his pleasure by graunting him a Plenary Indulgence But if our doctrine be truly understood we all require more for gaining pardon even of the least part of the paine still due to our very least sins then Protestants require to the full forgivenes of all the greatest sins that are or can be takē all togeather with all the paine which can be due unto them which is a point exceedingly to be noted it being apparently true 2. For the first thing which we require to gain any part even of the least Indulgence is to have true faith producing true repentance for our sin This alone with Protestants suffices to remit the guilt of all sins whatsoever and all paines due to all sins of which any man can be guilty Doth it do so with us No it is farre from it We say that after this first he must make a true entire Confession Secondly He must moreover stand obliged to make perfect restitution of any thing to which hs is bound Thirdly he stands obliged to performe the Pennance enjoyned him Fourthly if this pennance fall short of satisfying the divine Iustice for the paines yet due to the sins forgiven the sinner stands still obliged to satisfie the divine Iustice by other penall works Now all that we say is that this paine may be pardoned him by Indulgences though not by Indulgences graunted meerly at the Popes pleasure but by Indulgences graunted by him upon sufficient causes which causes he must carefully examine And after the graunt of Indulgences upon due causes you must not thinke any thing is done untill we on our parts have done what is required What is that It is that after such humble Repentance and after such an entire Confession and restitution as I sayd we performe the things expressed in the Graunt of the Indulgence And when all is done the most that we obtaine is to have pardon due to such sins the guilt of which is allready forgiven by our repentance and Confession But the Protestants teach that Faith alone quite frees men for ever of all theyr sins and of all the paine that was due for theyr sins though never so many or so great for after this faith God imputes theyr sins no longer to them 3. Before I prove that the Pope hath power by Indulgences graunted upon just cause to pardon such as duely performe what is enjoyned I further note that the Blood of Christ was of that infinite value that the shedding of one droppe thereof was able to satisfie divine Iustice for all the sins of the world yea of a million of worlds and able to satisfie also for all the paine that could be due for all those sins Wherefore seeing Christ did not shed his blood for us by dropps but by showers hence it followeth evidently that the satisfactions of Christ alone be in a most high degree superaboundant Tell me now is the most precious treasure of all this superaboundancy of satisfactions in order to cancell the paine due to our sins so wholy lost that even the liveing members of Christs body can receive no benefit by this superaboundancy God forbid They be not treasures wrapped up in a napkin Wherefore there must be a power on earth to dispense this rich treasure but yet to dispense it so as becoms a prudent dispenser of the mysteries of God Now who is the highest and chiefest in this dignity of dispensing but he whome we have proved to be the head and chief Pastour of Christs Church to whome it was sayd To thee I will give the Keyes of the Kingdome of heaven Matth. 16. v. 19. Feede my sheepe Io 21. v 15. See the seventh Point 4. That such Indulgences as here described may be graunted I prove first because to give thus the Keyes of the Kingdome of heaven to S. Peter and to his successours as is there proved is to give power of removing any barr that may shutt us out of heaven whether this barr be the sin it selfe which excludes us eternally if not removed or whether it be the guilt of paine for our sins forgiven which excludeth us onely untill such time as due satisfaction is made for that paine Satisfaction may be made for this paine either by our selves performing sufficiently for this effect such satisfactory workes as we spake of Point 9. and 24. Or which may be performed for us by others For as I may pay my debts by my selfe so I may pay them by a friend 5. And the proofe of this is a second proofe of Indulgences out of Col. 1.24 I Paul who now rejoyce in suffering for you and doe accomplish those things which want of the Passion of Christ in my flesh for his body which is the Church Of which Text see what I sayd Point 24. n. 6. whence appeares that notwithstanding the fullnes and superabondance of Christs Passion in it selfe yet in order to our being made compleatly partakers of severall fruits thereof something may be and often is wanting on our part What is this It is the adjoyning of those satisfactory workes which in that Point we have at large shewed Christ to expect at our hands And untill such workes be performed either by us in person or for us in the person of some other we still stand lyable to the paine due to our sins forgiven Now that an other may offer such workes for us is made evident by the text we cited out of S. Paul affirming that he rejoyced in doeing this deed of charity which consisted in suffering that is in doeing a worke most satisfactory for them and by it to make up or to accomplish in his flesh that which was yet behind or as yet wanted of the Passion of Christ that is what was wanting not on Christs part but on the part o his body which is the Church Now as S. Paul as then confirmed in grace had few sins and many sufferings which he could well spare and give away to pay his brothers debt so had S. Iohn Baptist so had our Lady so the Apostles so the Holy Martyrs and many others But above all Christs sufferings alone had an inexhaustable superaboundance which sufferings although Christ by his ordinary course of providence doth not applie to the full cleansing of our sins and of the paine due to our sins unlesse we doe what is required on our part yet he hath left power to his Vicar on earth upon just causes and with due circumspection to impart by way of speciall favour or Indulgence those superabundant satisfactions of Christ and his Saints unto us that by this superabondancy our wants may be supplied if we duely dispose our selves by his grace to be partakers of that great favour 6. A third proofe of Indulgences out of Scripture is to shew S. Paul exercising in the person of Christ this speciall favour or Indulgence towards the incestous Corinthian Whome in his first Epistle to the Corinthians he had given over to Satan by Excommunication But afterwards
people Iosue in that dignity did succeed him But he had but part of his glory so Num. 27. v. 18. Take Iosue the sone of Nun a man in whome it the spirit and put thy hand upon him who shall stand before Eliazar Priest and thou ô Moyses shalt put some of thine honour upon him Now the one part of Moyses his honour was to be a secular Prince and commander in chiefe In this dignity Iosue did succeed him But in Levit. Ch. 8. God commanded Moyses to inuest Aaron with the other part of his dignity which was to be High Priest But when Aaron now came to dye God sayd to Moyses Num. 20.26 Take Aaron and his sonne with him and when thou hast unvested the father of his vestiture thou shalt revest therewith Eleazar his sonne Moyses did as our Lord commanded him And thus successively God provided his Church of high Priests Neither for the wikedness of any of them did he cease to governe his Church by them even by heavenly and supernaturall assistance As bad as Cayphas was yet because he was the high Priest he did prophesy Io. 11.51 He sayd not this of himselfe but beeing the high Priest of that yeare he prophesyed that Iesus should dye for the Nation 5. The old law beeing now transferred to the new it was necessary that the Priesthood allso should be transferred these two going togather Hebr. 7.12 wherefore the new law beeing the Lady the old the hand maide as S. Paul speakes the new law allso according to him beeing established upon better promisses Hebr. 8.6 we may with all ground in Scripture expect to see Christs church ever provided of such high Priests as shall by his bounty have many advantages above the high Priests of the old law Christ then intending to build his new church he called to him even amongst the first of his Apostles Simon and presently changed his name into Cephas which is interpreted Peter a Rock Io. 1.42 To this Simon Matth. 16.18 he sayth Thou art Peter which in that language which Christ spoke is as much as to say Thou art a Rock and vpon this Rock I will build my Church The wisest of men designes a sure Rock for the everstanding building of his church in the midst of all windes and waves if any one say that Christ himselfe is a Rock so as not to communicate this Rock-like firmity of his allso to S. Peter he flatly contradicts Christs saying Thou art a Rock and upon this Rock I will build my Church If any man should take a fayre stone in his hand and say Thou art a fayre goodly solid stone and upon this stone I intend to rayse a Chappel Who would conceive this man in the last part of his speach to point at any other stone thē that which he had in his hand True it is that Christ is the fundation yet with out any dishonour to him nay to the increase of his honour he communicateth that very title of fundation to others So Eph. 2.20 we are sayd Built upon the fundation of the Apostles and Prophets Iesus Christ beeing the thiefe corner stone Christ then is the chiefe Rock of an everlasting perpetuity and this by his owne vertue S. Peter is a Rock standing firme everlastingly not by his owne vertue but by the vertue of Christ and made thus not for his owne sake but for Christs churches sake Christ intending that this his church should stand for ever as I proved Point 3. Whence Christ adds upon this Rock I will build my Church We willingly grāt that the church was to be built not upon the shoulders of S. Peter but vpon his faith yet his faith must not be taken as separated from his person but it must be taken as the thing chiefly regarded in his person for which to him personally this dignity was given yet given chiefly for the perpetuall good of the church to be built upon him Wherefore lest the building should be shattered at his death this firme perpetuity of a Rock that is this saith of his which Christ prayed should never fayle Luc. 22.32 was to be derived to his lawfull successors as the chaire of Moyses ever had the successors of Moyses sitting in it for no well ordered common wealth is destitute of sufficient meanes still to provide her of her lawfull Heads and Governours appointed her successively And as it is not enough to say Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords therefore the civil commō wealth needs no other King or Lord. So it seems farr greater non-sense to say that because Christ is the chiefe head and Priest of the church therefore we vpon earth need no other head to governe such a common wealth as the Church is conteining so many severall people of so many nations natures customes and dispositions as be foūd frō the rising of the sūne to the going downe of the same though this so farr spread common-wealth were intended from the beginning to last as long as the Sunne and Moone It was then for this his churches sake that some one was ever to be first and Chiefe in it 6. Now sayth S. Matthew numbring the Apostles Princes of the Church The names of the twelve Apostles be these The first Simon who is called Peter Matth. 10.2 And so in all places where the Apostles are counted as Iudas is allwaise the last so S. Peter is counted first and as it was sayd of Eliazar that he was the Prince of Princes of the Levites Num. 3.32 So amongst the spirituall Princes of Christs Church S. Matthew doth not only count him first but plainly says he was the first The first Simon who is called Peter He was neither the first in order of calling to the Apostle shipe nor in age For his Brother Andrew was before him in both these Io. 1. Again to signifie that he was the head and chiefe in ordinary Christ sayd to him Matth. 16.19 And to thee will I give the Keyes of the Kingdome of heavē For though the power of loosing and binding was afterward given to the other Apostles Iohn 20.23 yet the Keyes of the Kingdome of heaven are never in Scripture sayd to be given to any but to S. Peter The giving of the Keyes is wel knowne to signifie naturally the supreme Rule in a citty or familie Hēce the Keyes of the citty are offered to the chiefe Governours at theyr entrance So allso the Keye of the house of David is given to Christ being to reigne in the house of David for ever Here Christ giveth the Keyes to S. Peter as to his successor in the house of God which is the Church of the living God 1. Tim. 3.15 By these Keyes is signified the plenitude of highest power 7. Again Iohn 21.15 Simon of Iohn lovest thou me more then these Feed my lambes And yet again v. 17. Feed my sheepe Note that he would not have required greater love in Peter rather then in any of the rest nor
And v. 28. And they shall be no more a spoyle to the Gentills Againe Ch. 37. v. 23. Neither shall they be polluted any more in theyr Idolls and I will cleanse them and they shall be my people and I theyr God and my servant David King over them and theyr shall be one Pastour over them all They shall walke in my Iudgments and they shall keepe my commandments and they shall doe them and they shall dwell on the Land which I gave to my servant Iacob themselves and theyr Children and theyr Childrens Children Even for Ever And David my servant Prince for ever And I will make a peace to them an Everlasting Covenant shall be to them and I wâ—ll found them and wil multiply them and will give my sanctification in the middest of them for Ever and the very last verse of the last Chapter The name of the Citty from that Day Our Lord there 8. Clearly allso Daniel Ch. 2. v. 44. In the days of those Kingdomes the God of heaven shall rayse us a Kingdome that shall not be dissipated for ever But still continue in quality of a Kingdome and this Kingdome shall not be delivered to another people and it shall consume all the Idolatrous Kingdomes and it shall stand for ever in quality of a Kingdome There is litle need to passe to the New Testament the old sufficing if any thing will suffice Of Christs Gospell S. Paul says 2. Cor. 4.3 If our Ghospell be hid it is hid to them that are lost Either you must confess your selves lost men or you must say that at no Time Christs Ghospell lay hid so as you could not tell who professed it I insist not in the known places as that the Church Matth. 16.18 Is built upon a Rock that the Gates of Hell shall not provaile against it Again it is evident that she must still be visible in all ages that we may still at any time Tell the Church and heare her Matth. 18.17 and be still fedd by her Doctrine and Sacraments For these be the two essentiall markes of a true Church as Protestants say Hence Ephes Chap. 4 v. 11 He gave some Apostles some Prophets and other some Evangelists and other some Pastors and Doctors c. untill we meete al in the unity of faith which will not be till the worlds end These be the light of the world still sett upon the candlestickes never hidd under a busshel Matth. 5.14 A Cittie upon a hill still to be seen And though the mustard seede was the lest at the beginning yet in the growing it proves a Tree and all fowles repaire to it Matth. 13.32 Yea this must be a Church perpetually continuing in such reverence to our B. Lady that her words must be fullfilled Luc. 1.48 All generations shall call me blessed And v. 33. Her Sonne shall retgne in the house of Iacob for ever and of his Kingdome there shall be no end And so himselfe sayth to his Apostles Matth. 28.20 Behold I am with you all Days even to the consummation of the world His Apostles were not to be in the world even to the end of the world The promise therefore is to be with them in the persons of such as should succed them in teaching and preaching c. Again in the like sense he sayth Iohn 14.16 And he will give another Paraclete that he may abide with you for ever All these Texts demonstrate what we have undertaken to prove And hence it doth unavoidably follow that the Chureh must in all ages have a continuall succession of true Preachers of the word of God and true administration of Sacraments for these two things even according to the 39. Articles of the Church of England are the two essentiall signes or notes of a true Church which must ever accompany her in all ages And if a Church be as S. Cyprian sayth a flock adhering to ther shepherd then as in all ages there is a flock of Christ so there must be a shepherd to whom this flock may and must adhere And therefore a lawfull succession of true Pastors must needs in all ages be found in the Church at lest without any considerable interruption And this is expressed in severall texts here cited Now ponder that this is to be found in no Church but the Roman See more the next Point THE FOVRTH POINT Of the vniversality and vast extent of this perpetuall Church which also must be the converter of Gentiles This no Church differing from the Roman ever was 1. IF the Church were to remaine perpetually in any very small extent or bignesse perhaps we might heare litle newes of her in some ages But te true Perpetuall Church foretold to be in all ages in the Texts now cited is likewise in Scripture no lesse clearly foretold to be in all ages so universally spread aÌ„d so visibly numerous that the very recitall of these Texts is enough to put quite out of countenance any other Church but the Romane especially being that this true Church is so manifestly said to gaine this her vast extent by the multitude of Gentiles which she is to convert to her A thing which evidently must be verified in the true Church and yet is is evideÌ„t that this only is verified in the Roman Church that is no Church but such as was ioyned to her in communion euer converted any one parish of Gentiles 2. The Texts which evidence this vast extent of the true Church are Gen. 13.16 I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth And C. 15. v. 5. Looke up to heaveÌ„ and number the stars if thou canst And he sayd to him so shall thy seed be Again Chap. 22.16 By my owne selfe I have sworne sayth the Lord I will blesse tbee and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is by the sea And in thy seed shall be blessed all Nations of the earth Now Saint Paul tells us Romans 9.8 Not they that are the Children of the flesh of Abraham they are the Children of God but they that are the Children of promise are esteemed for the seed And if still you contend that these Texts are only for the Iewish Church you must allso remember that Christs Church is the Mistris she the Handmayd and that as S. Paul sayes The new Testament is established in farre better promises Hebr. 8.6 And must florish farre more then ever the Iewish Synagog did Hence Apoc. 7.5 S. Iohn after twelve thousand of every Tribe of Israël were signed saw a great multitudes which no man could number of all nations Tribes peoples and tongues But let us goe on 3. David Psal 2.8 Aske of me and I will give thee the Gentills for thy inheritance and thy possession to the end of the earth Psal 22.27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and he converted to our Lord. All the Kindreds ef the nations shall adore in his sight Again Psal 72.7
In his Christs dayes shall the righteous florish so long as the Moone endureth And he shall rule from sea to sea and from the River even to the ends of the round world Yea all the Kings of the earth shall adore him and all nations shall serve him Psal 98.3 All the ends of the earth have seene the saluation of our God Of what Church is this true besides the Roman 4. In this point of the multitude of Gentiles to be converted none more eloquēt and copious then the Prophet Isaias Chap. 2. v. 2. And in the later dayes the new Testament is called the last houre 1. Io. 2.18 the mountaine of the house of our Lord shall be prepared in the topp of mountaines and all nations shall flow unto it and he shall judge the Gentills c. Again Ch. 49. v. 1. Listen ô you Ilands and attend you people from a farr And then v. 6. It is a small thing that thou shouldest be my servant to rayse up the Tribes of Iacob and to convert the Dreggs of Israël it is too too poore a thing for Christ to be authour of so small a Church as the Iewish Church was Behold I have given thee to the light of the Gentills that thou mayest be saluation even to the farthest part of the earth Kings shall see and Princes arise and adore for our Lords sake Behold these shall come from farr and behold they from the north and the sea and these from the south country Lift up thy eyes round about and see all these are gathered togeather thy are come to thee And v. 19. Thy desarts and thy solitary places in which no body before served God and the land of thy ruine shall now be straite by reason of the inhabitants And yet shall the Children of the Barrennesse say in thine eares The place is straite for me make me space to dwell Then v. 22. Behold I will lift up my hands to the Gentills and to the people I will exalt my signes And they shall carry thy Sonns in theyr armes and thy Daughters upon theyr shouldiers And Kings shall be thy nurcing fathers and Queenes thy Nurses With a countenance cast downe to the ground they shall adore thee and they shall licke up the dust of thy feet Kings prostrating themselves at the feet of Christs Vicar and kissing them Again Chap. 54.2 Enlarge the place of thy tents and streetch out the skinns of thy Tabernacles for thou shalt penetrate to the right hand and the left And thy seed shall inherit the Gentills and shall inhabite the desolate Cities Here note that these things were spoken to the Iewish Church telling her how much the future glorie of Christs Church should exceede her and so to her the Prophet sayd in the first verse Payse ô barren woeman which barest not sing prayse and make joyfull noyse because many are the Children of the desolate Gentills more then of her that hath a husband To witt the Synagogue to which he had been so long espoused So that it is flatly against Scripture to make the Church of Christ at any time so barren as the Synagogue was in the dayes of Elias Allthough even then she had in the field farr above an eleven hundred thousand men besides many thousands of soldiers in her walled Cities as we shewed Point 3. n. 2. much more is it against Scripture to make her so litle as not to be visibile or known And therefore again Ch. 60. v. 1. Arise be illuminated Hierusalem because thy light is come and the glorie of our Lord is risen upon thee Gentills shall walke in thy light and Kings in the brightnes of thy rising Lift up thine eyes and see round about all these are gathered togeather they are come to thee Thy sonns shall come from a farr and thy daughters shall rise from thy side Then shalt thou see and abound and thy heart shall be enlarged when the multitude of the sea shall be converted to thee The strenght of the Gentills shall come to thee the inundation of Camells shall couer thee v. 10. The Children of strangers shall build thy walls and theyr Kings shall minister to thee and thy gates shall be open continually never shalt thou be invisible for day and night they shall not be shutt that the strenght of the Gentills may be brought to thee for the nation and the Kingdomes that shall not serve thee shall perish What nations can serve yea and be bound under paine of perishing to serve an invisible church again v. 15. I will make thee an eternall excellency a joy unto generation and generation and thou shalt suck the milk of Gentills and thou shalt be nourished with the teate of Kings Again Ch. 62. v. 2. And the Gentills shall see thy Righteousnes and all the Kings thy glory 5. Ieremie allso every where fully Chap. 30.19 I will multiplie them and they shall not be few and I will glorifie them and they shall not be small Christs Church still shal ever containe a vast number of people Again 31.34 And a man shall no more teach his neightbour and a man his brother saying know our Lord for all shall know me from the lest of them to the greatest sayth our Lord Thus sayth our Lord that gives the Sun for the light of the day the order of the Moone and Starrs for the light of the night If these laws shall faile before me sayth our Lord then allso the seed of Israël shall faile that it be not a nation for ever before me This text cometh convincingly home to prove that this universality shall be perpetuall and no more faile in any age then the light of the Sunne and Moone As long as they last this Church shall be a flourishing Nation for ever For again v. 37 Thus sayth our Lord. If the heavens shall be able to be measured and the foundations of the earth beneath to be searched out I allso will cast away all tht seed of Israël And then in a Metaphore of a Citie built upon hills farr distant from one another he sayes this so vastly extended Citie shall not he plucked up and it shall no more be destroyed for ever which is a gallant expression of the perpetual universality of the Church for ever retaining a vast great extent in any ages whatsoever The same follows Ch. 33. v. 20. Thus sayth our Lord if my covenant with the day can be voide and my covenant with the night that there be no day nor night in theyr time allso my covenant may be made voide with David my servant that there be not a sonne of him to reigne in his throne and Levits and Priests my Ministers Even as the Starrs of heaven cannot be numbred and the sand of the sea be measured so will I multiplie the seed of David my servant and the Levits my Ministers Now if the number of Priests Pastours and Teachers shall be so great at all times how great att all times
and how exceeding visible must be the number of the people who are visibly to be ruled fedd and taught And yet again v. 25. If I have not set my covenant between night and day and laws to heaven and earth surely I will allso cast of the seed of Iacob and of David my servant that I take not of his seede Princes of the seede of Abraham Isaac and Iacob These Levites and Priests shal not be so by birth but they shall be taken out of Italians Africans Grecians the Ilands as Isaias sayth in his last Chap. v. 21. Though your Bible did not interpret the Hebrew names of the Countries These Texts then manifestly tell the perpetuall succession of Priests and Pastours in Christs Church so that we are no lesse assured of haveing lawfull Princes in the Church lawfully still governing the same then we are assured of haveing night and day and the heavens moveing above us and the earth standing under us A point much to be noted yet we may confidently say no Church no Church but the Roman can doe this 6. Ezechiel Chap. 17.22 Thus sayth our Lord. And I will take the marrow of the high Cedar and will set it and will plant it upon a mountaine a mountaine high and eminent On the high mountaines of Israël will I plant it and it shall shoote forth into a budd and shall yeild fruit and it shall be into a great Cedar and all Birds and every foule sball dwell under the shaddowe of the boughes thereof and shall there make theyr nests Behould Christs Church which in her beginning was but a small graine of mustard seede now growne up to the greatnes of such a Cedar as this is And not growne and growne untill at last she was growne quite invisible Memorable is that Text Chap. 36.25 And I will powre out upon you cleare water and you shall be cleansed from all your contaminations and from all your Idolls will I cleanse you and give you a new heart and will put a new spirit in the middest of you and will by my grace make that you shall walke in my precepts and keepe my judgments and doe them Before we goe farther I pray take speciall notice that the Church by the grace of Christ is freed from feare of being abandoned because she did at any time grow to forsake Gods judgments for he will still give her grace to keepe them In that day that I shall cleanse you from all your iniquities and shall make the Cities to be inhabited and shall repaire the ruinous places and the desert land shall be tilled and they shall say This land untilled is become a garden of pleasure And v. 37. I will encrease them with men like a flock as the flock of Hierusalem in her solemne feasts in which feasts many thousand men gathered out of every howshold of that nation did use to goe up to Hierusalem so shall the desert Cities be full of flocks of men How can universality and a most visible numerosity be more fully expressed when even the desert places shall be filled as Hierusalem was thronged and crowded in the solemnityes thereof Daniel Chap. 2. v. 35. makes the Church of a litle stone grow into a moutaine filling the whole earth how ridiculously then do you tell me you can scarce see it for this 1000. yeares before Luther 7. Micheas Chap. 4.1 And it shall be in the later end of the dayes 1. Io. 2.18 the time of the new Testament is called the last howre there shall be the mount of the howse of our Lord prepared in the topp of mountaines and high above all the hills what more visible and people shall flow unto it and many nations shall hasten and shall say Come let us goe up to the mountaine of our Lord and to the howse of the God of Iacob c. And v. 7. I will make her that labours into a mighty nation and our Lord will reigne over them from this time now and for ever So that from this time now and for ever the Church was promised still for all ages to be a mighty or strong nation Never a small invisible unknowne company 8. Zacharias Chap. 14. v. 8. And it shall be in that day liveing waters shall issue forth of Hierusalem halfe of them to the east sea and halfe of them to the last sea in summer and winter shall they be and our Lord God shall be King over all the earth and in that day shall be one Lord and his name shall be one And by and by he tells us at large even to the end of the Chapter how all nations shall be accursed that come not up to adore in his Church A manifest signe of her pepetuall purity in Doctrine For how would God lay such curses ad plagues upon men for refusing to follow the Church erring 9. Malach. Chap. 1.11 tells us the Church shall be extended as farr as the sun beames among the Gentills From the rising of the sun even to the goeing downe thereof great is my name among the Genrills and in every place there is sacrificing and there is offered a cleane oblation because my name is great among the Gentills sayth the Lord of Hosts Behould the true Church all the world over offering a pure and gratefull sacrifice 10. The places of the new Testament are more knowne as that the Church by reason of her continuall university is A Citie upon a Hill still to be seene from all places A Candle upō a candlestick as well seene to the whole world as a cādle to the whole Roome in which it burnes The Apostles are sent to preach to all Nations The litle mustard seed grows to be the bighest of all plants like the Cedar in Ezechiel chap. 17.22 S. Peters nett is even broken with the taking of fish c. But because the new Testament writes no farther then the Acts of the Apostles and contained but small part of them the subsequent conversion of the multitude of Nations of the strenghth of Gentils and of all the Kings of the earth as the above cited Texts declare is to be taken out of historie in which manifestly the truth of all that was foretold doth appeare But all this wholy and intirely was performed by the Roman Church onely that is by such as have beene knowne to have joyned in Communion with her If you say the Roman is not the true Church heere foretold by the Prophets then I pray ponder well how impossible it is for you upon earth to find any other Church to which those manifold Prophecies with any shew of probality can be applied THE FIFT POINT Of the infallibility of the Church and consequently of her fitnes to be judge of controversies 1. NOte that in two manners or wayes things of beleefe and practice may be delivered by a community The first is whē such things once received by the sayd Community are perpetually retained by the same in all places by the
publick practice and also upon all occasions taught by word of mouth and expressed in written bookes Thus our common law in England though never written by any lawmaker is notwithstanding by dayly practice most faithfully kept and hath been so for so many hundred yeares by the whole Nation diffused And in this manner the Church diffused keepeth in perpetuall practice and delivereth to her children as infallible truth what was first delivered unto her by commission from God either in writing or by word of mouth The other way of making and delivering Laws is to call togeather the represētative body of the Community So here in England our statute laws are made not onely by the King nor onely by the Parlament but by the order both of King and Parlament And what is thus enacted is the decree of the Natiō representative Now as the represētative of our nation is the King and Parlament so the Church Representative is the chiefe Pastour thereof togeather with a Lawfull generall Councill And the definitions and decrees set forth by their authority be called the definitions and the decrees of the Church Representative All such definitions we Romā Catholicks hold infallible Whither the definition of a Councill alone defining without their chiefe Pastour or the definitions of the chiefe Pastour alone defining without a Councill be infallible or no there be severall opinions amongst us in which we do and may varie without any prejudice to our Faith which is not built upon what is yet under opinion but upon that which is delivered as infallible and we all unanimously hold that to be so which the universall Church Representatiue consisting joyntly of the chiefe Pastour of the sayd Church voting in and with a Generall Councell not that this Representatiue made wholy of men is not of its owne nature subject to errour For this we never affirme And so our adversaries say nothing at all to the purpose whilst they labour to proue this Let thē disproue if they can and that out of Scripture alone that which we say to witt that this Church Representatiue is infallible meerly and purely by the speciall assistance of the Divine Provedence always affording to his Church a sufficient measure of the spirit of truth to lead her into all truth And that he is evcr so surely resolved to do this that no sinns of his Church shall ever hinder him from doeing of it as is most expressly delivered by God himselfe Psalm 89. in the words cited by me at large Point 3. n. 3. Which place the Reader shall find most convincing to prove that notwithstanding all the sinns that shall euer happen in his Church the sunne and moone shall sooner faile then God will faile to provide a successour in Christs throne to governe his Church in the profession of truth so as his faithfulnes shall not faile nor none of his words be frustrated which you shall see delivered again and again in the ensueing places of Scripture All which to the number of thirty I gather to fully because the Protestants exclaime againest nothing more then the Churches claime to infallibility which D. Ferne calls The very bane of Christendome though it be the very ground worke of Christianity For all interpretation of Seripture is fallible if the interpretation of the Church be fallible euen then when she hath carefully conferred Scripture with Scripture 2. And to avoide confusion I will divide these thirty Texts into these three severall sorts The first sort shall containe eyther such as command vs absolutly to follow and obey the Church in such a māner as would wholy misbeseeme God to commaund vs if she could thrust errours vpon vs for Divine verities or such Texts as theach vs to relie more vpon the Church then could prudently be done if she could teach errour The second sort shall containe a multitude of such glorious expressions made every where of the Church as would be most emptie and truthlesse if the Church should ever prove a Mistris of errours and presse them on her children for Divine verities The third and last sort shall be such Texts as plainly affirme Truth to be still taught in the Church and to be intailed vpon her promising she shall not revolt from it but stand still a true piller and ground of Truth 3. Of the first sort of Texts we haue these by which eyther God commaundes vs vniversally to follow his Church or speakes that of his Church which could not be delivered as it is if this Church could erre For example how could God glorie in the multitude of such as follow his Church if by so doeing they should be led into errour And yet Isaias 2. God seemes to glorie in the multitude of those who confidently resort to the Church as to a Mistris of assured Truth to be instructed by her saying v. 3. Let us goe vp to the mountaine of our Lord and he wil teach us his wayes and we shall walke in his pathes and he shall judge among the natiōs Behold Christ erecting a Court or tribunal in his Church to judge amōg natiōs ād decide all their cōtroversies which must needs suppose obediēce to be yeilded to this judgmēt Yea the same Prophet adds c. 54. v. 17. that No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper and every tongue resisting thee in judgment thou shalt condemne And the Prophet there from the beginning manifestly speakes of Christs Church Thirdly Isaias Ch. 60.12 The Nation and Kingdome that will not serve thee shall perish Vnder paine of perishing the Church must be obeyed Whence Fourthly Ezech c 44. v. 23. They that is the Priests shall teach the people what is between a holy thing and a thing polluted and the difference between clēane and vncleane They shall shew them and when there shall be controversie they shall stand in judgment and shall judge according to my judgments This being their office the peoples office must needs be not to judge them but obey them 4. Whence Fiftly Christ Matt. 18.17 commands all to obey the Church vnder paine of being held here on earth as Publicās and Heathens and of haveing this sentence ratifyed in heauen Tell the Church sayth he and if he will not heare the Church let him be vnto thee as a Heathen and a Publican Amē I say vnto you whatsoever you shall bind on Earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever you shall loose vpon earth shall be loosed also in heaven Here you see obedience to be yeilded vnder paine of being held as a Publican or an Heathen and this sentence to be ratified in heaven Now if the Church could erre in theaching for example that Christ is truly present in the Sacrament and hence oblige all to adore him there in as much as they adore him in heauē and could oblige them to this vnder paine of being held as Publicans and Heathens ād held so as well in heaven as vpon earth surely this cānot be an errour
For then in heaven this sentence would never be ratified And tell me not that this texts speakes of private differēces betweene brother ād brother though I denie not but this is also true in such differences as belong to the Court or Tribunall of the Church yet hence evidently follows that this Text doth much more concerne those differences in point of Religion between brother and brother Both because these doe more properly belong to the Court of the Church and to her Tribunall as also because when scandal and offence is giuen to our brother in point of heresie tending to the seduction of his soule our brother seeing this soule-murthering sinne broached to his owne ruine ād to the eternall ruine of his brother hath farre greater reasō in this case thē in any other to tell the Church his mother to whome in this difference aboue all other differences it properly belongeth to looke to the safety of her childred For this is an offēce ād scandal to the whole brotherhood of all Christianity Therefore in these points of highest concernement we are most bound to heare the Church vnder paine of being accounted Publicans and Heathens and of haueing this heauie sentence ratified in heauen 5. Sixtly Matt. 23.1 Then Iesus spake to the multitudes and to his Disciples saying Vpon the chaire of Moyses haue sitten the Scribes and Pharises by which sitting with lawfull succession they as wicked as they were are knowne to be lawfully authorized Prelats all therefore whatsoever they shall say unto you observe and do Behold here a precept of obeying in all whatsoever And therefore behold a precept which could not be givē if that which is delivered by publicke authority of the Church were not secured from error in all whatsoever 6. Sevently The first and best Christians did practically acknowledge theyr beleefe of the infallibility of the Church For to have a decision of the most important Controversies Act. 15.2 they appointed Paul and Barnabas to go up and certaine others of the rest to the Apostles and Priests unto Hierusalem upon this question And the Church assembled the first Councill in which though this Councill were assisted with the Holy Ghost yet there was made a great disputation v. 7. And then the definition of the Church came forth in these words It seemeth good to the Holy Ghost and us v. 28. Other lawfull Councills knowing the Holy Ghost allso promised to them do vse to set forth theyr definitions with the same words and this most agreable to Scripture For Iohn 15. v. 26. When the Paraclete cometh whom I shall send from my father the spirit of truth he shall give testimonie of me and you shall give testimonie Marke this conjunction of he and you He the the spirit of truth and you Governers of my Church so that you in giveing testimony may freely say It seemeth good to the Holy Ghost and us 7. Eightly It is cleere out of Scripture that the first Christians were so fully possessed with the beleefe of the infallibility of the Church that they would beleeve nothing but what thy knew conformable to her doctrine S. Paul was a Scripture-writer and so great an Apostle and yet he sayeth of himselfe Gal. 2.1 Then after fourteene yeares I went to Hierusalem again not meerly to satisfie a vaine fancie of some particular men but I went up according to revelation and conferred with them the Ghospel which I preach among the Gentills But I conferred severally or a part with them that seemed to be something least perhaps I should runn or had runn in vain So that he thought all his fourteen yeares preaching and allso his future preaching might come to be in vaine vnlesse even his doctrine were made known to be approved by the Church as wholy conformable to the Church So much in these goulden dayes were the first Christians taught to relye vpon the Church which had been imprudence if she had been fallible Yet we must not thinke that then they did apprehend that the approbation of the Church did adde any degree of truth to his doctrine as it doth not add any degree of truth to the Scripture or pretend to have power to change or correct true Scripture And so S. Paul sayth v. 6. For to me they that seemed to be some thing added nothing For as the toutchstone adds no value to the gold but onely evidently manifesteth which is true gold which not so the Church as then did only manifest infallibly the truth of what he had preached So allso the Church as now doth only manifest to vs that such and such Bookes be the true word of God such and such be not such be true copies such not c. But the word of God hath its true worth from it selfe and not frō the Church as the gold hath its being true gold from it selfe and not from the toutchstone So when Catholiques say with S. Aug. Cont. Epist fundam c. 5. I would not beleeve the Ghospell unlesse the authoritie of the Church moved me they doe not meane that the Church can adde or take away from the truth of any true Scripture but they meane that by her definition as by a Sure touchstone it is now manifestly assured vnto them that such a booke is true Scripture and such not And as the orall preaching even of such an Apostle as had been a Scripture writer might have been in vain without this approbation so allso might his writings have been in vaine Whence we see that his Epistle vnto the Hebrews was not known or acknowledged as Gods word vntill the Church approved it If the Scripture writer himselfe teacheth in vaine without this approbation much more will his writings teach in vaine 8 Ninthly The Church is to be followed by vs as an assured approver or reprover of spirits and consequently as infallible Iohn 1.4 My dearest beleeve not every spirit but prove the spirits if they be of God then v. 6. We are of God he that knows God heares us Pastours of Church he that is not of God heares us not In this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of errour Here S. Iohn expresly meanes to give to posterity a standing Rule to know a true spirit from a false one To witt By the hearing of us or not hearing of us This could not be a Rule to vs who live after the Apostles if by hearing us he onely meant the Apostles and not theyr successours Yea he could not meane onely the Apostles For the other Apostles were all dead when he wrote this Wherefore the true sence of S. Iohn is In this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of errour if they heare us Pastours and Governours of the Church Not that each one of these Pastours and Governours a part can say to any one heare me vnlesse he teach that which all the rest are sufficiently knowne to teach but they in a Generall Councill may most truely say Heare us He
that knows God heareth us 9. Tenthly In declaring the true meaning of the true Scriptures the practise and doctrine of the Church is necessary to be followed as a certaine Guide For example When Christ sayd Doe this in remembrance of me He did impose sayth the Church a true commaund to doe so Yet though Christ no lesse cleerly sayd Iohn 13.14 That we ought to wash one anothers feete for I have given you an example that as I have done So you allso should doe He did not impose sayth the Church any commaund obliging vs to wash one anothers feete For though he sayd we ought to wash one an others feete yet by the practise and doctrine of the Church it is assuredly declard to vs that these words of Christ containe no precept though the former do 10. Eleventhly The same Apostle in his first Epistle Chap. 2.19 after that concerning Heretikes he had sayd They went out from us He turnes his speach to those who still remained in the Church subject and obedient to it and of them he sayth But you have the unction from the Holy one and know all things To witt the spirit of truth residing in the Church to teach her all truth maketh you who are guided by the Church to know all things necessary for your information and instruction 11. Twelfly It is grounded in this infallibility of the Church that her Prelates may exact obedience of her Children in captivating theyr understanding to the faith which she by commission from Christ delivereth unto them 2. Cor. 10.4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God casting downe Imaginations or Reasonings and every thing that exalts it selfe against the knowledg and bringing into captivity All understanding unto the obedience of Christ and haveing in a readines to revenge all disobedience So S. Paul But it is most irrationall to say God should impower his Church to force men to follow a Church which being fallible must needs confesse that she may deceive you and enforce you to follow errors Yet this in a Church haveing the infallible assistance of the Holy Ghost is most rationall For there you are to your apparent good enforced to follow truth in place of such error as might be most hurtfull to you Thirteenthly The same S. Paul tells vs that God out of an expresse intention which he had to keepe vs from all wavering and vnsetlement in faith resolved so to assist the Governours of his Church that we might securely relye upon them For Ephes 4 11. He gave some Apostles and some Prophets and other some Evangelists and other some Pastours and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the worke of the ministery for the edifying of the Body of Christ untill we all come into the unity of faith To what end all this to the end that we hence forth be no more Children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftines from which his Providence had not thus secured vs vnles these our Teachers had beē infallible whē defining in a lawfull councill or proposing what is universally taught by them 12. The second sort of Texts proving the infallibility of the Church conteines such glorius Titles given her or such admirable things spoke by Gods own mouth of her as must needs be vain empty and truthles words if the Church ever prove to be a Mistris of errors obtruding them to her Children for divine verities First Psal 132.13 Our Lord hath chosen Sion he hath chosen it for an habitation unto himselfe This is my rest for ever and ever Here will I dwell because I have chosen it Now Christs dwelling place as S. Paul tells vs is his visible Church 1. Tim. 3.15 That thou mayest know how to converse in the house of God The Church of the liveing God He could not be taught how to converse in an invisible Church he speakes then of the Church visible Farr be it from this house to be a store house of errors For how then could it be Christs desirable Habitation and his rest for ever and ever 13. Again Isa 54.4 Feare not for thou shalt not be ashamed neyther be thou confounded for thou shalt not be put to shame What greater shame or confusion to a Church which should be the Pillar and ground of truth to see herselfe growne now to professe open superstition Idolatry and other pernicious errors in whole swarmes How then is that true which follows 14. Thirdly Isai 60.15 I will make thee an eternall excellency a ioy of many generations Fourthly v 18. Thou shalt call thy walls saluation our Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light Thy Sunne shall goe downe no more and thy Moone shall be no more diminished because our Lord shall be thine everlasting light Words manifestly spoken not of the Elect but of the visible Church on earth even from the beginning of the Chapter for v 10. he tells how Kings should minister to her and how he had struck her when she was the Synagogue in his indignation Which words cannot be understood of the elect or the invisible Church and so he goes still on speaking 15. Fiftly In the like sense Chap. 62. v. 3. Thou shalt be a crowne of glory thou shalt be no more called forsaken as thou wert when thou wert the Synagogue but thou shalt be called my delight in her And sixtly to secure her from all error contrary to his will he adds v. 6. Vpō thy walls Hierusalem I have appointed watchmen And how careles soever thy be by theyr owne nature yet by my continuall assistance all the day and all the night for ever they shall not hold theyr peace To witt by crying downe errours For they had better have held theyr peace that preached publickly errours every where And v. 12. Thou shalt be called a Citie sought for and not forsaken And yet Protestants say they did laudably forsake every visible Church vpon earth by adhering to Luther and his followers who did separate themselves from all Churches visible in the whole world openly professing that as then there was no one Church on earth worth seeking for and so they did not joyne themselves in Communion with any Church then vpon earth but pretended to returne to the Primitive Church as it was above a thousand yeares before which is to say that for this whole last thousand yeares the Church was a Citie forsaken and that for so long her Communion was not to be sought for 16. Seventhly There is a very convincing text to prove the Church to be by divine Providence assuredly provided of faithfull Pastours and Governors Ierem. 33. v. 25 If I have not put my Covenant to night and day and laws to the heaven and earth then will I cast away the seed of Iacob and David my servant that I doe not take from his seed Princes to be Rulers over the seed of Abraham Isaac
and Iacob So that we shall be as sure not to faile of faithfull Princes and Governors in the Church for none but such as are truely faithfull can be truely sayd to be the true sonnes of Iacob and David As we are sure to have night and day the heaven turning over vs and the earth standing still vnder vs. 17. Eeightly The Prophet Ezech. Ch. 34.22 I will save my flock and it shall be no more into spoile But what spoile would that scabb of error make over all Christs flock if it so infected it all as Protestants say it did yea they will have even Idolatry it selfe the most deadly murraine to have infected the whole Church this last thousand yeares and more 18. The third and last sort of Texts to prove this infallibility containe such as plainly say that God will still direct his Church to follow truth or that it shall not revolt from the truth but be a most direct way to the truth that the spirit of truth shall be as it were entailed vpon the doctrine of the Church with which Church this spirit shall ever abide teaching her all truth So first Isa 61.8 I will direct theyr worke in truth and I will make an everlasting Covenant with them of preserving this never fayling truth Secondly Behold how plaine and direct a way to truth is promised the Church of Christ Isa 35. v. 5. Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened c. And a high way shall be there and it shall be called the way of Holynesse the Holy Catholicke Church the way-faring men though fooles shall not erre there in It is therefore a way infallibly leading to truth Thirdly the same Prophet Chap. 59. v. 20. There shall come a Redeemer to Sion and to them that shall returne from iniquity in Iacob sayth our Lord. As for me this my Covenant with them My spirit that is in thee and my words that I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed from this present and for ever With what clearer words could the spirit of truth be entailed vpon the Church present in each age or be more clearly said to Reside ever in her mouth with which she delivers all her doctrine 19. Fourthly Most clearly Ier. 32.39 I will give them one heart and one way that they may feare me for ever I will make an euerlasting Covenant with them that I will not turne a way from them but will putt feare in theyr hearts that they shall not depart from me Note I pray these words I will putt my feare in theyr hearts that they shall not depart frō me Wherefore they did not revolt from him they did not depart from him Fiftly no lesse fully speakes the Prophet Ezech. 37.24 My servant David King over them and there shall be one sheapheard over them all They shall walke in my judgment and observe my statutes and do them Moreover I will make a Covenant of peace with them it shall be an everlasting Covenant with them and I will set my Sanctuary in the middest of them for ever more How fully is all this spoken of a visible Church haveing one theapherd over all Yea the very Heathens shall know who they be as there is sayd Sixtly that according to the Prophet Micheas Ch. 4.5 All people will walke every one in the name of his God and we will walke in the name for our Lord God for ever Which they doe not who walke in a labyrinth of grosse errors for a thousand yeares togeather it followeth I will make Her who was cast of a strong nation and the Lord shall reigne over the from hence forth and for ever 20. Seaventhly Matth. 16.18 The gates of Hell shall not prevaile against it If Hell could ever come to make the Church a Mistris of errours so as to hold them forth for divine verities so many ages togeather the gates of Hell should highly prevaile against her Now I pray note that for many ages there were no Christians which were not eyther manifest Hereticks and held so by the Protestants themselves or which did not as all Roman Catholicks now doe worship and adore Christ as much vnder the shape of bread in the Eucharist as they worship him sitting at the right hand of his father If this be Idolatry the gates of Hell have prevailed against the Roman Church yea and against the Churches in Greece in Armenia in Aethiopia c. who all ever since they were Christians have held this our doctrine and doe still hold it though they adde a world of other errors Where then shall the Protestants find Christ a Church against which the gates of Hell have not a vast long time togeather prevailed They must eyther be forced to make Christ false in this his doctrine or to confesse our doctrine true If it be not how was this Covenant everlasting as hath been so often sayd in the now cited Texts and allso the Text following in which Christ made the everlasting Covenant formerly promised to be made Eightly S. Iohn Ch. 14. v. 16. And he will give you an other Paraclete that may abide with you for ever the spirit of Truth whome the world knows not but you know him because he dwells with you and shall be in you Now the Apostles not being to be for ever and the spirit of Truth being promised for ever we cannot but say that the promise of this spirit of Truth is made also to the successours of the Apostles the Governours of Christs Church to abide in them and be in them as the spirit of Truth directly opposite to the spirit of errour So ninthly Iohn 16.12 Many things I have to say unto you but you cannot beare them now hence appeares how weighty those thinghs were but when the spirit of Truth cometh he will guide you into all Truth To private persons the Holy Ghost is given as the spirit of sanctification but to the Church he is given as the spirit of Truth guiding her into all Truth and so directly excluding all errour from her 22. Tenthly that convincing place of S. Paul shall end all these Texts 1. Tim. 3.15 where speaking of the visible Church in which he teacheth Timothie how to Converse the speakes thus That thou mayst know how to behave thy selfe in the house of God which is the Church of the liveing God the Pillar and ground of Truth Can I leane more assuredly then vpon the Pillar of Truth Can I even wish to have a surer ground then the ground of Truth And yet such a ground is the Church acknowledged in this Text if it be not perverted by such interpretations as be the inventiōs of mē but of men vnable to confirme theyr interpretation by any Text clearer thē this Here thē behold we have produced no fewer thē thirty texts for the infallibility of the Church Whereas not halfe so
more outwardly when wee worship Saints or adore God Wherfore to prove what I have undertaken you see I need go no further then Genesis but I thought fitt to adde one very fitt passage of 1. Chron. 29. v. 20. All the assemble bowed themselves downe and worshiped the Lord and the King Exteriously the bowing was both alike to thc ground but the inward act made this bowing as done to the King to be civil honour only and the like bowing as done to God to be devine honour or worship and true adoratiō in the most rigorous sēse It is very strāge to observe how cunningly your Bibles still avoid the word Adore evē when it is applyed to God which seemes so often omitted by them because the same word signifying to adore is so often applyed to creatures you cannot then blame us if when wee reverence Saints or pray to them wee bow kneel or prostrate our selves to the ground even seaven times For if civil worship for this word the last Text hath may passe so farre without robbing God of his honour why may not an inferiour Religious worship do the like 5. But of this adoring for Religious worship wee have cleer Scripture Iosue c. 5. being told by an Angel that this Angel was but a Captain of the Hosts of our Lord Ioshua fell on his face to the earth and did worship v. 14. Behold before wee had worship given by the people to the King here wee have worship done to an Angel known to be an Angel By and by in the Apocalips wee shall see this very word of worship to signify the Reverence which is to be given to God Now I go on and I observe that the Angel was not only willing to admitt of this honour but commanded him allso to shew reverence to the very place made Holy by his presence Loose sayth he thy shoes from thy feet for the place wherin thou doest stand is Holy If any reply that wee may with Religious worship adore Angels as Iosue did but not Saints behold the Scripture sheweth this Religious worship or adoration due to spirituall excellency to be laudably given even to those who excell in sanctity even in this world So 1. Kings 18.7 Abdias governour of the house of Achab King of Israël meeting with poore Elias the Prophet when he knew him fell on his facë and sayd My Lord art not thou Elias And 2. Kings 2. v. 15. The Children of Prophets seing Elizeus sayd the spirit of Elias hath rested upon him and coming to meet him adored him flat to the ground or as you read They bowed themselves to the ground before him See you not here that it was not for any worldly excellency but meerly in regard of his spirituall excellency that they thus bowed thēselves to the groūd before him This spirituall excellency is incomparably more eminent in those who are now made Coheires to Christ himselfe in the partciipation of all heavenly gifts and glory To them therfore Religious bowing or worship is farre more due and wee are commāded by S. Paul Rom. 13.6.7 To render to all theyr due to whom honour honour Owe to no man any thing which you do not pay him This I staid upō because our Adversaries often aske for a precept commanding us to honour Saints Behold I have given you one which is a precept grounded in the very Law of nature and equity cammaunding us to render to teach one what is due to him 6. Again Apoc. 3.9 Behold I will make them come and worship hefore thy feet words spoaken to the Angel of Philadelphia If by this Angel you say the Bishop of Philadelphia is understood then we prove first that a fortiore wee may worship before the feet of the chiefe Bishop of the Church Secondly wee much more a fortiore inferre that wee may worship before the feet of those who have a farre greater excellency in vertue grace glory as Saints have above all men on earth For Matth. 11.11 Hee that is the least in the Kingdome of heaven is greater then he that is is greater then the great S. Iohn Baptist was upon earth though of him Christ himselfe sayd There had not risen a greater among the sons of weomen S. Iohn the Evangelist then knowing it to be true which he himselfe had written that Christ would make men come and worship before the feet of the Angel of Philadelphia thought it is duty to adore before the feet of any Angel and hence he sayth of himselfe Apoc. 19. v. 10. And I fell at this feet to worship him the Angel and again c. 22. v. 8. I fell down to worship before the feet of the Angel which shewed me those things 7. Our adversaries object that at each of these adorations the Angel checked S. Iohn for them saying at each time See thou do not I am thy fellow servant worship God Our answer is that if the first adoration used by S. Iohn had been of its own nature Idolatrous and sinfull which is incredible it proceeding from so great a Prophet and so sublime a Scripture writer yet at lest being told so and instructed by the Angel to the contrary as you say he was he would never the second time have done that Idolatrous and damnable sinfull act both wittingly and willingly and this so very soō after he had beē warned not to do it It was not thē by reason of any unlawfulnes in this action that the Angel willed him not to adore or worship But the Angel refused at both times this honour upon some other consideration to witt out of singular respect unto him whom he knew to have been at the last supper admitted to ly on Christs breast and so he would not permitt him to ly now prostrate at his feete whom he allso knew to be so highly favored by God with so many admirable heavenly visions Moreover to be a Virgin to be a Priest an Apostle and to be that very Disciple whom Iesus so singularly loved to be allso a Prophet and an Evangelist Therefore he would not admitt of such profound respect at his hands but humbly saying unto him I pray do it not for I am thy fellow servant and thou either now art greater in Gods sight then I am or soon mayest come to be farre greater Worship and adore God who hath so magnifyed thee Yet S. Iohns humility working still upon him more by seeing an Angel so humble and producing in him a mean conceipt of himselfe by still reflecting on what he was as of himselfe and knowing what his maister sayd that even the lesser in the Kingdome of heaven was greater then the great S. Iohn Baptist to witt according to the present state he therefore did the second time shew the Angel the honour he knew due to him See above how Iosue worshiped an Angel which honour notwithstanding was allso refused by the Angel in this place both for the former reasons and for that he knew full