whereunto scripture is consonant And here you swell as much as anie to ade in the opinion of your deepe knowledge in these matters Neuertheles we ignorant and vnlearned Protestantes thinke it more safe to be ignorant of the manner of the sonnes generation with Saint Ambrose then to determine beside the scriptures thereof with Thomas Aquinas When Saint Ambrose was pressed with the same question that you set downe of the aduersaries how can God beeing a spirit beget a sonne and yet the same not to be after his father in time or nature but equall with him in both and how doth the father beget he answereth thus De side ad Gratian. lib. 1. cap. 5. Quaeris à me quomodo sifilius sit non priorem habet patrem quaero item abste quando aut quomodo putes filium esse generatum Mihi impossibile-est generationis scire secretum Mens deficit vox silet non meatantùm sed angelorum Supra potestaâ—â— supra angelos supra Cherubin supra Seraphin supra omnem sum est quia scriptum est pax autem Christi quae est supra ennem sensum Si pax Christi supra omnem sensum est quemadmodum non est super omnem sensum tanta generatio Tu quoque manum ori admoue scrutari non licet superna mysteria Licet scire quod natus sit non licet discutere quemadmodum natus sit Illud negare mihi non licet hoc quaerere metus est Nam si Paulus ea quae audiuit raptus in tertium coelum ineffablia dicit quomodo nos exprimere possumus paternae generationis ercanum quod nec sentire potuâ—â—mus nec audire Thou askest of me how if he be a sonne he hath not his father before him I ask likewise of thee when or how thou thinkest that the sonne was begotten For to me it is impossible to knowe the secret of his generation The minde faileth the voice stayeth not of me 〈◊〉 but euen of the Angells It is aboue powers aboue 〈◊〉 aboue Cherubim aboue Seraphim aboue all vnderstanding because it is written The peace of Christ which is aboue all vnderstanding If the peace of Christ be aboue all vnderstanding how is not so excellent a generation aboue all vnderstanding Thou also holde thy hande before thy mouth it is noâ— lawfull to search these high mysteries it is lawful to know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 begotten it is not lawful to discusse after what manner he is begotten That to denie it is not lawfull for me this to inquâ—â— of I am afearde For if Paul saith that those things which 〈◊〉 being taken vp into the third heauen were unspeakeâ—â— how can we expresse the secret of the fathers generation 〈◊〉 we could neither vnderstand nor heare c. If thâ— determination were no lesse to be beeleeued 〈◊〉 other mysteries of the trinitie that are expressed in the scripture as you affirme Saint Ambrose was short in his faith of the trinitie as euerie man may see by his answere Neuertheles whatsoeuer is obiected that the soone should not be equall in time and nature with the father whereof ensueth the pluralitie of Gods is manifestlie confuted by al those scriptutes that affirme one onelie God and Iesus Christ to be God and the onelie be gotten 〈◊〉 of the father which must needes argue the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in nature time or eternity How this may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the scripture affirmeth that it is Christians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ought not or neede not to inquire If infidels in 〈◊〉 they are not to be answered by authoritie of 〈◊〉 scriptures which they beeleeue not much lesse 〈◊〉 the Church which they know not And then the 〈◊〉 is out of the matter in coÌ„trouersy whether 〈◊〉 things that are to be beleeued necessarie to 〈◊〉 be conteined in the holie scriptures Neuerthelesse 〈◊〉 to infidels that Philosophicall answer may be giuen how the generation of the sonne by the father 〈◊〉 be without inequality in time or nature but 〈◊〉 it is or must be onelie by vnderstanding of him selfe he thinke it for all your bragges you are not able to 〈◊〉 the determination of your Church to auow it 〈◊〉 for all is not defined by your Church that the 〈◊〉 haue wearied their heades to dispute of But if you could prooue it of necessitie to be so the scriptures that affirme Christ to be the wisedome of the father the word that was in the beginning with the father c. would giue as much light for the manner of his generation as is possible and profitable for man to know Beside this of the 〈◊〉 of the sonne you haue other questions of 〈◊〉 aduersaries what meane they you saie to holde that the 〈◊〉 ghost proceedeth from the father and that the sonne 〈◊〉 not but is begotten To this I answere That the 〈◊〉 ghost proceedeth from the father the text of 〈◊〉 is plaine Iohn 15. 26. that the sonne is begotten of the father Iohn 1. 14. That the sonne proceedeth not from the father albeit he is begotten it is heresie and blaspemie to affirme For he him selfe affirmeth Iohn 16. 28. I proceeded from the father and came into the world and Ioh. 8. 42. Another question you haue like vnto this whie is it heresie to say that the sonne proceedeth from the father or that the holie ghost is begotten I aunswere to saie the holie ghost is begotten it is heresie because the scripture teacheth that the sonne is the onelie begotten of the father But to saie that the sonne proceedeth from the father is no heresie but the contrarie is heresie because it is against the expresse words of Christ as I haue shewed before And Saint Augustine affirmeth expressely that whatsoeuer is begotten proceedeth so that you cannot denie the proceeding of the sonne from the father except you denie his begetting Neuertheleles although the sonne and the holie ghost do both proceede yet not both alike as the same Augustine sheweth de trin lib. 5. cap. 14. vbi illud elucescit vtpote quod solet multos mouere cur non sit filius etiam Spiritus Sanctus cum ipse à patre exeat sicut in Euangelio legitur Exiit enim non quo modo natus sed quo modo datus ideo non dicitur filias quia neque natus est sicut vnigenitus neque factus vtper Dei gratiam in adoptionem nasceretur sicutinos Where that also is made cleare which is wont to moue manie men why the holie ghost also is not the sonne seeing that he also proceedeth from the father as it is read in the gospell For he proceeded not as begotten but as giuen and therefore he is not called the sonne because he is neither begotten as the onely begotten nor made that by the grace of god he might be borne into adoption as we Here you see that proceeding is common to both the persons yet one manner of proceeding proper to the sonne and another to the holie ghost A
examples of inuocation of Saintes praier for the dead purgatorie and the like if you can winne them either by manifest wordes or by necessarie conclusion we are content you shall weare them and we also wilyeald vnto them otherwise you prate without proofe of expressed in the scripture trifling vppon the terme expressed which either we vse not in this question or els we meane therbie certainlie declared and taught in the scriptures either in expresse wordes or by necessarie conclusion But now let vs see how Master Chark is distressed in answering these twelue particulers For the first of the seauen which he acknowledgeth to be contained in the scripscripture which is that there is two natures and two wills in Christ he citeth these wordes Rom. 1. of his sonne which was made vnto him of the seede of Dauid according to the flesh Also Math. 26. not as I will but as thou wilt here you saie that the interpretation of the Church being set aside and the bare text onelie admitted these places cannot conuict an heretike yes verelie the onelie authoritie of the textis sufficient to confit me faith and to conuince an heretike For the former point thus The diuinitie and humanitie are two natures in Christ is diuinitie and humanitie ergo two natures The maior is manifest the minor is plaine by the text the sonne of God one nature the seede of Dauid an other nature For the fecond point The will of God and the will of man the one contradictorie to the other are two willes In Christ was the will of God contradictorie to the wil of man ergo two wills The minor is prooued out of the text not as I wil but as thou wilt seeing Christ was both God man That the Monothelits in the 6. Councill of Costantinople could not be conuinced out of the scriptures it is an intollerable slaunder of that reuerend assemblie for euen by this text and manie other their error was made manisest wherunto albeit the consent of the aun cient fathers was added yet is there no word in all that 4. action which you quote to prooue that they were not sufficientlie confuted out of the holie scriptures The second point is the proceeding of the holie ghost from the father and the sonne equallie for which Master Chark quoteth Ioh. 15. 26. When the holie ghoste shall come which I will send you from my father the spirit of trueth which proceedeth from the father c. Against this you cauill that it prooueth not the proceeding equallie and cite Cyril for your witnes in 15. Ioh. who out of this place prooueth that equally as wel as the proceeding seeing the heretikes might be ashamed to say that the spirit of the father was sent by the son as by a minister which also if they should saie he disprooueth for that if the sonn were as a minister he should be of an other substance then the father and the spirit proceeding from the father being of the same substance with the father should be greater in nature then the fonne whereas the sonne saith plainlie of the holy ghoste he shal glorifie me c. An other cauil you haue that this place telleth not whether he proceeded by generation or without generation from the father But it is sufficient that neither this place nor any other place of scripture teacheth that the holie ghoste is begotten therefore we beleeue without generation The third point is the vnion of the word vnto the nature of man and not to the person of man which because you did set downe obscurelie M. Charke did not rightlie vnderstand yet the text that the quoteth 1. 〈◊〉 14. The word was made flesh includeth that assertion also seeing there was no person of the man when the vnion was made vnto the nature of man but the word in taking vpon him the nature of man did vnite him selfe to it in vniting tooke it as it is euident Luk. 1. 35. Mat. 1. 20. The fourth doctrine is the baptising of infants for which Master Charke quoteth Gen. 17. 12. the infant of eight daies shall be circumcised Against this you haue manie trifling cauills that baptisme is not expressed of the sexe of the eight daie Against which I oppose the authoritie of Saint Augustine which lib. 1. cont Crescon Grammat cap. 31. confuteth the rebaptization of such as were baptized by heretikes by example of them that were circumcised by the Samaritantes whose circumcision was not to be repeated to whome the like might be obiected But it is sufficient that wherein baptisme answereth to circumsion the reason is one in both Circumcision was the sacrament of regeneration as baptisme is the one giuen to infantes ergo the other The cerimonie of the eight day had an other reason not needefull to be obserued in baptisme The distinction of the sexe is taken awaie by Christ in whome there is neither male nor female That Beza was striken dumme with this question in the conference at Poyssie it is a slaunder of Cladius de Xanctes confuted by Beza him-selfe But you had rather followe Saint Augustine who contendeth and prooueth that baptizing of infantes is onelie a tradition of the Apostles and not left vs by anie written Scripture lib. 10. cap. 23. super Gen. ad lizeram So you write but I will set downe Saint Augustines wordes that the reader may see what contention and proofes he vseth hauing protested of his ignorance how the reasonable soule commeth into the bodie he concludeth that the baptisme of infantes fauoreth their opinion which thinke that soules are procreated of the parentes And of the baptisme of infantes thus he writeth Consuctudo tamen matris Ecclesiae in baptizandis paruulis nequaquam spernenda est neque vllo modo superflua de putanda nec omnino credenda nisi Apostolica esset traditio Habet enim illaparua aet as magnum testimonij pondus quae prima pro Christo meruit sanguinē fundere Yet the custome of our mother the Church in baptizing of infantes is not to be despised nor by any meanes to be thought superfluous nor to be credited at all if it were not an Apostolike tradition for euen that litle age hath greate weight of testimonie which first obteined to shed blood for Christ. You see that here is neither contention not profe that it is onelie a tradition not leftin writing for he alledgeth one testimonie out of Scripture of gods acceptation of that age to martirdome much rather to baptisme and manie other testimonies might be brought for the same purpose as Matt. 19. 14. 1. Cor. 7. 14. c. As for Origen he doth onelie make mention of the baptisme of infants according to the obseruance of the Church to prooue originall sinne But whether it stand onelie vpon tradition and not vpon the scripture he saith not one word The 5. Doctrine is the changeing of the Sabbath into Sondaie M. Charke quoteth Apo. 1. 10. I was in the spirit on
necessarie to saluation not expressed in so manie wordes and syllables yet in full sense contained and to be plainlie concluded out of the holie scriptures and these we receiue to be of as great credit as anie thing that is expresselie contained in the scriptures The other kinde of traditions was rites and cerimonies which are not necessary to saluation but are in the Churches power to alter as it maie stand best with edification Among which S. Basill rehearseth some that long since are abolished as the rite of standing in praier one the Lords daie and betweene Easter and Whitsontid which of it selfe is a thing indifferent as also that manner of glorifying in which they said with the holy ghost whereas al the Church long since hath said neither in the holie Ghost nor with the holie Ghost but to the holie Ghost To beleeue that the holie Ghost is to be glorified equallie with the Father and the sonne it is necessarie to saluation but in what forme of wordes that shal be song in the Church it is indifferent and the later Church hath vsed her libertie herein to alter that forme which Saint Basill saith was deliuered by the Apostles themselues without writing By this I hope it is manifest what kinde of traditions are of equall force or authoritie with the scripture euen they which haue their ground in the scriptures and none other For as the same Basill affirmeth Euerie word or deede ought to be confirmed by testimonie of the holie Scriptures Againe For if all that is not of faith is sinne as the Apostle saith and faith is of hearing and hearing by the word of God whatsoeuer is beside the holie Scripture being not of faith is sinne Thus Basill whatsoeuer he speaketh of vnwritten traditions he meaneth not against the insufficiencie of the holie scriptures except you will saie he is contrarie to him-selfe in manie places beside these that I haue noted Tr. de vera piafide Epist. 80. in Reg. Breu. Inter. 1. 65. 68. de ornatu Monachi Your next testimonie is out of Eusebius lib. 1. Eu. Demonst. cap. 8. whole wordes you mangle after your manner leauing out at your pleasure more then you rehearse Eusebius hauing shewed the excellencie of Christ aboue Moses declareth also that there are two manners ofliuing in Christianitie the one of them that are strong and perfect the other of them that are subiect to manie infirmites and that whereas Moses did write in tables without life Christ hath written the perfect preceptes of the new Testament in liuing mindes his disciples following their Masters minde considering what Doctrine is meete for both sortes haue committed the one to writing as that which is necessarie to be kept of all the other they deliuered without writing to those that were able to receiue it wich haue excelled the common manner of men in knowledge in strength in abstinence c. And this is the meaning of Eusebius in that place not of anie traditions necessarie to saluation of euerie man which are not taught in the holy scriptures but of certaine precepts tending to perfection not enioyned to all but written in the heartes of some The third man is Epiphanius who you saie is more earnest then Eusebius writing against certaine heretikes called Apostolici which denied traditions as our Protestantes do Which is but a tale for they were more like to Popish monkes and friers then Protestantes For they professed to abstaine from marryage to poslesse nothing and such other superstitions they obserued But what saith Epiphanius for traditions He saith that we must vse tradition For all thinges can not be taken out of the scripture wherefore the holie Apostles deliuered somethings in the scriptures and something in tradition Mine answer to Epiphanius is the same that it was to Basilius Namelie that such things as were not expressed in plaine wordes in the scripture were approoued by tradition being neuertheles such thinges as were to be concluded necessarilie out of the scripture As in the question for which he alledgeth tradition it is manifest Tradiderunt c. the holie Apostles of God saith he haue deliuered vnto vs that it is sinne after virginitie decreed to be turned vnto marriage This the Papistes doubt not but that they are hable to prooue out of the scripture except where the Pope dispenseth And we acknowledge that where the vow was made a duisedly to a Godlie purpose and abilitie in the partie to performe it that it is sinne to breake it neither can the Pope dispense with it In the other place where he rehearseth manie examples of traditions he speaketh of rites and ceremonies as is before declared wherof manie are not obserued in the Popish Church neither is there anie of them necessarie to saluation But Epiphanius you saie prooueth it out of scripture 1. Cor. 11. 14. 15. vhere Saint Paulsaith as I deliuered vnto you And againe so I teach and so I haue deliuered vnto the Churches and If you holde fast except you haue beleeued in vaine To the first I answer that it prooueth no traditions necessarie to saluation which are not contained in the scriptures as is more manifest by the second and third text for where Saint Paul saith so I teach in all the Churches of God 1. Cor. 14. 33. he saith immediatelie before that God is not the God of sedition but of peace 1. Cor. 15. 1. 2. 3. the Apostle speaketh manifestlie of the doctrine of the resurrection wherof he him-selfe in that place writeth plentifullie and in manie other places of scripture the same article is taught moste expresselie You see therefore how substantiallie Epiphanius prooueth tradition vnwritten out of the scripture to be necessarie to saluation which is our question But with Epiphanius saie you ioyneth fullie and earnestlie Saint Chrysostome writing vpon these wordes of Saint Paul to the purpose Stand fast and holde traditions out of which cleere wordes Saint Chrysostome maketh this illation Hinc patet c. Hereof it is euident that the Apostles deliuered not all by epistle but manie thinges also without writing and those are as worthie credit as these Therefore we think the tradition of the Church to be worthie of credit it is a tradition seeke no more The sense of these wordes is that the Apostles in their preaching did expresse manie things more perticularly then in their epistles not that they preached anie thing necessarie to saluation but that the same was contained either in their epistles or in other bookes of the holie scripture And so I saie of the tradition of the Church which is a doctrine contained in the scriptures though not expressed in the same or in so manie wordes as the three persons and one God in trinitie and trinitie in vnitie to be worshipped c. is of equall credit with that which is expressed in the scriptures because the ground of our faith standeth not vppon the sound of wordes but vppon
of his godhead which is proper vnto it Andwhatsoeuer in holie scripture is read to be exercised of him through the might of Gods spirit by the vertue of his annointing by the finger of God by the sending of the Father by power receiued from aboue by Priesthood praiers or sacrifice by the Sonne of man of the head of the Church or iudge of the liuing and dead whatsoeuer is in this sort said to be done it is not otherwise lightlie meant but in respect of Christs humanitie by which and in which he worketh the same not as by the proper and naturall power or force thereof but as by iurisdiction receiued of the blessed Trinitie and imploied vpon the sonne of man for the procuring of saluation to his people whereof he is become in our very nature the head FVLKE This generall rule is so abridged with the exception lightlie that it is hard to bring anie instance against it but Allen would haue his starting hole in it Neuerthelesse seeing he concludeth the examples before remembred to be included within this rule we maie be bolde to charge him with a spice of Nestorianisme seeing those workes which are certaine to haue beene the workes of the Mediator God and man he ascribeth to the onelie humanitie by iurisdiction receiued from the blessed Trinitie whereby it should followe that the worke of Christe in this respect should not differ from the workes of Moses Elias Dauid or anie of the Prophets whoe receiued iurisdiction from the blessed Trinitie whereby they performed manie workes which the same blessed Trinitie had appointed for the procuring of saluation vnto his people ALLEN Therefore no Christian man maie doubt but as our Sauiour by the omnipotent power of his Godhead might and did forgiue sinnes to the penitent so likewise that as he was Priest the sonne of man he might by the right of his office vnction and ministerie in the vertue of the holie Ghost remitte sinnes also And for that cause principallie in the Prophet Esay it is said Spiritus Dominisuper me eò quòd vnxerit me ad annunciandum mansuetis misit me vt mederer contritis corde praedicarem captiuis indulgentiam clausis apertionem The Spirit of the Lord vopn me because he hath annointed me and sent me to signifie vnto the meeke that I should heal the contrite in heart to preach pardon to the prisoners and freedome to the closed The which place of the Prophet our Sauiour applied vnto him selfe in the Church of Nazareth and is to be vnderstanded onelie of preaching and pardoning by the holie vnction of the Spirit of God and his Fathers calling And therefore it must needes according to Saint Augustines iudgement concerne the shape of his seruice and manhood taken on him in which he preached so that yet it pleased him to affirme that his Doctrine was not his owne but his Fathers that sent him and healed the contrite in heart which is nothing els but to forgiue sinnes to the penitent after such a sort that it might well appeare to be receiued and practised by the vnction of the Spirit of God and sending of his Father whereby the Sonne of man might doe that as Gods minister in his manhood in earth which both he and his eternall Father with the holie Spirit of them both doe worke by their owne one and equall authoritie in heauen euerlastinglie FVLKE And seeing he willeth vs to note the ground of the cause which is that Christ as he was Priest and the sonne of man might remit sinnes by a ministeriereceiued by vnction of the holie Ghost it is not lightlie to be passed ouer That the sonne of man had power vpon earth to forgiue sinnes he him-selfe affirmeth Mat. 9. 6. but this was the power of his godhead which was not restreined nor abased by the shape of a seruant in which he appeered on earth That he was authorized by vnction of the holie Ghost to preach remission of sinnes vnto the penitent it pertaneth indeede vnto him in respect of his manhood although Saint Augustine in the place by Allen quoted saieth not so but citeth the place of Esaie to prooue that Christ in respct of his humanity was inferior to the holy Ghost but that this is all the power that Christ had vpon earth to remit sinnes it is not prooued by anie argument For this ministerie of reconciliation to remit sinnes by preaching of the Gospell doth remaine still with the Church the other that was proper to his Deitie no mortall man without Sacriledge can arrogate or vsurpe ALLEN And though God hath neuer 〈◊〉 mans fall vsed the meanes and seruice of man to his restore againe and to the reliefe of his lackes and therefore hath giuen authority by his holie spirite and vnction to diuerse of the olde law to offer sacrifice praier and procure remission to the people of all their offences and no lesse 〈◊〉 occasion serued and the matter required to correct their misdeedes by iudgement and iurisdiction giuen vnto them for which soueraigne calling they were called the annointed of God an externall ceremonie of anoyting being solemnelie annexed thereunto yet our Lord an Master whether you consider his high Priesthoode by which in moste ample manner through commission receiued he maie procure our pardone or his calling to be head of the Church by which he ruleth and keepeth all the bodie in due subiection and order or his ministerie of preaching whereby farre aboue all the Prophets and preachers of the olde law he openeth to his flock the Church the secret mysteries of Gods trueth Christ I saie in all these respectes being man is yet much more abundantlie blessed and anointed without comparison aboue all his fellowes and copartners as the holy Prophet Dauid doth testifie Vpon whose wordes touching that matter Saint Hilarie writeth thus Vnxit te Deus Deus tuus oleo exultationis prae participibus tuis non secundùm sacramentum aliud quà m secundùm dispensationem assumpti corporis Vnctio enim illa non beatae illi incorrupt in natura dei man enti natiuitati profecit sed sanctificationi hominis assumpti Nam in Actis ait Petrus vnxit illum Deus in spiritu sancto virtute Thus he meaneth in English God etien thy God hath anointed thee with the oile of ioy farre aboue thy copartners not in anie other meaning but according to the dispensation of a bodie receaued For that vnction could not be beneficiall to the holie vnspotted and euerlasting natiuitie in the nature of his Godhead but onelie it was agreeable to the mysterie of his manhood and flesh assumpted in his temporal natiuitie whereof Saint Peter speaketh in the Actes that God hath annointed him with the holie ghost and with power The holie Father also Saint Cyrill agreeth hereunto confessing that all this honour power and authoritie which the Prophets haue signified so long before by the annointing of the sonne of God came vnto Christ in consideration
warrant of Christ his power receiued by the holy ghost maie as ministers seruants remit or retaine sins we do most willinglie consent and confesse But then they practise this power as seruants when they beinterpreters and declarers of the Lordes will and pleasure and require not that God should followe their sentence or attend how they be affected to forgiue or retaine and so to subscribe vnto their doing for that is an Antichristian vsurpation farre from the meaning of that power which Christ did graunt to his A postles ALLEN Some holie writers vpon this text of S. Iohn in which the order of Christes authorizing his Apostles for the remission of sinnes is described doe dispute of the difference of giuing the holie Ghost then to his Disciples and afterward on Whitsondaie some note the eternall ceremonie that our Master vsed when he gaue them the holie spirit which was by breathing on them that such outward actions might both be an euidence to them of that excellent gift which they inwardlie then receiued and should further be an euerlasting instruction to the Church that Gods grace and giftes be often ioyned to externall elements for the solace of our nature that delighteth to haue our outward man schooled as wel as the inward man nourished These and manie things moe be of profitable remembrance and consideration but not so much to our purpose Therefore let vs see whether the iudgement of the holie Fathers doe not wholie helpe our present cause prouing the Priests ministerie through the holie Ghostes authoritie that our declaration standing on the plaine wordes of scripture with their vndoubted sense maie obtaine inuincible force against the aduersaries worthie credit of the true beleeuers FVLKE If you had expressed what the writers are that thus dispute or discourse vpon this text we might better haue considred how pertinent or impertinent their opinions are to our matter in controuersie S. Chrysost. seemeth to allowe the opinion of some and Euthymius plainely affirmeth the same that the Apostles at this time did not presentlie receiue the holie ghost but onelie were prepared or made capable thereof which if it were true is contrarie to the title of your Chapter I like better of Cyrillus iudgement which thinketh they presentlie receiued the holie Ghost in some measure but not so plentifullie nor with such diuersitie of giftes as on the daie of Pentecost That the grace of God is testified assured and sealed vp vnto vs for the help of our infirmitie by outward signes and externall elementes ioined thereto we know confesse but as for the solace of our nature or delight to haue our outward man schooled I knowe not what they meane It is great mercie of God to beare with our weakenes but it agreeth not with the discipline of the Gospell that we should delight in outward thinges but rather to exercise our faith in spirituall and heauenlie meditations ALLEN We will make our entrance first with Saint Cyrill whoe debating with himselfe vppon the incomparable authoritie and power giuen to the Apostles for remission of sinnes standeth first as in contention with him selfe and with Christs words how it maie be that they being but men should forgiue the sinnes of our soules being sure of this that it is the propertie onelie of the true liuing god to assoile vs of our sinnes against whom onlie all sins be properlie committed And therfore being not of stomake as men be now a daies to denie that which Christes words so plainelie do import he made answere that the Apostles were in deed deified and made as you would saie partakers of Gods nature to worke Gods owne office in the world Qua igitur ratione saieth he diuinae naturae dignitatem ac potestatem discipulis suis saluator largitus est Quia certè absurdum non est peccata remitti posse ab illis qui Spiritum sanctum in seipsis habeant Nam cùm ipsi remmittunt aut detinent spiritus qui habitat in eis remittit detines By what meanes did our Sauiour giue vnto the Apostles the preheminence and power of Gods owne nature Surelie because it agreeth verie well that they should rimit mans sins that haue in themselues the holie Ghost For when they assoile or retaine sins it is the holie spirit that dwelleth in them which by their ministery doth remit or retaine sins Thus he I maruell not now whie this same father termeth the Apostles sometimes protectores curatores animarum corporum the protectors curers both of bodies soules it is not strange whie S. Ambrose should call the order of priestood Ordinem 〈◊〉 Neither that he should terme Officium Sacerdotis munus S. S. The Priests office to be the function of the holie Ghost No I doe not wonder at some of our forefathers that in the admiration of Gods Maiestic which they same to be so present in the execution of so high in office they did simplie and plainely terme the principall Pastours of the Church halfe Gods and not meere men not hauing respect to their persons which be compassed with infirmities as other the sinfull sort of people in the world be but casting eie vpward to the holie and excellent function which they practised by the spirit of God which dwelleth in them and deifieth their persons to make them of habilitie to exercise the workes of God FVLKE Saint Cyrill is farre from that blasphemie to saie that the Apostles were in deede deified and made partakers of Gods nature to worke Gods owne office in the world For ascribing to God that which is proper to him incommunicable to anie meere creature he maketh this obiection how our sauiour did graunt to his disciples the dignitie power of his diuine nature answereth that they were only made ministers instruments of the holy ghost to expresse his power in remitting sinnes by baptisme and repentance whereof S. Chrysostome also saieth vpon the same text that the Priest giueth onelie his tongue and his hand but the Father the sonne and the holie Ghost doth all things in this case I will rehearse the whole saying of Cyrillus that his iudgement maie more fullie appeare vpon this text Et certè solius veri Dei est c. And suerlie it pertaineth to the onelie true God that he is able to loose men from their sinnes For to what other person is it lawfull to deliuer the transgressors of the law from sinne but to the author of the law him-selfe for so in mennes affaires we see it to be done For no man without punishment doth reprooue the lawes of Kings but the Kinges them-selues in whome the crime of transgression hath no place For it is wiselie said that he is implous which shall saie to a King thou doest vniustlie By what meanes then did our Sauiour graunt to his disciples the dignitie and power of the diuine nature because trulie it is not absurde that sinnes may be remitted
vertue of the holie Ghost hath euer beene in it selfe bòth so plaine and so firme that the holie fathers haue vsed it as a ground to prooue against heretikes of Eunomius and Macedonius sectc the Godhheade of the holie Ghost the third person in Trinitie FVLKE You remember Saint Augustine but you can rehearse nothing that he saith touching this matter to confirme the deifying of your poeticall Popish halfe gods the Popish Faunes and Satyres saue onelie the generall argument of vniuersall consent and practize which if it be denyed you you are at a stale til you can prooue it You saide that priests as deified persons halfe Gods not meere men had abilitie to exercise the proper workes of God For otherwise the lawfull power and practize of remitting sinnes is so sufficientlie authorized by the words of the Gospel that it neede not be vnderproped with Saint Augustines generall argument wherein yet he neuer placed so great force as you affirme of him ALLEN S. Bernard is too young good man to name amongst these olde fathers of our new Church els perdie with the vertuous his wordes sound full sweetelie Thus saith he to prooue the equalitie of the holie Ghost with the Father and the sonne Sicut in nobis interpellas pro nobis ita a in patre delicta donatcum ipso Patre vt omnino scias quòd remissionem peccatorum spiritus sanctus operatur audi quod aliquando audierunt Apostoli Accipite Spiritum sanctum quorum remiserit is peccata remittuntur eis In English thus Like as in vs he maketh sute for vs so in the father he pardoneth sinnes with the father and that thou maiest vnderstande that the holy Ghost worketh remission of sinnes hear that which she Apostles once heard Receiue you the holie Ghost whose sins you doe forgiue they are forgiuen Thus he And Saint Ambrose his auncient to prooue the holie Ghost to be God alledgeth that he remitteth sins by the priests ministerie which he could not in any wise doe if he were not in all pointes equall and omnipotent God with the father and sonne Let vs see saith he Whether the holie Ghost doth pardon sinnes and he answereth him-selfe thus Sedhinc dubitari non potest cùm ipse Dominus dixerit Accipite spiritum sanctum quorum remiseritis peccata remittuntur ecce quia per spiritum sanctum peccata donantur homines autem in remissionem peccatoris ministerium suum exhibent non ius alicuius potestatis exercent It is thus much to saie There can be no doubt thereof seeing our Lord saide Receiue you the holie Ghost whose sinnes you doe forgiue they shal be forgiuen lookeye that by the holie Ghost sinnes be forgiuen men doe but exercise their seruice and ministerie and claime not the right of power and principalitie therein And Saine Basill vpon this assured ground frameth in full forme against Eunomius this argument Dominus sanctis Apostolis insufflans inquit Accipite spiritum sanctum quorumcunque dimittetis peccata dimittentur eis siergo nullius est peccata dimittere nisi solius Dei dimittit autem spiritus sanctus per Apostolos Deus ergo spiritus sanctus Our lord breathing on the Apostles said take ye the holy ghost for whose sinnes soeuer you shall pardon they be pardoned therefore if it be the onelie proprietie of God to forgiue sinnes and the holie Ghost so doth by the Apostles Ergo the holie Ghost is truelie God FVLKE Saint Bernarde is not to be despised for his youth where he agreeth with the most auncient and eternall truth reuealed in the holie scriptures His purpose is to prooue the equallity of the holy ghost with the father and the sonne and prooueth it by his effects because he forgiueth sinnes which is proper to God His saying Hom. de Pentecost 1. is mangled by you I know not for what purpose except you follow some Iesuites dictates more then your owne reading But in trueth there is nothing which can prooue the deification of priests but contrariwise that it is the holie Ghost that properlie remitteth sinnes of whose pleasure according to the holie scriptures the priestes are but interpreters and reporters As for the saying of Saint Ambrose is flat against you if you had not falsified it in translation For you traslate Exhibent ministerium non ius alicuius potestatis exercent They doe but exercise their seruice and ministerie and claime not the right of power and principallitie Where you should saie men doe exhibit or yeald their ministerie or seruise they exercise not the right of any power And he addeth a reason which you omit Neque enim in suo sed in patris filii SS nomine peccata dimittuntur Isti rogant diuinitas donat humanum enim obsequium sed munificentia supernae est potestatis For sins are not forgiuen in their name but in the name of the father and of the sonne of the holie Ghost These men do intreate the godhead doth graunt for the seruice is mans but the bowntiful gift is of the highest power Saint Basill also if his wholl saying were recited would appeare more manifest against you as he maketh vpon your owne report no shew at all for you His wordes are these against Eunomius Lib. 5. Cap. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It is proper to God to forgiue sinnes he him-selfe affirming the same I am he which putteth away thy sinnes if your sinnes were as purple I will make them as white as snow and if they were as scarlet I will make them as white as woll Afterward when God the sonne of God Iesus forgiueth sinnes to the man sicke of the palsie saying sonne thy sinnes are forgiuen thee whereupon he was thought to blaspheme of the Iewes which knew not that he was God saying that this man blasphemeth for it perteineth to none to forgiue sinnes but to god alone But our Lord breathing vpon his holie Apostles said receiue the holie ghost whose sinnes you forgiue they are forgiuen to them If therfore it perteineth to none to forgiue sinnes as it doth not but onelie to God and the holy ghost by the Apostles forgiueth then the holy ghost is God and of the same efficacie and power with the father and the sonne In this saying of Saint Basil you haue not onelie omitted the former parte which ascribeth the power of forgiuing of sinnes as proper to God but also haue gelded out these wordes in that parte you alledge both in your latine and English translation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in deede it is not of what purpose let the indifferent reader iudge ALLEN Thus you perceiue that the ground of this our faith and assertion was of olde accounted so sure that it was a singular aide and for tresse of faith against the vnfaithfull attemptes of most wicked persons in diuerse ages The onelie practize that priests vse by the Sacrament of penance to pardon sinnes was a full proofe that the
the workes of nature or will which are in vs but by the he lie ghoste which is geuen vnto vs which both helpeth our infirmitie and worketh with our health for that is the grace of God by Iesus Christ our Lord. to whome with the father and the holie ghoste be ascribed eternitie and goodnes for euer In this discourse of S. Augustine is declared that the commaundements of God are made possible and not heauie to be fulfilled by the grace of God nor by the strength of man either of nature or will and that by two meanes faith and loue Faith by which we craue obtaine forgiuenes of our imperfection and loue by which we cherefully endeuour to accomplish in work so much as we can which we can not do perfectly in this life in as much asno mans heart is pure in this life no mans loue is perfect in this world yet faith purifying our harts that by themselues are vnclean obtaineth as the same 's Augustine saith that which the law commaundeth But how far is this from the popish assertion to wit The law is not abooue our abtlitie to keepe it The cursse that you cite out of Augustine Serm. 191. and Ierorme explan Symb. ad Damasum is but a crack of a broken bladder in stead of a thunderbolte For both the sermon and the explanation are counterfeit stuffe being all one word forword except a litle 〈◊〉 flue in the beginning and the end and yet are most impudentlieascribed both to Augustine and Ierome But that ne ther of both is author of that sentence I wil prooue by 〈◊〉 of Saint Ierome who expresselie affirm ah that which the sermon and explanation accurseet We cursse the blasphemie of them saie the counterfeiters which saie that anie thing impossible is commaunded by God to man and that the commaundements of God cannot be kept of euerie one but of all in common Saint lerome dialog aduers. Pelag. lib. 1. saith Possibilia praecepit 〈◊〉 ego fateer Sed haec possibilia cuncta singuli habere non possumus non imbeciliitate naturae ne calumniam facias deo sed animilassitudine quae 〈◊〉 simul semper non potest habere virtutes God commaunded things possible and that I confesse But all these possible thinges euerie one of vs can not haue through weakenes of nature lest thou shouldest slaunder God but through wearines of minde which can not haue all vertues together and alwaies And his whole discourse in that dialogue is to prooue that no man can be without sinne the contrarie whereof is flat Pelagianisine He expoundeth also at large how the commaundements of God are possible and how vnpossible which maie be seene of anie man that will read his writings against the Pelagians and therfore it is very iniurious vnto him to make him a patrone of that sentence which he put posedlie and plentifullie impugneth To conclude Chrysostome and Basile meane not that a perfect obseruation of Gods law is possible in this life but that God geueth grace in some measure to keepe them to those that are borne 〈◊〉 in Christ in whome onelie is performed that which was impossible by the law as the A postle saith These fathers and diuerse other whose authority the Pelagians abused as you do to vpholde their heresie by such speeches meant to accuse the negligence and slothfulnes of men in keepeing Gods commaundements not to extoll the power and abilitie of mans free will to keepe them as Saint Augustine prooueth by manie testimonies taken out of their writinges in his treatises against the Pelagians The eleuenth section of de facing the scriptures and doctrines by tradition THe Iesuites you saie do not vse these termes of defacing that the scripture is imperfect maimed or lame and thereof I will not contend but the same in effect they holde as Master Charke saith when they affirme that all things necessarte to saluation are not contained in the scripture Your similitude of a marchant leauing his commaundements partelie in writings and partelie by word of mouth and referring the resolution of doubtes vnto his wife is not sufficient in this case For our Sauiour Christ liueth for euer whereas his seruants and the men of whome his Church which is his spouse consisteth are changed in euerie generation So that there can be no certaintie of his commaundements but onelie by his writings which if they containe not all thinges necessarie to saluation they are imperfect lame and maimed And where you saie that Saint Augustine prooueth the contrarie at large lib. 1. cont Cresc c. 32. it is vtterlie vntrue For he saith expresselie concerning the question of rebaptising them that were baptized by heretikes Sequimur sanè nos in hac re etiam Canonicarum authoritatem certissimam scripturarum We truelie doe follow in this matter also the most certaine authoritie of the Canonicall scriptures whereunto he adioineth the consent of the Catholike Church after some disceptation about the matter whose counsell agreeable to the holie scripture no man doubteth bur it is to be followed Theverie same doctrine you saie teacheth the said father lib. de side operibus cap. 9. and also ep 66. ad Don. In the former is no worde to the purpose he speaketh of the Eunuch whome Philip baptized whose confession of Christ being verie shorte some thought to be sufficient for anie man that should receaue baptisme whereas there is a more distinct knowledge and particuler explication of this faith in other places of scripture set downe that is to be required of them that are catechised and come to baptisme In the last quotation I thinke there is a faulte either in your Printer or in your notebooke which setteth downe ep 66. for ep 166. which is directed to the Donatistes whereas the other is to Maximus But in this epistle to the Donatistes there is nothing that prooueth this matter that the scriptures containe not all things necessarie to saluation Onelie he exhorteth the Donatistes to vnitie shewing that out of the same scriptures which teach Christ to be the head his bodie the Church is to be discerned and learned Touching the twelue pointes of doctrine set downe by the Censure as not conteined expresselie in the scripture and yet to be beleeued Master Charke answereth that seuen of them are in scripture the rest not necessarie to be beleeued But here you saie the question is of expresse scripture and not of any farre fet place that by interpretation may be applied to a controuersie If you meane by expresse scripture that which is expressed in so many wordes as the thing in cōtrouersy we deny that we haue anysuch question with you For we holde that any thing which by necessary demonstration can be concluded out of the scripture is as true as necessary to be beleeued as that which is expressed in plaine wordes And so we meane when we saie all thinges necessarie to saluation are conteined in the holie scriptures And as for your
the Lordes daie Here you cauill that there is no mention of Saturdaie or sondaie much lesse of celebration of either and least of all of the changeing of the Sabbath into an other daie But if it please your Censurship are you ignorant what day of the weeke is called dies Dominicus the Lordsday whether saturdaie or sondaie if it be sondaie as al professors of Christes name confesse here is as much mention thereof as is needfull for the daie into which the change is made Or if that be not sufficient you maie haue further Act. 20. 7. 1. Cor. 16. 2. And whie is the first of the Sabbath called the Lordes daie but in respect of the celebration there of in honour of the redemption of the world by Christ For otherwise all daies of the weeke are the Lordes daies in respect of their creation Thirdlie seeing the Lordes daie was one daie in the weeke vsed for the assemblie of the Church for their spirituall exercises of Religion it is certaine that the change of the Iewish Sabbath was made into that daie except you would be so waywatd to saie there were two daies in euerie weeke appointed by God to be celebrated whereas the lawe of God requireth but one and giueth libertie of bodelie exercise in sixe daies So that the change of the Sabbath daie is sufficientlie prooued out of the Scripture into the Lordes daie The sixt point is about foure Gospells and the Epistle to the Romanes which Master Charke saith to be prooued out of the scripture but yet he quoteth no place of scripture where onelie he saith the inscription expresseth the names of the writers But what a mocker is this you saie Are the bare names of the Apostles sufficient to prooue that they were written by them who can prooue by scripture that these names are not counterfet as in the Epistle to the Laodiceans in the Gospells of Bartholomew and Thomas c. But abide you sir your question hath two branches the one that the 4. Go spells are true Gospells the other that the epistle to the Romanes was written by Saint Paul and not that to the Laodiceans To the former it is answered that they are prooued by other vndoubted bookes of the scripture both of the olde testament and the new secing they declare that to be fullfilled of Christ which was spoken in the lawe in the Prophetes and in the Psalmes To the other it is answered that admitting the Epistle to the Romanes to be scripture the inscription of his name is sufficient to prooue that it was written by Saint Paull And so of therest Although the name of the writer is not materiall vnto saluation when the booke is receiued to be Canonicall as diuers bookes of scripture are receiued whose writer is vnknowne That Epistle which is called to the Laodicians is not receiued and therefore the inscription is vnsufficient as the Gospelles of Bartholomew and Thomas and such like which are knowne to be countefet by the dissent they haue from the other canonicall scriptures Whereas you require one place of Scripture to prooue all the foure Gospelles to be canonicall you declare your wrangling and wayward spirit But name you anie one point of Doctrine writen in anie of those foure Gospells and the same shall be aduouched by other textes of scripture and so maie eucrie point conteined in them if neede were But you affirme that Origen saith he reiecteth the Gospell of Saint Thomas onelie for that the tradition of the Church receiued it not Which is false He saith he hath read the Gospell after Thomas after Mathias and manie other Sed in his omnibus nihil aliud probamus niss quod Ecclesia idest quatuor tantùm euangelia recipienda But in all these we allowe nothing els but that which the Church alloweth that is that onelie foure Gospells are to be receiued In these wordes he affirmeth that he approoueth the iudgment of the Church he saith not that the iudgement or traditions of the Church was the onelie cause whie he reiected those Gospells for he said before they were receiued of heretikes and wherefore but in maintenance of their heresie which is contrarie to the holie scriptures That all counterfet Go spells were reiected by the Church it is confessed but the Church had this iudgement of discretion confirmed by the canonical scriptures against which Epiphanius saith nothing But when Faustus the Manichie denied the Gospell of Saint Mathew saie you saith not S. Augustine Mathaei Euangelium probatum aduersus Faustum Manichaeum per traditionem The Gospell of Mathew was alleged against Faustus the Manichie by tradition August lib. 28. Cont. Faust. c. 2. If you aske me I saie no he hath no such wordes Yet doth he auouch the Gospell of Saint Mathew in that Chapter by testimonie of the Church from the Apostles by continuall succession euen vnto his time against the Maniches but in far other words then you haue set downe in steed of Saint Augustines wordes by which the reader maie once against perceiue how impudentlie and ignorantlie you ailedge whatsoeuer the note booke which was neuer of your own gatheriug because you vnderstood it not did minister vnto you For these are the wordes of the collector of your notes not of S. Augustine Maie not the papists haue great ioie of such a Cenfure defender Yet you triumph like a Iustie champion and aske what can be more euident then all this to prooue our opinion of the necessitie of tradition to confound the fonde madnes of this poore Minister Alas poore defender what waightie euidencethou hast brought to prooue the necessity of tradition which prooueth thee to be a blind beggerlie yet a bolde brocher of other mens notes which thou vnderstandest not thy selfe The seuenth doctrine which is required to be prooued out of the scripture is that God the father begat his sonne onelie by vnderstanding him-selfe Here Master Charke in steede of these darke wordes out of Thomas how the father begat the sonne wisheth cleare and perfect wordes in so high a mysterie which you saie are plaine and vsuall to those which haue studied any thing in diuinitie As though there were no diuinitie in the holie scriptures and so many of the auncient fathers which haue neither this question nor these wordes but that al diuinity were included in the brest of Thomas Aquinas and such doctors as he was That he quoteth a place or two of the scripture to prooue that Christ was the onelie begotten sonne of God you make smal account of seeing the question is of the māner how this generation maybe which the Church de fendeth against the aduersaries And here you insult against M. chark as ignorant in those high points of diuinitie whereas Catholiks know what the Church hath determined herein against heretikes and infidels as though either of both cared for the Churches determination if the one were not vanquished by scripture the other by right reason
third question you haue what difference is betweene these speaches namelie of proceeding and begotten which question you saie with the rest though Master Charke seeme ignorant in them all and not to vnderstand so much as the verie 〈◊〉 themselues yet Catholike diuines know what the Church hath determined herein But concerning this question Saint Augustine shall answere for our ignorance Cont. Maximin lib. 3. cap. 14. Quid autem inter nasci procedere incersit de illa excellentissima natura loquens explicare quis potest Non omne quod procedit nascitur quamuis omne procedar quod nascitur 〈◊〉 omne quod bipes est homo est quam nis bipes sit omnis qui homo est haec scio Distinguere autem inter illam generationem hanc processionem nescio non valeo non sufficio Ac per hoc quia illa ista est ineffabilis stcut Propheta de filio loquens alt Generationem eius quis enarrabit ita de spiritu sancto verissimè dicitur processionem eius quis enarrabit c. What difference is betweene begotten proceeding speaking of that moste excellent nature whoe is able to expresse Not all that proceedeth is begotten although al proceedeth that is begotten As not euerie two legged thing is a man although euerie one is two legged that is a man Those thinges I know But to distinguish betweene that generation and this procession I know not I am not able I am not sufficient And for this reason because both that and this is vnspeakeable as the Prophet speaking of the sonne saith whoe shall declare his generation so of the holie ghost it is saide moste trulie whoe shall declare his procession This is Saint Augustines iudgement of this question Yea this is the Master of the sentences iudgement also as well of this question as of the proceeding of the sonne from the father against you Yet you saie of these as wel of as the other they are no lesse to be beleeued then other mysteries of the trinitie wherewith your conclusion is that you would not haue troubled Master Charke if you had supposed him so grosse therein as by examination you finde him Alacke poore Sir William A lacke for pitie what high points of learning you haue shewed which in the Master of the sentences whome soeuer he wil of an hundred schoolemen that wrote vpon him euerie sophister may finde mooued debated and defined in lesse then one daies studie no meruaill then if Master Charke be so grosse in them as you by examination finde him But while you in your owne imagination are so subtile in them that you thinke your crest perceth the clowdes you haue bewraied more shamefull proude ignorance then any of vs would haue suspected that it might be found in such a great Champion of the Papistes such a Lorde he censuter such a doughtie defender When in some of the questions propounded by your selfe you neither know the doctrine of the scripture the iudgement of the auncient fathers the determination of your Church nor the conclusion of your owne schoole doctors in whole mysteries neuertheles you would seeme to be an other Mercurie For the rest of the handes that you draw against Doctor Fulke you are answered in this consutation of popish quarrelles from pag. 48. vntill pag. 55. And where you saie that euerie litle gesse at our pleasure is sufficient to prooue what we will whereas no testimonies of your part will serue except they be so plaine and euident as by no waits they maie be auoyded and thereupon charge vs to be Lordes of the scriptures it is as manie other of yours a detestable slaunder For as I haue shewed before in matters necessarie to saluation we admit no gesses but either manifest wordes of scripture or els that which is necessarilie concluded out of manifest wordes and principles confessed and such if you haue anie bring them forth and we will hearken vnto them Ouer against the article of punishing heretiks by death which you saie was a long time denied by our selues to be allowable by scripture you note in the margent Luther against Latomus de incendiariis of burners For what purpose I maruell seeing in that booke he complaineth of the Louanistes not for burning heretikes but for burning of his bookes For the mention which Saint Paull is thought of some to make of an Epistle written to the Laodicenses you are not a litle netled that Master Chark condemneth both you and Saint Ieromes translation of ignorance You saie he should not obiect ignorance so peremptorilie to you you ought not so rigorously to haue beene reprehended and you name a great manie auncient writers which may be sufficient to wipe awaie Master Charkes bitter reproch against you But let vs see howrigorously and bitterly he hath delt with you yea how peremtorilie he obiecteth ignorance to you by his own wordes The Episile to the Laodiceans although manie make mention of it Paull maketh none so that either you ignorantlie passed ouer the greeke or willfullie addicted your selfe to the olde translation being in this place plainlie corrupted For by the originall Paull speaketh of an Epistle from Laodicea and not writen to the Laodicenses as you vntrulie assirme Here is all that he saieth you are a daintie Parnell that count your selfe so rigorouflie reprehended and so bitterlie reproched in those wordes where ignorance is not peremptorilie obiected as you saie but either that or willful addiction to the olde translation which I know not vpon what ground you doe so peremtorilie call S. Ieromes translation Master Charke hath more cause to complaine of you for that you affirme that he saith the greeke text hath of an Epistle written by S. Paull from Laodicea For he saith not an Epistle written by Saint Paull but from Laodicea by whome soeuer it was written Where you cite manie that thought mention to be made of one written by Saint Paull to the Laodiceans he confesseth as much But it is more against Master Charke that you haue two Greeke editions the one of Pagnine the other of Plantine which make for you as you affirme But what if you be deceiued in them as great a clarke as you would seeme to be that maie not be touched with the least suspicion of ignorance The most of the copies both printed and written haue 〈◊〉 the Epistle from Laodicea Your two editions leaue out the preposition and then it must be translated that Epistle of Laodicea which it seemeth your vulgar interpreter followed in sense though not in wordes which saith eam quae Laodicensiumest that which is of the Laodiceans Where is there now in anie of these that which maketh for you that Saint Paull speaketh of an Epstle written by him to the Laodicenses For the Epistle of Laodicea which your two greeke editions haue and the Epistle of the Laodicenses which your vulgar translation hath cannot signifie an Epistle written to the Laodicenses but from
Secondlie he speaketh of the fourth daies or Wednesdaies fast to be appointed by the tradition of the Apostles which yet neuerthelesse the Romish Church doth not obserue Thirdlie that the Pente cosse or fiftie daies by the tradition of Apostles are exempted from the Fridaie fast which tradition is not kept in the Popes Church except you will saie that Pentecost is taken for whitson weeke and then the custome of the PopishChurch is directlie contrarie to the tradition of the Apostles for Wednesdaie and Fridaie that weeke are 〈◊〉 daies And as for the Wednesdaie fast as well as the Fridaie Epiphanius is so earnest that he addeth further Deinde verò st non de eodem argumento quartarum Prosabbatorum ijdem Apostoli in constitutione dixissent etiamaliter vndique demonstrare possemus Attamen de hoc exactè scribunt Assumpsit autem ecclesta in toto mundo assensus factus est c. And moreouer if the same Apostles in their constitutions had not spoken of the same argument of wednesdaies Fridaies we could otherwise throughly make proofe of it But they write exactly ofit and the Church hath taken it vp assent hath bin geuen in al the world You see he alledgeth not onely a decree of the Apostles but also the consent of all the world for the wednesdaie fast as well as the Fridaie fast So that if the Apostles tradition beside the scripture be necessarie for lent whie is it not also for wednesdaies fast And if wednesdaies faste is not necessarie no more is lent fast Further you affirme that Dionystus and Tertullian saie that praiers and oblations for the dead are traditions of the Apostles De Eccles. hier c. 7. de corona milit but Dionystus al beit we do not acknowledge him for a man of such antiquitie as the papists would obtrude him yet hath not any mention of traditions of the Apostles in that Chap ter touching praier for the dead but either of tradition in scripture orels at large endeuoring to prooue that he saith by scripture Tertullian in the place quoted speaketh onelie of oblations for the dead in that yearelie day which maie signifie thanksgiuing as pro nataliliis for their birth doth in in the verie same clause Not denying yet but Tertullian when he forsooke the Church and became a Montanist yealed to praier for the dead as a thing reuealed by the spirit aud new prophecie of Montanus Last of all you saie Saint Basill teacheth that the consecration of the fant before baptisme the exorcisme vpon those that are to be baptized their anointing with holie chrisme and diuerse like thinges are deliuered to vs by prescript of Christ and his Apostles lib. de spi. 5. cap. 27. Of consecration or blessing of the water to the holie vse of baptisme of those that are to be baptized there neede no tradition to be alledged the scripture is sufficient in the institution of baptisme whereby both the water and the perfon are dedicated to God aud his holie worke of regeneration The anointing with chrisme seemeth at the first to haue beene the signe of the giftes of the holie Ghost which were wont to be graunted with baptisme which though it had beene vfed by the Apostles in baptisme yet that particular grace being ceased which to signifie it was vsed it hath no longer anie profitable vse in the Church As for exorcisme vpon those that are to be baptized Is is your owne addition for Saint Basill hath it not But where you saie he hath diuers like thinges as deliuered by traditian it is verie true and among them this sor example that it is necessarie for the children of the Church to praie standing on the Lords daie But this necessitie euen in the popish Church is notacknowledged therefore whatsoeuer he saieth is a tradition of the Apostles is necessarieto be kept of all Christians although all the Church in his time beleeued it as that which Epiphanius reporteth of the wednesdaies fast before spoken of You demaund vpon what ground you shall discredit or reiect these traditions deliuered by such fathers cheife Doctors and pillers of the Church Euen by the same ground that you giue ouer other traditions deliuered by the same persones either because they are not true traditions or els because they are not necessarie for the Church albelt they were deliuered as no doubt some ceremoniall matters were euen by the Apostles them selues Your other reasons are friuolous That they were neerer the Apostles then we For the neerest and moste immediat successours to the Apostles Policarpus and Anicetus could not agree vpon the tradition of the Apostles one of them building vpon Iohn the other vpon Peter as is testified by Eusebius out of Irenaeus in the place before cited An other reason is that they were honest men and would not deceiue vs willinglie And so much we acknowledge yet might they be deceiued in ascribing the common practise of their time to Apostolike tradition and so deceiue vs vnwittinglie nor be controlled because the custome generall acceptation of that ceremonie restreined men Which things considered it is a great iniquitie as Master Charke saieth to adde traditions to the written word of God as if of it selfe it were not sufficient to instruct the Church in all thinges necessarie to saluation That which followeth of Doctor Fulkes handling the olde Fathers about traditions is answered by himselfe in his confutation of popish quarrells from pag. 55. to pag 61. After this you cite foure seuer all Doctors in defence of traditions vnwritten whereunto as some of auncient writers were too much inclined so haue you not so sure ground out of them for your popish traditions as you purpose And to beginne with Basill who by Apostolike traditiō defendeth the custome of the Church which was to sing Glorie be to the Father and to the sonne with the holie Ghost whereas the heretikes would haue it in the holie Ghost and cauilled that the other forme was not in the scriptures Saint Basil mainteineth it as agreeable to the scriptures by authoritie of auncient tradition although it were not expressed in so manie wordes in the scriptures as manie other thinges are which haue like force vnto pietie with those that are dilinered in expresse wordes as for example he alledgeth the confession of the faith in the 〈◊〉 which no man doubteth to be sufficientlie tanght in the scriptures although the verie wordes of our creed are not expressed in such for me As we rehearse our creede I omit 〈◊〉 things saieth he the verie confession of faith in which we beleeue in the father the sonne the holie Ghost in what scripture haue we it Againe And if they doe reiect the manner of glorifying of god as not written let them bring forth demonstration in writing of the confession of faith of other things that we rehearse By which it is manifest that the traditions he speaketh of are of two sortes the one
30. entreating vpon this place Illud verò non praetermittendum quòd quando peccata paralytici dimisit non apertè potestatem suam manifesiauit Non enim dixit dimitto tibi peccata tua sed dimittuntur tibi peccata tua inimicis autem vrgentibus manifestius suam potestatem oftendit Ait enim vt sciatis quia potestatem habet filius bominis in terra peccata di mittere perpendisne quam longè abest vt nolit aequalis patri putari non enim dixit potestatem habere à deo filium hominis aut quia dedit sibi Deus potestatem sed potestatem habet filius hominis nec ad gloriam dico ait sed vt vobis persuadeam quia non blasphemo cùm meip sum patri aequalem faciam But this thing is not to be passed by that when he forgaue the sins of the palsy man he did not openlie manifest his power for he did not saie I forgiue thee thy sinnes but thy sinnes are forgiuenthes But when his enimies vrged him hee showeth his power more manifestlie for he saith that you maie knowe that the sonne of man hath power on earth to forgiue sinnes Doest thou not marke howe farre of it is that he would not bee thought equall to his father for he saide not that the sonne of man hath power from God or that God hath giuen him power but the sonne of man hath power neither saith he doe I speake it for to glorie in but that I might perswade you that I doe not blaspheme when I make my selfe equall with my father The same interpretatiō hath Euthymius vpon the place S. Ambrose also acknowledgeth the diuinitie of Christ to be prooued by forgiuenes of sinnes in Luc. 5. Cognosce interioris hominis sanitatem cui peccata donantur quae cùm Iudoaei asserunt a solo Deo posse donari deum vtique confitentur suoque iudicio perfidiam suam produnt vt opus astruant personam negent c. Acknowledge the healing of the innar man to whome his sinnes are forgiuen which when the Iewes doe affirme that they can be forgiuen by God alone they do confesse verely that he is god by their owne argument bewray their falshoode that they allowe his worke and denie his person Therefore euen of them the sonne of god receiueth testimonie of his worke requireth not the suffrage of their voice For falshoode can confesse but it cannot beleeue Therefore there wanteth no testimonie to his diuinitie but faith is wanting to their saluation for both it is more straunge for credit which they confesse vnwilling and also more pernitious to their fauls that they denie which are conuinced by their owne assertions Great therefore is the madnes of the vnfaithfull people that when they haue confessed that it pertaineth to God onelie to forgiue sinnes they will not giue credit to God when he doth forgiue sinnes And a litle after where he also acknowledgeth the power of remitting sinnes which is graunted to men he doth neuerthelesse affirme that God onelie doth forgiue sinnes Quamuis igitur magnum sit hominibus peccata dimittere quis enim potest peccata dimittere nisi solus Deus quiper eos quoque dimittit quibus dimittendi tribuit potestatein tamen multò diuinius est resurrecti onem donare corporibus For although it be a great thing to forgiue sinnes to men for who can forgiue sinnes but god alone whoe also forgiueth by them to whome he hath giuen power of for giuing yet it is a much more diuine worke to giue resurrection to mens bodies This 〈◊〉 of S. Ambrose sheweth not onelie that Christ by his diuine power as god forgaue sinnes in this place but that God onelie doth properlie 〈◊〉 when he vseth the ministery of men so that not 〈◊〉 S. Hilarie but euen the consent of al the auncient writers is a gainst your new imagination ALLEN But to returne 〈◊〉 to our 〈◊〉 when Christ had declared that the Sonne of man had in earth power to remit sinnes he then by this farther proofe and argument ouerturneth the wholl cause of their 〈◊〉 and inward 〈◊〉 against him for the same whether is it more easie to saie thy sinnes be forgiuen thee or to saie to the incurable person take vp thy bed and walke I due the one in all your sightes and he is cured at my worde why then mistrust you the other It was no lesse the propertie of God alone to he all him sodainlie of his corporall infirmitie that had beene desperatclie sicke so long then to forgiue sinnes but the one power though by 〈◊〉 it was proper to him selfe yet he gaue it in the sight of you all to the sonne of man in earth why then mistrust you but he might well giue the other This reason proceeding from the wisedome of Gods owne sonne shall helpe our faith much touching this article and shall not a litle further the dignitie of the 〈◊〉 whoe also after their masters example may prooue the force of their authoritie vppon mennes soules which cannot be open to our bodelie eyes by the apparant power that their wordes shal be seene openlie to worke on mens bodies especiallie if it be well weighed that Christ wrought miracles also not onelie by the excellent dominion and force of his godhead but also as Saint Augustine prooueth by the spirts of God in respect of his manhoode In quo spiritu sanflo saith he operatus est virtuies dicens Si ego in spiritu dei eiicto daemonia certè superuenit in vosregnum Dei In the pow er of which holie ghost Christ wrought miracles according to his owne saying in these words if I expel out deuils by the spirit of god then surelie the kingdome of God wil come on you The Iews therefore seing themselues thus ouercome in their cogitatiòns waxed affraied and glorified God who gaue such power to men For though no man euer had equall authoritie or like power to Christ who was both God and man yet of this plentifull spirit and vnction manie of his brethren haue through his ordinance recciued part as shortlie now is shall be prooued In the meane time arme thy selfe against 〈◊〉 with this approoued and certaine trueth that not onelie God by his passing prerogatiue maie forgiue sinnes but that he hath so soueraignclie 〈◊〉 Christ our Priest and head that as he is man and occupieth the said functions in earth he maie remit by the vertue of the holie Ghost our offences also 〈◊〉 That which before but doubtinglie and vnder correction of better learned men you propounded to the end that like a subull serpent you might writhe in your head now as a conquerer of the wholl cause you thrust in your wholl bodie and as though you had gained your purpose you affirme steadfastlie that although it was no lesse the propertie of God alone to heale the man sodainelie of his corporall infirmitie then to forgiue sinnes yet as he gaue the one power to
the sonne of man which was proper to him-selfe so he might well giue the other Your argument in à posse adesse which is not worth a strawe among them that knowe that argumentes doe meane That power which God might giue to meere mortall men whoe doubteth but God might also giue to Christ his sonne to exercise according to his humaine nature but that he did exercise the same onelie as man not as God by what argument is it prooued we knowe that in casting out of deuilles he vsed his diuine authoritie and in his owne name commaunded them to come forth and they obeied Marke 1. 27. he raised the dead by his owne authoritie as God and in his owne name Luke 7. 14. Saint Iohn restifieth that of the eternall worde which was made flesh and dwelt among vs he and his fellowe Apostles did see the glorie as the glorie of the onelie begotten Jonne of God full of grace and trueth From whence come you therefore with a Ghospell to teach vs that Christ did forgiue sinnes heale the sicke cast out deuills and doe miracles but as a man onelie by power receiued from God whereby you shew your selfe to be a good procter for the Arrians if those works which were proper to Christ in respect of his diuinitie you wil draw downe to his humanitie so that he raised the dead clensed the leapers c. not otherwise thē by power receiued frō god as Elizeus did or as anie of his Apostles which did al things in his name whose dignitie you are so careful to further that you care not how you abase the honour of their Master al to bring in a popish that is an Antichristian tyrannie ouer mens soules which is blasphemous against the authoritie of God For if the plaine text of the scripture Iohn 20. 23. whose sinnes you forgiue they are forgiuen c. would yeald you so much authority as you would gladly excercise you would not trouble your selfe to make such impertinent and inconsequent collections by which you would haue it seeme as though Christ in respect of his diuine nature was vnoccupied as concerning the worke of our redemption in the world but that he did all thinges in respect of his humane nature by power receiued from God But Saint Augustine you saie prooueth that by the spirit of God in respect of his manhood Christ wrought miracles which although it be not the matter in question yet you drawe S. Austen to another matter then euer was in his meaning For although it be true that Christ did cast out Deuills in the spirit of God as man yet it followeth not that he did not cast out deuills by his owne authoritie as God seeing the workes of the Trinitie are vndeuided and Saint Augustine in the place by you quoted distinguisheth between those sayings that speake of him as in the forme of God and those that pertaine vnto him in respect of the shape of a seruant But an other argument you haue of that the Iewes which seeing themselues thus ouercome in their vaine cogitations waxed afraid and glorifyed God who gaue such power to men That the Scribes and Pharises which first mooued the question of forgiuenes of sinnes were mooued with reuerence of our sauiour Christ or yealded glorie God I finde not but that al the rest of the people glorifyed to god which had giuen such power to men What power saie you to forgiue sinnes The text saith not so but of working such miracles to heale the man sicke of the palsie so that he was presentlie changed from extreame weaknes to perfect strengh whereof as S. Luke reporteth they said we haue seene sirange things to day and as S. Marke rocordeth it they said we neuer sawe it thus But as for the ordinarie power of making attonement for sinnes which the Priests vsed according to the lawe it was no strange thing vnto them and they had seene it often times before These therefore are the best interpreters of S. Math. which did write by the same spirit But because mans authority with you is many times preferred before god you shal heare what S. Hilarie saith in that place which ere while you affirmed to make nothing against your meaning his interpretation of the text Et honorificauerunt deum quòd tantā dedit potestatem hominib c. is this Conclusa sunt omnia suo ordine cessante iam desperationis timore honor Deo redditur quòd tantam dederit hominibus potestatem sed soli hoc Christo erat debitum solide communione paternae substantiae hoc agere erat familiare All thinges are concluded in due order and the feare of disperation now ceasing honour is rendered to God because he hath giuen so great power to men But this was due onelie to Christ to him alone it was familiar or accustomable to doe these thinges by the communion of his fathers substance These wordes doe plainelie shew that Saint Hilary dissenteth euerie whit from your meaning and that you arme your schollers with no armour of proofe when you wil them to looke for the like power of remitting sins in Christs humanity which he did exercise according to the authoritie of his diuinitie ALLEN Let the proud cogitations of men here attend that so highlie disdaine the ministerie of mortall men in the remission of their sinnes let them controulle the wounderfull wisdome of God which would no otherwise saue the pitifull sores of our soules but by the seruile forme of our owne nature ioined meruelouslie in our person to the worde and eternall Sonne of God the father let them reprehend the vnsearchable secret councell of the holie Trinitie which being of power infinite to worke their wil in al creatures yet would not repaire the world nor remit our sinnes anie otherwise but by the seruice of the Sonne of man let them mislike that flesh blood and the soule of our blessed sauiour being al creatures should ioyne with the onelie almightie creator of all thinger in the remission of all our offences let the presumptuose thus doe and let vs humblie reuerence Gods ordinance and glorifye him in his Sonnes high calling in our kinde through whose singular prerogatiue we shall vndoubtedlie finde exceeding power to be giuen to his bodie and brethren in earth to his moste deare spouse the Church FVLKE The ministerie of mortall men in remission of sinnes no man I hope is so madde to disdaine when Christ him-selfe in so plaine termes hath authorized the same But where you saie that the wisdome of God would no otherwise salue the pittifuli sores of our soules but by the seruile forme of our nature ioined meruelouslie in one person to the word and eternall sonne of God I cannot but maruaile at your Nestorian blasphemie For although it be moste certaine that in the forme of a seruant the wisdome of God preformed that which to the glorie of his iustice was expedient yet that the deitic was altogether idle
or vnoccupied in the worke of our redemption yea that the godhead did not worke the principall and moste necessarie part thereof it is too too abominable and intollerable heresie Out of the like stinking puddle it proceedeth that you saie that the holie Trinitie being of infinit power to worke their will in all creatures yet would not repaire the world nor remit our sinnes anie otherwise but by the seruice of the sonne of man That the seruice of the sonne of man was necessarie to be vsed it is moste true but that authoritie of the sonne of God was not necessarie for so great a worke as wel as the seruise of the sonne of man it is such an impudent blasphemie as I thinke the Pope him-selfe would condemne it if his opinion without partialitie thereof might be knowne As for the worke of Christes humanitie ioyned in one person to his deitie and the commission graunted to his ministers to remit sinnes are nothing hindred by acknowledging that God onelie doth properlie and absolutelie forgiue sinnes euen when his ministers according to his commaundement doe forgiue sinnes as S. Ambrose saith and all antiquitie doth accord Here it is declared by the scripture that the same power of remitting sinnes which God the Father by commission gaue vnto his Sonne as he was man was also by Christ bestowed on the Apostles after his resurrection THE SECOND CHAP. ALLEN IN what high reputation man hath euer bene with god his maker it is not my purpose now to treat of neither will I make anie tediouse talke though it be somewhat more neere the matter how estimation is encreased by the honourable and most merueilous matching of Gods onelie sonne with our nature and kinde whereof whosoeuer hath anie conside ration he shall nothing wonder I warrant him at the soueraingtie of such as be placed in the seat of iudgement and gouernement for the rule of that comonwealth whereof Christ is the head These thinges though they be well worthie our labour and deepe remembrance and not verie far from our matter yet so will I charge my selfe with continuance in my cause that I will onelie seeke out the dignitie of priesthood touching the right that the order laimeth in remission and retaining of mans sinnes In all which cause I take this a grounde that our Masters messenger stood vpon when his disciples grudged that Christ had his followers and practized Baptisme no lesse then him selfe did which is That no man can rightlie receiue anie thing that is not giuen him from aboue Therefore if it may be sufficientlie declared that the order holdeth by good warrant this their preheminence of pardoning or punishing of the peoples offences and that by commission from him who without al controuersie is the head of the Church then the contrarie must learne to leaue their contentious reasoning and vniust contempt of that order which is honoured by power and prerogatiue proceeding from Christ Iesus FVLKE That God of his meere goodnes and mercie hath vouchsafed man of so great honour that of him selfe deserueth eternall shame it is more reason to wonder at Gods mercie then to insinuate anie peece of mans dignitie or worthines That it hath pleased god to aduaunce some men to the gouernment of his Church vpon earth we haue cause to magnifie his maiestie that disdaineth not our base condition but putteth his honour and authoritie vpon them driueth vs not from them by the excellencie of their nature aboue ours but familiarly inuiteth vs to obedience of his wil that we may attaine to his promis of eternal happines The title of this chapter That our sauiour Christ gaue vnto his Apostles the same power of remitting sinnes which God the father by commission gaue vnto his sonne as he was man we do all agree but that Christ did exercise a more soueraigne authoritie in forgiuing sinnes then he did bestow vpon his Apostles or their nature was capable to receiue it is prooued sufficientlie in the Chapter going before Neuerthelesse I will examin all partes of this chapter and if in anie thing I dissent from you I will shew that you dissent from the trueth And first where you professe onelie to seeke out the dignitie of Priesthood touching the right that the order claimeth in remission and retention of mans sinnes you should haue done better to haue sought and set out the duetie of such persons also to whome such dignity is committed lest as it falleth out in your bastarde Popish Priesthood the dignitie be onelie sought for the labour and duetie almost or altogether neglected The ground you take out of Saint Iohn is infallible and therefore your Popish priesthood doth blasphemouslie vsurpe a pretended power to offer vp our sauiour Christ vnto his father as a sacrifice propitiatorie for the sinnns of the quick and the dead for graunt of which power from aboue you can shew no warrant out of the written word of God the onelie true record of Gods graunt and sufficient euidence for so great an authoritie ALLEN And of two or three places in holie scripture pertaining to this purpose that shall be first proposed which with moste force driueth downe falsehood and most properlie pertaineth to the pith and principall state of the cause which we haue in hand Thus then we finde of Christes wordes will and behauiour concerning the commission graunted out to his holy Apostles for the remission and punishment of our sinnes in the 20. Chapter of the Gospell of Saint Iohn Where the Euangelist thus reporteth that Christ after his glorious resurrection came into a secret chamber where his disciples were together the dore being shut for feare of the Iewes and there after he had giuen them as his custome was his peace and his blessing and she wed him self to their infinite comfort that he was perfectlie risen againe in the same bodie that so latelie was buried he then straight afterwarde to make worthie entrance to so high a purpose gaue them this peace againe in manner of a solemne benediction and therewith said Sicut misit me Pater ego mitto vos Euen as the father hath sent me so I do send you And when he had so spoken he breathed on them and said Accipite spiritum sanctum quorum remiseritis peccata remittuntur eis quorum retinueritis retenta sunt Receaue you the holie ghoste whose sinnes soeuer you shall forgiue they are forgiuen them and whose sinnes you shall retaine they be retained This is the place lo in which the iudgement and rule of our soules with all authoritie in correcting our sinnes in moste expresse and effectuall termes and in moste ample manner is giuen to the Aposiles and their successours Christ him seife doth communicate vnto them the iurisdiction that he receiued of his Father he giueth them in a solemne ceremonie that same spirit of God by which in earth him-selfe did remitte sianes hemaketh them an assured promis that whatsoeuer they pardoned or corrected in mans
which only meane of preaching expressed in this place you with a Marie for all that fumble vp with I cannot tell what guidance because you cannot content your selfe to be a minister a seruant a subiect but you must be a Lord a Prince a ruler But the other text of Ioh. 20. yousay doth properlie concerne the commission giuen to the Apostles for the sacrament of penaunce and remission of sins But whether I praie you in the scripture shal we read of this your sacrament or the institution thereof what is the visible worde or element thereof yet you saie that this text doth in moste cleare and vndoubted sense giue to them the like right in that case that Christ him-selfe had by the sending of God the father that is to saie the verie same authoritie that he had in respect of his mediation and manhood So that be like Christ as Mediator hath no authority peculiar to himselfe in respect of the excellency of his person but that which is communicable vnto others and is communicated to his Apostles But that is a strange doctrine neuer heard of before in the Church of God except it were from the mouth of Nestorius or any of his disciples For our sauiour Christ receiued in his manhoode that which no other man is able to receiue because he one lie is God and man he receiued the spirit not according to measure Iohn 3. 34. as all men muste do that receiue it therefore no man can receiue such power by the spirit in measure which he receiued by the spirit infinitelie or without measure But Saint Augnstine is called to witnes that this text doth giue theverie same authoritie to the Apostles that Christ had in respect of his mediation and manhoode Whereas Saint Augustines words import no such thing but onelie shew that Christ though equal to his father in respect of his Godheade yet as he is our Mediatour is sent of his father in respect of his manhood But of the verie same authoritie that Christ had in respect of his mediation giuen to the Apostles he speaketh not a word That you ioyne his māhood to his mediation as though the mediator were nothing but man or as though the man Iesus Christ which is our onelie mediator were not Immannell that is God with vs it is not without some smack of Nestorian heresie wherebie you seeme so to separate the man from God as though any thing might be verified of the man which in respect of the vnitie of person might not be verified of God or as though there were not such a perfect vnion of the two natures in one person that although they both continue vnconfounded reteining their essentiall properties yet any part of the office and authoritie of Christ which he exercised in his humanitie might as latgelie as fullie and with the verie same authoritie be committed ouer to any other mortall man to be exercised as it was by Christ himselfe But Theophilact is cited to be an interpreter of Saint Augustine whoe saith vpon these wordes as the father hath sent me c. in the person of Christ take vpon you my worke and be sure that I will be with you meaning that he committeth to them the office of teaching whereunto he was sent by his father but of equall authoritie with him he speaketh no worde Which place you haue verie licentiouslie translated to draw it to your purpose For the words are no more but these as Philippus Montanus hath translated them Meum opus inquit suscipite confidite quod vobiscum sum futurus And in the ende he willeth men to consider the dignitie of priests that it is diuine For it perteineth to God to remit sinnes so therefore are they to be honoured as God For although they be vnworthie what is that they are the ministers of Gods giftes and grace worketh by them euen as he spake by Balaams asse For our vnworthines hindreth not grace so because by meanes of priests grace is graunted they are to be honoured Thefe wordes of Theophilact declare that although he ascribe much to the dignitie of Priests yet he doth not allowe them the verie same authoritie that Christ had in respect of his mediation but a farre inferior ministerie And excellentlie to our purpose wrote the holie father Cyril as well for the dignitie of the Apostolike vocation as for the honourable legacie in these wordes Ad gloriosum Apostolalatum Dominus noster Iesus Christus Discipulos suos vocduit qui commotum orbem firmarunt sustentacula eius facti vnde per Psalmistam de terra de Apostolis dicit quia ego firmaui columnas eius Columnae enim robur veritatis discipulisunt quos ita dicit se mittere sicut à patre ipse missus est vs Apostolatus dignitatem ostenderet magnitudinem potestatis eorum aperiret These wordes and the residue following concerning the same purpose goe thus in english Our Lord and master Christ Iesus promoted his disciple to a glorious Apostleship whoe becing made the proppes and staies of all the earth haue established the wauering worlde whereupon the Psalmist sayeth thus of the earth and the Apostles I haue surelie and firmelie set the pillers thereof For the disciples no doubt be the verie pillers strength and staie of trueth whome Christ saith that he doth send euen as his father did send him that thereby he might declare to the worlde as well the dignitie of their Apostleship as open to all men their excellencie and the might of their power and no lesse signifie vnto them what way they had to take in all their life and studies For if they be so sent as Christ him selfe was sent of the father it is requisite to consider for what worke purpose the father euerlasting sent his sonne in flesh to the worlde And that him selfe els where declareth saying Non veni vocare iustos sed peccatores ad poenitentiam I came not to cal the iust but sinners to repen tance in another place it is said God sent not his sonne into the world to iudge the worlde but that the worlde shold be saued by him al these thinges and other he touched brieflie in these few wordes Sicus misit me pater ego mitto vos vt hinc intelligant vocandos esse 〈◊〉 ad poenitentiam 〈◊〉 corpore simul spiritumale habentes Like as my father sent me so I send you that sinners should be called to repentance and be healed both in bodie and soule Thus farre spake S. Cyril of the excellent calling of the disciples of the cause of their large commission not restricted by any streighter tearmes then Christs owne commission was which he receiued from his euerlasting Father FVLKE The wordes of Saint Cyrillus declare no more then I haue said before that the Apostles were sent of Christ as Christ was sent of his father to call sinners to repentance by their ministerie of preaching not
that they were sent with as large commission in euery respect as Christ was sent to be our mediator and redeemer The wordes of Cyrill which you haue mangled and chopped at your pleasure I will recite wholl together that the reader may see how iniutiouslie you would draw to farre other meaning then his saying wil yeald In Ioh. lib. 12. C. 55. vpon these words Dicit ergo eis iterum pax vobis sicut misit me pater ego mitto vos He writeth thus Ordinauit his verbis orbis doctores c. He ordeined thē by these words teachers of the world ministers of the diuine mysteries whome he sent as lightes to the lightening not of the region of the Iewes onelie which according to the measure of the legall commaundement extended from Dan to Bersebe as it is written but he commaunded them to lighten the wholl worlde Therefore Paul saith truelie that no man taketh honour vpon him except he be called of God For our Lord Iesus Christ called his disciples vnto the glorious Apostleship which staied the world that was moued beeing made the pillers thereof Whereof by the Psalmist he saith of the earth and the Apostles I haue strengthned the pillers thereof For his disciples are the pillers and strength of truth Whome he saith that he doth so send as he him-selfe is sent of his father that also he might shew the dignitie of their Apostleship and open to all men the greatnes of their power and with all might shew what way they ought to follow in their studies and in their life For if they be so sent as Christ is sent of his father how is it not necessarie to consider vnto what the father sent his sonne for so not otherwise they may be able to follow him But if expounding to vs the cause of his sending many waies one while he saide I came not to call the iust but sinners to repentance an other while The holl haue no neede of the Phisitian but such as be diseased And moreouer I came downe from heauen saith he not that I might doe mine owne will but the will of him that sent me And againe God sent not his sonne into the worlde that he should iudge or condemne the world but that the world might be saued by him All which thinges he signified in most few wordes saying that he doth so send them as he was sent by his father that hereof they might vnderstand that sinners are to be called to repentance that they which ar diseased might be healed both in bodie and in minde And in the dispensation of thinges they must not doe their owne will but the will of him that sent them and that the world by preaching and the doctrine of faith must be saued All which things with what great diligence they performed you may learne with small labour in the booke of the Acts of the Apostles in the Epistles of Paul Thus farre Cyrillus whose saying if you had not clipped and gelded for your aduantage would haue made no colour for your purpose but against it ALLEN And truelie it was the singular prouidence of God that beforē the graunt of the gouernment of mens soules to his Disciples beeing but mortal men mention should be made of his owne right therein that the wicked should neuer haue face to disgrace the authoritie of them that dependeth so fullie of the soueraigne calling and commission of Gods owne sonne This high wisedome was practized also to the vtter confusion of the wicked and wilfull persons at their calling to the office of preaching and baptizing The which function lest any contemptuous person should in such base men disdaine Christ alledgeth his owne power and preheminence to which the dignitie of priesthoode is so neere and so euerlastinglie ioyned that euerie dishonour and neglecting of the one is great derogation to the other And therefore he saith Omnis potest as data est mihi in coelo in terra All power in heauen and in earth is giuen to my handes Therefore goe you forward and teach all natious babtizing them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holie Ghost Thus before the institution of sacraments whereof God him selfe must onelie be the author as saith Saint Cyprian Christ voutchsafed for the quiet instruction of the world to declare his authoritie and prerogatiue that all men might farther vnderstand thereby that the ministerie and excllent founction in the vse of the same did orderlie proceed of that authoritie and supreame power that Christ hath receiued ouer all mankind FVLKE Cyrillus telleth you there is none other graunt of the gouernment of mens soules contained in these wordes but to be teachers of the Gospell and to be ministers of the diuine mysteries to preach remission of sinnes to the penitent and to seale it vp with the sacraments to denounce vengeance to the impenitent vnbeleeuers in all things to attend that they do not their owne wil but the wil of him that sent them And in so doing their authoritie is exceeding great deriued from God him selfe the onelie author of their Doctrine and of the sacraments they doe minister Wherein you seeme somewhat to forget your selfe which hitherto haue mainteined and still affirme that Christ did remit sinnes and gaue his Apostles authoritie to doe the same by power receiued from God in his manhoode and that the holie Trinitie would not remit our sinnes otherwise then by the seruise of the sonne of man But now you confesse with S. Cyprian that God himselfe must be the onelie author of Sacraments Wherefore if this power of remitting sins be a Sacrament as you holde Christ must be the onelie author of it as God himselfe not as man by power receiued from God by the holie Ghost ALLEN And this sequel of Christes reason hath maruelous efficacie and force if we will consider thereof All power is giuen to me both in heauen and earth therefore goe you and preach and baptize and remit sinnes If a man would aske the Priest or Apostle how he dare be so bold to exercise any of these functions he might vpon Christes word be so bolde to make him this answere marie sir I baptize because all power is giuen to Christ I preach because all power is giuen to Christe I remit sins because all power was giuen to Christ. For in my ministerie he practiseth daielie all these functions in his power I am become the lawfull worker of all actions that are so proper to Christ him selfe Therefore it was Christ saith Saint Augustine that baptized and had moe Disciples then Iohn and yet Christ baptized not but his Disciples onelie So saie you to all contemners of Gods ordinance it is Christ that pardoneth and enioyneth penance for mans sinnes and yet he doth it not him-selfe as in his owne person but Christ doth it daily by the power which he established after his resurrection and which
continueth for euer in the high ministerie and seruice of the Church Thus I saie doth he remit sinnes Hunt principem Saluatorem exaltauit dextra sua ad dandam poenitentiam Israeli remissionem peccatorum This our Prince and Sauiour hath God exalted with his right hand to giue penance and remission to Israell of all their sinnes This power hath our high priest de serued for his obedience therfore as he receiued it so he hath left it in his Church his owne holie wordes dot protest that same For vpon his power and sending which he did receiue of his father all the Priestes doe euerlastingly hold the right of al holy functions which ells but by Christes owne commission and sending they could neuer nor neuer durst haue practized so long FVLKE It were a more direct sequele for a Priest or Elder of the Church to maintaine and defend his power that he practizeth in preaching baptizing and remitting of sinnes by the calling of Christ who hath all power in heauen and in earth for otherwise it followeth not because Christ hath all power therefore man without calling and authoritie receiued from Christ maie execute anie part thereof But in your application where you saie that Christ pardoneth and enioineth pennance for mans sinnes in the ministerie of the Church I graunt he pardoneth where the power which he hath giuen to the Church is duelie executed But for enioining penance in that sense that papistes doe speake it which is a peece of satisfaction for mens sinnes you are neuer able to prooue that Christ either in his owne person enioyned anie or by meane or ministerie of anie man doth enioine such penance and therefore the text you cire Acts the 5. is wretchedlie writhen from the true meaning and falselie translated as I haue shewed before by testimonies of your owne translaters the English Rhemists who read it thus This Prince and sauiour God hath exalted with his right hand to giue repentance to Israell and remission of sins Where the text is so plaine of the 〈◊〉 conuersion of the Iewes vnto Christ that they were ashamed to turne the worde poenitentia as they doe moste commonlie penance by which they meane some workes of satisfaction which are enioined to them that commit sinne after baptisme As likewise Acts. II. where it is said God then to the Gentills hath giuen repentance vnto life Where by as good reason and in like sense you might saie that God hath giuen penance to the gentiles taking penance in your popsh meaning or els you haue greatlie abused the scripture to prooue that Christ enioineth penance by popish Priests by that saying of the Apostles Actes 5. whereby they meane that God hath exalted Christ to conuert the Israelites from Iudaisme to the Gospell and to giue them saluation in the free remission of sinnes which of it selfe excludeth all other satisfaction then such as Christ him-selfe hath made to answere the iustice of God whose obedience hauing satisfied for our disobedience vpon our true and vnfained repentance which will appeare by the fruites thereof we are receiued into fauour all our sinnes being freelie forgiuen for Iesus Christes sake ALLEN And whosoeuer seeth not how the power iurisdiction of so excellent actions passeth from God the Father to his onelie Sonne and from him againe to such as he hath sent and made the messengers of his blessed minde and disposers of mysteries he hath no feeling at al of the waies that he wrought for mans redemption he can not atteine to the intelligence of Christs vnction whereby he is made our head priest he in the middest of the glorious light of the Church can not beholde the practize of so he auenlie mysteries and therefore such things as he knoweth not he blasphemeth saith S. Iude. But to worke all in light and order I will build vpon the forsaid the intended conclusion that the a duersaries maie see and behold the force of our faith and the singular weaknes of their assertions I thus ioyne with them in arguments barelie and plainlie without couert That power and commission which was giuen to Christ by his heauenlie Father concerning remission or retaining of sinnes was giuen to the Apostles at his departure hence But Christ him selfe did truclie effectuallie and in proper forme of speach by his Fathers sending and and commission remit sinnes Ergo The ministers of Christ maie and doe truclie and perfectlie remit sinnes Or thus more briefilie As Christ was sent of his Father so are the Apostles sent by Christ But Christ was sent to forgiue sinnes Ergo the Apostles be fent to forgiue sinnes also The second part of the reasons which is that Christ had power of his Father to remit sinnes and was sent for the same purpose is sussicienlie prooued in the Chapter before The first part of the argument standeth vpon the sure ground of Christs owne wordes which be these Like as my Father sent me so I doe send you Which wordes were so plaine and so deepelie noted for this intent of Saint Chrysostome that with admiration of the dignitie and excellent calling of Priesthood he thus trimlie discourseth vpon them I will report his saying in Latin as Germanus Brixius hath translated it all that speaketh for that purpose hereafter shall be recited but now no more but this Quid hoc aliud esse dicas nisi omnium rerum coelestium potestatem illis à Deo esse concessam Ait enim Quorumcunque peccata retinueritis retenta sunt Quaenam obsecro potestas hac vna maior esse queat Pater omnifariam filio potestatem dedit caeterùm video ipsam eandem omnifariam potesiatem à Deo filio illis traditam Nam quasi iam in coelum translati ac supra humanam naturam positi atque nostris ab affectibus exempti sic illi ad principatum istum perducti sunt And in English thus it is What e's canst thou make of this or what lesse then that the power and iurisdiction of all heauenlie things is by God graunted vnto them for it is said whose sinnes soeuer you doe holde or reteine they be retained For Gods loue what power can be giuen in the world so great the Father bestowed all manner of power vpon his Sonne I finde the verie selfe same power of all thinges to be deliuered to the Apostles by God the Sonne For now as though they were al readie translated out of this life to heauen and there promoted aboue mans nature and discharged of all our feeble affections they are aduanced to the Princelie soueraigntie whereof we now haue said Thus farre Chrysostome So doth this worthie father helpe our cause and so doth he thinke of the excellent authority giuen by the father to his Sonne deriued from him to the ministers of his holy will testament in earth Whose iurisdiction so highlie holden so truely obteined so neerely ioyned vnto Christs honour and so dailie practized no
otherwise but in his right name whosoeuer shall controlle or cōremne they not onely irreuerently touch gods annointed but they sacrilegiously laie handes on ipsum Christum Domini euen on him that is annointed aboue all his fellowes Well I conclud vp this matter with these few wordes of Saint Ambrose Vult Dominus plurimum posse discipulos suos Vult á seruis suis e a fieri in nominesuo quaefaciebat ipse positus in terris Our lordes pleasure is that his disciples should haue great prerogatiue he will haue the same thinges wrought by his seruants in his name that him-selfe did in his owne person when he was in earth FVLKE He that seeth not the difference of the ministerie of man from the power of God in those actions wherein God worketh by man gropeth in the darke seeth nothing as he ought to see Therefore let vs come to the light of your logick and thereby consider if we can the distinction of the one from the other If the maior or first proposition of your former syllogisme be vnderstood of a power or commission graunted to the manhood of Christ such as might haue beene graunted by God to anie other meere man then your Minor is not true that Christ by such a power and commission onelie setting his Godhead aside though truelie and effectuallie yet not in proper forme ofspeach by his fathers sending and commission remitted sinnes for then could he not be the author of remission of sinnes but onelie a minister thereof and therefore in proper forme ofspeach he could not be said to forgiue sinnes which is proper onely to god but to preach the forgiue nes of sinnes in Gods name or to testifie that God did forgiue sinnes as the ministers of the Church do Butif the Maior be vnderstood of such power commission as was giuen to Christ as the Mediator in respect of his manhood but yet such as he couldnot receiue exercise but in respect of his godhead such as could not be graunted to any but vnto that person which is God man such is the absolute principall power of remission of sinnes then I denie that such power was giuen to the Apostles at his departure For when Christ him-selfe did truelie effectuallie and in proper forme of speech remit sinnes he did it as God hauing equal and principall authoritie with the father and the holie ghost so to do The conclusion of your second syllogisme I graunt that the Apostles were sent to forgiue sinnes but retaining the former distinction of the authoritie of God and the ministerie of man For as Christ was sent of his father to preach the remission of sinnes so were the Apostles sent by Christ to preach remission of sinnes therefore such power as he had by preaching onely of remission of sinnes to forgiue sinnes such power be graunted to his Apostles whome he ordained preachers in his place but the proper pow er of his deity he graunted not nor any power which is proper to the person of the Mediator God and man Theresore these wordes of Christ As the father sent me so send I you must not be extended further then our sauiour Christ in that place meaneth For els infinite absurdities might be concluded thereof as that he sent his Apostles to redeeme the world to die for the sinnes of the world to be sauiours of the world c. or that he sendeth all ministers of the Church to whome this commission extendeth to clense leapers to raise the dead to giue sight to the blinde and to do all other miracles that he was sent to do According to this distinction that Rhetoricall amplification of Chrisostome is to be vnderstood and doubtles wonderfull great is the authoritie that man doth exercise in the name of God although that which is peculiar to God be not attributed to men The similitude that Chrysostome vseth in the same chapter Lib. 3. cap. 5. of a King graunting power to one of his subiects to imprison men and to release them sheweth that he knew the difference of the Lord from the seruant who if he abuse the authoritie committed vnto him deserueth sharpe punishment and therefore hath not absolute authoritie to do all things as his Lord and can not transgresse in doing And in the next Chapter he sheweth that Priestes do exercise this power of forgiuing sinnes by teaching admonition and by praier Not onelie by teaching and admonishing but also by the helpe of praiers and a manifest difference sheweth Saint Ambrose when he saith Christ would haue his disciples to do in his name the same thinges which he did on earth partlie in his fathers name and partlie in his owne name The power of priesthood touching remission of sinnes prooued by the solemne action of Christ in breathing vpon his Apostles and giuing them thereby the holie Ghost THE THIRD CHAP. ALLEN THe commission and power that our Master Christ receiued of his euerlasting father being in moste ample manner communicated with the Apostles made great proofe and euidence for the right that they claime in remission of sinnes but the present power of Gods spirit breathed by Christ vpon them and giuen vnto them for the ministerie and execution of that function helpeth our matter so much that whoso euer now denieth this authoritie of the Apostles concerning the pardoning of our offences doth not so much sinne against the sonne of man which of it selfe is greeuous inough as he doth controll the worke of the spirit of Christ which is the holie Ghost in whome both he and his Church doth remit sinnes The more plaine and more exact our master Christ was in the bestowing of that power to remit and retaine sinnes the more is our contempt in the disobedience and deniall thereof He sendeth them 〈◊〉 with his owne authoritie in this case he giueth them the verie spirit of God by whose diuine power they maie execute the function to which he called them he giueth them the expresse warrant of his owne word that sinnes they might pardon and punish and yet we make doubt of their vsurpation But how they might forgiue sinnes by Christes sending we haue alreadie said Now for the holie Ghostes power and prerogatiue in the same action which was breathed on the Apostles we must further conferre with such as call in question matters so plaine And first I am in goodhope that no man will denie but Christ gaue them the holie ghost for no other purpose so much as to remit sinnes Secondlie I doubt not of their faith and beliese in this point but they will confesse the holie ghost to be of power by nature and proprietie to forgiue sinnes Thirdlie I claime of their sinceritie thus much more that Christ being as well God as man was well able for the furniture of their calling to giue them the holie ghost all which being confessed of all men and denied of no Christian aline how the conclusion so beset with all
by them which haue the holie ghost in them-selues For when they remit or retaine the spirit which dwelleth in them remitteth or retaineth by them And that shal be by them as I thinke by two meanes first by baptisme and then by repeatence for either they induce men that beleeve and are approoued for holines of life vnto baptisme and diligentlie expill from them that are vnworthie or where the children of the Church doe offend they rebuke them indeede and pardon them that repent As Paul did once commit the fornicator among the Corinthians vnto the destruction of his flesh that his spirit might be saued and receiued him againe lest he should be drowned with greater sorrowe Therefore when the spirit of Christ dwelling in men performeth the worke of the true God how shall he not be God by nature which naturallie possesseth the power and dignitie of the diuine nature when he hath so excellent authority vpon the lawe of God This last argument of Saint Cyrill by which he prooueth against the Macidonian heretikes that the holie Ghost is verie God declareth that he neuer meant to deifie Priests with the same authority that is proper to god by which it should follow that the holie Ghost were not God if men had that authority of remitting sin that god hath wherefore it followeth that men are onely instruments by which the holie ghost speaketh declareth his own will of remission of sins not that the holie Ghost is subiect to the Censure of man which were intollerable blasphemie And therefore if the same father did anie where cal the ministers of the Church protectours an̄d curers both of bodies and soules it cannot be drawne to anie such meaning as though they were in deede deified and made as you would saie partakers of Gods nature to worke Gods owne office in the world but the ministers of God appointed to serue for the eternall saluation of the Elect both in bodie and soule Their order is diuine and they exercise the office of the holie ghost as S. Ambrose saith but yet so that nothing is communicated vnto man that is proper to God Who they were that did simplie and plainlie tearme the principall Pastours of the Church halfe gods not meere men you do not expresse perhaps you meane the Author of that blasphemous verse writen to the the Pope and by him not refused Nec Deus es nec homo quasi neuter es inter vtrumque Thou art neither god nor man but a neuter between both I finde in the scripture that ciuil princes are called not halfe Gods but whole Gods because they execute some parte of Gods authoritie among men Yet he that shall saie their persons̄ are therebie deified might well be accounted a most blaspemous flatterer We may now see out of what pudle the toades of the familie of Loue are crept that vpon pretence of the spirit of god dwelling in men moste blasphemouslie affirme that it deifieth their persons to make them of abilitie to exercise the workes of God whereas the power of remitting of sinnes is graunted euen to wicked Priestes in which the holie Ghost dwelleth not although he hath bestowed his giftes vpon them to make them sufficient in knowledge and vtterance to preach the gospell ALLEN But Saint Ambrose helpeth our matter with a long discourse all I will not now reporte for the present purpose thus he saith disputing against the Nouarians for the assertion of Priestly dignitie in assoyling our sinnes Qui Spiritum sanctum accipit sic enim scriptum est Accipite spiritum sanctum quorum remiseritis peccata remittuntur eis quorum retinueritis retenta sunt Ergo qui soluere peccatum non potest non habet Spiritum sanctum Munus spiritus sancti est officium sacerdotis ius autem spiritus sancti in soluendis ligandis que criminib est He thatreceiueth the holy ghost his meaning is in the taking of orders receiueth therewith the power to binde and loose For so is it written Receiue you the holie Ghost whose sinnes you doe forgiue they are forgiuen them whose sinnes you doe reseine they are reteined Therefore they which cannot forgiue mens offences they haue not the holie ghost that is to saie they haue not the gift of the holie Ghost which is giuen to the officers for their execution of their function in Christes behalfe for the gift of the holie Ghost is the office of the priest and proper right of remission of sinnes standeth in the holie Ghost Thus wrote Saint Ambrose against the heretikes of his time and both toucheth and ouer ouercommeth all the falsehoode of our daies against the minesterie of man which so ioyneth Gods spirit in all these diuine functions that it cannot without blasphemie and special contempt of God be contemned FVLKE S. Ambr. helpeth your matter neuera whit if you be not content with a mynistery a seruise a power subiect to the wil of God But you wil be halfe gods and more then men you wil haue your persons deified you wil be able to exercise the proper works of God For S. Ambr. reasoneth against the Nouatians which would take vpō them to binde them that were fallen but would not loose them nor receue them againe into the Church vpon their repētance signifying that the power of the one is as wel graunted to the Church as of the other that it was as proper to God to reteine sinnes as it was to forgiue them so that if they renounced the one they must renounce the other also by the same reason for it is the proper right of the holie ghost to doe the one as well as the other And the Nouatian heretikes were found transgressours of Gods commaundement who willeth the repentant to be loosed as well as the obstinate offender to be bound Ambrose therefore sayeth nothing for the deifying of mens persons but for the executing of gods commaundement of mercy as well as of iustice ALLEN But I remember Saint Augustine the Churches great Captaine against her aduersaries of those daies did euer in disputation against the Pelagians and other like enemies of faith make the greatest accoumpt of victorie and their ouerthrow when they were driuen to denie that which euer before had beene not onelie acknowledged of all men for trueth but also had beene vsed as a graunted trueth ground and principle for the notable euidence thereof to the impugning of other falsehoodes For there can be no doubt but that which our holie Fathers did vse without controlling and contradiction euen of their aduersaries to impugne their aduersaries withall there is no doubt but that it hath in it selfe exceeding much light and force of trueth as a thing hauing so litle neede of proofe that it may be made and taken for a probation of other matters that be doubtefull and vncertaine The matter which we haue now in hand is of that sort For the authoritie and power practized of priests in the
holie ghost was God by whose authoritie and proper power they did alwaies since Christs word was spoken remitte the same The which beeing true as it cannot be false that is so agreeable both to scriptures and to all our fathers faith the heresy of our time must needes directly impugne the vertue and power of Gods owne spirit For as the proofe of mans ministerie in this foresaid function induceth the true and euerlasting Godhead of the holy ghost by whome they practize that power so the denial thereof and robberie of priesthoode of this their moste iust claime doth directlie spoile God of his honour and of the euerlasting right that he hath in remission of sinnes So whiles these goodmen seeke to abase man vniustlie they blaspheme God highlie and together with mans ministerie they bring vnto vtter contempt Gods owne authoritie FVLKE Your deifying of popish priests doth altogether weaken the force of that argument which our fathers vsed against the auncient heretikes to prooue the diuinitie of the holie Ghost For it were an easie matter for Eunomius Macedonius or anie other heretike that was against his godhead to replie that by ministerie of God the holie Ghost might as properlie forgiue sinnes as Priestes do by the ministerie of Christ and of the holie ghost yea so farre forth as thereby they are made halfe Gods yea deified and made Gods in deede But you vtter repugnancie when you saie that by Gods authoritie and proper power Priestes do forgiue sinnes Where you make it not proper to God which is common to others with him Therefore you should speake more properlie to saie that God the holy ghost by his owne authoritie and power proper to the deitie doth forgiue sinnes in their ministery men thereto authorized do no more in proper speach and sense but testifie and declare what God doth for which declaration and testification seeing they are the embassadours and messengers of God vnto the world to declare his pleasure of reconciliation or condemnation they are said to forgiue sinnes or to retaine them which they do not properlie but pronounce the sentence of God concerning the remission or retention of mens sinnes And that this was the meaning of the Auncient fathers concerning the authoritie and power of Gods ministers it is moste manifest by this argument whereby they choke the enuier of the holie ghostes diuinitie from which you cutte of all the sinnewes and force it hath to prooue it when you communicate to men that which is proper to God and aduance men aboue the nature of meere men when you deifie their persons by meanes of the giftes of the holie Ghost giuen to them and make them of abilitie to exercise the proper workes of God As for the deniall and robberie that you ascribe I can not tell to what heretikes of this time we detest as much as ye not seeking to abase man beneath the nature and condition of man norseeking to extoll him by robbing God of his glorie and proper effects to magnifie menne to deifie the persoas of men as you do in plaine termes Whereby it is manifest we are as far from blaspheming god or making mans ministerie contemptible which he exerciseth in the name of God as you are from sobrietie thus to iudge if your meaning be of vs or thus to reason if you would defend the argument of the auncient fathers against the auncient heretikes ALLEN But for the readersease and more light of our cause I ioyne thus in argument with them againe vpon the second part of Christes owne wordes and action had in the authorizing of his Apostles Whatsoeuer the holie Ghost maie doe in this case by the proper power of his Godhead that may the Apostles and Priestcs do by seruice and ministerie through the power of the holie Ghost But the holie Ghost properlie and rightlie doth remit sinnes Therefore the Apostles doe rightlie remit sinnes by their ministerie in the said holie Ghost All partes of this conclusion stand vpright and feare no falsehood they be guarded on euerie side by Christes action by wordes of scripture by the Doctors plain warrant and by all reason With all which whosoeuer is not contented but will needes extinguere spiritum extinguish Gods spirit and violentlie take from the Church the greatest comfort of all mans life that in this infirmitie of our flesh standeth in moste hope by his gift in remission of sinnes for which especiall cause the said spirit was mercifullie breathed vpon the Apostles peculiarly before the mare common sending of the same from heauen aboue If all this reason and iust demonstration of trueth will not serue them I will charge them with this graue conclusion of S. Augustine vttered partlie against the Nouatians especallie against the desperate that would not seeke for Gods mercie by the Churches ministerie in the sacrament of penance To be briefe I will speake it in English Whosoeuer he be that beleeueth no mans sinnes to be remitted in Gods Church and therefore despiseth the bountifulnes of God inso mightie a worke if he in that obstinate minde continue til his liues end he is guiltie of sinne against the holie Ghost in which holy ghost Christ remitteth sinnes FVLKE I doe greatlie commend you that you haue such regard of the readers ease and it seemeth you haue good confidence of your cause that you flie not the light of Logicall iudgement by which the trueth shall more plainelie appeere to all sortes of men then by anie discourses at large vnder which many great errors may be often couered vnder sophistical cloudes ambiguity of words which in a briefe syllogisme is soone and easilie espied To answere your argument therefore First I distinguish of your Maior for if you meane by seruice and ministerie the expressing and declaring of the will and pleasure of the holy ghost wherunto they are authorized I acknowledge your Maior proposition to be true whatsoeuer the holie Ghost maie doe in this case by the proper power of his godhead that maie the Apostles and Priestes doe by seruice ministerie through the power of the holie Ghost But if you meane by seruice and ministerie that the proper power of God is communicated to men I denie your Maior as false and absurde For the Apostles and Priests maie not by seruice and ministerie through the power of the holie Ghost forgiue sinnes properlie which the holie ghost by proper power of his godhead may doe for this is a proper power not com municable vnto any creature but a declaration of the will of him that hath such power is the ministeriall authoritie by which men forgiue sinnes Secondlie I answere that your conclusion is deceitfull For your Minor Extreame or Assumption is not perfectlie ioyned with your Maior or Proposition in the conclusion For your Minor is that the holie ghost properly rightlie doth remit sinnes So your conclusion should be therefore the Apostles properlie and rightlie doe remit sinnes by their ministerie
to the proper power of God touching the release of the guiltinesse of sinnes although in executing of discipline they maie pardon the exercise of repentance that is appointed for triall of the parties true penitencie or some part thereof which as it is enioyned by the iudgement and discretion of men so they may by the same release it as vpon good cause they thinke conuenient Where you say that Priestes may pardon or retaine mans sinnes of al sortes as wel in the sarcrament of penance al that be confessed as in publike iudgement You thrust in diuerse matters whereof there is neither mention in the text nor anie necessarie collection to be made of them out of it as the sacrament of pennance whereof there is no outward element or signe instituted then your kinde of penance which includeth some peece of satisfaction for sinnes last of all your auricular and particuler confession as though genetall confession and acknowledging of mens sinnes before God might not obtaine remission of sinnes in his sight And as though if anie sinne be not remembred in shrift the priestes remission extendeth not vnto it or if it were remembred and be hypocriticallie concealed yet the remission were good auaileable for al other sinnes that are confessed Againe it is an insolent power you giue them in open Iudgement that they may at their pleasure where Iustice requireth correct the open offender For though you seeme to qualifie their pleasure by iustice yet to ascribe that to their pleasure which is laid vpon them of necessitie what warrant haue you for it For if they maie at their pleasure they neede not except it please them Finallie your argument holdeth not that as in exercising of discipline they maie chastice the offender by the censures of the Church so they may giue due punishment for sinnes 〈◊〉 in shrift Neither are those two endes you alledge true For the chastisement of sinnes pertaineth not to them but to God and the ciuill Magistrate and the iustice of God violated by sinne is satisfied by the obedience and suffering of our sauiour Christ. Wherebie also it should follow that the power of remitting of sinnes were made void and frustrate if men must endure due punishment which you call penance for the satisfying of Gods iustice by sinne violated AILEN The other text of holie scripture containing Christes wordes to Saint Peter seuerallie by certaine notable circumstances of the letter and by wordes of great graunt spoken singularlie to him giueth the chiefe of all his Apostles in more ample termes and beneficiall clauses this power and perogatiue also To him it was onelie said thou art Peter which is as much to saie as a rock for our Master gaue him that name new at his first calling in signification of further intent and purpose which he here vttered and vpon this rocke will I set my Church and hell gates shall not preuaile against it That so said he thus spake in plaine termes Et tibi dabo claues regni caelorum Et quodcunque ligaueris super terram erit ligatum in caelis quodcunque solueris super terram erit solutum in caelis And to thee wil I giue the Keies of the Kingdome of heauen and whatsoeuer thou shalt binde in earth it shall be bound in the heauens And what thou loosest in earth it shall be loosed in the heauens This promis made vnto Peter and performed no doubt after his resurrection when he committed to him the feeding and gouernement of all his deare flock both yong and olde doth exceedinglie import a wonderfull incomparable soueraigntie and-iurisdiction ouer mens soules For a mortall man to receiue the keies of Christes Kingdome and by them to binde loose to lock out and let in before our Master Christ who had the full iurisdiction therein it was neuer heard of And when the holie Prophets do meane to set out the great and passing power giuen by God the father to his onelie sonne in earth they vse to expresse the same often by the termes of keyes as when the Prophet Esaie saith I will laie the keies of the house of Dauid vpon his shoulder he shall shut and there can none be hable to open and he shall open so that none can shut agiane And Christ him-selfe speaking to his beloued Iohn in the Apocalips saith I am the first and the last I am aliue and was dead before and I haue the keies of death and hell The keies therefore euer signifying power andgouernment of the houshold was giuen to Christ as to whom being the principal and most excellent rectour of his owne Church that he bought so dearelie they moste duelie belong But he communicated vnto Peter as to his speciall stewarde the vse of the same for the gouernment of our soules with exceeding much preheminence both in binding and loosing Yet I do not remember that anie of the olde writers do put anie great difference betwixt the authorities of Peter and the rest of the Apostles concerning the remitting of sinnes which is a thing perteining indifferentlie to the wholl order of priesthood and therfore no more proper to the Pope or Peter then to Priestes and Apostles though Origen noted well that the iurisdiction of Peter seemed by these words to be enlarged aboue the residue by that our sauiour said to him that whatsoeuer he bound or loosed in earth it should be loosed or bound in the heauens where to the rest he spoke of heauen onelie in the singular number I speake onelie of this latter clause of binding and loosing with the keies thereunto belonging For there is no doubt but great preheminence of rule and iurisdiction is promised before in the sametext now recited and els where actuallie giuen vnto him more then to the rest of his breethren Neuerthelesse euen this power of binding and loosing common to all the holie order was in him first seuerally planted for the commendation of vnitie and order as Saint Cyprian sath and so the same authoritie giuen to other might yet after a sort be deriued from his fullnes of power and perogatiue as from a fountaine FVLKE The other text of scripture containing the wordes of our sauiour Christ to Peter seuerallie giueth to him as you saie this power and prerogatiue also As for the not able circumstances of the letter the wordes of great graunt spoken singularlie to him the more ample tearmes and beneficiall clauses let vs examine what they are and whether they be of force to make him chiefe of all his Apostles First to him it was onelie said thou art Peter which is as much to saie as a rock what then ergo he was chiefe of all the Apostles who is so madd to gtaunt the consequence To the sonnes of Zebede onelie it was said that they were Bonarges that is the Children of thunder ergo they had greater authoritie then the rest of the Apostles But of all the Apostles it was said
vbi de fructu suae conuersionis infidus est Christ deliuered the keies to the Church saith S. Augustine that whatsoeuer she loosed in earth should be loosed in heauen and what soeuer she bound in earth should be c. that is to saie that whosoeuer would not beleeue that sinnes should be forgiuen him in his Church they should not beforgiuen vnto him but whosoeuer did beleeue and being corrected did turne him-selfe awaie from them being placed in the bosome of the same Church should be healed by the same faith and correction For whosoeuer doth not beleeue that his sinnes maie be forgiuen vnto him is made worsse by dispairing as though nothing remained better for him then to beleue when he is vnfaithful vnbeleeuing of the fruite of his conuersion These wordes of Saint Augustine do shew that sinnes are forgiuen to the penitent and faithfull that beleeue the doctrine of repentance and forgiuenes of sinnes which is preached in the Church The place of Optatus vrging the vnitie of Peters chaire against the schismatikes that were deuided from the communion of the Catholike Church ascribeth no greater authoritie to Peters chaire in exercising the keyes or anie other power of the Priesthood then to all other chaires That Epiphanius allowethrepentance after baptisine against the Catharistes it prooueth no more an other sacrament of penance then that we do euen as he graunt that there is place of repentance before god reconciliation vnto the Church for such as do daily fall after baptisme But contrary wise it appeareth that Epiphanius alloweth but one sacrament of repentance which is baptisme Andyet saith he we take not awaie the mercie of God knowing the preaching of the trueth and the mercie of the Lord c the pardonable nature the vnstedfastnes of the soule the weaknes of the flesh the deepenes of the sense of manie men because no man is void of sinne and pure from filthines though his life be but one daie vpon the earth And perfect repentance in deede is in the lauer of baptisme but if a man fall the holie Church of god doth not loose him for it gran teth him a returne and after that repentance an other repentance The Greeke word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying a sorowfullnes for that which is committed by which the partie maie be brought to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the perfect repentance that he spake of before that is recouer the grace of forgiuenes of sins confirmed vnto him in baptisme which is the onelie sacrament of repentance the fruite whereof endureth vnto our liues end to make vs partakers of the fruite of regeneration that is life euerlasting The examples that he bringeth of repentanee offered to Cain and graunted to Peter do Prooue that he speaketh not of any sacrament of rePentance but sheweth that God receaueth them that fall after baptisme vnto repentance according to the preaching of trueth and of the mercie of God I muse what you meane when you saie that Epiphanius termeth baptisme perfect repentance with Saint Paul to the Hebr. cap. 6. For the Apostle to the Hebrewes hath no such terme either in that chapter or in anie other place of that epistle except you dreamed of such a matter because he professeth to leaue the first principles of religion as repentance from dead workes c. which pertaineth to the doctrine of baptisme and Imposition of hands and to grow to perfection In the Catholike Church as Lactantius saith there is confession because there is faith there is also repentance which wholsomlie healeth the sinnes and wound to which the weakenes of the fleshis subiect by which it is prooued that there is remission of sinnes in the Church continuing vntill the comming of Christ to iudgement ALLEN But he that listeth to see in what office and by whome he holdeth this singular honour of remission of sinnes he shall finde not onelie the Apostles who were called by Christ but all other Bishops also that succeede them in the Church to be her ministers herein Whereof let him reade the 26. Homely of Saint Gregorie pertaining almost whollie to that purpose I will repeat a few wordes onelie out of it committing the rest to the diligence of the reader Libet intueri saith he illi discipuli ad tanta onera humilitatis vocati ad quantum culmen gloriae sint oeruecti Ecce non solùm de semetipsis securi fiunt sed etiam alienae obligationis relaxationis potestatem accipiunt principatumque superniiudicij sortiuntur vt vice Dei quibusdam peccata retineant quibusdam relaxent Ecce qui districtum iudicium Dei metuunt animarum iudices fiunt alios damnant velliberant qui semetipsos damnare metuebant Horum profectò nunc in Ecclesia Dei Episcopi locum tenent ligandi atque soluendi authoritatem sumunt grandis honor sed graue pondus est istud honoris It is my meaning now to beholde to what marueilous honour the Disciples of Christ be exalted which before were called in their base state to great burden and troubles For now they be not onelie in assurance of their owne state but they haue obtained power of binding and releasing other and the verie soueraigntie of heauenly iudgement that in Gods owne steade they may some mans sinnes release and other offencesreteine Loe those that once feared the straight sentence of Gods owne iudgement are made the iudges of other mens soules to condemne or deliuer where they list that before doubted of them-selues And now truelie in these mens roomes are the Bishops of Gods Church and receiue the authoritie of binding and loosing and their owne state ofregiment High surclie is their Chaire but greater is their charge S. Gregorie said so farre But Saint Augustine shall make vp this matter with words of such waight that I trust euerie man shall see the trueth and almost feele the grossenesse of falsehood thereby He writeth thus vpon this verse of the Psalme Eructauit which is the 44. in number with him Pro patribus tuis nati sunt tibi filij constitueseos Principes super omnem terram In place of thy parentes thou hast Children borne thee them thou maist make the Princes of the wholl earth The Apostles did beget thee they were sent them-selues they preached in their owne persons and finallie they were thy fathers But could they alwaies corporallie abide here And though one of them said I would gladlie be dissolued and be withChrist yet for your sake I counted it more necessarie to tarie in flesh Thus he said but how long could his life last he might not remaine til this daie much lesse for the time to come What then is the Church desoiate after the departure of her parents God forbid In steade of thy parentes thou hast sonnes saith the text what is that to saie Marie the Apostles sent by Christ are as fathers and for them God hath raised vp children or sonnes which be the holie Bishops of the world
For at this daie the Bishops that be throughout all Christendome how rose they to that roome The Church calleth them fathers and yet shee did beget them and she placed them in that roome of their fathers Non ergo reputes desertam quia non vides Petrum quòd non vides Paulum quòd non vides illos per quos nataes de prole tua tibi creuit paternitas pra patribus tuis natisunt tibi filij constitues eos principes super omnem terram Do not therefore think thy selfe desolate because thou hast not Paull because thou hast them not now present by whome thou wast borne of thy owne issue fatherhood is growne to thee and for thy fathers thou hast brought forth sonnes them shalt thou make the rulers ouer al the earth Thus much out of Saint Augustine By whome you maie perceaue the great prouidence of God that euerlastinglie vpholdeth the ordinance of his sonne Christ Iesus as well now by the children borne from time to time in the Churches lap as before in the spring of our faith by the Apostles sent and appointed in person by Christ him-selfe FVLKE I suppose the title of your booke will admonish you not to restraine this office onelie to Bishops which so often you haue made common to all priestes For Gregory also in the same homyly nameth often times all pastours of the Church to whome the power of binding and loosing doth appertaine which are many other beside Bishops Moreouer inueighing against the ignorance and vnworthines of them that occupied such places which take vpon them to loose where God doth binde and binde where God doth loose he concludeth that then the absolution of the gouernours of the Chuch is true when it followeth the will of the eternall Iudge By which saying and more to the like effect in that place he declareth his iudgement of the kinde of power or authoritie which the Church hath that it is not absolute but subiect vuto the will of God and is an expressing of Gods forgiuenes or retaining not a proper forgiuing or retaining The saying of Saint Augustine prooueth in deede a continuance of the ministery of the Apostles in the office of Bishops but hereof it followeth not that onelie Bishops as they are distinct from priestes haue this power for not onelie Bishops be the children of the Church but all faithfull men to whome the inheritance of the world is like wise appointed ALLEN And here you must know that not onelie Bishops who succeede the Apostles in all kinde of power and regiment but also all other inferiour Priestes to be compted with them as successors in ministring diuerse sacraments as baptisme penance the reuerend Sacrament of the Aultar and such like but looke what power either Apostle or Bishop hath in remission of sinnes in consecrating Christes bodie in baptizing the same hath the wholl order of holie Priesthood by the right of their order and maie practize the same vpon such as be subiect vnto them in all causes not exempted for reasonable causes by such as haue further iurisdiction ouer the people Wherof I will not now talke particularlie the learned of that order know the limits of their charge and commission better then I can instruct them and the simpler sort must seeke for knowledge of their duetie by the holie Canons of Councels and decrees of Bishops made for that purpose I can not now stand thereon meaning at this present onelie to defend the holie order and challenge for it such right as the scripture and Chistes owne word giueth which in this contempt of vertue and religion is moste necessarie for all men to consider FVLKE There is no power or authoritie graunted by our sauiour Christ to preach the word of God or to minister anie sacrament but the same is common to euerie one of the Pastoures of the Church and not onelie lawfull but also necessarie for them to exercise in their seuerall charges Wherefore that ministering of some sacraments is permitted to them and of other denied them it is beside the word of god Againe the word of god that giueth them general power whose sinnes soeuer whatsoeuer you shal bind or loose is directlie against al exempted cases which sauor of nothing but of Antichristian tyrannie As for the cannons of Counceles and decrees of Bishoppes whether you send the simple to learne the limites of their charge can not restraine that Christ hath enlarged and therefore if your meaning were as your wordes professe to defend the holie order and challenge for it such right as the scripture and Christes owne worde geueth you would enueigh against the pride and ambition of the Pope other prelates that exempt anie cases from the Priests power and authoritie which the holie scripture and the expresse wordsof our sauiour Christ doth in such ample manner graunt vnto them ALLEN Therefore vpon our large discourses for this last point I now deduct the particulars to this summe which maie stand for a certaine marke as well for the good to discerne the trueth as for the aduersaries to shoote at whiles they liue Alpower and euery iurisdiction or right of Christs Church remaineth as amplie and in as full force and strength at this daie and shall till the worlds end so continue as they were by Christ graunted first in the persons of the Apostles or other instituted But the power of remission of sinnes was giuen properlie and in expresse termes to the Apostles Ergo the same remaineth still in Gods Church Whereupon it is so cleare that the Priestes at this day haue as ful power to forgiue sins as the Apostles had And this argument of the continuance of all offices and righte of the Church is the moste plainest and readiest waie not onelie to helpe our cause now taken in hand but vtterlie to improoue all false doctrines and detestable practises of heretikes For they must here be examined diligentlie what common wealth that is what Church that is in which Christ doth prescrue the gouernment giuen to the Apostles where it is that the power not onely os making but also of practizing al sacraments hath continued still what companie of Christian people that is wherein the Apostles Doctors preachers ministers through the perpetuall assistance of Gods spirit be continued for the building vp of Christes bodie which is the number of faithful people What Church that is which bringeth forth from time to time sonnes to occupy the romes of their fathers before them It is not good reader the pelting packe of Protestants It is not I saie and they knowe it is not their petie congregations that hath till this daie continued the succession of Blshoppes by whome the world as Saint Augustine saith is ruled as by the Apostles and first Fathers of Religion Surely our mother the Church hath hene long baren if for her Fathers the Apostles who died so long since she neuer brought forth children til now to occupie their roomes and
were by them Baptized it seemeth they take it of their Master Nouatus who because he had contemned he ceremonie vsed in that time of the Church him-selfe taught his schollers to doe the same left it should hawe beene reputed a want in him Although not the omission of the ceremonie but the contempt of the vsage of the Church being not impious in it selfe was chiefelie condemned in him For at such times as he was ordained Elder or Priest of the Church of 〈◊〉 it was thought by the Bishope a matter that might be remitted in him that for other respectes seemed meete for the office neither was it thought necessarie that he should receiue that cerimonie so by him omitted but not yet as it was thought in despight of the Church refused The Fathers oflater time as Theodoret writeth decreed that such as came from his heresie and would be incorporated into the Church should by receiuing that cerimonie which in time of their heresie they despised declare that they were truelie conuerted from it and willinghe submitted themselues to the Catholike Church and her Doctrine But of late daies when that ceremonie of anointing hath beene accounted a Sacrament yea and a greater Sacrament then Baptisme and thought necessary to eternall saluation whereas yet it hath no institution of Christ set forth in the holie Scriptures the reformed Churches haue iustlie abrogated that custome according to that libertie which the Church hath in all ceremonies not commaunded by God according to the example of the Church in former ages which hath abrogated manie ceremonies vsed of auncient times aswell as that of anointing with oile them that are Baptized ALLEN And first because generallie all the foresaid ioyne together against the trueth in this argument that it is dishonour to god and great presumption in a mortall man to claime the power so proper to God let the studious reader well consider that no function power ne dignitie be it neuer so peculiar to God him-selfe by naturaii excellencie but the same maie be occupied of man secondarilie as by the waie of seruice ministery or participation so that man challenge nor vsurpe it not as of him selfe or when it is not lawfuliie receaued nor orderlie giuen All the workes that extraordinarilie and miraculouslie were wrought either by Christ in his humanitie or by the Prophets or Apostles wordes or by their garments or by what other instrumēt so euer they were donne were the works of god no lesse then to remit sins yet al these things other the like brought to passe by man through the power of god that worketh by mans ministerie the same nothing derogateth to gods glorie but infinitelie augmenteth his honour euen so the power of pardoning mans sins being emploied by God the father vpon Christ his sonne by Christ vpon his Church ministers practized by them not of their owne might heades but in the 〈◊〉 of the holie ghost which by the sonne of god was 〈◊〉 vpon them this authoritie I saie is no derogation but an euident signe of his mightie power of saluation left for the faithfulls sake in the Church When the person that was lame from his birth begged of Peter and Iohn somewhat for his reliefe at the Temole dore as his manner was Peter answered him that golde and siluer he had none to giue but that which he had he would willinglie bestowe which was power to heale him of his incurable maladie for proofe whereof he bad him arise and walke and so he did at his word in the sight of all that there were gathered which being done and the people wondering thereat the Apostle thus instructed them Brethren faith he why wonder you at vs as though we had brought this strange worke to passe by our owne strength and power it is the God of Abraham Isaac Iacob that hath glorified his sonne Iesus whome you refused and betraied to Pontius Pilatus to be crucified in his name and faith this poore man is recouered Marcke well that the same thing which peter said him selfe had to giue quod habeo tibi do the same yet he professeth that he holdeth not as of his owne right or might but as of Christ Iesus in whose name he willed the lame to walke euen so the the power of pardoning sinner is truely and properly in the Priestes as the power of working miracles is properly in Peters hands neither the one noryet the other holden as of their owne might and power but both practized for the glory of God in the name of Iesus of Nazareth by their appointed ministery And as truly as Peter might saie to the feeble in body that which I haue I giue thee rise and walke in the name of iesos of Nazareth so surelie may the Priest saie to the sicke in souie that which I haue I giue thee in the name of Iesus thy Ennes my sonne be forgiuen thee No lesse is the one the peculiar worke of God then the other no more doth one dishonor god then the other FVLKE Nothing that is proper or peculiar to God can be communicated to man but it ceaseth to be proper to God For it is against the nature of properties to be made common to any other subiect then to that whereof they are proper adiuncts And yet I denie not but that which is proper to God he doth exercise often times by the seruice or ministery of men in which they are but instrumental causes he him selfe is the principal efficient otherwise man maie not occupie or execute secondly or thirdly or last of all by waie of participation that which is proper or peculiar to God So that it remaneth still an vndoubted truth that God onelie doth forgiue sinnes properlie and man doth not forgiue sinnes properlie but is the instrument of God to vtter and declare the good pleasure of God in forgiuing sinnes to all and euerie one that repent and beleeue the Gospe ll Your general negatiue that there is no function power nor dignitie be it neuer so peculiar to God by naturall excellencie but it maie be occupied of man secondly as by the waie of seruice ministery or participation if it were vrged against you would breed horrible absurdities To omit all other the power of creating thinges of nothing by what meanes maie man be partaker thereof occupie it or exercise it But let vs consider your induction All Miraculous workes worught by Christ in his humanitie the Prophets or Apostles were no lesse proper to God then the power to remit sinnes Yes verilie for manie miraculous workes that God did by Moses the inchaunters of Egipt did the like by the power of the deuill whereby it appeareth that although ail power be deriued from God as from the first cause thereof euen that power which the deuill hath yet it is otherwise communicated to creatures then the power of remission of sinnes is For that remaineth onelie in the hande of God and is not properlie
executed by any other man but onelie by our sauiour Christ the mediarour of god and man In which power he hath ordained man but as a seruant to doe nothing after his owne will but onlie to declare and pronounce the will of God therof In working of miracles it is otherwise in which mā so exerciseth that power either receiued of god or of the deuil that often times he causeth effects according to his owne wil contrarie to the wil of God reuealed in his word though nothing can be contrarie to his absolute will But the power of remitting sins no man can execute contrarie to the reuealed wil of God For Peter could not forgiue the sinnes of Iudes Iscariot Smon Magus Alexander the copper smith or anie other that sinned against the holy Ghost or that was not truly penitent for his sinnes or that beleeued not the promise of God Neither could Peter or can anie man retaine the sins of him that repenteth and taketh holde of Gods mercie by faith but he shall haue remission of sinnes though all the men in the world would saie the contrarie so that man hath no power in reteining or remitting of sins but by declaring the will of God wherof he hath no warrant but out of his worde For I aske this question of you if two priests hauing heard one mans confession at the same time be in contrarie opinions so that the one doth forgiue sinnes the other doth reteine them Whether of these sentences shal take place No doubt but you will saie that which is agreeable to the will of God Then doth it follow of necessitie that man doth onelie declare Gods will and hath no absolute or proper power to exercise this authoritie according to his owne will But as Peter saide to the lame man that which I haue I giue to thee and yet he had it not of his owne right of might but from God euen so saie you The power of pardoning sinnes is truelie and properlie in the priests as the power of working mitacles is properlie in Peters hands Idenie your consequence For although the pow er of working miracles were properly in Peters hands yet it followeth not that the power of pardoning sins was properlie in him For as I haue shewed there is great diuersitie betweene the one power and the other The power of miracles is graunted to Peter to be exercised according to the direction of Gods holie spirit agreeablie vnto the secret and absolute will of God But the power of pardoning sinnes is not graunted to Peter or any man but as to a messenger and declarer of Gods will as it is reuealed in his worde beside which if any presume to remit he doth but spend his breath in vaine But a wicked man hauing the power of miracles maie sometimes abuse it contrarie to Gods law as to mainteine false doctrine and Idolatry to hurt or to murther innocents thereby and yet wee may saie in some respect that the power of working miracles is not properlie in Peters handes both because it is not in him to heale whome and when he will but after as he hath a secret instinct of him that is the author of his gift and also because he is but an instrument of God whoe onelie doth great maruells properlie Psal. 136. as he confessed in the healing of AEneas Acts 9. saying Christ Ie sus heale thee So Acts. 3 His name hath made him strong and the faith which is by him hath giuen him his perfect health Where you conclude that the priests may saie likewise to the sicke soull That which I haue I giue thee In the name of Iesus Thy sinnes my sonne be forgiuen thee Although the sorme of speach be somewhat insolent and strange yet you confesse that the priest hath nothing to giue him but a declaration of Gods will when he saieth thy sins are forgiuen thee in the name of Iesus Yea if he shall saie in the name of lesus I forgiue thee thy sins the sense were no more but this Iesus doth assure thee by me his seruant and messenger that he hath satisfied for thy sinnes and therefore they shall no more be imputed vnto thee for God hath forgiuen them ALLEN And this worke of remitting sinnes is much more certain then the miraculous healing of the bodie beeing ioyned by Gods promise to a sacrament that shall neuer cease in the Church where miracles for most part ceased long since yea the name and maiestie of God is a thousand parts more honoured not onelie that God in his owne person but in the frailtie of hu ministers is able to accomplish such mightie miracles both in the cure of bodie and soull But the fondnes of this heresie is so great that it maketh those things to tend to Gods disgracing which he hath appointed properlie and onelie in a manner for the purpose to set forth the name of his sonne Iesus For if both sinnes of mans soull and sores of his bodie could not visiblie by externall meanes be healed in the glorious inuocation of Gods name it would surelie be forgotten in the Church of Christ that such power is giuen by God the father to his onelie sonne mans minde would not reach to that inwardly whereof he had no proofe nor assurance outwardelie I beseech you Sir the working of strange miracles giuen to some as well of the Prophets as of the Apostles of Christ were they any whit preiudicial to Gods honour or were they giuento man aboue his naturall power for the setting forth of God honour that the Prophets should see long before thinges that afterwarde did fall which is the proprietie of God alone and theirs onelie by gift and graunt of him to who me onelie it doth belong doe they dishonour God or els was it not alwaies graunted to some men for the glorie of God That Eliseus could see the heart and inwarde thoughts of Giezi his seruant which is Gods onelie propertie did it dishonour God or rather wonderfullie augment his glorie The passing preheminence that Peter and the rest receiued when they were hable by laying on of handes to giue the holie ghost can it not be practized without the dishonour of God or ells was it not principallse giuen to them to set forth the glory of God This was so great power that it was much more astonied at of the beholders then either working of miracles or remitting sinnes in so much that Simon the forcerer whoe was so glorious before that he called him selfe the power of God would haue giuen the Apostles money largely that vpon whome soeuer he had practized the like laying on of hands he might receiue the holie ghost also Then if the power of giuing the holie ghost or power of giuing grace which both Peter and Paull practized in a visible sacrament by a solemne ceremonie in the sight of all the worlde by laying on of their handes if this passing worke and moste proper to God I
dare saie of all other actes that be exercised in Christes name in the Church doth not onelie no whit abase Gods excellency but was purposelie instituted to honour the maiestie of God in the face of all people and to set out the glorie of his house how dare any man for feare of Gods high indignation controlle the worke of Christ in remitting mans sinnes by such a visible sacrament as to the honour of God is most conuenient and to our saluation most necessarie If they will not let pristes remit sinnes for feare of offending God and dishonouring his name then let them not baptize not preach not teach not doe miracles not giue the holie ghost not correct faultes not giue orders nor doe any other functions For these euerie one be no lesse proper to God then remission of sinnes FVLKE You ground your argument vpon a sacrament before you haue prooued any The power of remitting sinnes is graunted to be perpetual in the Church and nothing derogatorie to the honour of God But that there is any other sacrament whereby men are assured of the forgiuenes of their sinnes by any externall ceremonie except the sacraments of Baptisme and of the Lordes supper which is the cheife matter in controuersie you goe not once about to prooue If Christs Church were like your Popish Church wherein all thinges are taught by Images dumme ceremonies and the worde of God neuerpreached it might come to passe as you say that it would be forgotten that such power is giuen by God to Christ. But in the Church of God many thinges are remembered by meanes of preaching the Gospell and word of God whereof there is no visible sacrament or ceremony although to helpe our weakenes the mercy of God hath by his sacraments sealed vp the moste necessarie and generail pointes of doctrine of our regeneration to be the Children of God and of our spirituall feeding or norishment to continue vs perpetuallie in the same But whereas you saie that if both sinnes of mans soull and sores of his bodie could not visiblie by externall meanes he healed in the glorious inuoration of Gods name it would surclie be forgottenin the Church of Christ that such power is giuen by God the father to his onelie sonne c. I praie you what externall meanes haue you visiblie to heale the sores of mans bodie by inuocation of Gods name lest it should be forgotten in the Church that the father hath giuen such power to his sonne Will you now send vs to the mocke miracles lying signes regestred in your Legendes wrought at your pilgramages Idolls or in an other worlde by the Iapponical Iesuites These because they are not seene mooue nothing the inwarde man whose minde you saie ful learnedlie will not reach to that inwardelie whereof he hath no proofe nor assurance outwardelie As though faith were not a substance of things that are hoped for and an euidence of things that are not seene Where of the minde of man hath no assurance outwardelie For the sacramentall seales but by faith make no assurance outwardelie Can I gather an assurance but by faith of Gods promise that my bodie being washed outwardelie my soull is clensed inwardelie Is it the receiuing of the outward elements in the Lordes supper that assureth me of my spirituall nourishment to eternall life or faith graunted vpon the worde which comming to the elements maketh them the seales of assurance of gods promises The question you aske of the Prophets foreseeing of things so long before things that afterwarde did fall whether it was graunted with dishonour of God or to his glorie I answere that the propertie of God alone to whome all things are present was not ne could not be communicated to men But God to his glorie by the instrument of their mouth did foreshew those things which he had reuealed vnto thē by his spirit in prophetical vision or dreame Neither could Elizeus see the heart inward thoughts of Gihezei his seruant which is gods onelie propertie but God did reueale and declare vnto him what hipocrisie was hid in the heart of Gihezei so that Elizeus knew no more properlie what was in the heart of Gihezei then any other man to whome Gihezei him-selfe might open his thoughtes sauing that Elizeus knew more certenlie and by 2 more wonderfull meane For to man Gihezei might ly but god who onely searcheth the heart the reines reuealed the truth to Elizeus Neither was Peter and the rest hable by laying on of handes to giue the holy ghost that is the visible gists of the holv ghost but according to gods good pleasure will For Acts. 8. Peter and Iohn sent by the Apostles into Samaria praied for them that were baptized that they might receiue the holie Ghost and after laide their hands vpon them and they receiued from god the sensible graces of the holie ghost as speaking with tongues interpretation of tongues healing of sicknes casting out of deuills and such like Therefore in such wonderfull effects as followed laying on of hands nothing that is most proper to god passed to men But it pleased God who is the onelie author of such graces and gifts to bestow the same by his faithfull stewards at their praier whereunto they were mooued and assisted by him and with that visible sacrament or ceremonie But such ceremonies we haue not for remission of sinnes or reteining of them by Gods institution Therefore no sacrament but a doctrine of remitting or reteining of sinnes ALLEN O heresie most shamefull that then goeth about to dishonour God most when she most pretendeth gods honour whereof shee is so tender and so carefull that shee hath barred his owne spouse of his blessed bodie of remission of sinnes of the spirit of God of all sacraments of all holie ceremonies of memories of miracles of all holie functions and to be short of all gifts and graces and all this for Gods honour so honourable a thing it is for Christ to be the king of so beggerlie a common wealth as they make of the Church such glorie it is for Christ to haue his onelie spouse robbed of the treasures of his giftes and graces so comelie it is for Christ to haue such sacraments as neither conteine him-selfe nor his grace so worthie a thing it is for Christ to haue ministers that vpon his owne warrant can neither pardon nor punish mans misdeedes Gloriosa dicta sunt de te Ciuitas Dei Glorious thinges haue beene reported of thee thou Citie of God and how arte thou now so barrenne and so contemptible that thy honour must needes redound to the dishonour of him by whome all thy honour onelie standeth But I cease to pursue the Churchces enemies now in mine owne wordes I will rather ioyne with the holie fathers for their ouerthrow whose not onelie reason and sufficient answere to this their vaine replie founded on the pretence of Gods honour but also their onelie
name and authoritie shall sufficientlie beate downe these mens boldnes Saint Ambrose in this case is moste plaine and standeth with the Nouatians as I doe now with the Zuinglians euen in the verie same argument in these wordes Sed aiunt se Domino deferre reuerentiam cui soli remittend orum oriminum potestatem reseruent imò nulli maiorem iniuriam faciunt quà m qui eius volunt mandata res indere commissum munus refindere nam cùm ipse in Euangelis suo dixerit Dominus Iesus accipite Spiritum sanctum quorum remiseritis peccata c. quis est ergo qui magis honorat Vtrum qui mandat is attemperat an qui resistit Ecclesia in vtroque seruat obedientiam vt peccatism alliget laxat That is to saie These Nouatians saie that they denie penance or power to remit sinnes in earth in respect of the maintenance of such honour as is due to God to whome onely they will reserue the pardoning of mans sinnes But in deede none doe so much iniury to Gods glory as those which breake his commaundements and make a diuision of that charge and commission which he giueth For seeing our Lord Iesus by his owne mouth spake these words Receiue ye the holy ghost whose sinnes you doe forgiue they be forgiuen and whose sinnes you holde they beholden who in this case more honoureth God He that obeieth his commaundement or he that resisteth the same The Church obeieth in both as well in binding as in loosing Thus there And a litle after Looke to whome this charge was giuen and that person may lawfullie and with Gods good leaue vse the same Au l therefore the Church may lawfullie both binde and loose heresie and her attendants can rightlie doe neither This right is onelie committed to priests and therefore the Church rightlie challengeth that authoritie because shee hath lawfull priests and so heresie cannot doe because shee hath not the priests of God in her cursed congregation Thus said Saint Ambrose for the answere of the Nouatians in his daies and so say I now in the Churches behalfe against the like affected enemies of Christs honour which whiles they in face of scripture and Gods word would seeme to defend they are become sworne aduersaries of his honour and open contemners of his commaundements and holy ordinance Saint Ambrose here taketh it for a ground that it is Gods ordinance that Priests should remit sinnes he is bolde to call the contrarie doctrine heresie he maketh a principle of this that it neuer dishonoureth God that man should doe that which God giueth him either commaundement or commission to doe in his behalfe he taketh it for a knowne trueth that as the Church of God hath true and lawfull priests so shee may by them vpon Christes warrant bath loose and binde and contrariwise that heresie may well enough giue ouer that right of remission of sinnes because shee hath lightlie no lawfull priests by whome shee may practize the same FVLKE First you make a vaine exclamation or outcrie as though heresie hath spoiled the Church of her treasures vnder pretence of Gods glorie but such rhetoricall vamties all wise men will deride The Church is not spoiled of her treasures when neither Christ nor his grace is conteined in the sacraments but when Christ her onelie treasure is spoiled of his glorie of sole redemption and fatisfaction for our sinnes or of any other parte of the office that belongeth to the mediator Therefore it is her greatest honour that Christ may haue his true honour in whome with whome she hath al things not to the glory of flesh bloode but to the glorie of God to whome all glorie of right belongeth what Saint Ambrose did write against the Nouatians pertaineth not to vs who denie neither the power of remitting nor of reteining of sinnes but graunt both But that Saint Ambrose did not meane of such a power as the Papists doe claime I haue shewed before out of his owne wordes in the same place where he saieth that our Lord hath chosen such Disciples as should be interpreters of their Lordes will This power is graunted to all true ministers of the Church that they are the Legates or embassadors of god to declare his wil pleasure vnto men aswel for remitting as for reteining of sins And therefore Nouatus or Nouatianus did very absurdlie by Saint Ambrose his iudgement that did arrogate vnto himselfe power to reteine sinnes while he pronounced that they which fell into Idolatrie after Baptisme might not be receiued into the Church vpon any trial of their repentance and would not yeald that the ministers of the Church by the same authoritie might pronounce that they which were truelie penitent of their former wicked behauiour were forgiuen in the iudgement of God which was to remit their sins vpon earth with faith in Gods promise that they shall be forgiuen in heauen Thus the answere of Saint Ambrose vnto the Nouatians doth nothing in the world make against vs which denie no power that Christ hath graunted to his Church vnder collour of maintenance of Gods honour ALLEN And surelie it is a maruclous force of trueth or rather the might of Gods prouidence that driueth Heretikes to disdaine destroie and dissanull the graces and manifold giftes of Christes Church that impugning them where the verie right of such holie actes doe lie they may plainlte confesse and to their shame acknowledge that they haue none such themselues nor cannot by Gods warrant challenge any such giftes which with all their might they would wholie if they could together with Gods spirit and Church extinguish Alas into what miserie hath this forfaken flocke willfullie cast them selues and their adherentes which can forsake Gods house vbi mandauit Dominus benedictionem vpon which God hath bestowed his blessing abide there where by their owne confession there is no Priesthood no penance no host no sacrifice no remission where they can let of sinnes no grace in sacramentes nor no gift of the holie Ghost All other herisies lightlie by force of the Fathers Doctrine and iudgement lost either their Priesthood because they had no waie out of the Church to make Priestes as Saint Hierome writeth of Hilarie the Deacon or els the vse and function of Priesthood by reason the workes of God cannot be orderly nor benefi iallie vsed out of the house of God and yet they euer claimed to themselues not onlie the order but for moste parte all other functions that by Christ and his Church were annexed to that order but ours wherein they passe all their forefathers in a manner willinglie giue ouer the wholl profession freelie and without compulsion denie them selues with Nouatus to be priestes denie to sacrifice denie to enioyne penance denie to giue the holie ghost either by imposition of handes or by Chrisme or by any other solemne right of Gods Church To be short take nothing from these fellowes that belongeth
courage you shall cast him into the waues together with your selues Vnderstād what Christ saith of the Iewes Vpon the chaire of Moses the Scribes and Pharisies did sit do ye all things whatsoeuer they shall saie to you Now we must not saie the priestes are set vpon the chaire of Moses but vpon the chaire of Christ for they haue receiued his doctrine wherefore Paul saith we are embassadours for Chist as though Christ did exhore by vs Doe ye not se that all men are subiect to the Princes of the worlde and that often times the worse in birthe life and wisdome are preferred before the better Neuerthelesse men consider the reuerence of the Prince that hath preferred them not the persons whatsoeuer they be so that if man appoint one ouer vs there is so great feare if God haue appointed anie man we despise him 〈◊〉 on him and vexe him with innumerable contumelies and whereas we are forbidden to iudge our breethren we whet our tongues against the priests Of what excuse are these thinges worthie when we se not a beame in our owne eye and iudge so seuerelse a mote in our neighbours eye Doest thou not know that thou prescribest to thy selfe a more heauie iudgement when thou so iudgest another This I saie not that I allowe vnworthie persons to be taken into the priestes office but hauing compassion and weeping For they are not therefore to be iudged by their subiects although they liue euillie and vitiouslie But if thou looke well to thy selfe thou shalt not affend end in anie'thing that is committed to them For if he made an Asse to speake and gaue spirituall blessinges by a southsayer and wrought in a dumbe mouth and the vncleane tongue of Balaam for the stumbling Iewes much more for you that be faithfull although the priests be naught God shall persorme all thinges by them and send his holie spirite for a pure minde doeth not therefore loose his purenes but grace worketh all things for all are yours saith he whether it be Paule or Apollo or Cephas For whatsoeuer the priest goeth about it is the gift of God alone and when he exerciseth mans wisdome his grace appeereth lesse Neither doe I saie this that we might liue more slouthfullie but least while they that are set ouer you liue slouthfullie you that are committed to them should at anie time procure euill to your selues And what speak I of the Priest Neither an Angell nor an Archangell can bring anie thing to passe in those thinges which are giuen by God But the father the sonne and the holie ghost doeth all things The priest giueth his tongue and his handes for it is not iust that for malice of an other man they that come to our saluation should be offended All which thinges considered let vs both seare God and greatlie reuerence his priestes that honour being giuen both to our workes and to them we maie receiue great reward of God by the grace and goodnes of our Lorde Iesus Christ to whome with the father and the holie ghost be glorie for euer and euer Amen These wordes of Chrisostome declare that the ministration of the worde and of the sacraments in which the Priest lendeth his tongue and his handes are not defiled by the euill life of the Priest so he sit in the chaire of Christ preach the doctrine receiued by him confirming the same by the sacrament of his institution But of the popish sacrament of penance or auricular confession they speake nothing at all Contrariwise they shewe by what meanes the Priestes doe execute the authoritie graunted them in remission of sinnes namelie in the whole office of their ministerie consisting principallie in preaching and ministring the sacraments not in giuing priuate absolution onelie or principallie ALLEN But to leaue him and fall to other of great antiquitie and learning whose iudgements also will prooue not onelie for the trueth of his doctrine but also which is much more for the vniformitie of this open Ceremonie which the Church of olde vsed and therefore in the like trueth of thinges yet keepeth Theodoritus therefore a Greeke author also doth plainelie insinuate not onelie the whole sacrameut but euen this Ceremonie of laying on handes in the acte of absolution Sunt medicabilia saith he etiam quae post baptismum fiunt vulnera medicabilia autem non 〈◊〉 olim per solam fidem data remissione sed per multas lachrymas fletus iciunium orationem laborem facti peccati quantitate moderatum Quienim non sic affecti sunt eos nec admittere quidem didicimus nee diuina sunt manu impertienda Nolite inquit dare sanctum canibus nec margaritas porcis The woundes which are made euen after Baptisme be to be healed marie they cannot be remedied as before in Baptisme by remission obteyned by onelie faith but they must nowe be cured by teares and weeping by fasting and praying and by penance measured after the quantitie and nature of the fault For whosoeuer be not so qualified we haue not learned to receiue them to grace neither be the holie giftes to be bestowed vpon them by our hand Giue not saieth he holie thinges to dogges nor precious stones to swine Thus doth Theodoritus allude also to our manner yet vsed in the sacrament where remission is giuen by the priestes worde and hand For which cause Saint Aogustine calleth this sacrament of reconciliation sometimes Imposition of hands as he doth other sacraments moe also where the priests by this externall Ceremonie of laying on of handes vse to giue grace FVLKE Theodoret which liued so long after confession was abrogated by Nectarius in the Greeke Church speaketh nothing for it but that repentance muste best be testified by manie teares weeping fasting and praier and such like labour moderated according to the quantitie of the sinne committed otherwise they are not to be admitted into the Church nor to be made partakers of the holie communion So that he speaketh of them that for grieuous sinnes are excommunicated whoe are not to be receiued but vpon their hartie repentance nor the diuine mysteries to be deliuered vnto them Wherefore there is no allusion in his wordes vnto the popish manner of absolution with the worde and hande For he speaketh of admission and deliuerie with the hande Which must be vnderstoode of them that were excluded and debarred from receiuing which are accounted dogges and hogges For I hope you account not all sinners for dogges and hogges before they be shriuen if they be not by the sword of excommunication cut of from the Church But Saint Augustine as you saie calleth this your sacrament Imposition of handes If you meane the place De bapt contr Donatistas lib. quinto cap 20. Because there is no eight booke whereunto your margent sendeth vs he speaketh in deede of them on whome handes are laide which maie be them that are confirmed or ordained to the ministerie of the Church as
such an impudent brag set vpon so false a matter wherein he seeth neither Christs institution by his word nor the example of antiquitie by anie credible report nor practise of any Christian people by any necessary ground nor 〈◊〉 by learned witnes nor reason by necessarie conclusions to vphold and maintaine it let him schoole his conscience according to the holie scriptures and nothing be mooued with the vaine glosing of such shameles boasters ALLEN For if vpon consideration of this practise so approoued by all meanes possible he can not charge him selfe with obedience to the trueth and the exercise of that in his lise and workes which he seeth to be moste sure and certaine as well by the Churches vsage as Gods owne writing and will moe words will not weigh with him nor the persuasion of man shall euer much mooue him to that which the continuall terrour of conscience alwaies acknowledging that truth in minde the practise wherof in outward fact he abhorreth can not effectualliie force him vnto Hard it seemeth I knowe to the wordlinges and to the weake and so hard that neuer man could haue brought it into the Church much lesse to haue continued it so long if it had not proceeded from the precept of Christes owne mouth to open the whole heart and minde to man And it can not but be ioyned with some naturall bashfullnes in this our frailtie to vtter that to an other which in it selfe of what sort of sinne so euer it be is moste filthie and lothsome But knowing and feeling vndoubtedlie that the continuall close keeping thereof in the court of our conscience is much more great and greeuose torment and therwith concerning Christes ordinance to be such that no consideration of our imbecillitle nor contrarie liking of our phantasie maie or ought to withdrawe vs from that thing which for vs all is accounttd moste conuenient and necessarie let vs neuer by our disobedient willes striue against Gods wisedome FVLKE When you can shewe Gods owne writing and will out of the same that popish shriftis so necessarie all good consciences will runne as faste vnto it as now they despise and abhorre it Such confession as the holie writinges of God doe require all Christians wil be readie to make But that confession of all our mortall sinnes as you tearme them is of necessitie to be made to any man we finde no scripture that doth charge our conscience with it And where you saie that no earthly power could haue established or begun any such burthenous thing as shrift is I agree with you yet it followeth not that the force of Christes institution hath driuen the worlde thereunto For the subtiltie of the Deuill hath more preuailed to deceiue the mindes of ignorant men then any earthlie power against knowledge could haue preuailed Yea God himselfe hath sent the efficacy of error into the worlde that Antichrist then whose tiranie nothing is more burthenous might preuaile to the deceiuing of the reprobate for punishment of their 〈◊〉 which haue not embraced the knowledge of the trueth to their saluation that they might beleeue lies to their condemnation Wherefore let no man maruell that Antichrist hath laied so many so heauie and intollerable burthens vpon mens consciences which no earthlie power could bring to passe for his comming is foreshewed to be according to the effectuall workeing of Satan in all power and signes and wonders of lies and in all deceitfullnes of vnrighteousnes in them that perish Neither let any man be blinded with this foolish Sophistrie and inconsequence of Allen Neuer any earthlie power could haue established or begunne anie such burthenous thing as Popish shrift is therefore it hath the force of Christes constitution and ordinances whereof there can no worde be brought out of the hol e scriptures ALLEN If the hurthen therefore of confession seeme to any man intollerable as in deede it is not but verie pleasant to all such as haue tasted how sweete Christ is let him ease it with earnest consideration that it is exceeding commodious to breake the pride of mans heart and to make him know himselfe And if that any burthen of shamefastenesse appeare in the vttering of his sinnes he may learne to take it gladlie as some worthie paine for his offences and some peece of recompence and satistisfaction for the same It pleased God at the first fall of our fathers to ioyne shame and confusion to sinne by which they were bashefull at the voice of God and of their owne nakednes Seeing that of his infinit wisedome it pleased him to make it the first punishment for sinne and to laie it vpon his owne sonnes moste innocent person in his contemptible death and manifolde rebukes suffered for our sinnes and sakes let vs not disdaine to beare some portion thereof in this sacrament of confession for the release of our sinnes That shamefastenes so much abhorred and so much respected shall often preserue man from further offending whereof he knoweth after he must againe so soone before God and his minister be rebuked FVLKE To all wise and Godlie men the burthen of Popish confession seemeth not onely intollerable but also impossible But to foolish hypocrites that would gladlie fall to a composition for their sinnes it seemeth easie enough especiallie since euerie man for a litle monie may choose his confessour according to his owne conceite into whose lappe he may vomit out the burthen of his seared conscience and be assured of absolution toties quoties Neither is pride much abated nor shame greatly regarded where one simple obnoxius person is made priuie of a mans faulte who also as it is holden is bounde to conceale the same for euer Neither were all the shame of the worlde sufficient to make satisfaction for the least of our sinnes which deserue eternall confusion paines for which the sonne of God and none but he was able to satisfie by temporall paine and shame much lesse the shame of confession before one priest and he commonlie an ignorant contemptible asse may be any peece of recompence and satisfaction for all our sinnes confessed to him Iesus Christ the righteous is the propitiation for our sinnes and his bloode purgeth vs from all our sinnes and therfore your Popish confession with this opinion of some peece of recompence satisfaction for our sinnes is iustlie abhorred of all true Christians who know that what peece soeuer of recompence or satisfaction for sinnes be ascribed to any other thing so much is detracted from the glorie of Christes redemption and the inestimable price of his bloode As for the preferuatiue from sinne that you imagine shrift should be is but a foolish fantasie for he that neuer feareth not shamerh to fall so often in the sight of the righteous God will haue but a small regarde to bewraie the same to sinnefull man ALLEN But what should we talke of sosmall a let where the comfort of opening our sores woundes to
had expresselie forgiuen him by the warrant of the Prophet Nathan his greeuous sinnes Consider the case of all Gods elect people how sharpelie they were visited for sinne after it was in them pardoned Marke whether Marie Moises his sister was not punished and separated seuen daies as it were for penance after her brethren had procured her pardon at Gods handes Thus hath God of respect not onelie to mercie but also partlie to iustice so alwaies pardoned that he had consideration of iudgement and righteousnes Now whome should the Church follow in remitting of sinnes but him by whofe power and warrant she doth remit sinnes FVLKE We see that god did chastise the Prophet Dauid and his posterititie with a rodde of man and with a fatherlie correction but his mercie and louing kindnes he neuer tooke from them Neither punished them to satisfie his iustice for their sinne remitted but to make them and other by their example more carefull not to commit sinne in time to come The case of Gods elect people was somewhat otherwise Exod. 32. where although he receiued to mercie the wholl people that they should not be destroied from the face of the earth yet he might of his iustice punish a number of particular persons that were moste rebellious and authors of the defection and Idolatrie Marie the sister of Moses was also punished of God first to humble her and bring her to repentance and that punishment was continued on her for a few daies partlie to exercise her in earnest and hartie repentance partlie to admonish the people by her example to beware of murmuring against Gods ministers their lawfull magistrates not in respect of anie satisfaction of Gods iustice which can receiue none but a ful sufficient satisfaction in his beloued sonne Iesus Christ. Wherefore if the Church will follow God in remission of sinnes she must remit them freelie as God doth in Iesus Christ forgiue vs for so Saint Paull meaneth that men should forgiue one another their trespasses and not to remit the fault and retaine the paine except it be in case where men are appointed by God to execute paines as the Magistrates are or to practize discipline as the Church is in which case the Church may not think to satisfy Gods iustice but to seek reformation of the offender and to prouide for the example of others ALLEN Seeing God then him-selfe after he hath by his owne means and absolute power pardoned mans faultes and discharged him of the sentence of death and damnation had yet enioyned penance as when he said to Adam In the sweate of thy browes thou shalt prouide for thy liuing And to Eue. Thou shalt in paine bring forth thy Children And to them both that they should die the temporall death though they might escape by his mercie euerlasting miserie seeing this we neede not to doubt but temporall punishment often remaineth after the sinnes be remitted and that the Church of God doth imitate moste conuenientlie the saied mercie enioyned with iustice in all her most righteous practize of pardoning and punishing sinne in Christes behalfe by whose iurisdiction she herein holdeth But for the further proofe of the matter I haue saide much in the defense of Purgatotie and this question properlie of Purgatotie and this question properlie perteineth to 〈◊〉 place FVLKE That temporall punishment is laied vpon men often times although their sinnes be remitted it is no question but whether such punishment be a satisfaction to the iustice of God or a fatherlie discipline of his mercie that is the matter in controuersie The Church therefore in exercising the discipline of God vpon offendours may and ought to imitate the example of god but then shee must beware of two things the one that she laie no other burthen of punishment vpon the offendours then the worde of God will warrant therefore penance is not arbitrarie as the Canonists doe saie but to be directed by the worde of God Secondlie shee must take heede that shee release no more punishment then shee is able to laie on And therefore shee must be assured by the worde of God whether shee can eioyne penance to be suffered in Purgatorie before shee take vpon her to remit any such punishment touching which matter as you haue saied more in the defence of Purgatorie so haue I answered sufficientlie to the ouerthrow of Purgatorie and all that dependeth thereupon That Christ gaue by his expresse worde authoritie to the pastours of Gods Church to binde and loose not onely the sinnes themselues but also the temporall paine or penance remaining THE FOVRTH CHAP. ALLEN BVt now for the iurisdiction that Gods Church hath in releasing the same punishment which remaineth after the fault be forgiuen it standeth no doubt vpon that high commission which Christ receiued of his Father and did communicate moste amplie to the Apostles and by then to all Bishops for euer For the father did not onelie honour Christ his sonne according to his humanity with the power of priesthoode or with other soueraignitic for the institutious of sacraments or such like but with all regiment of that bodie whereof he is the heads as he is man By which keye of iurisdiction he corrected sinners with great Maiestie and pardoned them at his pleasure not onelie of sinne and euerlasting paine where the penitencie of the partie did so require but also of such correction as the law had prescribed for sinne or Gods iustice had enioyned for the same FVLKE That the Church hath any iurisdiction in releasing that punishment which remaineth after the faulte for giuen for a satisfaction of Gods iustice it hath not hetherto beene prooued nor euer shall be prooued by authoritie of the holie scriptures which teach the contrarie that Christ alone hath by his one sacrifice made perfect for euer those that are sanctified And therefore it is vnreasonable to seeke whereupon it standeth For neither did Christ receiue any such commission in his humanitie neither did he deliuer ouer any such iurisdiction vnto his Apostles to release temporall punishment due to Gods iustice vnsatisfied by his death and passion For by one oblation once offered by his eternall spirit he made perfect for euer those that are sanctified And the power of Priesthoode and soueraigne authoritie to institute sacraments and to be head of his Church he receiued not as man onelie but as our mediatour God and man The Lorde said vnto my Lorde saith Dauid sit thou on my right hand Thou art a Priest for euer c. Which offices authorities can not beseparated from his diuinity without Nestorian impiety Christ is head of his Church a Priest for euer as he is Dauids Lord but as he is Dauids Lord he is not onelie his sonne but his God therefore he is heade of his Church and a priest after the order of Melchisedeeh not as he is man onelie but as he is God man neither did he pardon any
manie suppose doth not extend past the compasse of this worlde and therefore that he cannot exercise the acte of binding or loosing which be proper to his power and gouernment ouer anie in the next life though to make sute for them before God he maie applie some portion of Christes copious redemption and Saints satisfaction by the vse of his keyes which there make forcible intercession though they cannot giue iudiciarie absolution FVLKE If the Pope haue not meere iurisdiction in Purgatorie how could Clement graunt the release of soules to be at other mens arbitrement by his pardon Againe how could he be able to spoile all purgatorie which is affirmed to be possible to his absolute power But for plainer vnderstanding of this mysterie of iniquitie and abhominable blasphemie you consider two thinges in a pardon the absolution and the application which later you saie maie be made for them that be not vnder their power whereof it will follow that all Bishoppes hauing the dispensation of the treasure committed vnto them as well as the Pope maie graunt pardons to them that be none of their iurisdiction which by application maie be profitable to them though they be not by absolution But what is this application You answere it is not by regiment but by aide of sute A grosse deuise to turne a pardon or remission into a sute or request for a pardon when in the pardon there is no wordes of praier or request but of concession and graunt But by this pardon you saie the Pope offereth to God the price of Christes passion and the satisfaction of Saints Then haue we a new oblation neuer before heard of proper to the Pope in graunting of pardons Or if it be a prerogatiue of the Pope that he maie be saide to praie when he doth graunt or commaund and offer a bargen ofre compence where he can doe no more but entreate the iudge to accept it no passe ouer all other blasphemies conteined in this chaffer with god I demaund why the Popes praier should be heard rather then the praier of other Byshops and priests You answere no doubt for his reuerence blasphemouslie applying to the Pope that which according to the volgar translation is alledged to be the cause why Christ was heard of his father You 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he representeth Christes person Why how farre is Christ from Gods presence that he hath need to be represented by the Pope The scripture indeed doth often allow that the minister of Christ doth represent the person of Christ vnto men because his person is not visible nor his humanitie present vnto them But that anie mortall man should represent the person of Christ before God and by the vertue of that representation applie the merites of Christ otherwise then he applied by his passion it is straunge and intollerable blasphemie and such as none but a limme of Antichrist would vtter As also it is hòrrible to heare that the Popes keies in porgatorie should make forcible intercession where they can not giue iudiciarie absolution Before we had but two keies the one of order the other of iurisdiction Now commeth in the third keie of suffrage by application which is rather a picklock then a keie because it maketh a forcible entrie where the key hath no lawfull Iurisdiction ALLEN And al this that the follie os manie men so much wondereth at is nothing else but to set before God the Father the death of his owne Sonne and his grace in all Saintes for to procure mercie for their poore breethren in miserie in the next life as the like is done with great pietie in manie other holie actes of religion continuallie practised in the Church for the mutuall helpe one of another And in deede the Church hath vsed these manie yeares to put this clause in such Indulgencies as did in unie parte concerne the departed per modum suffragy as Sixtus the fourth Innocentius the eight and now of late both Pius the fourth and the fifte and all other lightlie in the like grauntes Whereby it is plaine that we are not charged by the Church further to beleeue then that the Pope maie assuredlie release the departed of some parte of their paines or all by the waie of suffrage and sute as other holie workes of Christianitie applied vnto them by their brethren aliue maie doe For it were no reason that priuate persons should as it were communicate and send vnto them their fastes almes and praiers for the release of their paine and he that representeth Christes person should not in Christes name and the wholl Churches applie vnto them some part of the common wealthes treasure to sue for their deliuerie and help to satisfie for them in their lacks This therefore they call a Pardon per modum suffragy as by way of aid of request Which doctrine is most true in it selfe and agreable to the practise of the Church and forme of Indulgences alwaies vsed and maie assuredlie relieue such as departed hence in grace and zeale of Gods house which I count disposition enough in the partie and haue friendship in the world of such as for their sakes will be content to accomplish the appointed worke of the Pardon FVLKE So long as you maie be allowed to saie what you list without profe you may say all this is nothing els but to set before God c. or what you will beside The clause you speake of per modū suffragy hath not bin added of many yeares seing Sixtus the fourth the first that added it liued not 100. yeares before you did wright of this mat ter The cause of this addition was a certaine booke set forth by one Petrus Oxoniensis doctor of diuinitie in the vniuersitie of Salmantica in Spaine containing diuers conclusions contrarie to the Popish Churchs doctrine which by the Archbishop of Toledo Alphonsus Cirillus were committed to be disputed discussed in a congregation of 52. doctors in diuinitie Canon law The first of which conclusions was that deadlie sinnes as touching the fault and the punishment of the other world are put away by only cōtrition of the heart without order vnto the keies The fift that penitēts are not to be absolued before their penance inioyned be performed The sixt that the Pope can not pardon any mā aliue the paine of purgatorie The discussing of these conclusions caused Pope Sixtus the rest to deuise this new clause interpretation of their pardons per modum suffragii whereas before there was neither any such words nor meaning in their pardons but the contrarie to be gathered verie plainlie that the pope had iurisdiction in purgatory in so much that Augustinus de Ancona which liued before this time doubteth not to conclude that the Pope by his absolute iurisdiction may spotle all purgatorie of all those persons which are subiect to his iurisdiction which are all except they that lack merit conditionall and such as may do for them those things for which