deliuery of the same in writing is vnto vs a manifest token that the way of saluation is now sufficiently opened and that we neede no other meanes for our full instruction then God hath already furnished vs withall The maine drift of the whole newe Testament is that which Saint Iohn setteth downe as the purpose of his owne Historie These things are written that yee might beleeue that Iesus is Christ the Sonne of God and that in beleeuing yee might haue life through his name The drift of the olde that which the Apostle mentioneth to Timothie The holy Scriptures are able to make thee wise vnto saluâ—tion So that the generall ende both of olde and newe is one the difference betweene them consisting in this that the olde did make wise by teaching saluation through Christ that should come the newe by teaching that Christ the Sauiour is come and that Iesus whom the Iewes did crucifie and whom God did raise againe from the dead is he When the Apostle therefore affirmeth vnto Timothie that the old was able to make him wise to saluation it was not his meaning that the olde alone can do this vnto vs which liue sithence the publication of the newe For he speaketh with presupposall of the doctrine of Christ knowne also vnto Timothie and therefore first it is sayd Continue thou in those things which thou hast learned and art perswaded knowing of whom thou hast bene taught them Againe those Scriptures hee graunteth were able to make him wise to saluation but he addeth through the faith which is in Christ. VVherefore without the doctrine of the new Testament teaching that Christ hath wrought the redemption of the world which redemption the olde did foreshewe he should worke it is not the former alone which can on our behalfe performe so much as the Apostle doth auouch who presupposeth this when he magnifieth that so highly And as his words concerning the bookes of auncient Scripture do not take place but with presupposall of the Gospell of Christ embraced so our owne wordes also when wee extoll the complete sufficiency of the whole intire body of the Scripture must in like sorte bee vnderstood with this caution that the benefite of natures light be not thought excluded as vnnecessarie because the necessitie of a diuiner light is magnified There is in Scripture therefore no defect but that any man what place or calling soeuer he hold in the Church of God may haue thereby the light of his naturall vnderstanding so perfected that the one being relieued by the other there can want no part of needfull instruction vnto any good worke which God himselfe requireth be it naturall or supernaturall belonging simply vnto men as men or vnto men as they are vnited in whatsoeuer kinde of societie It sufficeth therefore that nature and Scripture do serue in such full sort that they both ioyntly and not seuerally either of them be so complete that vnto euerlasting felicitie we need not the knowledge of any thing more then these two may easily furnish our mindes with on all sides and therefore they which adde traditions as a part of supernaturall necessarie truth haue not the truth but are in errour For they onely pleade that whatsoeuer God reuealeth as necessary for all Christian men to do or beleeue the same we ought to embrace whether we haue receiued it by writing or otherwise which no man denieth when that which they should confirme who claime so great reuerence vnto traditions is that the same traditions are necessarily to bee acknowledged diuine and holy For wee doe not reiect them onely because they are not in the Scripture but because they are neither in Scripture nor can otherwise sufficiently by any reason be proued to be of God That which is of God and may be euidently proued to be so we deny not but it hath in his kind although vnwritten yet the selfe same force and authoritie with the written lawes of God It is by ours acknowledged that the Apostles did in euery Church institute and ordeene some â—iâ—es and customes seruing for the seemelenesse of Church regiment which rites and customes they haue not committed vnto writing Those rites and customes being knowne to be Apostolicall and hauing the nature of things changeable were no lesse to be accompted of in the Church then other things of the like degree that is to say capable in like sort of alteration although set downe in the Apostles writings For bothe being knowne to be Apostolicall it is not the manner of deliuering them vnto the Church but the author from whom they proceed which doth giue them their force and credite 15 Lawes being imposed either by each man vpon himselfe or by a publique societie vpon the particulars thereof or by all the nations of men vpon euery seuerall societie or by the Lord himselfe vpon any or euerie of these there is not amongst these foure kinds any one but containeth sundry both naturall and positiue lawes Impossible it is but that they should fall into a number of grosse errors who onely take such lawes for positiue as haue bene made or inuented of men and holding this position hold also that all positiue and none but positiue lawes are mutable Lawes naturall do alwayes bind lawes positiue not so but onely after they haue bene expresly and wittingly imposed Lawes positiue there are in euery of those kindes before mentioned As in the first kinde the promises which we haue past vnto men and the vowes we haue made vnto God for these are lawes which we tye our selues vnto and till we haue so tied our selues they bind vs not Lawes positiue in the second kind are such the ciuill constitutions peculiar vnto each particular common weale In the third kind the law of Heraldy in waâ—re is positiue and in the last all the iudicials which God gaue vnto the people of Israell to obserue And although no lawes but positiue be mutable yet all are not mutable which be positiue Positiue lawes are either permanent or else changeable according as the matter it selfe is concerning which they were first made Whether God or man be the maker of them alteration they so far forth admit as the matter doth exact Lawes that concerne supernaturall duties are all positiue and either coÌ„cerne men supernaturally as men or else as parts of a supernaturall society which society we call the Church To concerne men as men supernaturally is to concerne them as duties which belong of necessitie to all and yet could not haue bene knowne by any to belong vnto them vnlesse God had opened them himselfe in as much as they do not depend vpon any naturall ground at all out of which they may be deduced but are appoiâ—â—ed of God to supply the defect of those naturall wayes of saluation by which we are not now able to attaine thereunto The Church being a supernaturall societie doth differ from naturall societies in this that the persons
those things which are for direction of all the parts of our life needfull and not impossible to be discerned by the light of nature it selfe are there not many which few mens naturall capacitie and some which no mans hath bene able to find out They are sayth Saint Augustine but a few and they indued with great ripenes of wit and iudgement free from all such affaires as might trouble their meditations instructed in the sharpest and the subtlest points of learning who haue and that very hardly bene able to find out but onely the immortality of the soule The resurrection of the flesh what man did euer at any time dreame of hauing not heard it otherwise then from the schoole of nature Whereby it appeareth how much we are bound to yeeld vnto our creator the father of all mercy eternall thankes for that he hath deliuered his law vnto the world a law wherein so many things are laid open cleere and manifest as a light which otherwise would haue bene buried in darknesse not without the hazard or rather not with the hazard but with the certaine losse of infinite thousands of soules most vndoubtedly now saued We see therefore that our soueraigne good is desired naturally that God the author of that naturall desire had appointed naturall meanes whereby to fulfill it that man hauing vtterly disabled his nature vnto those meanes hath had other reuealed from God and hath receaued from heauen a law to teach him how that which is desired naturally must now supernaturally be attained finally we see that because those later exclude not the former quite and cleane as vnnecessary therefore together with such supernaturall duties as could not possibly haue beene otherwise knowne to the world the same lawe that teacheth them teacheth also with them such naturall duties as could not by light of nature easily haue bene knowne 13. In the first age of the world God gaue lawes vnto our fathers and by reason of the number of their daies their memories serued in steed of books wherof the manifold imperfections and defects being knowne to God he mercifully relieued the same by often putting them in mind of that whereof it behoued them to be specially mindfull In which respect we see how many times one thing hath bene iterated vnto sundry euen of the best and wisest amongst them After that the liues of men were shortned meanes more durable to preserue the lawes of God from obliuion and corruption grew in vse not without precise direction from God himselfe First therefore of Moyses it is sayd that he wrote all the words of God not by his owne priuate motion and deuise for God taketh this act to himselfe I haue written Furthermore were not the Prophets following commanded also to do the like Vnto the holy Euangelist Saint Iohn how often expresse charge is giuen Scribe write these things Concerning the rest of our Lords Disciples the words of Saint Augustine are Quic quid ille de suis factis dictis nos legere voluit hoc scribenduÌ„ illis tanquaÌ„ suis manibus imperauit Now although we do not deny it to be a matter meerely accidentall vnto the law of God to be written although writing be not that which addeth authority and strength thereunto finally though his lawes do require at our hands the same obedience howsoeuer they be deliuered his prouideÌ„ce notwithstanding which hath made principall choice of this way to deliuer them who seeth not what cause we haue to admire and magnifie The singular benefit that hath growne vnto the world by receiuing the lawes of God euen by his owne appointment committed vnto writing we are not able to esteeme as the value thereof deserueth When the question therefore is whether we be now to seeke for any reuealed law of God other where then onely in the sacred Scripture whether we do now stand bound in the sight of God to yeeld to traditions-vrged by the Church of Rome the same obedience and reuerence we do to his written lawe honouring equally and adoring both as Diuine our answer is no. They that so earnestly pleade for the authority of Tradition as if nothing were more safely conueyed then that which spreadeth it selfe by report and descendeth by relation of former generations vnto the ages that succeed are not all of the them surely a miracle it were if they should be so simple as thus to perswade themselues howsoeuer if the simple were so perswaded they could be content perhaps very well to enioy the benefit as they accompt it of that common error What hazard the truth is in when it passeth through the hands of report how maymed and deformed it becommeth they are not they cannot possibly be ignorant Let them that are indeed of this mind consider but onely that litle of things Diuine which the Heathen haue in such sort receiued How miserable had the state of the Church of God beene long ere this if wanting the sacred Scripture we had no record of his lawes but onely the memory of man receiuing the same by report and relation from his predecessors By Scripture it hath in the wisedome of God seemed meete to deliuer vnto the world much but personally expedient to be practised of certaine men many deepe and profound points of doctrine as being the maine originall ground whereupon the precepts of duty depend many prophecies the cleere performance whereof might confirme the world in beliefe of things vnseene many histories to serue as looking glasses to behold the mercy the truth the righteousnesse of God towards all that faithfully serue obey and honor him yea many intire meditations of pietie to be as patternes and presidents in cases of like nature many things needfull for â—â—plication many for applicatioÌ„ vnto particular occasions such as the prouidence of God from time to time hath taken to haue the seuerall bookes of his holy ordinance written Be it them that together with the principall necessary lawes of God there are sundry other things written whereof we might happily be ignorant and yet be saued VVhat shall we hereupon thinke them needlesse shall we esteeme them as riotous branches wherewith we sometimes behold most pleasant vines ouergrown Surely no more then we iudge our hands on our eies â—â—perfluouâ— or what part soeuer which if our bodies did want we might notwithstaÌ„ding any such defect reteine still the complete being of men As therfore a complete man is neither destitute of any part necessary and hath some partes wherof though the want could not depriue him of his essence yet to haue â—hem standeth him in singular stead in respect of the special vses for which they serues in 〈…〉 all those writings which conteine in them the law of God all those â—â—nâ—râ—ble bookes of Scripture all those sacred tomes and volumes of holy wriâ— â—â—ey are with such absolute perfection framed that in them there neither 〈◊〉 any thing the lacke whereof might depriue vs of life
change is requisite had bin worse when that which now is changed was instituted Otherwise God had not then left this to choose that neither would now reiect that to choose this were it not for some new grown occasion making that which hath bene better worse In this case therefore 〈…〉 not presume to change Gods ordinance but they yeeld thereunto requiring it selfe to be chaunged Against this it is obiected that to abrogate or innouate the gospel of Christ if mē do Angels should attempt it were most heynous and cursed sacriledge And the Gospell as they say containeth not only doctrine instructing men how they should beleeue but also precepts concerning the regiment of the Church Discipline therefore is a part of the Gospell and God being the author of the whole Gospel as well of discipline as of doctrine it cānot be but that both of them haue a common cause So that as we are to beleeue for euer the articles of euangelicall doctrine so the precepts of discipline we are in like sort bound for euer to obserue Touching points of doctrine as for example the vnity of God the trinitie of persons saluation by Christ the resurrection of the body life euerlasting the iudgement to come and such like they haue bene since the first houre that there was a Church in the world and till the last they must be beleeued But as for matters of regiment they are for the most part of another nature To make new articles of faith and doctrine no man thinketh it lawfull new lawes of gouernment what common wealth or Church is there which maketh not either at one time or another The rule of faith saith Tertullian is but one and that alone immoueable and impossible to be framed or cast anew The law of outward order polity not so There is no reason in the world wherfore we should esteeme it as necessary alwayes to do as alwayes to beleeue the same things seeing euery man knoweth that the matter of faith is constant the matter contrariwise of action daily changeable especially the matter of action belonging vnto Church polity Neither than I find that men of soundest iudgement haue any otherwise taught then that articles of beliefe and things which all men must of necessity do to the end they may be saued are either expresly set downe in Scripture or else plainly thereby to be gathered But touching things which belong to discipline outward politie the Church hath authority to make canons laws decrees euen as we reade that in the Apostles times it did Which kind of lawes for as much as they are not in themselues necessary to saluation may after they are made be also changed as the difference of times or places shall require Yea it is not denied I am sure by themselues that certaine things in discipline are of that nature as they may be varied by times places persons and other the like circumstances Whereupon I demaund are those changeable points of discipline commaunded in the word of God or no If they be not commanded and yet may be receiued in the Church how can their former position stand cōdemning all things in the Church which in the word are not commanded If they be commaunded and yet may suffer change how can this later stand affirming all things immutable which are commanded of God Their distinction touching matters of substance and of circumstance though true will not serue For be they great things or be they small if God haue commaunded them in the Gospell and his commanding them in the Gospell do make them vnchangeable there is no reason we should more change the one then we may the other If the authority of the maker do proue vnchangeablenesse in the lawes which God hath made then must al laws which he hath made be necessarily for euer permanēt though they be but of circumstance only and not of substance I therfore conclude that neither Gods being author of lawes for gouernment of his Church nor his cōmitting them vnto Scripture is any reason sufficient wherefore all Churches should for euer be bound to keepe them without chaunge But of one thing we are here to giue them warning by the way For whereas in this discourse we haue oftentimes profest that many parts of discipline or Church politie are deliuered in Scripture they may perhaps imagine that we are driuē to cōfesse their discipline to be deliuered in scripture and that hauing no other meanes to auoid it we are faine to argue for the changeablenesse of lawes ordained euen by God himselfe as if otherwise theirs of necessitie should take place and that vnder which we liue be abandoned There is no remedie therefore but to abate this error in them and directly to let them know that if they fall into any such conceit they do but a little flatter their owne cause As for vs we thinke in no respect so highly of it Our perswasion is that no age euer had knowledged of it but onely ours that they which defend it deuised it that neither Christ nor his Apostles at any time taught it but the contrary If therefore we did seeke to maintaine that which most aduantageth our owne cause the very best way for vs and the strongest against them were to hold euen as they do that in Scripture there must needs be foūd some particular forme of Church-polity which God hath instituted and which for that very cause belongeth to all Churches to all times But with any such partiall eye to respect our selues and by cunning to make those things seeme the truest which are the fittest to serue our purpose is a thing which we neither like nor meane to follow Wherefore that which we take to be generally true concerning the mutability of lawes the same we haue plainely deliuered as being perswaded of nothing more then we are of this that whether it be in matter of speculation or of practise no vntruth can possibly auaile the patrone and defendor long and that things most truly are likewise most behoouefully spoken 11. This we hold and graunt for truth that those very lawes which of their own nature are changeable be notwithstāding vncapable of change if he which gaue them being of authority so to do forbid absolutely to change thē neither may they admit alteratiō against the will of such a law maker Albeit therfore we do not find any cause why of right there should be necessarily an immutable forme set downe in holy scripture neuerthelesse if indeed there haue bene at any time a Church-politie so set downe the change whereof the sacred scripture doth forbid surely for mē to alter those lawes which God for perpetuity hath established were presumption most intollerable To proue therfore that the wil of Christ was to establish laws so permanent and immutable that in any sort to alter them cannot but highly offend God thus they reason First if Moses being but a seruant in
especially concerneth our selues in the present matter we treate of is the state of reformed religion a thing at her comming to the Crowne euen raised as it were by miracle from the dead a thing which we so little hoped to see that euen they which behelde it done scarcely belieued their own senses at the first beholding Yet being then brought to passe thus many years it hath continued standing by no other worldly meane but that one only hand which erected it that hand which as no kinde of imminent daunger could cause at the first to withholde it selfe so neyther haue the practises so many so bloudie following since beene euer able to make wearie Nor can we say in this case so iustly that Aaron and Hur the Ecclesiasticall and Ciuill states haue sustained the hand which did lift it selfe to heauen for them as that heauen it selfe hath by this hand sustained them no ayde or helpe hauing thereunto bene ministred for performance of the worke of reformation other then such kind of helpe or ayde as the Angell in the Prophet Zacharie speaketh of saying Neither by an armie nor strength but by my spirit saith the Lord of Hostes. Which grace and fauour of diuine assistance hauing not in one thing or two shewed it self nor for some few daies or yeares appeared but in such sort so long continued our manifold sinnes transgressions striuing to the contrarie what can we lesse thereupon conclude then that God would at leastwise by tract of time teach the world that the thing which he blesseth defendeth keepeth so strangely cannot choose but be of him Wherefore if any refuse to beleeue vs disputing for the veritie of religion established let them beleeue God himselfe thus miraculouslie working for it and wish life euen for euer and euer vnto that glorious and sacred instrument whereby he worketh FINIS An Aduertisement to the Reader I Haue for some causes gentle Reader thought it at this time more fit to let goe these first foure Bookes by themselues then to stay both them and the rest til the whole might together be published Such generalities of the cause in question as here are handled it will be perhaps not amisse to consider apart as by way of introduction vnto the bookes that are to follow concerning particulars In the meane while thine helping hand must be craued for the amendment of such faultes committed in printing as omitting others of lesse moment I haue set downe Pag. line Fault Correction Pag. line Fault Correction 25 37 be ordained he ordained 138 19 still stay 31 23 if any of any 139 19 It is for nothing It is not for nothing 51 mar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 157 33 wash waste 55 mar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 162 32 pretious should pretious body should 64 mar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 180 43 meerenes neerenes 66 19 manifest reason manifest law of reasoÌ„ 183 39 vrine vaine 83 12 or that of that 184 ma. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 87 24 ase such are such 185 18 do I doubt not presume do I doubt not presume 91 44 holy worke holy word 186 mar sticke strike 130 38 seuerally seueraltie 202 3 worde world The cause and occasion of handling these things and what might be wished in them for whose sakes so much paine is taken Ia. 2.1 The first establishment of new discipline by M. Caluins industry in the Church of Geneua and the beginning of strife about it amongst our selues Epist. Cal. 24. Luc. 20.17 An. D 1541. Ep. 166. Quod eam vrbem videret omnino his frenis indigere By what meanes so many of the people are trained into the liking of that discipline 1. Cor. 10 13. 1. Cor. 1â— 13 Luc. 12.56 57. Act 17.11 Rom. 14.5 Galen de opt docen geâ— Mal 2.7 Greg. Naz. orat qua se â—â—cusat Matth. 15.14 Mal. 2.9 Iud ver 10 2. Pet. 2.12 Cal. instit li. 4. cap. 20. Sect. 8 The author of the petition directed to her Maiestie p. 3. Arist. Metaph. lib. 1. cap. 5. â— Ioh. â— â— 2. Thes. 2.11 2. Tim. 3.6 1. Iohn 4.6 1. Cor. â— 27 Act. 26.24 Sap. 5.4 VVe fooleâ— thought his life madnes Mâ—rc Tris. ad Asculap 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide Lactant. de â—ustâ—t lib. â— cap. 16 August Epâ—st 50. VVhat hath câ—used so many of the lâ—arneâ—er sort to approue the same disciplinâ— T.C. lib. 1. p. 97 Euseb. 3. lib. 32 Lib. Strom. somewhat after the beginning Lib. 7. c. 11. Phil. 4 1â— a 〈…〉 ceremoniis atque fâ—niâ— tantum sanctitatis tribuere coÌ„sueuit quantum adstruxerit vetustatis Arno. p. 746. b Rom. 16.16 2. Cor 13.12 1. Thes. 5.25 1. Pet. 5.14 In their meetings to serue God their maner was in the end to salute one an other with a kisse vsing these words Peace be with you For which cause Tertull. doth call it sigâ—aculum orationis the seale of prayer lib. dâ— Orat. c Epist. Iud. vers 12. Concerning which feasts 5. Chrysost sâ—ith Statiâ— diebus mesas faciebant communeâ— peractâ— synaxi post sacramentorum coÌ„munionem inibaÌ„t conuiuium diuitiâ—us quidemcibos affereÌ„ribus pau peribus auâ—em quâ— niâ—il habebant etiam vocatiâ— in 1. Cor. 11. hom 27. Of the same feasts in like sort Tertull. Coena nostra de nâ—mine rationsui oftendit Vocatur enâ—m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—d quod est penes Graecos dâ—lectio Quantis cunq sumptibusconsteâ— lucrum est â—etatis nomine faâ—ere sumptum Apolog. c. 39. Galen Clas 2. lib. de cuiosque anim peccat notitia atque medela Petit. to the Q M.P. 14. Eccles. 10.1 Their calling for triall by disputation No end of contention without submission of both parts vnto some definitiue sentence Rom. â— 17 Deut. 17.8 Act 15. â—res tract 〈◊〉 excom presbyt Math. 23 2â— T.C. li. â— p. 17 The matter contained in these eight bookes How iust cause there is to feare the manifold dangerous euents likely to ensue vpon this intended reformation if it did take place 1. Pet. 2.2 Psal. 55.13 Pref. against D. Baner Matth. 23.3 Sap. 6.24 Eccl. 16.29 Humb. Motion to the L L. p. 50. Act. 19.19 Mumb. Mâ—t. p. 74. Counterp p. 108. Matth. 1â— 1â— Guy de Brés contre l'errent des Anabapa tistes p. 4. p. 5. p. 16. p. 1.8.119 120. p. 116. p. 124. Luc. 6.12 p. 117. p. 40. Ier. 31.34 p. 29. p. 27. 2. Tim. 3.7 p. 65 6â— p. 135. P. 25. P. 71. 124. p. 764. p. 748. p. 112. p. 518. p. 722. p. 726. p. 6â—8 p. 38. p. 122. P. 841. p. 8â—3 p. 849. p. 40. Laâ—ant de Iustit lib. 5. Cap. 19. p. 6. p. 4.20 p. 5â— p. 6 7. 7. p. 17. p. 6. P. 41. Matt. 5.5 Exod. 11.2 Matt. in his â— libel p. 28. Demonstr in the praef The conclusion of all Iob. 39.37 Greg. Naâ— in Apol. The cause of