1. Kinges 18.22 I even I only remaine a Prophet of our Lord. And in the next Chap. v. 10. I even I only am left which again he repeates v. 14. I answer that at lest he is told presently by God v. 18. That there were left in Israël seven thousand men whose knees had not bin bowed before Baal And in the former Chapter it is manifest he knew of an hundred Prophets For v. 13. Abdias told him I hidd of the Prophets of our Lord an hundred men by fifty and fifâ—y in caves Wherefore he knew well that there were many faithfull amongst whom so many Prophets were known to him yea hence it is cleare that he was not the only Prophet left Wherefore those words I only I remaine a Prophet of our Lord are to be understood thus I only I remaine a Prophet standing openly to oppose theyr fury amongst the Apostated Tribes of Israël For Elias knew full well that not all the Children of Israël but only tenne Tribes were faln from God 1. Kinges 12. He knew allso that the still faithfull Tribe of Iuda including Benjamin afforded Roboam an hundred and four seore thousand chosen men to fight against the other revolted tenne Tribes v. 21. which is again repeated 2. Chron. 11. with a notable declaration how much the true Church even then florished in Iuda and Benjamin Roboam himselfe building fifteene cities inclosed with walls And v. 13. the Preestes and Levits that were in all Israël resorted to him out of all theyr coasts And v. 16. Of all the Tribes of Israël whosoever had given theyr heartes to seeke theyr Lord God of Israêl came into Ierusalem to sacrifice and they strengthned the Kingdome of Iuda All this Elias knew very well and also that which follows to witt that Asa reigned over all Iuda in all pietie and peace 2. Chron. 14. And he built other fenced cities in Iuda And v. 8. Asa had of Iuda an army of three hundred thousand and of Benjamin two hundred eighty thousand And he defeated tenn hundred thousand Ethiopians And 2. Chr. 17. Iosaphat who lived in the day 's of Elias was yet greater then Asa his Father both in piety and power For v. 10. The Dread of our Lord came about all the Kingdomes of the Lands that were about Iuda Neither durst they make battell against Iosaphat And he built many strong cities and stupendious was the number of his forces v. 14. of Iudath under Abnath Three hundred thousand and two hundred eighty thousand under Iohanan And two hundred thousand under Amasias And two hundred thousand under Ehada And two hundred eighty thousand under Iosobad All these make Eleven hundred thousand and sixty thousand soldiers And yet the Scripture sayth All these were at the hand of the King besides others whome he had putt in Walled cities in Iuda Behold the Iewish Church even at her lowest ebbe Christ's Church is the Mistris and of higher dignity Wherefore at all times after her beginning you must find me at lest as many visible Professors of her doctrine as the Iewish Church had in her meanest coÌ„ditioÌ„ For the new testameÌ„t is established in far better promisses Heb. 8.6 As also appeares by the texts which here shall be cited All which texts coÌ„vince such a perpetuall coÌ„spicuous and visibly florishing state at all times that no church differing from the RomaÌ„ caÌ„ be shewed to have had any thing like it 3. The other only considerable objection is that perhapes these promises made by God to his Church concerning his allwaise protecting her were made upon this condition that he would do this if she should persever to keep his commandments for so all his promises to David and Salomon are made I answer that it is evideÌ„t that some promises which feeme made to them and their posterity are not to be litterally understood of their posterity according to flesh but as they by grace be sonnes of Christ who was the sonne of David And diverse of these promises are made so absolutly that absolutely they admit of no such condition Take for proof hereof that convincing Text Ps 89.4 I have made a covenant with my chosen I have sworne to David my servant thy seed will I establish for ever and I will build up thy throne to all generations All which is only verified in Christ Who in his Church hath giveÌ„ hâ—m the seate of David his father and he shall reigne in the house of Iacob for ever and of his Kingdome there shall be no end As the Angel sayd Luke 1.32 After this promise of everlasting perpetuity to his Church lest any ony should thinke his promises might be made void by any sins of hers or to be made only upon condition of theyr walking in his commandments he addeth in the same Ps v. 29. And I will putt him the first begotteÌ„ high aboue the kings of the earth I will keepe my mercy unto him for ever and my Testament faithfull unto him I will putt his seede for ever and ever and his throne as the days of heaven But if his Children shall forsake my law this can not be possibly in your doctrine spoken of the Elect and will not walke in my Iudgments If they will prophane my Iustices and not keep my commandments I wil visit theyr iniquities with a Rod and theyr sinnes with stripes But my loving kindness I will not take a way from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail My covenant will I not break nor the thing which is gone out of my Lips Once I have sworn in my holy if I ly to David his seed shall continue for ever And his throne as the Sun in my sight and as the Moon perfect for ever This Text speakes home to prove what I inteÌ„d to witt that these promises be made upon Christ The son of David the son of Abraham Matth 1.1 and as S. Paul teacheth that only those who believe in Christ be the rue children of Israël and Abraham so they only be the true children of David and concerning them is verified the promise which as is here sayed for no fins of theirs shall ever be frustrated Not as though the word of God had takeÌ„ no effect but they that are the Children of the Promisse are counted for the seed Rom. 9.6 4. And in this sense the Sacred Text speakes 2. Sam. 7.16 And thine house and thy Kingdome shall be established for ever before thee thy throne shall be established for ever According to all these wordes did Nathan speake to David So Psalm 72.5 They shall feare thee as long as the Sun and Moone endure through out all generations He shall have dominion allso from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the Earth In whom can these Texts of Scripture be verified but in Christ ever raigning in his Church diffufed even in a florishing condition over the face of the earth According to what is sayd Luke 1.32 The Lord God shall give
him the throne of his father David And he shall reigne over the house of Iacob for ever by having still the Kingdome of his Church consisting of those true Israëlits of whom S. Paul spoak and of his Kingdom or Church there shall be no end 5. Isaias every where is very full to this purpose Chap. 49. v. 14. And Sion sayd our Lord hath forsaken me and our Lord hath forgotten me Why can a woeman forget her infant that she will not have pitty on the Sonne of her wombe And if she should forgett yet I will not forgett thee Behold I have written thee in my handes And again Ch 54. v. 9. As in the day 's of Noë is this thing to me to whome I swore I would bring in no more the waters of Noë upon the earth so have I sworne not to be angry with thee nor to rebuke thee For the mountaines shall sooner be moved and hills tremble But my mercy shall not depart from thee and the covenant of my peace shall not be moved sayd our Lord thy Miserator Poore litle one shaken with tempest with out all comfort behold I wil lay thy stones in order and will found thee in Saphires and I will put the Iaspar stone for thy munitions Again Ch. 60. v. 15. I will make thee the pride of worlds a Ioy unto generation and generation v. 18. Iniquity shall be no more heard in thy land wast and destruction in thy borders and saluation shall occupy thy walls and prayse thy gates Thow shalt have no more the Sunne by Day neither shall the brightness of the Moon illighten thee these are to meane lightes for thee but the Lord shall be to thee an Everlasting light and thy Lord God for thy glory Thy Sunne shall go down no more and thy Moone shall not be diminished because the Lord shall be unto thee an euerlasting light and the dayes of thy mourning shall be ended Again Ch. 61.6 You shall eate the strength of Gentils and in theyr glory You shall be proude Everlasting Ioy shall be to theÌ„ I will give theyr worke in truth and make a Perpetuall Covenant with them And they shall know theyr seed in the Gentills Al that shall see them shall know that these are the seed which the Lord hath blessed Again 62.3 Thou shallt be a crowne of glorie in the hand of our Lord and the Diademe of a Kingdome in the hand of thy God Thou shalt no more be called forsaken and thy land shall be called no more Desolate But thou shalt be called my will in her aÌ„d thy laÌ„d inhabited because it hath well pleased our lord in thee and thy land shall be inhabited Thy God shall rejoyce upoÌ„ thee upoÌ„ thy walls IerusaleÌ„ I have placed watchmeÌ„ all the day and all the night for euer they shall not hold theyr peace See here the continuall visibility of the church in her watchmeÌ„ and Pastours of which consequently there must be a perpetuall successioÌ„ And v. 8. Our lord hath sworne by his right hand and by the arme of his strenght if I shall give thy wheate any more to be meate to thy enimies and if the straÌ„ge ChildreÌ„ shall drinke thy wine And he concludeâ—h v. 12. Thou shalt be called a citty sought for and not forsaken That the true Church allso shall have a perpetuall successioÌ„ of Priests and Levites is cleerly expressed in the last chapter of Isaias in wich after the Prophet had named Africa Lidia Italy Greece and the Ilands a farr of he addeth v. 21. And I will take of them to be Priests and Levites sayth our lord for as the new heaveÌ„s and the new earth which I make to stand before me so shall staÌ„d the seed of your name Note that these Levites be now not by birth but by electioÌ„ ordeyned to be such out of severall couÌ„tries Italy Greece and other IlaÌ„ds which names your bible avoids to traÌ„slate 6 S Ieremy is no lesse copious C 30. v. 11. Though I make a full end of al natioÌ„s yet I will not make a full eÌ„d of thee but I will correct thee in measure The church indeed may be chastised for a while but never be brought to consuÌ„matioÌ„ For C. 31.35 Thus sayth our lord that giveth the Sunn for the light of the day the order of the moone and the starrs for the light of the night c. If these laws shall faile before me sayth our lord theÌ„ also the seed of Israël shall faile froÌ„ beeing a natioÌ„ before me for ever If the heaveÌ„s aboue shall be able to be measured and the fuÌ„datioÌ„s of the earth to be searcht out I also will cast a way al the seed of Israël Again C. 32.38 And they shall be my people and I will be theyr God and I will give theÌ„ one heart and one way that they may feare me all days and it may be well with theÌ„ and with theyr childreÌ„ after theÌ„ And I will not cease to doe theÌ„ good And I will make an Everlasting covenaÌ„t with theÌ„ And I will giue my feare in theyr heart that they may not reuolt froÌ„ me Again C. 33.14 Behold the days will come sayth our lord and I will rayse up the good word that I haue spoakeÌ„ to the house of Israël in that time I will make the spring of Iustice to budd forth unto Dauid and he shall doe IudgmeÌ„t and Iustice on the earth This sayth our Lord there shall not fayle of Dauid a man to sitt upon the throne of the house of Israël Christ must successively have his vicar or vicegereÌ„t in al ages aÌ„d of the priests aÌ„d leuites theyr shall not fayle before my face a maÌ„ to offer holocaustes and to burne sacrifices and to kill victimes all days Behold a successioÌ„ of lawful Priests still offering sacrifices expressed by the Priests and sacrifices as were then only known Again it followeth and the word was made to Ierimy saying if my covenaÌ„t with the day caÌ„ be made voide allso my covenant may be made voide with Dauid my seruaÌ„t that there may be not of him a sonne a vicar or vicegereÌ„t to reigne in his throne aÌ„d the leuites aÌ„d priests my ministers yea v. 22. eueÌ„ as the stars in heaueÌ„ caÌ„ not be nuÌ„bred aÌ„d the saÌ„d of the sea be meÌ„sured so will I multiplie the seed of David my servant and the Levites my Ministers Whence it is evident that the number of lawfull Priests by lawfull mission and ordination shall not only never fayle but allso never fayle to be a great number There followeth again in the same Chapter the formeâ— Covenant repeated once more 7. Ezechiel allso speakes very home Ch. 34.22 I will save my flock and it shall be no more into spoyle and will rayse up over them one Pastour who shall Leade them my servent David he shall feed them and he shall be theyr Pastour And I the Lord will be theyr God and my servant David the Prince of them
And v. 28. And they shall be no more a spoyle to the Gentills Againe Ch. 37. v. 23. Neither shall they be polluted any more in theyr Idolls and I will cleanse them and they shall be my people and I theyr God and my servant David King over them and theyr shall be one Pastour over them all They shall walke in my Iudgments and they shall keepe my commandments and they shall doe them and they shall dwell on the Land which I gave to my servant Iacob themselves and theyr Children and theyr Childrens Children Even for Ever And David my servant Prince for ever And I will make a peace to them an Everlasting Covenant shall be to them and I wâ—ll found them and wil multiply them and will give my sanctification in the middest of them for Ever and the very last verse of the last Chapter The name of the Citty from that Day Our Lord there 8. Clearly allso Daniel Ch. 2. v. 44. In the days of those Kingdomes the God of heaven shall rayse us a Kingdome that shall not be dissipated for ever But still continue in quality of a Kingdome and this Kingdome shall not be delivered to another people and it shall consume all the Idolatrous Kingdomes and it shall stand for ever in quality of a Kingdome There is litle need to passe to the New Testament the old sufficing if any thing will suffice Of Christs Gospell S. Paul says 2. Cor. 4.3 If our Ghospell be hid it is hid to them that are lost Either you must confess your selves lost men or you must say that at no Time Christs Ghospell lay hid so as you could not tell who professed it I insist not in the known places as that the Church Matth. 16.18 Is built upon a Rock that the Gates of Hell shall not provaile against it Again it is evident that she must still be visible in all ages that we may still at any time Tell the Church and heare her Matth. 18.17 and be still fedd by her Doctrine and Sacraments For these be the two essentiall markes of a true Church as Protestants say Hence Ephes Chap. 4 v. 11 He gave some Apostles some Prophets and other some Evangelists and other some Pastors and Doctors c. untill we meete al in the unity of faith which will not be till the worlds end These be the light of the world still sett upon the candlestickes never hidd under a busshel Matth. 5.14 A Cittie upon a hill still to be seen And though the mustard seede was the lest at the beginning yet in the growing it proves a Tree and all fowles repaire to it Matth. 13.32 Yea this must be a Church perpetually continuing in such reverence to our B. Lady that her words must be fullfilled Luc. 1.48 All generations shall call me blessed And v. 33. Her Sonne shall retgne in the house of Iacob for ever and of his Kingdome there shall be no end And so himselfe sayth to his Apostles Matth. 28.20 Behold I am with you all Days even to the consummation of the world His Apostles were not to be in the world even to the end of the world The promise therefore is to be with them in the persons of such as should succed them in teaching and preaching c. Again in the like sense he sayth Iohn 14.16 And he will give another Paraclete that he may abide with you for ever All these Texts demonstrate what we have undertaken to prove And hence it doth unavoidably follow that the Chureh must in all ages have a continuall succession of true Preachers of the word of God and true administration of Sacraments for these two things even according to the 39. Articles of the Church of England are the two essentiall signes or notes of a true Church which must ever accompany her in all ages And if a Church be as S. Cyprian sayth a flock adhering to ther shepherd then as in all ages there is a flock of Christ so there must be a shepherd to whom this flock may and must adhere And therefore a lawfull succession of true Pastors must needs in all ages be found in the Church at lest without any considerable interruption And this is expressed in severall texts here cited Now ponder that this is to be found in no Church but the Roman See more the next Point THE FOVRTH POINT Of the vniversality and vast extent of this perpetuall Church which also must be the converter of Gentiles This no Church differing from the Roman ever was 1. IF the Church were to remaine perpetually in any very small extent or bignesse perhaps we might heare litle newes of her in some ages But te true Perpetuall Church foretold to be in all ages in the Texts now cited is likewise in Scripture no lesse clearly foretold to be in all ages so universally spread aÌ„d so visibly numerous that the very recitall of these Texts is enough to put quite out of countenance any other Church but the Romane especially being that this true Church is so manifestly said to gaine this her vast extent by the multitude of Gentiles which she is to convert to her A thing which evidently must be verified in the true Church and yet is is evideÌ„t that this only is verified in the Roman Church that is no Church but such as was ioyned to her in communion euer converted any one parish of Gentiles 2. The Texts which evidence this vast extent of the true Church are Gen. 13.16 I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth And C. 15. v. 5. Looke up to heaveÌ„ and number the stars if thou canst And he sayd to him so shall thy seed be Again Chap. 22.16 By my owne selfe I have sworne sayth the Lord I will blesse tbee and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is by the sea And in thy seed shall be blessed all Nations of the earth Now Saint Paul tells us Romans 9.8 Not they that are the Children of the flesh of Abraham they are the Children of God but they that are the Children of promise are esteemed for the seed And if still you contend that these Texts are only for the Iewish Church you must allso remember that Christs Church is the Mistris she the Handmayd and that as S. Paul sayes The new Testament is established in farre better promises Hebr. 8.6 And must florish farre more then ever the Iewish Synagog did Hence Apoc. 7.5 S. Iohn after twelve thousand of every Tribe of Israël were signed saw a great multitudes which no man could number of all nations Tribes peoples and tongues But let us goe on 3. David Psal 2.8 Aske of me and I will give thee the Gentills for thy inheritance and thy possession to the end of the earth Psal 22.27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and he converted to our Lord. All the Kindreds ef the nations shall adore in his sight Again Psal 72.7
In his Christs dayes shall the righteous florish so long as the Moone endureth And he shall rule from sea to sea and from the River even to the ends of the round world Yea all the Kings of the earth shall adore him and all nations shall serve him Psal 98.3 All the ends of the earth have seene the saluation of our God Of what Church is this true besides the Roman 4. In this point of the multitude of Gentiles to be converted none more eloquēt and copious then the Prophet Isaias Chap. 2. v. 2. And in the later dayes the new Testament is called the last houre 1. Io. 2.18 the mountaine of the house of our Lord shall be prepared in the topp of mountaines and all nations shall flow unto it and he shall judge the Gentills c. Again Ch. 49. v. 1. Listen ô you Ilands and attend you people from a farr And then v. 6. It is a small thing that thou shouldest be my servant to rayse up the Tribes of Iacob and to convert the Dreggs of Israël it is too too poore a thing for Christ to be authour of so small a Church as the Iewish Church was Behold I have given thee to the light of the Gentills that thou mayest be saluation even to the farthest part of the earth Kings shall see and Princes arise and adore for our Lords sake Behold these shall come from farr and behold they from the north and the sea and these from the south country Lift up thy eyes round about and see all these are gathered togeather thy are come to thee And v. 19. Thy desarts and thy solitary places in which no body before served God and the land of thy ruine shall now be straite by reason of the inhabitants And yet shall the Children of the Barrennesse say in thine eares The place is straite for me make me space to dwell Then v. 22. Behold I will lift up my hands to the Gentills and to the people I will exalt my signes And they shall carry thy Sonns in theyr armes and thy Daughters upon theyr shouldiers And Kings shall be thy nurcing fathers and Queenes thy Nurses With a countenance cast downe to the ground they shall adore thee and they shall licke up the dust of thy feet Kings prostrating themselves at the feet of Christs Vicar and kissing them Again Chap. 54.2 Enlarge the place of thy tents and streetch out the skinns of thy Tabernacles for thou shalt penetrate to the right hand and the left And thy seed shall inherit the Gentills and shall inhabite the desolate Cities Here note that these things were spoken to the Iewish Church telling her how much the future glorie of Christs Church should exceede her and so to her the Prophet sayd in the first verse Payse ô barren woeman which barest not sing prayse and make joyfull noyse because many are the Children of the desolate Gentills more then of her that hath a husband To witt the Synagogue to which he had been so long espoused So that it is flatly against Scripture to make the Church of Christ at any time so barren as the Synagogue was in the dayes of Elias Allthough even then she had in the field farr above an eleven hundred thousand men besides many thousands of soldiers in her walled Cities as we shewed Point 3. n. 2. much more is it against Scripture to make her so litle as not to be visibile or known And therefore again Ch. 60. v. 1. Arise be illuminated Hierusalem because thy light is come and the glorie of our Lord is risen upon thee Gentills shall walke in thy light and Kings in the brightnes of thy rising Lift up thine eyes and see round about all these are gathered togeather they are come to thee Thy sonns shall come from a farr and thy daughters shall rise from thy side Then shalt thou see and abound and thy heart shall be enlarged when the multitude of the sea shall be converted to thee The strenght of the Gentills shall come to thee the inundation of Camells shall couer thee v. 10. The Children of strangers shall build thy walls and theyr Kings shall minister to thee and thy gates shall be open continually never shalt thou be invisible for day and night they shall not be shutt that the strenght of the Gentills may be brought to thee for the nation and the Kingdomes that shall not serve thee shall perish What nations can serve yea and be bound under paine of perishing to serve an invisible church again v. 15. I will make thee an eternall excellency a joy unto generation and generation and thou shalt suck the milk of Gentills and thou shalt be nourished with the teate of Kings Again Ch. 62. v. 2. And the Gentills shall see thy Righteousnes and all the Kings thy glory 5. Ieremie allso every where fully Chap. 30.19 I will multiplie them and they shall not be few and I will glorifie them and they shall not be small Christs Church still shal ever containe a vast number of people Again 31.34 And a man shall no more teach his neightbour and a man his brother saying know our Lord for all shall know me from the lest of them to the greatest sayth our Lord Thus sayth our Lord that gives the Sun for the light of the day the order of the Moone and Starrs for the light of the night If these laws shall faile before me sayth our Lord then allso the seed of Israël shall faile that it be not a nation for ever before me This text cometh convincingly home to prove that this universality shall be perpetuall and no more faile in any age then the light of the Sunne and Moone As long as they last this Church shall be a flourishing Nation for ever For again v. 37 Thus sayth our Lord. If the heavens shall be able to be measured and the foundations of the earth beneath to be searched out I allso will cast away all tht seed of Israël And then in a Metaphore of a Citie built upon hills farr distant from one another he sayes this so vastly extended Citie shall not he plucked up and it shall no more be destroyed for ever which is a gallant expression of the perpetual universality of the Church for ever retaining a vast great extent in any ages whatsoever The same follows Ch. 33. v. 20. Thus sayth our Lord if my covenant with the day can be voide and my covenant with the night that there be no day nor night in theyr time allso my covenant may be made voide with David my servant that there be not a sonne of him to reigne in his throne and Levits and Priests my Ministers Even as the Starrs of heaven cannot be numbred and the sand of the sea be measured so will I multiplie the seed of David my servant and the Levits my Ministers Now if the number of Priests Pastours and Teachers shall be so great at all times how great att all times
better not to vow then after a vow not to performe the thing promised For this is a sin as hath been proved by the former unanswerable Text. 3. As for the particular vow of Chastity we have our Saviours owne words Matth. 19.12 And there be Eunuchs who have made themselves Eunuchs for the Kingdome of heaven Those geld themselves for the Kingdome of heaven who vow Chastity sayth S. Aug. de Virg. c. 27. For by vow they make themselves as it were impotent for marriage And the doing this for the Kingdome of heaven is a cleare proofe that this state doth much further towards obteyning heaven Again both voluntary Poverty and Chastity are particularly rewarded by our Lord. Luc. 18.29 There is no man who hath left either house parents or wyfe for the Kingdome of God Note still how Chastity furthers towards the Kingdome of God who shall not receave manifold more at this present time and in the world to come lyfe everlasting Here I find a reward for leaving a wyfe shew me a reward for marrying one 4. S. Paul is most cleare 1. Cor. 7.25 As concerning Virgins a command of our Lord I have not yet I give my judgement or counsel can you give better counsel or judgement which is Art thou loosed from a wyfe seeke not a wyfe Why so It follows v. 32. He that is without a wyfe is carefull of the things that pertaine to our Lord how he may please God Note still how Chastity conduces to the gaining heaven But he thas is with a wyfe is carefull of the things that pertaine to the world The Virgin thinketh of things that pertaine to our Lord that she may be Holy both in body and spirit But she that is married thinketh of things that pertaine to the world And v. 38. He that joyneth not his Virgin in Matrimony doth better And v. 40. But she is happier if she so abide after my judgment 5. Againe 1. Tim. 5.9 Lett a widdow be chosen which hath beene the wyfe of one husband Here he speaks of the choise of such widdows as then were deputed to the service of the Church in assisting to prepare weomen Cathecumens to Baptisme as allso to serve the sick to administer to the poore especially of theyr owne sex And this they did living under the charge of the Deacons whence they were called Diaconissae S. Paul here sayth he would have none chosen or taken to this kind of state who had been marryed more then to one man Neither doth he permitt them after they have once undertaken this state to marry again That hence you may see evidently how farre he was from permitting Priests to marry again after the state of Priesthood undertaken Heare his discourse c. 5. n. 11. Younger widdows avoyde in this choyce for when they have begun to wax wanton again that is well fedd by Church goods offered to Christ as those widdows were they will marry having damnation because they have cast of theyr first saith Behold here theyr marriage and theyr damnation joyned together and the reason given why they have incurred Kryma damnation or judgment to theyr condemnation to witt because they have cast of theyr first faith This first faith is theyr vow of keeping perpetuall widdowhood according to all Fathers Greeke and Latin who ever did write upon this place sayth the Rhemish Testament here citing allso S. Aug. who together with two hundred and five-tenne Fathers in the fourth Councell of Carthage speaketh thus If any widdows have vowed themselves to God and left theyr laicall habit and under the testimony of the Bishop or Church have appeared in Religious weede and afterwards go any more to secular marriage according to the Apostles sentence they shall be damned because they were so bold as to make voide the faith or promise of Chastity which they vowed to our Lord. And as S. Augustin sayth Heresi 82. Iovinian the Heretike was the first who induced vowed Virgins to marry And l. 3. Retr c. 22. for this his new doctrine he calls him a monster 6. Lett vs go on with S. Paul v. 14.15 I will therefore the younger to marry such as be fraile t◠give no occasion to the adversaries to speake evell for some are allready turned aside after Satan Whence it is evident that breach of vows is damnable even in these yonger widdows who by reason of that breach are sayd to have turned aside or gone after Satan thus making theyr first faith voide 7. I end with that prayse given to Virgins Apoc. 14.4 These are they which follow the Lamb whethersoever he goeth THE XXII POINT Of works of Counsel and supererogation 1. PRotestants deny all works of supererogation that is works which we of our owne selves superadde to our boundē duty and consequently they will have no good worke to be only counseled unto vs but they say we are commanded to do all the good we can Against this errour be allmost all the texts in the former point and particularly the Text I there cited n. 1. out of the Booke of Numbers and what I cited n. 4. out of S. Paul flatly saying Concerning Virgins a commaund of our Lord I have not but Counsel I give And againe art thou loose from a wyfe seeke not a wyfe Is this a commaund Woe then to Ministers marrying when they were free men If it be no commaund what can it be but a Counsel And again He that ioyneth not his Virgin in Matrimony doth better to witt by doing something which you dare not say he is commaunded but which S. Paul once before tould you shee was only counseled And he tells you allso once more that it is only a Counsel More happy sayth he shall shee be if shee remaine so according to my judgment or Counsel Is thine better To the proofe of this point make all those manyfold Texts which in the next point we shall bring to prove how commendable voluntary austerityes be for none of those austerityes be by any precept commaunded but only commended to us and so they be not of precept but of Counsel superadded to what we are commaunded and therefore they be works of supererogation See all those Texts for they be most convincing 2. In the Law of nature I find Iacob freely without being commaunded vowing to build a Church Gen. 28. v. 20. And he vowed a vow saying if God shall keepe me in the way and I shall be returned prosperously to my Fathers house this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be Gods house Which he being safely returned did fullfill c. 35. v. 6. Iacob came to Luza surnamed Bethel and he built there an Altar and called that place the house of God 3. In the Law of Moyses God himselfe giveth a Rule Num. 6.2 To man and woeman who shall separate themselve to vow a vow to separate themselves to our Lord. For those I say who shall separate or consecrate themselves which manner of speach sheweth that