fierce as a tyger in tongue poysenous as an aspe in eie deadly as a Cockatrice in hand bloudy as a Lyon O avoide the heate of a Iesuite he is hell fire heaping powder breathing fire writing blood c Reip. geren praecept Plutarchs speech is true that fire beginneth not commonly in publike and sacred places but often breeds first in a private house by some snuff of a candle among straw and after sets on fire Churches and Temples so the stinking snuffes of candles that fall among quarrelling papers in the study of a male content if they be not quenched may fire Gods Church Take care that you be not so inflamed Mr LEECH And though divers of my best friends whose intreaty in any other matter might haue prevailed with me dissuaded me from this enterprise as being to full of perill fearing the violence of the time and the manifold dangers that by this resolution I stood likely to expose my selfe vnto yet ten thousand such like motiues of terrour could not detaine me nor deterre my resolution For a higher hand then humane euen the hand of heauen so ouerruled me commanding nay countermaunding all my affections that way that partly the pure zeale and entire affection which I euer bare vnto the blessed Fathers being wholy indebted vnto them for that little which I haue and partly my devoted loue vnto many of that Vniversitie whome I could not patiently suffer to be thus perverted in so main a doctrine tending to all Religious piety and lastly the perfit hatred that from my innermost soule I ever conceiued against Puritanisme the very bane of ancient Christianity these I say and the like motiues to recollect thē altogether could not suffer me without the shipwrack of all conscience to fit still and to be silent whilst God his eternall truth Christ his holy direction and the perpetuall tradition of the Catholike mother-Church were so publikely impugned and so notoriously prophaned ANSVVER Importunity of friends could not withdraw you manifold insuing perills could not touch you yet the d Booke of Canons agreed vpon with the Kings Maiesties licens in the Synod at London 1603 Canon 53. Canon provided against the publike contradiction of Preachers in the pulpit should haue staid you You attribute your act to the hand of heauen very rashly Howsoever e Senec. quicquid agimus quicquid patimur venit ex alto as the Poet well noteth yet that by the hand of heauen you should be moued so much to magnify the arme of flesh that whereas God f Iob. laieth folly on his Angells you will lay such perfection of glory on his mortall creatures it may seeme strange It was not the direction of the hand of heauen Your motiues commanding and countermanding you were as you say first your entire affection vnto the Fathers 1. Mot. your mother the Church should haue been dearer vnto you then all your Fathers her peace more thē their credit her maintained religion rather then out of thē your conceited opinion But you would vncouer nakednesse in the Fathers where there is none the Fathers disclaime your position for illegitimate I knowe you boast that you haue read all the Fathers and I thinke you haue seene all the world but the one in a mappe the other in a modell In this your tract when you bragge so much of reading the Fathers it calleth to my memory the distinction of g Goron Goronides concerning readers some are spunges which draw vp all with out distinguishing others are houre-glasses which receiue and powre out as fast as they fill others are bagges which retaine only the dregges of the spices and let the purest escape 2 Mot. others like Sieues only retaine the best I reckon you in the first number Your second motiue was your devoted loue to many of that Vniversity whom you could not suffer patiently to be thus perverted in so maine a point of doctrine tending to all religious piety Did ever any point that you preacht gaine any such beleef applause acceptance as that you should imagine that many would haue been perverted but for the opening thereof by you Or was that so main a point tending to all religious piety which served for no other vse but the induction of Monkery when as Monkery it selfe is but the privation of vertue the life of vice the habitation of darknesse stoue and stews of filthines 3 Mot. lethargie of drowsinesse dormitory of prophanesse and profession of idlenesse Your third motiue was the perfit hatred that from your innermost soul you conceiued against Puritanisme which you call the very bane of ancient Christianity For Puritanisme if there be any sparke of conscience or religious feare of God in you confesse how idely you traduce those reverend Fathers that opposed your doctrine These were no Motiues Temptations were your motiues which you obeyed by the Tēpter you were drawn to runne from God from the truth from your Country from your selfe Mr LEECH 1. Reg. 26. Therefore as Abishai out of his loue to his annointed king said vnto David Benefield with all his compeeres when he ment by one blow surely laid on to end all quarrels betwixt Saule and him let me strike him but once yea naile him to the earth with a speare seeing God hath thus closed him into thy hāds I wil strike him no more even so to apply the wordes only for I iustifie not the intēded fact of Abishai my loue vnto the king of heaven when I purposed by one other blow soundly given to end this controversie forced me to cry within any hart let me strike him but once I will strike him no more ANSVVER Your abuse of Scripture is so cōmon through out your booke that I admire it not only here 1. Sam. 26.8 in your wresting of that place of Abishais speech Let me strike him but once and naile him to the ground Impar congressus Achilli it was a very vnequall match Abishai vnworthie to strike a king and Abishag the fathers ignorāce as the word importeth vnworthy to deale with a Doctor First I marvaile you woulde offer to strike seeing S. Paule hath bounde all clergie men to the peace 1. Tim 3.2 2. Tim. 4.10 and to the good behaviour But Demas is fallen away and forgetteth S. Paule But if you would strike think you that this Paper-gun can strike downe such a worthy of Israell Caedars stir not at such blasts strong martialists fall not at such blowes Giue me leaue to catechise you in the intended fact of Abishay to kill Saule Doe not you iustifie it Take heede least you bee put out of cōmons againe Are you one of those Israelits that spake Ashdod and Hebrew Do not you iustifie that horid fact of that tragike fury who hath lately murthered that most illustrious and Victorious Prince the French King which howsoever that blood shall ever cry for vengeance being an act h Seneca in
froÌ„ robbing the Church of a Sonne the King of a Subiect and your selfe of a soule Your misapplication of that speech of God to Abraham I might dilate much vpon as hauing variety of interpretations which doe vnderstand that place of the devill the world the flesh But I come neerer to your purpose hoping that those wordes that you say God spake to you were receiued by no revelation a frequeÌ„t imposture amoÌ„g Papists filling the mouthes of many swaying the faiths of some But what is the blemish you see in your mother â—oth our Church deny the principles of ancieÌ„t Christianity Doe wee not receiue the Scriptures the Creedes and Fathers of the first 500 yeares Do we not build our Religion vpon the foundation Iesus Christ the corner stone Is the rule of our doctrine any other then Gods sacred will revealed in his word Is any iniury sustained by you for truth It is not iniury but true iustice to punish those that be stubborne in action precipitat in resolution and faulty in opinion not able to maintaine their cause but with much wresting of conscience their revolt ever attended with sedition scandall and humane respect Mr LEECH But I will pretermit good Reader here to make a speciall enumeration of my Motiues drawing me vnto my finall resolution for they will ensue orderly in the thirde last part of this Treatise Only consider with me now with what conflict of flesh bloud I could intertaine this resolution to come out of my Land from my kindred and from my Fathers howse with what griefe I could forsake a noble Vniversity the company of my kindest friends the comfort of my dearest familiars other emoluments which such a place doth actually yeeld and prepareth vnto greater ANSVVERE Your Motiues shall be answered as briefly as vrged because they be to bee scanned at a higher barre Your conflict was not with flesh and blood but you did agree with the world and the Diuell and applyed your selfe to the service of that painted but ill-favoured witch the church of Rome Neither did you forsake our Vniversity friends and familiars before they forsooke you They at length heard hated who at first obserued your folly and pittyed Mr LEECH Howbeit my Brethren since there is banishmeÌ„t indeed where no place is left for truth I esteeme al these things as dongue that I may gaine Christ for he is my sufficient reward I did not conceiue that when I preached my doctrine among you I shoulde haue giuen you such an example thereof in mine owne person But thankes be vnto him who disposeth all things sweetly for the benefit of his children Finally my brethren I wish that you may enioy your country which is aboue without forsaking that which is below But if you cannot by reason of the time theÌ„ looke vp vnto your eternity let not your excellent spirits abase themselues vnto the loue of transitory things For behold I shew you a more excellent way 1. Cor. 12.13 ANSVVER If in the world there be any sanctuary for truth it is there where shee may appeare without controll without colors or disguises Which you woulde willingly acknowledge to be true if ignorance were not the mother of your devotion To forsake all for Christ is blessed but to forsake eveÌ„ Christ himselfe it is most cursed He is a sufficient reward to all that feare follow him and will follow theÌ„ that fly from him How pervious you were to fly from your Country after you had fled from the truth your intent before and your practises since haue manifested But farre be it that God should be reputed as the disposer of you to this vnnaturall and vnchristian disobedience to the Church and State O what bitter punishment must attend that presumption that endangers a double perishing and is so far from having expresse commaund that it hath direct and iust inhibitions Your wish that we may enioy our countrey that is aboue is a wish aboue your charity We wish your admission into the heavenly Hierusalem which is aboue and would from our harts pray for your triumphant state there Luke 16.25 but that as Abraham said to Diues Remember thou in thy life time receiuedst thy pleasure and Lazarus paines therfore he is comforted and thou art tormented so we are willing to awake you with this that seeing you make your selfe of the Church triumphaÌ„t in earth you coÌ„tinuing this course are like to haue small part in the triumphant glory in heaven And while wee for our partes and stations are here wee will affect no pilgrimage but from nature to grace so to glory hoping to accompany them that are in possession of the lawrell And to this iourney we haue no other hie way 1. Kings 8.36 1. Sam. 12.23 Ier. 6.16 Ioh. 14 6. but the good way which God teacheth and the right way which Samuell describeth and the old way which Ieremy informeth al which be not as yours be Crosse waies but doe terminat in the way even Christ Iesus THE THIRD PART CONTAIning 12. Motiues which perswaded me to embrace the Catholicke Religion Briefely and naturally deriued out of the premises * ⎠* S. AVGVST In Psal contra partem Donati Scitis Catholica quid sit quid sit praecisum à vite Si qui sint inter vos cauti veniant vivant de radice THE THIRD PART CONTAINETH 12. Articles against you whereby your 12. Motiues are disproved as having not affinity with the faith of the 12 Patriarks or spirit of the 12. Prophets or doctrine of the 12. Apostles or beliefe of the 12. Articles of our Creed shewing that as Art doth imitate Nature and an ape a man so as many grounds as good Christians rely vpon for their faith Apostats boast to alleadge for their fall Wherein as in the premises the particular Apostasie is confuted condemned with much facility and breuity * ⎠* S. AVGVST In eod Psal Contra Partem Donati Ipsam formam habet sarmentuÌ„ quod praecisum est de vite Sed quid illi prodest forma si non viuit de radice Venite fratres si vult is ut inseremini in radice Dolor est cum vos videmus praecisos ita iacere Aug. de vnitate Ecclesiae cap. 2. De hoc inter nos illos quaestio versatur vtrum apud nos an apud illos vera Ecclesia sit Mr LEECH To the conscionable and Ingenious Reader THOVGH the generall motiues vnto the Catholique Religion are many and waighty yet the particular which issued out of this present businesse where such as conuinced my vnderstanding and swayed my affection to approue and embrace the same Wherefore courteous Reader aswell to procure thy good as to iustifie my selfe and to satisfie others I haue coÌ„municated them vnto thy view For matter they are the same now as when I conceiued them in the beginning for manner they are brought forth in somewhat a different shape Thus much
Biell in their distinction of faith they hold that it is either fides infusa inspirata an infused faith wrought in vs by the inlightning spirit of God and resting it selfe vpon the truth of God or else it is acquisita suasa a naturall faith grounding it selfe vpon humane authority and wrought by humane motions and persuasions The faith wee haue of the points in Scripture is of the former and better kind not relying on the testimony of the Church whose authority is but a created thing from the first verity as a Prin. fid doct lib. 8. Stapleton confesseth when as the first verity enforceth the minde without further autority to yeeld obedience As also Scripture is that b Rom. 1.16 power cōmanding that c Eph. 6.17 sword dividing that d Ier. 23.27 hammer driving in that e 2. Cor. 10. Pyoner powerfull to overthrow strong holds and to cast downe every high thing therefore onely the authority of the Scripture is to be relied vpon because our faith would reele and totter and fall if the authority of Scriptures stand not fast O then submit your selfe to the censure of Scripture whose maiestie is ineffable whose decree inevitable which rightly looked into with the eye of humility harkned vnto with the eare of attention and vnderstood with the hart of faith wil be the certaine rule authority testimony only to be relied on the piller of truth and Schoole of goodnesse Mr LEECH his Title A TRIVMPH OF TRVTH ANSVVERE A Triumph and why c Ludov. Vives in praefatio ad libros Aug. de civit Dei Honorius the Emperor had a fighting Cocke called Rome wherevpon Vives recordes that when the Goathes surprised Rome the Citty news was brought that Rome was lost the Emperour thought it was his Cocke not his Cittie Your Triumph and his Cocke may go togither d A booke in folio vpō the 4. Gospels Iohannes de la Hay the Jesuit hath lately robd you of the Title his great volume being intituled Triumphus Veritatis and surelie he had some semblance for it for his volume seemed to bee a vessell of good lading though it haue nothing in it but stubble and hay But you to giue your boate of so small burden the Title of a man of warre sure your title is too big your booke is too little It is A Triumph got by flying or a triumph got without fighting Let the Pharisee bee the Herauld of his owne praises Pigmalion enamored with his owne devises let Narcissus do ate on his shaddow let Thersites vaunt without modesty but how much better were it for you that you had styled your booke with some humble and religious title savouring of grace not of vaine-glory But alas Religion without Truth wil be ever vnsavory and reading without iudgement ever peremptory Mr LEECH CHAP. 1. INtreating of this parcell of holy scripture I sawe the dead In a sermon at Christ-Church in Oxford 1607 Apoc. 20.12 both great and small stande before God I distinguished a fowrefolde acception or signification of great and small FIRST great and small for worldly authoritie and temporall condition SECONDLY great and small in respect of heavenly supereminency of grace and spirituall infusion THIRDLY great and small in lieu of diversity of rewards and retribution FOVRTHLY great and small in regard of contrariety and disparitie of workes and operation ANSVVER A time there shall bee when the bookes of everie mans conscience shall be laide forth a day of feare and furie when an vniversall flowde of fire shall overstreame the whole world when the heavens shall threaten the earth cast vp al creatures cry vengeance devils accuse conscience giue evidence and the whole Iurie of Saints passe verdict vpon sinners and then the secrets of all harts shall be disclosed In holy Scripture this iudgement is often mentioned but of all others Hier. that glorious Eagle S. Iohn mounting the high spheare of divinest contemplation doth most expresly by his vision and revelation manifest the declaration thereof and of all other places most pregnantly in this your text Apoc. 20.12 And I saw the dead both great and small stand before God and the bookes were opened Was there no other place to confirme an vntruth but that which shall confound all vntruth no other Scripture to iustifie you but that which shall iudge you Would you sow tares vpon that ground vpon which wheate and tares shal be distinguished Remember whence you are fallen and repent and doe the first workes or else I will come against thee saith Christ Rev. 2.5 O the eternity of that cursed time Rev. 2.5 to be spēt in wretchednesse and confusion no myriads of yeeres to free from the execution of that perpetuall iudgement An end not ending a death not dying should terrifie and amase you and make you returne seeing the dead both great and smal shall stand before God But to your distinction There is a great mistake in your fourfold acception of great and small For antiquity which you so much boast of doe all expound it otherwise a Rupert in Apoc. Rupertus by mortuos magnos and pusillos vnderstanding homines impios spiritus malignos b Anselm in Apoc. 12. c Lyra in Apoc. 12. Anselmus Lyra d Hugo in Apoc. 12. Hugo the e Gloss in Apoc. 12. ordinary glosse and many others vnderstanding by the dead great and small malos only wicked men And f Carthus in eund Carthusian intimateth so much of St Austins opinion that he vnderstandeth not by mortuos magnos and pusillos the Saints but by libros apertos Carthusians words be plaine Augustinus per libros apertos intelligit Sanctos in quibus mali poterunt legere seu videre bona quae facere debuerunt neglexerunt Austin vnderstandeth by the books that were opened the Saints in whome the wicked might see and reade the good which they ought to haue done and haue neglected How then holdes your fourfold acception if by the dead you meane the living and by the wicked you meane the Saints g Caelius Rhodog lib. 20. Rhodogine recordeth that Polemo being the spectator of a Tragoedy at Smyrna a ridiculous actor comes out vpon the stage and being to pronounce O coelum ô terra bends his hands and eies to the earth and crieth ô coelum and then lifts his eies and hands to the heaven and pronounceth ô terra Polemo condemneth his action for a soloecisme It is no lesse in you to call evill good and good evill and in the Prophet it is forewarned with a woe Whose fourfold acception this should be I knowe not If your owne I am sorry for the mistake and I confesse it is the first notice that I ever tooke of your breathing in any Schoole learning and in that I shall doe you no more iniury then h Gretzer App. 1. ad lib. 1. Bellarm. § Idem dictū pag. 558. Caietanus homo
him that hath an eare heare what the spirit saith to the churches yet whosoever heareth and receiveth false doctrine willinglie receiveth and heareth his owne damnatiō And for the Catholique Church you bragge of c Lactantius lib. 4. Institutio cap. vlt. Lactantius hath given warning of such boasts singuli haereticorum coetus suam esse Ecclesiam Catholicā putant The Celestial Oracle heauenly spirit true catholique Church I say and wil confirme it by al maner of arguments they never taught that point as you seek to mainetaine it concerning Evangelicall Counsels of Perfection Mr LEECH Or I may speake with our blessed Sauiour advising exhorting counselling yea out of the whole masse of mākind inviting nay inciting some to that angelical gift of virginall chastity qui potest capere capiat hee that can aspire to the top of angelicall integrity let him become a votary of virginall Chastity ANSVVER The strangest exposition of wordes that ever I read or heard Virginall chastity the word virginall is out of tune a weake wired chastity to ascend the top of angelicall integrity Paule did not only approue but appoint Ministers and yet asketh the question 2. Cor. 2.16 Quis idoneus ad haec And though Christ not only was a virgin but did allow of virgins yet hee may pronounce this speech Qui potest capere capiat without any such inference or cōsequence You deliver no gold without drosse no place of Scripture without some wrested and impertinent glosse But in your sermon you shall receiue more satisfaction Mr LEECH This is S. Paule his sapientia inter perfectos apostolicall wisdome for men of angelicall perfection These easilie disclose and discouer the worlds foolishnes impostures when they paragon them with heavens remuneration treasures These are the salt of the earth the light of the world stars fixed in the spheare of heauen the Church militant not wandring in their motion towards heauen the Church triumphant ANSVVER The auncient writers doe not so expounde those words Al shew that the Apostle doth therein distinguish betweene the beleevers vnbeleevers as may be seene by the connexiō but more especially a Chrysost in 1. Cor. 2.6 Chrysostome thus expoūdeth perfectos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he calleth them perfect which did beleeue S. Hierome expoundeth so Theodoret so the whole currēt of expositors vnderstand a kinde of perfection in beliefe not in life Aquinas hath such a restriction that agreeth with the rest and all this sheweth that your speech is meere Pelagianisme wherin you magnifie the arme of flesh and the nature of mankinde and so seeme to approoue a perfit perfection which you do most vnperfectly It is S. b De peccat mer. remission 15. Augustines advise Cum dicitur cuiusque perfectio qua in redicatur videndū est When perfection saith he is named we must cōsider wherein it is named Perfectus est aliquis sapientiae auditor non perfectus Doctor a man may be a perfect hearer of righteousnes not a perfect doer or as some think a perfect knower why we knowe but in part 1. 1. Cor. 15. Cor. 15. Yes we knowe perfectly perfectione viae non perfectione patriae by the perfection of the way here not by the perfection of our Country hence say the Schooles Perfectione ordinis non finis saith d Iunius Iunius perfectione partium non graduum saith e Lomb. Lombard perfecti viatores non perfecti possessores saith f Aug. in Ps 38. Austin perfect travellers in righteousnes not perfect possessors and this so limited by that good Father as that hee alloweth it only pro consortio humanae societatis pro huius vitae capacitate pro statu viatoris pro huius vitae modulo only for a perfection sufficient to converse and hold society with mankind a perfection for the model capacity of this life for the state of passengers and wayfaring men and concludeth g Ad Bonif. lib. 3. Omnium in carne nostra imperfecta perfectio the perfection of all men while they are in the flesh is vnperfect Iohn Baptist had not a greater among the sonnes of womē but whosoever was least in the kingdome of God al the celestiall spirits is farre beyond him Inter natos mulierum non autem inter choros coelestium spirituum h Bern. serm 38. in Cantie saith S. Bernard among sonnes of women not amōg armies of Angels Not Iohn Baptist a Prophet nay more then a Prophet Who had for his cloathing haire for his habitation a desert for his meate wild locusts for his title the praecursor for his preaching Repentance for his ministration Baptisme the vsher and harbinger of our Saviour had not he angelicall perfection If hee that so faithfully attended his Master had it not how should you that haue fled from your Master attaine vnto it I say not * Esay 14.12 ô Lucifer how didst thou fall but O Lucifer whether wouldst thou rise Is it obedient humility to be so proud Spirituall poverty to desire to be so pompous Angelicall chastity to be so luxuriant I acknowledge that there bee some that are salt of the earth lights of the world roses in the field lillies in the vallies terrae gemmula coeli stellulae yet far from Angelicall integrity They may climb a step but not to the top of Iacobs Ladder Mr LEECH These are our best pilots amongst men their godly cōversation ought to be our holy imitation These guid by their examples the barkes of our bodies wherein the eternall treasures of our soules are caried as in earthen vessells through the perilous rockes of the seas of this world that they may ariue safely at the designed hauen of heauē when they flit from the bed of this mortall body ANSVVER Pilots they may be and yet as the i Ovid. de Trist lib. 1. Poet of his Pilot spake Rector in incerto est nec quid fugiátue petátue Denotat ambiguis ars stupet ipsa malis So I of the best they haue their slidings falls faults trances appolexies If you haue read over S. Austin you may finde the distinction betweene peccatum crimen sinne in generall which no man is freed frō and hainous notorious scandalous sinne culpable in the eies of men crying in the eares of heauen In his k Enchir. ad Laurent Enchiridion ad Laurentium he affirmeth this the life of holy men may be found though not without falt yet without an offensiue fault and more whosoever teacheth is Hereticall Beware in defending your perfect Pilots you make not shipwrack of a good conscience the mast of your faith is shaken let not the anker of your hope be broken Mr LEECH These are beacons on a hill the hill of the Church whose liues as lightes and burning lamps forewarne and so forearme vs against all invasion of any spirituall enimies These are entia transcendentia men soaring aboue the ordinary pitch of men celestiall
teneatis amici This storie might haue fitted you Mr LEECH And was not Christ himselfe Master Regius Professor of this spirituall poverty spirituall I call it because the contempt of this worlde for the hope of heaven is the worke of Gods spirit wrought within our soules Witnesse his entrance into this world when his house was a stable his cradle a cratch witnes his continuance in the worlde living meerely vpon almes ministred vnto him by certaine godly women and deuout persons Witnesse his complaint the foxes haue holes and the birds of heaven haue nests but the sonne of man hath not whereon to rest his head And was hee any richer at his departure out of this worlde when wanting a sepulcher of his owne he was enterred in an other mans tombe ANSVVER â—riâ—â— Mot. 6. It is blasphemous in k Bristow to affirme that no man is able to put difference betweene the miracles of Christ and of his Apostles and of Thomas Aquinas Bernard Bonaventure Becket Francis Dominicke others It is almost as much in you to paralel Christ Iesus blessed for ever ever with your Saints I meane not with the Fathers that were more tollerable though vnfit but that his sacred name person functioÌ„ birth life death his precepts actions passions all his conversations should be paraleld with false vtopicall Annalogicall Imaginarie statuary Saints Know and heare and feare and tremble Hee will not holde him guiltlesse that taketh his name in vaine But I wil catechise you in this point farther was that practise of poverty in Christ performed by any Evangelicall Counsaile or not If by counsaile from whom received he counsaile that was the wisdome of his father and himselfe the great a Esay 9.6 counsellor If not by Evangelicall counsaile why do you bring Christ for an example of the practise We confesse to our endlesse comfort his willing and gracious readines to become poore to make vs rich in that he borrowed a stable to be borne in a cratch to be laide in a pitcher to drinke in a parlour to sup in and a toombe to lie in but this is not to your purpose Mr LEECH Finally though he were Lorde owner of all beeing God the Lord and creator of all and the sole heire-apparaÌ„t of heaven and earth yet was he content to forsake all of rich he became poore teaching aswell opere as ore by example of liuing as manner of teaching reall practising as or all instructing first doing then teaching and all to this end vt conversatio magistri forma esset discipuli as blessed LEO speaketh that is that he might generally weane all Christians from the loue of this world but especially that he might become vnto his disciples and all Apostolicall men a perfit patterne of this spirituall poverty the maisters conversatioÌ„ being the schollers best instruction ANSVVER Every action of Christ serueth for our instruction but not every action for our imitation It were ridiculous in vs if we should presume to thinke we might b Mat. 14.15 walke on the water as he did or c Mark 8.3 endeauor to cleanse the leapers or d Mat. 9.25 to raise vp the dead or e Iohn 9.1 giue sight to the blind or f Mat. 4.1 to fast forty daies and forty nights or to goe about to liue in such hunger and thirst and want as our blessed Saviour did it is impossible we should performe them Wee haue no lawfull warrant for these more the Apostle teacheth whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne As for poverty it is no where in Scripture enioined vs. A blessing spirituall pouerty hath g Mat. 5.3 Blessed are the poore in spirit it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but for the want of temporal things it afflicteth so many that none need to affect it h Hugo de claustro animae Hugo de claustro animae sheweth how some affect a monkish pouerty that they may come to some spirituall dignity and giueth the reason Et in Ecclesia honorari volunt qui in sua domo non nisi contemptibiles esse poterant You knowe by practise among you this to bee true that among the Monks and Monkies of Rome Poverty is made the first step to ambitious vain glory masked humility the vsher to obtaine aspiring dignity The words in Leo in the end of that sermon make not for you They only shew the humility of Christ in all passages of his life and in that close exhort vs therevnto as he himself did by his own mouth learne of me to be humble and meeke Mr LEECH For Christ came not downe from heauen to earth from the bosome of the Father by his eternal generation God to the wombe of his Mother by temporall incarnation Man when he deigned to stoope downe so low nay vouchsafed exinanire seipsum to put of the garment of his Fathers and heauens glory investing his incomprehensible deity with the base ragges of finite mortality I say Christ did not performe all this only to fulfill the morall Decalogue but ouer and aboue the lawes righteousnes Se S. Basil de vera virginit hee taught that which the law wanted of the merit of perfection ANSVVER The conclusioÌ„ of this is nothing else but this Christ did more then the law required therefore there is somewhat more then is required in the law I answer he did more then the law required of him for himselfe by his passiue iustice in suffering that which was due vnto vs whereas his actiue iustice was enough to satisfie for himselfe and whereby also the law is satisfied by vs. But this argument is like Mephibosheth lame in both feet for neither did Christ all this to practise Evangelicall counsells as you inferre nor did he hereby manifest any want of perfectioÌ„ in the law as you do vrge out of Basil de vera virginitate which book is misdoubted to be his because it is one of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are fathered on Basil of which workes Eustathius one violent against Marriage was the author as i Sozom. l. 3. cap. 13.14 Sozomen witnesseth Besides the disallowing of the booke receiue this satisfaction If the booke were S. Basils and that it were his speech that Christ did adde perfection to the law it must so bee vnderstood as that he added fulfilling perfect observing to the law not thereby manifesting that the law did want perfection For if that be perfect as the Philosopher defineth it to which nothing can bee added and that God himselfe gaue that especiall command in three several places in k Deut. 4.2 5.32 12.32 Deuteronomy that nothing should be added to the law how dare you accusing the law of imperfection stand out against Gods wisdomes proclamation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is commonly translated transgression may also be interpreted outlawry 1. Ioh. 3.4 you are subiect to the sentence and punishment of
this appearance great and small subiection to this throane stand together with the iudge before whom this grande appearance is made GOD and I saw the dead both great and small stand before God Of the persons appearing summoned by Christ his imperiall power commāding and produced by Angells voluntarie ministring all creatures necessary obeying sea death and hell surrending their dead I haue already spoken as also of the extent of this appearance subiection to this throane and of the Iudge before whom this appearance is made In the extent of this appearance I noted a fourefould acception of great and small First great and small for worldly authority and temporall condition Secondly great and small in respect of heauenly supereminencie of grace and spirituall infusion Thirdly great small in consideration of diversitie of rewards and retribution Fourthly great and small in regard of disparitie yea contrariety also of woorkes and operation ANSVVER Supereminence of grace causeth a disparity of working and therefore two of your interpretations bee coincident and make but one But I vrge a farther more materiall point you grounde the argument of your sermon vpon a symbolicall interpretation Aquin. and therefore as the schooles haue noted it can proue nothing That it is a symbolical interpretation I proue because it is not the true literall sense that it is not the true literal I proue because the literall sense is but one as Aquinas teacheth sensus literalis est Aq. prim primae q. 1. art 10. quem autor intendit that which the author intendeth and therefore your text cannot literally bee interpreted so many waies and so consequently your acception of it in the last sense great and small in regard of disparity yea contrariety also of workes operation cā be the groūd of no argument because it is not the proper sense of the letter of your Text. The rule of the schoolemen is Multiplicitas sensuum in vna Scriptura Aq. 1a 1ae q. 1 art 10. Aug 48. cp ad Vincentiū parit confusionem deceptionem tollit arguendi firmitatem secundum hoc aliquae fallaciae assignantur And S. Austin in his 48 Epistle ad Vincentium doth worthily tax the Donatists for grounding arguments vpon mysticall senses of Scriptures De verbo Dei lib. 3. cap. 3. which Bellarmin acknowledgeth and expresly deliuereth ex solo literali sensu peti debere argumenta efficacia concludeth that oftentimes it cannot be proued that mysticall senses be the meaning of the holy Ghost Aust Carthus Lyra. Hugo Gloss So that my exceptions against this part be cheefly these two first that the ancient interpreters as before is proued doe vnderstand the Text otherwise then you interpret it secondly that the symbolicall acception of great and small if it were truly expounded cannot be the groūd of any effectuall argument to found any point of doctrine and beleefe but rather a vse allusion or application Mr LEECH And from this last signification arose that foure-folde distinction of S. Gregorie quidam non judicantur pereunt quidam judicantur pereunt quidam iudicantur regnant quidam non judicantur regnāt That is as another ancient writer commenting vpon my text fitly rendereth it some are not iudged but condemned already perishing without further iudgement some are to be iudged and condemned perishing by iudgement some are to be iudged saved saved by iudgement some are iudged saved already saved without iudgement ANSVVER Distinctions in divinity are like fomentations in Physicke Cor. Celsus the one to be applyed in dissolving tumors the other in resolving doubts In all diseases to let bloode saith Celsus it is a strange fashion and in every occasion to vse a distinction it is meanes to dul the text darken the cause but then especially when besides the sound constitution of the distinction you inferre an vnsound addition and conclusion following in the sequell of the sermon Mr LEECH The first rancke are such whose damnation sleepeth not Ioh. 3.18 but is already certaine Qui non credit in filio Dei IAM judicatus est hee that beleeveth not in the son of God is already condemned being thereto ordained predestinated ad poenam non ad culpam ad supplicium non ad peccatum ad mortem animae non impietatis primam sed ad mortem animae damnationis secundam as that mellifluous Father Fulgentius speaketh De praedestinatione ad Monimum that is to penalty not to iniquity to the wages of sin not to the guilt of sin not to the first death of the soule that is transgressiō but to the second death of the soule to wit certaine damnation For their sinnes being lowde crying sinnes cry with Sodome in the eares of heaven are open before hand and go before them vnto iudgement ANSVVER S. Augustin teacheth Opera non praecedunt Iustificādum sed sequuntur Iustificatum And as that is true in salvation so this is true in damnation peccata sequūtur reprobationem praecedunt damnationem Aug. Polan partit lib. 2. p. 356. Sinnes do follow reprobation in him that is to be damned but sinnes do not predestinate him to this reprobation the rule of Schooles being this voluntas Dei reprobat peccatum dānat the hidden inscrutable iudgement of God doth determine mans reprobatiō but his sins do cause the execution of damnation And so the words of Fulgētius which you haue by fragments taken out of the place cited are to be vnderstoode Though God hath ordained some ad poenam non ad culpam yet hee hath so appointed them ad poenam propter culpam Exod. 33.19 For it standeth not with Gods iustice to condemne anie one without offending though he will shew mercy Rom. 9.15 vpon whom he will shew mercy We are al in his hands as the clay in the Potters If he ordaine one to honor Rom. 9.20 another to dishonor who can say Why haste thou made me thus I intende not a litigious discourse about words that may be well construed but I attend your progresse Mr LEECH The seconde sorte are such whose damnation is yet vncertaine for admit that they be now in the state of damnation yet let them turne from their sins God will turne frō his wrath he offereth them heaven and threatneth them hell he setteth life and death good evill before thē let them reach out their hand and choose whether they will ANSVVER Your second braunch of the distinction concludeth these to be iudged and perish and according to Gregory iudicantur pereunt how then is their damnation vncertaine If this be not a Soloecisme what is They are iudged there is certitudo reprobationis they perish there is certitudo condemnationis Their condemnation sealed and delivered an vnmoueable stone of heavy vengeance lying vpō the mouth of hell that they shall never come forth Iob. 14.14 yet the damnatiō of these to
but we are sure certitudine fidei by the certainety of faith that not a dead temporall historical miraculous faith but by a true liuely quickning iustifying faith Lastly your distinction seemeth very strange which saith a man cannot be certaine of his salvation Certitudine rei yet he may Certitudine Dei I had thought that Certitudo rei and Certitudo Dei had beene the same Because God iudgeth not as wee misconceiue but as the thing is Mr LEECH These though they stand 1. Cor. 10.12 yet must they take heed least they fall For these are but yet in via not in patria vpon the seas of this world floating not in the haven of heaven raigning Begin they in the spirit Yet they must not end in the flesh or be made perfit by the flesh For they are yet in certamine not in triumpho warfaring on earth encompassed with theeues and pirats the world flesh and devill on all sides assaulting them not triumphing in heaven environed and garded with legions of Angels armies of the spirits of iust and perfit men ANSVVER The words of S. Paule do not serue to proue anie vncertainty in the faith of the Saints 1. Cor. 10.12 any hesitation or doubting concerning their salvatioÌ„ but those the like words Be not high minded but feare are inculcated rather ad supprimendam praesumptionem non ad imprimendam dubitationem A filiall feare is the character of the childe of God a feare of offending nor of finall falling for he knoweth that to be true Quos amor verus tenuit tenebit Howsoever there may be this feare in faith as that a Christian bee in his faith as Christ in his fight in agony passion sweat and blood yet he resisteth vnto blood yea vnto hell for the gates of hel cannot prevaile against him Mr LEECH These must remember remembring tremble at that fearefull distriction terrible commination so often reiterated direfully threatned by the prophet If the righteous turne away from his righteousnes commits iniquity and doe according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth shall hee liue saith the Lord God of hoasts All his righteousnes that hee hath done shal not be mentioned but in his traÌ„sgression that he hath committed and in his sinne that he hath sinned in them shall hee die And the same reason is excellently rendred by the Apostle Hebr. 6.4.5.6 For it is impossible that they which were once enlightened and haue tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the holy Ghost and haue tasted of the good word of God of the powers of the worlde to come if they fall away should be renued by repentaÌ„ce seeing they crucifie againe to themselues the sonne of God and make a mocke of him ANSVVERE The infernal furies distrust feare horror do keep the soules of the wicked continually in alarum but these bee strangers yea enemies to the Godly they know how to temper their feare with ioy to cast sweet wood into the bitter waters to cast anker in the Tempestuous stormes of distrust knowing that they cannot fall finally and totally from God And howsoever the frequent mentions of these the like Scriptures are very necessary yet neither of these do proue that the true and faithfull Saints doe fall for the place in Ezekiell is as Danaeus answereth Bellarmine to bee interpreted only of those that are iust in their owne eies not of those truely iust before God They doe not hereby proue that ever the truely righteous haue fallen finally but in such sort that they may rise againe and so you grant in your former distinction that they are certaine certitudine Dei and is not that sufficient assurance for the conscience to build vpon The place out of the Hebrews is very obscure and one of those places that S. Peter spake of 2. Petri 3.16 that in S. Pauls Epistles there were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 places harde to bee vnderstood which vnstable and vnlearned men pervert as they do other Scriptures to their owne damnation Novatus who lived about the yeere 253. abused this place to proue that it was impossible for those that had once falleÌ„ after Baptisme to be renu'd by repeÌ„taÌ„ce Your Doctrine seemeth to be neighbour to his error Chrysost Epiphanius Athanasius Ambrose Austin do interpret it against RebaptizatioÌ„ that such as fall should not be renued againe with another Baptisme But others interpret S. Paule by himselfe Heb. 10.26 in the 10. Chap. ver 26. that he vnderstandeth those only Paraeus in Heb. not that fall in part as David into adultery nor wholly of infirmity as Peter in his Abnegation but wholly finally and malitiously as Iulian and Porphiry did because they spite the spirit of God and count the blood of the Testament an vnholie thing Others may fall and rise againe as I trust you wil. And for the obiections against our certainety of salvation I briefly answere them thus If you obiect Saul to haue fallen finally we acknowledge it but we deny him to haue beene endowed with the spirite of grace he had only spirituÌ„ consilij dominationis not gratiae regenerationis If you obiect Iudas fall you caÌ„not proue that ever he had the true iustifying faith hee had gratiam gratis datam not gratiam facientem gratum If you vrge the reiectioÌ„ of the Iewes the Oliue branches we answer that these branches were grafted in only quoad externam visibilem Ecclesia faciem not quoad internam invisibilem gratiam according to that of Christ Every plant which my fathers right haÌ„d hath not planted shall be rooted out If lastly you vrdge Moyses Paul for I know you wil disturbe not only Prophets Apostles but even Saints Angels nay and Lucifer from hell concerning whom this answer is sufficient Stella cadens noÌ„ est stella cometa fuit For Moyses Paule when they did wish that their names might be rased out of the booke of life they did it rather out of an ardent forcible zeale Zâ—nch Danaeus theÌ„ out of a possible act non propriè verè sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if it coulde haue beene which was not possible to be done herein expressing their care and loue and zeale of the salvation of their brethren But absolutely it is the most certaine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that can be that any true servant of God should finally fall from grace the promise of the Father is I wil put my feare into their hearts Luk. 22.32 they shall not depart from me and the praier of the Son is for Peter and in him for all faithfull I haue praied that thy faith faile not Faith may sometimes be seene Orient in her full heate and lustre sometimes in the occident Sometimes it is in the flowre sometimes privat in the roote sometimes in the flame sometimes in the sparke but as that stone in Pliny once made
hot never looseth its heate so faith is never deade dryed or extinguished If faith take fire from Gods altar it is like the fire in the Temple on the altar never goeth out Men Angels Divels cannot extinguish it It is as mount Syon that shall never be removed Flac. Illir coÌ„tra relig pp. Catharinus thought so and mainetained it against Dominicus Soto in the Councell of Trent of which CouÌ„cell they that were the Presidents did protest they did not think the question to be sufficiently discussed and therefore the decision thereof was deferred two severall times And Antonius Marinarius doth exquisitly speake herein If heaven fall if the earth vanish Dominic Quad. 4. if the whole worlde ran headlong I will looke to the goodnes of God and as he addeth if an Angell from heaveÌ„ shall labour to perswade me against the certainety of my salvation I will say Anathema to him So against such wee will shut vp the bowels of charity and as far as the power of the keyes is given vnto vs the gates of everlasting life Mr LEECH The last sort are such whose salvation is already certaine and these differ from the other quoad graduÌ„ gradum in via perfectionis gradum in patria retributionis 1. Cor. 15.41 For if stella à stella differt gloria the Apostle applyeth it to the bodily resurrection that is if there be degrees of exaltation in the kingdome of glory of necessity by force of inevitable consequence it must follow that there be degrees of Christian perfectioÌ„ in the kingdome of grace the one being a retribution of the other heauens remuneration awarded according to Christian perfection practised ANSVVER This is your part of the division that divided you from your part among vs vpon this all your paper building consisteth vpon this Champion ground you marshall your munition here be the sluces of your invasion this is the squadron you encounter vs with But in this Paragraph three things are to bee reproued The first your misinterpreting of the place of the Apostle S. Paul There be Interpreters that proue that that speech and the collation thereof is onely inter corpus depositum corpus restitutum it is not a comparison betweene the elect in glory but between a glorified and a corruptible body Pet. Martyr class 3. c. 17. § 8. Paraeus Com. in 1. Cor. 15. to manifest resurrection Secondly your disiointed consequence is to bee reproued stella à stella differt gloria ergo there bee divers degrees of exaltation in the kingdome of glory according to Christian perfectioÌ„ practised in this life Aristotle 2. Post c. 15. 4. Top. c. 3. 6. Top. c. 2. 7. Top. c. 2. in many places of the Organon giueth caveats against arguing from Metaphors figuratiue speeches and therefore your foundation is faulty in Logick but much more in the law Thirdly though we deny not but that there be degrees of holy life in the kingdome of grace yet the reason is not good that therefore there be degrees of perfection in this life because degrees of exaltation in the life to come in as much as these degrees of exaltation depend not on that proportion you imagine which is betweene the worke and reward but on the grace and fauor of God who bestoweth liberally I am not ignoraÌ„t that Ierom is fierce against Iovinian for maintaining an equality of glory S. Austin ioineth with Ierome Mr Calvin with both and Peter Martyr acknowledgeth Aug. Ench. c. 3. epist 146. that all the Fathers beleeue it Yet this was never vrged or held that it deserved the name of an inevitable consequence but rather of a probable opinion Mr LEECH These ioin with their faith vertue 2. Pet. 1.5.6.7.10 with vertue knowledge with knowledge temperance with teÌ„perance patience with patience godlines with godlines brotherly kindnes with brotherly kindnes loue the very boÌ„d of perfection nay plÃroma tou nomou the fulfilling of the law and doing these things they can never fall These giue all diligence to make their calling and election sure by faith by workes by precepts by Counsells These are terrestres Angeli coelestes homines earthly Angells heauenly men their names are written in heauen and themselues registred and inrolled in the booke of life and of the Lambe These I remember well I stiled entia transcendentia men soaring with the wings of faith and workes aboue the ordinary pitch of men etiam praecepta legis perfectiori virtute transcendentes transcending surmounting the precepts of the law by Evangelicall Counsells of greater perfection so speaketh S. Gregory in the place about cited ANSVVER So speaketh not S. Gregory you insert the words Evangelicall Counsells in place aboue cited It is the most absolute distinction of generall and speciall precepts that can be vrged Praecepta generaliter specialis iussio perfectiorib ' imperatur praecepta â—â—â—cialia but no word of counsells mentioned Foure especiall notes be there for to guid any man that runneth not astray through the wildernesse of his will to the true knowledge of the difference of that divisioÌ„ Your very paper is a writ against you for you cannot out of Gregory cite the worde Counsaile As for the fulfilling of the law it can be in this life but only ex parte non ex toto as is taught in the third of the Sentences 3. Sent. dis 17. the 17 distinction and as Calvin and Bucan worthily teach the best of Gods servants haue peccatum domitum Greg. 4. mor. cap. 24. Manuscripts in the publike Library of Oxford wherein are found many 1000 differences in the works of Gregory and many a hundred contradictions to the now extant Roman Coppie as will shortly appeare non dominum sinne doth remaine in them though it doth not raigne in them S. Gregory doth elegantly proue this Chananaeus populus non occisus sed factus tributarius meaning hereby that the Saints here as long as they liue in the world haue the flesh to vex them and the Angell of Sathan to buffet them And for that fragment out of Gregory perfectiori virtute transcendentes or perfectionum virtute as some copies or perfectionis virtute I say none can so transcend as you interpret some meÌ„ may transcend other men but yet not transcend the law or they may vnproperly bee said to transcend the precepts that is the ordinary and customary obseruing of the precepts they may transcend in seeking to keep them in a more holy maner then others that be not so well enabled by gifts but yet they doe not surmount the precepts of the law nor pitch beyond the Commandements If you pitch beyond that pitch he that toucheth your pitch will be defiled with it The Poets observation may warne you Deus immortalis haberi Dum cupit Empedocles ardentem firgidus Etnam Insiluit Hor. Art Poet Mr LEECH For explanation of which sentence of that good Father and great pillar of the