essenes These withdrew themselues from the society of other men They despised mariage and liued without the company of women hauing no children of their owne they adopted such as voluntarily came vnto them Quos vita fessos sayth Plinie ad mores eorum fortunae fluctus agitat Ita per saeculorum millia incredibile dictu gens aeterna est in quâ nemo nascitur tam faecunda illis aliorum vitae poenitentia est That is Such as wearied with the turmoils of this life were by the experience of fortunes vncertainties forced to like their retired manner of liuing so that for many ages which is a thing not credible there hath bin a neuer-failing nation in which no man is borne So many doth other mens dislike of their owne manner of liuing send vnto them These were something like the Monkes and Religious men that are and haue beene amongst Christians The sixt sorte were the Nazaraei who in all other things were Iewes but held it vnlawfull to kill any liuing thing or to eate the flesh of any thing wherein the Spirit of life had beene they condemned the bloody sacrifices prescribed in Moses law and therefore could not bee induced to thinke that Moses was author of those bookes that goe vnder his name yet did they honour Abraham Isaac and Iacob and other holy men mentioned in them The seauenth and last sort were the Herodians who were of the Iewes Religion in all other things but thought Herod to bee the Christ because the scepter departed from Iudah and the Law-giuer from betweene his feete when Herod who was a stranger obtayned the title and power of a king and ruled ouer the people of God These were the sects and Heresies that prevayled in the Church of the Iewes before the comming of Christ amongst whom the Pharisees and Sadduces were chiefe so that the whole state seemed to be
his owne folly But when a man is punished for another mans fault whereof hee hath beene no cause by example perswasion helpe or consent hee canne haue no remorse of conscience Now our Saviour Christ suffered the punishments of the sinnes of other men not his own and therefore hee was free from remorse of conscience though it be generally found in all men and be neither sinne nor inducement to sin Lastly the punishments that are punishments onely and not sin that are common to the whole nature of Man and suffered not for the faults of him that suffereth them but for the sins of other are of two sorts for either they are the punishments of sinne eternally remayning in staine and guilt or broken off ceasing and repented of The punishments of sinne eternally remaining must according to the rules of diuine justice be eternall and consequently joyned with desperation which alwayes is found where there is an impossibility of any better estate for euer But it is no way necessary neither doth the iustice of God require that the punishments of sinne repented of ceasing and forsaken should bee euerlasting or ioyned with despaire For as the Diuines doe note that there are three thinges to bee considered in sinne The auersion from an infinite and incommutable good the inordinate conuersion to a finite good and the continuing in the same or ceasing from it so to these seuerall thinges in sinne there are three seuerall thinges answearing in the punishment of it For to the auersion which is obiectiuely infinite there answereth poena damni the losse of God which is an infinite losse To the inordinate conuersion of the sinner to thinges transitory there answereth poena sensus a sensible smart and griefe intensiuely finite as the pleasure the sinner taketh in the transitory thinges hee inordinately loueth is finite To the eternity of sin remayning euerlastingly in staine guilt or the continuance of it but for a time answereth the eternity of punishment or the suffering of the same but for a time It is true that euery sinner sinneth in suo aeterno as Saint Gregorie speaketh in that hee would sinne euer if hee might liue euer and that euery sinner casteth himselfe by sinning into an impossibility of euer ceasing to sin of himselfe as a man that casteth himselfe into a deepe pit canne neuer of himselfe rise out of it againe And therefore naturally eternity of punishment is due to sinne but if by force of Diuine operation men be framed to cease from sinne and to turne from it vnto God the Iustice of God requireth not eternity of punishment but onely extrâ—…mitie answerable to the grieuousnesse of sinne Wherefore seeing our Sauiour Christ suffered onely for those sinnes which he meant to breake off by framing the sinners to repentance it was no way necessary for the satisfying of diuine Iustice that hee should endure eternall punishment If it be sayd that all doe not repent nor cease from doing ill wee easily graunt it but it is likewise to be knowne that the satisfaction of Christ is not appliable to all sinners not through any defect in it selfe but through the incapacity of them to whom it should be applyed Soe that as Christ dyed and satisfied Gods wrath sufficiently for all but effectually onely for the elect and chosen soe likewise hee giueth grace to cease from sinne if the fault were not in themselues sufficiently to all But to the elect and chosen whom he foreknew before the world was made hee giueth grace effectually that his passion may be applyed vnto them and they really and indeede made partakers of it They seeme therefore to be deceiued who thinke that the excellencie of the person of Christ dispensed with the eternity of punishment which otherwise to satisfie diuine justice hee was to haue suffered and thereupon inferre that it might also dispense with the grieuousnesse and extremity of punishment that otherwise hee was to haue endured For the worth and excellency of his person was neither to dispense with the time nor grieuousnesse of his punishments but to make the passion of one auaileable for many Otherwise if it might haue dispensed with one degree of extremitie of punishment due to sinne it might also haue dispensed with two and consequently with all as Scotus aptly noteth though to another purpose These things being thus distinguished it is easie to answer that question that hath troubled many Whether Christ suffered all the punishments of sinne or not For wee may safely pronounce as I thinke that Christ suffered the whole generall punishment of sinne that onely excepted which is sinne or consequent vpon the inherence and eternity of sinne that is punished as remorse of conscience and desperation If any man shall goe further and aske whether to satisfie Gods justice Christ suffered the paines of hell or not it will be answered that he suffered not the paines of hell in specie or loco that is either in kind or place but some thinke that he suffered paines and punishments conformable and answerable to them in extremity that onely excepted which is sinne or consequent vpon the inherence and eternity of the sinne of such as are punished in hell Concerning poena sensus that is sensible smart and griefe Cardinall Cusanus a famous learned man is claerely of opinion that Christ suffered extremity of such paine answerable to that sensible smart and griefe that is indured in hell but the doubt is principally of the other kind of punishment named Poena damni which is the losse of God For the clearing of which point Scotus aptly obserueth diuers things For first he sheweth that punishment is the discernable want of some fitting good in an intellectuall nature and the presence of some euill in the same Secondly that the good that is in an intellectuall nature is of two sorts the one of vertue the other of sweete joyfull and pleasing delight and that though both these concurre sometimes as in the fruition of God in heauen wherein the perfection of vertue the fullnesse of joy and delight do meete together yea that though every thing that is vertuous be delightfull yet it is not so much the height of vertue as of delight that is to be judged happinesse Thirdly he inferreth from hence that there are two kinds of punishment consisting in the losse of God whereof the one is the want of that vertue whereby the soule is to be joyned and knit vnto God the other the want of that delight and pleasure that is to be found in God That the former is an evill of vnrighteousnesse sin may be called an obstinacy in sinne and is nothing else but sinne not remitted nor remoued Poena derelicta non inflicta that is no new euill brought in vpon the sinner but that left in him that hee wrought in himselfe The other is more properly named Poena damni or Damnum that is the punishment of losse or a losse
damage It were impious to thinke that Christ suffered the former kinde but that hee suffered this latter kinde of punishment of losse damage many great Diuines are of opinion For though as hee was ioyned to God affectione iustitiae that is by the affection of vertue or justice hee could not be diuided or separated from him no not for a moment because he could not but loue him feare him trust in him giue him the praise and glory that belongeth to him yet as he was to be joyned to him affectione commodi that is by that affection that seeketh pleasing content in enjoying those ineffable delights pleasures that are found in him hee might bee and was for a time diuided from him For as very great graue Diuines do thinke he was destitutus omni solatio that is destitute void of all that solace he was wont to find in God in that fearefull houre of darknesse of his dolefull passion As saith Melchior Canus Christ in the time of his life miraculously restrained kept within the closet of his secret Spirit the happines that he injoyed in seeing God that it should not spread farther communicate it self to the inferior faculties of his Soule or impart the brightnes of it to the body so in the houre of his passion his very Spirit was with-holden from any pleasure it might take in so pleasing an object as is the Essence Majesty and glory of God which euen then he clearely beheld So that Christ neuer wanted the vision of that object which naturally maketh all them happy that beholde it and filleth them with such joy as no heart of mortall man can conceiue or tongue expresse But as it was strange and yet most true in the time of his life that his Soule enjoyed Heauen-happines and that yet neither the inferiour faculties thereof were admitted into any fellowship of the same nor his Body glorified but subject to misery and passion so it fell out by the speciall dispensation of Almighty God in the time of his death and in that fearefull houre of darknes that his Soule seeing God the pleasure delight that naturally commeth from so pleasing an object stayed with-held communicated not it selfe vnto it as a man in great distresse taketh no pleasure in those things that otherwise exceedingly affect him This his conceipt he saith he communicated to very great and worthy Diuines while he was yet but a young man and that they were so farre from disliking it that they approued it exceedingly But some man will say it is not possible in this life to feele extremity of paines answereable to the paines of hell more then on earth to enjoy the happines of Heauen and that therefore it is absurd to grant that Christ in the dayes of his flesh suffered in this World extremity of paine answerable to the paines of hell Hereunto it is answered that in ordinary course it is impossible for any man liuing in this World either to enjoy the happines of Heauen or feele the paines of Hell but that as Christ was at the same time both Viator and Comprehensor that is a manlike vnto vs that journey here in this World towards Heauen-happines and yet happy with that happines that ordinarily is found no where but in Heauen so hee might suffer that extremity of paine haue that apprehension of afflictiue euils that ordinarily is no where to bee found in this World euen while he liued here on earth Luther saith truely that if a man could perfectly see his owne euils the sight thereof would bee a perfect hell vnto him now it is certaine that Christ saw all the euils of punishment before expressed to which he voluntarily subjected himselfe to satisfie diuine Iustice comming fierce and violently vpon him with as cleare a sight and as perfect an apprehension of them as is to be had in the other World CHAP. 18. Of the nature and qualitie of the passion and suffering of Christ. HItherto we haue spoken of the punishments that Christ sustained and suffered to satisfie the justice and pacifie the wrath of his Father Now it remaineth that we come to take a view of the nature and qualitie of his passion and suffering consisting partly in his feare and agonie before and pardy in his bitter sorrow and distresse in the very act of that dolefull tragedy Touching the first the Scripture testifieth that he feared exceedingly and desired the cuppe might passe from him Touching the second that he was beset with sorrowes euen vnto the death and that in his extremitie he cried aloud My God my God why hast thou forsaken me But touching both these passions of feare sorrow it is noted that whereas there are three kindes of faults found in the passions of mens mindes the first that they arise before reason be consulted or giue direction the second that they proceed farther then they should and stay not when they are required and the third that they transport reason judgement it selfe Christ had these passions but in a sort free from all these euils For neither did they arise in him before reason gaue direction wherevpon he is said to haue troubled or moued himselfe in the case of Lazarus for whom he greatly sorrowed neither did they proceede any farther if once reason judgement commanded a stay and retrait wherevpon they are called Propassions rather then Passions not because as Kellison ignorantly supposeth reason preuenteth them and causeth them to arise though it bee true it doth so but because they are but fore-runners to passions at liberty and beginnings of passions to be staied at pleasure rather then full and perfect passions and therefore much lesse had they any power to transport judgement reason it selfe From these generall considerations of the passions of Christ let vs proceede to take a more particular view of the chiefe particulars of his passions to wit Feare Sorrow Feare is described to bee a retiring or flying backe from a thing if it be good because it is too high and excellent aboue the reach and without the extent of our condition power if it be euill because it is hard to bee escaped So that the proper and adequate obiect of feare is not as some suppose future euill but difficulty greatnesse excellency which found in things good makes vs know wee cannot at all attaine them or at least that wee cannot attaine them but with too great difficultie labour in euill that they will not easily be ouer mastered or escaped The difficultie greatnesse and excellency found in things that are good causeth feare of reuerence which maketh vs steppe backe and not to meddle at all with thinges that are too high excellent for vs nor with things hard without good advice and causeth vs to giue place to those of better condition and to acknowledge and professe by all significations of body and
as they are in themselues euill without the consideration of any good to follow so caused a desire to decline them expressed in the prayer he made But Superiour reason considering them with all circumstances knowing Gods resolution to be such that the World should thereby be saued by no other meanes perswaded to a willing acceptance of them Betweene these desires and resolutions there was a diversity but no contrariety a subordination but no repugnance or resistance There was no contrariety because they were not in respect of the same circumstances for Death as Death is to be avoided neither did Superiour reason euer dislike this judgement of the Inferiour Faculties but shewed farther and higher considerations wherein it was to be accepted embraced There was no repugnance or resistance because the one yeelded to the other For euen as a man that is sicke considering the potion prescribed to him by the Physitian to be bitter vnpleasant declineth it while he stayeth within the bounds confines of that consideration but when casting his eyes farther he is shewed by the Physitian the happy operation of good that is in it he willingly accepteth it in that it is beneficiall and good So Christ considering death as in it selfe euill contrary to nature while hee stayed within the bounds and confines of that consideration shunned and declined it and yet as the meanes of mans saluation joyfully embraced it accepting that he refused and refusing that he accepted There is a thing saith Hugo de Sancto Victore that is Bonum in se good in it selfe the good of euery other thing There is a thing good in it selfe yet good but to certaine purposes onely And there is a thing euill in it selfe yet good to some purposes The two former sorts of things may be desired simply and absolutely the third cannot but onely respectiuely to certaine ends of this kinde was the death of the Crosse with all the wofull tormentings concurring with the same which simply Christ shunned and declined but respectiuely to the ends aboue specified willingly embraced The Papistes impute I know not what impiety to Caluine for that he saith Christ corrected the desire wish that suddenly came from him But they might easily vnderstand if they pleased that hee is farre from thinking that any desire or expressing of desire was sudden in Christ as rising in him without consent of reason or that he was inconsiderate in any thing hee did or spake but his meaning is that some desires which he expressed proceeded from Inferiour reason that considereth not all circumstances that hee corrected revoked the same not as euill but as not proceeding from the full perfect consideration of all things fit to be thought vpon before a full resolution be passed Thus hauing spoken of Christs feare agony before his passion it remaineth that we proceede to speake of the sorrowes that afflicted distressed him in his passion These sorrowes were such so great that being beset compassed about with them on euery side he professed his soule was heauy euen vnto the death Yea. such was the bitternesse of his Soule that pressed with the weight burthen of grieuous and insupportable euils he was forced to cry out aloud My God my God why hast thou forsaken me These words of sorrowfull passion the Papists say Caluine thought to bee words of despaire and that Christ despaired when he vttered them Surely this shamelesse slander sheweth that they that thus speake they care not what are desperately malitious and maintaine a desperate cause that cannot be vpholden but by falshood lying But Caluine is farre frō any such execrable hellish blasphemie For hauing by occasiō of these words amplified the sorrowes distresses of Christ in the time of his passion hee sayth there were some that charged him that hee sayd these words were words of desperation and that Christ despaired when he vttered them but hee accurseth such hellish blasphemie and pronounceth that howsoeuer the flesh apprehended destroying euils inferiour reason shewed no issue out of the same yet there was euer a most sure resolued perswasion resting in his heart that hee should vndoubtedly preuaile against them and ouercome them wherefore passing ouer this wicked calumniation of our aduersaries let vs see in what sense Christ the Sonne of God complained of dereliction and cried aloud vnto his Father My God my God why hast thou forsaken me For the clearing hereof the Diuines do note that there are sixe kindes of dereliction or forsaking whereof Christ may be thought to haue complained The first whereof is by disunion of Person the second by losse of Grace the third by diminution or weakning of grace the fourth by want of assurance of future deliuerance and present support the fift by deniall of protection the sixt by withdrawing of solace and destituting the forsaken of all comfort It is impious once to thinke that Christ was forsaken any of the foure first wayes For the vnity of his person was neuer dissolued his graces were neuer either taken away or diminished neither was it possible he should want assurance of future deliuerance and present support that was eternall God and Lord of life But the two last waies he may rightly be sayd to haue beene forsaken in that his Father denied to protect and keepe him out of the hands of his cruell bloudy and mercilesse enemies no way restrayning them but suffering them to doe the vttermost of that their wicked hearts could imagine and left him to endure the extremity of their furie and malice and that nothing might be wanting to make his sorrowes beyond measure sorrowfull withdrew from him that solace he was wont to finde in God and remoued farre from him all things that might any way lessen and asswage the extremity of his paine So that Christ might rightly complaine that he was forsaken though he were farre from despaire and words of despaire CHAP. 19. Of the descending of Christ into Hell WITH the sufferings of Christ his Descension into Hell is connexed both in the order of things and in the Articles of the creede and therefore it remaineth that in the next place we speake of that Bellarmine obserueth that the Article of Christs descending into Hell was not in the Creede with all Churches from the beginning for that Irenoens Origen and Tertullian haue it not and Augustine in his booke de Fide Symbolo and in his foure bookes de Symbolo ad Catechumenos mentioneth it not expounding the Creede fiue times though elsewhere he say that none but an Infidell will deny the descension of Christ into Hell Ruffinus expoundeth it amongst the articles of the Creede but noteth that it is not in the Symbole of the Romane Church nor those of the East The Nicene Creede hath it not but that of Athanasius hath and other of the Fathers reade it also And
what is yet wanting to the faithfull departed or to such as are aliue at the suite supplication of the holy Patriarches Prophets Apostles c. For seeing it is confessed by vs that the Saints in heauen doe pray for vs in a generality we may desire of God the graunting of such things as we or others need not only vpon our own suite but much more for that there are so many supplyants to him for vs not in earth alone but in heauen also though without sence or knowledge of our particular wantes So that there is nothing found in Chrysostome either touching prayer for the dead or invocation of Saints that maketh any thing for the confirmation of popish errours For neither doth Chrysostome in that Liturgie pray for the ease of men in Purgatorie neither doth he inuocate any Saint but calleth vpon God onely though not without hope of being heard the rather for that not onely the faithfull on earth but the Saints in heauen also make petition for him But Master Higgons asketh why I concealed these things To whom I answere that I did not conceale any of them For howsoeuer citing some other parts of Chrysostomes Liturgie to another purpose I had no reason to bring in these passages being altogether impertinent to my purpose and the matter in hand yet in other places I haue shewed at large the ancient practise in all these things and therefore this seduced runnagate whom Sathan the tempter hath beguiled had no reason to compare me to the Tempter leauing out certaine wordes in the text he alleadged vnto Christ. §. 5. IN the next place he obiecteth to vs the heresie of Aerius condemned by Augustine amongst many other impious heresies and Augustines conclusion that whosoeuer maintaineth any of the hereticall opinions condemned by him is no Catholicke Christian and telleth vs that this censure toucheth vs very neere but that I demeane my selfe plausibly and artificially to avoid the pressure of that difficultie which is too heauy for me to beare Whereunto I briefly answer that I demeane not my self artificially to avoid the force of any trueth which I esteeme value aboue all treasures in the world but in all sincerity vnfold those thinges which Papists seeke to wrap vp in perplexed and intricate disputes to the entangling of the Readers For I shew that the naming of the names of the departed the offering of the sacrifice of praise for them the praying for their resurrection publike acquitall perfect consummation and blisse in the day of Christ yea the praying for their deliuerance from the hand of hel the mouth of the Lyon the vtter deletion remissioÌ„ of their sins respectiuely to their passage hence first entrance into the other world are not disliked by vs and that thus far the general intention of the Church extended but that to pray for the deliuerance of meÌ„ out of hel or for the mitigation or suspension of the punishments that are in hel was but the priuat deuotioÌ„ of some particular men doubtfully eroneously extending the publicke prayers of the Church farther then they were meant and intended by her and that in this particular they fell from the trueth which if M. Theophilus Higgons shall deny justifie such kind of prayers for the dead we will be bold to call him by his new name Theomisus But he is desirous to know of me or any other without lies obscurities and circuitions whether Cyrill of Hierusalem concurring absolutely with the Papists in this point of prayer for the dead and Augustine agreeing with him fell away from the truth or not That he professeth himselfe an enemy to lies obscurities and circuitions the best sanctuaries of their euill cause I greatly maruell feare that if he giue ouer the aduantage which he and his companions are wont to make thereof this his first booke will be his last But in that he saith Cyrill of Hierusalem concurreth absolutely with the Papists in the matter of prayer for the dead and Augustine with him hee doth as beseemeth him for he vttereth lies and vntruthes which before vnaduisedly he condemned For first it is most certaine that Cyrill maketh but two sortes of men departing out of this life sinners righteous and that he thinketh as Chrysostome also doth and after them Damascene many other that wicked and sinfull men in hell may find some ease be relieued by the prayers of the liuing but of Purgatory he speaketh not Touching Augustine he dissenteth altogether from this opinion of Chrysostome Cyrill and Damascene thinketh that the prayers of the Church for such as excelled in goodnes are thanksgiuings to God for such as died impenitently in grieuous sins comforts of the liuing but no helpes of the dead for those that were neithâ—… exceeding good nor exceeding euill propitiations and meanes to obtaine fauour and remission But whether they of this middle sort be in any penall estate after death or whether by the mercy of God and working of his grace the prayers of the liuing accompanying them they bee freed from sinne and the punishment of it in the first entrance into the other world he resolueth nothing and therfore there was no cause why this good man reflecting as he saith vpon my assertion should bee amazed to behold such a repugnancie betweene these things to wit Augustine ran doubtingly into the opinion of Purgatorie and yet he affirmeth there is no doubt but that some sinnes are remitted in the other world and tâ—…at some soules may be relieued by prayer For in the iudgement of wiser men then Mastâ—…r Higgons these thinges imply no contradiction and therefore the Grecians admit the latter of them and yet deny Purgatory Yea in their Apologie touching Purgatory they say if there be remission of sinnes after this life there is no enduring of the punishments due to sin it being one thing to haue remission of a sin or fault and another to suffer the extremity of punishment it deserueth That there is therefore remission of sinnes of a middle sort of men after this life in the entrance into the other world Augustine made no doubt and to that purpose he alleadged the saying of Christ concerning the sinne that is neither remitted in this world nor the other from thence to inferre that some sinnes are remitted after this life But whether there be any Purgatory-punishments after this life or not hee was euer doubtfull as appeareth by sundry places in his workes where he saith Perhaps there is some such thing it is not incredible that there is some such thing and whether there be or not it may be found out or it may be hid neither will it follow that because he maketh three estates of men dying whereof some are so good that wee haue rather cause to giue God thankes for them then to pray others so ill that they cannot be relieued and a third sort that need our
the true Catholicke Church as admit not all the things before specified so that I lay no foundation of Babell as this Babylonian is pleased to say I doe but pitying the breaches of Sion endeauour as much as in me lieth to make them vp that Hierusalem may be as a citie at vnity wit hin it selfe But the Romanistes indeede build Babell and their tongues are confounded euery one almost dissenting from other and that in most materiall and essentiall points Pighius and Catharinuâ—… haue a strange fancie touching originall sinne contrary to the Doctrine of other Papists Pighius is of Caluins opinion touching iustification Catharinus defendeth against the common tenent that men in ordinary course without speciall reuelation may be certaine by the certainty of Faith that they are in the state of grace yea M Higgons himself saith Our faith in Christ must be trustfull liuely and actiue by a speciall application of his merites vnto our selues as he was wont to preach in Saint Dunstans Church So vrging a necessity of special Faith which the Romanists condemne as hereticall in the Doctrine of our Church and innumerable like differences they haue yet all these are of one Church Faith Communion nothing it seemeth being necessary to the vnity of their Church but the acknowledging of the Supremacie of the Pope And yet which is most strange they that thinke he may erre they that thinke he cannot erre they that make him to be but Prime Bishop they that make him vniversall Bishop they that attribute to him power to depose Princes dispose of their states they that deny that hee bath any such power are of one the same Church But it is a Babylonicall Church §. 2. FRom the perpetual visibilitie vndoubted assurance the Church hath of holding the true Faith he proceedeth to shew our zeale in impugning condemning the opinion of Purgatory that yet notwithstanding the whole vniversal Church receiued it And thervpoÌ„ saith â—…he was misinformed by me others that the Greeks neuer intertained this doctrine that now he findeth that we erre not knowing or 〈◊〉 the truth assuring himselfe that howsoeuer some Greeks did not or do not admit the doctrine of Purgatory precisely vnder this name with some other circuÌ„stances yet the church of Greece generally doth retaine the thâ—…ig it selfe But whatsoeuer this goodfellow say to the coÌ„trary we know the Greek 〈◊〉 neuer 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 thing There is extant a most excelleÌ„t learned Apollogy of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…o the couÌ„cel of Florence or Basil as it is thought In this apology first 〈◊〉 clearly 〈◊〉 that there is no purging after this life by â—…e especially materiall c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Papists imagine Secondly they insâ—…te that some a longst 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that such as are of a middle condition and so depart hence are after death in a certaine obscurity without enioying the light of Gods countenance or holden as it were in a prison or in a state of sorrow till by the goodnesse of God and the prayers of the Church they be deliuered and thus much some professed in the Councell of Florence for there was a diuision amongst them Thirdly they incline to an opinion that the lesser sinnes of men dying in the state of grace are remitted after death without any punishment at all either by fire or in any other kind by the meere mercy goodnesse of God And whereas some bring proofes of remission of sinnes after this life thereby to confirme their conceit of Purgatory they say there is no agreement betweene remission and purging by fire and punishment for that eyther punishment or remission is needfull and not both and againe they confidently pronounce that neither Scripture nor the fifth Generall Councell deliuered vnto vs a double punishment or a double fire after this life This iudgment resolution they confirme proue by very excellent reasons authorities for first thus they argue It more beseemeth the goodnes of God to suffer no good though neuer so litle to passe away vnrespected vnrewarded theÌ„ to punish small sins offences but some litle good in them that haue great sins hath no reward because of the preuayling of the euil that is fouÌ„d in theÌ„ therefore smal euils in them that haue great works of vertue are not to be punished the better things ouercomming Secondly as is a little good in those that are mainely euill so is a little euill in those that are otherwise mainely good But a little good in those that are otherwise euill can procure no reward but onely causeth a difference in the degree of punishment making it the lesse therefore a little euill causeth no punishment but a difference in the degree of glory and happinesse which it maketh to bee lesse then otherwise it would bee whence it followeth that there is no Purgatory Thirdly either the wils of men departed hence are mutable or immutable if they be mutable then they that are good may become euill and they that are euill may become good whence it will follow according to Origens opinion that neyther the good are vnchangeably happy nor the the euill vnchangeably miserable but that men may fall from happinesse to misery and rise from misery to the heighth of all happinesse And soe wee shall make the punishments of all cast-awaies euen of the diuels themselues to be temporary as endeed supposing the mutability of the Will to continue after death iustly they may for the reason why in Iustice the punishment of sinne in the damned is to be eternall is because they are immutably vnchangeably and etâ—…nally euill if they bee immutable then are they not capable of any correction for he who is corrected is sette right by being brought to iust dislike and forsaking of that he formerly affected ill which chaunge from loue to hate froÌ„ liking to disliking from pursuing and following to forsaking and flying from cannot be found in a Will that is immutable Bonauentura disputeth the matter how afflicting fire purgeth the soule and answereth that some thinke that this fire besides the punishing vertue and power it hath hath also a spirttuall purging vertue such as sacraments haue which hee thinketh to be absurd especially seeing Gregory out of visions and apparitions of the dead sheweth that soules are purged in diuerse places and by diuerse other meanes as well as by fire and therefore there are other who thinke that what this purging fire worketh it worketh by punishing and afflicting which helpeth and strengtheneth grace that it may be able to purge out sinne Now punishment and affliction canne noe way helpe grace or strengthen it to the expulsion of sinne but in that by the bitternesse of it it maketh vs know how much it offendeth GOD and hurteth vs and thereby causeth a dislike of it or at least an increase of the dislike of it which dislike the Will cannot newly
expresly We retaine it in our Colledges I obserued before that wee must carefully distinguish the generall practise and intention of the whole Church from priuate conceipts the whole Church commemorated the dead offered the sacrifice of praise for them prayed for them in the passage for their resurrection and consummation all which thinges we allow so that neither Doctor Humphrey nor we condemne the Vniuersall Church but thinke it were madnesse soe to doe but the priuate fancies of such as extended their prayers farther thinking they might ease mitigate suspend or wholy take away the paines of men damned in hell for of Purgatory no man thought in the Primitiue Church wee reject This erroneous conceipt and practise Aerius rightly condemned and Doctor Humphrey and wee all agree with him in the same dislike but he did ill to impute this errour to the whole Church and to condemne that which was good and laudable vppon soe weake a ground Of the difference which Maister Higgons would faine make betweene our commendation of the dead vsed in colledges and that vsed anciently whereof Saint Augustine speaketh I haue spoken before wherefore let vs come to his last exception against Doctor Humphrey which is that hee handleth the matter artificially to make a credulous reader beleeue that Saint Augustine himselfe doth conuell the vse of prayer for the dead by those sentences of the Apostle that we cannot reape if wee sowe not here and that wee must all stand before the iudgement seate of Christ that euery one may receiue according to the things hee hath done in his body whether good or euill This imputation is nothing else but a malitious and impudent charging of him with that he neuer thought of For the onely thing he sayth Augustine held proued by these sentences is that vnlesse we depart hence in a true faith wee canot be relieued by any deuotion of other men after we are gone Which is so vndoubtedly true that I thinke Higgons him-selfe dareth not deny it But that Augustine thought that men dying in the state of grace and faith of Christ may bee holpen by the prayers of the liuing hee neither made question himselfe nor euer sought to make his reader beleeue otherwise Neither doe wee dissent from Augustine in this point if the prayers hee speaketh of bee made respectiuely to the passage hence and entrance into the other world as I haue shewed before The onely thing that is questionable betweene Vs and our Aduersaries being whether prayers may releeue men in a state of temporall affliction after this life whereof Augustine neuer resolued any thing what-soeuer this pratling Apostata say to the contrary These things being soe let the reader judge whether the detection of falshood and ill dealing in Doctor Humphrey could possibly occasion Maister Higgons his change as hee would make the world beleeue there being nothing found in his whole discourse that is not most true and iustifiable by all course of learning But because hee is sufficiently chastised by others and knoweth too well the true cause of his running away to bee things of a farre other nature then those he pretendeth I will prosecute this matter no farther against him The Appendix §. 1. NOw it remaineth that I come to the Appendix which he addeth to his booke which hee deuideth into two partes whereof the first concerneth Mee the second D. Morton which hee hath answered already In that part which concerneth Me he vndertaketh to proue that I notoriously abuse the name and authority of Gerson Grosthead c. to defend the reformation made by Princes Prelats in our Churches Wherefore that the reader may perceiue I haue not abused these reuerend worthy men but that he wrōgeth both Them Me I will take the paines to examine his whole discourse though it will be very tedious soe to do by reason of the cōfused perplexed manner of handling of things in the same without all order method In the 1. chapter he doth but lay the foūdatiō of his intēded building therefore gathereth together a great nūber of positiōs sayings out of my book miserably māgled torne one frō another all which shall be defended whē he cōmeth to say any thing against them in such sort as that it shall evidently appeare that there is no falshood or collusion in any part of my Discourse as this false and treacherous Fugitiue is pleased to say there is Onely one thing there is heere that may not bee passed ouer because it hath no farther prosecution in that which followeth His wordes are these Whereas Bellarmine doth object the intestine divisions and conflicts of the pretensed Gospellers this Doctor turneth him off with this answer wee say that these diuersities are to bee imputed wholly to our Adversaries for when there was a reformation to be made of abuses and disorders in matters of practise and manyfold corruption in many points of Christian Doctrine and in a Councell by a Generall consent it could not bee hoped for as Gerson long before out of his experience saw and professed by reason of the prevailing faction of Popes flatterers it was not possible but that some diversity should grow while one knew not nor expected to know what another did This he saith is a very admirable devise For answere hereunto we must obserue that the divisions of this part of Christendome are of two sorts the first is from the faction of the Pope the second among them that haue abandoned the vsurped Authority of the Pope That the Pope and his adherents were the cause of the former of these divisions and the consequents of it is affirmed by better men then Master Higgons I will not deny saith Cassander a man highly esteemed for piety learning by the Emperours Ferdinand and Maximilian that many in the beginning were moued out of a Godly affection more sharply to reprehend certaine manifest abuses and that the chiefe cause of this calamitie and distraction or rent of the Church is to be attributed to them who puffed vp with the swelling conceipts of their Ecclesiasticall power proudly disdainfully contemned and repelled them that admonished them rightly of things amisse And therefore I do not thinke that any firme peace is euer to be hoped for vnlesse the beginning thereof be from them that gaue the cause of this diuision that is vnlesse they that haue the gouernment of the Church remit something of that their too great rigor listning to the desires of many godly ones correct manifest abuses according to the rule of sacred Scripture the ancient Church from which they are departed c. Touching that saith c Contarenus which the Lutherans say in the first last place of manifold and great abuses brought into the Church of Christ against which they so exclaime concerning which they haue made so many complaints to expresse their greiuances I haue nothing to say but first of all to
then matchable with the greatest Rabbins of the Romish Synagogue wheras Bernard some other were matchable with them For answere whereunto let the reader obserue that I neuer call the whole Latin Church by the name of the Romish Synagogue out the faction that prevailed in it therefore I meane not all the Doctours of the Latin Church by the name of the Rabbins of the Romish Synagogue but such onely as serued as vile instruments to advance Papall tyranny superstition error So that though Bernard Alexander of Hales Bonaventura Scotus Lyranus Gerson some other should be granted to haue bin matchable with Damascen Theophylact Oecumenius yet will it not follow that I haue vttered any vntruth for I deny that any of these were of the Papall faction The next supposed crimination is a most iust reproofe of the grosse ouer-sight of Bellarmine where he saith none of the Churches separated from Rome or none of the Churches of Asia and Africa as Higgons restraineth his words could euer hold any councell after their separation which cannot be avoyded by Higgons though it seemeth he would willingly doe the Cardinall some good seruice that he might become fellow Chaplaine with Mathew Tortus For if the Cardinall meane Generall Councels it is not to be marvailed at seeing they are but a part if Nationall or Provinciall it is too childish and may be refuted by sundry instances Whereunto Higgons hath nothing to say but that if Bellarmines wordes be extended to the Greeke Church his fault is vnexcusable seeing that Church hath holden Provinciall Councels since her separation whereof as Master Higgons thinketh he speaketh and not of Generall but that his words are restrained to the Churches of Asia and Africa which could neuer hold any such after their separation In this Apology of Master Higgons there are more absurdities then words For first he can giue no reason why the supposed Schismaticall Churches of Asia and Africa should be lesse able to hold Nationall or Provinciall Synodes then those of Europe Secondly the Greeke Church is principally in Asia so that if the Greeke Church had the power of convocating Provinciall Synodes some of the Churches of Asia were not excluded from partaking in it Thirdly if this were not the common misery of all diuided Churches this infelicity grew not from their separation but from some other cause and then it maketh nothing for proofe of the necessity of adhering to the Church of Rome as to an head to which purpose Bellarmine bringeth it Fourthly that other Churches may hold Provinciall Synodes namely those of Asia Africa it is most evident For first touching the Aethiopian Christians h Damianus à Goes out of the report of a learned Bishop of those parts sheweth that they haue Councels and that they make Lawes in them Of a Synode holden by the Nestorians wee reade in Onuphrius in the life of Iulius the Third In the Councell of Florence we reade of certaine Orators sent thither from the Armenians in the name of the Patriarch of Armenia his Cleargy which could not be done without some Synodall meeting Lastly seeing many Councels were holden in auncient times in shew Generall by such as were Heretiks what reason can Higgons giue why these Churches hauing a subordination of inferiour Cleargy-men Bishops Metropolitans cannot so much as call a poore Provinciall Synod If this be not childish trisling to say no more let the reader iudge how partial soeuer he be And therfore I say now againe as at first that if Bell. mean general coūcels when he saith the diuided churches could hold none after their separatiō it is not to be marvailed at seeing they are but a part if National or Provincial it is childish seeing it is most evidēt they might hold such Councels neither can his yeares dignity or other ornaments Master Higgons speaketh of priuiledge him so farre but that wee may and will taxe his wilfull ouersights as they deserue notwithstanding the boyish pratling of Theophilus Higgons The conclusion of this chapter touching our want of good manners towardes Bellarmines grace and other such lights of the world as shine in the darknesse of Popish blindnesse and superstition sorteth so well with the next part of this chapter which is concerning my inciuility towardes the Cardinall that one answere may suffice for both That I haue not wronged him by imputation of false crimes I hope the Reader will beare Mee witnesse vpon view of that I haue answered in my owne defence The 2. part of the third Chapter §. 1. WHerefore let vs see wherein my inciuility consisteth It is forsooth in aggeration of base odious and vnworthy names as Cardinall Heretike Hereticall Romanist Impious Idolater Shamelesse Iesuite Shamelesse Companion with his idle braine and sencelesse fooleries This is Master Higgons proofe of my inciuility If I make it not appeare to all men that haue their sences that I haue reason to phrase the Iesuite as Higgons speakes so as I haue done let Mee bee condemned of inciuility But if I had just cause to vse him as I did let this foolish flatterer hold his peace Wherefore to begin with the first Shall he charge vs with twenty execrable damnable Heresies all which he knowes we accurse to the bottomlesse pit of Hell may not I call him a Cardinall Hereticke or Hereticall Romanist without note of inciuility Shall he at his pleasure because he weareth a red Hat charge vs with Heresie Impiety for impugning the adoration of Images forbidden by Almighty God and may not I call him an impious Idolater Shall it bee lawfull for him to say that Elizabeth our late Queene of blessed memory tooke vpon her and was reputed to bee chiefe Priest in these her dominions and shall it not bee lawfull for me in reproofe of so impudent a slander and defence of my late dread Soueraigne the Lords annoynted and the wonder of the world to tell the Iesuiticall Friar that he is a shamelesse Iesuite that durst so say Shall he without conscience or feare of God against his own knowledge charge vs with the hellish Heresies of the Maniches touching two originall causes of things the one good of thinges good the other euill of thinges euill and shall it not be lawfull for me to aske the question whether hee be not a shamelesse companion in so charging vs Shall a Iesuiticall Frier be freely permitted in so vile sort to wrong so many mighty Monarches States people of the world as professe the reformed religion may a man say nothing to him without incurring the note of inciuility and want of good manners Shall he charge vs with palpable grosse senselesse absurdities may not we tell him the grosse absurdities which hee vntruly imputeth vnto vs are but the fancies of his owne idle braine Shall hee bee suffered to vtter senselesse fooleries in wronging Caluine other men as good as
and Gods grace euen in his first conuersion Wherefore let vs passe from the question touching the co-operation of mans will with Gods grace to the other concerning the necessity of good workes to saluation Where first it is agreed on that there is necessarily required in all that will be saued a dislike of former euils wherewith God was offended Secondly a ceasing to doe euill Thirdly a desire of grace that may preserue and keepe vs from the like Fourthly a desire to doe things pleasing vnto God in that time that remaineth Fiftly it is acknowledged by all that in them that are justified and haue title to eternall saluation good workes are so farre forth necessary to saluation if they haue time that the not doing of them is sinne which without repentance and remission excludeth from saluation Sixthly that good works are necessary as fruites of faith which all they that are justified and looke for saluation are bound in duty to bring forth Seauenthly that they are not so absolutely necessary that no man can be saued without them for a man may be saued that in the last moment disliketh sinne and desireth pardon for it and grace that he may not fall into it again without the actuall doing of any good workes So that I protest I cannot see wherein there could bee any reall difference betweene these men neither will the Treatiser I thinke be able to shew me any such difference either out of the acts of the Synode of Altenberge or by any other meanes For that men are bound in duty to doe good workes that they necessarily follow faith that no man can be saued without dislike of sinne desire of avoyding it and purpose of doing that which is pleasing vnto God Illyricus made no question and so disliked not the saying of his opposites that good workes are necessary to saluation as thinking them in no sort necessary but because he thought their words did import that no man in any case can bee saued without the actuall doing of good workes no though hee haue them in desire and that no man may assure himselfe farther of the fauour and mercy of God towards him then hee findeth the presence of the workes of vertue in him which thinges vndoubtedly they neuer meant Another opinion there is that is attributed to Illyricus touching the nature of originall sinne which is greatly condemned by many For first hee is charged to haue taught that the substance of mans soule was changed and corrupted by Adams fall whence it will follow that it is mortall Secondly that sinne is a substance sundry other like thinges whence the impious positions of the Manichees may be inferred For the clearing of Illyricus from these impieties first wee must obserue that hee distinguisheth two sorts of corruption naming the one naturall and the other spirituall the one consisting in the abolition of the thing corrupted the other in a transformation of it Secondly that this transformation of the soule is not in respect of her essence and being simply but of her essentiall and substantiall powers faculties Thirdly that this transformation of the soule in her faculties is not in respect of all her faculties but the best and principall only to wit reason and the will Fourthly that there is not any transformation or transuersion of these faculties simply in respect of all obiects for the soule by the light of naturall reason iudgeth rightly of many things still though with some imperfections but in respect of her principall object to wit God his worship and Law So that this is all that Illyricus sayth that the soule of man since Adams fall is so transformed and changed in the best and principall of her essentiall and substantiall faculties that they are not onely turned away from their principall obiect and from tending to the right end whither they should looke but converted also to the desiring of such things as they should not or in such sort as they should not but of the extinguishing or abolishing of any of the essentiall and naturall faculties of the soule much lesse of the essence and being of it simply he hath no word Wherefore let vs come to the other part of the accusation framed against him which is that he maketh sinne to be a substance and let vs heare what he will say vnto it himselfe There are saith Illyricus certaine absurd sayings maliciously attributed vnto me as that sin is a substance that it is in the predicament of substance that it is the reasonable soule of man and that on the contrary side the soule is sin but I neuer vsed any such speeches neither did I euer say any more but that some part of originall sin is the soules essentiall facultie of reason the will corrupted in that they are averted turned away from their right obiect end But for the more full clearing of him from that impious opinion which is imputed to him wee must take notice of certaine good obseruations found in him As first that we may speake of sinne concretiuely or abstractiuely Secondly that if we speake of sin abstractiuely that is sinfulnesse it is nothing but an inconformitie with the Law of GOD. Thirdly that that to which such inconformitie immediatly cleaueth and wherein want of conformitie with Gods Law is found may rightly be named sin concretiuely So that if such inconformitie be found in any action we may safely pronounce it to be sin if in any habite we may pronounce that that habite is sin if in any inclination or desire that that is sinne also if in any the essentiall substantiall faculties of the soule as being turned from the right object end and converted to such obiect and end as they should not wee may safely pronounce that these faculties disordered put out of course are sin euen that originall birth sin which is the fountaine whence all other doe flow So that to conclude this point according to the opinion of Illyricus if wee speake formally abstractiuely originall sin is the disordering of the essentiall substantiall Faculties of the soule consisting in an aversion from the principall obiect and a conversion to other in stead of it But if wee speake concretiuely materially originall sin is the substantiall facultie of the soule which wee call Free-will turned from seeking God to oppose it selfe against him in which passages there is no impiety nothing vnsound or that doeth not stand with the trueth which wee professe but his manner of speaking was such as might giue occasion of dislike therefore himselfe confesseth that hee qualified some formes of wordes which hee had formerly vsed vpon the advice of Simon Museus that his meaning might bee the better knowne no misconstruction made of that hee meant well So that it will bee found that there was no reall difference betweene Melancthon Illyricus about originall sin or any other matter of faith therefore
I may be as good as my word iustifie it against the proudest Papist liuing that none of the differences between Melancthon Illyricus except about certaine ceremonies were reall Wherefore the Treatiser leaueth Illyricus commeth to Hosiander whom hee will proue to haue holden a priuate opinion touching iustification because Calvine in his Institutions spendeth almost one whole Chapter in the confutation of his conceipt touching the same Article which in the very entrance hee calleth hee wores not what monster of essentiall righteousnesse Conradus Schlusselburge placeth him and his followers in the Catalogue of heretickes But this obiection will easily be answered For it is not to be doubted but Caluine the rest iustly disliked that which they apprehended to bee his opinion and condemned it as a monster For they conceiued that heâ—… made Iustification to bee nothing else but a transfusion of the essentiall righteousnesse of Christ into vs and a mixture and confusion of it with vs. But Smidelinus sheweth at large that he neuer had any such conceipt but that distinguishing three kinds of righteousnesse in Christ whereof we are made partakers to wit actiue passiue and essentiall in that hee was the Sonne of God he taught that justification is not onely an acceptation and receiuing of vs to fauour vpon the imputation of the actiue and passiue righteousnesse of Christ but an admission of vs also to the right of the participation of the diuine nature as Peter speaketh and of that essentiall righteousnesse that was in him in that he was the sonne of God that so receiuing of his fulnesse we may be filled with all diuine qualities and graces The reason why hee thus vrged the implying of the communication of the essentiall righteousnesse of Christ in our iustification was not as the same Smidelinus telleth vs for that he thought iustification to consist wholy therein or for that hee meant to exclude the imputation of the merit and satisfaction of Christ from being causes of our iustification or receiuing fauour with God but because he saw many mistooke and abused the doctrine of free justification by the imputation of Christs righteousnesse to the carelesse neglecting of al righteousnesse in themselues therefore he taught there is no remission of sin no receiuing of any man to fauour by vertue of the imputation of the actiue and passiue righteousnes of Christ vnlesse out of dislike of sin desire of grace to auoid it he be admitted to the right of the participation of that essentiall righteousnes that dwelt in him in all fulnesse that so it may dwell in him that is to be iustified also in some degree sort Neither is this construction of Hosianders words made by Smidelinus onely but by sundry other For Stapleton sayth the followers of Brentius defended the opinion of Hosiander whereas yet neither Brentius nor any of his followers euer dreamed of any transfusion of the essentiall righteousnesse of Christ into vs any mixture or confusion of it with vs or any other communication of it to vs or in any other sort then is before expressed So that the Treatiser had no reason to write as he doth that my proceedings are rare and singular and that I feare not to affirme things apparantly false and confessed vntrue by all my brethren much lesse to say that euery man may easily perceiue by these my proceedinges that I had a good opinion of mine owne wit and learning For what haue I done that sauoureth of pride or wherein haue I bewrayed such vanitie as he speaketh of Is it a matter of pride not to condemne hastily other opinions to make the fairest and best construction of other mens words especially such as are of the same profession with vs Wherefore if the Treatiser be able to say any thing against this my defence of Illyricus and Hosiander I will heare him otherwise let him not tell me of my schoole distinctions for I am not ashamed of them Neither doe I vse them as the Romane sophisters do to auoid the euidence of that truth that is too mighty for them to encounter but to cleare that which the Romanistes desire to haue wrapped vp in perplexed and intricate disputes But it seemeth the Treatiser will not accept of this condition and therefore hee passeth from the supposed diuisions of our Churches and differences of our Diuines proceedeth to shew their inconstancie instancing particularly in Luther And wheras in my former books I haue answered the obiections of Papistes touching this supposed inconstancie he goeth about to refute that my answer which consisteth of two parts Whereof the first is that in sundry points of greatest moment as of the power of nature of free-will iustification the difference of the Law and the Gospell faith and workes Christian liberty and the like Luther was euer constant The second that it is not so strange as our Aduersaries would make it that Luther proceeded by degrees in discerning sundry Popish errours seeing Augustine and their Angelicall Doctour altered their iudgment in diuerse things and vpon better consideration disliked what they had formerly approued The former part of this my answere he pronounceth to containe a manifest vntruth for that amongst other things mentioned by me Luther was not euer constant of one iudgment touching freewil hee endeauoureth to proue because in the defence of his Articles condemned by the Pope he saith Freewil is a forged or fained thing a title without a substance it being in no mans power to think any thing good or euill but all things falling out of absolute necessity and else-where hee saith men of their owne proper strength haue free-will to doe or not to doe externall workes so that they may attaine to secular and ciuill honesty But M. Treatiser should know that between these sayings of Luther there is no contradiction in truth and in deed but in his fancy onely for in the former place two things are deliuered by Luther The first that no man by nature hath power to turne himselfe to God without grace or so much as to prepare himself to the receipt of grace which in the latter place speaking onely of externall workes and ciuill or secular honesty hee doth not contradict The second that though men in outward things and things that are below haue a kinde of freedome of will and choyce and power to doe or not to doe them yet not so free but that they are subject to the providence disposition of Almighty God bowing bending turning them whither he pleaseth and hauing them in such sort in his hand as that they can will nothing vnlesse he permit them which no way preiudiceth that liberty which else-where he attributeth to the will For the will of man is sayd to be free because it doth nothing but on liking and choice and because God permitting it hath power to doe what pleaseth it best and not because it is free and not subiect to diuine disposition and