so this tradition is not excepted but virtually implied in our affirmation Fiftly the scriptures canonicall are discerned from not canonicall euen of themselues like as light is discerned from darkenesse hardnesse from softnesse and sweetnesse from bitternesse Thy word ô Lord saith the Prophet is a lanterne to my feet and a light vnto my pathes VVe haue a right sure word of prophesie saith S. Peter whereunto if ye take heed as vnto a light that shineth in a darke place ye doe well vntill the day dawne and the day-starre arise in your hearts Yet most true it is that the faithfull onely can discerne it For as the Apostle saith If Christs gospell be hid it is hid in them that perish in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which beleeue not least the light of the Gospell of the glorie of Christ should shine vnto them And the same Apostle elswhere teacheth vs that the spirituall man iudgeth all things VVhich text two famous papists Lyranus and Carthusianus doe expound of things partaining to our saluation S. Iohn is consonant to S. Paule affirming that the vnction which the faithfull haue receiued doth teach them all things Yea Christ himselfe saith That his sheepe doe heare his voice And he addeth that they follow him because they know his voyce But doubtlesse if Christs sheepe that is the faithfull and Gods elect people doe know his voice and therefore doe follow him then by a necessarie consequence they can know Christ speaking to them in the holy scripture and so can discerne holy writ from prophane fables or stories Melchior Canus a famous papist maketh this case cleere his words are set downe in my Golden ballance Sixtly the formall obiect of our faith is veritas prima the first veritie or God himselfe as Dionysius Areopagita telleth vs. Yea Aquinas that famous papist surnamed their angelicall doctor teacheth the selfe same doctrine Non enim fides inquit diuina alicui assentitur nisi quia est à Deo reuelatum For diuine faith saith Aquinas will not yeeld assent to any thing vnlesse it be reuealed of God VVhich truth of doctrine Saint Austen confirmeth in these golden wordes Iam hic videte magnum sacramentum fratres sonus verborum nostrorum aures percutit magister intus est Nolite putare quenquam hominem aliquid discere ab homine Ad monere possumus per strepitum vocis nostra si non sit intus qui doceat inanis fit strepitus noster Quam multi hine indocti exituri sunt quantum ad 〈◊〉 pertinet omnibus locutus sum sed quibus vnctio illa intus non loquitur quos spiritus sanstus intus non docet indocti redeunt Magisteria forinsecus adiutoria quaedam sunt admonitiones Cathedram in coelo habet qui corda docet Sequitur interior Magister est qui docet Christus docet inspiratio ipsius docet Vbi illius inspiratio illius vnctio non est forinsecus inanitâ—r perstrepunt verba Now brethren behold here a great sacrament the sound of our wordes pierceth your eares but the master that teacheth you is within Thinke not that man learneth any thing of man we preachers may admonish by the sound of wordes but if he be not within that teacheth in vaine is our sound how many will goe hence vntaught For mine owne part I haue spoken to all but to whom that vnction speaketh not inwardly whom the holy Ghost teacheth not within they goe home vntaught as they came The outward teachings are some helpes and admonitions but he sitteth in his chaire in heauen that teacheth the heart The master is within that teacheth it is Christ that teacheth it is his inspiration that instructeth VVhere his inspiration and his vnction is not there the outward noise of words is in vaine Thus writeth this auntient and learned father with many moe wordes to the like effect By whose doctrine we may learne sufficiently if nothing else were said that howsoeuer men teach how soeuer Paul plant or Apollo water yet will no increase follow vnlesse God giue the same I therefore conclude that we doe not beleeue this booke or that booke to be canonicall because this man or that man or the Church saith soe but that the scripture is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it hath in it selfe that dignity which is worthy to haue credite that the declaration of the Church doth not make vs beleeue the scripture but is only an outward helpe to bring vs thereunto and that wee therefore indeed beleeue the scripture and this or that booke to be canonicall because God doth inwardly teach vs and persuade our hearts so to beleeue For certes if wee should beleeue that this or that booke is canonicall scripture because the Church saith so then should the formall obiect of our faith and the vltimate tearme into which our faith is resolued be man and not prima veritas or God himselfe as Areopagita and Aquinas teach vs. And it will not helpe the papists to replie out of Saint Augustine That he would not haue beleeued the Gospell vnlesse the authoritie of the Church had mooued him thereunto For S. Austens wordes are these Nisi authoritas ecclesiae me commoueret I would not haue beleeued the Gospell if the authoritie of the Church had not iointly mooued me therunto For wee must note that there is a great difference betweene mouere and commouere Mouere is to moue absolutely and a part by it selfe but commouere is to moue respectiuely and together with another thing So Saint Austens meaning is nothing else indeed but that the authoritie of the Church did outwardly concurre with the inward motion of the holy Ghost to bring him to the faith of the Gospel Now Saint Austens meaning is this and and none other viz. that he maketh much more account of the vniuersall Church than of Manichaeus and his complices because the Church did first moue him to heare the Gospel preached and to giue some credit to the same I say some credit because the Churches authoritie did onely moue him to beleeue the Gospell fide humana non fide diuina with humane faith not with faith diuine For this diuine faith with which we Christians doe beleeue the Gospell proceedeth not from the outward teaching of man but from the inward instruction of the holy Ghost as I haue out of the same Austen already prooued Yea the selfe same father declareth in the same chapter that he speaketh of himselfe as being a Manichee not as being a Christian. What faith Saint Austen wouldest thou say to him that should answere thee I doe not beleeue it but for the authority of the Church And this sense is confirmed because S. Austen coÌ„fesseth in the very same chapter that the authoritie of the Gospel is aboue the authoritie of the Church And in the chapter aforegoing after he hath told vs what kept him in
organicall bodie be there as popish faith auoucheth then must the papists beleeue euident contradictions contrarie to Iesuit Bellarmines resolution yea contrarie to all power all Logicke all reason All the papists in England are not able to solue this reason I challenge them all and aduise them to consult together and to craue helpe of their friends elswhere and then to let me haue their speedie answere hereunto Cardinall Caietane affirmeth boldly that no text in the whole Gospell doth prooue effectually and conuince the reader to vnderstand these words properly This is my bodie For which respect frier Ioseph aduiseth grauely to read their Cardinall caute warily Aquinas affirmeth constantly Corpus Christi non esse in pluribus locis simul secundū proprias dimensiones that Christs bodie is not in many places at once according to the proper dimensions thereof whose assertion is my flat position For Christs naturall bodie cannot be without those dimensions which naturally pertaine vnto it Durandus holdeth the very same opinion S. Austine saith plainely that Christs true bodie can be but in one onely place of heauen Vbi totum presentem esse non dubites tanquam deum in codem templo dei esse tanquam inhabitantem deum in loco aliquo coeli propter veri corporis modum Thou must not doubt saith S. Austen that Christ is wholly present euery where as God and in the same temple of God as God inhabiting it and in some one place of heauen for the manner of a true bodie Lo this graue father telleth vs that Christ as God is euery where but yet in respect of his true bodie he is onely in heauen and in some certaine place of heauen Only in heauen because the Scripture saith That he shall be there till the worlds end in some certaine place of heauen to declare the nature and veritie of a true bodie indeed So then if he were present as the papists would haue him his bodie should lose the nature and veritie of a true bodie indeed Againe in another place S. Austen hath these words Donec seculum finiatur sursum est dominus sed tamen etiam hic nobiscum est veritas domini corpus enim in quo resurrexit in vno loco esse oportet veritas autem eius vbique diffusa est Our Lord is aboue vntill the worlds end but yet his truth is with vs here for the bodie of our Lord wherein he rose againe must needs be in one place but this truth is diffused euery where Againe the same S. Austen writing against Faustus the Manichee hath these expresse words Secundum presentiam corporalem simul in Sole in Luna in cruce esse non posset According to his corporall presence it was not possible for him to be both in the Sunne and in the Moone and on the crosse at one and the same time O papists answere if you can if not recant for shame The second Member Of the Sacrifice of the Popish Masse THe Papists teach and beleeue as an article of Christian faith That in their masse Christs true and reall bodie is truly and really sacrificed to God the father vnder the forme of bread as also his true and reall bloud vnder the forme of wine Yet this implieth horrible impietie and brutish crueltie as shall be prooued and consequently popish Masse is to be abhorred First where the Apostle telleth vs that Christ rising againe from the dead henceforth dieth no more because death hath no more dominion ouer him the papists tell vs a contrarie tale that Christ dieth euery day nay a thousand times a day in the daily sacrifice of their masse for with them all priests the Pope Cardinals and some others excepted doe ordinarily say masse euery day and three masses vpon euery Christmas day VVhich being so and three hundred Iesuits and seminarie priests being this day in England and Scotland as the Iesuites tell vs an huge multitude of masses must be said daily in these realmes and many times must Christ be put to death so farre forth as in them lieth though they pretend to honour him thereby For as Cardinall Bellarmine graunteth freely a sacrifice implieth intrinsecally the consumption of the thing that is sacrificed I will not auouch any vntruth vpon any man gentle reader these are his owne words Sacrificium enim preter oblationem requirit mutationem consumptionem rei quae offertur For saith Bellarmine a sacrifice besides the oblation requires an alteration and a consumption of the thing which is offered Againe Bellarmine in another place telleth vs that the bodie and bloud of Christ are offered in the masse verè propriè truly and properly vnder the formes of bread and wine Againe Bellarmine saith in another place that flesh and bloud are not fit for meat nisi prius animal moriatur vnlesse the beast first die and be slaine Againe the same Bellarmine teacheth the same doctrin yet more plainely in another place Thus doth he write Sacrificium enim verum reale veram realem occisionem exigit quando in occisione ponitur essentia sacrificij For a true and reall sacrifice requireth a true and reall killing seeing that the essence of the sacrifice consisteth in the killing thereof And in very deed this is that constant doctrine which S. Paule doth inculcate to the Hebrewes So then we see it cleare and euident by popish faith and doctrine that Iesus Christ our sweet redeemer must first be killed then offered lastly torne and consumed by the teeth of the sacrificing masse-priest or els the popish masse cannot be perfect as their most perfect doctor telleth vs. For confirmation of this popish doctrine it is a constant position and generally receiued axiome in the popish church that by vertue of their consecratorie words Christs bodie is put apart from his bloud and his bloud apart from his bodie and so Christ is there slaine by force of their consecration though he still liue indeed because the priests words haue not so much force as they imagin You shall heare Bellarmines owne words Nam inprimis ideo in coena seorsim consecratur corpus seorsim sanguis vt intelligamus presentiam corporis sanguinis in coena esse ad modum occisi mortui corporis For first therfore is the bodie consecrate apart in the supper and the bloud asunder that we may vnderstand the presence of the bodie and bloud in the supper to be there after the manner of a bodie slaine and dead These are his words and this which he thus deliuereth is the constant doctrine of the Popish Church VVhereupon it followeth of necessitie that if any papist should haue said masse in triduo mortis Christi during Christs death then Christs bodie by vertue there of should haue been dead in one place and his bloud in another place for otherwise Christ should haue been both quicke and dead at
not the scriptures onely but the fathers also doe denie Locus secundus Non enim subterfugi quo minus annuntiarum vobis omne consilium Dei For I haue not spared to shew vnto you the whole counsell of God This portion of scripture is vnderstood of things pertaining to our saluation as two famous popish writers Nicholaus Lyranus and Dyonisius Carthusianus doe contest with me Carthusiauus hath these wordes Sed cum alibi scriptum sit quis consiliarius eius fuit sapiens quoque dixerit quis homini poterit scire consilium Dei quomodo potuit Paulus omne consilium Dei annuntiare hominibus respondendum quod non simpliciter de omni consiliâ—â— Dei intendit sed de omni consilio Dei quantum ad humanam spectai salutem Quemadmodum etiam ait saluator omnia audiui à patre meo nota feci vobis But seeing it is written else where who hath beene his counseller and seeing the wise man also saith what man can know the counsell of God how could Paul shew vnto men all the counsell of God answere must bee made that he meaneth not simply of all the counsell of God but of all the counsell of God so farre foorth as appertaineth to mans saluation As our sauiour also saith all things which I heard my father I haue notified vnto you Lyra teacheth the very same doctrine I omit his words for the regard I haue to breuitie By whose iudgement it is most euident that the whole counsell of God touching our saluation is contained in the holy Scriptures And it will not helpe the papists to answere or say that all the counsell of God was preached but not written For first the Apostle saith he was called to be an Apostle seuered into the Gospell of God which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy Scriptures Secondly he auoucheth plainely that he taught none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come to passe Thirdly Lyranus and Carthusianus two renowmed papists tell vs that all necessarie doctrine is contained in the precepts of loue Carthusianus hath these words Omnia precepta documenta hortamenta legis ac prophetarum ordinantur ad horum obseruantiam mandatorum virtualiter continentur in cis sicut conclusiones in primis principijs All precepts documents and exhortations of the law and the prophets are ordained to the keeping of these coÌ„mandements and are virtually contained in them as conclusions in the first principles Lyranus hath these words Propter hoc omnia mandata legis monitiones non sunt nisi quaedam explicationes istorum duorum mandatoruÌ„ Quia omnia ordinantur ad dilectionem dei proximi similiter doctrina prophetarum ad hoc ordinatur For this cause all the commandements of the law and all admonitions are nothing els but certaine explications of these two commaundements Because all things are ordained to the loue of God and of our neighbour and in like manner the doctrine of the prophets is referred to the same end Fourthly the Iesuit Bellarmine telleth vs that the books of the prophets and Apostles are the infallible rule of faith These are his expresse words Illud in primis statuendum erit Propheticos Apostolicos libros iuxta mentem ecclesiae Cath. olim in Conc. 3. Carthag nuper in Conc. Trid. explicatam verum esse verbum dei certam ac stabilem regulam fidei This must be set downe for a ground and sure foundation that the bookes of the prophets and Apostles according to the mind of the Catholike Church declared aforetime in the third counsell of Carthage and of late in the counsell of Trent is the true word of God and the sure and stable rule of our faith The same Iesuit in another place hath yet more manifast and cleere words which are these Quare cum sacra scriptura regula credendi certissima tutissimaque sit sanus profecto non erit qui ea neglecta spiritus interniâ—soepe fallacis semper incerti iudicio se commiserit VVherefore seeing the holy Scripture is the most certaine and most secure rule of faith he is not well in his wits doubtlesse who hauing neglected the same shall commit himselfe to the iudgement of the internall spirit which often deceiueth and neuer is sure or found These words of our Iesuiticall Cardinall if they be well marked will not onely confound himselfe who elswhere teacheth the contrarie doctrine but also euidently proue the controuersie now in hand For first he saith that the bookes of the Apostles and Prophets rightly expounded are the infallible rule of faith Secondly that the holy Scripture is the most safe and most secure rule how to beleeue Thirdly that he is mad whosoeuer will giue credit to the inward spirit and not stay himselfe vpon the written word All which doubtlesse confound him and his Iesuiticall broode as who will not relie vpon the written testimonies of Gods truth but seeke after vnwritten falshoods and vanities and ground their faith vpon the same Fiftly S. Austen teacheth the selfesame truth when he telleth vs flatly that nothing is contained in the Gospell and epistles of the Apostles which is not also comprised in the law and the Prophets These are his expresse words In eo tanta praedicatio prenuntiatio noui testamenti est vt nulla in euangelica atque Apostolica disciplina reperiantur quaâ—uis ardua diuina proecepta promissa quae illis etiam libris veteribus desint In the old testament the new testament is so largely preached and foreshewed that nothing can be found in the discipline or doctrine of the Gospell and of the Apostles although they be hard and diuine precepts and promises which are wanting in those old bookes This being so it followeth of necessitie that all things needfull to saluation are contained in the Scriptures For S. Paule preached all the counsell of God S. Paules preachings are contained in the doctrine of the prophets the doctrine of the prophets is contained in the law the law was written with the finger of God Ergo à primo ad vltimum all things necessarie for our saluation are contained in the written word of God Locus tertius Because from thine infancie thou hast knowne the holy Scriptures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 VVhich are able to make thee wise vnto saluatioÌ„ throgh faith which is in Christ Iesus Thus saith S. Paul But doubtlesse if so much be written as is able to make vs wise to saluation we stand in need of no more it is ynough Let the papists keepe their vnwritten traditions to themselues let vs relie vpon the written truth Let vs be wise vnto saluation contenting our selues with that which it pleased God to reueale in his written word and let them be presumptuous and curious to follow mans inuentions and to beleeue vnwritten vanities The second reason drawne from
the catholike Church and there hath reckoned vp the consent of peoples and nations authoritie begun with miracles nourished with hope increased with charitie established with antiquitie succession of priests from Saint Peters seat and the name of Catholike he addeth that though these things bee great motiues to keepe him in the vnitie of the Church yet must the truth of the scriptures be preferred before them all In regard whereof he promiseth to giue more credit to Manichaeus than to the Church and to yeeld vnto his doctrine if he shal be able to prooue it out of the scripture In the meane while he must giue him leaue to preferre the credit of the catholike Church before his bare wordes especially seeing the Church but not Manichaeus was the outward meanes and externall helpe that brought him to the faith of the Gospell The second Obiection The baptisme of infants is a matter of faith but not conteined in the holy scriptures ergo not all things necessarie for mans saluation are therein to be found The Answere I answere that it is contained in the scriptures and I proue it by sundry reasons The first argument is drawne from the couenant For infants being within the couenant ought not to be debarred from the signe and seale thereof I will establish my couenant betweene me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an euerlasting couenant to be God to thee and to thy seed after thee Againe you are the children of the Prophets and of the couenant which God made to our fathers saying to Abraham euen in thy seede shall all the families of the earth be blessed Againe repent and be euery one of you bâ—ptised in the name of Iesus Christ for the remission of sinnes and ye shall receiue the gift of the holy Ghost For the promise was made to you and to your children and to all that are a farre off euen so many as the Lord our God shall call Againe if the first fruits be holy the whole lumpe also is holy And if the roote be holy the boughes also Againe suffer the yong children and stay them not from comming vnto me for to such belongeth the kingdome of heauen And where Saint Matthew hath little children then S. Luke hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 infants which can neither vnderstand nor come Againe your children are holy yong children therefore must be baptised The second argument is drawne from the analogie of the figure of the old testament For circumcision to which baptisme succeeded did pertaine to both ages as well to yoong as to old In whom also yee are circumcised with circumcisioÌ„ made without hands by putting off the body of the flesh subiect to sinne by the circumcision of Christ buried with him in baptisme in whom yee are also risen againe through the faith of the operation of God who raised him vp from the dead Thus saith Saint Paul by whose wordes we may learne sufficiently that baptisme did succeed to circumcision for the same end vse and purpose viz. that by it we may putting off the bodie of sinfull flesh be buried together with Christ and rise again with him through faith The third argument is drawne from the practise of the Church For the Apostles of our Lord Iesus were commaunded to baptise all sorts of people withour exception Goe therefore and teach all nations baptising them in the name of the father and of the sonne and of the holy Ghost Againe we read in the historie Apostolical that the whole house of Lydia was baptised neither yong nor old being excepted Againe we may find in the acts that the keeper of the prison at Philippos was baptised all they of his houshold incontinent Againe in another place we may read that the whole family of Stephaâ—â—s was baptised not one at all exempted The Obiection Infants haue no faith ergo they may not be baptised The Answere I denie the antecedent because their faith and profession is this to be borne of the faithfull in the vnitie of the Catholike Church Againe though they haue not actuall faith yet haue they faith fundamentallie and by inclination In which sense our Lord Iesus doth reckon them among the faithfull when he saith in this manner VVhosoeuer shall offend one of these little ones that beleeue in me it is better for him if a milstone were hanged about his neck and he were cast into the sea Infants therefore when they are baptized in the Church for faithfull are then deemed to beleeue after their manner VVho albeit they haue not faith in act yet haue they the spirit and vertue or foundation of faith by Gods operation in them Neither ought this thing to seeme strange vnto vs. For if the infants of the wicked ones haue infidelitie and impietie though not in act yet in inclinatioÌ„ by nature as writers graunt then truly may it be said that the infants of the faithfull haue faith and pietie though not in act yet in inclination by grace For grace cannot be of lesse force through Christ than nature through the fall of Adam for God saith plainely I will be thy God and the God of thy seed after thee The third Obiection VVee beleeue the trinitie of persons in vnitie of substance but this is not in the scripture Ergo. The answere I denie the assumption for the trinitie of persons is plainly auouched in the holy Gospel where it is thus written But the comforter which is the holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name he shall teach you all things Thus saith our Lord Iesus In which words we see mention made of three distinct persons first of the Father which sendeth secondly of the holy Ghost which is sent thirdly of the Sonne in whose name he is sent Againe in another place it is thus written There are three which beare recorde in heauen the Father the VVord and the holy Ghost and these three are one Item Matth. 28. verse 19. The fourth Obiection It is not to be found in the holy scrpture that Christ is consubstantiall and of the same substance which the Father Ergo. The Answere The antecedent is false For first in the prophesie of Zacharias I find these wordes arise O sword vpon my shepheard and vpon the man that is my fellow saith the Lord of hostes Secondly in many places of the new testament First in these words I and my Father are one Secondly in these words If ye beleeue not me beleeue the works that ye may know and beleeue that the Father is in me and I in him Thirdly in these words VVho being in the forme of God thought it no robberie to be equall with God Fourthly in these words She shall bring foorth a sonne and thou shalt call his name Iesus for he shall saue his people from their sinnes For this respect saith holy
yet consummate for the safegard of souls which by likelyhood would otherwise haue perished And another famous popish Canonist Couarruvias affirmeth that Pope Paulus the fourth and Iulius the third dispensed in like manner These are his words Necme latet Paulum quartum summum ecclesiae pontificem anno 1558. hac vsum fuisse dispensatione quibusdam excausis quas iustissimas esse idem summus ecclesiae praesul existimauit Idem Paulo ante Iulius tertius fecerat in eodem matrimonio cum ecclesiae vniuersali praesiderit Neither am I ignorant that the Pope Paul the fourth put this dispensation in practise for certaine causes which the same Pope thought to be most iust Iulius the third when he was Pope in the like case graunted the like dispensation Thus we see the former part of mine assertion to be most sufficiently prooued viz. that Pope taketh vpon him to dissolue lawfull and perfect matrimony Now for proofe of the latter viz. that wedlocke before consummation or copulation is firme and perfect and cannot be dissolued by the power of man Christs owne words are a sufficient ground Quod deus coniunxit homo non separet That which God hath conioyned let not man put asunder And in another place Christ hath these words Omnis qui dimittit vxorem suam alteram ducit moechatur Euery one that putteth away his wife and marrieth another committeth adulterie S. Paule vpon the same argument deliuereth the like doctrine in these words His autem qui matrimonio iuncti sunt precipio non ego sed dominus vxorem à viro non discedere quod si discesserit manere innuptam aut viro suo reconciliari vir vxorem non dimittat Those that are married commaund not I but the Lord that the wife depart not from her husband but if she shall depart then to abide vnmarried or to be reconciled to her husband Thus saith S. Paul and thus saith Christ himselfe that man and wife ioyned by Christ must abide during life together or liue vnmarried and not be seuered by the Popes dispensation And it will not helpe the Pope to say as the Iesuit Bellarmine doth and others with him That Christ only speaketh de matrimonio consummato and that matrimonium ratum with which the Pope dispenseth is not de iure diuino For first if matrimonium ratum were not de iure diuino the greatest popish doctors would not denie the Popes dispensation therein Secondly Christ speaketh absolutely and maketh no mention of copulation or popish consummation at all Thirdly matrimonie with papists is a diuine sacrament and consequently it both is perfect without carnall copulation and also indispensable by the power of man For as their owne famous doctor Melchior Canus saith Sanctus spiritus sacramenti gratia per coitum non datur The holy ghost and the grace of sacrament is not giuen by copulation Fourthly it followeth hereupon that matrimonie is not fully perfect in the popish church because copulation followeth a good while after Fiftly because it is absurd to say that it beginneth to be a sacrament by carnall copulation and was not a sacrament by the priests action Sixtly it followeth hereupon that there was not perfect matrimonie betweene Adam and Eue for their matrimonie was in the state of innocencie and before all carnall copulation Seuenthly because if matrimonie be not de iure diuino euen before copulation there is no cause why both parties agreeing together may not release the bargaine and quite dissolue the contract For as the law saith Quisque potest suo iuri cedere Euery man may yeeld vp his right which thing all as well Canonists as Diuines admit for good in sponsalibus Eightly it followeth hereupon that the marriage betweene the blessed virgin and S. Ioseph was not perfect matrimonie for there doubtlesse wanted carnall copulation but the angell of God feared not to call her Iosephs wife S. Ambrose hath these words Non enim defloratio virginitatis facit coniugium sed pactio coniugalis For not the deflouring of virginitie maketh wedlocke but the coniugall couenant S. Austens iudgement herein is most cleere and euident These are his words Cum igitur ipse narret non ex concubitu Ioseph sed ex Maria virgine natum Christum vnde eum patrem eius appellat nisi quia virum Mariae rectè intelligimus sine commixtione carnis ipsa copulatione coniugij VVhen therefore he telleth vs that Christ is not borne of Iosephs copulation but of the virgine Marie vpon what ground doth he call him his father but onely for that we doe rightly conceiue him to be Maries husband without the commixtion of flesh by the very copulation of wedlocke The same father writing to Valerius discourseth of this matter at large and among many other notable sentences setteth downe these words Quibus vero placuit ex consensu ab vsu carnalis concupiscentiae in perpetuum continer absit vt inter illos vinculum coniugale rumpatur Secquitar neque enim fallaciter ab angelo dictum est ad Ioseph noli timere accipere Mariam coniugem tuam They that were content by mutuall consent to abstaine for euer from the vse of carnall copulation God forbid that betweene them should be dissolued the bond of wedlocke For the Angell did not speak deceitfully to Ioseph when he willed him not to feare to take Marie his wife vnto him Thus we see it cleare that the pope taketh vpon him that power and authoritie which is proper to God alone for he practically auoucheth as I haue prooued by his owne deere doctors that his dispensations are of force to vnmarrie and put asunder those persons whom God himselfe hath ioyned together in holy wedlocke And contrariwise as I shall prooue vnto you he practically hath taken vpon him to ioyne in wedlocke those persons to whom God himselfe hath forbidden marriage I will omit knowne examples and alledge one only not knowne to many which as it is rare and notorious so is it able to prouoke all that heare it to exclaime against the execrable practise of the Pope Antoninus a man of no small credit for he was an archbishop of the popish stampe and by the Pope reported for a saint hath these very wordes Reperitur tamen papa Martinus quintus dispensasse cum quodam qui contraxerat consummauerat matrimonium cum quadam cius germana Neuerthelesse it is knowne that Pope Martin the fift did dispense with one who had contracted and consummate matrimomonie with his owne naturall and full sister of the same father and same mother for so much the word Germana doth import Behold here gentle reader the excellencie of holy poperie and if thou desirest more of such melodie thou mayest find it in my booke of Motiues But this here is a sufficient antepast for all our English Iesuits and Iesuited popelings None are so ignorant but they know that onely God can
doe they or can they merit ex condigno eternall life or glorie I say merit ex condigno because I willingly graunt with the auntient writers and holie fathers that good workes in a godly sense may be said to merit that is to say to impetrate fauour and reward at Gods hands for his mercie and promise sake who hath promised not to leaue vnrewarded so much as one cup of cold water giuen in his name but they can neuer truly be said to merite for any worthinesse or condigne desert of the works that are done Against which last part I contend with the papists at this present and namely against the late decree of the late Romish Counsell of Trent whose expresse wordes are these Si quis dixerit hominis iustificati bona opera ita esse dona Dei vt non sint etiam bona ipsius iustificati merita aut ipsum iustificatum bonis operibus quae ab eo per Dei gratiam Iesu Christi meritum cuius membrum viuum est fiunt non verè mereri augmentum gratiae vitam aeternam ipsius vitae aeternae si tamen in gratia decesserit consecutionem atque etiam gloriae augmentum anathema sit If any shall say that the good workes of the iustified man are so the gifts of God that they be not also the good merites of him that is iustified or that the iustified man by his good workes which he doth by the grace of God and merit of Christ Iesus whose liuely member he is doth not truly merit the increase of grace eternall life and the consequution of the same eternall life if he shal depart hence in grace and also the augment of glory let him be accursed Here we see the flat doctrine of the Romish Church which whosoeuer will not beleeue stedfastly must bee damned euerlastingly and with fire and faggot bee sent packing speedily Yet that this doctrine is most absurd in it selfe most blaphemous against the free mercie of God and most iniurious to the inestimable merits of our Lord Iesus I vndertake by Gods assistance to prooue by such cleere and euident demonstrations as shal be able to satisfie all indifferent readers and to put the papists to silence for euer in this behalfe The first reason drawne from the holy Scriptures THe first place of holy scripture is conteined in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the gift of God is life euerlasting in Christ Iesus our Lord. This text of scripture doth plainely conuince that life eternall cannot be condignely atchieued by the workes of man for being the free gift of God it can no way be due to the merite of mans worke The Rhemists to extenuate the cleerenesse of this text and as it were to hide and conceale the euidencie thereof doe translate for the Gift of God the Grace of God following their old vulgar Latin edition VVhich translation though in this place it mae be admitted yet doth it not sufficiently expresse the efficacie of the originall word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a gift freely bestowed for which respect their owne famous linguist Arias Montanus who was the onely man chosen as most sufficient for the translation of the old testament out of the Hebrew and of the new out of Greeke and imployed by the king of Spaine for that onlie end did not translate gratia but donatio not grace but donation or free gift Now let vs see and view the iudgement of the holy fathers vpon this portion of holy writ Saint Theodoret hath these wordes Hic non dicit mercedem sed gratiam est enim Dei donum vita aeterna si quis enim summam absolutam iustitiam praestiterit temporalibus laboribus aeterna in aequilibrio non respondent He saith no there reward but grace for eternal life is the gift of God For although one could performe the highest and absolute iustice yet eternall ioyes being weighed with temporall labours are nothing answerable Saint Chrysostome hath these wordes Non eundem seruat oppositorum ordinem Non enim dicit merces benefactorum vestrorum vita aeterna sed donum Dei vita aeterna vt ostenderet quod non proprijs viribus liberati sint neque debitum aut merces aut laborum sit retributio sed omnia illa ex diuino munere gratuitò acceperint He doth not obserue the same order of opposites For he saith not eternall life is the reward of your good workes but eternall life is the gift of God that he might shew that they are not deliuered by their owne strength or vertues and that it is not a debt or a wages or a retribution of labours but that they haue receiued all those things freely of the gift of God Origen writeth thus vpon the same wordes Deum verò non erat dignum militibus suis stipendia quasi debitum alique dare sed donum gratiam quae est vita aeterna in Christo Iesu domino nostro But it was not a thing worthy beseeming God to giue stipends to his souldiers as a due debt or wage but to bestow on them a gift or free grace which is eternall life in Christ Iesus our Lord. Saint Ambrose hath these wordes Sicut enim sequentes peccatum acquirunt mortem ita sequentes gratium Dei id est fidem Christi quae donat peccata babebunt vitam aeternam For as they that follow sinne gaine death so they that follow the grace of Christ that is the faith of Christ which forgiueth sinnes shall haue eternall life Theophilact hath these wordes Gratiam autem non mercedem dixit à Deo futurum perinde ac si inquiat non enim laborum accipitis premia sed per gratiam fiunt haec omnia in Christo Iesu qui haec operatur factitat He said grace not wages was to come from God as if he should say for ye receiue not rewards of labours but all these things are done by grace in Christ Iesus who worketh and doth them Anselmus and Photius haue the same wordes in effect which I omit in regard of breuitie By these manifold testimonies of the holy fathers the doctrine which I defend is cleere and euident viz. that eternall life is the free gift of God and is not merited or purchased by desert of man that eternall life is not a due debt a deserued wages or retribution of mans labours but proceedeth wholy and solie of the free mercy and grace of God that mans workes waighed in the ballance with the ioyes of heauen are nothing at all answerable vnto them To which fathers I will add the verdict of Paulus Burgensis a verie famous popish Spanish Bishop These are his wordes Noluit ergo dicere stipendium iustitiae vita aeterna sed maluit dicere gratia Dei vita aeterna quia eadem merita quibus redditur non a nobis sunt sed in nobis à Deo facta sunt
the authoritie of the holy Fathers DIonysius Areopagita who liued in the daies of the Apostles doth liuely deliuer this truth vnto vs in these expresse words Omnino igitur non audendum est quicquam de summa abstrusaque diuinitate aut dicere aut cogitare praeter ea quae nobis diuinitus scripturae diuinae countiarunt In no wise therfore may we make bold to speake or thinke any thing of the most high and ineffable diuinitie saue that only which holy writ hath reuealed to vs from heauen S. Augustine that glistering beame and strong pillar of Christs church auoucheth plainely that all things necessarie for our saluation are contained in the written word as is alreadie prooued in the former reason and he confirmeth the same doctrine in another place where he hath these expresse words In his enim quae apertè in scriptura posita sunt inueniunter illa omnia quae continent fidem moresque viuendi spem scilicet atque charitatem For in those things which are plainely set downe in the holy Scripture all things are found which containe faith and manners that is to say hope and charitie The same S. Austen in another place hath these expresse words Credo quod etiam hinc diuinorum eloquiorum clarissima authoritas esset si homo sine dispendio promissae salutis illud ignorare non posset I beleeue that euen in this point also we should haue most cleere testimonie of holy writ if a man could not be ignorant thereof without the losse of his saluation S. Irenaeus hath these words Non emim per alios dispositionem salutis nostrae cognouimus quam per eos per quos euangelium peruenit ad nos quod quidem tunc preconiauerunt postea vero per dei voluntatem in scripturis nobis tradiderunt fundamentum columnam fidei nostrae futurum For we know the dispensation of our saluation by them onely by whom the Gospell came to our hands which Gospell they first preached but afterward by Gods appointment they deliuered the same vnto vs in writing that it might be the foundation and pillar of our faith Tertullianus an auncient writer who liued aboue 1300 yeeres agoe hath these expresse wordes Adoro scripturae plenitudinem quae mihi factorem manifestat facta An autem ex aliqua subiacenti materia facta sint omnia nusquam adhuc legi Scriptum esse doceat Hermogenis offiicina si non est scriptum timeat vae illud adijcientibus aut detrahentibus destinatum I reuerence the plenitude fulnesse and perfection of the scripture as which sheweth to me both the maker and the things which are made But that all things are made of some subiacent matter I neuer could yet read any where Let Hermogenes his shop shew vs where it is written If it be no where written let him be afraid of that woe which is prouided for them that adde or take away from the Scripture Loe gentle reader these three most auntient fathers doe teach vs many very excellent documents First that we know the dispensation of our saluation by Christs Apostles Secondly that we receiued the Gospell from them Thirdly that they first preached the mysteries of our saluation deliuering the Gospell by word of mouth Fourthly that afterward they committed the same to writing Fiftly that the Scripture was written by Gods owne appointment Sixtly that it was written for this end and purpose That it might be the pillar and foundation of our faith Seuenthly that we may not speake or thinke any thing of God which we find not written in Gods booke Eightly that the holy Scripture is perfect and containeth all things necessarie for vs to know Ninthly that all such as teach or beleeue any doctrine not contained in the Scriptures must drinke of the cup of eternall woe for their paines Let vs proceed and see what other fathers of later times tell vs. S. Cyprian who liued about 249 yeares after Christ viz. aboue 1300 yeares agoe hath these words Vnde ista traditio Vtrumne de dominica euangelica authoritate descendens an de Apostolorum mandatis epistolis veniens Ea enim facienda esse quae scripta sunt deus testatur proponit ad Iesum Nave dicens Non recedet liber legis huius ex ore tuo sed meditaberis in eo die ac nocte vt obserues facere omnia quae scripta sunt in eo Si ergo aut euangelio precipitur aut in Apostolorum epistolis aut astibus continetur obseruetur diuina haec sancta traditio From whence came this tradition Did it descend from the authoritie of our Lord or his Gospell Or came it from the mandates of the Apostles or their epistles For that those things must be done which are written God himselfe doth witnesse and propose to Iesus Naue saying The booke of this law shall not depart from thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein night and day that thou maiest obserue to doe all things which are written in it If therefore it be either commaunded in the Gospell or be contained in the Epistles or in the Acts of the Apostles let this diuine and holy tradition be obserued Thus writeth S. Cyprian shewing plainely that all traditions ought to be examined by the written word and nothing to be admitted which is not contained in the same or grounded thereupon VVhere I note by the way for the helpe of the reader that though Cornelius then bishop of Rome whom now the papists tearme Pope and his holinesse together with the whole nationall synode of all the bishops of Italie had made a flat decree touching rebaptization and though also Pope Stephanus his holinesse had confirmed the same decree and commaunded it to be obserued and thirdly though our papists of late daies doe obstinately affirme that their Pope cannot erre when he defineth iudicially Yet this notwithstanding S. Cyprian teacheth and telleth vs plainly and roundly that in his time the bishop of Rome had no such authoritie as this day he proudly and antichristianly taketh vpon him for he roundly withstood the decree of Pope Stephanus who then was bishop of Rome and both sharpely reprooued him and contemned his falsely pretended authoritie And for all that S. Cyprian was euer reputed an holy bishop in his life time and a glorious martyr being dead But if the bishop of Rome had beene Christs vicar and so priuiledged as our papists beare the world in hand he is then doubtlesse S. Cyprian must needs haue beene an hereticke and so reputed and esteemed in the Church of God For if any Christian shall this day doe or affirme as S. Cyprian did or publickely denie the Popes falsely pretended prymacie in any place countrey territories or dominions where poperie beareth the sway then without all peraduenture he must be burnt at a stake with fire and faggot for his paines S. Athanasius hath these words Sufficiunt sanctae ac diuinitus inspiratae
scripturae ad veritatis iuditionem The holy scriptures inspired of God are sufficient for the discussion and manifestation of the truth VVhere the reader must obserue with me that Athanasius contending against the Gentiles that their idols were not gods and proouing that Christ was true God and true man by the Scriptures and withall auouching that the Scriptures were sufficient to decide and determine the controuersie should haue made a very foolish argument and haue concluded nothing at all if any necessarie truth had beene wanting and not fully contained in the holy scriptures S. Epiphanius hath these words Nos vniuscuiusque quaestionis inuentionem non ex proprijs ratiocinationibus dicere possumus sed ex scripturarum consequentia VVe cannot shew the inuention of euery question out of our owne proper reasons but by consequence of the scriptures S. Cyrill hath these words Necessarium nobis est diuinas sequi literas in nullo ab earum prescripto discedere It is necessarie for vs to follow the holy scriptures and not in the least iot to depart from the prescript rule thereof S. Chrysostome hath these words Si quid dicatur absque scriptura auditorum cogitatio claudicat nunc annuens nunc haesitans interdum sermonem vt friuolum aduersans interdum vt probabilem recipiens Verum vbi è scriptura diuinae vocis prodijt testimonium loquentis sermonem audientis animum confirmat If any thing be spoken without the scripture the cogitation of the auditours faileth sometime yeelding sometime staggering and sometime reiecting the speech as friuolous sometime receiuing it as probable But so soone as the testimonie of Gods voice is heard out of the scripture it confirmeth both the word of the speaker and the mind of the hearer The same S. Chrysostome in another place hath these words Quicquid quaeritur ad salutem totum iam adimpletum est in scripturis Loe these holy fathers and auntient writers who all of them liued aboue a thousand and one hundred yeeres agoe teach the selfesame doctrine with the former fathers They tell vs first that the holy scripture is sufficient to decide all controuersies Secondly that we must affirme or hold no doctrine but that which we find in the scriptures Thirdly that we must not in the least point of doctrine depart or swarue from the rule of holy scripture Fourthly that in the holy scripture is fully comprised whatsoeuer is necessarie for mans saluation But let vs yet heare the verdict of some others S. Ambrose hath these words Non negamus imò potius horremus hanc vocem Sed nolo argumento credas sancte imperator nostrae disputationi Scripturas interrogemus interrogemus apostolos interrogemus prophetas interrogemus Christum VVe denie not but rather abhorre the word Yet holy emperour I would neither haue you beleeue our argument nor our disputation Let vs aske counsell vpon the scriptures let vs aske the Apostles let vs aske the Prophets let vs aske Christ himselfe and so know what is the truth S. Basill hath these words Si quicquid ex fide non est peccatum est sicut dicit apostolus fides vero ex auditu auditus autem per verbum dei ergo quicquid extra diuinam scripturam est cum ex fide non sit peccatum est If whatsoeuer is not of faith be sinne as the Apostle saith and if also faith come by hearing and hearing by the word of God then doubtlesse whatsoeuer is not in the holy scripture the same is sinne because it is not of faith The same S Basill in another place hath these words Stemus arbitratu in spiratae à deo scripturae apud quos inueniuntur dogmata diuinis oraculis consona illis omnino veritatis adiudicetur sententia Let vs be iudged by the scripture which came from God by inspiration and whose doctrine shall be found consonant to Gods Oracles let the truth be iudged to be on their side S. Hierome hath these words Hoc quia de scripturis non habet authoritatem eadem facilitate contemnitur qua probatur This opinion is as easily reiected as it is affirmed because it hath no authoritie from the scriptures The same S. Hierome in another place hath these words Quomodo narrabit non verbo sed scriptura Videte quid dicat qui fuerunt non qui sunt vt exceptis Apostolis quodcunque aliud postea decatur abscindatur non habeat postea authoritatē Quamuis ergo sanctus sit aliquis post Apostolos quamuis disertus sit non habeat authoritatē Quoniā dominus narrat inscriptura populorū principū horam qui fuerunt in ea How shall he shew it not by word but by the holy scripture Marke what he saith who were but not who are to the end that the Apostles being excepted whatsoeuer other thing be afterward spokē it must be reiected it must haue no authority at all Wherfore though a man be holy though he be learned yet seeing he commeth after the Apostles let him be of no authoritie For our Lord speaketh to vs in the scripture of his people and of the princes that were therein The same Saint Hierome in an other place hath these wordes Erog nec parentum nec maiorum error sequendus est sed authoritas scripturarum Dei docentis imperium Therefore we must neither follow the errour of our parents nor of our auncestours but the authoritie of the scriptures and the commandement of God teaching vs. The third reason drawne from the authoritie of famous popish writers IOhn frier the late bishop of Rochester one highly renowmed amongst the papists and with them canonized for a Saint and glorious Martyr so as his authoritie must perforce be of credit against them hath these expresse words Scriptura sacra conclaue quoddam est omnium veritatum quae Christianis scitu necessaria sunt The holy scripture is a certaine store-house of all truths which are needfull to be knowne of Christians In another place the same famous papist hath these wordes Contendentibus itaque nobiscum haereticis nos alio subsidio nostram oportet tueri causam quam scripturae sacrae Therefore when heretiques contend with vs wee must defend our cause by other meanes than by the holy scripture These are the very expresse words of their owne famous popish bishop of their holy Saint of their glorious matyr who laboured with might and maine for the Popes vsurped soueraintie and defended the same in the best manner he was able And yet for all that he hath bolted out vnawares and against his will such is the force of truth which must needs in time preuaile so much in plaine tearmes as is sufficient to ouerthrow all poperie for euer and to cause all people that haue any care of their saluation to renounce the Pope and his abhominable doctrine to their liues end For first our popish bishop telleth
vs plainely and without all dissimulation his mouth being now opened by him that caused Balaams asse to speake That in the holy scripture as in a plentifull storehouse is laid vp for vs and our instruction all knowledge necessarie for mans saluation Againe the same popish bishop Saint and Martyr of papists so esteemed and reputed telleth vs roundly That they must not because forsooth they cannot defend and maintaine their poperie by the authoritie of the scripture but by some other way and meanes to wit by mans inuentions and popish vnwritten vanities which they tearme the Churches traditions Now gentle reader how can any papist who is not giuen vp in reprobum sensum for his iust deserts read such testimonies against poperie freely confessed and published to the world by papists euen when they bestirre themsulues busily to maintaine their Pope and his popish doctrine and for all that continue papists still and bee carried away headlong into perdition beleeuing and obeying that doctrine which cannot be defended by the written word of God which is the store-house of all necessarie knowledge They doubtlesse are either very senselesse or so blinded for their former sinnes that they cannot behold the sunne shining at noone tide me thinks they should be ashamed to hold and beleeue that doctrine in defence whereof they can yeeld no better reasons But let vs yet heare what other renowned popish writers tel vs who doubtlesse will not bewray their owne cause but against their wils Howbeit as the wise man saith Magnaest veritas praeualet The truth is of such force as it must needes preuaile and in time haue the vpper hand Melchior Canus another popish bishop and a very learned schoole-doctor hath these expresse words Cum sit perfectus scripturarum canon sibique ad omnia satis superque sufficiat quid opus est vt ei sanctorum intelligentia iungatur authoritas Seeing the canon of the scripture is perfect and most sufficient of it selfe to euery end and in euery respect what need haue we to ioyne therewith either the exposition or the authoritie of the fathers Thus writeth this great learned papist not denying the sufficiencie of the holy scripture but requiring the commentaries of the fathers for the better vnderstanding of the same VVhose opinion I doe approue and commend in that respect as is euident to all that shall peruse my booke of Motiues Thomas Aquinas whom the Pope hath cannonized for a Saint and his doctrine for authenticall teacheth vs not to beleeue any thing concerning God sauing that only which is contained in the scripture expresly or at least significantly These are his owne words Dicendum quod de Deo dicere non debemus quod in sacra scriptura non inuenitur vel per verba vel per sensum VVe must answere that nothing is to be verified of God which is not contained in holy writ either expresly or in sense The same popish doctour in an other place hath these wordes Quicquid enim ille Christus de suis factis dictis nos legere voluit hoc scribendum illis tanquam suis manibus imperauit For whatsoeuer Christ would haue vs to read of his doings and sayings the same he commaunded his Apostles to write as if he had done it with his owne hands Loe in these wordes Aquinas auoucheth very plainely that all things necessarie for our saluation are contained in the scriptures For in Christs deeds are contained his myracles his life his conuersation in his sayings semblably are contained his preaching his teaching his doctrine and consequently whatsoeuer is necessary for vs to know If then this be true as it is most true for the papists neither will nor can denie the doctrine of Aquinas that whatsoeuer Christ would haue vs to know of his miracles of his life of his conuersation of his preaching of his teaching of his doctrine the same is now written in the scriptures no man doubtlesse but he that will cum ratione insanire can denie all things necessarie for our saluation to be contained in the holy scriptures To this doctrine deliuered by Aquinas agreeth their owne renowmed professor and most learned schoole-doctor Franciscus a victoria that Spanish frier His expresse wordes are these Non est mihi certum licet omnes dicant quod in scriptura non continetur I doe not thinke it certaine and sure although all writers affirme it which is not contained in the scripture The same popish doctor and frier in another place hath these words Propter quas opiniones nullo modo debemus discedere à regula synceritate scripturarum For which opinions we must by no meanes depart from the rule and synceritie of the holy scriptures Loe gentle reader our popish frier will beleeue no doctrine which is not contained in the scripture although all writers teach the same Mad men therefore may they be deemed that will beleeue whatsoeuer the Pope telleth them though it be neuer so repugnant to the scripture Anselmus and Lyra two other famous popish writers doe teach vs the selfe same doctrine The second Proposition All persons of what sexe state calling or condition soeuer they be may lawfully and ought seriously to read the holy scriptures as out of which euen the simplest of all may gather so much as is necessarie for their saluation This I say against that popish ridiculous vnchristian and verie pestilent abuse where the Pope deliuereth to the people as it were by was of apostolicall traditon the scriptures sacraments and church-seruice in a strange tongue to them vnknowne VVhich to be flatly against the practise of the primitiue Church I haue proued copiously in my booke of Suruey Here therefore I will onely shew that it is both lawfull and necessarie for all sorts of people that desire to attaine eternall life to read diligently the holy scriptures S. Chrysostome discourseth at large of this subiect in many places of his workes but I will content my selfe with some few for the present In his commentaries vpon Saint Paul he hath these words Et vos itaque si lectioni cum animi alacritate volueritis attendere nullo alio preterea opus habebitis Verus enim est sermo Christi cum dicit quaerite inuenietis pulsate aperietur Verum quia plures exijs qui huc conuenere liberorum educationem vxoris curam gubernandaeque domus insesereceperunt atque ideo non sustinent totos se labori isti addicere saltem ad percipienda quae alij collegerunt excitamini tantum ijs quae dicuntur audiendis impendite diligentiae quantum colligendis pecunijs Tam etsi enim turpe sit non nisi tantum a vobis exigere tamen contenti erimus si vel tantum prestetis Nam hinc iunumera mala nata sunt quod scripturae ignorantur Hinc erupit multa illa haereseon pernicies hinc vita dissoluta hinc
he speaketh not generally of all readers of the scripture but of those wicked ones which depraue not onely S. Paules Epistles but also all other scriptures to their owne perdition Howbeit to debarre all the godly who with all humilitie and reuerence desire to read the scriptures and to abandon one onely particular euill by taking away the good wholly and generally may well be resembled to those vnskilfull physitions who cannot deliuer their patients from any particular disease except they take away their liues But wise Salomon was of another mind when he affirmed all the words of wisedome to be open and easie to euery one of vnderstanding that is which haue a desire to the truth and are not blinded of the prince of this world For as by the foole he meaneth euery wicked man so by a man of vnderstanding he meaneth euery one that is godly Hereupon it is said that God reuealeth his secret counsels to all that feare him That whosoeuer will do the will of God the same shal know his doctrine That they which abide in Gods word shall know the truth That God reuealeth his will vnto the simple and vnlearned ones and hideth his secrets from the wise and prudent That the whole bodie of the scripture from the head to the foot thereof is tearmed a lanterne to ourfeet and a light vnto our pathes That Gods word is like a candle shining in a darke place vntill the day dawne and the day-star arise in our hearts That the spirituall man doth vnderstand all things which are necessarie for his saluation for so Lyra and Dionysius Carthusianus two great learned papists doe expound the place And consequently if Gods word be hidden to any it is hidden to those that perish to those whose vnderstandings the God of this world hath blinded that the light of the Gospell of the glorie of Christ should not shine vnto them S. Chrysostome hath these golden words Quid opus est concionatore Per nostram negligentiam necessitas ista facta est Quamobrem namque concione opus est Omnia clara sunt plana ex diuiais scripturis quaecunques necessaria sunt manifesta sunt VVhat need is there of a preacher Our negligence hath caused this necessitie For to what end is a sermon needfull All things are cleere and euident in the holy scriptures what things soeuer are necessarie the same are manifest The same S. Chrysostome in his Commentaries vpon the Epistle of the Colossians hath these words Audite quotquot estis mundani vxoribus prae estis ac liberis quomodo vobis potissimum precipiat scripturas legere idque non simpliciter neque abiter sed magna diligentia Sequitur Paulo inferius Audite obsecro seculares omnes Comparate vobis biblia animae pharmaca Si nihil aliud vultis vel nouum testamentum acquirite Apostolum Acta Euangelia continuos ac sedulos doctores Si acciderit maestitia huc veluti apothecam pharmacorum introspice Hinc tibi sume solamen mali siue damnū euenerit siue mors siue amissio domesticorum Imònon introspice solum sed omnia iterum atque iterum versa menteque illa contine Hoc demum malorum omnium causa est quod scripturae ignorantur Iterum doce puerum tuum Psalmos illos canere Philosophiae plenos Hearken all ye that are encombred with worldly affaires and haue charge of wiues and children how you specially are commanded to read the scriptures and that not simply nor slenderly but with great diligence Heare I pray you all secular persons Prouide and furnish your selues with bibles the soueraigne medicines of your soules If you will haue no other thing at the least prouide the new Testament the Apostle the Acts the Gospell the continuall and diligent doctors If any griefe come turne thine eye vnto the scripture as to the Apothecaries shop full of medicines From hence receiue sollace of euill whether domage or death or losse of worldly goods chance vnto thee Yea looke not onely to the scripture but volue and reuolue all things contained therein and keepe the same in mind For this is the cause of all manner of euils that men are ignorant in the holy scriptures Teach your children to sing Psalmes which are full of Philosophie Thus writeth this holy father teaching vs at large how necessarie and needfull a thing it is for euery one to studie and read diligently the holy scriptures For first he telleth vs plainely that all necessarie points of doctrine are so plaine and manifest as one may vnderstand the same without the preacher Secondly that they who are charged with wiues children and worldly affaires are specially and more than others commaunded to read the scriptures The reason hereof he yeeldeth in another place because the more they are encombered with the cares of the world the more need they haue to enioy the helpes of the holy scripture These are his words Quid ais homo Non est tui negotij scripturas euoluere quoniam in numeris curis distraberis Imò tuum magis est quam illorum Neque enim illi perinde scripturarum egent presidio atque vos in medijs negotiorum vndis iactati VVhat sayest thou ô man Is it not thy part and dutie to read the holy scriptures because thou art encombred with many worldly cares yea it is so much more thy charge than it is theirs For they haue not so great need of the helpe of the scriptures as you haue who are tossed in the middest of the waues of worldly troubles Thirdly that all secular persons of both sexes must furnish themselues with the holy Bible Fourthly that they must not onely read the scriptures barely and slenderly but that they must doe the same with great diligence Fiftly that the scriptures doe minister comforts for all sorrowes and soueraigne medicines for all sores Sixtly that the ignorance of the scriptures is the cause of all euils Seuenthly that parents must teach their children to sing Psalmes yea euen those Psalmes which are replenished with Philosophie S. Austen teacheth in the same manner that all things necessarie for mans saluation are plaine and easie to be vnderstood These are his expresse words In his enim quque apertè in scriptura posita sunt inueniuntur illa omnia quae continent fidem moresque viuendi For in those things which are plainely set downe in the holy scripture are found all things concerning faith and manners The same S. Austen in another place hath these words Magnifice igitur salubriter spiritus sanctus ita scripturas sanctas modificauit vt locis apertioribus fami occurreret obscurioribus autem fastidia detergeret God hath so tempered the holy scriptures that by manifold places he might prouide against famine and by those which are more obscure he might cleanse the loathsomenesse of our stomacke And his reason hereof followeth in these next words Nihil
enim fere de illis obscurit atibus eruitnr quod non planissime dictum alibi reperiatur For almost nothing is contained in obscure places which is not most plainely vttered in some other place The same father in an other place hath these wordes Nec solum vobis sufficiat quod in ecclesia diuinas lectiones auditis sed etiam in domibus vestris aut ipsi legite aut alios legentes requirite libenter audite Let it not be enough for you onely to heare Gods word in the Church but also read it your selues in your houses or else procure others to read it and heare you them willing Out of these wordes of this holy writer and antient father we may learne many godly lessons First that all things needfull for our saluation are plainely set downe in the scriptures Secondly that things which are obscurely touched in some places are plainelie handled in other places Thirdly that the scriptures are obscure in some places to exercise our wits and to cleanse the loathsomenesse of our stomackes Fourthly that we must read the scriptures at home in our houses not heare them read in the Churches Fiftly that if we cannot read them our selues then must we procure others to read them to vs and marke diligently what they read and heare them with desire and alacritie of mind Saint Hierome is consonant to Saint Austen and Saint Chysostome affirming that in his time which was about 1200 yeeres agoe both monkes men and women did contend who could learne moe scriptures without book These are his expresse wordes Solent viri solent monachi solent mulierculae hoc inter se habere certamen vt plures ediscant scripturas in eose putant esse meliores si plures edidicerint Men women and monkes vse to contend one with another who can learne moe scriptures and herein they thinke themselues better if they can learne more The same Saint Hierome in an other place speaking of the education of a yoong maid of seuen yeeres old hath these wordes Matris nutum pro verbis ac monitis pro imperio habeat Amet vt parentem subijciatur vt dominae timeat vt magistram Cum autem virgunculam rudem edentulam septimus aetatis annus exceperit caeperit erubescere scire quid taceat dubitare quid dicat discat memoriter psalterium vsque ad annos pubertatis libros Salomonis euangelia Apostolos prophetas sui cordis thesaurum faciat Let her mothers beck to her be in steed of wordes admonitions and commaunds Let her loue her as her parent obey her as her ladie and feare her as her mistris And when the rude and toothlesse girle shall bee seuen yeere old and shall begin to be bashfull to know when to be silent and when to speake then let her learne the Psames by heart and without booke and till she be twelue yeeres of age or marriageable let her make the bookes of Salomon the Gospels Apostles and Prophets the treasure of her heart Thus writeth Saint Hierome out of whose golden words I note these golden obseruations First that both men and women in his dayes did studie and read the scriptures as diligently and painfully as the monkes Secondly that in his time they thought themselues the happiest people who could con by heart the most texts of holy scripture Wheras amongst the papists they are deemed most holy that can by heart no scripture at all but absteine from the reading thereof as from the poyson of their soules Thirdly that yong women being but seuen yeeres of age must be acquainted with the holy scriptures learne by heart the booke of Psalmes Fourthly that from seuen yeeres vpward vntill puberty that is to say vntill the twelft yere of their age they must read seriously the bookes of Salomon the Gospels Apostles and Prophets and set their whole delite therein And the same holy father in his Epistle to the godly matrone Celantia doth perswade her for the best course of her life to be continually conuersant in the holy scriptures These are his wordes Sint ergo diuinae scipturae semper in manibus tuis iugiter mente voluantur Let therefore the holy scriptures be alwayes in thy hands and let them be vncessantly tossed or rolled in thy mind Saint Theodoretus telleth vs with good liking thereof that in his time the scriptures were translated into all maner of languages that they were not onely vnderstood of doctors masters of the Church but euen of the lay-people and common artificers His expresse wordes I will alledge which are these Hebraici vero libri non modo in Graecum idioma conuersi sunt sed in Romanam quoque linguam Aegyptiam Persicam Indicam Armenicaque Scythicam atque adeo Sauromaticam semelque vt dicam in linguas omnes quibus ad hanc diem nationes vtuntur Sequitur paulò inferius fossoresque adeo ac bubulcos inuenias plant arumque consitores de diuina trinitate rerumque omnium creatione discertantes The Hebrew bookes are turned not onely into the Greeke tongue but also into the Roman language also into the Aegyptian Persian Indians Armenian and Scythian as also into the Sauromatick tongue to speake all in a word into all tongues which this day are in vse amongst nations And after hee hath told vs that the Church-doctrine is knowne to all maner artizans of both sexes he addeth that we may find ditchers deluers neatheards and gardiners disputing euen of the blessed trinitie and of the creation of all things VVhereupon it is euident that in the auncient Church and in the time of old religion as the sillie foolish papists call their Romish inuentions which is in deed a newly inuented religion as I haue proued in my Suruey of poperie euery nation had the holy scriptures in their vulgar language and that in those dayes all the Christians did read the holy scriptures so seriously that both men and women of all trades and conditions were able to dispute of the holy trinitie and of the creation of the world VVhich two points doubtlesse are the most difficult obscure hard and intricate articles in the whole course of theologie The Iesuit Bellarmine a wonderfull thing to be heard and a most incredible sauing that the truth must needes in time haue the vpper hand confesseth so much vnawares as is able sufficiently to prooue and conclude my intended scope and proposition These are his expresse wordes His notatis dico illa omnia scripta esse ab apostolis quae sunt omnibus necessariae quaeipsipalam omnibus vulgo praedicauerant alia autem non omnia scripta esse These obseruations being marked I answere that all those things were written by the Apostles which are necessarie for all men and which the Apostles preached openly to all the vulgar people but that all other things were not written Thus writeth our skilfull Iesuit who
be they few what part soeuer the Pope liketh that same shall be true For after the fathers haue fasted long prayed much consulted grauely deliberated maturely decreed soberly commanded strictly and accursed seuerely neither others nor yet themselues can tell what shall be of force therein For all must be as shall best content the Popes humour sitting right statelie in his chaire at Rome The fourth Conclusion No bishop can in these our dayes haue voices in councels but such as will first sweare obedience to the Pope and promise to defend his cannon law This conclusion though it containe grosse absurdities yet is it so cleare as Bellarmine that Iesuitical Cardinall cannot denie the same These be his wordes Istud iuramentum non tollit episcoporum libertatem quae in concilijs necessaria est Iurant enim se fore obedientes summo pontifici quod intilligitur donec pontifex est dum iubet ea quae secundum Deum sacros canones iubere potest sed not iurant se non dicturos quod sentiunt in concilio vel se no◠posituros eum si haereticum esse conuincant This oath taketh not away the libertie of bishops which in councels is necessarie For they sweare that they will be obedient to the Pope which is to be vnderstood so long as he is Pope and while he commaundeth those things which he may commaund agreeable to God and to the holy cannons but they sweare not that they will not speake what they thinke in the councell or that they will not depose the Pope if they prooue him to be an heretique Thus writeth Bellarminus whose onely testimonie is most sufficient in all popish affaires as who is the Popes sworne and tenderly beloued vassall and whose bookes are dedicated to the Pope himselfe Out of his wordes I note first that all clergie men admitted to giue voyces in councels are sworne simply wholy to obey the Popes constitutions Secondly that the said persons are sworne to beleeue that the Pope cannot erre in his iudiciall decrees of faith and manners that no councels are of force without the Popes confirmation that councels confirmed by him are aproued by the holy Ghost that he can excommunicate and depose all emperours and empresses all Kings and Queenes all bishops and archbishops in the Christian world that he can by his pardons deliuer all soules out of purgatorie and goe himselfe to the deuill For all these and a thousand like things are strictly comprised in his canons and consequently in their most lamentable oath Thirdly that they are sworne to admit his decrees who as they freely grant may for al that be an heretique Fourthly that they are sworne to reuerence and obey his iudgement in all matters of faith whom they may iudge and depose for heresie Fiftly that their fundamentall article by which they make the Pope iudge ouer all controuersies is quite ouerthrowne and turned vpside downe in this Bellarminus his explication For when he saith VVhile he commaundeth c. he graunteth euery bishop freedome to examine and iudge when the Pope commaundeth things agreeable to God and the canons VVhich libertie if the papists would constantly performe all true Christians and perfect Catholikes would soone agree with them For none that beleeue aright will denie obedience to the Pope when he preacheth teacheth or commaundeth any thing which is agreeable to God and holy canons But good Christians finding his canons to be disholy and his decrees to be against God doe thinke as Bellarmine here teacheth them that they are not bound to obey him And that the reader may fully vnderstand the abhomination of the oath which all popish bishops sweare vnto the Pope I will here set down the expresse words as I find thē verbatim in the Popes owne decretals Ego N. episcopus ab hac hora fidelis ero S. Petro sanctaeque Romanae ecclesiae dominoque meo papae N. eiusque successoribus canonicè intrantibus Sequitur papatū Romanae ecclesiae regulas sanctorum patrum adiutor ero ad defendendum retinendum contra omnes homines sic me Deus adiuuet haec sancta euangelia I Iohn Watson bishop will be faithfull from this day forward to Saint Peter and to the holy Church of Rome and to my L. Boniface the Pope and to his successors elected canonically and I will be an helper to keepe and defend against all people the Popedome or papall soueraigntie and the rules of the holy fathers so God me helpe and the holy Gospel Loe here gentle reader open and flat rebellion is required and by euangelicall oath confirmed of subiects against their soueraignes For the bishops of euery countrie are the subiects of the kings of the same countreys and yet doe they sweare to defend the Popes vsurped iurisdiction and most bloodie tyrannie against their naturall dread soueraignes For they sweare to defend the Popes vsurped authoritie against all people without exception VVhich his diabolicall vsurped primacy as I haue prooued at large else where extendeth it selfe to the translation of empires kingdomes and regalities These conclusions being well marked and remembred the answere to the mightie obiection which is as the foundation of poperie will be plaine and easie viz. that popish bishops may as well erre when they are assembled together in a generall councell as when they preach teach or write asunder For first the Pope himselfe will not shew his face in any councell because the emperour must sit aboue him as is euident by the first conclusion Seconly when the Pope sendeth his legates to councels to supplie his place he doth but delude the world by that fact seeing he cannot impart his authoritie vnto them as by the second conclusion is apparant Thirdly popish councels and synodes in these after ages are flexible as a nose of waxe and as vncertaine as the weathercocke as is clearely proued in the third conclusion Fourthly no bishops of late ages can haue voyces in popish councels but such as will first sweare obedience to the Pope and promise by oath to defend his vsurped power and most execrable canon law as by the fourth conclusion will appeare Fiftly that decree is true and iust which is concluded by the gerater part of the bishops there assembled and yet the Pope sitting at Rome in his chaire will reiect such decrees at his good pleasure and define the sentence of fewer voyces to be of force This obseruation is euidently confirmed by the due proofes of the third conclusion Sixtly the decrees of councels must needs be obeyed as the papists tell vs and yet the Pope may reiect them and disanull them at his pleasure euen dreaming in his chaire at home or riding abroad on his white palfrey This to be so is euident to euery one that shall seriously peruse the third conclusion Yea our papists of Rhemes in their commentary vpon the new testament tell vs plainely and roundly that the determinaon of councels is needlesse because
God with all thy heart and with all thy soule and with all thy mind For whiles any part of carnall concupiscence is remayning which may be suppressed by containing God so long is not in euery respect loued with all the soule For the flesh coueteth not without the soule albeit the flesh be sayd to couet because the soule coueteth carnally Then shall the iust bee without any sinne at all because there shall be no law in his members rebelling against the law of his mind but he shall loue God wholy with all his heart with all his soule and with all his mind which is the first chiefest commandement VVhy therefore should not this perfection be cōmanded vnto man although no man can haue it in this life For they cannot run aright who know not whither they should run Out of these words of this holy father and great learned writer I gather these worthy lessons First that by Gods holy commaundement all men are bound to loue God with all their heart with all their soule and with all their mind Secondly that whosoeuer suffereth any part of his life to be vacant and to haue fruition of any other thing cannot fulfill this precept of louing God Thirdly that this precept of loue cannot be perfectly kept in this life Fourthly that originall concupiscence remaining in the regenerat is the hinderance and breach of this commaundement Fiftly that this perfection of loue is lawfully commaunded albeit none liuing doth or can attaine vnto it And consequently that it is not possible to any pure mortall man perfectly to keepe Gods commandements Aquinas the Popes great doctor and canonised saint graunteth freely and affirmeth constantly That the precept of louing God with the whole heart cannot be kept perfectly in this life These are his owne expresse words Respondeo quod praceptum aliquod dupliciter potest impleri Vno modo perfectè alio modo imperfectè Sequitur intendit Deus per hoc praeceptum vt homo Deo totaliter vniatur quod fiet in patria quando Deus erit omnia in omnibus vt dicitur 1. Cor. 15. ideo plenè perfectè in patria implebitur hoc praeceptum In via autem impletur sed imperfectè I answere that the precept may be fulfilled two wayes one way perfectly another many vnperfectly God intendeth by this precept to haue man wholy vnited to himselfe which shall be effected in heauen when God shall be all in all And therefore this precept shall be fulfilled perfectly and fully in the countrey but in the way it is fulfilled vnperfectly That is to say perfectly in heauen which is called our countrey and vnperfectly on earth which is tearmed the way Out of these golden wordes of the famous schoole-doctour Aquinas whose doctrine two Popes haue authorized for authenticall I obserue these points of great importance First that God by commaunding all men to loue him with their whole hearts did intend to vnite all men wholy vnto himselfe so as no part of their loue should be left vacant to be bestowed otherwise Secondly that this precept of louing God as wee are bound can be kept perfectly in heauen onely Thirdly that it is not impossible in this life to keepe Gods commaundements in a godly sense and meaning because we may keepe them in some sort and measure though not in that high and perfect degree which the law requireth at our handes For our great popish doctour marke well his wordes saith plainely and constantly In via impletur preceptum sed imperfectè The precept is fulfilled in the way or in this life but vnperfecty So that when the papists triumphing before the victorie cry out against vs with open mouths That we charge God with impietie affirming him to haue commaunded to man things imposible they may as well and with as much right and reason exclaime against their owne deere doctor Aquinas and consequently against their owne holy fathers the Popes Vrbanus the fourth and Innocentus the fift who haue commanded and strictly charged to receiue his doctrine as sent from heauen concerning both faith and maners For my selfe doe here teach the selfe some doctrine with Aquinas as his owne expresse wordes very flatly purport For my wonted manner is to confute poperie by the testimonies of best approoued popish writers Bernardus the Popes deere monke and reuerend Abbot iumpeth with Aquinas in these expresse wordes Quomodo ergo iubenda fuit quae implenda nullo modo erat Aut si placet tibi magis de affestuali datum fuisse mandatum non inde contendo dummodo aquiescas tu mihi quod minimè in vita ista ab aliquo hominum possit vel poterit ad impleri Quis enim sibi arrogare id audeat quod Paulus ipse fatetur non comprehendisse nec latuit preceptorem precepti pondus hominum excedere vires sed iudicauit vtile ex hoc ipso suae illos insufficientiae admoncri vt scirent sanè ad quem iustitiae finem niti pro viribus oporteret Ergo mandando impossibilia non preuaricatores homines fecit sed humiles vt omne os obstruatur subditus fiat omnis mundus Deo quia ex operibus legis non iustificabitur omnis caro coram illo Accipientes quippe mandatum sentientes defectum clamabimus in coelum miserebitur nostri Deus sciemus in illa die quiae non ex operibus iustitiae quae fecimus nos sed ecundum suam misericordiam saluos not fecit How then was it commanded which by no meanes could be performed or if thou rather thinke that the commaundement was giuen of affectuall charitie I will not contend with thee therein so thou also wilt yeeld vnto me herein That no man in this life is able to keepe and performe the same For who dareth to challenge that to himselfe which Paul confesseth hee could neuer attaine vnto neither for all that was the commander ignorant that the weight of the commandement did surpasse the power and reach of man but he deemed it a thing profitable for them that hereby they should be admonished of their insufficiencie and might know to what end of righteousnesse they ought with their best indeuours to applie themselues Therefore by commaunding things impossible he made not men preuaricatours but humble that euery mouth might bee stopped and all the world made subiect vnto God because by the workes of the law no flesh can be iustified in his sight But after that we haue receiued the commandement and thereby perceiue our owne want we must cry vp to heauen and God will haue mercie on vs and then shall we know that he hath saued vs not for the workes of righteousnesse which we haue done but according to his owne free mercy Thus writeth their own deere Abbot Bernardus out of whose wordes I obserue many excellent documents First that God hath giuen vs those commaundements which we cannot possibly keepe and performe Secondly that
God knew right wel that it is not in our power to keepe his lawes Thirdly that God commanded to vs impossible things that we might therby acknowledge our owne insufficiency wholy rely vpon his fauor help mercy Fourthly that we might hereby know that our saluation proceedeth of mercie and not of the workes of righteousnesse which we haue done and wherein the papists seeke merit and iustification So then the doctrine which I now teach is not my doctrine onely but the flat doctrnie of Saint Austen yea and the selfe same doctrine which the best learned papists haue taught before me That it is not possible for man to keepe Gods commaundements perfectly in this life no other proofe is needfull saue onely the Lords Prayer For in it the best liuer vpon earth is taught to aske forgiuenesse and pardon for his sinnes and doubtles where pardon must be demaunded there the law is not exactly obserued The vsuall practise of all papists is consectarie hereunto For in their ordinarie and daiely masses as also in their quotidian auricular confessions they confesse three seuerall times their most grieuous sinnes in these wordes Mea culpa mea culpa me a maxima culpa In which publique daily confession they must eitheir confesse that they deale hypocritically dissemble damnably and mocke God most irreligiously or els doubtles that they cannot keepe Gods commaundements as they beare the world in hand they do Now it remaineth that I answere to some popish obiections which the papists deeme and repute insoluble The first Obiection The young man told Christ that he had kept all the commaundements from his youth vp VVhom Christ reprooued not as though he had not kept them indeed but exhorted him to perfection in selling all his possessions The Answere I Answere both with Saint Austen and Saint Hierome That the young man answered vntrulie when hee said hee had kept all the commaundements Saint Austen hath these words Ille quidem tristis abscessit qui viderit quemadmodum illa legis mandata seruauerat Puto enim quod se arrogantius quam verius seruasse responderat He went away sorrowfull who knew how hee had kept the commaundements of the low For I thinke he answered more arrogantlie then trulie that he had kept them Sant Hierome saith plainlie and roundlie Mentitur He lieth And the circumstance of the texts going afore and following doe purport no lesse vnto vs. The second Obiection Saint Paul saith For note the hearers of the law are iust with God but the doers of the law shall be iustified The Answere Saint Paul meaneth nothing lesse in these words than that a man in Gods sight can be iustified his workes But he goeth about to conclude all vnder sinne and so to haue neede of the glorie of God because none is able to performe and keepe the law For his whole scope and intent is this to proue that the Iewes did in vaine boast against the Gentiles that they had the law seeing they did not keepe the same As if he had said if ye will be iustified by the law ye must performe and keepe the law which ye doe not for not the hearers of the law but the doers are iust in Gods sight I willinglie graunt and will it not denie that if any of you papists can perfectly obserue and keepe the law the same papist shall be iustified by the merit of his workes but if any such papist could be found which I am sure is impossible yet should that papist heare what Saint Paul saith of holy Abraham For saith he if Abraham were iustified by works he hath glorie or whererein to boast but not before God The third Obiection If thou wilt enter into life keepe the commaundements The answere Our Sauiour Christ doth not shew in this place how men doe attaine vnto eternall life but hee sheweth what perfect obseruation of Gods law is required of them who looke to bee iustified by the workes of the law This my answere is cleered by the question proposed vnto Christ which was this VVhat good thing shall I doe that I may haue eternall life Christ answered If thou wilt haue eternall life by doing good workes then must thou keepe Gods commaundements But this is impossible as is alreadie prooued The fourth Obiection Christ saith My yoke is easie and my burden is light And Saint Iohn saith his commaundements are not heauie The Answere The law of God is impossible to be kept in such perfection as the same requireth at our hands as I haue alreadie proued Neuerthelesse the yoke of Christ is sweete and his burden light to all them which beleeue in him For as Saint Peter saith The yoke of the law is such a burden as neither we nor our fathers were able to beare but we belleeue to be saued by the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ hath taken away the curse of the law Christ hath satisfied for our transgressions of the law Christ sent by God in the similitude of sinfull flesh blotted out the hand writing that was against vs and nailed it vpon the crosse There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Iesus Christ is our iustification our sanctification and our redemption By faith in Christ wee doe ouercome the world Christ is so mercifull that hee refresheth all those which come vnto him This being so wee may trulie say that in Christ wee fulfill the law because he is our righteousnesse our sanctification and our redemption because hee hath ouercome death because hee hath clothed vs with his righteousnesse because hee hath couered our nakednesse with his garments because in him wee haue gotten the victorie ouer hell death and damnation This is it that Saint Austen saith in these golden wordes Omnia ergo mandata tunc facta deputantur quando quicquid non fit ignoseitur All the commaundements are then reputed as done when whatsoeuer is not done is of mercie forgiuen The first Obiection Saint Hierome saith He is to be detested as a blasphemer that affirmeth God to haue commaunded any impossible thing And Saint Austen saith God can neither commaund things impossible because he is iust neither condemne a man for that which he could not auoyd because he is mercifull The Answere I answere first that hee is to bee detested as a blasphemer that affirmeth God to haue commaunded any thing vnto man which was either impossible in it selfe to be done or to be done of man as man I say impossible in it selfe because otherwise Christ himselfe could not haue fulfilled the law which to hold is flat blasphemie against the Sonne of God I say impossible to bee done of man as man because otherwise the Protoplast Adam could not haue kept the law which to hold is most absurd and against all learning and learned men Secondly that he is to be detested as a blasphemer
the Popes iudgement alone is infalliable VVherefore they ad this clause to salue the Popes proceedings That councels are called not for necessitie sake but for the better contentation of the weake I therefore conclude against the popish supposed bulwarke that seeing all bishops may erre seuerally as the Iesuit Bellarmine hath taught vs and seeing also that the constitutions in popish councels are nothing else in deed but the bare decrees of one onely bishop as is alreadie prooued it followeth of necessite and cannot be denied that all bishops in the popish Church may erre egregiously and that as well iointly as seuerally as is to be seene at large in my Golden ballance of triall to which treatise I referre the reader for better satisfaction both touching the Popes double person and concerning his priuate and publike errors In the interim I must needs tell the papists that a generall councell is aboue the Pope that a generall councell hath power to depose the Pope that a generall councell did de facto depose Iohn the 12 long sithence and Iohn the 13 of that name as I haue prooued at large by sound popish testimonie in my Anatomie of popish tyrannie And thus haue I prooued that the sole and onely scripture inspired from heauen is the infalliable rule of truth and that all traditions must bee examined by the same and then addmitted when they be consonant thereunto not otherwise howsoeuer antiquitie be pretended in that behalfe The fourth Proposition Popish vnwritten traditions are so vncertaine and doubtfull that the best learned papists are at great contention about them and cannot possibly be accorded therein For the proofe of this proposition it were ynough to call to mind that great and endlesse strife which was in the Church about 1400 yeeres sithence betweene Victor then Bishop of Rome and the bishops of Asia The controuersie was among them concerning the keeping of Easter Tradition apostolicall was alledged earnestly and both sides did stoutly defend the same The same tradition was in controuersie afore Polycarpus the bishop of Smyrna and Anicetus the Bishop of Rome But neither could Polycarpe perswade Anicetus nor Anicetus perswade Polycarpus albeit they both agreed as deere friends The storie is set done at large by Eusebius a learned father and most famous historiographer But Victor the Bishop of Rome dealt so furiously in that controuersie that Ireneus and other bishops of Gallia did sharply reprooue him for the same VVhat need more bee said for the varietie and vncertaintie of traditious For first the bishops that thought and taught thus diuersly of tradions did all of them liue within 200 yeeres after Christ at which time the Church was in in good estate and stayned with very few or no corruptions at all Secondly the one side doubtlesse must needs be seduced with false and vnsound traditions For apostolicall doctrine was vniforme and constant and could not possible bee contrarie to it selfe Thirdly Saint Policarpe Polycrates and the other bishops did in those dayes make no more reckoning of the bishop of Romes opinion than they did of another mans Fourthly they all were so farre from acknowledging the bishop of Rome to be the supreme head of the Church and that he could not erre that they all with vniforme assent affirmed him to defend a grosse errour and to hold a false opinion that they all reputed themselues his equals touching gouernment ecclesiasticall that they all verie sharpely reprooued him and with might and maine withstood his proceedings VVhereas this day if any bishops magistrates or other potentates in the world where poperie beareth the sway should doe the like they might all roundly be excommunicated and not onely deposed from their iurisdiction but also be burnt with fire an faggot for their paines Fiftly if Saint Polycarpe had cause in his time being the flourishing age of the Church to doubt of romish traditions much more doubtlesse haue wee cause at this day to stand in doubt thereof in these doolefull dayes I say in which iniquitie hath gotten the vpper hand in which the bishops of Rome haue brought an huge multitude of errors into the Church and seduced a great part of the Christian world Another controuersie touching traditions is for and about the keeping of Lent For albeit Saint Chrysostome tel vs plainely that Christ did not commaund vs to imitate his fast but to learne of him to be humble and meeke in heart yet doe the papists this day mordicus defend it to be an apostolicall tradition yea many of them are so blinded and besotted with vnsauorie traditions and superstitious illusions that they deeme it a greater sinne to eat flesh in Lent than to commit adulterie murder or periurie Of this vnwritten tradition falsly supposed apostolical Eusebius Caesariensis a famous historigrapher of great antiquitie writeth in this maner Non solum de die paschae agiter controuersia sed de ipsa specie ieiunij Quidam enim putant vno tantum die obseruari debere ieunium alij doubus alij vero pluribus nonnulli etiam quadraginta Quae varietas obseruantiae non nunc primum neque nostris temporibus coepit sed multò ante nos ex illis vt opinor qui non simpliciter quod ab initio traditū est tenentes in alium morem vel per negligentiam vel per imperitiam postmodum dicidêre The controuersie is not onely touching the day of Easter but alos concerning the very king or manner of fasting For some thinke they must onely fast one day some two dayes others moe dayes and there bee that thinke they should fast fourtie VVhich varietie of fasting did not now begin first neither yet in our daies but long before our time I thinke by them who keeping not simply what they receiued from the beginning did afterward fall to another manner either of negligence or els of ignorance Socrates in like manner reporteth hystorically that they differed no lesse in their manner of eating than they did in their daies of abstaining For some saith he would eat no liuing thing othersome of liuing things ate onely fish some together with fish did eat also birds but some ate only bread and others at night ate all kind of meates without difference Yea he telleth vs in the same place that the Romans fast three weekes before Easter besides the Sabboth and the Lords day And that the Illyrians and Alexandrians do fast six weekes and yet do they all tearm their fasts Lent By which testimonies euery man may easily perceiue how doubtfull and vncertaine vnwritten traditions be Thirdly there was another endlesse controuersie concerning traditions betweene the Greeks and the Latins whether the Eucharist ought to be celebrated in leauened or in vnleauened bread Fourthly Irenaeus a very auntient father affirmeth out of Apostolicall tradition that Christ was fortie yeeres old when he suffered his bitter passion Papias another father saith vpon the like traditiō that Christ
should raign 1000 yeeres after the generall resurrection Basilius another holy father saith that Zacharias the sonne of Barachias slaine betweene the altar and the temple was father to S. Iohn the baptist These absurdities the papists are this day ashamed to hold and yet did these fathers receiue them by Apostolicall so supposed tradition as their own famous doctor Andradius graunteth willingly Fiftly popish tradition telleth vs that all the bishops of Rome one after another haue taught succesiuely the selfesame doctrine with S. Peter Howbeit their own deere doctor and religious frier Nicholaus de Lyra auoucheth plainely roundly and boldly to the whole world that many bishops of Rome haue fallen away from the faith and become flat Apostataes And least this my narration be thought strange vnto many that our holy fathers the Popes should be Atheists or Apostataes and that their own deare brethren in high esteeme among them would neuer so write of them I will deale plainely in this important point and after my wonted manner set downe his owne expresse words Thus doth he write Ex quo patet quod ecclesia non consistit in hominibus ratione potestatis vel dignitatis ecclesiasticae vel secularis quia multi principes et summi pontifices et alij inscriores inuenti sunt a side apostatasse Propter quod ecclesia consistit in illis personis in quibus est notitia vera et confessio fidei et veritatis VVhereby it is euident that the Church doth not consist in men by reason of power or dignitie either ecclesiasticall or secular because many princes and Popes and others of the inferiour sort are found to haue beene apostataes and to haue swarued wholie from faith For which cause the Church consisteth in those persons in whom there is true knowledge and confession of the faith and of the truth Thus writeth this learned papist whom their owne so supposed martyr sir Thomas Moore called a great clearke as he was indeed whose words are well worthie to be engrauen in marble with golden letters For by his iudgement it is cleare and euident that not they who sit in S. Peters chaire are euer the true and lawfull successors of S. Peter but they only and solely that confesse and preach S. Peters faith and doctrine as also that their receiued maxime vbi Papa ibi Roma vbi Roma ibi ecclesia catholica is false vaine and friuolous VVe therefore this day impugne nothing in popish proceedings but the selfesame indeed which famous popish doctors reproued afore our time and that in their publicke writings published freely to the whole world VVhich thing whosoeuer will seriously ponder as my selfe haue done that man must perforce detest and abhorre all popish superstitious trumperie But of this argument I haue discoursed at large in my booke of Motiues Sixtly popish tradition telleth vs that the blessed virgine Marie the true mother of true God and true man was conceiued without originall sinne and that the bishop of Rome did for that end ordaine a feastiuall day of her conception to be kept vpon the eight of December But by your leaue Aquinas their owne Angelicall Doctor affirmeth resolutely that she was conceiued in originall sinne Yea their other holy doctor and deare frier Bernard doth very sharpely reprooue the Cathedrall Church of Lyons because they obserued the feastiuitie of the conception of the blessed virgine and the calleth that their practise the noueltie of presumption the mother of temeritie the sister of superstition and the daughtet of leuitie That done he addeth these words Hoc non est virginem honor are sed honori detrahere This is not to giue honour to the virgine but to take honour from her Yet Pope Sixtus the fourth did institute the feast of the conception Seuenthly popish tradition telleth vs that the emperour Constantine worthily surnamed the Great was baptised at Rome in a font there remaining to this day my self haue seene the same Howbeit Hieronymus Eusebius Socrates Theodoritus Sozomenus Cassiodorus and Pomponius doe all affirme very cōstantly that he was baptised at Nichomedia Eightly popish tradition hath brought flat idolatrie into the Church teaching to adore them as saints and Gods friends who were known heretickes and professed enemies to God and his Church This to be so their owne deare friend and brother Platina will tell them when he affirmeth the dead corps of Hermannus to haue been worshipped for a saints reliques at Ferrara the space of twentie yeares together who for all that was an hereticke as the same Platina auoucheth VVhere two speciall things are to be obserued seriously first the vncertainetie of vnwritten traditions secondly the danger in giuing credit to the same Now it remaineth for the better contentation of the reader to make answere to such obiections in defence of popish traditions as the papists haue euer in their mouths and boast of them as if they were insoluble The first Obiection VVe doe not know which bookes of the scripture are canonicall and which are not but onely by the vnwritten traditions of the Church And yet is this a matter of faith and very necessarie vnto saluation The answere This is that mightie obiection wherein the papists glorie and boast beyond all measure and say more rashly than wisely that it can neuer be truly answered I therefore shall desire the gentle reader to ponder well my words and then to iudge of the matter as right reason shall prescribe My answere is this First there is great ods betweene the primitiue Church and the Church of late daies VVhich to be so the famous popish doctor Durandus will contest with me For the Apostles as Durand saith wisely heard Christs doctrine saw Christs myracles and were replenished with the holy ghost and consequently they must needs be fit witnesses of all that Christ did and taught But these adiuncts cannot be rightly ascribed to the late bishops of Rome and their cursed Iesuited brood Secondly the old testament was deliuered by the Iewes and confirmed by Christ and his Apostles and therefore as the papists admit that tradition and withall doe reiect their other manifold vnwritten traditions which the Iews in their Talmud affirme to be of Moses euen so doe we receiue this tradition and reiect all vnwritten traditions contrarie to the same Thirdly the bookes of the new testament are but an exposition of the law and the Prophets as I haue alreadie prooued in the first proposition of this present article And consequently it may be discerned and tried by the same as the godly Bereans tried S. Paules preaching Fourthly when we affirme all things necessarie for our saluation to be comprised and contained in the scriptures we then speake of them as they are acknowledged and agreed vpon both among the Iewes for the old Testament in the which the new is comprehended and ioyntly for the old and new throughout the Christian world And