and of the father and not the father of the sonne Ergo the sonne is God with and of his father Rhemist ibid. Ans. This place proueth that the sonne of God as he is the sonne is of God for to be the sonne of God the word the wisedome of God 1. Cor. 1.30 His image Heb. 1.3 doe belong vnto his person So then as he is the sonne the wisedome of God or the word so he is of God namely in respect of his person but as the sonne is God he is of himselfe neither taketh he his essence but person onely of his Father The Protestants THat we may fully know the state of this question we must first set downe certain propositions First we do worship one eternal omnipotent onely wise God one and the same in power essence eternitie but three in person the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost there is the same nature essence and deitie of them all though they be distinguished in person As there is one nature of the light the heate thereof and the shining brightnes Lucis splendoris caloris as Augustine putteth the example which three differ amongst themselues in propertie and quality yet haue one and the selfe same nature and substance God the father is as the light Iam. 1.17 God the Sonne is as the brightnes of his glory Heb. 1.3 God the holy Ghost is as the heate or fire Heb. 12.29 Thus these three are one in nature and essence but three in person 2. There is somewhat communicable to them all as the Godhead and diuine power and nature Somewhat incommunicable as the seueral proprieties of the persons for it is proper onely to the father to beget proper to the Sonne onely to be begotten proper onely to the holy Ghost to proceede from them both There is no essentiall difference in the Trinitie for there is one essence and diuine nature common to them all But there is both a real and rational difference The persons differ one from another really though not essentially But the persons differ onely rationally or in respect from the essence of the Godhead as the father and the sonne amongst men differ not essentially for they are both men But they are really verily and indeede distinguished for it is one thing to be the father another to be the sonne yet from their owne essence their persons onely differ in respect and relation not verily non re sed ratione for the father is a man the sonne also is a man but in one respect he is a father in an other he is man so likewise of the sonne yet one and the same is both father and man one and the same is both sonne and man so is it in the Trinitie Now to the poynt of the question which wee haue in hand The Sonne therefore in the blessed Trinitie is begotten of his fathers essence and hath the whole essence of his father not by propagation partition profluence but onely by communication The sonne is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sonne of himselfe because he is sonne of the father But he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is very God of himself The essence or Godhead of the Sonne is of himselfe not of the father for it is one and the selfesame essence which the father hath He is indeede Deus de Deo lumen de lumine God of God light of light But not as he is God is he of God but as he is the Sonne It is one thing for the person of the Sonne to be begotten of the essence of the Father which we graunt another thing for the essence of the Sonne to be begotten which we must not yeeld to So we conclude that Christ as he is the Sonne is of God the Father as he is God he is of himselfe Argum. 1. The essence of the Father is of himselfe not begotten of any but the essence and Deitie of the Sonne is the same and all one with his Fathers Ergo it is not begotten of any other Agayne he is not God whose essence is not of himselfe therefore if Christs essence be not of himselfe he should not be God Argum. 2. Our Sauiour himselfe sayth As the Father hath life in himselfe so hee hath giuen to the Sonne also to haue life in himselfe Iohn 5.26 The Sonne then hath life in himselfe Ergo hee is GOD of himselfe Augustine vpon these wordes writeth Non quasi mutuatur vitam nec quasi particeps vitae sed ipse vitam in se habet vt ipsa vita sibi sit ipse He did not as it were borrow life of his father neither is made partaker of life but he hath life in himself he is life vnto himselfe But lest any man should thus mistake the wordes of the text that because the Father gaue to the Sonne to haue life in himself therefore hee gaue him to be God for to haue life in himselfe is to bee God Augustine thus expoundeth them Dedit filio vitam habere in se breuiter dixerim genuit filium He gaue to his Sonne to haue life in himselfe in fewe wordes He begat his Sonne As if we should say the Father which hath life in himselfe that is is God gaue to his Sonne to haue life in himselfe that is begat God the Sonne he begat him not as he was God but as he was his Sonne yet because of the neere vniting and coniunction of the person with the Godhead and diuine power to haue life in himselfe which really cannot be distinguished but onely in respect as we haue shewed the Father is said also to giue vnto the Sonne to be God and to haue life in himselfe not directly or properly but obliquely and by a consequent because his Sonne whom he begat from all eternitie must also necessarily be God And that it cannot be the proper meaning that God the Father gaue to the Sonne power to haue life in himselfe it appeareth by the words themselues for as the Father hath life in himselfe euen so hath hee giuen to the Sonne but the Father hath life in himselfe without beginning from any other Ergo so hath the Sonne There should els be a contrarietie and repugnancie in the speech for if Christ receiued life from his father he could not haue it in himselfe It must therfore of necessity be vnderstood of the person in the Trinity not of the diuine essence And so we determine that it is true in the concrete in concreto if wee say Deus Pater genuit Deum Filium God the Father begat God the Sonne but not in abstracto Deitas Patris genuit Deitatem Filium that the Godhead of the Father begat the Godhead of the Sonne But in respect of his person onely as he is the Sonne the second person in Trinitie so is hee begotten and hath his beginning of God But in respect of his diuine nature as he is God hee is begotten of none but of himselfe as God the Father
the Prophets and Apostles to write S. Paule saith that what soeuer is writtē is written for our learning that through patience and cōsolation of the scriptures we might haue hope Rom. 15.4 The Lord saw in wisedome that his people could not be without the Scriptures which are necessarie for their learning for their comfort and to strengthen their hope how then dare our aduersaries say that the scriptures are not necessarie seeing these things wrought in vs by the scriptures knowledge consolation hope are most necessarie 4 Let Augustine now put in his verdict Illud credo quod etiā hinc diuinorū eloquiorum clarissima authoritas esset si homo illud sine dispendio salutis ignorare non posset de peccator merit remiss lib. 2.36 I thinke saith he that euen concerning this matter speaking of the originall or beginning of the soule the Scriptures would not haue bene silent if we might not safelie be ignoraunt of this matter without daunger of saluation Ergo whatsoeuer is necessarie to saluatiō is onely to be found in scripture for other matters there not expressed there in no daunger in not knowing them therfore the Scriptures by this Fathers iudgement are most necessary THE SECOND PART OF THE SEVENTH question of the sufficiencie of Scripture The Papistes THey do straungely affirme that the Scriptures conteine not all things necessarie error 12 to be knowen cōcerning faith and manners and that they are not sufficient without traditions Bellarm. cap. 3.4 Lindanus a Papist saith that the scriptures conteine not all things necessarie to saluation Andradius that their approued traditions are of equall authoritie with the Scripture Ex Tilman de verbo error 2. 1 First the Iesuite thus reasoneth against the sufficiencie of Scripture There are diuerse bookes of canonicall Scripture lost and perished Ergo that part of canonical scripture which remaineth is not sufficiēt that much is lost he thus proueth 1. Chron. cap. vlt. mention is made of the bookes of Nathan Gad. 2. Chron. 9. of the bookes of Ahiiah Ieedo in the new Testamēt Col. 4. of the Epistle of S. Paule to the Laodiceans all those bookes are lost We aunswere First we denie not but that some bookes are now wanting which were part of canonicall scripture yet that which remaineth is sufficiēt as some of Solomōs bookes are perished which he wrote of herbes plāts and many of his Prouerbes the Lord saw that they were not so greatly necessarie for vs to saluation Secondly there is not so much wanting as the Iesuite would beare vs in hād for the books of the Prophets which he nameth are the same with the bookes of the Chronicles of the Kings which no doubt were writtē by those Prophetes And as for the Epistle of S. Paule to the Laodiceās there was neuer any such the text is written from the Laodiceans it was the Epistle rather of the Laodiceans to S. Paule vnto the which he partly maketh aunswere in the Epistle to the Colossians and therefore he would haue it read also in their Church 2 If the Apostles had any such meaning to contriue in the scriptures the summe of faith and all necessarie knowledge it is very like Christ would haue geuen them some expresse commaundement so to do but we read not of any such strict commaundement Ergo they had no such purpose Bellarmine We aunswere First they them selues dare not denie but that the Apostles wrote by the instinct of the spirite what is that els but the commaundement of God Actes 16.6 Paule was forbidden of the holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia and ver 10. when he had seene a vision of a man of Macedonia appearing vnto him the Apostle concludeth that they were called of God wherefore what they did by the secret mouing of the spirite was done at the cōmaundement of God Secondly Apocal. 11.1.14.13 Iohn is biddē to write that which he saw no doubt the other Apostles had the like cōmaundement 3 There are many points which we ought in no wise to be ignoraunt of which the scriptures speake either obscurelie of or not at all First these things are obscurely and doubtfully set downe in Scripture the equalitie of the persons in Trinitie the proceeding of the holy Ghost from the Father and the Sonne the doctrine of originall sinne We aunswere First if these things be found at all in the Scriptures it is sufficient concerning the question we haue in hand Secondly the Scripture doth manifestly declare the truth in all those points the equalitie of the persons is directly proued 1. Iohn 5.7 the procession of the spirite Iohn 15.26 the spirit is there said to be sent frō the Father the Sonne And Ioh. 14.26 Original sinne is described plainly by the Apostle Rom. 5.12 though the name be not found in Scripture Secondly there are diuerse things necessarie to be knowen not at all declared in Scripture First as that Marie continued a perpetuall Virgine We answere the Scripture saith euery where she was a Virgine neither maketh mention of any children she had and therefore out of the Scripture we gather that she continued Secondly Basile saith that it is sufficient to know she was a Virgine before the birth of Christ. Secondly to know that the Pasch or Easter must be kept vpon the Lordes day is necessarie Aunswere there is no such necessiitie in it to saluation neither needed the Church so much to haue contended about it in times past these are the mightie weapons which our aduersaries vse The Protestantes WE do not affirme as our aduersaries charge vs that all things necessarie to saluation are expressely conteined in scripture that is in so many words but this we hold that all things which are necessarily to be knowen of vs are either expresly declared in Scripture or necessarily concluded out of Scripture and so conteined in them We also graunt that it was not Gospell onely which was written but all that Christ and his Apostles taught by liuely voyce the whole summe whereof and substaunce is conteined in the written word and so we conclude that nothing necessarie to saluation either concerning faith or manners is els where to be found but in the holy Scriptures 1 S. Paule saith if we or an Aungell preach vnto you otherwise then that which we haue preached let him be accursed Ergo the Scripture conteineth all things necessarie First the Iesuite aunswereth that S. Paule speaketh not onely of his writings but also of his preachings which were not written We aunswere that the summe of all S. Paules preachings is conteined in his Epistles and other holy writings for S. Paule confirmed his doctrine out of the scriptures as Act. 17.10 the Berrheans examined his doctrine by the scriptures and found it to be consonant and to agree in all things Secondly he condēneth those which preach any thing not besides or otherwise but contrarie and therefore not any other doctrine besides Scripture is forbidden but that
SYNOPSIS PAPISMI THAT IS A GENERALL VIEWE OF PAPISTRY wherein the whole mysterie of iniquitie and summe of Antichristian doctrine is set downe which is maintained this day by the Synagogue of Rome against the Church of Christ together with An Antithesis of the true Christian faith and an Antidotum or counterpoyson out of the Scriptures against the whore of Babylons filthy cuppe of abominations Deuided into three bookes or Centuries that is so many hundreds of Popish heresies and errors 1. COR. 11.9 There must be heresies that they which are approued amongst you might be known TITVS 3.10 A man that is an heretike after the first and second admonition auoyde AVG. DE VERA RELIG CAP. 6. Ecclesia Catholica vtitur gentibus ad materiam operationis suae haereticis ad probationem doctrinae suae schismaticis ad documentum stabilitatis suae alios inuitat alios excludit alios relinquit omnibus tamen gratiae Dei participandae dat potestatem siue illi informandi adhuc siue reformandi siue recolligendi sunt The true Catholike Church doth vse the Gentiles as matter to worke vpon heretikes for the trial of their doctrine schismatikes to proue their constancie the first she inuiteth the second she excludeth the third she leaueth yet to them all she offereth the grace of God in instructing the Gentiles reforming of heretikes and bringing home againe schismatikes Collected by Andrew Willet Bachelor of Diuinity AT LONDON â—â—â—nted by Thomas Orwin for Thomas Man dwelling in Pater noster row at the signe of the Talbot 1592. TO THE RIGHT VERTVOVS MOST EXCELLENT AND NOBLE PRINCESSE QVEENE ELIZABETH OVR DREAD LADY BY THE GRACE OF GOD Queene of England France and Ireland defender of the faith c. WHen we call to minde most gracious and dread Soueraigne the manifold blessings which the Lord by your Highnes hand hath reached forth to this Realme Church of England the long flourishing peace which the land vnder your prosperous gouernmeÌ„t hath these many yeares enioyed the like whereof neither our forefathers haue seene nor other countries knowne The notable reformatioÌ„ also of the church purging of the house of God which daies the holy Martyrs and seruants of God long sighed for and desired to see but saw them not When we doe consider these things we nothing doubt to say that the prophecie of Esay is fulfilled in these our daies who saith concerning the Church Kings shall be thy nursing fathers and Queenes thy nursing mothers as it is also prophecied in the Psalmes In stead of thy fathers thou shalt haue children whom thou mayest make Princes in all lands For now who seeeth not that many Christian Princes in the worlde are become the children of the Church Your Maiesties renowmed father king Henry the eight and your Highnesse brother of blessed memory king Edward the sixt did but begin the foundation of the Temple and lay the plot and with Dauid prepared gold siluer brasse iron and all thinges needfull for the building but it was his good pleasure that you with peaceable Salomon should finish the building and with Zorobabel should prosper with the stone of tinne in your hand The Lord hath made you a wall and a hedge to his vineyard to keepe out the wilde boare a goodly tree to giue shade to the beasts of the field succour to the â—oules of the aire a nurse to the people of God to carry them in your bosome as the nurse beareth the sucking child The Lord Christ would once againe hang vpon the breasts of a Virgin God hath raised you vp a Deborah to iudge Israel an Esther to deliuer the Church the Lord hath made you as that vertuous matrone that doth cloath her family with double rayment your Realme flourisheth with true religion and abundance of peace this is our double apparell Now seuen women shal no more take hold of one man saying Come let vs be called by thy name but thousands of men make sute to one woman as all Israel went vp to be iudged of Deborah What though the Papists fret and storme and cut your Maiestie very short saying that the Prince ought neither to giue voice in couÌ„sell for matters of religion nor make Ecclesiastical lawes and would as Zedechiah his eyes were put out Adonibesech his fingers cut off so both take away the eye of your iudgement and your right hand of power in Ecclesiasticall matters What though another foule mouthed Iesuite doth most impudently slaunder your Maiestie saying in great contempt I am reipsa Caluinistis in Anglia mulier quaedam summus Pontifex est As for them let them wander and run vp and down in the Citie barking and snarling like hungrie dogges seeking meat and shall not be satisfied as the Psalme saith yet shal the building prosper vnder your hand the people of God doe cry out with shoutings Grace grace vnto it the whole Church of God from all partes of the world saluteth you saying We haue blessed you out of the house of God do encourage you to go forward gird thy sword to thy thigh prosper thou with thine honor ride on because of the word of truth God hath giuen into your hand a two edged sword with one edge iâ— defendeth the Church from false religion with the other the coÌ„mon wealth from oppression as an ancieÌ„t father saith Tunc iustitia dicituâ— gladius ex vtraque parte acutus quia hominis defendit corpus ab exterioribus iniurijs animaÌ„ à spiritualibus molestijs To Kings Princes it is especially said Thou shalt walke vpon the Lyon and Aspe the young Lyon and Dragon thou shalt tread vnder thy feete The Lyon is the open enemy the Aspe dragon is the close hypocrite that peruerteth religion The good lawes of Princes are as the pitch of Noahs arke it was pitched within and without so good Princes are to prouide both for the safetie of the land from forraine enemies abroad and to preserue the soundnes of religion from corruption of heresie at home How lawfull your Maiesties gouernement is and how well pleasing before God the sequele and effect doth abundantly shew Salomon asked wisedome and he receiued both riches and honor withall none of all these hath God denyed to you the Lord loueth you his left hand is vnder your head his right hand doth embrace you as the wiseman saith At his right hand is length of daies at his left riches honor all these hath the Lord graunted vnto you and thus the Lord honoreth those that honor him And as your Maiestie doth proceede and continue in aduauncing the Lords honour so he is able yet to do greater things for you Now then seeing your Highnes is our Zorobabel the chiefe builder of Gods house and the rest of your faithfull subiects are the helpers and workemen some as labourers vnder you I your humble and meanest subiect
through beginning at the first and so prosecuting euery particular questioÌ„ till we are come to the last My purpose is not to set down all the heresies which impugne the Christian faith but onely those which are maintained by the Church of Rome this day who are the chief troublers disquieters of the peace of our Church I say therefore with Augustine Omnis Christianus Catholicus ista noÌ„ debes credere sed noÌ„ omnis qui ista noÌ„ credit coÌ„sequenter se debet Christianum Catholicum â—utare vel dicere Euery true Catholike Christian is bound not to beleeue any of these errors set down in this book but it foloweth not that whosoeuer beleeueth not these is a true Catholike for there are other heresies in the world which destroy the faith as the heresies of the Anabaptistes Familie of Loue Libertines and such like But our speciall purpose and drift is to weed out the Popish cockle and darnell that troubleth our field Neither haue I set forth at large the controuersies betweene vs for that laborious worke other of our learned countrymen haue taken in hand as D. Whitakers in Cambridge D. Reynoldes in Oxford and besides it farre exceedeth my strength and habilitie I haue onely brieflie set downe the grounds of Poperie as I haue collected them out of Bellarmine the stoutest champion of their side our English Rhemistes Eckius Canisius and other Papistes as also out of the late Chapter of Trent for it deserueth not the name of a CouÌ„cell And with all as an Antidotum or counterpoyson I haue opposed and set against them the coÌ„fession of the Protestants and Church of God with reasons and Arguments of both sides and places of Scripture annexed adding also throughout the iudgement of Augustine who of all the fathers is most plentifull in these matters which fall in question in our dayes The benefite which the Christian Reader shall reape in some measure I trust by this simple labour of mine is threefold First the knowledge of all Popish errours which much auayleth Multum adiuuat cor fidele nosce quid credendum non sit etiamsi disputandi facultate id refutare non possit It much helpeth a Christian toward beleefe to know what is not to be beleeued though he can not refell it by Argument Secondlie he shall vnderstand both their principall Obiections which they do entangle simple men withall as also he shall learne how to defend and maintayne the truth Thirdly the chief places of Scripture which make for them or against them are briefly euery where expounded and opened This whole worke I haue deuided into three partes or bookes the first conteineth the coÌ„trouersies of the Scriptures and the Militant Church the second the controuersies of the Triumphant Church and of the Sacraments the third the questions concerning the benefites of our redemption and as touching the person of Christ Which bookes I haue thus deuided not so much in respect of the matter which they conteine for then the controuersies of the Militant and TriuÌ„phant Church ought not to haue bene sundred but that there might be some equalitie indifferent proportion in the Volumes euery one of them comprehending a Centurie that is an hundred of Popish errours either vnder or ouer But the rather I haue so done because I had proceeded no further then to the end of the controuersies of the Militant Church when this first booke went out of my haÌ„ds the which I was moued vpon some occasion to publish before the rest were finished which shall not stay long after God assisting me Wherein I doe also folow the counsell and example of Augustine who writing of the like argument of heresies doth thus conclude his booke Hunc librum antequam totum hoc opus perfeci vobis credidi esse mittendum vt cum quicunque legentis ad id quod restat implendum quod tam magnum esse cernitis orationib adiuuetis This booke I thought good saith he to send abroad before the rest be finished that whosoeuer readeth it might helpe me with their prayers to the better performing of that which remaineth Which I beseech thee also good Christian Reader to afoord me that being mutuallie assisted one with the prayers of an other we may walke on with strength and chearefulnesse in our Christian race till we haue by Iesus Christ obtayned the price of euerlasting life Amen THE FIRST BOOKE OR CENTVRIE CONTEINING THE CONTROVERSIES OF RELIGION WHICH ARISE IN QVEstion betweene the Church of God and the Papistes about the word of God conteined in the Scriptures and the Church Militant here vpon earth with the partes and members thereof THE FIRST GENERALL CONTROVERsie of the holie Scriptures ACcording to the methode which we wil God assisting vs by his spirite obserue throughout this whole Treatise of the controuersies in the first place we are to entreat of such matters as coÌ„cerne the Propheticall office of Christ. He is our Prophet our heauenly teacher and Doctor Math. 23. vers 8. from him proceedeth all holy knowledge we haue not seen God nor the high things of God but the onely begotten sonne which is in the bosome of the father he hath declared him Iohn 1.18 Wherefore all the true sheepe of Christ will heare his voyce Iohn 10.3 His voyce is not els where heard but onely in the Scriptures We must heare Moses and the Prophetes Luke 16.29 First of all therefore this great and most famous controuersie betweene vs and our aduersaries concerning the Scriptures must be handled which is distributed into seuen seuerall questions 1 Concerning the Canonicall Scripture what bookes are to be receiued into the sacred Canon what books to be reiected and counted apocryphall 2 Concerning the authenticall Edition of the holy Scriptures whether the Hebrue Greeke or Latine translation is cheifly to be folowed 3 Whether the Scriptures ought to be translated into the vulgar and English toung and whether publique prayers and diuine seruice ought to be vsed in the same toung 4 Whether the scriptures are authorized by the Church and not rather so knowne to be of them selues 5 Concerning the perspicuitie and playnnes of the Scripture whether it be so hard that the common people may not safely be admitted to the reading thereof 6 Concerning the interpretation of Scripture which question is deuided into three parts first whether the Scripture admit diuerse senses and expositions secondly who hath the cheife authoritie to expound Scripture thirdly what meanes ought to be vsed in expounding of it 7 Concerning the perfection of the Scripture three parts of the questioÌ„ First whether the Scriptures be necessarie secondly whether they be sufficient to saluation thirdly whether there be any traditions beside necessarie to saluation THE FIRST QVESTION CONCERNING the Canonicall Scripture Of the state of the first Question WE haue not any thing in this place to deale with those heretikes which denie either the whole Scripture or any part thereof but onely with our
his Priesthood in setting vp another sacrifice Ergo your spirit is not of God 3 The Catholike Church is so called because it embraceth the whole and onely doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles Ephes. 2. vers 20. But the Romane Church receiueth many things contrary to scripture and addeth many things vnto it as it shall appeare throughout this whole discourse Ergo. 4 The Catholike Church hath the name because it is dispersed ouer the whole earth Acts 1. vers 8. But so was neuer the Romane faith which is now professed as we haue shewed before Quaest. 3. de Eccles. Not. 2. Ergo ex Amand. Polan THE SECOND PART THE CHVRCH OF Rome is not a true visible Church The Papists THeir arguments are as wee haue heard Quaest. 3. of the notes of the Church error 28 grounded vpon their succession miracles gift of prophesiyng answered sufficiently afore Not. 4.5.6 Wee neede not nor must not for breuities sake repeate the same things often Protestants WE denie vtterly that they are a true visible Church of Christ but an Antichristian Church and an assembly of heretickes and enemies to the Gospell of Iesus Christ. 1 That cannot bee a true Church where the word of God is not truely preached nor the Sacraments rightly administred according to Christs institution So are they not in the Popes Church For the word is not sincerely taught but they haue added many inuentions of their owne and doe preach contrarie Doctrines to the Scripture the Sacraments also they haue not kept for first they haue augmented the number they haue made fiue more of confirmation orders penance Matrimonie extreame vnction beside the Sacraments of Christ they haue corrupted In baptisme beside water they vse spittle salt oyle Chrisme contrarie to the institution and they lay such a necessitie vpon this Sacrament that al which die without it say they are damned In the Lordes Supper they haue turned the Sacrament to a sacrifice made an Idol of bread chaunged the Communion into priuate masses taken the cup from the lay people and many other abhominations are committed by them Ergo neither hauing the word nor Sacraments according to the institution they are no true Church 2 They which are enemies to the true Church and doe persecute the members thereof are no true visible Church they cannot be of that Church which they persecute as Bellarmine saith of Paul how could he bee of that Church which he with al his force oppressed de eccles lib. 3. cap. 7. But they persecute the Saints of God are most cruel towards them as their consciences beare them record Ergo. 3 The habitation of Antichrist cannot be the Church of Christ so is theirs the Pope himselfe is Antichrist for who else but hee sitteth in the temple being an enemie to Christ. 2. Thes. 2. Where haue you a citie in the world built vpon seauen hilles but Rome Apocalyps 17.9 But of this matter we shall of purpose intreate afterward Ergo. they are not a true visible Church THE THIRD CONTROVERSIE CONCERNING COVNCELS A Councel is nothing else but an assembly and gathering together of the people of God about the affaires and businesse of the Church and they are of two sortes either vniuersall in the name of the whole Church or particular which are either National when the learned of a whole Realme are called together or Prouincial when as the Churches of one Prouince doo assemble into one place to consult of Religion There may be two especiall occasions of Councels the one for resisting and rooting out of heresies as the Apostles and elders met together Act. 15. against those which would haue imposed the Iewish ceremonies vppon the beleeuing Gentiles So the Councell of Nice was celebrated the yeare of the Lorde 327. to confound the heresie of Arrius who denied Christ as he was God to be equall to his Father In the Councel of Constantinople Anno 383. or there aboute the heresie of Macedonius was condemned which denied the holy Ghost to bee God In the Ephesine Councel the first Nestorius heresie was ouerthrowne which affirmed Christ to haue two persons Anno 434. The Councel of Chalcedon was collected Anno 454. about the heresie of Eutiches which held that there was in Christ but one nature after his incarnation so confounding his humanitie and diuinitie together The other cause of the calling of Councels is to prouide establish holsome Lawes decrees and constitutions for the gouernement of the Church so the Apostles called the brethren together Act. 6. to take order for the poore And in the Councell of Nice an vniforme order was established for the celebration of Easter which before had much troubled the Church The questions betweene vs and the Papists concerning Councels are these First whether generall Councels be absolutely necessarie Secondly by whome they ought to be called Thirdly of what persons they ought to cōsist Fourthly who should bee the president of the Councel Fiftly concerning the authoritie of them Sixtly whether they may erre or not Seauenthly whether they are aboue the Pope Eightly of the conditions to be obserued in generall Councels of these in order THE FIRST QVESTION CONCERNING the necessitie of Councels The assertion of the Papists THey seeme in wordes to affirme that Generall Councels are not absolutelie error 29 necessarie for the Primitiue Church was without any Councel for the space of 300. yeares and more yet they hold that some Councels either generall or particular are of necessitie to be had Bellarmine de concil lib. 1. cap. 11. And yet this is to be maruelled at that they should so much stand for Councels seeing they might vse a farre more compendious way in referring all to the determination of the Pope whome they boldly but very fondly affirme that hee cannot erre Although they seeme not to lay a necessitie vpon Generall Councels yet in truth they doo contrarie for they allowe no Councels at all without the Popes consent and authoritie neither thinke it lawfull for any Nation or Prouince to make within themselues any innouation or change of Religion So in the assembly at Zuricke Anno 1523. For the reformation of Religion Faber tooke exception against that meeting affirming that it was no conuenient place nor fit time for the discussing of such matter but rather the cognition and tractation thereof belonged to a generall Councel Sleid. lib. 3. And further they hold that what hath beene decreed in a Councel cānot be dissolued but by the like Councel as if the Councel of Trent were to bee disanulled it must be done by the like Synod Bellarmine de cōcil lib. 3. ca. 21. Which Councel they affirme to haue been general therefore another general Councel must by their opinion necessarily be expected before it can be reuoked The confession of the Protestants WE doe hold that generall Councels are an holesome meanes for the repressing and reforming both of errors in Religion and corruption in manners and that true generall Councels ought to
Councel for that function as Cardinal Arelatensis was chosen in the Councell of Basile by the fathers to be moderator First that it belongeth to the Prince to haue this prerogatiue it is hence prooued because he is the chiefe iudge in all matters and causes both ciuil and eccesiasticall And it appeareth by the auncient practise of the godly kings in Israel and Iuda Dauid gathered a Councel together when hee brought the Arke to Ierusalem 1. Chronicl 15.3 where he was the chiefe doer and director for he appoynted the Leuites their courses and set forth a certayne fourme of thanksgiuing to be vsed 1. Chronicl 16.4.7 Hezekiah assembled a Councel 2. Chronicl 30.2 where it was decreed that the passeouer should be solemnly kept the postes were sent forth with the kings writ or commission In Iosiah his raigne there was a great assembly at Ierusalem of the Princes the people priests and Leuites and al from the greatest to the smallest where the king him selfe was president and chiefe agent reading the law before the people 2. Chronicl 34.30.31 Secondly we finde that the Emperours themselues haue beene present at Councels As in the Nicene Constantine the great was present in the Councel of Chalcedon Martianus in the Constantinopolitane 3. Constantinus the Emperour in the Constantinopl 4. Basilius the Emperour was present Is it to bee thought that these noble Emperours were at the Councels as inferiors or vnderlings or had they not the chiefe places then sure they were presidents for in the Councell the chiefe place belongeth to the president They might appoynt a speaker or prolocutor for them as in the parliament house though the prince be present yet the Lord Chauncellour speaketh but the chiefe power and Soueraigntie in the Councell was in the Emperours Thirdly not to heape vp many reasons in so playne a cause I will alleadge one example most manifest out of Augustine who writeth that in that great Councel at Carthage where the matter was discussed between the Catholicks the Donatists there being present more then 500. Bishops of both sides Marcellinus was appointed to be moderator of that disputatiō who diuers times putteth in his sentence in the disputation and last of all bidding both parts to go aside he writeth the sentence definitiue and concludeth against the Donatists approuing the actes of the Catholike Bishops haec August breuicul collation THE FIFTE QVESTION WHETHER Councels may erre or not The Papists error 33 THey are not all agreed what to determine of this matter some affirme that Generall Councels can in no wise erre although the consent of the Pope bee wanting thus the fathers in Basile concluded who is it say they that will preferre a sinfull man before an vndefiled Church But Bellarmine more the Popes friend then so holdeth that euen generall Councels may erre vnlesse they follow the instructions and directions of the Pope Yea that it is not sufficient for the pope to call a Councel and sende his Legate thither but hee must write continually for aduertisement from his maister before any thing be concluded and therefore they doubt not to say that the Councell of Basile erred though it had the consent of the Popes Legate in defining that the Councell is aboue the Pope because he had no such direction from the Pope Bellarmine de concil lib. 2. cap. 11. Nay the Iesuite goeth further that particular Councels being approoued by the Pope cannot erre cap. 5. So they holde that the holy fathers of the cruell Inquisition cannot erre Yea Panormitane was not ashamed to say openly in the Councell of Basile that he would prefer the iudgement of the Cardinals of Rome before all the world This then is the Iesuites opinion that no Councels by the pope confirmed can erre that a particular Councel hauing his allowance is to be preferred before a generall without Let vs see some of their reasons 1. They abuse certaine places of scripture for their purpose as that Act. 15. It seemed good to vs and the holy Ghost I am with you to the end of the world He that heareth you heareth me Bellarmine cap. 2. Rhemist in Act. 15.8.10 so then thus they argue Councels are neuer without the spirite of God therefore can they not erre A silly argument as though the spirite of God were at their commaundement or were tyed to places or persons They must first performe the condition before they can chalenge the promise that is to followe the rule of Gods word and obediently to submit themselues thereunto then will God vouchsafe to be present The Gospell sayth that wheresoeuer two or three are gathered together in my name I will be present euen in the midst of them Here promise is made not to thousands or hundreds but to two or three and therefore by this place an assemblie of few persons may as well be exempted from error as Councels but there is a condition In nomine meo in my name and then followeth in medio illorum in the midst of them if then they are not met in the Lords name they cannot looke for the presence of Christ. I pray you where was the holy Ghost present in that Councel at Rome vnder Iohn 23. when there appeared a great Oule which stared and out faced the pope who blushing at the matter and fuming rose vp and departed At the sight of which Owle they whispered one in anothers eare that the spirit appeared in the likenes of an Owle and after that in an other session the same Owle appeared and could not be driuen away vntill by throwing bats and cudgels at her shee fell downe dead before them ex Nichol. Clemang In the beginning of the Councel of Constāce after the accustomed hymne song veni sancte spiritus a bil was set vp with these wordes alijs rebus occupati nunc adesse non possumus Wee are now otherwise occupied we cannot be present with you We see now how sure the Papists are of the holy Ghost in their popish Councels The Protestants WE doubt not to say that Councels haue erred and may erre presuming any thing besides the warrant of Gods worde and that neither vniuersall or particular Councels are priuiledged much lesse any one man no nor the Pope not to erre in matters of fayth otherwise then following the trueth of the Scriptures for in so doing they are sure not to be deceiued 1. We haue also examples in the scripture of Councels that erred as that assemblie in Achabs dayes of 400. Prophets who were al deceiued the Iesuite thus answereth that it was an assemblie of prophets not of priests as though priestes were more piuiledged from error than Prophets And these say they were false Prophets not Prophets of the Lord We graunt so and this withal that wheresoeuer the Lords Prophets and pastors and ministers assemble that there they will heare the Lords voyce which the Pope in his Councels doth not But he still supposeth that the Pope and his ministers
chiefe citie in all the world this reason was rendered in the Councel of Chalcedon Can. 28. An other cause thereof was the ample priuiledges and immunities which the Emperours endued it withall as Constantine the great and Gratianus the Emperour made a lawe that all men should reteyne that religion which Damasus of Rome and Peter Bishop of Alexandria did hold A third cause was the vnquiet estate of the Greeke Church who often voluntarily referred their matters to the Bishop of Rome as being lesse partiall and a more indifferent Iudge they themselues being diuided and rent into sects And hereupon and other like causes it came about that the Bishop of Rome a little stepped aboue his fellowe Patriarkes but yet had no such preeminent authoritie as to commaund them Fourthly the Pope of Rome being thus tickled with vayne glorie because they were reuerenced of other Churches many matters were committed vnto them and their consent required vnto the decrees of Councels when they were absent Hereupon they laboured euery day more and more to aduance that See taking euery small occasion that might helpe forward their ambicious desire till Anno. 606. or somewhat after Boniface the 3. obtayned of wicked Phocas the Emperour who murthered his master the Emperour Mauritius and his children to come to the Empire and was after slaine himselfe of Heraclius that succeeded him of him I say Boniface for himselfe and his successors obtayned to bee called vniuersall Bishops ouer the whole Church and the See of Rome to haue the preeminence aboue all other Churches in the world Afterward in Pope Zacharie his time the proude and insolent iurisdiction of Rome was established by Pipinus King of France who aspired to the Crowne and obtayned it by the sayd Popes meanes first deposing Childericus the rightfull King and dispensing with the oath which the French men had made before to Childericus Calum Institut 4. cap. 7. sect 17. Thus then it sufficiently appeareth that the primacie of Rome which it now vniustly challengeth ouer other Churches is not of any such antiquitie as they would beare the world in hand neither that it had the beginning from Christ but both the time when and the authors by whom it began may bee easily assigned 2 Wee neede no better argument to proue that the primacie of Rome hath not his originall from Christ then the Iesuites owne confession First he sayth that it doth not depend of Christs institution but ex Petri facto of Peters fact that the Bishop of Rome should bee rather Peters successor then the Bishop of Antioch or any other It is not iure diuino saith he by Gods lawe neither is it ex prima institutione pontificatus quae in Euangelio legitur of the first institution whereof wee reade in the Gospell And agayne Romanum pontificem succedere Petro non habetur expresse in scripturis It is not expressely set downe in scripture that the Bishop of Rome should succeede Peter but it is grounded onely vpon the tradition of Peter Nay he saith further that Peter needed not to haue chosen any particular place for succession and he might as well haue chosen Antioch as Rome Ergo neither is the succession of Rome grounded vpon scripture neither any commandement of Christ for then Peter could not haue had free choyse to appoynt his successor where he would himselfe as the Iesuite saith if he had had any especiall direction or commaundement from Christ. So then marke I pray you they cannot proue out of scripture that the Bishop of Rome ought to succeede Peter in the chiefe Bishopricke but onely that Peter had the chiefe Bishopricke committed to him and his successors in generall whosoeuer they should appoynt Ergo the Bishops of Rome by their owne confession can alleadge no scripture institution or commandement of Christ for the primacie of the Church to bee annexed to the See of Rome and yet agaynst their knowledge they will alleadge scripture to colour the matter withall Bellarm. lib. 2. de pontif ca. 17. 3 Augustine saith Secundum honorum vocabula quae iam ecclesiae vsus obtinuit episcopatus presbyterio maior est The office of a Bishop is aboue the office of a Priest according to the names of honour which the Church by custome hath obtayned If then the difference of those two offices both named in scripture did arise rather and spring of the custome of the Church which thought it good to distinguish them for auoyding of schisme and is not grounded vpon the authoritie of scripture much lesse can the Pope whose neither name nor office is expressed in scripture fetch from thence any shew of proofe for his vsurped primacie THE SIXT PART OF THIS QVESTION CONCERning the proud names and vayne glorious titles of the Pope The Papists BEllarmine setteth downe to the number of fifteene glorious names which error 46 haue been of old giuen as he saith to the Bishop of Rome whereby his primacie ouer other Bishops is notoriously knowne but the principall are these He is called the Pope and chiefe Father the prince of Priests or high Bishop the Vicar of Christ the head of the Church the Prelate of the Apostolike See vniuersall Bishop These sixe names or titles they doe appropriate to the See of Rome Bellarm. de Roman pontif lib. 2. cap. 31. The Protestants WE will shewe by Gods grace that these sixe seuerall titles and names aforesayd are either such as ought not in their sense to be attributed to any Bishop nor any mortall man or els were common in ancient times as well to other Bishops as to him of Rome 1 For the first name of Pope it is deriued from the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in the Syracusane language is as much as Father which name was indifferently giuen to other Bishops which were famous in the Church for their vertue and learning As Cypriane Epiphanius Athanasius were called Papae Popes Augustine saluteth Aurelius President of the 6. Councel of Carthage by the name of Pope Epistol 77. Likewise those two epithetes of the Pope as to bee called Beatissim sanctissim pater most holy and blessed father were vsed in the stile of other Bisshops Prosper in his Epistle to Augustine twise calleth him Dominum beatissimum papam Lord most blessed Pope Tom. 7. Hierome calleth Epiphanius Beatum papam blessed Pope Ad Eustach Fabiol Augustine writing to Petrus the Presbyter or Priest being no Bishop yet thus saluteth him Ad sanctitatem tuam scripsit he hath written to your holines Nay in his booke dedicated to Renatus a lay man neither Priest nor Bishop thus he writeth Hinc angor quòd sanctitati tuae minus quà m vellem cognitus sum This grieueth me that I am not so well knowne to your holines as I desire If then these titles of holinesse and blessednesse were not onely giuen to Bishops but Priests also yea vnto lay men of vertuous and holy life what colour or
so well knowne in stories that I neede not come to particulars 6 Antichrist is called a wicked man and a man of sinne vers 3.8 And where shall you finde more wicked men then among the Popes Siluester the 2. gaue his soule to the diuell to obtayne the Papacie Fox pag. 167. Benno reporteth of Hildebrand that he poysoned sixe Popes to come to the Popedome Pope Stephen and Sergius tooke vp the bodie of Formosus and mangled it cutting off his head and fingers and so cast it into Tibris Fox pag. 120. We haue heard before what a holy Father Pope Iohn the 13. was he lay with his owne sister and with his fathers Concubines playing at dice called for the diuell was slayne in adulterie And was it not I pray you a common prouerbe in England He that goeth to Rome once seeth a wicked man he that goeth twise learneth to know him he that goeth the third time bringeth him home with him Fox pag. 841. argument Illyrici The third place we doe take out of the Apocalyps chap. 9. where is a playne storie set downe of the Pope 1 vers 1. He is a starre fallen from heauen he is departed from the ancient faith of Rome to superstition and idolatrie 2 He hath the key of the bottomlesse pit who giueth the crosse keyes in his armes but the Pope who sayth hee may euacuate all Purgatorie at once if hee will but he Who sayth he may Pleno iure currus animarum plenos secum ad tartara detrudere by full right carrie downe to hell with him charriots Ioden with soules cap. si Papa distinct 42. Is not this the Pope who then more fitly may be sayd to haue the key of the bottomlesse pit 3 There arise out of the bottomlesse pit a great flocke of Locusts that is the innumerable sort of begging Friers for they are in euery respect described First compared to Locusts for their number vers 3. There were an 100. diuers sorts of Friers Fox pag. 260. Secondly they had power giuen them for fiue moneths that is as Walter Brute expoundeth it taking a moneth for thirtie dayes a day for a yeere as it is prophetically taken an 150. yeeres for so long it was from the beginning of the Friers vnder Innocent the 3. anno 1212. to the time of Armachanus who preached disputed and wrote agaynst the Friers about anno 1360. Fox pag. 414. Thirdly they shall sting like Scorpions not slay all at once but venome and poyson the conscience with the sting of their pestilent doctrine Fourthly other parts also of the description agree as vers 7. They are as horses prepared to battaile that is stoute ambitious their haire as the haire of women that is they shall be effeminate and giuen to the lusts of the flesh their teeth as the teeth of Lions they by valiant begging shall deuoure the portions of the poore as it was well proued in King Henry the 8. dayes in the Supplication of beggars that the summe of the Friers almes came to a great summe in the yeere for the fiue orders of Friers had a penie a quarter for euery one of euery housholder throughout England that is for them all twentie pence by the yeere suppose that there be but ten housholds in euery towne and let there be twentie thousand parishes and townes in England it will not want much of twentie thousand pound Thus had they Lions teeth that is consuming and deuouring Lastly they haue a King vers 11. whose name is Abaddon a destroyer for the Pope their chiefe prince and patron hath by his Antichristian doctrine layd wast the Church of God Argument Chytraei The fourth place of scripture wee will take out of the 17. of the Apocalyps there the seate of Antichrist is described First vers 5. It is called Babylon the citie which raigneth ouer the Kings of the earth vers 18. This can be no other but Rome which then had the Empire of the whole world Secondly It is the citie built vpon seuen hils or mountaynes vers 9. that is no other but Rome Thirdly the whore which is Antichrist shall sit vpon the beast with seuen heads and ten hornes that is shall succeede in the Empire and haue the authoritie thereof so hath the Pope Fourthly the ten hornes that is the Kings of the earth shal giue their authoritie to the beast but afterward shall deuoure her flesh Euen so the Kings of the earth by their sword maintayned the authoritie of the Pope But now being taught by the Gospell they are made the Lords free men and begin to subdue their neckes from his yoke The fift place is 1. Iohn 2.22 Who is a lyar but he that denyeth that Iesus is Christ the same is Antichrist that denyeth the father and the sonne Euen so the Pope of Rome though not openly and apertly yet closely and subtilly is an enemie vnto the whole trinitie He exalteth himselfe aboue God the father because he taketh vpon him to dispense not onely agaynst the lawe of nature but agaynst the lawe of God the morall law and agaynst the precepts both of the old and new testament but a lawe cannot be dispensed withall but by the same authoritie or greater Agaynst Iesus Christ he exalteth himselfe and all his offices he denyeth him to be the onely Prophet saying the scriptures are vnperfect and that their traditions are also necessarie to saluation Agayne he maketh other bookes scripture then those which are Canonicall His kingly office he doth arrogate to himselfe in making lawes to binde the conscience in ordayning other Sacraments in granting Indulgences and Pardons saying that he is the head of the Church His Priesthood he is an enemie vnto constituting another priesthood after the order of Melchisedech then that of our Sauiour Christ which begun vpon the Crosse and remayneth still in his person being incommunicable to any other creature yet they make euery sacrificing Priest to bee of the order of Melchisedech He impugneth the office of the holy spirit counting that prophane which the holy Ghost hath sanctified as marriage and meates arrogateth in all things the spirit of truth not to erre applieth the merites of Christs passion after his owne pleasure by Pardons Indulgences by ceremonies and Sacraments of his owne inuention Fulk 2. Thess. 2. sect 10. Ergo we conclude out of S. Iohn that seeing he denieth Iesus to be Christ he is Antichrist Sixtly S. Paul sayth that Antichrist shal be an aduersarie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Thess. 2.4 An aduersarie in doctrine teaching cleane contrarie to the Gospell of Christ so doth the Pope 1 The scripture sayth wee ought to put our trust onely in God and not in man Ierem. 17.7 and to call vpon God onely in the day of trouble Psal. 50.15 and to worship him in spirit and truth Iohn 4.24 The Papists say cleane contrarie that we must call vpon Saints and beleeue they can helpe vs and they teach vs to fall downe before
and determination of the parents 2. Let vs heare what authoritie Augustine yeeldeth to the father ouer his children Agite vicem nostram in domibus vestris Episcopus inde appellatus est quia superintendit vnusquisque ergo in domosua si caput est domui suae debet ad eum pertinere episcopatus officiū de Sanct. Ser. 51. You saith Augustine their Bishop must supplye our stead in your houses a Bishop or Superintendent is so called because he ouerseeth therefore euery housholder being the head of his house ought to playe the Bishop in his house The father then is a Bishop ouer his children shall any man then dare to take any out of his house that is his Bishoprike or any sheepe out of his folde without the Bishop and sheepheardes consent THE THIRD PART WHETHER Married persons may with mutuall consent become votaries The Papists WIth mutuall consent the man the wife may separate thē selues and vow error 92 and promise single life for euer so long as they both shall liue Bellarm. Cap. 37. Marie and Ioseph were perfitely man and wife yet by mutuall consent they liued continently all their daies Ergo it is lawfull for married couples to separate themselues for euer both agreeing therunto Bellarm. cap. 37. Answ. 1. It appeareth by the text that there was no such thing purposed by Ioseph before he was admonished by the Angell in a dreame but that as she was already betrothed so there was an intent on Iosephs parte that they should come together Math. 1.18 But that in the meane time Marie was found with childe by the holy ghost and so from that time Ioseph being a iust man neuer knew his wife there was no such purpose or vowe before 2. That this was an extraordinary exāple who seeth it not When any man shall be admonished by an Angell as Ioseph was and shall haue the like cause as Ioseph had to abstaine which shall neuer bee hee may be bould to doe as Ioseph did The Protestants THey that are once ioyned together in marriage and haue made a couenaunt each to other before God can not separate them selues though they both consent there being no other cause but a purpose of single life for more holines sake 1. It is flat contrary to S. Pauls rule 1. Corinth 7.5 Defraud not your selues except it be with cōsent for a time that you may giue your selues to fasting and prayer and againe come together lest Satan tempt you for your incontinencie First the Apostle saith directly they should but separate themselues for a time Secondly we doe thus reason out of his wordes there is no cause of separation but to be giuen to fasting and prayer but this may be done by a separation for a time neither is it necessary we should alwaies be giuen to fasting and prayer but vpon speciall occasion therefore perpetuall separation is not needfull 3. They that are long separated are subiect to fall into tentation the same cause therefore that moued them first to marrie for auoiding of incontinencie ought to moue them to come together againe Therefore it is not good nor lawful they should separat them selues for euer 2. That which God hath coupled no man ought to put asunder but they that are married haue made a couenant to God Pro. 2.17 as well as to themselues and are ioyned by Gods law together Ergo they can not dissolue their mariage by their owne power and will the Lord hauing an interest therein Augustine Thus writeth Non licet excepta causa fornicationis coniugem a coniuge dirimi nec sterilem coniugem fas est relinquere vt faecunda ducatur de nupt concupiscen Lib. 1. Cap. 10. It is not lawfull for married couples one to be separat frō another vnlesse it be for fornication nor to leaue a barren wyfe to marrie a frutefull Therefore if fornication onely be a iust cause of finall separation there can be no other If there were any other it is most like it should be for procreation of children But neither for that cause is a man to leaue his wife Ergo for no other Therefore not for any vow of continencie is marriage to be dissolued or any separation to be admitted Bellarm. saith that by their separation Marriage is not dissolued Auns It is asmuch dissolued as by your law in cases of diuorse 1. For these are your words for aduoutrie one may dismisse another but neither party can marry againe for any cause during life Rhemist Math. 19. Sect. 4. So ye allowe onely a kinde of dismission in the case of adultery and so you do in the vowing of continencie And thus you make this cause as forceable as the other to break off the Matrimonial duety which is contrary to the gospell THE FOVRTH PART WHETHER MARIage contracted not consummate may without consent be broken for the vow of continencie The Papists error 93 THeir opinion is that if the mariage be contracted onely and ratified but not yet consummate by the parties comming together it is lawful for either of them without the others consent to vowe chastitie cap. 38. Bellarm. His reason is because it is lawfull for a man to passe from a lesse perfect state of life to a more perfect if it may be done without detriment as this may be for yet they haue no children and the partie may as well bee maried to another Bellarm. Answ. First a single life is not alwayes the perfecter state nor to all as it is not to them that haue not the gift to containe as it is most like hee hath not that is contracted and hath made promise of mariage for then all this needed not Secondly though there be none of those impediments named yet there is a greater namely their fayth promise made each to other before God which they ought not to violate Thirdly Saint Paul saith If thou be bound to a wife seeke not to be loosed 1. Corinth 7.27 But they that are espoused one to the other are bound vnlesse you will say that the couenant made by them vnto God Prouer. 2.17 bindeth not The Protestants MAtrimonie whether ratified onely by lawfull contract or espousals or consummate ought not any way to be broken with consent or without for Monasticall profession 1 Our reason is because it is perfect mariage already in substance and before God which is ratified by contract onely and solemne vowe and couenant made each to other And being thus betrothed the one giueth power of their body to the other and now they are no more free That this mariage is perfect before God and in substance it appeareth by the law of Moses by the which a man defiling a mayd betrothed was to suffer death as well as if hee had committed vncleannes with a woman already maried Deuteron 22. verse 22.23 And Math. 1.18 Marie that was but betrothed to Ioseph is by the Angel called his wife vers 20. 2 August saith Coninges fidem sibi pariter
power for he was not quickned or restored to life by his humane soule but by his diuine power his soule was ioyned againe to his bodie Augustine also giueth another reason why he cannot be said to be quickned or made aliue in spirit that is in his soule for then he must haue died before in soule But Mors animae peccatum est à quo ille immunis fuit But the death of the soule is sinne from the which Christ was free 2 The Apostle speaketh onely of those which were incredulous and disobedient not of the faithfull such as the Patriarkes were and Prophets Yea sayth Bellarm. they might be vnbeleeuers at the first but after repented before they dyed Ans. Then the Apostles comparison could not hold if any were saued without the Arke for as then eight persons onely were saued all without the Arke perished so now without baptisme and faith of the Church for by baptisme he vnderstandeth not the washing of water but the inward grace of the spirit none can be saued If then any were saued out of the Arke there may now also be saluation out of the Church Augustine also sayth Ii modò qui non crediderunt Euangelio illis intelligantur esse similes qui tunc non crediderunt cum fabricaretur arca They which now beleeue not the Gospell are like to them which beleeued not then while the Arke was in making And they which doe now beleeue and are baptized are like to those which then were saued in the Arke Augustine thinketh therefore that they were incredulous persons and vtterly perished both bodie and soule And so is our opinion 3 The text saith not he went and deliuered but went and preached for Augustine calleth it an absurd thing to thinke that the Gospell was preached to them that were dead which in their life time were incredulous for if the Gospell bee preached in Hell sayth he it would followe that it is not necessarie it should be preached here in the world if men when they are dead may heare it and be conuerted And againe it would ensue sayth he that there should bee a Church in hell for where the word is preached there is a Church Wherefore he concludeth that it must needes be vnderstood of Noah his preaching in the spirit and power of Christ Arcae fabricatio praedicatio quaedam fuit The building of the Arke was a kinde of preaching Epistol 99. So also he expoundeth that 1. Pet. 4.6 The Gospell was preached to the dead Ex circumstantia loci apparet eum intelligere eos qui nunc mortui sunt sed olim in vita Euangelium audiuerunt Commentar in epistol ad Roman 4 The text is not that were in prison but doth better beare this sense that are So the Apostles meaning is this that they which were incredulous and disobedient in time past when Noah in the spirit of Christ or Christ by his spirit in Noah preached to the world were then destroyed in the flood now for their increduliti◠are punished in the prison of hell The Protestants THat the holy Patriarkes Fathers and Prophets dyed in the same faith before the comming of Christ which all true Christians doe now hold and were presently receiued into the ioyes of heauen and not kept in any infernall place or dungeon of darknes thus it is proued 1 They had all faith and beleeued in Christ yea the same faith that is now preached as it is defined by the Apostle Heb. 11.1 They also by this faith obtained remission of sinnes Rom. 4.7 Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiuen as it is alleadged out of the Psalme Ergo they were blessed but out of the kingdome of God there was no blessednesse to be found therefore they also went to heauen 2 If the heauens were not opened before Christs ascension as the Rhemists affirme then none went to heauen before Christ ascended But that is false Henoch and Elias by their owne confession were taken vp into Paradise so was the soule of the theefe vpon the Crosse. But Paradise is heauen yea the third and the highest heauen as S. Paul calleth it 2. Corinth 12.4 And so Augustine expoundeth that place Voluit Deus Apostolo demonstrare vitam in qua post hanc vitam viuendum est in aeternū The Lord would shew vnto the Apostle that life wherein after this life we shall liue and remaine for euer De Gene. lib. 12.28 These three therefore went to Paradise which is no infernall or place of darknesse but a Celestiall habitation of ioy light and felicitie They were not then in Limbo Patrum in the dungeon of the Fathers Wherefore we conclude there was accesse to heauen before the ascension of Christ. 3 The Fathers and Patriarkes before Christs comming were in Abrahams bosome but that was no infernall place or prison such as they imagine Limbus Patrum to be Augustine proueth that it could not be membrum or pars inferorum a member or part of Hell or any infernall place as the Iesuits hold First the text saith there is magnum chaos a great gulfe a great distance betweene Luk. 16.26 and vers 23. The rich man sawe Abraham a farre off wherefore it is not like that both those places should be infernall Secondly Abrahams bosome was quietis habitatio faelicitatis sinus a place of rest and blisse but so is not any infernall place where there is horror and darknesse Thirdly the place where the rich man was is called Hell or infernall there is no such thing sayd of Lazarus that he was in any lower place but aboue in some high and farre distant place for the rich man is sayd to lift vp his eyes Augustine then concludeth Ne ipsos quidem inferos vspiam scripturarum locis in bono appellatos reperire potui Epistol 99. I doe not finde that this word infernall is taken any where in the scriptures in the good part And therefore the bosome of Abraham being a place of rest sayth he cannot be any infernall place AN APPENDIX OR APPERTINANCE OF THIS question concerning the apparition of Samuel The Papists THey hold opinion that it was the very soule of Samuel that appeared at the error 10 witches house at Endor vnto Saul and vse it as an argument to proue that the soules of the Patriarkes were not in heauen but in some infernall place before Christs comming because Samuel ascended out of the earth Bellarm. De Christ. anim lib. 411. Argum. 1. Because he that appeared to Saul is called Samuel in the text Augustine answereth that the Images of things are called by the names of the things themselues as Genes 41. Pharao sayd he sawe eares of corne and fat and leane kine in his dreame when they were but the images of such things So the diuell because he appeared in the shape of Samuel Samuel himselfe is sayd to be seene Ad Simplicianum lib. 2. quaest 3. Argum. 2. Ecclesiastic 46 It is set downe as a commendation of Samuel
away by praier and fasting Mark 9.9 And therefore to coniure creatures to expell Sathan without the word of God is no better then a kind of Magicke enchantment THE SEVENTH QVESTION OF PILGRImages and Processions The Papists FIrst they hold that pilgrimages made to Ierusalem and the holy land as they call it to Rome and to the memories of Saints in other places to aske and obtaine error 55 their helpe are godly and religious and to bee much vsed of Christians Concil Trident. sess 25. Bellarm. cap. 8. The halt and lame went vp to Ierusalem to be healed in the poole of Bethesda Iohn 5. Certaine Greekes came vp to worship at the feast Iohn 12.20 The Eunuch went vp in pilgrimage to Ierusalem Act. 8. Ergo it is lawfull and requisite Rhemist Ans. First when you can proue that such miracles are wrought at the memories of Saints as the scripture testifieth of this poole men may be bold to goe vnto them for their bodily health as we see there is resort vnto Bathes but not for any religion Secondly the Grecians that visited Ierusalem were Iewes that dwelt amongst the Gentiles or Proselytes which were bound to visite the temple at Ierusalem Thirdly the Eunuch went not vp in pilgrimage to Ierusalem but to worship for there was yet no other knowne place of the world where God was worshipped Secondly their solemne processions especially vpon Palme Sunday with carrying the Sacrament about strawing of rushes bearing of palmes setting vp error 56 of boughes hanging vp rich clothes the quire and queristers singing they would warrant by that action of our Sauiour Christ Math. 21.8 when he came riding to Ierusalem and the people strawed their garments in the way Rhemist annot Math. 21. sect 1. Ans. First your processions are horrible abusings and prophanations of the Lords institution who ordained his Supper to be eaten and drunke not to be carried about in procession like an heathenish Idol Secondly that which the people and Christs disciples did they had warrant for out of the scripture but who required this theatrical pompe at your hands The riding of Christ vpon an asse was before prophecied of Zachar. 9. and the childrens crying out in the temple Psal. 8. The cutting downe of palme branches was a ceremonie belonging to the feast of Tabernacles truly accomplished by our deliuerance in Christ. But you haue turned the holy mysterie of Christs riding to Ierusalem to a May-game and Pageant play The Protestants FIrst that no places ought to be frequeÌ„ted or resorted vnto for religions sake or more holines or for the health of the soule we proue it out of the word of God Saint Peter sayth That in euery nation he that feareth God is accepted with him Act. 10.35 Ergo one nation is as holy as another And now our Sauiour saith That God will not be worshipped at Ierusalem or in Mount Garrizin but in spirit and truth Iohn 4. He therefore that seeketh places to worship God in as though he were rather to be found in one place then another hath left the spirituall worship Augustine thus writeth concerning pilgrimage He wisheth men to seeke them teachers and instructors by whom they might be taught De erat in ea terra quam incolebas quae causa vtilius cogeret peregrinari But is there no teacher in the countrey where thou dwellest what better cause canst thou haue to trauell and goe in pilgrimage to seeke one in other countries De vtilit credend cap. 7. Thus he would haue men to play the pilgrimes not to runne gadding to Relikes and Images but to seeke for teachers and instructors Secondly the popish pompous processions are both superstitious in reuiuing and renewing the Iewish ceremonies such as the feast of Tabernacles was which are all now abolished as shadowes by the comming of Christ. And they are plainly idolatrous for they carrie about their breaden god in procession and make an Idol of a piece of baked wheate but Paul sayth The Sacrament ought to be receiued with thankesgiuing in the Churches and congregations of Christians 1. Corinth 11.33 not to bee carried about to bee gazed vpon in the fields Seemely processions voyd of superstition which are vsed for ciuill purposes as to maintaine the limits and bounds of townships and withall by the sight of Gods blessing vpon the creatures to bee stirred vp to thankfulnes we neither mislike nor condemne AN APPENDIX CONCERNING THE HOLY LAND and holy warres for the same as they were called The Papists THey which are but a little acquainted with ancient stories shall finde that error 57 there were neuer in Christendome such bloodie warres and for so long a time as those which were at the instigation of the Popes taken in hand by christian Princes for the recouerie of the holy land in so much that they were made to beleeue that it was a meritorious workâ— Whereupon King Richard the first calling to minde his rebellion and disobedience to his father in part of satisfaction purposed a voyage into the Holy land as it was called to redeeme Christs patrimonie from the Infidels Fox pag. 235. Bellarm. de laicis lib. 3. cap. 16. First for why they say it is an Holy land for if the places of Gods apparition are counâ—â—â— holy Exod. 3.5 Iosua 5.15 much more the places of Christs natiuitie buriall passion and resurrection Saint Peter calleth the place where Christ was transfigured The holy mount Rhemist 1 Timoth. 4 sect 10. Ans. The places where God appeared in times past were holy for that time onely of Gods presence not for euer after and the mount is called holy in respect of the time wherein the transfiguration was not that the holines of the place doth alwaies continue for that place which Iacob called Bethel the house of God Genes 28. is by the Prophet called Bethauen the house of wickednesse Ose. 4.15 because of the idolatries there committed what was now become of the holines of the place The Protestants TO warre against the Turkes vpon iust cause as to seeke to defend our selues from their inuasions and to maintaine the confines and bounds of Christendome to deliuer Christians vniustly and cruelly kept in slauerie vnder him we hold it lawfull but to wage battaile with him onely for a superstitious deuotion to the land of Palestina to recouer it out of his hand we see no warrant at all for it Argum. 1. The euill successe that Christians haue had against them and the shamefull ouerthrowes that they haue sustained at their hands doe euidently shewe that God was not pleased with those superstitious warres While Princes had a good quarrell seeking onely to maintaine their owne and to deliuer Christian countries from the thraldome of the Turkes God prospered them as the famous victories of Scanderbeius and Iohannes Hunniades obtained against Amurathes the 8. Turkish Emperour do notably testifie but those superstitious and pope-holy warres though sometime they had good successe yet in the end all went to
the sacrament of the Lords bodie Baptisme is equiualent to the word of God by our aduersaries own confession Ergo also it is of equall value and dignitie with the other sacrament THE TWELFTH GENERALL CONTROVERSY OF THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISME THis controuersie standeth vpon diuers questions 1. Of the name and definition of Baptisme Secondly of the partes of Baptisme Thirdly of the necessitie of Baptisme Fourthly of the Minister of Baptisme Fiftly of the parties which are to be baptized Sixtly of the effects of Baptisme Seuenthly of the difference of Christs Baptisme and Iohns Eightly of the ceremonies of Baptisme THE FIRST QVESTION OF THE NAME and definition of Baptisme COncerning the name there is no question betweene vs for the name of Baptisme hath the originall and beginning from the scripture Saint Paul vseth this word Coloss. 2.12 We are buryed with him through Baptisme And againe Heb. 6.2 All the question is about the definition of Baptisme The Papists error 98 THey define Baptisme to bee a sacrament of regeneration by water in the worde that is not which signifieth and sealeth vnto vs our regeneration and assureth vs of remission of sinnes but actually iustifieth and regenerateth vs Bellarm. lib. 1. de Baptism cap. 1. The Protestants WE rather according to the scriptures define baptisme to be a signe or seale of our regeneration and new birth whereby wee are assured that as verily by fayth in the blood of Christ we are cleansed from our sinnes as our bodies are washed with water in the name of the Father Sonne and holy Ghost So that Baptisme doth not actually bestow remission of sinnes by the work wrought but is a pledge and seale of the righteousnesse of fayth as Saint Paul sayth of Circumcision Rom. 4.11 for it is not the washing of the flesh by water but the establishing of the heart with fayth and grace that saueth vs 1. Pet. 3.21 See this poynt handled more at large Controuers 11. next before quest 2. part 1. Augustine saith Per fidem renascimur in baptismate by fayth wee are borne agayne in Baptisme De tempor serm 53. It is then the proper act of fayth to regenerate vs not of Baptisme the vse and end whereof is to strengthen and increase our fayth THE SECOND QVESTION OF THE PARTES which are the matter and forme of Baptisme AS touching the matter that is the externall element vsed in Baptisme there is no question betweene vs but that it ought to bee plaine and common water Act. 10.47 Saint Peter saith Can any man forbid water that these should not bee baptized Wherefore wee condemne the foolish and vngodly practises and inuentions of heretikes that either exclude water altogether as the Manichees with others or doe vse any other element as the Iacobites that in stead of water burned them that were to be baptized with a whot yron or as the Aethiopians which are called Abissines that vsed fire in stead of water misconstruing the words of the Gospell Matth. 2.11 That Christ should baptize with the holy Ghost and with fire which is not literally to bee vnderstoode but thereby is signified the internall and forceable working of the spirite which kindleth zeale and loue in our hearts as fire Concerning the forme of Baptisme we all agree that no other is to be vsed then that prescribed by our Sauiour Christ to baptize in the name of the Father the Sonne and holy Ghost that it is neither lawfull to change this forme in sense as many heretikes haue done nor yet in words as to leaue out any of the three persons in Trinitie and inclusiuely to vnderstand them by naming of one for whereas some alleadge that place Act. 2.38 Bee yee baptized in the name of Iesus Christ for remission of sinnes to proue that it is lawfull onely in the name of Christ to baptize wee are to vnderstand that the forme of Baptisme is not in that place expresly set downe but the scope onely and end of Baptisme which is to assure vs of remission of sinnes in the name of Christ as Beza very well noteth vpon that place The point of difference betweene vs concerning the forme of Baptisme is this The Papists THey are bold to affirme that this forme of Baptisme to baptize in the name error 99 of the Father Sonne and holy Ghost is not fully concluded out of Scripture but deliuered by tradition for say they the commandement of Christ to baptize in the name of the Trinitie Matth. 28. may bee vnderstoode thus to baptize them into the faith of the Trinitie or by the authoritie of the Trinitie And it were sufficient by those words to doe and performe it in act without saying the wordes were it not that wee haue otherwise learned by tradition that this very forme of wordes is to bee kept Bellarmine de baptism lib. 1. cap. 3. The Protestants WE neede no tradition for this matter the very forme which is to bee vsed in Baptisme is plainely proued out of the Scriptures for that commandement of Christ Goe and baptize c. doth necessarily imply a forme of speech to be vsed Wee grant that in the Scriptures this word name is taken for power vertue authoritie as Act. 3.6 In the name of Iesus arise and walke So also as there is a Baptisme with water there may be a baptizing with fire Matth. 3.11 Wherefore if part of the commandement bee to bee taken properlie and literally as this Goe and baptize why not the rest also In the name of the Father Sonne and holy Ghost If then the whole commaundement bee properly and plainely vnderstoode how can they baptize in the name of the Trinitie vnlesse the Trinitie bee spoken and named Secondly it appeareth also out of other places of Scripture that this forme was vsed in the Apostles time As Act. 10.47 Can any man forbid water why these should not be baptized which haue receiued the holy Ghost as well as wee As if Saint Peter should haue reasoned thus these haue receiued the giftes of the holy Ghost Ergo they may be also baptized in the name of the holy Ghost Likewise Act. 19.2 When the brethren at Ephesus had answered Paul that they had not heard whether there were a holy Ghost he saith vnto them Vnto what then were you baptized By this interrogatorie it appeareth it was their manner to baptize in the name of the holy Ghost and so consequently of the whole Trinitie Wee haue no cause then to flie vnto tradition this matter being so plainely decided by the Scripture Augustin tract in Iohann 80. Vpon those wordes of our Sauiour Iohn 15.3 You are cleane thorough the word which I haue spoken vnto you Detrahe verbum quid est aqua nisi aqua Accedit verbum ad elementum fit sacramentum Take away the word and what remaineth in Baptisme but bare water let the word be ioyned to the element and it maketh a Sacrament The forme then of Baptisme is the word which Christ
whose merites and praiers namely of the Saints grant we may be defended Thus the merites and praiers of Christ are excluded 4. We beseech thee saith the Priest to receiue this oblation which we beseech thee in all things to make blessed Heere the Priest is made a mediator betweene Christ and his Father desiring God to sanctifie the body blood of his sonne 5. Who the next day afore he suffered But the Scripture saith The same night For this is my body Heere they haue put in enim of their owne and left out quod pro vobis datur Such is their boldenes that they are not ashamed to change the words of our Sauiour Christ. 6. He saith further The holy bread of eternall life which vouchsafe thou with a pleasant countenaunce to beholde The bread of eternall life is Christ himselfe if this be he how dare ye presume to offer him vp to his Father 7. As thou didst vouchsafe to accept the righteous giftes of Abel and the sacrifice of Abraham Heere the sacrifice of Christ is compared to the sacrifice of beastes and the Priest seemeth to attribute as much efficacie to the one as to the other 8. And the holy sacrifice which thy high Priest Melchisedech did offer vnto thee This is a plaine vntruth and a flat lie as we haue shewed alredy that Melchisedech sacrificed bread and wine 9. Command thou these to be brought by the hands of thy holy Angell vnto the high altar in heauen What an absurd thing is this that he should desire that to be carried into heauen which he eateth and deuoureth And if this be the body of Christ what need the help of an Angell to carry it vp to heauen is not Christ able to lift vp his own body or what need that to be conueied to heauen which was neuer from thence 10. As many of vs as shall receiue thy Sonnes body and blood And yet for the most part none receiue but the Priest and when the people doe communicate the wine they haue not how then can he say As many 11. Remember O Lord the soules of thy seruants which rest in the sleepe of peace and graunt them a place of refreshing and rest Heere is an other error contrary to the Scriptures in praying for the dead and the praier also is contrary to it selfe for first he saith they rest in peace and yet afterward praieth for their refreshing 12. Vouchsafe to giue some portion with thy Saints And why doth he not rather pray to be admitted to the fellowship of Christ 13. Deliuer vs by the blessed intercession of the Virgine What then is become of Christs mediation and intercession 14. Let this mingling together of the body and blood of our Lord Iesus Christ be vnto me saluation of minde and body Then is not Christs blood shed vpon the Crosse the full sufficient and perfect saluation of mankinde if there be an other saluation beside 15. Grant me so worthily to take this holy body and blood that I may merite to receiue forgiuenes of sinnes O sinfull man how canst thou merite that which is Christs onely gift 16. Let the priest bow himselfe to the host saying I worship thee I glorifie thee I praise thee What monstrous Idolatry is this thus to worship a piece of bread 17. Let this communion purge vs from sinne If they meane the principall purging of our sinne so doth Christ onely purge vs Heb. 1.3 If they vnderstand the instrumental meanes of our purgation so are we purged and iustified onely by faith Rom. 3.28 18. Respect not my sinnes but the faith of thy Church By this reason one may be profited by an others faith which is contrary to the Scriptures the Iust shal liue by faith his owne and not an others 19. Let vs worship the signe of the Crosse What I pray you wil not these Idolaters worship 20. Let this sacrifice which J haue offered auaile to obtaine remission of sinnes If the Masse be auaileable for this end wherefore then died Christ Thus we see with how many and what great and horrible blasphemies this popish nay rather diuelish canon of the Masse is stuffed indeede it is an epitome and abridgement of Papistrie the marrow sinewes and bones of their idolatrous profession yea the very darling of the popish Church it is the very proper badge and marke of a papist He that hateth the Masse hateth the whore of Babylon he that loueth the Masse cannot loue the truth If then I should be demaunded at once which of all popish blasphemies and heresies I thinke most abominable contrary to the faith and to be abhorred of all good christians though I know that there are many of this kinde yet I would redily answere the Masse the inuention whereof I am wel assured cannot be ascribed but to the deuil himselfe the author of all lies and blasphemies I conclude therefore with that saying of Gregorie as he said concerning the word Antichristus so may I in as good sense of this word Missa as it is now vnderstoode of Papists Si spectes quantitatem vocis duae sunt syllabae si pondus iniquitatis est vniuersa pernicies If you marke the quantitie of the word it standeth but of two syllables but if we respect the waight of iniquitie it containeth all impietie and vngodlines Soli Deo immortali Patri Filio cum Spiritu sancto sit honor et imperium sempiternum THE THIRD BOOKE OR CENTVRIE CONTAINING A THIRD HVNDRED OF POPISH ERRORS AND HERESIES ABOVT the controuersies of the fiue Popish Sacraments and of the benefites of our redemption and concerning the person of Christ CONSISTING OF SEVEN SEVERAL CONTROVERSIES THE 14 15.16 17 18 19 20. in number Jmprinted at London by Thomas Orwin for Thomas Man 1592. To the right honorable Sir Robert Cicil Knight one of her Maiesties most honorable priuie Councell BOth that general loue right honorable which the Church of God doth beare to your worthie and honorable Father for his sincere and sound affection to religion and the dutifull reuerence which our vniuersitie of Cambridge and generally the whole company of Students doth owe vnto him as their singular good Patrone haue moued and caused me at this time to cōmend this last part of this worke to your Honor his sonne of whose loue also vnto the Gospell following your Fathers steppes we are all perswaded and conceiue no lesse hope of your honourable fauour to learning I haue as your Honor seeth vndertaken an hard peece of worke and thrust my shoulders vnder an heauy burthen for in this worke I haue taken vpon me to discouer and lay open all popish Heresies and Errors to portraite and decipher the whole body of papistrie to spread abroad the whore of Babylons skirtes that her filthines may appeare to vncouer her whorish face which masked vnder the visour of the Church and religion for we may say to them as Leo Bishop of Rome did sometime to certaine Heretikes Ecclesiae
Rachel 1. Laban 2. Rebecca 3. Iacob 4. For in collateral degrees we count not the distance from the roote or stocke but the mutuall distance from themselues And by this reason if Cosin germanes be but in the second degree there should be no degree beyond the second forbidden Leuit. 18. for there is no degree forbidden beyond this neither is this by name and directly forbidden The Papists 3. THeir third rule is this In collaterall degrees vnequall Thare Abraham Aram. Sara error 34 that is when both are not alike distant from the stocke they shall differ in that degree in the which the further of them is remoued from the stocke as in this example Sara is distant two degrees from the stocke and as many from Abraham Bellarm. ibid. The Protestants Ans. NEither is this rule perfect for by this reason he that is indeed a degree further off shall be in the same degree for if the vncle and the nephew be remoued but the second degree and Cosin germanes are but distant in the second degree as they say the vncles sonne shall be in the same degree with his cosin as his father is which is not to be admitted Wherefore in collaterals we preferre the Ciuill account of degrees that is so many persons the stocke of the kinred excepted so many degrees These then are the rules of marriage 1. In the right line ascending and descending all degrees are forbidden 2. In collateral consanguinitie the prohibition reacheth to the third degree as it is not lawfull to marrie the vncle or the Aunt who are in the third degree from their nephew 3. In collateral affinitie the prohibition is extended to the fourth degree for affinitie is alwaies a degree beyond that consanguinitie by the which it commeth in as it is vnlawfull to marrie the vncles wife Leuit. 18.14 which is in the fourth degree from her nephew being one degree beyond her husband who is the vncle in the third degree And this is to be obserued that there is no affinitie in the first or second degree but the neerest is in the third as the wiues or husbands father brother or daughter which are all in the third degree the husband is in the first the wife the second and they in the third THE SECOND PART WHETHER ANY OF THE degrees prohibited in the law may be dispensed withall The Papists THey say not that the Pope may dispense with all but with some of them Concil Trid. sess 24. can 3. As they tooke vpon them to dispense with King error 35 Henry the 8. marriage with his brothers wife their reason is because some of those prohibitions were only iudicial and positiue constitutions not grounded vpon the law of nature Argum. 1. If it be the lawe of nature not to marrie within those degrees it should haue been in force before the law was made but so was it not for Abraham married his brothers daughter and Iacob two sisters Bellarm. cap. 27. Ans. 1. As Augustine sayth of the marriage and copulation of Adams children brothers and sisters together Factum est compellente necessitate It was for necessitie sake because there were then no more women so also may it be in some sort true of those Patriarkes that hauing a necessitie to marrie amongst their owne kinred and not with the Gentiles there was no choise to be had of women of their owne kinred further off in degree 2. Although this example of theirs both in marrying many wiues and so neere of kinne cannot be altogether excused or iustified in them yet because the law of nature was not yet so cleerely knowne as afterward by the giuing of the law which is nothing els but an exposition of the law of nature the offence was not so great in them but might better be tolerated because as Augustine sayth it was neither Contra morem illorum temporum nec contra praeceptum Neither against the custome of those times nor against any flat precept And to conclude although those holy men had their imperfections yet we must not iudge them in these things according to the euil and corrupt disposition of men in these daies which might vse this great libertie in marriage better then many vse lawfull marriage now as Augustine sayth Castiùs habebant plures quà m nūc multi vnam They vsed many wiues more chastely then many now liue with one De bon coniug cap. 10. The Protestants WE affirme that it is vtterly vnlawfull for any Christian to marrie within the degrees prohibited neither can any humane power dispense with such marriages but the equitie of that lawe being grounded vpon nature is in force for euer Wherefore the Pope of Rome sheweth himselfe plainly to be Antichrist in dispensing against the law of God Argum. 1. Leuit. 18.24 The reason of that law is giuen concerning the forbidden degrees They should not defile themselues in any one of those things because the Gentiles defiled themselues thereby and were cast out before them for it Wherefore it is a naturall and perpetuall law otherwise the Gentiles had not been bound vnto it Argum. 2. Mark 6.18 Iohn sayth to Herode It is not lawfull for thee to haue thy brothers wife Ergo the law was not abrogate being in force in our Sauiour Christs time Neither are they to alleadge that Herodes brother was yet liuing or that he had a child by Herodias and therefore it was not lawfull for him to marrie her for all this being graunted which cannot be proued yet it is plaine out of the text that Iohn reproueth him in no other name but because he married his brothers wife Augustine is against them who speaking of the marriage of Consobrines or Cosin germanes which had been sometime in vse Quia id nec diuina prohibuit nondum prohibuerat lex humana It was as yet thought lawfull because neither the diuine law forbad it neither was it yet prohibited by mans law If that then be thought lawfull which Gods law manifestly forbiddeth not that sure is vnlawful which it plainly forbiddeth Wherfore to marrie within any of the degrees directly forbidden Leuit. 18. is vtterly vnlawfull THE THIRD PART WHETHER ANY OTHER DEgrees may be by humane law prohibited beside those directly forbidden in the law The Papists 1. THey affirme that by the law of Moses those degrees onely are vnlawfull to marrie in which are directly and by name set downe therefore it is error 36 not vnlawfull by Moses law for the vncle or Aunts husband to marrie his niece because it is not by name prohibited as Abraham married his brother Arams daughter for Sara was his niece The marriage also of Cosin germanes was lawfull by Moses law and practized Numb 36. The daughters of Zelophehad married their vncles sonnes Therefore by Moses law no degrees are forbidden which are not directly named Bellarm. cap. 27. The Protestants 1. COncerning Abrahams marriage what is to be thought we haue shewed before but it is a
is THE SECOND PART WHETHER CHRIST bee our mediator as he is man onely or as hee is both GOD and man The Papists error 104 THey doe teach that Christ onely exercised his priesthood the office of the mediator as he was man not as he was both God man Rhem. Heb. 5. sect 4 His obedience sacrifice prayer satisfaction entring into the heauens was all performed by in his manhood only Secundum formam serui as he was in the forme of a seruant not secundum formam Dei as he was in the forme of God Bellarm. de Christo lib. 1. cap. 1. Argum. 1. If he were priest as he is God he should be inferior and not equall to God and so be Gods priest and not his Sonne for he to whom sacrifice is offered is greater then he that offereth it Rhemist ibid. Answ. It followeth not that because Christ is our priest and mediator as God and man that therefore he should performe all the dueties of the Priesthood as he was God all the partes of his priesthood that required obedience seruice homage subiection as were his sufferings and sacrifice he exercised as man but the authority of reconciling vs to God he wrought both as God and man Argum. 2. There is one God and one Mediator of God and men the man Iesus Christ 1. Timoth. 2.5 Why sayth the Apostle The man Iesus Christ but to signifie that according to his manhood onely he is our Mediator Bellarm. cap. 3. Ans. 1. You may as well conclude out of this place that the Mediator is onely man and not GOD as that hee is mediator onely as man and not as GOD but if out of these wordes it may bee prooued that the Mediator is both GOD and man as it necessarily followeth for how else can he be a Mediator of God and men it dooth as well follow that hee is Mediator both as God and as man Indeede the Apostle sayth The man Iesus Christ not God and man for the one he had sayd before There is one God in that speech including our Sauiour Christ who is one God with his Father Secondly what Saint Pauls meaning is it appeareth in the next verse who gaue himselfe a ransome vers 6. As Christ therefore gaue himselfe a ransome so is hee Priest and Mediator but he gaue himselfe as he was God as he was man hee was giuen Ergo as God he is Mediator The Protestants IN the office of the Priesthood two things must be considered a ministerie and an authoritie In respect of the ministeriall parte Christ performed the office of his priesthood as man but in respect of authoritie of entering into the holyest place and reconciling vs to God which was the principall parte of his Priesthood he did performe it as the Sonne of God as the Lord and maker of the house and not as a seruant And so we holde that Christ neither according to his humanitie alone nor his Godhead alone but that whole Christ is a Priest both as God and man Argum. 1. Saint Paul sayth God was in Christ reconciling the worlde to himselfe 2. Corinth 5.19 Ergo Christ as God is our reconciler and mediator Againe Christ as he is without Father and mother hath no beginning of his dayes nor end of his life so is hee a Priest after the order of Melchisedech but Christ as he is God and man hath neither father nor mother as he is God hath no beginning of dayes and in his whole person no end of his life therefore as God and man he is a Priest of Melchisedechs order Argum. 2. Saint Paul sayth The lawe was giuen by Angels in the hand of a Mediator Galath 3.19 But then Christ was God onely Ergo hee is Mediator also as God Bellarmine sayth that hee is called Mediator because that person was appointed afterward to bee Mediator But the text is playne that he then actually performed the office of a Mediator so much as pertayned to his Godhead for the Lawe was giuen in the hand of a Mediator which kinde of speech sheweth a present execution of the Mediatorship Augustine sayth Non mediator homo praeter diuinitatem diuina humanitas humana diuinitas mediatrix The man Christ is not mediator beside his diuine nature the diuine humanitie and the humane diuinitie is the Mediatrix Ergo Christ Mediator both as God and man THE THIRD PART WHETHER CHRIST merited for himselfe The Papists error 105 CHrist they say by his passion and sufferings hath not onely merited eternall life for vs but euen by his owne merite obtayned his owne glorification Rhemist annot Hebr. 2.1 Argum. 1. Philip. 2.9 He humbled himselfe vnto the death of the Crosse wherefore God hath also highly exalted him and giuen him a name aboue all names Ergo Christ merited his exaltation Rhemist in hunc locum Ans. 1. This place sheweth a sequele of the exaltation of Christ after his humiliation it maketh not one the cause of another as our Sauiour himselfe sayth Luk. 24.26 Christ ought to haue suffered and so enter into his glory Secondly the exaltation which the Apostle here speaketh of is the fame which God chalengeth to himselfe Isai. 45.22 Euery knee shall bow vnto me and euery tongue shall sweare by me But it were most grosse to affirme that the diuine power and glory can be merited Christ hath his diuinity by nature and not by merite The Protestants IT is not in any wise to be thought that Christ merited his glory which is due to him in respect of his diuinity but that by the glorious work of our redemption he hath declared himselfe to be a person worthy of all honour and glory Apocal. 5.9 the place is so to be vnderstoode Argum. 1. If Christ had respect vnto himselfe in his sufferings to gayne or merite any thing for himselfe his loue should greatly bee obscured and darkened which Saint Paul so greatly cōmendeth In that he died for his enimies Rom. 5.10 For now should not his loue bee whole and entire towards vs as though for our cause he onely had died But it is now a diuided and halfe loue for he died as they say partly to merite for himselfe partly to merite for vs. But the scripture speaketh cleane contrary Iohn 17.9 For their sakes sanctifie I my selfe he sayth not partly for their sakes partly for mine owne Argum. 2. All glory that Christ hath was from euerlasting due to his person because he is the eternall Sonne of God As hee himselfe sayth Iohn 17.5 And now glorifie mee with thine owne selfe with the glory which I had with thee before the world was and this glorie was due vnto Christ so soone as he was incarnate by the right of his Godhead Hebr. 1. When he bringeth in his first begotten Sonne into the worlde hee sayth Let all the Angels of God worship him And the Rhemists themselues confesse in their Annotat. vpon these wordes that straight vpon Christs descending from heauen it