as good right and reason say that hee by the vertue and merit of his death and passion hath enabled men to be The Saviour and Redeemer of the VVorld in their owne persons or to be the Mediator betwixt God and them or challenge anie other right or prerogative whatsoever that properly belongeth to Christ Iesus For what may not men frame fancie or devise out of this if they be so disposed and care not to imagine things at their owne pleasure without anie warrant from God or his word Is it not then a most intolerable boldnesse for anie meere mortal and sinfull men to be so presumptuous as to dare to stand in Christ his place or to challenge to themselves anie part of that high incomparable and peculiar honour that properly belongeth to him who is both God and man and our whole onely and perfect Redeemer I pray tell me what imperfection doe you finde in his satisfaction that it should not content you Are your selves better able to make satisfaction to Gods Iustice for sinnes then hee or is his most precious bloud passion and obedience able to satisfie for eternall paines and punishments and not for temporall Shall he be able to satisfie the greater and not be able to satisfie the lesse or if ye grant him to be able to die doe yee doubt of his willingnesse in that behalfe And if hee were both willing and able neither of which yee can denie what question then should be made in this matter It is true that as touching the ungodly reprobates that be without Christ all calamities afflictions miseries and punishments of this life and even the bodily death it selfe remaine to them in their owne nature and be to them tokens of Gods wrath and of his curse and unappeased displeasure and forerunners of their future certaine and undoubted damnation But to the godly Elect that be in Christ Iesus and that have peace with God and with whom hee is reconciled through Christ no afflictions of this life have in them anie token at all of his irefull and revengefull displeasure or of his unsatisfied Iustice but they are contrariwise tokens of his great love and fatherly affection toward them as is before shewed and are to them forerunners of their future certaine and undoubted salvation For toward Gods children the nature of these things is changed through Christ having no Curse at all but blessednesse in them Insomuch that even death it selfe also which to flesh and bloud seemeth most bitter to them neverthelesse is a most welcome and blessed thing as having the sting of it which is sinne taken away in Christ their Saviour and as being the doore that openeth an immediate passage and entrance to an everlasting life in eternall happinesse For vvee know saith S. Paul in the person of all Gods children that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle be destroyed vvee have a building given of God that is an house not made vvith hands but eternall in the heavens for therefore vvee sigh desiring to be clothed vvith our house which is from heaven And Christ Iesus himselfe speaketh likewise thus Verily verily I say unto you Hee that heareth my vvord and beleeveth him that sent mee hath everlasting life and commeth not into Iudgement but is passed from death into life If then which is a thing here evident assoone as this earthly Tabernacle of their bodies is dissolved all Gods children goe to an eternall heavenly habitation and againe if the godly and faithfull man after the death of the bodie doth in his soule immediatly passe to an eternall life which you likewise here see to be verie manifest for the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the preterperfect tense what is then become of your supposed Purgatorie Doe you not by these Texts perceive that even that also is to bee utterly banished and abolished as a thing fabulous impious and untrue and not to be beleeved 2 But your Church for all that striveth and strugleth to uphold it as being indeed one of the best fires that ever the Pope and his Clergie have had for the heating of their Kitchins and which in respect of the people who are miserably abused with it is not unfitly called Purgatory-Pickepurse inasmuch as it robbeth them of their wealth and substance But let us see what texts of Scripture they chiefelie alledge and relie upon for this purpose First they alledge Mat. 5.25 26 where Christ saith thus Agree with thine adversarie quicklâ—e whilst thou art in the way vvith him lest at anie time thine adversarie deliver thee to the Iudge the Iudg deliver thee to the officer then thou be cast into prison verily I say unto thee thou shalt not come out from thence until thou hast paid the uttermost farthing Howbeit this text is an exhortation perswasion to peace reconciliation concord agreement betwixt man and man in this life least for not observing of this concord agreement it so fall out as often it doth in the world that the debtor be cast into Prison and depart not from thence untill he have paide the utmost farthing But if by this Prison be meant as they would have it a place of punishment after death yet then is there no necessitie for all that to expound it of their Purgatorie for well may it then bee taken for Hell the place of the damned yea then it must needs be so taken inasmuch as there be but two sorts of people namely Elect and Reprobate and answerably to them there bee but two places after death viz. Heaven and Hell for that the soules of Gods Elect goe immediately after their death not into anie such tormenting place as your supposed Purgatorie but into Heaven is beside the former texts evident even by the president of the good Theefe that was crucified with Christ to whom Christ said thus This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise that is in Heaven the place of blessednesse for all Gods Saints and people That this Theefes soule went that verie day into Paradise is a thing expreslie apparant in the Text and that Paradise is Heaven even the Third and higest Heaven the place of glory is also verie manifest because S. Paul himselfe so declareth and expoundeth it What doubt then can there bee in this matter But it is yet further evident by the example of the Rich man and Lazarus For when the Rich man died hee went to Hell the place of Torments for the Reprobate when poore Lazarus dyed he was carried by Angells into Abrahams Bosome that is into Heaven the place of comfort ioy and happinesse for all God elect For that Abrahams bosome must be taken for Heaven and not for that fained place of Limbus Patrum which Papists make to be a part of hell is manifest by this that beside the solace ioy and comfort that is shewed to be in it it is further mentioned and set
the Protestants concerning iustification by this lively faith and not by anie dead faith is such as you can no way dislike that it is so far from making anie carelesse of doing good works that contrariwise it urgeth abetteth perswadeth and provoketh men unto them if they meane or desire to have such a faith as whereby they may be saved But now although the Protestants doe thus rightly teach that this faith and good workes goe together and be inseparable in respect of the person so that he that hath this faith hath also good workes yet in the point of our Iustification in Gods sight and before his Tribunall they are to be distinguished and to be considered apart and not confusedlie because it is Faith onlie and not Workes whereby we apprehend and applie Christ Iesus unto us as our Righteousnesse To understand this the better you must ever remember that Christ Iesus is in verie deed our Righteousnes for so the scriptures doe plentifullie teach and proclaime Our faith is but the hand or instrument whereby we apprehend and applie that righteousnesse unto us and our good workes be the fruits testimonies and declarations both to our selves and other men of that faith in Christ which iustifieth us before God And therefore it is not enough for a man to say hee hath faith but if hee have that true livelie and iustifying faith which he pretendeth he must declare shew it by his workes for so S. Iames saith Ostende mihi fidem tuam ex operibus tuis shew me thy faith by thy vvorkes And agreeablie hereunto S Paul calleth good workes and a sanctified course of life fructus Iustitiae the fruits of righteousnesse So that wee are first righteous by faith in Christ before wee doe or can bring forth these fruits of righteousnes And so S. August likewise teacheth affirming directly that Opera sequuntur Iustificatum non praecedunt Iustificandum Good vvorkes doe follow him that is formerly iustified and doe not goe before him that is afterward to be iustified And this even Christ Iesus also himselfe declareth namelie that the tree must first be good before it can bring forth good fruit By all which it is verie manifest that good works be not causes but fruits effects and consequents of that faith which iustifieth us before God But this is yet further evident because S. Paul saith expresselie that wee are Iustified by faith and so have peace vvith God Hee further excludeth Workes verie directlie and by name from having anie thing to doe in that act of our Iustification Therefore vve conclude saith he that a man is Iustified by faith vvithout the vvorkes of the Law And againe he saith that God imputeth righteousnes vvithout vvorks Againe he saith It is by grace and not of works Rom. 11.6 And againe he saith It is not of vvorkes Rom. 9.11 And againe hee saith By grace are yee saved through faith and that not of your selves for it is the gift of God and not of vvorkes lest any man should boast himselfe In all which places yee may perceive that how requisite or commendable soever good workes be and what good use soever they have yet they bee directlie excluded from being anie cause of our Iustification and salvation in Gods sight and censure And with this also agreeth that saying of S. Paul in his Epistle to the Galathians where he giveth this conclusion saying Yee are all the sonnes of God by faith in Christ Iesus And so also testifieth S. Iohn saying That as many as received Christ to them he gave this prerogative to be the sonnes of God even to them that beleeve in his name Where you may observe that beleefe or faith is reckoned as the hand or instrument whereby Christ is apprehended or received Againe he saith That God so loved the vvorld that he gave his onely begotten Sonne that vvhosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life In which words you may observe againe the first and originall cause of our salvation to be the meere grace and love of God Secondly the materiall cause to be Christ the Sonne of God with his obedience and righteousnesse And thirdlie the instrumentall cause to be faith or beleefe in that his Sonne and our Saviour Iesus For he saith the text was sent into the world to this end that vvhosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life But consider that he saith yet further That as Moses lift vp the Serpent in the vvildernesse so must the sonne of man be lift vp that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have eternall life Some of you no doubt remember the storie of the Serpent there mentioned which is in the booke of Numbers for after that the people of Israel had wickedly spoken and murmured against God and against Moses The Lord sent fierie Serpents among the people which stung the people so that manie of the people of Israel died Therefore the people came to Moses and said VVe have sinned for we have spoken against the Lord and against thee pray to the Lord that he take away the Serpents from us And Moses prayed for the people And the Lord said unto Moses make thee a fierie Serpent and set it up for a signe that as many as are bitten may looke upon it and live So Moses made a Serpent of brasse and set it up for a signe and when a Serpent had bitten a man then he looked to the Serpent of brasse and lived As therefore Moses lift up this brazen Serpent in the wildernes to the end that whosoever was stung by those fierie Serpents and did looke upon that brazen Serpent might be cured live and was cured and did live accordingly So was also the Sonne of man Christ Iesus lift up upon the Crosse where he was crucified to the end that whosoever is stung with the deadly stings of sinne or of that old Serpent the Divell and doth with the eies of his faith applying him looke upon Christ Iesus so lifted vp and crucified for him should bee healed and have eternall life Where you may againe perceive that as Christ is compared to that brazen Serpent so is our beliefe or faith in him compared to their looking upon the brazen Serpent so that still it appeareth that faith is as the eie or instrument whereby wee behold apprehend and apply Christ crucified as a salve unto us for all our sores For in him is comprehended whatsoever is necessarie or fit to cure us When therefore wee say and speake in this sort that Sola fides iustificat Faith onely iustifieth wee meane not that this faith is so sole or alone as that it is without good works but that in the act of our iustification before God and in his sight and as it respecteth and apprehendeth Christ the obiect of it it is sole and alone workes having no
have commended unto you it being spiritually understood shall quicken you What can bee spoken more plainely yea this point Christ himselfe cleareth yet further in the 51. Verse of that Chapter saying The Bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world Where wee must of necessitie understand not the bread in the Sacrament but himselfe and his flesh and Bodie crucified and sacrificed upon the Crosse to bee that Bread he there speaketh of So that to applie Christ crucified by faith unto a man as his Saviour and Redeemer whether it bee in the Sacrament or at anie other time without receiving the sacrament is to eate his flesh and to drinke his blood as S. Augustine againe expoundeth and declareth it De Doct. Christ. lib. 3. cap. 21. de Civit. lib. 21. cap. 21. And this is yet further manifest by conferring the 54. Verse of that Chapter with the 40 Verse For whereas Christ in the 54. Verse speaketh thus VVhosoever eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternall life and I vvill raise him up at the last day to declare the true meaning of those words he speaketh after this sort in the 40. Verse producing the same thing in effect and saying thus Every man which seeth the Sonne and beleeveth in him shall have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day By comparing of which two verses together it appeareth that to eate the flesh of Christ and to drinke his blood is in that place nothing else but for a man to beleeve in him and so to apply him as a Redeemer and Saviour to himselfe in particular for eternal life Which thing he againe declareth in the 47. Verse saying thus Verily verily I say unto you hee that beleeveth in me hath everlasting life But hee yet further explicateth the matter in the 56. Verse and sayeth thus Hee that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in mee and I in him Whereby appeareth that to eate Christs flesh and to drinke his blood is all one with this to have Christ dwelling in us and us in him Now then how doth Christ dwell in us S. Paul answereth and telleth us directly that Hee dwelleth in us by faith It is then still undeniably manifest that the eating of Christs flesh and drinking of his blood is nothing else but as I said before to beleeve in Christ or to have a true livelie faith in him wherby we apprehend and applie him as a Redeemer Saviour unto our selves in particular and whereby it is that hee dwelleth in us and wee in him and so are united unto him not by a carnal but by a spirituall meane and union And so S. Paul againe sheweth that the union or coniunction which wee have with Christ is not by anie bodilie but by a spirituall meane and manner for hee that is ioyned unto the Lord is one spirit saith he and therefore also doth S. Paul call Christ spirituall meate and spirituall drinke and saith that even those Ancestors of the Ievves which lived in Moses time long before the Incarnation of Christ did all eate the same spirituall meate and did all drinke the same spirituall drinke for they dranke of the spirituall Rocke that follovved them and that Rocke vvas Christ. These Ancestors of the Ievves that thus did eate Christ and drinke Christ so long before his Incarnation aswell as we could not possibly eate him in a bodilie manner or carnall fashion for Christ as yet in their times had not taken his humanitie or manhood nor was incarnate it remaineth then that they did eate him and drinke him by their faith and after a spiritual manner for in a carnal or bodilie sort as is apparant they could not possiblie eate or drinke him And seeing that they did eate the same spirituall meate and did drinke the same spiritual drinke that wee doe it must be granted that wee likewise doe not otherwise eate Christ or drinke Christ but in the same manner namely spiritually and by faith But againe if those words of Christ in that sixt Chapter of S. Iohns Gospell were to bee understood as yee suppose then it would also follow that Iudas that traytor or anie other Reprobate whosoever that did receive that sacramental Bread and Wine should also bee saved and have eternal life for in that Chapter Christ saith expreslie thus VVhosoever eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life But whosoever externally eateth the Sacramental bread and drinketh the Sacramental wine hath not eternal life for as S. Paul sheweth There bee some that eate of that bread and drinke of that Cup unworthily and so eate and drinke Iudgement to themselves and therefore the external eating of the sacramental bread and drinking of the sacramental wine is not the eating of the flesh of Christ nor the drinking of his blood which is spoken of and intended in that place Yea at that time when these words were spoken the Sacrament of the Lords Supper was not yet instituted as Lyra also well observeth These reasons then may suffice to satisfie reasonable men for answer to that sixt Chapter of S. Iohn which yee so often urge in vaine because by this time I trust you perceive how that your supposed bodilie presence of Christ in the Sacrament by waie of Transubstantiation cannot thereout possiblie be forced or concluded But yet further to the end it may not seeme strange unto you that Christ should call the bread his bodie when it was not in very deed his bodie naturally and substantially but a signe remembrance and figure of that his bodie you are to understand that it is an usuall and ordinarie phrase and speech in Sacraments and namelie aswell in Sacraments of the old Testament as of the new to call the signe by the name of the thing signified As for example Circumcision was one of the Sacraments among the Iewes and the Paschal Lambe was another under the old Testament Now Circumcision was directly called the Covenant which neverthelesse was not the verie Covenant it selfe but a signe of the Covenant For the Covenant it selfe was this that In Abrahams seed all nations should be blessed and that God would be their God and they his people So againe the Paschall Lambe was directlie called the Passeover when as neverthelesse it was not the verie Passeover it selfe but a signe and token of the Passeover For the verie Passeover it selfe was this that an Angell passed over the houses of the Israelits sparing them and smote the Egyptians their enemies and this is also called eating the Passeover when as but the signe of the Passeover onely namely the Paschall Lambe was eaten In steede of Circumcision Baptisme succeedeth amongst Christians and in the place of the Passeover succeedeth the Lords Supper What marvaile then can it bee or should it bee to anie Christian that Baptisme
doth in other places declare that they are so to be referred and expounded saying thus in his Epistle to the Ephesians Having heard of the Faith vvhich ye have in the Lord Iesus and love toward all the Saints c. So againe hee speaketh in his Epistle to the Colossians Having heard of your faith in Christ Iesus and of your love toward all the Saints By conferring of which two Texts with that to Philemon it is verie evident to everie one that is not wilfully contentious or perverse that Faith is as well in the one place as in the other to be attributed to Christ and Love to all the Saints The other Text they alledge is Exod. 14.31 where the wordes are not They beleeved in God and in Moses but the words be thus The people feared the Lord and beleeved the Lord and his servant Moses And so is your owne translation Crediderunt Domino Mosi servo eius They beleeved the Lord and Moses his servant The third Text they alledge is 2. Paral. 20.20 where your owne translation likewise is thus Credite in Domino Deo vestro securi eritis Credite Prophetis eius cuncta evenient prospera Beleeve in the Lord your God and yee shall bee sure Beleeve his Prophets and all things shall fall out prosperously But the Rhemists here seeme to appeale to the Hebrew Text because they see their owne Latin Translation to make against them and yet the Hebrew Text will also nothing helpe them inasmuch as it herein agreeth with the same their owne Latin Translation But yet they further alledge that ancient Fathers did reade indifferently I beleeve in the Catholicke Church and I beleeve the Catholicke Church It is granted that some of them did so and therefore to beleeve in the Catholicke Church was with them and in that speech of theirs all one with this to beleeve that there is a Catholike Church as they said likewise I beleeve in one Baptisme I beleeve in the Resurrection of the dead in the life to come So that although their speech herein was somwhat improper as appeareth by that which is before delivered by the ancient Fathers upon the Creede yet their meaning in those wordes being as is evident no more but to beleeve that there is a Catholike Church and not that wee should put our trust faith and confidence in the Church it maketh nothing against that which is here intended and spoken And therefore still for anie to beleeve in the Church in this sense viz. to put his faith affiance tâ—ust and confidence in the Church is to attribute that to the Church which rightly and properly belongeth unto God consequently is to make a god of it which is abominable Idolatrie 8 I here forbeare to speake of their superstitious reserving and worshipping of Reliques that is of dead bodies and insensible bones of Saints and Martyrs which it were far more meet honestly and decently to burie then so to abuse yea of some that are by Papists supposed to be Saints and Martyrs and yet are not so For all be not Saints nor the Martyrs of Iesus that are supposed to bee so neither doe all die â—or religion that are supposed by Papists to die for that cause As for example there was a Booke set forth of late entituled Martyrium c. The Martyrdome of Conoghor O Deveny which was a Popish Bishop and of Gilpatrick Ologran which was a Popish Priest which two neverthelesse were not put to death for the cause of Religion as that Booke would perswade but for Treason as the Enditements against them both extant of Record in the Kings Bench of Ireland doe expresly and openly testifie and as all the multitude of people then present at their arraignement can also witnesse Which is ever sufficient to confute the most slanderous and most notorious untruth of that Booke But Popish Rome being before verie evidently proved to be the vvhore of Babylon and consequently the Persecutor of the Saints and Martyrs of Iesus it is thereby an easie matter to collect who be the Saints and Martyrs of Iesus and who not namelie that the Protestants be the Saints and Martyrs of Iesus and that the Papists be the persecutors So that if anie be so wilfull as to die in defence of the Pope or Popish Religion they appeare to be therein no Martyrs of Christ but of Antichrist And therefore also as touching this point of martyrdome let them be no longer mistaken as heretofore they have beene CHAP. II. Wherein is further shewed that the Pope of Rome is the Grand Antichrist out of 2. Thess. 2. BVT concerning this point that the Pope of Rome is that verie grand Antichrist and consequentlie that the Popish Church ruled and governed by him is the very undoubted AntichristiaÌ„ Church and therefore of everie one to bee utterlie forsaken and detested Although that cleere and evident testimonie before going of S. Iohn in his Revelation discovereth the same sufficientlie yet shall you have it manifested further by the direct testimonie also of S. Paul for your better and fuller satisfaction S. Paul therefore in his second Epistle to the Thessalonians foretelling of the great Apostacie or departure from the right faith and religion which was then to come writeth thus Let no man deceive you by anie meanes for that day namelie of Christ to Iudgement shall not come except there come a departure first and that that man of sinne bee disclosed even the sonne of perdition which is an Adversarie and exalted above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that hee doth sit in the Temple of God as God shewing himselfe that hee is God Remember yee not that when I vvas yet vvith you I told you these things and now yee knovv what withholdeth that hee might be revealed in his time for the mysterie of iniquitie doth already worke Onely be vvhâ—ch now vvithholdeth shall let untill hee bee taken out of the vvay and then shall that vvicked man bee revealed vvhom the Lord shall consume vvith the spirit of his mouth and shall abolish with the brightnesse of his comming even him whose comming is by the vvorking of Sathan with all povver and signes and lying vvonders and in all deceaveablenesse of unrighteousnesse amongst them that perish because they received not the love of the truth that they might bee saved And therefore God shall send them sâ—rong delusion to beleeve lies that they all might be damned vvhich beleeved not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousnesse In these words ye see first that S. Paul fortelleth of an Apostaâ—y or Departure from the right faith and religion which should come and bee in the world which apostacie or departure namelie from the faith hee alâ—o mentioneth in his Epistle to Timothie 1. Tim. 4.1 And this Apostacie or departure from the faith least wee should be mistaken in it hee sheweth that it should bee A mystery of Iniquity
had deserved that the due judgement of God should have condemned even those that are justified unlesse mercie had relieved them from that which was due that so all the mouthes of them which would glory of their merits might be stopped and he that glorieth might glorie in the Lord. They further taught as S. Augustin did that Man using ill his Free will lost both himselfe it that as one by living is able to kill himselfe but by killing himselfe is not able to live nor hath power to rayse up himselfe when he hath killed himselfe so when sinne had beene committed by freewill sinne being the conqueror freewill also was lost forasmuch as of whom a man is overcome of the same is he also brought in bondage 2. Pet. 2.19 that unto a man thus brought in bondage and sold there is no libertie left to do well unlesse he redeeme him whose saying is this If the Sonne make you free yee shall be free indeed Ioh. 8.36 that the minde of men from their very youth is set upon evill there being not a man which sinneth not that a man hath nothing from himselfe but sinne that God is the author of all good things that is to say both of good nature and of goodwill which unlesse God do worke in him man cannot doe because this good will is prepared by the Lord in man that by the gift of God hee may doe that which of himselfe hee could not doe by his owne free-will that the good will of man goeth before many gifts of God but not all of those which it doth not go before it selfe is one For both of these is read in the holy Scriptures His mercie shall goe before me and His mercie shall follow me it preventeth him that is unwilling that hee may will and it followeth him that is willing that hee will not in vaine and that therefore vvee are admonished to aske that we may receive to the end that what we doe will may be effected by him by whom it was effected that vvee did so will They taught also that the Law was not given that it might take away sinne but that it might shut up all under sinne to the end that men being by this meanes humbled might understand that their salvation was not in their owne hand but in the hand of a Mediator that by the Law commeth neyther the remission nor the removeall but the knowledge of sinnes that it taketh not away diseases but discovereth them forgiveth not sins but condemneth them that the Lord God did impose it not upon those that served righteousnesse but sin namely by giving a just law to unjust men to manifest their sinnes and not to take them away forasmuch as nothing taketh away sinnes but the grace of faith which worketh by love That our sinnes are freely forgiven us without the merit of our workes that through grace wee are saved by faith and not by workes and that therefore we are to rejoyce not in our owne righteousnesse or learning but in the faith of the Crosse by which all our sinnes are forgiven us That grace is abject and vaine if it alone doe not suffice us and that wee esteeme basely of Christ when we thinke that hee is not sufficient for us to salvation That God hath so ordered it that he will be gracious to mankinde if they doe beleeve that they shall be freed by the blood of Christ. that as the soule is the life of the bodie so faith is the life of the soule and that wee live by faith only as owing nothing to the Law that he who beleeveth in Christ hath the perfection of the Law For whereas none might be justified by the Law because none did fulfill the Law but only he which did trust in the promise of Christ faith was appointed which should be accepted for the perfection of the Law that in all things which were omitted faith might satisfie for the whole Law That this righteousnesse therefore is not ours nor in us but in Christ in whom wee are considered as members in the head That faith procuring the remission of sinnes by grace maketh all beleevers the children of Abraham and that it was just that as Abraham was justified by faith onely so also the rest that followed his faith should be saved after the same maner That through adoption we are made the sonnes of God by beleeving in the Sonne of God and that this is a testimonie of our adoption that we have the spirit by which we pray and cry Abba Father forasmuch as none can receive so great a pledge as this but such as be sonnes onely That Moses himselfe made a distinction betwixt both the justices to wit of faith and of deedes that the one did by workes justifie him that came the other by beleeving only that the Patriarches and the Prophets were not justified by the workes of the Law but by faith that the custome of sinne hath so prevayled that none now can fulfill the Law as the Apostle Peter saith Act. 15.10 Which neyther our fathers nor wee have beene able to beare But if there were any righteous men which did escape the curse it was not by the workes of the Law but for their faithes sake that they were saved Thus did Sedulius and Claudius two of our most famous Divines deliver the doctrine of free-will and grace faith and workes the Law and the Gospell Iustification and Adoption no lesse agreeably to the faith which is at this day professed in the reformed Churches then to that which they themselves received from the more ancient Doctors whom they did follow therein Neyther doe wee in our judgement one whit differ from them when they teach that faith alone is not sufficient to life For when it is said that Faith alone justifieth this word alone may be conceived to have relation either to the former part of the sentence which in the schooles they terme the Subject or to the latter which they call the Predicat Being referred to the former the meaning will be that such a faith as is alone that is to say not accompanied with other vertues doth justifie and in this sense wee utterly disclaime the assertion But being referred to the latter it maketh this sense that faith is it which alone or only iustifieth and in this meaning onely doe wee defend that proposition understanding still by faith not a dead carkase thereof for how should the iust be able to live by a dead faith but a true and lively faith which worketh by love For as it is a certaine truth that among all the members of the bodie the eye is the only instrument whereby wee see and yet it is as true also that the eye being alone and seperated from the rest of the members is dead and for that cause doth neyther seâ—
Secondly I must crave leave to say that I find not Popery how subtill or sophisticall soever it be to be of anie such puissance but that a man of meane learning armed with the strength of the divine Scriptures may easily ruinate and overturne it Thirdly those that oppugne the Religion His Majesties Supremacie what doe they else but oppugne therewithall as they must needs at least inclusively the Lawes and Statutes of the Kingdome whereby they are both established And what reason then can bee shewed why hee that is a Lawyer by profession may not defend and maintaine the Lawes and Statutes of the Realme in those two great points especially wherein they be so unjustly and causelessely oppugned But when I consider my selfe further to be a servant though unworthy to his most excellent Majestie and that in so high and eminent a Court as His Maiesties Bench is beside my profession the duetie of my place also tyeth mee to defend his Maiesties Supremacie as being a thing properly appâ—rtayning to his verie Crowne and Regall dignitie And doth not moreover the Oath of Supremacy to His Majestie which I have taken necessarily binde mee hereunto Yea even for this verie cause that I am a subiect to his Maiestie though there were no other reason doe I hold my selfe in duetie tyed to my power to uphold and maintain that his Regall Supremacie For if everie good childe will maintaine the right and Authoritie of his Father and everie good servant the right and Authoritie of his Lord and Master ought not everie good subiect to maintaine the right and Authoritie of his Soveraigne Lord and King And as touching the Religion if there were no other reason but this that I am a Christian by profession though no professed Divine doe I hold it for that verie cause not onely well beseeming mee but my duetie likewise according to such measure of knowledge and abilitie as God hath given mee to defend and maintaine the true and Christian Religion I professe against that which is untruly called the Christian and Catholike and is indeed the false erroneous and Antichristian For whereas some have a conceit that not Lay men at all but Clergie men only and such as be of the Ecclesiastical Ministerie should meddle with the Scriptures and matters of Religion it appeareth to be a verie vaine conceit and an untrue opinion because S. Paul directly requireth even of Lay Christians as well as of others that the Word of Christ should Dwell in them and that not poorely or in a small or slender measure but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is richly plentifully or abundantly Whereupon Primasius saith that Hence wee learne that the Lay people ought to have the knowledge of the Scriptures and to teach one another not onely sufficiently but also abundantly And therefore are they further expressely charged to admonish exhort and edifie one another yea to contend and not onely to contend but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 earnestly to contend for that faith which was once given unto the Saints And doth not God himselfe also command thus Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart but Thou shalt in anie wise rebuke thy neighbour and not suffer sinne to be upon him Agreeably wherunto would not S. Iames likewise have all Christians to labour the conversion of such as be in error and goe astray telling them for their better encouragement in this matter that if any doe erre from the truth and another convert him let such a one know that he which converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soule from death and cover a multitude of sinnes You see then what duties in respect of the good of others as well as of himselfe be required even of a lay person in matters concerning God and his religion And indeede verie strange it were if lay Christians should be tyed in charitie to take care of mens bodies and yet should in no sort be permitted to have anie care or to shew anie Christian charitie or affection in respect of their soules and the good and safetie of them It is true that no man may take upon him the office and function of Bishops Pastors or other Ministers of the Word without a lawfull calling or ordination first had and obtayned but although a lay man may not therfore preach minister the sacraments nor do anie such acts as be proper and peculiar to those that be Ecclesiasticall Ministers yet in such things as be not proper and peculiar unto them but be acts and duties common with them to other Christians a Lay man may lawfully intermeddle It is likewise true that the knowledge of Gods Word and consequently of Divinitie doth in a more exact and more plentiful and fuller maner and measure and chiefly belong to those that be professed Divines and of the Ecclesiasticall Ministery but thereupon it followeth not that therefore it belongeth onely to them As also although those of the Ecclesiasticall Ministery are to teach and instruct the Lay people out of the Scriptures and that the Lay people are to learne what they rightly teach from thence yet neither doth it thereupon follow nor is that anie argument or impediment but that the Lay people may neverthelesse reade and get knowledge in the Scriptures and thereout learne what good they can also even by their owne industry diligence and endevour We reade of Aquila and Priscilla his wife that they were by their Trade Tentmakers and that Apollos was a man eloquent and mightie in the Scriptureâ— yet so skilfull learned expert were those two nameâ—ly not onely Aquila but Priscilla also his wife in the Word of God as that they tooke unto them the same Apollos and expounded unto him The Way of God more perfectly All men know that Kings Princes and such like civill Magistrates be none of that Order of the Ecclesiasticall Ministery and yet of them it is specially required that they reade the Scriptures Book of God and that they be verie diligent and conversant in it For God expressely requireth of a King that When hee shall sit upon the Throne of his Kingdome He get him the Book of his Law and chargeth him to reade therein all the Dayes of his Life that he may learne to feare the Lord his God and to Keepe All his Words and ordinances not turning from them eyther to the right hand or to the left That so he may prolong his Dayes in his Kingdome Hee and his Sonnes after him And to Iosuah a civill Magiâ—â—â—ate hee likewise giveth this charge and commandement saying Let not This Booke of the Law depart out of thy mouth but Meditate therein Day and Night that thou maist Observe and Doe according to All that is written therein for then shalt thou make thy Way prosperous and then shalt thou have good successe Was not the Treasurer to Candace Queene of the Ethiopians also a Lay man and not
of the Order of the Ecclesiasticall Ministerie and yet did he reade Esaias the Prophet which is a part of the holy Scriptures as hee was returning homeward and sitting in his Chariot and was in no sort reproved for the same but well allowed therein and had a blessing therupon sent unto him from God Is it not likewise recorded of those noble Christians at Berea to their great honour that they received the Word of God with all readinesse of minde quotidie scrutantes Scripturas searching the Scriptures Daily And were not Lay persons also comprised amongst those to whom Christ Iesus himselfe said thus Scrutamini Scripturas Search the Scriptures Yea doth not God himselfe further give a direct commandement that the Booke of his Law and of the Religion and ordinances therein conteyned should be read published and made knowne to All even to Men Women and Children And doth hee not moreover say of that his Word commandements and ordinances in this sort They shall be in thy heart and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children and shalt talke of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou liest downe and when thou risest up Yea is he not pronounced blessed that hath his delight in the Law of the Lord and that doth meditate therin Day Night Timothy even whilst he was a childe was conversant in this Booke of God the holy Scriptures for so S. Paul expresly testifies of him that he knew the holy Scriptures of a childe and for his further encouragement therein saith that those holy Scriptures be able to make him Wise unto Salvation S. Iohn also writeth one of his Epistles which is a part of the sacred and canonical Scriptures expressely and by name to an elect Lady and her children which hee would never have done if it had not beene both lawfull and laudable even for vvomen and children also that be of capacitie as well as for others to reade the Scriptures and to know them How shall a young man clense his Way even by taking heed thereunto according to Gods Word saith the Psalmist According whereunto it is againe required of all that they remember their Creator in the dayes of their youth Origen also from his childehood was taught in the Scriptures and learned them without Booke and questioned with his father Leonides an holy Martyr who ioyed therin about the difficult sentences of the same Macrina S. Basils Nurse likewise taught him the Scriptures of a childe And S. Hierome writeth of Paula a Gentlewoman how shee set her maides to learne the Scriptures Yea manie of his writings be directed to women commending their diligence and labour in the Scriptures and encouraging them therein as namely to Paula Eustochium Salvina Celantia c. Theodoret also testifieth of the Christians that lived in those ancient times thus You shall everie where see saith he these points of our faith to be knowne and understood not onely by such as be Teachers in the Church but even by Coblers and Smiths and Websters and all kinde of Artificers Yea all our vvomen not onely they which are Booke-learned but they also that get their living with their Needle yea â—â—â—id-servants and vvaiting vvomen and not citizens onely but husbandmen also of the countrey be verie skilful in these things Yea you may heare amongst us Ditchers and Neatheards and Wood-setters discoursing of the Trinitie and of the creation c. S. Chrysostome likewise exhorteth all sorts of men to reade the Scriptures and to call their neighbours to the hearing of them Hee also taketh away the vaine pretences and excuses of them who alledged that they were secular and Lay men and had wife children and family to looke to and desireth them that they would not so deceive themselves saying that They which be entangled with such cares have the more need to seeke remedie by reading the holy Scriptures Againe he saith It is no excuse but a fault to say I have not read what S. Paul saith And therefore hee saith further Audite obsecro seculares omnes c. Heare I beseech you all yee that be secular or lay-men provide you Bibles which be medicines of the soule if you will nothing else yet at least wise get the New Testament the Apostle the Acts the Gospels which be continuall and diligent Teachers It is then more then manifest that the reading searching and knowledge of the Divine Scriptures is permitted and belongeth not only to those that be of the Order of the Ecclesiasticall Ministerie but even to those also that be not of that Order as namely to Kings Princes civill Magistrates to old to yong to men to women to children and generally to all sorts of people and that to this end to benefite others aswell as themselves as they shall be able For as God giveth not worldly wealth or earthly blessings and gifts to anie man for his owne private use and behoofe onely but that he should communicate and distribute of the same unto others so neither doth hee give his spirituall gifts or graces to anie to hide or keepe theâ— only to himselfe but to extend and impart them to the profit also of others As likewise no man lighteth a candle to put it under a bushell but on a candlestick that it may give light to others that be in the house aswell as to himselfe Yea the manifestation of the Spirit is given to everie one to this verie end to profit others withall aswell as himselfe as S. Paul again directly teacheth Although then everie man cannot be a professed Divine yet it is evident that eveey man ought to be a professed Christian Yea Whosoever shall be ashamed of mee and of my words saith Christ of him shall the Sonne of man be ashamed when he shall come in his own glory and in the glorie of his Father and of the holy Angells And S. Paul saith likewise that With the heart man beleeveth unto righteousnesse and with the mouth confesseth unto salvation So that we must not onely beleeve in Christ with our heart but wee must also confesse or professe him and his religion with our mouth and which is yet more we must practise Christianitie in our lives and conversations and endevour also so much as in us lyeth to have the same observed and practised by others Wherein there is no cause to feare those proverbes of Ne sutor ultra crepidam and Tractant fabrilia fabri and such like which cannot here be rightly used or applied because the knowledge of God and of his Word and Religion is not like the case of other arts sciences trades and occupations in the world but is a thing to be learned and professed by all sorts of people of what worldly calling or profession soever they be as now I trust you sufficiently perceive But consider yet further
anie righteousnesse of our owne or inherent in our owne persons but by that immaculate and spotlesse righteousnesse of his imputed unto us So that In him it is as this Text most plainlie sheweth and not in our selves that wee are deemed righteous in Gods sight Yea here consider further what righteousnesse also it is that God approveth and will have to stand for the Iustification of sinfull men in his sight for it must be a righteousnesse transcendent and going farre beyond the righteousnesse of anie sinfull creatures namelie it must be that which S. Paul here calleth the righteousnesse of God that is a most pure perfect and complete righteousness wherein must not be anie the least spot speck or staine to be found as S. Chrysostome also declareth Which kind of most pure and spotlesse righteousnesse because no other man hath but Iesus Christ only the second Adam who is both God and Man therefore in his person only and not in ours it is to be both sought and found For which cause also it is that the Church and people of God considered not in themselves but in Christ are by the Apostle S. Paul said to have not so much as a spot or vvrinckle or any such thing in them Well therefore doth S. Augustine make this double observation upon this Text of 2. Cor. 5.21 saying Videâ—e duo Iustitiam Dei non nostram In ipso non in nobis Behold and consider two things saith he first That vvee are made the righteousnesse of God and not our owne righteousnes and secondly In him and not in our selves The same observation likewise giveth S. Hierome upon the same Text saying Christus pro peccatis nostris oblatus peccati nomen accepit ut nos efficeremuâ— Iustitia Dei in ipso non nostra nec in nobis Christ being offered for our sinnes tooke the name of sinne that vve might be made the righteousnesse of God in him not our owne righteousnesse nor in us And therefore doth S. Paul againe not onlie for himselfe but in the behalfe of other Christians also speake in this sort even after faith and grace received VVe vvhich are Iewes by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles doe know that a man is not Iustified by the vvorkes of the Law but by the faith of Iesus Christ even vve I say have beleeved in Iesus Christ that vvee might be Iustified by the faith of Christ and not by the vvorkes of the Law because that by the works of the Law no flesh shall be iustified Be not these wordes verie direct for this purpose shewing that even those that be Christians and beleevers in Christ doe neverthelesse expect Iustification by Faith in Christ and not by the Workes of the Law Yea what man ever yet Christ Iesus onely excepted did fully and perfectlie keepe the whole Law and commandements of God in his owne person For which cause it is that none can be Iustified in Gods sight by anie works or observance of the Law which he by and in his owne person can doe or performe If theâ—e had beene a Law given vvhich could have given life then indeed righteousnes should have beene by the Law as S. Paul affirmeth But the Scripture saith he hath concluded all under sinne that the promâ—se by the faith of Iâ—sus Christ should be given to them that beleeve In which words you see he sheweth it verie significantlie to be a thing Impossible for anie that be but meere men to keep the Law of God in that full measure and perfection which the Law reâ—uireth and therefore that they must seeke to be Iustified in Gods sight and to have eternall life another way namelie by Faith in Iesus Christ. Againe he saith thus Be it knowne unto you men and Brethren thâ—t through this man Iesus is preached unto you the forgivenes of sinnes and by him every one that beleeveth is Iustified from all those things from vvhich yee could not be Iustified bâ— the Law of Moses Here also observe that hee saith they could not be Iustified by the Law as noting it likewise to bee a thing Impossible But hee speaketh yet further saying That vvhich vvas Impossible to the Law inasmuch as it vvas vveake because of the flesh God sent his owne Sonne in â—he similitude of sinfull flesh for sinne condemned sinne in the flesh thâ—t the righteousaesse of the Law might be fulfilled in us vvhich vvalke not after the flesh but after the spirit Where you may againe perceive that he teacheth it constantly expresly to be a thing impossible by reason of the vveakenesse that is in all flesh for the most godly person upon earth being but a meere man fullie exactly to keepe and performe the law and that therefore the Son of God Christ Iesus himselfe was sent into the world and became Man for our sakes that so the righteousnesse of the Law which hee in his humane nature in all points and perfection fully performed might by our faith apprehending and applying it bee made ours and so be fulfilled in us namelie by imputation and application and not by anie inherent and actual performance of it by in our owne persons for this he before affirmed to be impossible And this also do the ancient Fathers themselves affirme and teach S. Ambrose saith That the commandements of God bee so great vt impossibile sit servare ea as that it is impossible to keep them S. Chrysostome speaking of the Law and performance of it saith Id vero nemini possibile est That it is possâ—ble to no man S. Hierome saith That no man can performe the Lavv S. Bernard saith that God commanding things impossible made not men transgressors but made them thereby humble Yea it was the heresie of the Pelagians as S. Hierome sheweth ad Clesiphontem to hold as the Papists also hold that Mandata dei sunt possibilia The Commaundements of God are possible And they went about to prove it as the Papists likewise doe by these Texts viz. My yoake is easie and my burthen light in Mat. 11.30 And his commandements be not burdenous in 1. Ioh. 5.3 wheras they did not rightly understand those speeches no more then the Papists their followers doe For it is true that none of the commandements of God be grievous heavie or burthensome to a regenerate godly and sanctified minde which is ever desirous endeavoring and delighting to keepe them and to walke in the obedience of them though hee shall never be able during this mortall life fully and perfectly to keepe and performe them And therefore thus saith S. Hierome to the Pelagian and we also say the same to the Papists â—acilia dicis dei mandata tamen nullum proferre potes qui universa compleverit Thou saist the commandements of God be easie and yet thou canst bring forth none that hath kept them all Againe he saith Tunc ergo iusti sumus quando
in the Text it selfe as directlie opposite to Hell Now what is so directly opposite to Hell as Heaven is consequentlie what must Abrahams bosome bee but Heaven and no part of Hell against which in the Text it selfe it is so directlie opposed S. Augustine saith plainely it is no part of Hell I could never finde in the Scriptures saith he that Hell is taken for good And if it be never so reade in the Divine authoritie verily that bosome of Abraham that is an habitation of a certaine secret rest is not to bee beleeved to be anie part of Hell To the same effect hee speaketh in another place where he affirmeth Abrahams bosome expresly to bee Paradise that is Heaven Quanto magis c. How much more saith hee may the bosome of Abraham vvhich is after this life bee called Paradise S. Crysostome also against the conceite of such as supposed it to be Hell or a part of it saith that the Bosome of Abraham was the poore mans Paradise yea I say this that the Bosome of Abraham is the truth of Paradise yea I confesse it to bee the most holie Paradise But moreover considering that Christ is the slaine Lambe from the beginning of the world and that Hee vvas yesterday and to day and is the same for ever as the Scripture speaketh The force vertue of that his death must needs extend unto all times as touching the elect to redeeme and save them And consequently what doubt can there bee but that Abraham Isaac Iacob and all the rest of Gods people that lived and died before Christ his Incarnation and Passion went after their death as directly into Heaven as those godlie and faithfull people doe that have died since his Incarnation Passion and Ascention for as for that Text which yee alledge of Heb. 9.8 where it is said that The way of the Holies vvas not yet manifested or opened whilst as yet the first Tabernacle vvas standing The meaning and scope of that place is no more but that the way to Heaven was not opened by vertue of anie sacrifices of the first Tabernacle vnder the Law but by vertue of the Sacrifice and passion of Christ which those old sacrifices did prefigure the vertue of which Sacrifice and sufferings of Christ extending it selfe from the beginning of the world to the end thereof as touching all the faithfull to take away all their sinnes and to worke their full redemption is ever sufficient to give those olde godly Fathers rest and felicitie in Heaven in their soules after their bodilie death Yea where else doth Christ himselfe place Abraham Isaac and Iacob even before his Passion but in the kingdome of Heaven Your supposed Limbus Patrum therefore hath no ground to relie upon nor your supposed Purgatorie neither but are both to vanish as smoake being not onelie phantasticall but untrue and ungodlie conceits But to answer yet further to the text alledged for your imagined purgatorie Why should that Prison before mentioned being admitted to be a place of punishment for sinne after death be supposed your Purgatorie rather then Hell the place of the Damned For doe yee allow him to be sent to Purgatorie that is never reconciled to a man but dieth out of Charitie doth not such a one live and die in deadly sinne and consequently deserve hell fire and damnation Ye say that the words of the Text affirme that after hee is committed to the prison there mentioned he is not to come out from thence untill hee hath paid the utmost farthing This worde untill say you importeth that after payment once fullie made by him he is to come out againe and therefore that it is to be intended not a perpetuall and everlasting prison such as Hell is but a Temporarie prison such as you suppose your Purgatorie to bee But deceive not your selves with an argument drawne from this word untill in the Text for it necessarilie enforceth no such matter as you would deduce out of it For example in Matth. 1. vers 25. it is said that Ioseph knevv not Marie untill she had brought forth her first borne Sonne and called his name Iesus will you therefore with Helvidius because of this word untill inferre that therefore afterward Ioseph knew her I am sure ye will not and yet by force of that word if yee were so disposed might yee inferre aswell the one as the other But as that word untill in the last alledged place inferreth no such consequent but rather that hee never knew her so in the other place where it is said That he shall not goe out of that Prison untill he hath paid the utmost farthing is likewise meant that he shall never come out And so in verie deede doth Ferus the Iesuite expound it And the reason for it is verie good and apparant for seeing he is there to continue untill he paie the utmost farthing and that hee for his part after he is dead and committed to this Prison is never able to make payment how can it be shifted but that he must lie there perpetually For the conceite that one man may make payment and satisfaction for the sinnes of another when hee cannot so much as make payment and satisfaction to Gods Iustice for his owne sinnes is a most vaine and idle conceit Yea thus also doth S. Augustine expound this Prison of the place of the Damned namely of Hell and eternall paines Serm. Dom. in monte And so doth S. Hierome also expound it in Lamen lib. 1. cap. 1. and Eusebius Emissenus in Domi 6 pâ—st Pent. saying Carcer iste infernus est This prison is Hell And so Theophilus Antiochenus in Carcerem id est in Gehennam Into Prison that is Into Hell the place of the damned And Cromatius likewise upon this place and divers others But lastly what reason have they to suppose that anie faithfull godlie soule should after death bee cast into anie Prison for anie debt or sinne whatsoever there to continue for anie time at all when as all their debts or sinnes be fullie paid satisfied for and discharged by Iesus Christ their suertie Saviour and Redeemer in their behalfe How oft must they be told of these things 3 The next place they alledge to prove their Purgatorie is Matth. 12. vers 32. where because it is said that the Blasphemie or sinne against the holie Ghost shall not bee forgiven neither in this world nor in the vvorld to come Ergo say they some sinnes be forgiven in the world to come But first this is a non sequitur followeth not by the rules of Logicke as even Bellarmine himselfe confesseth And secondly admit that some sinnes be forgiven in the world to come yet doth it not follow that your Purgatorie is thereby proved for your Purgatorie is such a place and prison by your owne teaching not where anie forgivenesse of sinnes is to bee obtained but where
for us In which words you see that although some bee appointed to wrath yet othersome bee appointed to obtaine salvation by the meanes of their Lord Iesus Christ vvhich died for them and these which were thus predestinated and appointed not to wrath but to Salvation he sheweth that even for this verie cause they should be the more vigilant warie and circumspect as touching their lives and conversations to walke as Children of the light and of the day and not to be like unto those that be appointed to wrath and be of the night and of darknesse Againe S. Paul in his second Epistle to the Thessalonians speaking of some To whom God sent strong delusion to beleeve lies that they might all be damned which beleeved not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousnes distinguishing those that were of the Elect number from them he saith thus But wee ought to give thanks alway for you brethren beloved of the Lord because that God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation And there hee sheweth further how after this their election they be brought to salvation namely through sanctification of the spirit and beleefe of the truth So that you here still perceive that all bee not elect to salvation but some onely and that those that be thus elected bee such as bee afterward sanctified by the spirite of God and beleeve the Gospell and word of truth and so come in the end to the salvation appointed for them S. Paul againe to the same effect in his Epistle to the Ephesians saith thus Blessed be God even the father of our Lord Iesus Christ which hath blessed us with all spirituall blessings in heavenly things in Christ as he hath chosen us in him before the foundations of the world that wee should be holy and without blame before him in love In which words you likewise see that not all in a generalitie but some onelie bee elected and that those which be thus ordained and elected to life and salvation were in Gods purpose and decree so ordained and elected antequam iacerentur fundamenta mundi before the foundations of the world were laid But then here observe withall that those which be thus elected and predestinated of God to Salvation bee not so predestinate and elected to the end they should live licentiously wickedly or carelesly but to the end They should be holy and without blame before him in love for so be the very direct words of the Apostle Wherefore it is apparant that S. Paul from this matter and doctrine of Predestination and electing of men to salvation gathereth not anie argument of Licentiousnesse for neither can such argument from thence be rightly deduced what soever Atheists Papists or others thereupon untruly inferre but cleane contrariwise from hence he gathereth as likewise all the rest of Gods children doe matter to blesse praise and thanke God for ever and ever and therby provoketh men to shew forth the fruites of that their thankefulnesse by a continuall godly life and an holy conversation For indeed what will move a man to thankfulnesse and to shew his obedience towards God both in his thoughts and affections and in his words and in his workes and everie manner of way if his election to salvation decreed and purposed with God before the foundations of the world were laid will not moove him unto it seeing hee was then in Gods hand to have disposed of him as of a vessell either to honour or dishonour at his owne good and free pleasure there being then no matter of merit or desert in him why God should choâ—se him more then another yea at that time of his ordaining and appointing of him to salvation hee might if hee had so pleased have otherwise disposed of him and might have left and refuseâ— him as he did others to goe with them to everlasting wrath and eternall horrour and damnation Infinite and unspeakeable therefore must such a one needes conceive the love of God to be towards him in this case and such as can never be suficiently magnified Yea thus againe from this predestination and election of God doth S Paul in his Epistle to the Colossians likewise inferre as it is indeed most forcible thereunto matter of argument to perswade to all Christian vertues and to all godlines and holines of life for thus he saith Novv therefore as â—he elect of God holie and beloved put on tender mercie kindenes humblenes of minde meekenes long suffering forbearing one another and forgiveing one anoâ—her if anie man have a quarrell to another even â—s Christ forgave you even so doe yee c. Marke here also how from this that they were the Elect of God he gathereth this Argument to perswade to all goodnes godlines and Christian vertues And so likewise doth S. Peter also frame an Argument from thence to perswade to all holinesse of life Yee saith hee are a chosen generation a royall Priesthood an holy nation a peculiar people that ye should shevv forth the vertues of him that hath called you out of darkenes into his marveilous light By all which you see I hope sufficiently that out of this doctrine of Predestination can no Argument for licentiousnes or carelesnes of life be rightly deduced but the cleane contrarie For although God hath predestinated and foreordained what shall become of all men as he hath likewise of all things else wee are not therefore to grow carelesse and dissolute but all our chiefe care studie endeavour should be this namly to examin our selves our harts waies affections works thereby see whether we be of the number of those that be elected predestinated to salvation yea or no And if wee finde that we are therin to reioyce with powring forth everlasting praise and thankes unto God for so speciall ineffable and incomparable a favour and during all our life to shew forth the fruites of that thankefulnes by a continual endeavour to walke in the waies of God godlines And if anie upon examination of himselfe doe not yet finde the marks tokens of Gods children within him and of such a one as is predestinated to salvation hee is not therefore to be discouraged utterly or to dispaire but to know that he may be for all that of the number of Gods Children if hee neglect not to use the meanes which God hath appointed in that case inasmuch as God may hereafter at some one time or other before his death call him to faith and repentance and regenerate and sanctifie him by his spirit so testifie and make known the same unto him For as it is true that VVhom God hath predestinated them also hee calleth so no lesse true is it that God hath also set his appointed times and meanes when and how he will call them unto himselfe whom hee hath so predestinated which thing Christ Iesus also himselfe sheweth in the Parable namely that some were called
verie soone and at the third hower some at the sixt houre some at the ninth and some at the eleventh hower and some are called even at the last houre as was the Theefe crucified with Christ. So that God calleth some earely and betimes in their youth and some in their riper and elder yeares and some not till their old age and latter dayes of their life and some not till the verie last houre of their daies and consequentlie so long as life remaineth there is a possibilitie for men to be called and therefore no reason is there why anie should despaire as likewise none ought rashlie or unadvisedly to presume upon this doctrine 2 Now then to shew unto you the truth of that other point as being an appendant hereunto namely that even in this life a man may come to be assured that hee is one of the number of those that be elected and predestinated to eternal life and salvation consider first what S. Peter writeth saying Brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure for if yee doe these things yee shall never fall Here you see it precisely and directly taught by S. Peter that men not onely may but ought so farre to endeavour namely to make their calling and election sure to themselves And he there further sheweth them how they may attaine unto this assurance namely by having doing and using of those excellent christian vertues and courses he there mentioneth Againe doth not S. Paul speake thus in plaine tearmes Try your selves vvhether yee bee in the faith or no Examine your selves Knovv yee not that Christ Iesus is in you except yee he reprobates Where hee likewise declareth that all that be sound Christians may by good triall and examination of themselves finde perceive and Know that Christ Iesus is in them and that they belong unto him This confidence knowledge and assurance had that holy man Iob for thus he saith I am sure that my redeemer liveth c. though afâ—er my skin vvormes destroy this bodie yet shall I see God in my flesh vvhom I my selfe shall see and mine owne eies shal behould and none other for me Yea this perswasion and assurance had also S. Paul and not only He but all the rest of Gods Children have likewise this confidence and assurance for thus hee speaketh in the name of them all VVho shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or nakednes or perill or sword as it is vvritten For thy sake are vvee killed all the day long vvee are counted as sheepe for the slaughter neverthelesse in all these things vve are more then Conquerors through him that loved us For I am perswaded the words of your Translation declaring the same thing be Certus sim I am sure or I am assured that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. In these words you see that S. Paul speaketh not onely in the singular but in the plurall number and consequently of others aswell as of himselfe even of all the elect people of God that they all aswell as he at some one time or other of their life have this strong confidence and unremoveable assurance that nothing shall be able to separate Them from Gods love toward them in Christ. For he saith againe that as many as are led by the spirit of God they are the sonnes of God And againe he saith That spirit beareth vvitnesse with our spirit that we are the children of God Who then having that spirit within him for a Witnesse can make anie doubt of it Likewise speaketh S. Iohn saying Hereby know vvee that vvee dwell in him and hee in us because hee hath given us of his spirit For by that spirit it is that VVee know as S. Paul againe witnesseth the Things that bee given to us of God But S. Iohn saith againe thus Dearely beloved Now are vve the sonnes of God but yet it doth not appeare vvhat we shall be But vvee know that when he shall appeare vve shall be like him for vvee shall see him as he is and every man that hath this hope in him purgeth himselfe even as He is pure Marke here still that hee saith they Know it and therefore it is no uncertaine opinion or doubtfull hope but an assured hope or hope with assurance Which assured hope or knowledge of their owne salvation whosoever have by the testimonie of Gods spirit within them wee see here by this expresse testimonie of S. Iohn that they are not idle negligent carelesse and licentious persons but such as continually labour strive against their owne corruptions and defilements and so to be purged more and more from them Farre therefore from carelesnesse and licentiousnesse doth also this doctrine touching assurance of salvation appeare to be For not everie one that saith he is assured of it is by and by assured but this is a matter as you see that requireth a great triall and examination of a mans selfe and is ioined with a continuall care desire striving and endevouring to walke in the commandements and waies of God it being in verie deed the most comfortable ioyfullest and highest step of Christianitie and the Summum bonum or chiefest felicitie that anie man can reach to in this life For this causeth a Ioy even a True Ioy to the heart and soule of a man and such a Ioy as cannot be expressed But then you aske how he is sure of continuing persevering in the way of godlinesse unto the end for you obiect that the godliest man that is often sinneth and may fall Whereto I answer that most true it is he often sinneth and falleth but God still raisâ—th him up after his falls by a godly sorrow and a true Christian repentance for those sinnes and by amendment of life afterward so that such a one neither doth nor can finally fall or perish for as it is written in the Psalme Though he fall he shall not be cast off for the Lord putteth under his hand to raise him up againe And so saith Solomon also that the lust man falleth seven times but he riseth againe And these things be spoken of him that is a lust and righteous person indeede and not of an Hypocriticall and counterfeit person or of such a one as onely in his owne opinion or in the opinion of others is a righteous person and not so in verie deed nor in the sight of God For he that is a righteous person onely in his owne opinion or in the opinion of other men and not so in verie deed may fall utterly and finally away and then shall not all his former righteousnesse that hee had
in his owne supposall or the supposall of others be mentioned or regarded as the Prophet Ezechiel sheweth And so also doth Christ himselfe speake of sâ—me which when they have heard the word of God receive it at the first with a kinde of Ioy for a while beleeve but in time ostentation they go away because the word of God was sown in them as in stonie ground which for want of sufficieÌ„t moisture deep rooting withered in fine utterly decaied But this temporarie faith which lasteth but for a while is not the faith of Gods elect nor the true lively iustifyâ—ng faith heretofore mentioned For this true lively iustifying faith never utterly fadeth nor falleth away but the man that hath it is like a Tree planted by the rivers of vvaters that will bring forth her fruit in due season vvhose leafe shall not fade as it is said in the Psalme and he is the good ground into which the seed of Gods word is not onely sowen and received with Ioy but kept also and which having moisture sufficient and being deepely rooted persevereth and continueth unto the end bringing forth fruit with patience And therefore also doth S. Paul say that Men continue or persevere that be grounded and stablished in the faith which kinde of grounded stablished and iustifying faith whosoever have most certaine it is that they shall be glorified and saved for so S. Paul hath before expressely told us that vvhom God iustifieth he also glorifieth and consequently they must needes have perseverance unto the end This is also further witnessed where S. Paul saith againe expresly of them that Iesus Christ shall confirme them unto the end And againe hee saith Faithfull is he that hath called you vvhich vvill also doe it And so likewise testifieth S. Peter that all Gods elect are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation They then having so strong a Keeper as the power of God to support uphold and preserve them untill they arrive at the Haven of all happinesse namely everlasting salvation what doubt can bee made of their perseverance and continuance to the end for none can pull them out of his hand as Christ himselfe witnesseth And therefore doth S. Paul speake confidently in the person of all Gods elect being iustified and sanctified persons in this sort VVe know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle vvere dissolved vvee have a building from God that is an house not made vvith hands but eternall in the heavens Marke that he saith they Know it And thus againe it is said in the Epistle to the Hebrewes Call to remembrance the dayes that are passed in vvhich after that yee had beene enlightened yee endured a great fight in afflictions partly vvhilest yee vvere made a gazing stocke both by repâ—â—ches and afflictions and partly vvhilest ye became companions of 〈◊〉 vvhich vvere so tossed too and fro For both yee sorrowed vvith me for my bonds and suffered vvith Ioy the spoyling of your goods knowing in your selves that ye have in Heaven a better and an enduring substance Observe here still that hee saith they Knew by a testimonie within themselves namely by the testimonie of Gods spirit within them which is therefore called the Earnest of that their Inheritance that the same heavenly Inheritance and ever enduring substance did belong unto them And so againe testifieth S. Iohn saying thus These things have I vvritten unto you thâ—â— beleeve in the name of the Sonne of God that yee may know that yee have eternall life Note that he here againe saith that Gods people are to Know that they shall have Eternal life And he further saith that If vve receive the witnesse of men the witnesse of God is greater For this is the witnesse of God which he testifieth of his Sonne He that beleeveth in the Sonne of God hath the witness in himselfe He that beleeveth not God hath made him a lyar because hee beleeved not the record that God witnessed of his Sonne And this is the record that God hath given unto us eternall life and this life is in his Sonne Hee that hath the Sonne hath life and he that hath not the Sonne of God hath not life And againe it is written that Hee that beleeveth in the Sonne hath everlasting life and hee that obeyeth not the Sonne shall not see life but the vvrath of God abideth on him And againe Christ Iesus himselfe saith Verily verily I say unto you Hee that beleeveth in mee hath everlasting life And sundrie other such promises there be That man then which considereth these promises of Eternall life to as manie as be Beleevers in Iesus Christ and that withall by good examination findeth himselfe firmely to beleeve in him and to have that true lively and iustifying faith can no way doubt of his everlasting salvation except which were most impious and detestable he will doubt of the truth of that which God hath spoken and promised and that so often and so earnestly yea as with an Oath with so vehement an asseveration For as it is further written in the Epistle to the Hebrewes God vvilling more abundantly to shew unto the heyres of promise the stablenesse of his Counsel bound himselfe by an oath that by two immutable things vvherein it is impossible that God should lye vve migâ—â—â— have strong consolation vvho have our refuge to hold fast the hope that is set before us which vve have as an Anchor of the soule both sure and stedfast Where beside all the former testimonies you perceive verie plainly that the hope of Gods elect in this life is not an uncertaine or doubtfull maner of hope as the Rhemists and other Papists would make it but an assurance or hope without anie doubting or feare of being frustrated for it is here called Animae Anchora tuta ac firma The Anchor of the soule and such and Anchor as is Sure and stedfast so that there is no feare or doubt to be had of it Yea what feare or doubt can there be of this matter when it here appeareth that GOD both by promise and oath two immutable things in either of which it is impossible that he should lie hath tied and bound himselfe unto us to the end wee should have this assured and strong consolation And therefore would S. Iames also have the faith of a Christian to be without anie doubting or wavering at all And likewise the Epistle to the Hebrews and to the Romans requireth in everie true Christian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Assurance of faith and such a strong faith as is without anie doubting staggering distrust or wavering for so S. Paul sheweth by the example of Abraham I grant that if a man looke but upon himselfe and go no further then to himselfe and his owne demerits hee shall therein finde matter
c. for God vvill have all men to be saved But the meaning of these words is evident that he will have of all sorts and degrees of men that shall be saved even Kings and Princes aswell as of anie other sort for of them you see hee specially speaketh And so doth S. Augustine and Gregorie also expound those words And indeede what other sence all circumstances of the Text being well considered can be set upon them For to set this sence upon them namely that God will have all to bee saved in a generalitie without any exception were directly contrarie to the rest of the Scriptures which witnesse directly that God will have some to bee damned Yea if God would have all to be saved in a generality what should or can hinder but that all without exception should be saved accordingly For who was ever able to resist his will or to hinder the execution thereof that it should not come to passe Howbeit they say That God would and men will not and that this is the reason why some are damned because themselves will not be saved But what is this else but to make Gods will subiect to mens will and to be as it were a waiting servant and attendant upon their pleasures so that hee shall will their salvation when they will it themselves and shal also nill it when they nill it which beside that it maketh Gods will as variable and mutable as mens wills a thing dishonourable unto him and untrue it maketh also mens salvation and damnation to consist in their owne power and pleasures which is as absurd as if you should say it is in the power and will of the lumpe of Clay to choose of what sort and fashion it shall bee and to what use it shall bee applied and what part thereof shall bee a vessell to honour and what to dishonour For a Potter hath not more full or more absolute power over the Clay and the Pots which hee maketh thereout then God hath over all Men and Angells and over all other his creatures to doe ordaine and dispose of them and everie of them at his owne most free and uncontrollable pleasure as the Scriptures doe clearely testifie often using and as it were delighting themselves with this comparison resemblance It is true that no father hath such an high and absolute power over his Children nor King over his Subiects nor Master over his Servants the reason is apparant because these be not the makers of their Children nor of their Subiects nor of their Servants but God was the maker of them all as of all things else and therefore as touching this point the cases be not like And yet if Children offend it is in the power and pleasure of the father to correct which of them hee will or if Subiects offend the King may punish or pardon whom soever of them he pleaseth and if Servants offend it is also in the power and pleasure of the Master to punish or to spare whom he list Doth it not then consist much more in the will and pleasure of God the Creator and maker of all men especially after that all mankind was fallen in the transgression of Adam to choose or refuse whom hee pleased If then you doe but observe this comparison and similitude of the Potter which the Scripture so often useth or some such like wherein there is a Maker considered with such power and authoritie as he hath over the thing made by him being the worke of his owne hands This matter will then bee so plaine and evident unto you as that even by light and force of reason you will be compelled to confesse that the thing made is ever subiect to the will ordering and disposing of him that is the maker and not the maker to the will of the thing made And even this doth also S. Paul himselfe acknowledg and teach in this verie particular matter and thereupon he further saith expresly of God that He hath mercie upon whomsoever he will and whomsoever he will he hardeneth And againe hee saith that God spake thus I vvill have mercie on whomsoever my pleasure is to have mercie and I vvill have compassion on whomsoever my pleasure is to have compassion So then saith he againe it is not in him that vvilleth nor in him that runneth but in God that shevveth mercie By all which is most manifest that this great matter concerning the salvation and damnation of men consisteth not in the will and pleasure of men but in the will and pleasure of God and in his ordering and disposing Would you have this matter yet further declared then call to your remembrance what is written of Esau namlie that he would have inherited the blessing and yet was reiected for he found no place to repentance though he sought the blessing with teares Here you see that Esau would faine have inherited and fought it even with teares and yet was reiected and had this speciall grace of a true repentance not yeelded unto him Againe did not wicked Balaam desire to die the death of the righteous and that his last end might be like his Moreover did not the foolish Virgins aswell as the wise desire to enter in unto the Wedding and say Lord Lord open to us and yet were excluded Againe doth not Christ Iesus himselfe say to some Yee shall seâ—ke mee and yet yee shall dye in your sinnes and whether I goe thither can yee not come And againe doth he not say thus Strive to enter in at the straite gate for manie I say unto you shall seeke to enter in and shall not be able You see then that manie and sundrie persons would attaine to the everlasting felicitie of Gods people and to a most blessed happinesse and salvation and yet cannot because God will not as having otherwise ordayned of them And so againe witnesseth S. Paul saying thus Israel hath not obtained that he sought but the Election hath obtained it and the rest have beene hardened Againe Yee beleeve not saith Christ to some because yee are not of my sheepe And againe it is written Crediderunt quotquot erant ordinati ad vitam aeternam Onely so many beleeved as vvere ordained to eternall life And therefore also is this faith called fides Electorum Dei the faith of Gods Elect as being proper peculiar unto them Againe it is written of some people that To them it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdome of heaven but to others it is not given Yea and Christ Iesus himselfe speaketh thus unto God his Father saying I give thee thankes O Father Lord of heaven and earth because thou hast hid thâ—se things from the vvise and men of understanding and hast opened them unto Babes It is so O Father because such vvas thy good pleasure Againe it is written of some that The Gospel and vvord of God preached
unto them and which they heard profited them not why because it vvas not mixt vvith faith in them that heard it Which faith is Gods gift and bestowed where hee pleaseth Againe it is written that at the word and preaching of Christ Iesus and most wonderfull and mightie Miracles which hee did manie beleeved yet some beleeved not yea They could not beleeve saith the Text. Againe it is written of some men that they have such hardnesse of heart that it is a thing impossible for them to be renewed by repentance And what is the great and supreme reason of all this difference amongst men but this that some are Elect and some Reprobate some are ordeyned to salvation and some to damnation and according to that diversitie of men God either giveth or withholdeth his saving graces 4 It is a thing well knowne to all true Christians that none can be saved unlesse they have an unfained and heartie repentance and a true and lively faith in Christ Iesus which is alwaies accompanied with a care to walke in Gods waies and in obedience to his commandements Now this repentance and faith be both the gift of God and be not in mens powers to have them at their owne commands or at their owne wills and pleasures and consequently it must be granted that Mens salvation doth consist not in their owne wills and pleasures but in Gods will and pleasure That Repentance is the gift of God S. Peter and the rest of the Apostles expressely witnesse affirming that it is God that gave repentance to Israel and remission of sinnes And so againe doth S. Paul expressely declare that Repentance is the gift of God Therfore is it said also in the Lamentations of Ieremy Turne thou us O Lord unto thee and we shall be turned And likewise in the prophecie of Ieremy thus Convert thou mee and I shall be converted And that Faith also is the gift of God the Scriptures doe cleerely witnesse For which cause S. Paul saith expressely that Not by vvorkes but by grace men are saved through faith and that they have this faith not of themselves for it is saith he the gift of God Seeing then that none can be saved without this faith and repentance and that faith and repentance be both the gift of God and that men have them not of themselves nor within their owne power it must of necessitie be granted that mens salvation consisteth not in the power will of men but in the power and will of God who is the giver of those saving graces Where withall you may perceive how erroneous and false that doctrine and conceit of mens free-will is as touching things celestiall and divine For what freedome of will in things appertaining to Gods service and kingdome can he have that is ensnared by the Divell and held captive by him to doe his will as Saint Paul speaketh untill it please God to deliver and set him free Or what freedome or forwardnesse hath anie man since the fall of Adam and mans nature corrupted and depraved by that meanes to come unto God or godlinesse of his owne naturall powers and abilities especially when Christ Iesus himselfe also saith thus No man can come unto mee except the father which sent mee doe draw him For if he must be drawne before he can come as here it appeareth that hee must it sheweth that hee hath backwardnesse enough but no forwardnesse at all of himselfe to come unto God And this againe the Scripture witnesseth in Gen. 6.5 and Gen. 8.21 that untill God worke in a man the imaginations of the thoughts of his heart be only evill continually And so also witnesseth S. Paul saying in 2. Cor. 3.5 that vvee are not sufficient of our selves to thinke any thing as of our selves but our sufficiencie is of God Yea S. Paul saith further expressely that The naturall man perceiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishnesse unto him neyther can he know them because they are spiritually discerned If the corrupt naturall man cannot so much as perceive or understand the things of God untill hee be enlightned by Gods Spirit and have received from him supernaturall grace how can he possibly will or affect those things which he understandeth not For the understanding power or facultie must goe before as being the directer of the will and affections Againe doe not the Scriptures require the old man to be put off and the new man to be put on and men to be regenerate and borne anew to become new creatures to be enlightned to be changed by the renewing of their mindes and such like What doe all these phrases and manner of speeches declare but that mans nature since the transgression of Adam is horribly polluted defiled and corrupted and that they have now none of these supernatural qualities within them by vertue of their owne natural powers and abilities S. Paul againe directly sheweth that these and all other good graces and Christian vertues whatsoever be wrought in a man by Gods spirit and be the fruits of the same his spirit And S. Iames also teacheth the same as likewise all the rest of the Scriptures doe Yea S. Paul saith expressely that Men are dead through their sinnes and corruptions untill they be quickned and made alive by the operation and working of God within them If then since the fall of Adam we be all Dead men in respect of our owne selves untill God by his spirit worke in us to quicken us it is cleere that in respect of our owne natural abilities wee have no more power to come unto God then a dead man hath power in himselfe to rise againe or to walke stirre move go or to doe anie action of life for which cause also Regeneration is called The first resurrection Rev. 20.6 It is true that men have an understanding and a will but to understand well and rightly the word of God and things perteyning to Gods kingdome or to will and affect the same divine things commeth not from men but from God who enlightneth that their understanding which was before darke and maketh their will and affections enclined and to consent unto godlinesse which were before perverse and enclining another way And therefore doth S. Paul say againe most plainely thus It is God which vvorketh in you both the vvill and the deed even of his owne good pleasure Agreeably whereunto God himselfe also speaketh thus A new heart vvill I give you and a new spirit vvill I put vvithin you and I vvill take away the stonie heart out of your body and I vvill give you an heart of flesh that is a soft and mollified heart and I vvill put my spirit vvithin you and cause you to vvalke in my Statutes and ye shall keepe my Iudgements and doe them Where likewise you see that Gods working and grace doth frame make mens
a salve to all if all can take hold of him and apply him unto themselves as a Saviour by a true and lively faith But because all cannot doe this for none have this true lively and iustifying faith but Gods elect onely therefore he died efficiently that is his death was effectuall and beneficiall only to Gods Elect. Wherfore also well doth he distinguish whether it were Augustine or Prosper Qui magnitudinem pretii distinguit a proprietate redemptionis vvhich distinguisheth the greatnes or sufficiencie of the price from the proprietie of redemption Agreably whereunto S. Ambrose likewise saith that Etsi Christus pro omnibus passus est specialiter tamen pro nobis passus est quia pro Ecclesia passus est Although Christ suffered for all excluding none from the benefite of his death if they beleeve in him yet specially or in a speciall manner hee suffered for us that doe beleeve in him because for his Church it was that hee suffered And so likewise testifieth S. Hierome that Christ gave his life a redemption not for all but for manie that is saith hee for them that beleeve In like manner doth S. Paul say that God gave him to death for us all that is for all Gods elect whereof hee was one For so also S. Augustine interpreteth it in Ioh. tract 45. Pro nohis omnibus tradidit illum Sed pro quibus nobis praescitis Praedestinatis Iustificatis Glorificatis Hee gave him to death for us All But for vvhich Vs namely for them saith hee vvhich are the foreknovvne the Predestinate the Iustified and the Glorified persons Againe in the Epistle to the Hebrevves it is said that Christ Tasted death for all but in the verses that follow he sheweth the speciall meaning of those words viz. that those All vvere sanctified persons the brethren of Christ the Children vvhich God had given him and the Children which hee by that his death and passion was to bring unto glory For which cause he is also there called the Prince of their salvation In like sort it is said in the second Epistle to the Corinths that Christ dyed for all but in the words following he explaineth the matter and sheweth that hee died for all such as finding themselves dead in themselves should afterwards live not unto themselves anie longer but unto him that died for them and rose againe which kinde of godly and new life none doe live but the elect onely Againe in his Epistle to the Thessalonians he speaketh thus God hath not appointed us unto wrath but to obtaine salvation by the meanes of our Lord Iesus Christ which dyed for us Observe here likewise that he maketh Christ Iesus in a speciall and peculiar manner to die onely for those which bee appointed to obtaine salvation by the meanes of him and not for the rest which were appointed unto Wrath for he there manifestly distinguisheth betweene those two sorts of people Againe S. Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians speaketh thus Husbands love your vvives even as Christ loved the Church and gave himselfe for it Where you see also that he appropriateth the benefit of the death of Christ to his Church which he so entirely loved Yea Christ Iesus himselfe affirmeth the same saying that Hee is that good Shepheard which giveth his life for his Sheepe And againe hee saith Greater love hath no man then this that a man bestovv his life for his friends yee are my friends if yee doe whatsoever I command you By all which appeareth that Christ in respect of the proprietie of redemption gave his life and died onely for his Church for his Sheepe for his Friends that would obey him which is as much to say as that hee died specially and properly for the Elect. Yea he was in Gods purpose intended and ordayned to come into the world for the redemption of the Elect. So S. Peter likewise testifieth directly for writing his Epistle to the Elect of God 1. Pet. 1.2 he saith that They were redeemed with the pretious blood of Christ as of a Lambe undefiled and without spot and hee there further saith expresly that Christ was ordained before the foundation of the world but was declared in the last times for their sakes Where you see it precisely affirmed that Christ was ordained to come and did come into the world for the Elect sake And so also doth S. Paul declare in his Epistle to Timothy And this likewise doth Esay shew in his Prophesie saying Vnto us a Childe is borne unto us a Son is given that is unto the Church and people of God of which number the Prophet was one that so speaketh Againe S. Paul writing to the Church and people of God distinguishing them from the rest saith thus unto them Yee are not your owne for yee are bought with a price Therefore glorifie yee God in your bodie and in your spirit for they are Gods Againe in the Acts of the Apostles it is said to bee The Church of God which Christ hath purchased with that his blood Yea this is so evident that by the All for whom Christ died is in respect of redemption and remission of sinnes meant all the elect onely that for the clearer illustrating of it to be so the Scripture it selfe often useth in stead thereof this word Manie As in the Gospell according to S. Matthew Christ Iesus himselfe saith thus This is my blood of the nevv Testament that is shed for manie for the remission of their sinnes Againe hee saith The sonne of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a redemption for manie Marke that in both those places he saith That he gave his life to be a ransome or redemption not of all in a generalitie but of Manie that is as I said before of the Elect onely So likewise it is said in the Epistle to the Hebrevves Christ vvas once offered to take avvay the sinnes of manie And againe it is said by S. Paul that By the â—bedience of one namely of Christ manie shall be made righteous And so againe it is said in Daniel that The Messias should be slaine and that he should confirme the covenant vvith manie But beside all this S. Paul speaketh yet further verie plainely thus God setteth out his love tovvard us seeing that vvhilst vvee vvere yet sinners Christ died for us much more then being novv iustified by his blood vvee shall be saved from vvrath through him Observe here first that he saith Christ died for us that is for us that be of Gods Church and people for he speaketh in the person of them and in their behalfe and secondly observe that he maketh this an argument as it is indeede of Gods great and speciall love towards them that he sent his sonne to die for them what can be more plaine to shew that in Gods
to be an High Priest only to the house of God 7 But against this is obiected that of S. Iohn where hee saith thus of Christ Behold the Lambe of God vvhich taketh away the sinnes of the vvorld Howbeit you are to understand that the word vvorld as it is sometimes taken for the Reprobates in the world as in that speech of Christ before going where he saith I pray not for the vvorld and in other places likewise so it is sometimes also taken in the Scriptures to signifie Gods elect in the world As for example in the Gospel according to S. Iohn it is said thus God so loved the world namely the Gentiles as well as the Iewes that he gave his only begotten Sonne that vvhosoever whether Iew or Gentile beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life for God sent not his Sonne into the vvorld that he should condemne the world but that the vvorld through him should be saved Here by the World which is to be saved cannot be understood anie Reprobates but Gods elect onely for they onely be those that are to be saved through him For as for such as be Reprobates all men know that they are to be damned and not to be saved And therefore also doth S. Augustine so expound that place Againe S. Paul saith that God vvas in Christ reconciling the vvorld unto him not imputing their sinnes unto them and hath committed unto us the vvord of reconciliation Where likewise by this word World are meant onely Gods elect in the world inasmuch as they onely be those blessed ones which be reconciled unto God which have not their sinnes imputed to them For as for the Reprobates they are the accursed ones and were never reconciled unto God but have their sinnes imputed unto them and charged upon them and for which therefore they are condemned in the end to everlasting torments And so doth S. Augustine expound that place also Againe S. Iohn saith thus Hereby know vvee that vve dwell in him and he in us because hee hath given us of his spirit and vvee have seene and doe testifie that the Father sent the Sonne to bee the Saviour of the vvorld Here likewise by the World that is to be saved cannot be understood Reprobates but Gods Elect onely because to these onely is Christ a Saviour and to these onely doth salvation belong And so againe S. Iohn saith that Christ is the Reconciliation for our sins and not for our sinnes only but for the sinnes also of the vvhole world that is not only for the sinnes of Gods people which then lived in the daies of S Iohn whereof himselfe was one but for the sinnes of all Gods elect wheresoever or whensoever living from the beginning of the world to the end thereof And so doth S. Augustine againe expound that place likewise And in this sence it is that the word vvorld is used by S. Iohn in the place before obiected where he saith that Christ is the Lambe of God that taketh avvay the sinne of the vvorld that is to say of all Gods Elect in the world at what time or age soever they lived from the beginning of it to the end Neither in this case can the reprobates complaine of anie iniustice offered them from God because Mankinde being fallen from that integritie wherein he was created it was in Gods power and pleasure to provide a suertie and Saviour for whom hee would and to shew mercie to whom he would and to withhould his mercie also from whom hee would As likewise if divers have committed treason or rebellion in a kingdome against their King it is in the power of the King to shew mercie and to give a pardon to whom he will and to withhold his mercie and pardon from such as he pleaseth and to leave them in their offences unto condemnation and to be executed 8 Now then the former point being cleared let me returne and come to answere more succinctly to that text before alledged where S. Paul saith VVhom God foreknevv them he predestinated c. First it is evident that he with approbation foreknevv the Elect in Christ Iesus their appointed Saviour but the reprobate he never knew in that manner but as being extra Christum out of Christ and consequently as they were in their transgression by and after the fall of Adam wherein they bee liable to condemnation having no suertie or Saviour for them prepared or appointed Secondly when he there teacheth that Men were predestinated according to Gods foreknowledge The same S. Paul to declare and expound those words saith in another place that they vvere predestinate according to his purpose by conferring of which places together you may easily perceive that by Gods foreknovvledge his purposing to predestinate those whom he did predestinate is understood For saith hee in this place to the Ephesians Men vvere predestinate according to the purpose of him that doth all things by the counsaile of his owne will And againe he there saith that they were predestinate according to the good pleasure of his owne WILL. Gods foreknowing of them then in this case appeareth to bee his fore-purposing to approove of them and to account of them as of his Elect and predestinate people to eternal salvation Which may yet further appeare by the contrary namely by the Reprobates whom hee never so foreknew or knew at all with that approbation and therefore will hee say unto them in the last day Nunquam novi vos c. I never knevv you Sicut enim quos reprobat Dominus nescire dicitur Ita quos ad salutem praedestinavit praeordinat cognoscere rectè dicitur For as the Lord vvhom he reprobateth is said not to knovv so those vvhom hee hath predestinated and preordained to salvation hee is rightly said to knovv saith S. Cyril And so saith Thomas Aquinas that Quos praescivit scientia approbationis hos praedestinavit VVhom God foreknevve vvith his knovvledge of Approbation them hee did also predestinate To come then to the point Sunt praesciti ut crederent Men vvere foreknovvne that they might beleeve saith Iustin Martyr Non eliguntur qui◠credituri sed eliguntur ut credant Men vvere not elected because they did aftervvard beleeve but they vvere elected that they might beleeve saith S. Augustine And so saith S. Paul also expresly that they were predestinate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the adoption of Sonnes vvhich adoption or being made the Sonnes of God is by faith in Iesus Christ as himselfe in another place directly witnesseth And so S. Peter also saith that men vvere elected 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. unto obedience and unto the sprinkling of the blood of Iesus Christ. Againe S. Paul hath before told us That God hath chosen or elected us in Christ before the foundation of the vvorld that vvee should bee holy and vvithout blame before him in
Church they have a Communion Table and Christian Ministers and Christian people who are there to celebrate the memorie of Christs bodily sacrifice and to offer up the sacrifice of praier praise and thankesgiving and such other spiritual sacrifices as belong to Christian Ministers and Christian people to offer But none of these things doe prove anie bodilie sacrifice of Christ to be actuallie and reallie performed in the Sacrament yea if that in the Sacrament were his verie bodilie sacrifice what was or needed that which was performed on the Crosse the next day or what name will you give unto it Was not that which was performed on the Crosse the verie true Propitiatorie bodilie sacrifice You cannot denie but it was What other thing then can this Sacrament be but a Sacrament that is a similitude representation and remembrance of that propitiatorie bodilie sacrifice of Christ once done and performed in his owne person upon the Crosse for all the Elect 4 But you alledge that Christ having taken the bread said This is my Body Howbeit you should consider withall that after that he had taken the Cup he said likewise This is my bloud and yet for all that was not the verie Cup his verie bloud If then in these words ye admit as yee doe a figure or figurative speech why should yee not likewise in the other words of This is my body admit a figure or figurative speech Yea if by reason of these words This is my Body you will inferre that the verie substance of the bread is changed into the verie substance of the natural body of Christ which change yee therefore call Transubstantiation then may I by force of these words uttered of the Cup This is my bloud inferre likewise that the verie substance of the Cup is changed into the verie substance of the natural blood of Christ or if you will take the words as they be recited by S. Paul and S. Luke namely thus This Cup is the new Testament in my blood I may aswell conclude that the verie substance of the Cup is turned and changed into the verie new Testament or new Covenant which were verie absurd Wee grant that the bread is Christs bodie and the wine is his blood in a Sacramental phrase and sacramentally but not litterally and substantially or by waie of Transubstantiation as yee most strangely imagine So that the Argument appeareth to bee fond and vaine when men reason thus Christ said of the consecrated Bread that it is his bodie Ergo it is his Bodie naturallie substantiallie and by way of Transubstantiation For this is more then ever CHRIST spake and it may bee as indeed it is his Bodie otherwise namely Sacramentally Figurativelie and Significatively And so also doe the ancient Fathers themselves expresly declare and expound it as namely Tertullian saith thus Hoc est corpus meum id est figura corporis mei This is my bodie that is saith he a figure of my bodie And S. Augustine saith likewise Non dubitabit Dominus dicere hoc est corpus meum cum daret signum corporis sui The Lord doubted not to say this is my bodie when he gave a signe of his bodie And yet wee grant that after consecration there is a change as the ancient Fathers also affirme but that is as touching the use and end and not as touching the substance For that which was before common bread and common wine is now after consecration become sacramental bread and sacramental wine signifying and figuring out unto us another thing namely the bread doth then signifie and figure out unto us the bodie of Christ which was broken and crucified for us and the wine signifieth figureth out unto us the blood of Christ which was powred out and shed for us So that the Bread and the Wine which in common and ordinarie use serve onely for sustenance of the bodie now after consecrasion signifie and represent unto us that which is the verie true foode of our soules and the sustenance of them to eternal life and doe import unto us that as verily as wee receive the Bread and Wine outwardly with our bodilie mouth so verily and certainely doe wee also receive Christ Iesus and the benefite of his death and passion inwardly by our faith which is the mouth of the soule For as bodily meate must have a bodily mouth to receive it so that which is spiritual meat and sustenance for the soule must have a spiritual mouth to receive it by And this is that eating of Christs flesh drinking of his blood which is spoken of in S. Iohns Gospell when hee is thus received and applied not by a carnal or corporal but by a spiritual mouth namely by faith For whereas some in that sixt Chapter of S. Iohns Gospell hearing Christ speaking of eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood said it was an hard speech grew offended at it Christ to remove all that conceited hardnesse and offence taken at those his words answered and said that It is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing the vvords that I speake unto you are spirit and life So that yee must take the words which Christ there spake unto them concerning the eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood not litterally grosly and carnally as the Capernaits did but in a spiritual sense and meaning And so doth S. Augustine in divers places tell you that they are to be expounded For he saith expreslie that Credere in eum est manducare To beleeve in Iesus Christ is in that place of S. Iohn to eate his flesh Yea to shew that the words bee not to be taken litterallie or carnallie but figuratively the same S. Augustine giveth this reason saying that otherwise by commanding to Eate the flesh of a man and to drinke his blood he should seeme to command an heinous or wicked thing Figura est ergo praecipiens passioni dominica esse communicandum suaviter atque utiliter recondendum in memoria quod pro nobis caro eius crucifixa vulnerata sit It is therefore saith he a figure or figurative speech commanding that we must communicate with the Lords passion sweetly profitably keep in memory that His flesh vvas crucified and wounded for us When he saith expreslie that it is a figure or figurative speech what doubt should yee make of it But yet further upon the 98. Psalme hee bringeth in Christ speaking thus to his Disciples Spiritualiter intelligite quod locutus sum non hoc corpus quod videtis manducaturi estis â—ibituri illum sanguinem quem fusâ—ri suâ—t qui me crucifigent Sacramentum aliquod vobis commendavi Spiritualiter intellectum vivificabit vos Vnderstand yee spiritually that which I have spoken yee are not to eate this very bodie which yee see and to drinke that blood which they shall shed which shall crucifie mee It is a Sacrament that I
in the mindes of his followers as that they should beleeve his Supremacie and Religion to be as undoubtedly true and right as if the same had beene approved and ratified by fire sent downe from God out of heaven for that purpose And they may allude to the times of Elias in another sense also signifying that as in his daies fire came downe from heaven to consume certaine Captaines vvith their fifties which came to molest and disquiet him so if anie molest interrupt or disturb the Pope in anie point touching his Supremacie and the Religion thereunto belonging that he can likewise cause a Divine revenge like fire from heaven to fall upon them which hee would perswade them they shall not escape Thus by words and deedes perswasions and threats fraude and force by doctrines decrees and constitutions by rewards and punishments by false miracles and by all the wayes hee could devise hath the Pope endevoured to erect unto himselfe a Throne upon earth and to have a Monarchie not only Episcopal Ecclesiastical for that would not content him though it were too much but Civil and Imperial also that so in Him as being the Head and supreme governor of Rome in lieu of the Emperors the Image of the Beast might appeare Yea to make himselfe yet more like to the Emperor he hath also taken the Emperors habite which was of Skarlet together with shooes of Skarlet which were proper to the Emperors And as the Emperor had a Senate clad in Skarlet so hath the Pope also a Senate of Cardinalls clad in cloth of the verie same colour Inasmuch then as the Pope and his Cardinals which make the State whereby Rome is ruled and governed be thus all of them clad in Skarlet you therein not onely see the Image of the Beast but therewithall the verie skarlet coloured Beast which was so long agone prophecyed of and foretold that the VVhore of Babylon should sit upon for a Prophecie is of things to come and not of things present and so is it accordingly expressely said of that prophecie in the Revelation of S. Iohn that it was to shew him things future and which afterward should be done Rev. 4.1 and not things present and in esse at that time 5 In the three last verses of the chapter it is further said that this second Beast caused all both small and great rich and poore free and bond to receive a marke in their right hand or in their foreheads and that no man might buy or sell but hee that had the marke or the name of the Beast or the number of his Name Here is vvisedome let him that hath understanding count the number of the Beast for it is the number of a man and his number is 666. In which words you see that this second Beast was to cause men to receive a marke in their right hand or in their forehead and there he sheweth what marke this is namely that it is the marke of the Beast whose deadly wound was healed viz. in the Pope in whom the ancient Imperial dignitie was restored and revived at Rome So that the marke of the Beast here that is of the Latine or Romane State as it was and is in the hands of the Popes and managed and ruled by them in respect of Religion is and must needs be Poperie or which commeth all to one reckoning subiection and obedience to the Pope and to his decrees and determinations And this marke hee causeth all to receive in their right hands or in their foreheads that is either by the manner of their actions life and conversation to shew it or by their open and outward profession to declare it For so doth S. Augustine Primasius Lyranus Haymo Richardus de S. Victore and the ordinarie Glosse likewise expounds those words Yea none saith the Text might buy or sell save he that had the marke or the name of the Beast or the number of his name that is none was to trade or to be a Merchant of the Popes Pardons Indulgences or such like Romish Merchandizes unlesse hee either professed subiection to the Pope and Popish Religion or unlesse hee had the name of a Romanist or were at least reckoned or numbred amongst them as if he were a verie true Romanist indeed Yea even concerning temporal Merchandizes also did Pope Martin the fift in his Bull annexed to the Councell of Constance and divers other Popes also as before appeareth give straight charge and commandement that none which will not acknowledge subiection to the Pope and his Religion should buy or sell or make my contracts or exercise any trafficke or merchandize or have any comforts of humane societie vvith faithfull Christians Although therefore Bellarmine obiecteth that there be manie within the dominion of the Pope which not professing the Popes Religion doe neverthelesse buy and sell as namely the Iewes thereunto is answered first that Antichrist the Pope is properly the King and Head not of Vnchristian but of Antichristian people and therefore is to exercise that his Papal and Antichristian Authoritie onely amongst that kinde of people and not over Iewes and such like Infidels which make no profession at all of Christ or Christianitie Now as touching such as professe the name of Christ it is before shewed that hee suffereth none of them where he hath to doe by his good will to buy or sell or to exercise anie trade of merchandizing yea or to enioy the comforts of humane societie unlesse he live in subiection to him and hold communion with his Church But secondly Iewes that live within the dominion of the Pope be not within the compasse of such Merchants as be here specially intended viz. to buy and sell the Popes Pardons Indulgences and such like Antichristian wares wherein the chiefe merchandizing of Papal Rome consisteth and whereat this Text principally aimeth For not Iewes but pretended Christians and those of the forwarder sort of their Religion be the men used to bee imploied in this kinde of trafficke What have Iewes to doe with this kinde of Romish ware or to deale with such merchandize in the Church of Rome concerning the soules of men whereunto they be altogether strangers and which Church together with the orders and religion thereof they utterly disclaime and disavow And yet thirdly even the Iewes themselves that trafficke and trade temporal commodities and merchandizes doe it by Letters Patents Rescripts Warrant or Licence from the Pope of Rome or his lawes for otherwise they could not doe it and so upon the matter have they also the name of the Beast to allow and authorize them therein And therefore even the verie Iewes themselves which doe not otherwise trade trafficke and merchandize worldly commodities but by the Popes authoritie permission or allowance within his Dominions doe no way confute but rather confirme this point 6 Here is vvisedome saith the Text let him that hath understanding count the number of the
chiefly in respect of the world to come For it hath as you see Gods owne expresse commandement bidding all his people to depart from that mysticall Babylon Popish Rome When therefore God himselfe thus speaketh and would have none that bee his people to adhere to such a Mother as the Whore of Babylon is but cleane contrariwise would have them to depart from her and utterly to renounce abhorre and detest her as being indeed the Mother of VVhoredomes and abhominations of the Earth as she is intitled is it not good reason and your bounden dutie to give eare unto him and to obey his voyce herein as you tender your owne salvations and desire to be His People It appeareth that ye have been of a long time mistaken as touching the right Mother-Church For not Popish Rome but Hierusalem which is from above is the Mother of us all as S. Paul expressely witnesseth Yea what maner of Mother Popish Rome is I trust yee now sufficiently perceive Bee no longer therefore so much abused or so extreamely deluded as to take the wrong Mother for the right and him that is the grand Antichrist to bee Christs Vicar the head of his Church S. Peters successor and the Bishop that cannot erre in matter of Faith For what christian charitable and good minde doth not grieve to see so manie honourable and honest-hearted men to bee so farre carried away and misled to their owne perdition Howbeit if anie amongst you rest not satisfied herewith but thinketh that hee can answer this Booke and will take upon him so to doe I desire him first that hee will doe it not by parts or peece-meales but wholly and entirely from the beginning of it to the end Secondly I desire him to doe it not superficially or sophistically but substantially soundly and satisfactorilie if hee can Thirdly as I would haue him to doe it in love and charity and with an affection onely to follow Gods truth so doe I also desire him to set his name unto it as I have done here to this But if none amongst you can make anie solid sound sufficient and satisfactorie Answere unto it as I rest assured before hand none can or will bee able For who was or ever will be able to Answer or confute that Word of God whereupon the Protestants Doctrine Religion is apparantly grounded then is there so much the more reason for you all to yeeld to that which you see to bee evident unanswerable and irrefutable God Almightie if it bee his will open all your eies to see his splendent and invincible truth in his sacred Canonical Scriptures conteined and grant both to you and to us that wee may all acknowledge professe and observe it to his glorie the discharge of our duties and our owne everlasting comforts and salvation through Iesus Christ. Amen VVisdome is iustified of all her Children Luk. 7.35 Vnto the King everlasting Immortal Invisible unto GOD onely wise be honor and glorie for ever and ever AMEN 1. Tim. 1.17 FINIS AN EPISTLE VVRITTEN BY THE REVEREND FAther in God James Vssher Bishop of Meath concerning the religion anciently professed by the IRISH and SCOTTISH Shewing it to be for substance the same with that which at this day is by publick authoritie established in the Church of ENGLAND WORTHY SIR I Confesse I somewhat incline to be of your minde that if unto the authorities drawen out of Scriptures and Fathers which are common to us with others a true discoverie were added of that religion which anciently was professed in this kingdome it might prove a speciall motive to induce my poore countrey-men to consider a little better of the old and true way from whence they have hitherto beene misledd Yet on the one side that saying in the Gospell runneth much in my minde If they heare not Moses and the Prophets neyther will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead and on the other that heavie judgement mentioned by the Apostle because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved God shall send them strong delusion that they should beleeve lyes The wofull experience whereof wee may see daily before our eyes in this poore nation where such as are slow of heart to beleeve the saving truth of God delivered by the Prophets and Apostles doe with all greedinesse imbrace with a most strange kinde of credulitie intertaine those lying Legends wherwith their Monks Friars in these latter dayes have polluted the religion and lives of our ancient Saints I doe not denie but that in this countrey as well as in others corruptions did creepe in by little and little before the Divell was let loose to procure that seduction which prevayled so generally in these last times but as farre as I can collect by such records of the former ages as have come unto my hands eyther manuscript or printed the religion professed by the ancient Bishops Priests Monkes and other Christians in this land was for substance the verie same with that which now by publick authoritie is maintayned therein against the forraine doctrine brought in thither in later times by the Bishop of Romes followers I speake of the more substantiall points of doctrine that are in controversie betwixt the Church of Rome and us at this day by which only wee must judge whether of both sides hath departed from the religion of our ancestours not of matters of inferior note much lesse of ceremonies and such other things as appertaine to the discipline rather than to the doctrine of the Church And whereas it is knowne unto the learned that the name of Scoti in those elder times whereof we treate was common to the inhabitants of the greater and the lesser Scotland for so heretofore they have beene distinguished that is to say of Ireland and the famous colonie deduced from thence into Albania I will not follow the evill example of those that have of late laboured to make dissension betwixt the daughter and the mother but accompt of them both as of the same people Tros Rutulúsve fuat nullo discrimine habebo That wee may therefore fall upon the matter in hand without further preambles two excellent rules doth S. Paul prescribe unto Christians for their direction in the wayes of God the one that they be not unwise but understanding what the will of God is the other that they be not more wise then behoveth to be wise but be wise unto sobriety and that wee might know the limits within which this wisedome and sobrietie should be bounded hee elsewhere declareth that not to be more wise then is fitting is not to bee wise above that which is written Hereupon Sedulius one of the most ancient writers that remaineth of this countrey birth delivereth this for the meaning of the former rule Search the Law in which the will of God is contayned and this for the later He would be more wise then
onely nor see at all so these two sayings likewise may stand well enough together that among all the vertues in the soule faith is the onely instrument whereby we lay hold upon Christ for our iustification and yet that faith being alone and disioyned from the societie of other graces is dead in it selfe as S. Iames speaketh and in that respect can neyther only iustifie nor iustifie at all So though Claudius doe teach as we doe that faith alone saveth us because by the workes of the law no man shall be justified yet hee addeth withall this caution Not as if the workes of the law should be contemned and without them a simple faith so hee calleth that solitarie faith whereof we spake which is a simple faith indeed should be desired but that the workes themselves should be adorned with the faith of Christ. For that sentence of the wise man is excellent that the faithfull man doth not live by righteousnesse but the righteous man by faith In like maner Sedulius acknowledgeth with us that God hath purposed by faith onely to forgive our sinnes freely and by faith onely to save the beleevers and that when men have fallen they are to be renewed onely by the faith of Christ which worketh by love intimating by this last clause that howsoever faith only be it which iustifieth the man yet the worke of love is necessarily required for all that to iustifie the faith And this faith saith he when it hath beene justified sticketh in the soyle of the soule like a root which hath received a showre that when it hath begun to be manured by the law of God it may rise up againe into bowes which may beare the fruit of workes Therefore the root of righteousnesse doth not grow out of workes but the fruit of workes out of the root of righteousnesse namely out of that roote of righteousnesse which God doth accept for righteousnesse without workes The conclusion is that saving faith is alwaies a fruitfull faith and though it never goe alone yet may there be some gift of God which it alone is able to reach unto as Columbanus also implieth in that verse Sola fides fidei dono ditabitur almo The greatest depressers of Gods grace and the advancers of mans abilities were Pelagius and Celestius the one borne in Brittaine as appeareth by Prosper Aquitanus the other in Scotland or Ireland as Mr. Persons doth gather out of those words of S. Hierome in one of the Prefaces of his commentaries not upon Ezechiel as he quoteth it but upon Ieremy Hee hath his off-spring from the Scottish nation neere to the Britans Against these Palladius and Patricius sent into these parts by Celestinus Bishop of Rome bent their forces by whose meanes the grounds of sound doctrine in these great points were well setled among the Scottish and Irish. And when the poyson of the contrarie heresie about two hundred yeares after that beganne to breake out among them againe the Clergie of Rome in the yeare of our Lord DCXXXIX during the vacancie of the See upon the death of Severinus directed their letters unto them for the preventing of this growing mischiefe Wherein among other things they put them in minde that it is both blasphemy and folly to say that a man is without sinne which none at all can say but that one mediator betwixt God and man the man Christ Iesus vvho was conceived and borne without sinne Which is agreeable partly to that of Claudius that it is manifest unto all wise men although it be contradicted by heretickes that there is none who can live upon earth without the touch of some sinne partly to that of Sedulius that there is none of the elect so great whom the Divell doth not dare to accuse but him alone who did no sinne and who said The Prince of this world commeth now and in me he findeth nothing For touching the imperfection of our sanctification in this life these men held the same that wee doe to wit that the Law cannot be fulfilled that there is none that doth good that is to say perfect and intire good that Gods elect shall be perfectly holy and immaculate in the life to come where the Church of Christ shall have no spot nor wrinkle whereas in this present life they are righteous holy and immaculate not wholy but in part only that the righteous shall then be without all kinde of sinne vvhen there shall bee no law in their members that shall resist the law of their mind that although sinne do not now raigne in their mortall body to obey the desires thereof yet sinne dwelleth in that mortall body the force of that natural custome being not yet extinguished which we have gotten by our originall and increased by our actuall transgressions And as for the matter of merit Sedulius doth resolve us out of S. Paul that wee are Saints by the calling of God not by the merit of our deed that God is able to doe exceeding aboundantly above all that we aske or thinke according to the power that worketh in us not according to our merits that whatsoever men have from God is grace because they have nothing of due and that nothing can be found worthy or to be compared with the glory to come The next point that offereth it selfe unto our consideration is that of Purgatory Whereof if anie man doe doubt Caesarius a Germane Monke of the Cistercian order adviseth him for his resolution to make a iourney into Scotland the greater Scotland he meaneth and there to enter into S. Patricks Purgatory and then he giveth him his word that he shall no more doubt of the paines of Purgatory If Doctor Terry who commendeth this unto us as the testimonie of a most famous author should chance to have a doubtfull thought hereafter of the paines of Purgatory I would wish his ghostly Father to injoine him no other penance but the undertaking of a pilgrimage unto S. Patricks purgatorie to see whether he would prove any wiser when he came from thence than when hee went thither In the meane time untill he hath made some further experiment of the matter he shall give me leave to beleeve him that hath beene there and hath cause to know the place as well as anie the Iland wherein it is seated being held by him as a part of the inheritance descended unto him from his ancestors and yet professeth that he found nothing therein which might afford him anie argument to thinke there was a Purgatorie I passe by that Nennius and Probus and all the elder writers of the life of S. Patrick that I have met withall speake not one word of anie such place and that Henry the monke of Saltrey in the dayes of king Stephen is the first in whom I could ever finde anie mention thereof this onely would I know
say that in the manuscript books which I have met withall here in S. Brendans own countrey one whereof was transcribed for the use of the Friars minors of Kilkenny about the yeare of our Lord 1350. there is not the least footstep thereof to be seene And this is a thing verie observable in the ancienter lives of our Saints such I meane as have beene written before the time of Satans loosing beyond which we doe not now looke that the prayers and oblations for the dead mentioned therein are expressely noted to have been made for them whose soules were supposed at the same instant to have rested in blisse So Adamnanus reporteth that S. Colme called by the Irish both in Bedes and our dayes Colum-kille caused all things to be prepared for the sacred ministerie of the Eucharist when he had seene the soule of S. Brendan received by the holy Angells and that hee did the like when Columbanus Bishop of Leinster departed this life for I must to day saith S. Colme there although I be unworthy celebrate the holy mysteries of the Eucharist for the reverence of that soule which this night carried beyond the starry firmament betwixt the holy quires of Angells ascended into Paradise Whereby it appeareth that an honourable commemoration of the dead was herein intended and a sacrifice of thanksgiving for their salvation rather then of propitiation for their sinnes In Bede also wee finde mention of the like obsequies celebrated by S. Cuthbert for one Hadwaldus after he had seene his soule carried by the hands of Angells unto the joyes of the kingdome of heaven So Gallus and Magnus as Walafridus Strabus relateth in the life of the one and Theodorus Campidonensis or whosoever else was author of the life of the other said Masse which what it was in those dayes wee shall afterward heare and were instant in prayers for the commemoration of abbat Columbanus their countreyman frequenting the memory of that great Father with holy prayers and healthfull sacrifices Where that speech of Gallus unto his deacon Magnus or Magnoaldus is worthie of speciall consideration After this nights watch I understood by a vision that my master and father Columbanus is to day departed out of the miseries of this life unto the joyes of Paradise For his rest therefore I ought to offer the sacrifice of salvation In like maner also when Gallus himselfe died Iohn Bishop of Constance prayed to the Lord for his rest and offered healthfull sacrifices for him although he were certainly perswaded that hee had attained the blessing of everlasting life as may be seene in Walafridus And when Magnus afterwards was in his death-bed he is said to have used these words unto Tozzo Bishop of Ausborough that came to visite him Doe not weepe reverend Prelate because thou beholdest me labouring in so manie stormes of worldly troubles because I beleeve in the mercie of God that my soule shall rejoyce in the freedome of immortalitie yet I beseech thee that thou wilt not cease to helpe me a sinner and my soule with thy holy prayers Then followeth that at the time of his departure this voice was heard Come Magnus come receive the crowne vvhich the Lord hath prepared for thee and that thereupon Tozzo said unto Theodorus the supposed writer of this historie Let us cease weeping brother because wee ought rather to rejoyce having heard this signe of the receiving of his soule unto immortalitie than to make lamentation but let us goe to the Church and be carefull to offer healthfull sacrifices to the Lord for so deare a friend I dispute not of the credite of these particular passages it is sufficient that the authors from whom wee have received them lived within the compasse of those times whereof we now doe treate For thereby it is plaine enough and if it be not it shall elsewhere be made yet more plaine that in those elder dayes it was an usuall thing to make prayers and oblations for the rest of those soules which were not doubted to have beene in glorie and consequently that neyther the Commemoration nor the Praying for the dead nor the Requiem Masses of that age have anie necessarie relation to the beleefe of Purgatory The lesson therefore which Claudius teacheth us here out of S. Hierome is verie good that while wee are in this present world we may be able to helpe one another eyther by our prayers or by our counsailes but when vvee shall come before the judgement seat of Christ neyther Iob nor Daniel nor Noah can intreate for any one but every one must beare his owne burden and the advise which the no lesse learned then godly abbat Columbanus giveth us is verie safe not to pitch upon uncertainties hereafter but now to trust in God and follow the precepts of Christ while our life doth yet remaine and while the times wherin we may obtayne salvation are certaine Vive Deo fidens saith he Christi praecepta sequeÌ„do Dum modò vita manet dum tempora certa salutis Touching the worship of God that I may now come to that point Sedulius delivereth this generall rule that to adore any other beside the Father and the Sonne and the holy Ghost is the crime of impietie and that all that the soule oweth unto God if it bestow it upon any beside God it committeth adultery More particularly in the matter of Images he reproveth the wise men of the heathen for thinking that they had found out a way how the invisible God might be worshipped by a visible image with whom also accordeth Claudius that God is to be knowen neyther in mettle nor in stone and for Oathes there is a Canon ascribed to S. Patrick wherein it is determined that no creature is to be sworâ—e by but onely the Creator As for the forme of the Liturgie or publick service of God which the same S. Patrick brought into this countrey it is said that he received it from Germanus and Lupus and that it originally descended from S. Marke the Evangelist for so have I seene it set down in an ancient fragment written wellnigh 900. yeares since remayning now in the Library of Sir Robert Cotton my worthy friend who can never sufficiently be commended for his extraordinarie care in preserving all rare monuments of this kinde Yea S. Hieroms authoritie is there vouched for proofe hereof Beatus Hieronymus adfirmat quòd ipsum cursum qui dicitur praesente tempore Scottorum beatus Marcus decantavit which being not now to be found in anie of S. Hieroms workes the truth thereof I leave unto the credite of the reporter But whatsoever Liturgie was used here at first this is sure that in the succeeding ages no one generall forme of divine service was retayned but diverse rites and maners of celebrations were observed in diverse parts of this kingdome untill the Romane use was brought in at last by
to be by others abroad notwithstanding the Pope doth now by his Bulls of dispensation take upon him to make a faire matter of it may easily be perceived by this censure of Giraldus Moreover saith he which is very detestable and most contrarie not onely to the faith but also unto common honestie brethren in many places throughout Ireland doe I say not marry but marre rather and seduce the wives of their deceased brothers while in this sort they filthily and incestuously have knowledge of them cleaving herein not to the marrow but to the barke of the old testament and desiring to imitate the ancient in vices more vvillingly then in vertues Thirdly touching divorces we reade in Sedulius that it is not lawful according to the precept of our Lord that the wife should be put away but for the cause of fornication and in the Synod ascribed to S. Patrick It is not lawfull for a man to put away his wife but for the cause of fornication as if he should say for this cause he may Whence if he marry another as it were after the death of the former they forbid it not Who they were that did not forbid this second marriage is not there expressed that S. Patrick himselfe was of another minde would appeare by this constitution following which in another ancient Canon-book I found cited under his name If any mans wife have committed adulterie with another man hee shall not marry another wife as long as the first wife shall be alive If peradventure she be converted and doe penance hee shall receive her and she shal serve him in the place of a mayd servant Let her for a whole yeare doe penance in bread and water and that by measure neyther let them remaine in the same bedd together Fourthly concerning single life I doe not finde in anie of our records that it was generally imposed upon the Clergie but the contrarie rather For in the Synod held by S. Patrick Auxilius and Isserninus there is a speciall order taken that their wives shall not walke abroad with their heads uncovered And S. Patrick himselfe confesseth at leastwise the Confession which goeth under his name saith so and Probus Iocelinus and others that write his life agree therewith that he had to his father Calpurnius a Deacon and to his grandfather Potitus a Priest True it is that for the most part the Clergie here did live unmarried but the speciall reason thereof was because almost all the prelates of Ireland were chosen into the Clergie out of monasteries not because that secular Priests were by any law debarred from marriage For our monasteries in ancient time were the seminaries of the ministerie being as it were so many Colledges of learned divines whereunto the people did usually resort for instruction and from whence the Church was wont continually to be supplied with able ministers The benefite whereof was not onely contayned within the limits of this Iland but did extend it selfe to forraine countries likewise For this was it that drew Egbert and Ceadda for example into Ireland that they might there leade a monasticall life in prayers and continencie and meditation of the holy Scriptures and hence were those famous monasteries planted in England by Aidan Finan Colman and others unto which the people flockt apace on the Lords day not for the feeding of their body but for the learning of the word of God as Beda witnesseth Yea this was the principall meanes whereby the knowledge both of the Scriptures and of all other good learning was preserved in that inundation of babarisme wherewith the whole West was in a maner overwhelmed Hitherto saith Curio it might seeme that the studies of wisedome should quite have perished unlesse God had reserved a seed in some corner of the world Among the Scottish and the Irish something as yet remayned of the doctrine of the knowledge of God and of civill honestie because there was no terrour of armes in those utmost ends of the world And we may there behold and adore the great goodnesse of God that among the Scotts and in those places where no man would have thought it so many great companies should be gathered together under a most strict discipline How strict their discipline was may appeare partly by the Rule partly by the Daily penances of Monkes which are yet extant of Columbanus his writing In the later of these for the disobedience of Monkes these penances are prescribed If any brother be disobedient he shall fast two dayes with one bisket and water If any say I will not doe it three dayes with one bisket and water If any murmure two dayes with one bisket and water If any doe not aske leave or tell an excuse two dayes with one bisket and water and so in other particulars In his Rule these good lessons doth hee give unto his Monkes among manie others That it profited them little if they were virgins in body and were not virgins in minde that they should daily profite as they did daily pray and daily reade that the good things of the Pharisee being vainly praised were lost and the sinnes of the Publican being accused vanished away and therfore that a great word should not come out of the mouth of a Monke least his great labour should perish They were not taught to vaunt of their state of perfection and workes of supererogation or to argue from thence as Celestius the Pelagian monke sometime did that by the nature of their free will they had such a possibilitie of not sinning that they were able also to doe more then was commanded because they did observe perpetuall virginitie which is not commanded whereas for not sinning it is sufficient to fulfill the precepts It was one of the points which Gallus the scholler of Columbanus delivered in his sermon preached at Constance that our Saviour did so perswade the Apostles and their followers to lay hold upon the good of virginitie that yet they should know it was not of humane industry but of divine gift and it is a good observation which we reade in Claudius that not only in the splendor of bodily things but also in mournefull abasing of ones selfe there may be boasting and that so much the more dangerous as it deceiveth under the name of the service of God Our Monkes were religious in deed and not in name only farre from the hypocrisie pride idlenesse and uncleanenesse of those evill beasts and slouthfull bellies that afterward succeeded in their roome Under colour of forsaking all they did not hooke all unto themselves nor under semblance of devotion did they devoure widdowes houses they held begging to be no point of perfection but remembred the words of our Lord Iesus how he said It is a more blessed thing to give rather then to take When King Sigebert made large offers unto Columbanus and his companions to keepe
great house he doth not understand the Church as some have thought which hath not spot nor wrinkle but the world in which the tares are mingled with the vvheate that yet in the holy Church also the evill are mingled with the good and the reprobate with the elect and that in this respect it is resembled unto the wise and foolish virgins as also to the Kings marriage by which this present Church is designed wherein the good and the bad doe meet together So that in this Church neyther the bad can be without the good nor the good without the bad whom the holy Church notwithstanding doth both now receive indifferently and separate afterwards at their going from hence They taught further that the Church sometimes is not only afflicted but also defiled with such oppressions of the gentiles that if it were possible her redeemer might seeme for a time utterly to have forsaken her and that in the raging times of Antichrist the Church shall not appeare by reason that the wicked persecutors shall then exercise their cruelty beyond all measure that in those times of Antichrist not onely more often and more bitter torments shall be put upon the faithfull then before were wont to be but which is more grievous the working of miracles also shall accompany those that inflict the torments as the Apostle witnesseth saying Whose comming is after the working of Satan with all seduction signes and lying wonders namely juggling ones as it was foretold before They shall shew such signes that if it were possible the very elect should be deceived by such a phantasticall power as Iamnes and Mambres wrought withall before Pharao What unbeleever therefore say they will then be converted unto the faith and who is hee that already beleeveth whose faith trembleth not and is not shaken vvhen the persecuter of piety is the worker of wonders and the same man that exerciseth crueltie with torments that Christ may be denyed provoketh by miracles that Antichrist may be beleeved And vvhat a pure and a single eye is there need of that the way of wisdome may be found against which so great deceivings and errors of evill and perverse men doe make such a noyse all which notwithstanding men must passe through and so come to most certaine peace and the unmoveable stabilitie of vvisedome Hence concerning Miracles they give us these instructions First that neyther if an Angell should shew himselfe unto us to seduce us being suborned with the deceipts of his father the Divell ought he to prevayle against us neyther if a miracle should be done by any one as it is sayd of Simon Magus that he did flye in the ayre neyther that signes should terrifie us as done by the Spirit because that our Saviour also hath given us warning of this before hand Matth. 24.24 25. Secondly that the faith having increased miracles were to cease forasmuch as they are declared to have been given for their sakes that beleeve not and therefore that now when the number of the faithfull is growen there be many within the holy Church that retayne the life of vertues and yet have not those signes of vertues because a miracle is to no purpose shewed outwardly if that be wanting which it should worke inwardly For according to the saying of the Master of the Gentiles Languages are for a signe not to the faithfull but to infidells 1. Cor. 14.22 Thirdly that the working of miracles is no good argument to prove the holinesse of them that be the instruments thereof and therefore when the Lord doth such things for the convincing of infidels hee yet giveth us warning that vvee should not be deceived thereby supposing invisible wisedom to be there where we shall behold a visible miracle For he saith Many shall say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophecyed in thy name and in thy name cast out Divels and in thy name done many miracles Matth. 7.22 Fourthly that hee tempteth God who for his own vaine glory will make shew of a superfluous and unprofitable miracle such as that for example was whereunto the Divel tempted our Saviour Matt. 4.6 to come downe headlong from the pinnacle of the Temple unto the plaine every miracle being vayne vvhich vvorketh not some profite unto mans salvation Whereby wee may easily discerne what to judge of that infinite number of idle miracles wherewith the lives of our Saints are everie where stuffed manie wherof we may justly censure as Amphilochius doth the tales that the Poëts tell of their Gods for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fables of laughter worthy and of teares Yea some of them also we may rightly brand as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnseemely fables and Divells documents For what for example can be more unseemely and tend further to the advancement of the doctrine of Divels then that which Cogitosus relateth in the life of S. Brigid that she for saving the credite of a Nunne that had been gotten with childe blessed her faithfully forsooth for so the author speaketh and so caused her conception to vanish away without any deliverie and without any paine which for the saving of S. Brigids owne credit eyther Hen. Canisius or the friars of Aichstad from whō he had his copie of Cogitosus thought fit to scrape out and rather to leave a blanke in the book then to suffer so lewd a tale to stand in it But I will not stirre this puddle anie further but proceede on unto some better matter And now are we come at last to the great point that toucheth the Head and the foundation of the Church Concerning which Sedulius observeth that the title of foundation is attributed both to Christ and to the Apostles and Prophets that where it is said Esai 28.16 Behold I lay in Sion a stone etc. it is certaine that by the rock or stone Christ is signified that in Ephes. 2.20 the Apostles are the foundation or Christ rather the foundation of the Apostles For Christ saith he is the foundation who is also called the corner stone joyning and holding together the two walls Therefore is he the foundation and chiefe stone because in him the Church is both founded and finished and we are to account the Apostles as ministers of Christ and not as the foundation The famous place Matth. 16.18 whereupon our Romanists lay the maine foundation of the Papacie Claudius expoundeth in this sort Vpon this rock will I build my Church that is to say upon the Lord and Saviour vvho granted unto his faithfull knower lover and confessor the participation of his own name that from petra the rock he should be called Peter The Church is builded upon him because only by the faith and love of Christ by the receiving of the sacraments of Christ by the observation of the commandements of Christ vve come to the inheritance