after his wordes set dowen in the section last before in which he speaketh neither of the deserts of the liuing nor of the deade able to answere his iustice for other but altogether of the mercie of god which taketh occasion euen of his loue which he beareth towards his Saints that are departed to shew compassion vpon them that are aliue this for his couenants sake although Chrysostome seemeth to speake of the intercession of them that are departed which yet prooueth no merit or satisfaction For to become an humble suter for a benefit or a pardon is not to deserue a benefit or to satisfie for an offenders trespace And this benefit he giueth saieth Saint Cyrill vpon this text vnto the memorie of holie men that sometime he forgetteth the euills which their posteritie haue committed To the like effect speaketh Saint Hierome that which God giueth of his mercie is no merit or satisfaction to his iustice ALLEN And suerlie if in the daies of olde where neither so much grace nor mercie was to be found nor Christ which is the fountaine of all pardon was not yet offered vp to paie the debtes of his brethren sinnes nor the communion of Saint was yet so fullie established whereby the merits of one might redound to an other nor the Church so honoured with the gift of Gods spirite for remission of mans offences nor the priesthood of God so credited with the keies of the kingdome if afore all these things were no otherwise wrought but in base figurse such waies were found out and that by Gods owne procurement of mercie and grace in the midest of intoyned penance and punishment what neede we to doubt but their now be many meanes made in this happie societie of Saints so to remit the bond of satisfaction to some that Gods iustice maie be answered againe by other of this happie household in the aboundance of their holy workes which the Church holdeth moste holilie for to be a perfect and euerlasting treasure to satisfie Gods righteousnes and procure mercie to the needie which by loue zeale deuotion do deserue the same If God remitted of olde temporall paine vnto his people at the call of Moses and Aaron and for his childe Dauids sake that was dead what will not he mercifullie forgiue by our high priests procurements whose pardons and punishments Christ hath solemnlie promised he woulde ratifie and allowe in heauen aboue What will he not do in respect of the paines and aboundant passions of his own childe Iesus that hath yet in the Catholike Church his death so duely represented for the remission of our daily debts what can be denied to the intercession of so manie Saints to the chast combate of so manie Virgins to the bloodie fight of so manie Martyrs to the stout standing of so manie Confessours what mercie maie not the Church craue and doubtles obteine for anie of ber children either in penance ' in this world or in paine in the next that hath in her treasure such abundance of satisfaction first in our head Christ Iesus through whose gratious workes all other mens paines are become beneficiall either to themselues or their bretheren and then in the store of al holy saints trauilles not yet wasted in procuring mercie for others besides moe waies of grace and remission that our mother the Church hath in readines to relieue her children that doe continue in her happie lappe and in the societie of her communion with humble submission of themselues to the powers ordeined of Christ for the gouernment of their soules with request for this pardon at their handes to whome be giuen the bestowing and disposing of the inestimable treasure of so blessed a ministerie FVLKE The grace and mercie of God in Iesus Christ was as largelie to be found for the saluation of his people in the daies of olde as in these daies Iesus Christ was yesterdaie and to daie is the same and for euermore And the Lambe was slaine from the beginning of the worlde as touching the effect of his death vnto all Gods elect and the communion of the Saints was as fullie established to the receiuing of al vertue of life from Christ their heade and to the mutuall seruice of loue and ministring of gods gifts one to another but not to merite at all either for themselues or for other Such meriting is dishonorable to the heade from whome euerie member receaueth life and all power and offices thereof ac cording to the measure of euerie member to the encrease and building vp of the wholl bodie in loue The Church of olde had also the ministerie of remission of sinnes and the keies of the kingdome of heauen and that not in base figures onelie but insufficient effect to the euerlasting saluation of Gods people And therefore to saie that all these things were none otherwise wrought but in base figures is to denie the saluation of all the fathers that died before the incarnation of Christ. For base figures could haue but base effectes base figures could not worke eternall life The ministerie figures of the law separated from Christ are in deede the weake and beg gerlie elements of the worlde but beeing referred to Christ and made effectuall by his death through faith in the partakers they are of the same power and riches vnto euerlasting saluation that the ministerie and sacraments of the new Testament But admit that nothing was wrought to them but in base figures yet it followeth not that after the incarnation and actuall death of Christ there should be any more meanes to remit the bond of satisfaction by answering Gods iustice then in that onelie sacrifice obedience and suffring of Christ or that the Church should haue such a store house of mans merites to satisfie Gods righteousnes or that men by loue zeale and deuotion may deserue Gods mercie these popish positions can neuer be prooued Againe whatsoeuer God remitted at the praier of Moses and Aaron and for his couenant made with Dauid or whatsoeuer he gaue to the memorie of that holie man he remitted and gaue for Iesus Christs sake in whome onelie his iustice was satisfied and he well pleased But your high priest with his Antichristian pardons and punishments which are grounded vpon the merites of men or coloured with the merites of Christ which yet are rent and rorne from the effect of his death Christ will destroy with the breath of his mouth and abolish with his glorious appearing For the death and passion of his sonne Iesus Christ God wil be merciful to his seruants that by faith take holde of the power of his death but neither by masses nor pardons doth he bestow the vertue thereof The good workes and sufferings of the saintes be examples of vertue and patience not merits or gifts of righteousnes The death of Christ answering Gods iustice and reconciling vs to his fauour hath made that good workes of his saintes which are the giftes of his grace
of them The example of Aarons intercession as he was the high priest shewed the effect of Christes priesthood of whome he was a figure whose perfect sacrifice represented in the incense was a sweete sauour of reconciliation vnto God for the preseruation not onelie of the Israelites but of all Gods elect both from temporall and eternall destruction This example of Aarons incense therefore is as farre differing from the Popes pardons as Aarons office differeth from Antichristes presumption ALLEN But it were to long to make rehersall of all such punishments as God hath afflicted his people with all for sinne and yet hath beene either wholie put of or much thereof abated by these priestes euen of the olde lawe when they had no warrant promise nor commission in sacrament or otherwise either to binde or loose as by iurisdiction or anie otherwise but by their praiers where ours of the newe law and testament haue expresselie receiued a full power and commission concerning the same Therefore now in the new lawe and in the daies of grace where mercie and iudgement be met together truth and peace be ioyned we shall finde expresse examples of iustice and iudgement on the one side and grace and mercie on the other not onelie in the gouernment of Popes and Bishops but in Christes owne regiment and his holie Apostles from whome to our priestes all this power prooceedeth In them then of whome heresie and falshoode doe stande in awe let vs see whether anie examples maie be found of pardoning the paine due for sinne The seuen deuils possession of one womans bodie was no small punishment for sinne yet when it pleased Christ he both forgaue her the sin discharged her of that horrible punishment for the same she had a graund pardon a plenarie Indulgence because she loued much Yea a woman thae had committed adulterie and therefore by the law subiect to death was pardoned by Christ not onelie of her sinne and damnation but of that penaltie which by Gods law shee was subiect vnto for the same sin wherby he declared that he had full power not onelie to remit sinnes but also to giue pardon for any temporall punishment prouided by law for sinne Where are they woman that doe accuse thee quoth Christ Here is none here said she Lord. If none haue condemned thee goe thy waie therefore and sinne no more And this is the 8. of Saint Iohns Gospell FVLKE Yf the Priests of the old law had no warrant promise or commission to binde or loose any waie but by their praiers for as much as the dutie of praier is not proper to priests but common to al faithfull persons you can prooue no shadow of the power of Priests in releasing Gods punishment by their putting of or abating such punishment by praier onelie Although you saie vntrulie that they had no warrant of binding and loosing in sacrament or otherwise For they had power and commission to separate the cleane from the vncleane to exclude from the participation of the Sacraments and sacrifices to cast out of the sinagogue and to receiue againe But thereof I will not dispute at this time That is a greater matter you speake of that Christ himselfe gaue a pardon Who doubreth but that Christ had fullnes of power to pardon according to his diuine pleasure Yf the Pope may doe whatsoeuer Christ did let him caste out Deuills clense the Lepers raise the deade yea let him make another worlde But where you saie that the adulteres Iohn 8. was pardoned by Christ of the temporall penaltie that shee was subiect vnto by Gods law for her sinne that was stoning to death you speake beside the Gospell for there is no one worde to prooue it but rather Christ sheweth that he had not to do with ciuil punishments as when he refused to deuide the inheritance betweene the brethren and discouereth the hypocrisie of the Pharisies who when they had no authoritie to execute any offendour by death beeing restreined by the Romane lawes and power come to tempt him that either he should giue sentence of her against the law of God or ells seeme cruel in pronouncing sentence of death against her whose life the ciuill authoritie did spare What is here like the Popes pardons or what hath any pardon of Christ like to the Popes pardons ALLEN Which example I alledge the rather because Saint Augustine noreth it as a strange power and iurisdiction that should remit the punishment enioyned by the law it selfe for a publike crime where the person was taken with the manner Yea he applieth it to the Priests and Bishops and prooueth that it becommeth them at the lest to make intercession to the temporall officers by occasion for the release of offendours even where they be subiect vnto the appointed punishment of the lawes Wherein he saith that though they cannot by their authoritie commaund their release yet that it behoueth the Ciuill Magistrates to release the paine where they doe make request For which cause Macedonius a Magistrate had challenged Saint Augustine or rather asked him the question why Bishops did so much intermedle in the temporall iudgement for procuring pardon to offendours in so much that they would not take it well if they obtained not the remission of the parties punishment for whome they made intercession To whome Saint Augustine answereth trimelie and largelie where amongest other things he saith Ipse Dommus intercessit ne lapidaretur adultera eo modo nobis commendautt intercessionis officium Our Lord himselfe made intercession for the woman taken in adultery by that fact commended vnto vs the office of intercession And Saint Augustine excommunicated Countie Bonifacius that he tooke from the Church an offendour and put him to execution when he came to the Church for mercy pardon So prone hath Gods Church euer beene to remit the paine for sinne deserued not onelie where she had full authoritie to pardon at her pleasure but euen there where it could not otherwise be had but by intercession to other men who had to doe therewith FVLKE You quote Saint Augustines epist. 54 ad Macedonium as though he should note it a strange power and iurisction that should remit the punishment inioyned by the law it selfe for a publike crime But there is no such note of any such strange power and iurisdiction in all that Epistle In deede he supposeth that this dutie of intercession for offendours is commended to the Ecclesiasticall persons by this example and that Magistrates are to be mooued with pitie to pardon offenders at their request But he speaketh not of any power or iurisdiction in this intercession but of humble petition Our Lord him selfe saith he was a meane among men that the adulteres should not be stoned and by that means commended to vs the duetie of intercession sauing that he did it by terrifying that we do by petition For he was the Lord and we are
fert misericordiam saith Saint Chrysostome We haue a meeke master he onelie taketh occasion and sireight he sheweth himselfe whollie to be giuen to mercie He appointeth to punish that they maie see what of iustice their sinne requireth yet he seeketh meanes himselfe that their high priestes and guides maie turne awaie the iniovned plague that they maie learne said the saide holie Doctor that they had their pardon not of their owne merites or deseruings but by Moses Patronage and praiers That you maie see thereby how one member relieueth through Gods mercie his sellowe member that lacked Whereby there appeareth both exceeding iustice much more mercie All his waies truelie be mercie and iudgement to such as loue his testimonies FVLKE Men must needs maruell at yourimpudencie that will defend a necessitie of temporall paine to be suffered by the partie whose sinnes are remitted for satisfying of Gods iustice and yet will haue the same be released without the parties suffering and Gods iustice be answered without the paine of the soule that offended For otherwise the passion of Christ we know is sufficient and effectuall to take awaie all paine because Gods iustice is throughlie satisfied by him You graunt it sufficient and denie it to be effectuall because Gods iustice requireth temporal paine of the partie that offended as well as satisfaction for the sinne ' and eternall paine thereby deserued which hereticall assertion cannot stand with anie pardon or satisfaction by an other how soeuer you goe about the bush in words and shewe of setting forth Gods mercie to reconcile them Neither doth inioyning of ponance by the auncient Church nor Gods owne temporall scourges in this life prooue anie necessitie of suffering for satisfaction of Gods iustice vnsatisfied by the passion of Christ. The temporall scourges after this life you must first prooue that there be such before you can conclude any thing by such Neither hath God a thousand waies to seeke to satisfie him-selfe with his sonnes paines but the onelie mediation and propitiation of his sonne is the waie to satissie his iustice sor sin Neither requireth he the trauell of any man other then the externall ministerie of the Church to applie the paines of his sonne vnto the benefit of sinners which ministerie consisteth in preaching his worde deliuerie of his sacraments and exercising of discipline not in meriting and making satisfaction for sin or in deseruing that Christ satisfaction should be auaileable to take awaie sinne or any paine due sor the same That God hath often giuen mercie and grace at Moses and Aarons request it prooueth not his iustice to be satisfied by Moses or Aarons workes but onelie by Christ in whome all praiers of the saints are effectual or to obtaine mercie either for them selues or for others And when he stirreth vp the iust to stand betwixt him and the people when he should punish he setteth not mans iustice or merites betweene his iustice and the offenders but prouoketh them to seeke mercie and forgiuenes for Iesus Christes sake the onelie Mediator of God and man And that is the meaning of Chrysostome whose wordes you cite and translate at your pleasure but thus they are hom de penit confess Mansuetum habemus dominum solùm occasionem arripere vult mox omnem praese fert misericordiam Nam ne peccantes inulti manentes nos efficeremur deteriores non remisit nobis supplicium sed vidit hoc manifestè quòd peccatis ipsis non minus damnosum sit non puniri propter hoc imponit poenam non exigens supplicium de peccatis sed ad futura nos corrigent Et vt discas quod hoc sit verum audi quid dicatad Mosem dimite me iratus delebeos dimitte me non quod Moseseum retinuerit neque enim loquutus erat ad eum sed silenter astabat sua pro illis oratione non autem supplicacionem ei dare vo lebat quonamilli digna suppliciis comiserant suppliciisque ineuitabilibus punire autem volebat sed miserecorditer quod eos segniores reddebat Viraque autem fecit vs paenam non inferres neque illos faceret ignauiores paena non irrogata Discebant n. quod non sue merito sed Mosis patrocinio iram dominicam effugerint We hau a gentle Lord he onelie wil take an occasion and streight he sheweth forth al mercie For lest we sinning and abiding vnpunisbed should be made worscr he hath not remitted the punishment vnto vs but this he saw manifestlie that it is no lesse hurtful then the sinnes themselues not to be punished for this cause he layeth on vs a paine not exacting punishment for sinnes but correcting vs for the time to come And that thou maiest learne that this is true heare what he saith to Moses Let me alone and in mine anger I will destroie them Let me alone saith he not that Moses did holde him for he had not spoken vnto him But stoode with silence in his praier for them But he would giue him no supplication because they had committed things worthie of punishment and of punishmēt vnauoydeable He meaned to punish but mercifully which made thē more slouthful But these two things he did both that he should not lay punishmēt on them nor make thē more slouth ful because punishmēt was not taken For they learned that not by their own merit but by patronage of Moses they escaped the Lords anger These words of S. Chrysostom do manifestlie declare that the temporall punishment that God laieth vpon his people are not satisfactions of his iustice but corrections of his mercie The patronage of Moses in this place signifieth not the merits of Moses but his praiers and intreatie made for them which are heard for Christes sake and not for the worthines of him that praieth For no man hath accesse to God but onelie in the worthines and merits of Iesus Christ in whome God hath set forth his wonderfull glorie of mercie iustice to the eternall saluation of all his saints which loue his testimonies and vnto whom al his waies are mertie and truth as the Prophet saith Psal. 25. 10. ALLEN And it fareth with our Lord God as it doth with a wise and discreete master towards his seruants or with a father towards his louing children for they will often shew themselues to be rigorous bent to chastice the faults of their seruaunts children and yet themselues of their owne accord will often procure some other to hinder their intended punishments and to take from them as it were by force their children or other offenders euen so standeth it betweene God the children of his chosen Church who though he often iustly shew himselfe angrie and bent to correction neuer the lesse he doth not onelie mercifully remit but procureth him selfe other either patrons or intercessours for whose sakes he maie iustlie by good reason remit After manie threatninges of the citie and people of
peece of Gods worde and traditions are an other peece and this peece must be added to that or els it is not a perfect or sufficient instruction of itselfe for Gods Church The comparison you make of ioyning S. Lukes Gospell to that of Saint Matthew or Saint Paules epistles to them both to resemble your patching of traditions to the written word of God is both odious and vnlike and without begging the wholl matter in question gaineth nothing For the adding of the writings of one Euangelist to another or of an Apostle to the Euangelistes is but the heaping of heauenlie treasure to the further inriching of the Church in all light of spirituall knowledge so the accession of the bookes of the new testament is as it were the vnfolding or laying open of the same diuine riches that was perfectlie contayned in the olde testament for the saluation of all Gods elect that liued vnder that discipline But your traditions as you maintaine them argue an insufficiencie of the holie scriptures which allso you confesse your selfe and are not a more plaine or plentifull application of the mysteries comprehended in them Therefore though you can for manners sake otherwhile forbeare odious speeches aginst the dignitie of holie scriptures yet euen that odious conclusion gathered by Gotuisus must needes follow of your doctrine concerning the insufficiencie of scriptures and the necessitie of traditions That your traditions are Gods word and of equall authoritie with the scriptures you promise to shew more largelie in the twelft article together with certaine meanes how to know and discerne the same Sed haec in dicm minitave Parmeno You haue taken a pretie pause of three yeares long since you were interrupted as you 〈◊〉 in the end by a writte de remouendo But the daie will come that shall paie for all Whether anie cause or matter hath beene ministred by you of odious speeches against the dignitie of holie scriptures Mastet Charke declareth by one example out of Hosius which with all the rest that he saith you omit to answer as trifling speech to litle purpose So whatsoeuer by anie colour of reason you can not auoid by your censorious authoritie you maie contemne and passe ouer But his conclusion seemeth worthie the answer which he maketh in these wordes To conclude it is a great iniquitie to adde traditions or your vnwritten verities to the written word of God whereunto no man maie adde because nothing is wanting from which no man maie take because nothing is superfluous But to him that addeth shall the curses written in the booke be added for euer Against this conclusiō you note in the margent great iniquitie to adde one veritie to another or to beleeue two verities together A fine ieste but a grosse begging of the wholl cause For who shal graunt that your vnwritten vereties be truth and not falsehood falselie by you termed verities vnwritten There is no veritie of matters necessarie to be knowne vnto saluation which is not written in the holie scriptures that are hable to make vs wise vnto saluation But good Lord what a sturre you keepe because M. Chatk noteth in the margent Apoc. 22. ask how this place is alledged against you c. As though that which is true of one booke yea of euery booke of the scripture maie not iustlie be verefied of the wholl bodie and boke of the the Bible Because adding to the word of god argueth imperfection in the word of god Your stale obiection of Saint Iohns Gospell written after the Reuelation is alreadie answered For al bookes of scripture that haue beene written since the fiue bookes of Moses are no addition to the word of God but a more cleere explication of the 〈◊〉 first com mitted to writing by inspiration of God Neither do they teach an other waie of saluation then Moses did but set forth the same more plainlie by demonstration by examples of Gods iustice and his mercie by threatenings by exhortations by explication of his promises by shewing the accomplishment and the manner of perfourmance of them in Christ and his Church And this they do moste absolutelie sufficiently and plentifully to the saluation of Gods people These things saith S. Iohn are written that you should beleeue that Iesus is Christ the sonne of God and that beleeuing you maie haue euerlasting life in his name Here you maie as well cauill that not onelie the Gospell of Saint Iohn or the miracles written in the same is necessarie to be beleeued vnto saluation but all the rest of the scripture also foolishlie opposing thinges that are no waie repugnant but the one including the other For the beleeuing of Saint Iohns Gospell doth not exclude but include all other bookes and partes of holie scripture which teach the same meane of saluation or any thing thereto pertaining But how holdeth this argument saie you no man maie adde to the booke of Apocalips ergo no man maie beleeue a tradition of Christ or his Apostles Maie we not as well saie ergo we maie not beleeue the actes of the Apostles No sir for we make our argument in this man ner No man maie adde to the booke of the Apocalips much lesse may anie man adde to the wholl Bible of the olde and new testament And consequentlie there are no traditions of Christ and his Apostles to be credited as needefull to saluation which are not contained in the holy scriptures Thus we alledge scriptures and thus we argue vppon them not as it pleaseth you to deseant vpon our allegations and to dissigure our arguments But it is lamentable you saie to see the 〈◊〉 dealings of these men in matters of such importance It is verie true vnderstanding you and your complices to be the men that vse such fleightes in 〈◊〉 waightie causes As for our doctrine is plaine without any seame that the scriptures are sufficient to saluation therfore al tradition besides them are 〈◊〉 to that purpose But let vs see who 〈◊〉 sleightes by your iudgement First you aske Master Charke what he 〈◊〉 by adding Who doth adde Or in what sense as though his meaning and sense of adding were not manifest as also his accusation that the I suites the Papistes do adde to the word of God their traditions a necessarie to saluation yet not expressed or contained in the word of God But if God saie you left anie doctrine by tradition vnto the Church and our ancetours haue deliuered the same vuto vs especiallie those of the 〈◊〉 Church what shall we do in this case Shall we refuse it It seemeth dangerous and I see no reason The question is not whether we should refuse anie thing that God hath left but whether God hath left anie such tradition to be beleeued vnto salua tion which is not contained in the holie scriptures But if our ancetours of the primitiue Church haue deliuered anie such tradition vnwritten as left by Christ what shall we doe you
in one person both God and man be perfectlie vnited in him and therefore much more prerogatiue might be and doubtles was giuen to his humanitie as to him that was both God and man in respect of his baser nature then to anie other of his brethren beeing but meere men yet this is assuredlie to be beleeued that he which could without derogation to his Godheade communicate with the sonne of man and graunt him in consideration of his assumpted nature the rule and redemption of his people the assoyling of our sinnes and to worke all wonders in the power finger and force of the holie ghost the same God without all doubt through his sonne and our sauiour may at his pleasure without all vnseemelines or derogation to his eternall honour andso it shall be prooued that he doth giue power to the gouernours of his Church and houshodle to pardone and giue penaunce to iudge and rule the people in the right of our said Sauiour to the edefying of his bodie and making perfect of his saints FVLKE We doe Christianly confesse according to the scripture and with the Church of Christ that our sauiour Christ not onelie by power equall to his father concerning his diuine nature but also by graunt of God his father in his humane nature which is farre inferiour to his father doth remit sinnes absolutelie and of soueraigne authoritie in respect of his diuinitie as the mediatour God and man and that he did the same vpon earth also as a minister and preacher of repentance and reconciliation according to his humanitie But hereupon it followeth not by any order or necessitie of consequence that whoesoeuer denyeth meere man to haue authoritie or power to forgiue sinnes is iniurious to Christs person and the dispensation of his flesh or mysterie of his holie incarnation For although that man haue this authoritie which is God yet it followeth not that such mē as are onely men are capable of the same authoritie The diuersitie betwixt the state of our sauiour Christ and others is so great that nothing can be communicated to others which is proper to him in respect of his diuine nature And such a thing is the absolute power to forgiue sinnes for which he hath made satisfaction to the iustice of God which whensoeuer we speake of the remission of sins may not be forgotten For the mercie of god forgiueth no sinne but that for which his iustice is thorouglie satisfied in the obedience and iustice of our Lord and redeemer Iesus Christ. Therefore as no other man hath the dispensation of his satisfaction but himselfe so no other man can giue absolute forgiuenes of sins but him-selfe But as all his ministers haue power to pronounce forgiuenes of sins to the penitent which is noe more but to expresse his will and pleasure concerning the remission of sinnes and in what sort and condition he bestoweth the same so haue they power to teteine sinnes not of them whome he will pardon but of such as doe not repent and therefore by his worde are denied of forgiuenes so that man in this case followeth the iudgement and authoritie of God not God the iudgement and authoritie of man For if a trew priest elder or minister of the gospell lawfullie authorized would forgiue the sins of an hypocrite that faigneth repentance they are not forgiuen before God and if man would reteine the sinnes of a true penitent yet are they forgiuen before God For to man is giuen no absolute power to forgiue sins any more then there is giuen to man an vndouted iudgement to discerne betweene hypocrites and true faithfull persons But where you saie that God could without derogation to his godheade communicat with the sonne of man and graunt him in consideration of his assumpted nature the rule redemption of his people the gouernment of our soules the assoyling of our sinnes c. I must know how farre you extend your consideration For if you meane therebie that God in respect of or according to this assumpted humane nature did communicate to our sauiout Christ none other but such power as he might without derogation to his deitie haue communicated vnto Moses Samuel or any other which was a meere mortall man for the redemption of our soules and forgiuenes of our sins I doe vtterlie abhorre your Nestorian and worsse then Nestorian blasphemie but if you meane that such pow er as might without the derogation of his godhead be communicated to the sonne of man is by him deliuered to the ministers of his Church which execute the office of shepheardes and teachers in his place I doe gladlie confesse that without all vnseemelinesse and derogation to his eternal honour the ministers of the Church haue power by his graunt to reteine and forgiue sinnes that is to declare the iudgement of God in forgiuing or reteining of sinnes according to such conditions as he hath expressed in his holie worde which iudgement according to those conditions is so ratifyed by God him-selfe that it is as certaine as if it were pronounced and vttered by his owne voice out of heauen But where you speake of pardoning and geuing of penance I must once againe distinguish of your meaning For if you meane by your Popish terme of penance repentance so that you saie man hath power to giue repentance which is a conuersion of the heart vnto God and a chaunge of the minde from sinne to obedience of God I spit at your blaspemous saying For it is proper onelie to God to giue repentance to Israell and to all true Israelites of the gentiles his elected children as the holie ghost teacheth Acts. 5. and 11. in which places your pupills the Rhemists durst not for gal of conscience and shame of the world translate the latine worde paenitentia as they doe commonly els where except it be taken in the euil part penance but repentance Yet if by the word penance you meane a time or exercise of trial of true repentance which the aunciēt writers do sometimes metonimically cal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and paenitentia which was graunted by the elders of the Church to such as had greeuouslie fallen that they might haue some experience of their true conuersion before they were admitted into the communion of the faithful I may yeald to your terme And further I will not denie but that God hath geuen power vnto the gouernours of his Church and household to pardon such penance thatis to remit vpon due and good consideration some part or the wholl of that time and exercise which to such penitents by them is enioyned but that any mortall creature hath power to pardon penance in such sorte that the partie which is to receiue the pardon neede not to be penitent for his sinnes I stand still to the flat deniall Neither must we here make any great account of such as shal obiect to the priests of gods Church as the Scribes did vnto Christ him-selfe when they saw him
of must be forsaken which in lesser offences it is not possible altogether to auoide But while you make the sacrifice of the Masse c. to serue onelie for veniall sinnes you doe more dishonour to it then your aduersarie would haue thought you could But confession the great cousonage of the world is so precious for all your popish purposes that in respect of it you make light of all pointes of poperie beside That the popes pardons properlie pertaine to the remissiō of temporall paine due for mortal sinnes remitted before in the Sacrament of penance whereupon the full meaning of pardons is opened THE THIRD CHAP. ALLEN THe Popes holines then being disburdened by most iust meanes from all causes of enuie rising vpon the surmise or open sclaunder that he would forgiue mens sinnes euen before they were committed as though he should graunt further a licence for men to commit notorius crimes yea being prooued to be so farre from the fact that he taketh not vpon-him by his pardons so much as to release anie mortall sinne at all and therefore that he neuer arrogated so much vnto him selfe in these matters in respect of his iurisdiction onelie as is iustlie graunted to the simplest priest aliue that is lawfully ordered the case standing then before God and all the world so cleare with him let vs see what he claimeth by his iurisdictiō and in what sense his Pardons do remit or release anie thing to man seeing in matters of mortall sinne otherwise then by ioying with the sacrament of penance he doth not intermedle with remission at all ALLEN Truelie to be plain and briefe they that be the gouernours of Gods Church doe challenge nothing ells nor meane nothing ells by their Pardons but the release and pardoning of such punishment as is often due after the sinnes be remitted in the sacrament of Confession that is to saie they pardon the penance enioyned by the holie Ghostlie Father or that should haue bene enioyned by the rigour of their Canons and by the law according to the quantitie of the sinne confessed And what lesse can they beeing the appointed pastours of our soules and gouernours of the Church what lesse can they challenge then to forgiue that punishment or some part thereof which the lawes did prouide whereof they were the makers or executors themselues and consequentlie to remit such punishment as might ensue for the lacke of fullfilling thereof There is no temporall Prince but he may by his Princelie Perogatiue pardon any seuerall fault committed either against his owne person or the commonwealth that is to saie discharge the offendour of that paine which by the law he should suffer And why should we thinke it strange that those men to whome by expresse wordes of Christ more preheminence is giuen for their iurisdiction spirituall then to any Prince aliue is giuen by law or nature for their Regiment why should we thinke it strange that they should pardon or release the paines and penaltie appointed by the Ghostlie Father or prescribed by the law or due to the sinne it selfe by Gods iustice if there were no law for the case or order taken of the Church past FVLKE The Popes pardons beeing not onelie prostrate as common harlotts to euerie man that will paie for them but also his dispensations against the commaundement of God which are of the same nature with his pardons as readie to be solde wherebie he taketh vpon him to make periurie incest and many other horrible crimes lawful as in discharging subiects from their oth of obedience to their lawful princes in licensing the Vncle to marry his Neece yea the brother to marry his sister for Augustinus de Ancona excludeth no degree from his dispensatiō but the mariage of the parents with their owne children his execrable holines is not yet discharged from that shamful Antichristian tyranie which he is iustlie accused to vsurpe as also it hath beene shewed plainly that howsoeuer some Canonists haue restreined the force of his pardons from remitting of deadlie sinne yet are his pardons extant to be seene wherein he promiseth full remission of all sinnes In which if he delude men he is so much the more wicked to promise pardon of all sinnes and yet is not able to remit so much by his pardon as a Parish Priest may doe without his pardons Wherefore your impudencie is the greater to affirme so often they challenge nothing ells nor meane nothing ells but the release of penance or punishment due I haue before prooued both by the glosse of their law and by the verie wordes of their pardons that they challenge this authority to release not onelie the paine but also the saultes If they meane otherwise then they write and speake then are they detestable dissemblers But howsoeuer some Canonists to salue their matter of shrift haue expounded them to perteine onelie to the punishment due for sinnes remitted in the sacrament of penance yet their exposition can by no meanes stand with the wordes of many pardons But seeing you will needes haue it so let vs see what you saie to prooue it First you aske what lesse they beeing appointed pastours of our soules and gouernours of the Church can challenge then to forgiue the punishment which the law whereof they were makers or executors doth prouide To this we answere that we neither acknowledge them to be pastors or gouernours of gods church nor if they were to haue authoritie to make lawes to intangle mens consciences and then to streine them or loose them at their pleasures Christ gaue power to remit or retaine to binde or loosethe penitent or vnpenitent but not to binde the penitent to punishment whose sins are loosed and remitted The example of temporall Princes pardoning or releasing the punishment of transgressours will not serue For the pastours of the Church must doe that which Christ hath commaunded and no more which are so gouernours of the Church that they be not Lordes and Princes thereof but seruants of the Church and of Christ. But lest of all can any Pastour of our soules or gouernour of the Church release any punishment due to sinne it selfe by Gods iustice which none but God of his mercie can doe his iustice beeing before answered in Christ our Sauiour ALLEN And that it is the punishment onelie which they meane to pardon by their Indulgences it may be euident both by that we haue said before and also by the wordes of course in moste Indulgences in which lightlie you see this clause De poenitentijs iniunct is we assoile them from the penance of so many daies or yeares as may be seene planlie in the holie Councell of Lateran and in the decrees both of Innocentius the third and the fourth The sinne it selfe is not measurable by times and yeares for it is a simple and indiuisible act or affection of minde or man as our schooles speake in such matters and therefore a man can not be assoiled
had expresselie forgiuen him by the warrant of the Prophet Nathan his greeuous sinnes Consider the case of all Gods elect people how sharpelie they were visited for sinne after it was in them pardoned Marke whether Marie Moises his sister was not punished and separated seuen daies as it were for penance after her brethren had procured her pardon at Gods handes Thus hath God of respect not onelie to mercie but also partlie to iustice so alwaies pardoned that he had consideration of iudgement and righteousnes Now whome should the Church follow in remitting of sinnes but him by whofe power and warrant she doth remit sinnes FVLKE We see that god did chastise the Prophet Dauid and his posterititie with a rodde of man and with a fatherlie correction but his mercie and louing kindnes he neuer tooke from them Neither punished them to satisfie his iustice for their sinne remitted but to make them and other by their example more carefull not to commit sinne in time to come The case of Gods elect people was somewhat otherwise Exod. 32. where although he receiued to mercie the wholl people that they should not be destroied from the face of the earth yet he might of his iustice punish a number of particular persons that were moste rebellious and authors of the defection and Idolatrie Marie the sister of Moses was also punished of God first to humble her and bring her to repentance and that punishment was continued on her for a few daies partlie to exercise her in earnest and hartie repentance partlie to admonish the people by her example to beware of murmuring against Gods ministers their lawfull magistrates not in respect of anie satisfaction of Gods iustice which can receiue none but a ful sufficient satisfaction in his beloued sonne Iesus Christ. Wherefore if the Church will follow God in remission of sinnes she must remit them freelie as God doth in Iesus Christ forgiue vs for so Saint Paull meaneth that men should forgiue one another their trespasses and not to remit the fault and retaine the paine except it be in case where men are appointed by God to execute paines as the Magistrates are or to practize discipline as the Church is in which case the Church may not think to satisfy Gods iustice but to seek reformation of the offender and to prouide for the example of others ALLEN Seeing God then him-selfe after he hath by his owne means and absolute power pardoned mans faultes and discharged him of the sentence of death and damnation had yet enioyned penance as when he said to Adam In the sweate of thy browes thou shalt prouide for thy liuing And to Eue. Thou shalt in paine bring forth thy Children And to them both that they should die the temporall death though they might escape by his mercie euerlasting miserie seeing this we neede not to doubt but temporall punishment often remaineth after the sinnes be remitted and that the Church of God doth imitate moste conuenientlie the saied mercie enioyned with iustice in all her most righteous practize of pardoning and punishing sinne in Christes behalfe by whose iurisdiction she herein holdeth But for the further proofe of the matter I haue saide much in the defense of Purgatotie and this question properlie of Purgatotie and this question properlie perteineth to 〈◊〉 place FVLKE That temporall punishment is laied vpon men often times although their sinnes be remitted it is no question but whether such punishment be a satisfaction to the iustice of God or a fatherlie discipline of his mercie that is the matter in controuersie The Church therefore in exercising the discipline of God vpon offendours may and ought to imitate the example of god but then shee must beware of two things the one that she laie no other burthen of punishment vpon the offendours then the worde of God will warrant therefore penance is not arbitrarie as the Canonists doe saie but to be directed by the worde of God Secondlie shee must take heede that shee release no more punishment then shee is able to laie on And therefore shee must be assured by the worde of God whether shee can eioyne penance to be suffered in Purgatorie before shee take vpon her to remit any such punishment touching which matter as you haue saied more in the defence of Purgatorie so haue I answered sufficientlie to the ouerthrow of Purgatorie and all that dependeth thereupon That Christ gaue by his expresse worde authoritie to the pastours of Gods Church to binde and loose not onely the sinnes themselues but also the temporall paine or penance remaining THE FOVRTH CHAP. ALLEN BVt now for the iurisdiction that Gods Church hath in releasing the same punishment which remaineth after the fault be forgiuen it standeth no doubt vpon that high commission which Christ receiued of his Father and did communicate moste amplie to the Apostles and by then to all Bishops for euer For the father did not onelie honour Christ his sonne according to his humanity with the power of priesthoode or with other soueraignitic for the institutious of sacraments or such like but with all regiment of that bodie whereof he is the heads as he is man By which keye of iurisdiction he corrected sinners with great Maiestie and pardoned them at his pleasure not onelie of sinne and euerlasting paine where the penitencie of the partie did so require but also of such correction as the law had prescribed for sinne or Gods iustice had enioyned for the same FVLKE That the Church hath any iurisdiction in releasing that punishment which remaineth after the faulte for giuen for a satisfaction of Gods iustice it hath not hetherto beene prooued nor euer shall be prooued by authoritie of the holie scriptures which teach the contrarie that Christ alone hath by his one sacrifice made perfect for euer those that are sanctified And therefore it is vnreasonable to seeke whereupon it standeth For neither did Christ receiue any such commission in his humanitie neither did he deliuer ouer any such iurisdiction vnto his Apostles to release temporall punishment due to Gods iustice vnsatisfied by his death and passion For by one oblation once offered by his eternall spirit he made perfect for euer those that are sanctified And the power of Priesthoode and soueraigne authoritie to institute sacraments and to be head of his Church he receiued not as man onelie but as our mediatour God and man The Lorde said vnto my Lorde saith Dauid sit thou on my right hand Thou art a Priest for euer c. Which offices authorities can not beseparated from his diuinity without Nestorian impiety Christ is head of his Church a Priest for euer as he is Dauids Lord but as he is Dauids Lord he is not onelie his sonne but his God therefore he is heade of his Church and a priest after the order of Melchisedeeh not as he is man onelie but as he is God man neither did he pardon any
communicat both functions at once and gaue the Magistrates of the Church not onlie by preaching to threaten or exhort men to vertue or promise them release of their sinnes by only faith as men haue now plained the waie to heauen but also by force of their regiment to giue great penance as we haue prooued greatpardon againe as to their wisdomes and for the Churches edifying may seeme most conuenient Of this great power of Christ communicated to his Apostles we haue practize as well for punishing sinners as pardoning them For vpon this soueraigne iurisdiction it rose that the Apostles mightelie ministred iustice vpon offendours as well by afflicting their bodies with enioyned long fasies and large almoses as by excommunicaton other meanes Which thing whsoeuer well weigheth in the manifolde examples of Gods worde they shall not wonder that the holie Bishops of Christs Church may giue a pardon of penance enioyned For by this authoritie did S. Peter who first receiued the keies of iurisdictiō power ouer the Church kil both Ananias and Saphira his wife which is as great a bodilie punishment for sinne as may be By this authoritie did he excommunicate Simon the Sorcerer by this power did S. Paull offer to reuenge disobedience by this did he threaten tocome to the faithfull with a rodde of discipline By this he prescribed to Timothie whom he consecrated Bishop how he should heare accusations and behaue himselfe in rebuking sinne correction of diuerse states By this power did he mightely deliuer vp some to Sathan and bodelie vexation By this power did he strike blinde Elimas the witch and released him at his pleasure againe FVLKE That the ministers of the Church haue authoritie not onelie to preach the worde of life moste comfortablie to al penitent sinners and moste terribly to all reproba tes and impenitent persons but also to exercise discipline of correction vpon offendours and to release the same vpon hope and apparance of their amendment it is at all times and in all places by vs willinglie confessed and acknowledged Wherefore this discourse is altogether needelesse but that you muste interlace some trueth not denied among so manie vnpropable and vnreasonable propositions that of no wise men will euer be graunted The waie to heauen is no other wise plained by vs in promising men release of their sinnes by faith onelie then it was by Saint Paul Rom. 4. and before him by Dauid psal 32. That the Apostles ministred iustice vpon offenders as well by afflicting their bodies with enioyned long fastes large almes as by excommunication and other meanes when you prooue it out of the scriptures we will yeelde vnto you We finde they did excommunicate and that they exhorted men to fasting and almes but that they enioyned any prescript fastes or almes such we finde not And yet we doubt not but they esteemed fasting praying and sorowing for sinnes almes and other Godlie exercises to be fruites of true repentance in beholding of which they were mooued to receiue againe into the Church such as for their offences were iustlie cast out Neither did Saint Peter by the same keies of iurisdiction as you call them kill Ananias and his wife by which he did excommunicate Simon the sorcerer if that denuntiation of Gods iudgement maie be called an excommunication Neither did Peter properlie kil Ananias who was stryken immediatelie of God for lying against the holie ghost neither hath anie successour of his authoritie to kill mens bodies howsoeuer you would insinuate that your Antichrist the Pope haththe power of both the swords to slaie mens bodies with the one as he murdereth their soules with his pestilent heresies That the Apostles deliuered some to Satan to be vexed in their bodies it prooueth no ordinarie iurisdiction of punishing mens bodies for that it was onelie a miraculous power they had which goeth not by succession vnto their posteritie like as the example of Saint Paul striking Elimas with blindnes can not be drawne to discipline which is practized onelie vpon the members of the Church whereof that Sorcerer was neuer anie parte neither did Saint Paull release him at his pleasure but at the time appointed by God ALLEN By this power haue holie Bishops excommunicated mightie Emperours suspended manie from the sacraments disgraded diuers spirituall men from their functions interdicted wholl Realmes and to be short by this power hath the Church of God prescribed a due punishment for euerie deadlie sinne iustlie respecting the greeuousnes thereof and continuance therein As we maie see in the penitentiall booke of I heodotus and Bede the cannons whereof be translated into the booke of decrees which is the 15. intituled De poenitent And namelie in the most auncient Councell of Ancyre which was holden well neare 1300. yeares since in the most pure time of Christian religion when I trow our aduersaries dare not saie that the faith was corrupted There the Priests and deacons that relented in persecution were suspended from the executing of their seuerall functions Such as supt in the temples of Idols and sacrificed to false Gods were charged beside absteining from the sa craments with 3. yeares penance those that committed brutish sinnes vnnatural should do 25. years penance for adultery 7 yeares penance for women that destroied their birth 10. years for murtherers 7. if it be not voluntarie if it be wilfull til the endof mans life for superstitious southsaiers or dreame readers or sorcerers and witches fiue yeares Finallie for rape 10. yeares were prescribed The like were made for diuers crimes in the councell of Nice But it is inough that we know though the eternall paines deserued by dcadlie sinnes be forgiuen with the sinnes them-selues and yet there remaineth for the satisfying of Gods iustice some temporall scourge to preuent which the Church enioyneth paine for faults remitted that both Gods mercie be followed in the remission of their sinnes and his iustice partlie answered in the punishment of the same the which debt of deserued paine being not here fulfilied or released it must in another world be answered FVLKE By power receaued from Christ holie Bishops haue practized christian discipline in excommunicating euen Emperours and great estates separating from the sacraments and displasing of ecclesiasticall persons from their functions But I neuer read that anie holie Bishop did interdict wholl realmes but onelie Antichrist of Rome Victor of olde time did take vpon him to excommunicate all the Churches of the East for not celebrating of the feast of Easter as he did but he was counter maunded and reprooued by his fellow Bishops not onelie of the East but euen of the West which agreed not with him in that ceremonie as by Ireneus Bishop of Lions in Fraunce and other That the Church of great antiquity prescribed a certaine time of punish ment for euery kinde of heinous sinne it was partly to reforme the facility of
the beginning of this Chapter that the satisfaction limited by the Canons was agreeable in all points to the debt of sinnes forgiuen which God required for answer of his iustice Further you must remember that the Canons did limit times of penance not onelie for an act of sinne but also for customable continuance in such sinnes as you may see in the decrees of Iuo quoted by you before and in the Ancyran Councell Now if you will faine a man to be such a monster as that he haue committed all these sinnes for which the Canons doe limit times and haue continued in them also accustomablie yet by those Canons he could not deserue so many thousand yeares of penance as the Pope graunteth of pardon Nay if you make your Audit of the times limited sor all offences adding all the daies yeares and Lents prescribed in the Canons together you shall not finde the sūme of one thousand yeares of penance due to be inioyned if a man had commited al those sinnes Whereof it followeth that so many 1000 yeares as haue bin ordinarily graunted by the Popes pardons can haue no such meaning as your dreame of Audit and account surmiseth and so it remaineth that these numbers of yeares were multiplied onelie to set a greater price of the pardons so to robbe both the purses of the people and deceiue their soules For the old Canons neuer appointed anie time of penance for anie time exceeding the time of a mans life but 7. yeares 14. yeares 24. yeares c or to the end of a mans life at the most and alwaies the partie to be receiued at his end though he had not accomplished his time perfixed It is not the time appointed by the old canons therefore that can excuse so manie thousand yeares of pardon for paine to be suffered in purgatorie seeing you acknowledge the time by them limited to be limited by the spirit of god as agreeable in all points to the debt of sinnes forgiuen which God requirerth for answer of his iustice But blessed be god who hath taken sufficient satisfaction to answer his iustice in the obedience suffering of Iesus Christ which is our iustice in whome seeing we are made the iustiee of God we neither feare Allens Audit for purgatorie nor desire the Popes mercie for pardon ALLEN Neither is it necessarie for the due paiment of that great debt of so manie yeares that the paine of purgatorie should endure so long or so manie yeares as had bene necessarie for the accomplishing of his penance in this life For the might the force the hougenes the excesse and the nature of the paine in the next world is so fearefull and so great as Saint Augustine often noteth that a great deale lesse time sufferance of the same is answerable to much more in the world and this present life For what comparation is there berwixt a daies fasting here a daies punishment in purgatorie better it were surely to suffer a hundred yeares such penance as the Church prescribeth in this mortall life that hath in it much worldlie ease and comfort for the release of the inioyned paine then to abide one daie or wecke in so greeuous a torment as the holie Doctours and all the Church holdeth Purgatorie to be Therfore to forgiue such a greeuous sinner in the latter end of his life receiued to mercie as we haue now spoken of a thousand or two thousand yeares of penance is as much in effect and nature of the termes as to remit and release him of so much punishment or the debt and bond of so much punishment in purgatorie as is proportionall and correspondent to so manie daies or years of penance as the penitent in this life was bound vnto by the Canons of the Church or the iust inioyning of his Ghostlie Father For the Pardons measure the matter not by the limites of Purgatorie the bonds borders or waie of limitation whereof the Church knoweth not but by the yeares and times of penance prescribed to sinners by the holie Canons vpon the bond wherof Gods iustice temporall in the next world doth as I haue prooued much depend To be short then plaine to giue a pardon of a 10001. or 2000. yeares or moe if the graunt goeth so is as much to saie as to forgiue so much punishment as might be answerable for so great penance not fullfilled in this life As if I were behinde with the Church and indebted to God hard before my death of a hundreth daies fasting in which case I cannot recompence if my Bishoppe then or the chiefe head of all the Eccle siasticall Hierachie doe forgiue me twenty of the said daies then my punishment shal be so much lesse in Purgatorie not by twenty daies I saie of Purgatorie paines but by as much as in force of satisfaction there is answerable to twentie daies fast here So that the Church measuring her mercies by the yeares of penance deserued by the law in this life or else where taketh effect not onely in this life where there cannot be so manie daies in our short time but especially in preuenting Purgatorie paines where there may well be punishment answerable in a verie short time to all the daies prescribed by the measures of the lawe and discipline of our present daies in the world FVLKE If the fire of Purgatorie be so much hotter then this elementall fire as this is hotter then a fire painted on a wall as some of your owne Poetes haue fained you maie adde this imaginarie proportion of greatnes of paine against length of time And whoe can let you to imagine what you list seeing you require to be credited vpon your bare worde without authoritie of scripture or witnes of the auncient Doctors But the holie Doctors you saie and all the Church holdeth purgatorie to be so greeuous a torment and Saint Augustine noteth it often namelie in Psal. 37. Verilie Saint Austen in that place saith that the fire by which some that builde strawe hay c. vpon the fundation Christ shal be more greeuous then anie thing that anie man can suffer in this life but else where he can say nothing of certaintie of the fire of Purgatorie whether anie such fire after this life be or no as de fide operibus c. 6. de oct dulcit qu. 1. as I haue shewed more at large in confutatiō of your booke of purgatorie You quote Origen also but I knowe not how nor what to finde by your quotation but certaine it is that Origen knew not the Popes purgatory although he allegorize of a certaine purgatory which neither the papists themselues do alow and it teacheth the heresie wherewith he is charged that the deuills and all wicked persons at length shall be saued To conclude the old canons graunting remission to euerte man that is preuented by death at his last end had no meaning of anie recompence of yeares and daies in Purgatorie as without all
olde lawe to prooue that the Popes pardons extend vnto purgatorie is verie farre fett For the priest hood of our sauiour Christ hath succeeded to the priesthood of the lawe as the bodie to the figure or shadow thereof But purchasing of mercie perteineth not to the ministers of the Church but preaching and declaring of Gods mercie wherein they excell the preaching office of the priests of the lawe in more large plaine and cleare demonstration thereof in Christ exhibited borne suffered raised from deade and ascended into heauen not in the matter of mercie or the onelie meane meritorius to obtaine it which is Iesus Christ. As for the discipline of the Church now is not vnlike to the discipline then neither is there anie cause in respect of Christ exhibited that it should be anie Iooser now then it was then For the grace of God which bringeth saluation to all men hath appeered instructing vs that we should vtterly denie vngodlines and worldlie lustes and liue soberlie iustlie and godly in this world waiting for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great god and our sauiour Iesus Chist which hath giuen himselfe for vs that he might redeeme vs from all iniouity and purge vs a peculiar people vnto himselfe zelous of good works Thus the holy Ghost describeth the end and effect of the mercie of God in Christ exhibited chargeing Titus to speake and exhort to these thinges to reprehend with alearnestnes and suffer no man to contemne him There is no cause therefore why the sinnews of discipline in the Church of Christ should be loosened or rather cutte in sunder by the Podes pardons which taketh vpon him to release all time of repentance appointed by the gouernours of the Church vnder pretense of greater mercie showed by Christ then was shewed in the olde law But Maises and Aaron you saie procured mercie and pardon for the people and then you bring in the example of paid no breined for worshipping the golden Image of a calse where Aaron him selse was so deepe in that he was no meete person to make intercession for others But in the example you prooue not anie power or iurisdiction of priesthood which doth ser forth onelie the effect of the praier of the faithfull as Saint Iames suth of Helias that he was a man and yet obteined great thinges by his praier Neither doth Moses pray with confidence of his priest lie office which he had not for Aaron was priest both by the law of nature as the elder and afterward by Gods especiall appointment but Moses praieth vpon confidence of Gods promises which were these that the people shoulde be brought into the lande of Chanaon and that Christ should come of the tribe of Iuda which could not haue had their effect if all the people had beene destroied though a great nation had beene made of Moses He strengthneth his faith also by two other reasons in his praier the one of the glorie of God which should be blasphemed by the Egyptiens if the people were destroyed in the wildernes the other of the benefites of God alreadie bestowed vpon the people which should be in vaine if the people shoulde thus sodenlie be consumed But of claiming it with confidence of his priesthood and requiring it as by his iurisdiction and office there is no mention For what iurisdiction or office could he haue to controll God in his iudgements And therefore it is a horrible blasphemous saying that God in a manner was at that point with them that he would pardon and punish at their pleasures Where your meaning is yet more biasphemous that God should much rather he at that point now to pardon and punish at the Popes pleasure which is nothing els but to exalte Antichrist aboue God when his iustice and mercie should depend vpon that deuill incarnates pleasure Yet for reason to excuse this blasphemie you saie that God maketh as it were meanes to Moses that he shoulde not staie him nor his anger from punishing of the offenders Let me alone Moses saith our Lord and suffer me to be angrie But who is so meanlie exercised in the scriptures that he doth not acknowledge that this speech of God as a thousand more in the scriptures is vttered after the affection and infirmitie of man whereof God is moste free yet condescending to the weakenes of mans vnderstanding often vseth so to speake Of which phrases of speech who so shall conclude as you doe maie inferre an hundred horrible heresies and more The true sense therefore of those wordes is that the people indeede had deserued to be destroied but that he had otherwise determined at the praier of Moses and for those causes which his spirit instructed Moses to vtter whome by this speech he prouoketh and stirreth vp to pretie for the people he was purposed to pardon and spare them not that he euer was of minde to submitt his iustice and mercie to mens pleasure in such sorte as he shoulde be driuen to make meanes to men that he might execute his iudgementes and shew his mercie both which he doth according to his owne moste free wil moste excellent wisdome and incomparable glorie ALLEN So when his sister Marie was punished by a leprosie for enuying at her brothers authoritie he cried vnto our Lorde and said Lorde God heale her againe of this disease and of his mercie so he did inioyning onelie vnto her seuen daies separation Aaron also procured pardon for the people by the like force of his praier and prieslhood when by sedition the people had highlie offended God yea he did as it were limitte and moderate Gods appointed punishment that his wrath should extend no farther but to the deslruction of a certaine number For when God said vnto Moses and Aaron depait you hence from amongst this people for euen now will I consume them Vpon which worde streight the destruction began and grew verie sore a flame of fire pitifullie consuming them But Aaron out of hande with his incense ranne to that parte where the plague of Gods ire wasted moste and there censed vp towardes heauen and carnestlie requested for the people and so placing him euen iust betwixt those that were slaine and the residue that were aliue the wrath and indignation of God ceassed FVLKE Moses by his praier obteined of God that he did heale his sister of her Ieprosie Ergo the Pope by his pardons maie release men of the punishment laide on them by God when in his pardons he vseth not humble praiers but standeth vpon his power and iurisdiction vpon the power of Peter and Paul and in paine of their indignation beside Gods wrath and sometimes moste presumptuouslie commaundeth the angels to execute his pleasure But whereas God enioyned to Marie seuen daies separation you should haue made your argument somewhat more probable if you could haue shewed out of the scripture that Moses by his pontificall iurisdiction released those daies or anie part
his seruantes yet he so terrifyed that we all ought to feare For which of vs is without sinne which when he had said to them by whome the sinner was offered to be punished that he which knew him-selfe to be without sinne should first cast a stone at her their crueltie fell downe by trembling of their conscience For then they slipping awaie out of that congregation left the poore wretch alone to him that is mercifull Let the pietie of Christians giue place to this sentence to which the impietie of the Iewes gaue place let the humilitie of them that are obedient giue place to that to which the pride of persecutors gaue place let the confessiō of the faithful yeld to that whereto yeelded the dissembling of the tempter What haue we here for this strange iurisdiction or for the Popes pardons in this example or in the example of Saint Augustine excommunicating or suspending of Bonifacius for violating the priuiledge of the Church in taking awaie a man worthie to die that fled thether for succour when he did not execute as you saie but restored him vnhurt to life as appearerh by his answere The pronnesse of Ecclesiasticall persons vnto mercie and pitie may be gathered by this example but no argument to prooue the Popes pardons to be good that I saie not it may be doubted whether such clemencie standeth with Gods iustice that commaundeth the murtherer to be drawen euen from his aultar to be executed And Augustine himselfe in his Epistle of intercession commendeth the punishing mercie and con demneth the pardoning crueltie beside that we muste liue according to laws and not according to examples ALLEN Againe Christ deliuered in the fift of Saint Iohn one that had beene feeble eight and thirtie yeares long for a punishment of his sinnes and that he might vnderstand that that sicknes came vnto him for correction of his former offences he said vnto him after in the temple Lo thou art made wholl looke thou sinne no more least a worse thing happen vnto thee Neither is it vnlike but the partie had his sinnes remitted long before Christ healed him of his corporall infirmity by the sacrifices of the law and by ordinarie meanes of that time through the faith in Christ Iesus Whereby you may perceiue that our high Bishop Christ hath giuen pardon to many not onelie of their sinnes and euer lasting damnation but also of the temporall paine and punishment either prescribed by the law or enioyned by Gods owne appointment Then we neede not wonder that the Churches officer holding by his right both the title to pardon and to punish should be by his example so prone to mercie which of the two is alwaies moste commended in spirituall regiment FVLKE Christ healed many that suffered punishment of bodelie diseases for their sinnes to shew that he was appointed of god to be the heauenly phisitian to heale the diseases of our soules by pardoning our sinnes But that the partie whereof you speake had his sinnes remitted long before Christ healed him of his corprall infirmitie by sacrifices of the law and ordinarie meanes of that time through the faith in Christ Iesus though you saie it is like yet it is verie vnlike For he had laien eight and thirtie yeares in the portch of Siloam waighting for the miraculous manner of healing that God shewed at certain times vppon them that first entred aster the water of the poole was mooued All which time it is not like that he could be partaker of the sacrifices or ordinarie meanes by which remission of sinnes thorough faith in Iesus Christ was testified to the participants of those meanes But rather as his owne wordes sound it is like he was onelie attentiue to the vsuall meane which God shewed to attein health of bodie thereby not caring for true repentance and conuersion to god yet it appeareth he had small taste of spirituall doctrine when he knew not of whome he receiued the benefit of health and so was vnthankesull vnto him for it But what is concluded out of this example that the officers of the Church in spirituall regiment ought to be prone to mercie Many examples prooue that more directlie but that the officers of the Church haue power to punish and pardon as Christ had this example prooueth not ALLEN Neuerthelesse we meane not that the priest hath alwaies such power as Christ had in remoouing of bodelie sickenes not onelie because they know not when it is the deserued paine for sinne as he did but also because as Saint Augustine saith Remissio in Ecclesia magis fit propter futurum iudicium Pardoning in the Church hath more respect to the iudgement of the next worlde he meaneth by the temporall iudgement and for that he alledgeth out of Saint Paull that the iudgement which he willeth vs to preuent by punishing our selues is the correction of such as God loueth lest they be damned with the worlde which cannot signifie the euerlasting iudgement Wee meane not then that the Pardons of the Ecclesiasticall Magistrates should perteine to the releasing of bodelie paines duely deserued for sinne or for other causes appointed because Christ so did not vnto all but vnto some as it pleased his wisedome but this we saie that as he of his mercie tooke away and released the sinners of certaine temporall afflictions as well appointed by the law of Moses as enioyned by Gods owne hand and so gaue a Pardon of that which both Moses and his owne Father appointed euen so maie the Apostles and their successours pardon anie man that is worthie of that benefite of some parte or all such penance as their owne lawe prescribed or the iustice of God vpon the bonde of their decrees and the debt of the sinners hath in the next life prepared Although as I haue once noted before not onelie the Apostles miraculouslie but also Gods Priests dailie doe heale in the sacrament of extreame vnction and praiers not onelie sinnes but the penitent of their sickenes and infirmity where the disease especially came of sin as I suppose or otherwise when it is expedient to the partie and glorious to Gods name FVLKE You were bolde to saie before that if any man were sicke by Gods appointment for that cause onelie to satisfie for his sinnes remitted that he should streight recouer by the Popes pardon which is to graunt him such power as Christ had in remoouing ofbodelie sicknes suffered for the cause aboue specified That the priest wanteth this power because he knoweth not when bodelie sickenes is the deserued paine for sinne as though there were any paine that were not deserued for sinne it is no reason For an empirike healeth by vertue of his medicines oftentimes though he know not the cause of the sickenes and so should the priest by laying to his plaister if he had any such but none euer recouered sodainlie by the Popes pardon or the priests power therefore it is a fained for gerie
pardons are ordeined to auaile and except them that lacke merit sacramentall which are saued immediatelie by the grace of God which is not bound vnto the sacraments But it were no reason you saie that priuate persons should communicate and send to the soules in purgatorie there fasts almes and praier for the release of their paine he that represents Christs person should not applie some part of the common treasure for their deliuery c. I answere wee acknowledge no such communication sending or lending by priuate persons for any such purpose or to any such effect into Purgatorie But if that were graunted yet were it no reason that the Pope where he hath no authoritie should by any colour doe more then a priuate man of the same worthines or merit And when the Pope is a wicked man of life as you will not denie but many haue beene what should his sute or suffrage preuaile whereas if he were twise as great in office as you faine him to be yet where his office extendeth not he should by sute preuaile no more then priuate men of such behauiour That this pardon per modum suffragij is agreeable to the practize of the Church and forme of pardons alwaies vsed you saie without proofe but I haue prooued the contrarie before That you require in the partie to be benefited by this new kinde of pardons not onelie that he departed hence in grace and zeale of the Church but also frendship in the worlde of such as will be contended to accomplish the appointed worke of the pardon you declare that the Popes pardons goe not as Gods pardons without respect of persons but with a necessarie respect of worldlie frendshippe so that the soules of poore men such as lacke frendship in this world are in nothing so good a case as the soules of rich men that with their pens are able to purchase frendship enough in the world So that with you the poore whome Christ pronounceth happie are most miserable the rich euen they to whome Christ maketh the entrance of heauen impossible may haue soonest dispatch out of purgatorie for the old prouerbe was alwaies true in the Popish Church no pennie no paternoster No frendshippe in the worlde no helpe of the Popes pardons for poore mens soules for whome yet the redemption of Christ is as plentifull and effectuall as for the scules of rich men Whatsoeuer the Deuill or the Pope hath imagined to deface the glorie thereof and to make the frendship of the world which is enmity with God to be necessarie for the applying of his moste free grace generall pardon and vndeserued reconciliation A declaration of the Churches meaning touching the common treasure which is saide to remaine in her store for the recompense of such iniovned penance as she releaseth by her pardons with the conclusion of the wholl matter THE 12. CHAP. ALLEN BVt now if you aske me here how it standeth with the iustice of God thus to forgiue the paine and debt of satisfaction which either God or the Church inioyneth for the recompence of the former sinnes especiallie seeing the Catholike Church doth holde that it perteineth to Gods iustice no lesse to punish sinnes with some temporall scourge after it be forgiuen then it doth perteine to his mercy to forgiue the saide sinne and the debt of euerlasting damnation Now if it stand not with his iustice to let a sinner escape whollie without correction or satisfaction then it may much more appeere to be against his iustice also that any power of man should remit release that bonde of satisfaction which Gods instice required and was to the offender inioyned For the answere and perfect vnderstanding of this doubt it is to be knowne and well weighed that in deede no release could be had of such inioyned penance or deserued paine for sinnes past if Gods instice were not otherwise recompensed and the lacke of the parties punishment supplied againe by the abundance of satisfaction made by Christ vpon the Crosse eueric drop of whose innocent bloode and stroke laid vpon his blessed bodie were hable of the infinite inestimable worth and force thereof to satisfie for all debt due to all the sin in the worlde whether it be death and euerlasting damnation or tempor all paine and purgation By which abundant price of his passion and copious ransome the Church for whose sake this precious price was paied doth not onelie holde her selfe to be redeemed from death and damnation and so saued by Christ her head for he is the sauiour of his bodie saith Saint Paull but shee holdeth the ouerplus as a man wouldsaie of so abundant copious and infinite redemption to be a treasure in the house of God to relieue her childrens lackes to release their paines to worke with them in satisfying for their sin and to worke mercie for them also for lack of satisfying for their offences that want being founde in our penance towardes the recompensing of our euill life paste may be supplied by the treasure of Christsdeath that remaineth yet of full force and strength to be applied vnto vs in such our necessities as shal be thought meet vnto Christs Vicar generall in earth other his holie appointed ministers with whome as Saint Paul saith he left the bestowing of gods mysteries For although the holie and precious treasure of Christes paine and satisfaction be of it selfe sufficient to relieue the lackes of all men without exception not onely of those which shall be saued but also for the damned and for the wholl worlde saith Saint Iohn yet no man may be so hardie to claime the benefit thereof otherwise then through such meanes as he hath appointed and by the ministery of such men as he hath placed ouer his householde and familie to giue the Children meat and sustenance in due season not as they shall inordinatlie craue it but as he shall discreetlie finde to be meere for them Therefore where this wise stewarde of Christs holie householde to whome he gaue the kcies of the treasure and sufficient authoritie to fceae and gouerne his wholl flocke where he shall orderlie iudge the offender meete and of good congruitie worthie of grace and mercie there he may pardon and recompense the residue that can not be fulfilled of the partie penitent with some peece of that inestimable treasure of Christs redemption which remaineth in the Church impossible to be wasted and so shall remaine to the vnspeakeable benefit of the faithfull FVLKE This dreame of the Churches treasure the power of dispensing of the same resting infinitlie in the Pope in comparision of a few small crummes left vnto the Bishoppes should haue beene first handled as the foundation of popish pardon if the compasse of your cause and the method of deceit could haue abidden it which if it had beene done manie a one that had seene the foundation to be no surer would neuer haue taken paines to vew the rest of the
building But as it was last inuented for none of the auncient Church for a thousand yeares and more euer heard of it so you haue done well to thrust it vnto the last end of your booke And first you beginne with an obiection vpon your owne ground that for answering of Gods iustice there remaineth a temporall paine after sinne remitted But because the obiection is such as you are neuer able to answer so well your principles of popery hang one vpon another you couer the hardest point and will not let it appeare namelie that Gods iustice requireth punishment of the partie him selfe that offended for satisfying his iustice which was not satisfied by the death and obedience of Christ which if it be true then can there be no remission by any other meanes sauing the iustice of God but by the parties owne suffering Yet let vs see how you auoid the obiection io fauourablie set downe for your seife to answer you saie that Gods iustice is otherwise satisfied by the aboundant satisfactiō made by Christ vpon the crosse and by the merites of his saints If this be true then is the other principle false that Gods iustice requireth temporall punishment of the partie for the recompence of Christs satisfaction and saints merites is not the parties owne punishment wherefore as in the obiection you runne from Christes most perfect satisfaction so in the answere you runne from the obiection which is no answer or satisfaction The scripture is plaine that the blood of Christ purgeth vs from all sinne and Christ by one oblation hath made perfect for euer those that are sanctified he hath once entred into the holie place by his owne blood and found eternall redemption The satisfaction for sinne the purging of vnrightcousnes the perfecting of the saints and euerlasting redemption can abide no reseruation of punishment either temporall or eternall in which the iustice of god is throughlie answered by the obedience and suffering of Christ whose stripes hauing healed vs there remaineth no suffering of our part for satisfying of his iustice And you confesse that there is a sufficient value in the suffering of Christ for the taking awaie of all temporall punishment if it be well applied by the Pope So that Christes redemption was but a power of redeeming and not an act of redemption a power depending vpon the will of man to applie according to his pleasure as you were wount to speake and not according to Gods determination and eternal election And so you robbe Christ of the effect of his death passion by which he obteined eternal redemptiō for al gods elect to enrich the pope with a treasure infinit and vnspendable for that word youlent me before which he might bestow and dispense at his pleasure But let vs a litle enter into your storehouse see what tresure there is and how you came by it First you tell vs of the infinite abilitie and the inestimable valew of euerie drop of Christes bloode c. to satisfie all debt due for all sinne and al paine for the same and yet you alow to the act and effect of his bloodie sacrifice the value but of halfe a drop denying the same to haue satisfied Gods iustice for temporall paine all the rest you claime for the treasure of the Popish Church which dreame was neuer hard of before the Iubilie graunted by Boneface the 8. in the glosse wherof it was first deuised where it is saied that pardons are founded vpon the merits of Christ and taken out of it Passio namque Christi excessiua fuit vnde excessus vocatur in Luca vbi dicitur quod in transfiguratione Christi apparuerunt Moses Elias cùm eo dicebans excessum quem completurus erat in Ierusalem vnica enim guita sanguinis tam preciost suffecisset pro redemptione totiu mundi Nam propter coniunctionem humanitatis cùm diuinitate 〈◊〉 passio Christi perpessa pro redemptione nostra habebat precium infinitum Noluit autem Christus quod excessus isie frustra fuisset quod de nihilo nobis 〈◊〉 sed volait quod esset Thesaurus Ecclesiae per suum vicarium Ro pontificem pro fidelibus loco tempore dispensandus dispensatur autem cum eis indulgentiae conceduntur For the passion of Christ was excessiue whereof also in Saint Luke it is called an excesse where it is said that in the transfiguration of Christ appeered Moses and Elias with him and they spake of the excesse which he should fullfil at Ierusalem For one drop of so precious blood might haue sufficed for the redemption of the wholl worlde For because of the coniunction of the humanity with the diuinitie neuer so small a suffering of Christ suffered for our redemption had an infinit price But Christ would not that this excesse should be in vaine and that it should serve vs for nothing but he would that it should be the treasure of the Church to be bestowed by his vicar the Bishop of Rome in time and place for the faithfull and it is bestowed when pardons are graunted to thē Marke vpon what text this treasure is grounded and how clarkely it is expounded Moses and Elias talked with Christ of his departure out of this life which he should finish at Ierusalem this departure being termed in the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Latine excessum this Doctor interpreteth to be an excesse or superfluitie of the passion of Christ the ouerplus whereof lest it should be in vaine and serue for nothing is made the treasure of the Church to be dispensed by the pope But who wil graunt such excesse or superfluitie of the passion of Christ as you imagine or that neuer so small a suffering of Christ had beene sufficient for the redemption of the wholl worlde which if it were graunted seeing Christ from his infancie snffered many things for vs euerie one of them might haue beene our redemption and so the sacrifice of Christs death was vnnecessarie for our redemption So that his blood shed in his circumcision and much more in his scourging crowning with thorne had bin infinitely more thē enough although he had not suffered death and shed his blood on the crosse Againe as it doth moste excellentlie set forth the iustice and mercie of God to the euerlasting comfort of the faithfull that Christ by his obedience and suffering did moste perfectlie satisfie the one and moste plentifullie purchase the other to the eternall redemption and euerlasting felicitie of all Gods elect so it is against the iustice of god that he should require that his sonne should suffer infinitlie more then was needeful to answere his iustice work a perfect redēption as this glossary dreame of the Popish Churches treasure doth imagine Neither doth the argument of the coniunction of the humanitie with the diuinitie prooue anie such matter But if that were graunted by what scripture is the infinite ouerplus made a treasure of
effectuall in all mens cases that no man can follow Christ herein that his blood should be shed for remission of sinnes or the paine due for the same And verie excellentlie writeth Leo the first Bishop of Rome against the blasphemies of Nestorius and Eutiches concerning the effect of martirs suffrings in these wordes Dicant quo sacrificio reconciliati dicant quo sanguine sint redempti Quis est vt ait Apostolus qui tradidit seipsum pro nobis oblattonem hostiam Deo in odorem suauitasis Aut quod vnquam sacrificium sacratius fuit quam quod verus aeternvs pontisex altari crucis per immolationem fuae carnis imposuit Quamuis enim multorum sanctorum in conspectu domini pretiosa mors fuerit nullius tamen insontis occisio redemptio fuit mundi Acceperunt iusti non dederunt coronas de for titudine fidelium exempla nata sunt patientiae non dona iustitiae Singulares quippe in singulis mortes fuerunt nec alterius quisquam debitum suo fine persoluit cum inter filios hominum vnus solus dominus noster Iesus Christus qui verè erat agnus immaculatus extiterit in quo omnes crucifixi omnes mortui omnes sepulti omnes sunt etiam suscitati de quibus ipse dicebat Cum ex altatus fuero à terra omnia traham ad meipsum Fides enim vera iustificannimpios creans iustos ad humanttatis suae 〈◊〉 a participem in illo acquit it salutem in quo solo homo se inuenit innocentem liberum habens per gratiam deide potentia eius gloriari qui contra hostem humani generis in carnis no sirae humilitate congressus his victoriam suam tribuit in quorum corpore triumphauit Let them tell by what sacrifice they be reconciled with what blood they be redeemed who it is as the Apostle saith which gaue himselfe for vs an oblation and sacrifice of sweete sauour vnto God or what sacrifice was euer more holie then that which the true and eucrlasting high Priest laid vpon the altar of the crosse by the sacrificing of his owne stesh For although the death of manie Saintes hath beene precious in the sight of the Lord yet the slaughter of no giltles person was the redemption of the world The iust men haue receiued they haue not giuen crownes and of the valeantnes of the faithful are growne examples of patience not gifts of righteousnes For the deathes in euerie one were singular nei ther did anie man by his end paie the debt of another seeing among the sonnes of men there was but one alone our Lord Ie sus Christ which was truelie the immaculate lambe in whom all are crucified all dead all buried all also raised againe Of whome he himseife said when I shall be exalted from the earth I will draw all things vnto my selfe For true faith which iustifieth vngodlie men and maketh them iust being drawne to the partaker of his humanitie obteineth saluation in him in whome alone man findeth himselfe innocent hauing libertie by the grace of God to boast of his power which encountring with the enemie of mankinde in the basenes of our flesh giueth the victorie to them in whose bodie he triumphed If the Romish Antichristes that followed Leo the Bishop of Rome in place had followed and allowed this his doctrine they would neuer haue deuised nor manteined this encrease of their treasure by the merites and sufferings of Saints whose martirdome profited the Church by the examples of patience to the confirming of faith not communicating of Iustice to the en crease of merite Whose deathes were singular and proper to them-selues to receaue the crownes of glory which Christ had merited for them not common by waie of desert to gaine crownes for other or to satisfie for the debt of other For that was the power efficacie and effect of the onelie sacrifice of our sauiour Iesus Christ to satisfie for the sinnes of his people and to purchase the crowne of eternal glory for them The conformitie therfore of the members vnto the head in suffering and the suffering of Christ in his members prooueth no satisfaction necessarie to be wrought by the members to make the passion of the head effectual for them that are saued and much lesse the want of workes satisfactorie in some to be recompensed by the aboundance of paines penance in other neither doth Saint Paul confesse anie such thing whose sufferings did otherwise benefite the Church then by satisfying for the paine due to other that wanted workes satisfactorie Neither doth the communion of Saints fauour anie such in which all power of spirituall life by ioynts and sinewes is conueied from the head to the members euerie member yeldeth to the rest the dutie of loue and seruice which is appointed vnto it But to satisfie for an others sinnes is not the office of anie member of the Church neither hath S. Paul where you quote or anie where els either the wordes or meaning of anie such merite or satisfaction of anie man for himselfe much lesse for other The ordinarie ministrie of men for such end purposes as it is ordeined of God is to be thankefully embraced but he hath no where appointed men to sacrifice or satisfie his iustice for sinne albeit he hath committed to men the worde of reconciliation the keies of the kingdome of heauen to keepe and exercise his sheep to feed his mysteries to bestowe and full power to binde and loose according to his worde and not according to their affection will and pleasure ALLEN Let no man maruell that in such a face of Gods iustice as we see by the inioyning of great penance in the Church after sinnes be remitted and by Gods own often scourgies temporal both in this world and the next let no man I saie maruell that yet there be waies of Gods mercie and meanes through the ministerie of man to turne awaie the wrath of our Lord and by other helpes to satisfie his iustice againe Onelie let the partie in all his insufficiencie be zealous deuous and diligent as he maie and God himselfe will a thousand waies seeke of his owne mercie to satisfie himselfc with his sonnes paines applied by the trauaile of other the faithfull that haue beene and be in his Church to the helpe and releife of that member that hath nothing left but loue and the felowship of holie Saints whereby he maie craue mercie and pardon Let them consider that doubt of this point howe often God hath as it were determined to plague the people of Israell which he chese to be his peculiar and yet in the midst of his decree and iustice hath giuen mercie and grace at Moses and Aarons requests Yea how often he hath as it were procured the iust to stand betwixt him and the people whome he meant to punish Mansuetum habemus dominum solùm occastonem arripere vult mox omnem praese
Ierusalem he thus mooueth himselfe to mercie Circuite vias Ierusalem a spicite considerate quaerite in plateis eius an inuenias virum facientem iudicium quaerentem fidem propitius ero ei Looke round about the citie and veiw the streets thereof and haue good consideration whether anie one maie be found there that doth instice and studeth after faithfullnes and I will haue mercie on the Citie In the fift of Ieremie Where you maie perceiue that God wil forgiue all for ones desertes and that the good workes of one maie by Gods iustice supplie the lacke of manie other not yet to deliuer anie man from euerlasting damnation that is impenitent and therefore in case and state of eternall death For the worke of the faithfull can not extend to do good to such as be for euer separated from their fellowship and therfore can be no members of the common bodie in the firme knot whereof onelie their is mutuall health and healpe among such as partlie lacke and partly do abound for release of the rodde of temporall correction that is often laied vpon the children and not of anie eternall punishment that onelie happeth to such as be separated and cut of effectuallie from Christes bodie which is the Church for euer FVLKE You continue still in Chrysostomes argument but you follow neither his wordes nor his meaning for he speaketh neither of meriting nor satisfying For his wordes are these immediatlie following that which I haue last rehearsed Haec nos Saepe facimus famulos qui peccauerunt dignos suppliciis nolentes punire neque à supplicij metu liberari anico iubemus vt illos è nostris eripiant manibiatque vt ita timor illorum in eis crescat nostra effugiant verbera Hoc Deus fecit Et quòd hoc sit verīs ex ipsis verb is manifestum est Dimitte me inquit irascar Etenim nullus remittit qui punire vult tuncenim irascimur Ipse autem dicit dimitte me irascar vt scias quodirain Deo non sit affectio sed pana in nos eo vocabulo nominetur Quando igitur audis Mosem dicentem siquidem dimittis pecceatum dimitte prae seruo Dominum obstupesee quod ipse fibi ipsi miserecordiae occasionem quaerit Non hîc autem solum hoc fecit sed ad Ieremiam ad Ezechielem idem hoc dicit circuite videte in viis Hierusalem num sit qui faciat iudicium insticiam miserieors ero cis Vidisti misericordiam Multietiam impij vnius virture simul fruuntur Multorum autem malitia quamuis vnus sit qui rectè agat in medio magni populi non 〈◊〉 Sed vnes quidem homo rectè viuens populum integrumeri pere potest ab ira Dei. Ciuitas autem integra per nersaque in suam poenam supplicium attrahere bene viuentem dietecre non potest Et hoc de Noe manifestum Pereuntibus enim omnibus solus seruatus est Et de Mose clarum est Solus enim potuit tanto populo impetrare veniam This doe we also oftentimes and being nether willing to punish our seruants worthie of punishment which haue offended nor to deliuer them from the feare of punishmēt we bid our friends that they should deliuer them out of our handes and that so their feare maie increafe in them and they maie auoide our stripes This did god also that this is true it is manifest out of the verie wordes Let me alone saith he and I will be angrie for no man relenteth that will punish for then we are angrie But he saith let me alone and I will be angrie that thou maiest know that anger in God is no affection but punishment toward vs is named by that terme Therefore when thou hearest Moses saying If thou doest forgiue this sin forgiue it wonder at the Lord in comparison of the seruant that he him selfe seeketh vnto him selfe occasions of mercie Neither did he this thing here onelie but also vnto Ieremie and Ezechtel he saith the same thing go round about and see in the waies of Ierusalem whether there be anie that doth iudgement and iustice and I will be mercifull vnto them Hast thou seene his mercie manie also vngodlie persons enioy the vertue of one man together And by the malice of manie although there be but one that doth well in the middest of a great people he doth not fall But one man truelie liuing well maie deliuer a whole people from the wrath of God but a wholl communaltie that is peruerse cannot draw into their paine and punishment him that liueth well nor cast him downe And this is manifest of Noe for when all perished he alone was preserued And of Moses it is cleere For he alone was able to obteine pardon for so great a people In all these wordes here is no mention or meaning of merit or satisfaction but onelie of mercie as appeereth in the example of men requiring their friendes to deliuer their seruants from punishment where not the worthines of the friendes can be the cause but the mercie of the Master Againe he speaketh of the auoiding of temporall plagues in this life whereof euen the vngodlie and they that perteine not to the communion of Saints often times are partakers which proceedeth of the loue of God towards his children and not of their merite which you confesse can not extend to them that be for euer separated from their fellowship ALLEN Neither doe the desertes onelie of the liuing helpe the necessitie of their fellow members being yet aliue but such as bedead also doe communicate in their workes with their brethren yet abiding in this world And God of his singular mercy is often contented to be answered by them for their poore fellow seruants that be indebted so far in the Church that they be not hable in their owne persons to dscharge their owne debt nor come out of the same whereof the said Saint Chrysostome doth excellentlie well consider in these wordes of his sermon de poenitentia mihi autem saieth he aliud maius est diuinae misericordiae iudicium quod dicam Cum enim non inuenis homines viuos fiducia praeditos qui possint intercedendo veniam obtinere confugit ad defunctos per illos inquit se remissurum peccata Ezechiae enim dicit protegam ciuitatem hanc propter me propter Dauid puerum meum Olim enim mortuus erat Dauid That is to saie I haue yet a plainer and greater token of Gods mercie which I will shew you For when he findeth none aliue that be of confidence which might by intercession procure pardon he turneth to the departed and saieth he will remit sins for their sakes For he spake to Ezechias thus I will defend this citie for my owne sake and my child Dauids sake and yet Dauid was dead long afore FVLKE This place of Chrysostome followeth immediately
though vnperfect as they proceede from vs vnpure and vnworthie vessells yet neuerthelesse to be acceptable before God vnto rewarde which he giueth of meere mercie and not of merite or deserte Therefore there is no shadow for Popish pardons to shroude themselues vnder the winges of the good workes of Saintes which are the fruites of faith to declare them to be iustified not anie cause by which in the sight of God they can appeare iust and much lesse be able to iustifie other ALLEN Would God euerie man could feele how happie a thing it is to dwell as brethren together in the house of God vnder the appointed Pastours of that familie in which onelie Gods fauour is euerlastinglie found that they might therewith be partakers of all their workes that feare God might haue some sense and taste of that holie ointment of Gods spirite and gift of his grace that first was vpon the head of this householde our Master Christ Iesus and then dropped downe abundantly to his beard euen to the verie beard of Aaren whereby as S. Augustine saith the holie Apostles be signified and by them is ishued downe to the homme of Christes coate and imbrued all the borders of his garments that euerie one of the felowship might receiue benefite and feele the verdure thereof Quoniam 〈◊〉 mandauit Dominus benedictionem vitam vsque in seculum For in this happie felowship onlie our Lord bestoweth his manifold blessinges and life for euermore Amen FVLKE Who so looketh for sense from anie other fountaine or beginning then from the head alone shall feele no more then a stone But who so thorough faith is become a liuelie member of the mystical body of Christ by the operation of his holie spirite shall vndoubtedlie haue a moste sweete feeling of that moste happie spirituall coniunction of himselfe first vnto the heade which is Christ then vnto his bodie which is the Church and maie cheerefullie sing with Dauid Beholde how good and pleasant a thing it is that breethren dwel together But such is the abundance of grace and vertue in the head Christ that he seeketh not for merite or desert in himselfe or in anie of his fellow members although he receiue the gracious ointment of spirituall doctrine as S. Augustine doth expound it flowing from Christ to his Apostles and from them into all parts of his Church by which he is not taught to trust in himselfe or to depend vpon other mens merits or pardons but to repose the wholl hope of his saluation deliuerance from the wrath of God in the merites and satisfaction of Iesus Christ his heade towhome with the father and the holy ghost be euerlasting praise of our redemption reconciliation saluation glorification in his holie Church and felowship of Saints throughout all generations world without ende Amen God be praysed for euer AN APOLOGIE OF THE PROFESSORS OF THE GOSPEL IN FRAVNCE AGAINST THE RAILING DECLAMATION OF PEter Frarine a Louanian turned into English by Iohn Fowler Written by William Fulke AN APOLOGIE AGAINST THE RAILING DECLAMATION OF PETER FRARINE IT is pitie that the president of the Quodlibeticall disputations of Louane had no more discretion then to propounde in steede of exercises of learning a question perteining to the estate and doeings of other people with whome neither the speaker nor the hearers had any thing to doe neither were hable by knowledge of their affaires to discearne the cause nor by authoritie of their place to decide the controuersie But seeing they are disposed otherwise then wise men woulde be to be curious in a foraine common wealth and Fowler hath fantafied that the same also may apperteine to England which in Flaunders was de claimed against Fraunce Let vs see what Peter Frarine bringeth which may concerne the comon cause of religion where in they of France against whome he hath shot his bolt doe agree with vs in England First he saith as moste wicked persons they haue disturbed religion and peace A grieuous accusation But where is the proofe The question of religion he leaueth to be handled of others the deciding whereof neuerthelesse would purge the persons accused for the most part of the other crime of disturbance of peace Well the respōdent is not to be blamed that standeth vpon that question which according to the custome of the schoole was propounded to be the argument of his talke at that time And therefore he wil open declare first that there was no cause or iust occasion why these men should rise and make insurrection Then that they tooke weapon in hand without authoritie contrarie to law and in dispite of all Magistrates and Rulers Last and finallie that they vsed themselues to cruellie handled their sworde to bloodelie to the greatest dammage hindrance and losse that euer was felt in Christendome These are the diuisions of the circle with in which the orator hath inclosed himselfe But al these points so farre as they concerne the troubles in France are fullie and directlie confuted by all the edictes of pacification giuen forth to the knowledge of the world by Charles the ninth and Henrie the third Kings of Fraunce in which they haue alwaies acknowledged that the Protestants vpon iust cause with sufficient authoritie and in their seruice and to their honour haue put them selues in armes and done whatsoeuer the necessitie of warre lawfullie taken in hande hath inforced them to doe Then iudge whether against the publike testimonie of two Kings whome the matter moste concerned and that more then once or twise repeted I need to stand in the cōfutation of Peter Frarines petty priuate declamation Notwithstanding although I haue with one hatchet hewen a sunder the wholle stoke of this rayling oration yet I will not spare to brattell out the bowes and branches thereof in answering to euerie particular quarrell and cauil of the same There was not anie good or reasonable cause saith he why the founders and brokers of this new Gospell should be driuen to put them-selues in armes against the Catholikes See how the vaine declaimer which refused before to handle the question of religion now taketh vpon him most arrogantlie to decide the same For if the Protestantes be founders and brokers of a new Gospell and the Papistes be good Catholikes there is no cause why they should once open their mouthes against the Papistes much lesse arme them-selues as he said they did against the Catholikes But if this matter pertaine to the question of religion the debating whereof is not presentlie intended let vs pardon him these preiudiciall tearmes as well now as hereafter and consider onelie what reasons he bringeth to prooue his purpose No lawes ought to be chaunged with out great cause least of all the lawes of religion So farre we both agree but there is great cause to change lawes ofreligion when Antichristes decrees haue displaced the lawes of God the onelie rule of true religion Yet saith he