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
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
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
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
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
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
faith And thus himselfe being otherwise dead did live or had life in him namely by faith in the Sonne of God and not by the workes of the law Yea he further excludeth even the workes of righteousnes in expresse termes saying thus Not by the vvorkes of righteousnesse vvhich vve have done but according to his mercie he hath saved us Observe that he here directlie affirmeth of himselfe of all the rest that shall be saved that they are saved not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by vvorkes done by them in righteousnes but of Gods meere mercie and grace through Christ Iesus And againe observe that speaking not to unbeleevers but to beleevers Saints and sanctified people living in Ephesus he saith thus By grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God not of vvorkes lest anie man should glorie for vvee are his vvorkemanship created in Christ Iesus unto good vvorkes vvhich God hath before ordained that vvee should vvalke in them Heere also you see infalliblie that workes though done by such as be sanctified and regenerate persons be neverthelesse excluded from being anie cause of their salvation yea by the verie words themselves of the text you perceive that he speaketh expresly and by name of good vvorkes vvhich God hath before ordained that vvee should vvalke in them denying them neverthelesse to be anie cause of salvation But here why doe they speake of anie good workes done by Infidels or before faith received For to speake properlie and truely none doe or can doe good workes so allowed to be in Gods censure but beleeving persons onely inasmuch as the best workes of Infidels and before a man hath received faith be not allowed for good in Gods sight but bee as S. Augustine affirmeth of them Splendida peccata Glittering sinnes Howbeit here remember that although those which be Saints upon earth that is which bee regenerate and sanctified people be thus expresly affirmed to be saved by their faith and not by their good workes yet have they neverthelesse these good workes appointed for them to walke in so long as they live in this world for so this text to the Ephesians directlie sheweth to the end their faith should not be idle but working through love as S. Paul speaketh in another place and that so it might appeare to bee not a vaine and a dead faith but a sound and a lively faith and such as will save a man as S. Iames and the rest of the Scriptures have also before declared Yea this point even Christ Iesus also himselfe by his last Iudgement in the end of the world doth declare namely that the iustifying and saving faith is not voide of good workes but furnished with them and yet that Gods people doe not relye upon them For thus will hee say to his faithfull and elect ones Come ye blessed of my father inherite yee the kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the vvorld for I vvas hungrie and yee gave me meate I was thirstie and yee gave me drinke I was a stranger and yee tooke mee in naked and ye clothed mee I vvas sicke and yee visited mee I vvas in prison and yee came unto me But now observe that although these elect and righteous persons had these good workes yet doe not they so much as take notice of them much lesse stand upon the merite of them and therefore doe they answer and say Lord when savv vvee thee hungrie and fed thee or thirstie and gave thee drinke vvhen saw vvee thee a stranger and tooke thee in or naked and clothed thee sicke or in prison and came unto thee Reade further the rest of the Chapter to the end of it And by all of it considered together ye may verie easilie perceive first that they bee not the elect and righteous people but the reprobates that stand upon their workes obiect their workes to plead for them And secondlie that Christ their Lord taketh notice of the good works of the elect although themselves take no notice of them nor doe so much as once mention or alledge them Where Christ by alledging their good works would have the world also to take notice and to be advertised that it was not a vaine idle or dead faith but a iustifying and saving faith which these men had For their good workes be there mentioned as testimonies fruites and declarations of their faith and as being Via regni non causa regnandi The vvay vvherein they walked toward this kingdome but not as being the cause of their enioying of that kingdome as S. Bernard also himselfe hath before taught affirmed Yea in verie deede the primarie and original cause of their enioying of that most happie kingdome is there delivered in the former words where Christ calleth them the Blessed of his father and telleth them moreover directlie that they are to possesse this kingdom not by anie purchase or desert of their owne but by way of Inheritance for the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Inherite yee or possesse yee it by waie of Inheritance And further he there telleth them that this kingdom was prepared for them long before they were borne or had done anie good workes at all namelie even from the foundation of the world So that this glorious and heavenlie kingdome is given them of Gods meere bountie and grace and is unto them a Revvard according to their vvorkes as the Scripture speaketh but not for their workes as though their workes deserved it or were the meritorious cause of their salvation Yea it is a reward of grace and favour and not of debt or due desert as S. Paul hath also before testified and a revvard of Inheritance as the same S. Paul againe expresly affirmeth it In vaine therefore also is that your distinction of the first Iustification which you make to be by faith without vvorkes and of the second Iustification which you say is by workes and by living an holie and godlie life for the Scriptures speake but of one Iustification in Gods sight availeable to salvation As for that which you call the second Iustification consisting in doing good workes and in holinesse of life and conversation it is as I said before more properlie and rightly to be tearmed as the Scripture calleth it Sanctification it being an effect declaration fruite and consequent of that Iustification we have before by faith as S. Iames and S. Paul and the rest of the Scriptures doe manifestly teach CHAP. V. That Christ is our onely and all-sufficient Redeemer and hath fully satisfied Gods Iustice for our sinnes and the punishment thereto belonging against mens merits and satisfactions in that behalfe and against Popish Purgatorie And that there is no licentiousnesse in this doctrine but the cleane contrary BVt they further accuse our Religion to be licentious because relying wholly upon Christ our
Redeemer and his satisfaction we make no satisfaction our selves for our sinnes to the Iustice of GOD. Howbeit yee are first of all to know that this doctrine and faith of ours concerning Christ his redemption and satisfaction all-sufficient made to Gods Iustice for our sinnes inferreth no such matter as licentiousnesse but the cleane contrarie For wee are redeemed not to the end to live dissolutely or carelesly but to the end wee should for so great and unspeakeable a benefite obey and serve God in holinesse and righteousnesse before him and that all the dayes of our life as the Scrâ—ptures teach And secondly as touching the truth of this matter Saint Peter telleth us that Christ his owne selfe bare our sinnes in his bodie on the tree Againe S. Iohn saith that the blood of Iesus Christ the Sonne of God doth purge us from all sinne and clense us from all iniquity S. Paul also saith VVee have redemption through his blood even the remission of sins Yea this the Scriptures doe almost everie where teach and testifie How then can your conceit of mens satisfactions to Gods Iustice for sinnes be otherwise accounted of then as a thing apparantly iniurious to that satisfaction and redemption and consequently to that free and full discharge and remission of all our sinnes and of the guiltinesse and punishment thereto belonging which we have in Christ For guiltinesse being taken away the punishment also is taken away saith Tertullian And so also saith S. Augustine that Christ by taking upon him the punishment and not the fault hath done away both the fault and the punishment And in all reason it must be so that when a fault or sinne is forgiven the punishment thereto belonging is forgiven also for to what other end else is the fault or sinne forgiven and remitted But against this they alledge the example of King David and of other the children of God who notwithstanding that they had their sins forgiven them had neverthelesse afflictions chastisements sent them from God even in this life Whereunto they have beene often answered that God sendeth not these chastisements and afflictions upon his children to that end thereby to satisfie his wrath and iustice for their sinnes for his wrath is appeased and his Iustice satisfied in their behalfe another way namely in the passion and obedience of Iesus Christ but by that meanes to put them in remembrance of their sinnes formerly committed and to bring them to repentance for the same and to make them stand in more feare and awe of God for the time to come and to walke more warily circumspectly and with better obedience before him as the Psalmist declareth So that these be sent of God for other ends and purposes and come from him not as from an angrie and revengefull Iudge but out of his kinde provident care and fatherly affection and love toward them Which thing S. Paul also witnesseth shewing that these corrections and chastisements be sent upon them to the end they might thereby be advertised to call themselves and their sinnes to a better remembrance even so farre as to Iudge and condemne themselves for the same and so be admonished not to runne anie longer a riotous and wicked course with the damnable world The same is further testified in the Epistle to the Hebrewes for there it is said thus VVhom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every sonne that he receiveth And hee saith againe If yee endure chastening God offereth himselfe unto you as unto sonnes for vvhat sonne is it vvhom the father chasteneth not And againe he saith If therefore ye be vvithout correction vvhereof all sonnes are partakers then are ye bastards and not sonnes Moreover saith he vve have had the fathers of our flesh vvhich corrected us and wee gave them reverence should vvee not much more be in subiection unto the father of spirits that vvee might live for they verily for a few dayes chastened us after their owne pleasure but he chasteneth us for our profit that vve might be partakers of his holinesse The like speaketh S. Augustine saying Prosunt ista mala quae fideles piè perferunt c. These evils or afflictions vvhich faithfull people in godly wise suffer doe profite eyther to the amendment of their sinnes or for the exercise and triall of their righteousnesse or to shew the misery of this life That that life vvhere there shall be true and perpetuall blessednesse indeed both may more ardently be desired and more instantly be sought after It appeareth then that chastisements and afflictions be sent of God in this life upon his children out of his Love and not out of his furie and unappeased displeasure so that they serve not to anie such end as to have the severitie of his wrath and Iustice to be by such meanes satisfied and appeased yea how can the greatest afflictions or miseries that be or can be imagined in sinfull men during this life satisfie Gods heavie and infinite wrath and justice for sinnes Or how can they merit heaven and heavenly glorie when S. Paul himselfe saith expressely thus I suppose that the afflictions of this present time are not vvorthy of the glory that shall be shewed unto us But yet for all this such is the strength of error they strangely suppose that they doe Christ no wrong because it is through his merits as they say that they be enabled to merit and to make this satisfaction to Gods iustice for their sinnes Howbeit this is but a meere conceit and imagination For there is no word of God to warrant or prove it nay the Scripture teacheth that Christ died not for our good workes to make them able to merit at Gods hand but for our sinnes that they might be pardoned Againe it is said that Christ hath by himselfe and not by us or in our persons purged our sinnes He is our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 platamentum propitiatio reconciliation and propitiation Yee are bought vvith a price saith S. Paul therefore glorifie yee God both in your bodie and in your spirit for they are Gods Christ is hee that paide this price for them as S. Peter also sheweth And therefore not VVee but Hee is affirmed to be our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 price the price of Redemption paide for us and that we are for our parts Iustified gratis that is franckly and freely and for nothing by us paide 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the redemption vvhich is in Christ Iesus and not in us or in our persons Yea in that Christ was to come downe from heaven and to be incarnate for this purpose and to suffer and so to satisfie Gods wrath and Iustice in our behalfe he sufficiently sheweth that none of us were able in our owne persons to performe so great a worke Yea they may by
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
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
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
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
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
against them that in this sacrament of the Lords Supper not the bare formes or accidents of bread and wine but the verie substance it selfe of bread and wine doth remaine But thirdly why doe they say that Melchisedech sacrificed in bread wine when there is no such thing in the Text Hee offered no sacrifice of bread and wine but brought forth bread and wine for the refreshing of Abraham and his Armie And so saith Iosephus Melchâ—sedech gave liberal entertainment to the Souldiers of Abraham and suffered them to vvant nothing for the sustenance of their life This another writer likewise approveth saying Melchisedech king of Salem offered unto him bread and vvine which Iosephus as it were expounding saith he ministred to his Armie the dueties of hospitalitiâ— and gave him great plentie of things necessarie and besides he blessed God vvhich had subdued to Abraham his enemies for Hee vvas a Priest of the highest God Yea even the Hebrew word also which signifieth not obtulit or sacrificavit but protulit or eduxit declareth the same for the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hotsi quod perinde sonat ac si dicas exire fecit hoc est eduxit seu protulit which is asmuch as that Melchisedech caused bread and wine to come forth or to be brought out to Abraham and his companie but it hath no such sense in it as that he sacrificed bread and wine Whereupon the Greekes have also translated it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 protulit hee brought forth But yet further to shew unto you that Christ is the only Priest according to the order of Melchisedech and in what sense he is so that Epistle to the Hebrewes thus compareth Christ and Melchisedech together That as Melchisedech was both a King and a Priest so likewise is Christ And as Melchisedech was a King of righteousnesse and of peace so is Christ for he brought in everlasting righteousnesse as it is said in Dan. 9.24 and is also the true King of peace as having by his mediation made peace betweene God and Vs. Yea as Melchisedech was not only a King but a Priest also of the most high God so is Christ who with the sacrifice of himselfe upon the Crosse hath redeemed all his people and blesseth them and maketh intercession for them Againe Melchisedech is said to be without father without mother without kinred having neither beginning of dayes nor end of life which things be thus affirmed of Melchisedech because in the Scriptures neither his father nor his mother nor his ancestors nor his death are recorded And such a one is Christ the sonne of God without a father as he is Man and without mother as he is God being Eternal without beginning of daies or end of life And as Melchisedech is said to be and continue a Priest for Ever so is Christ who liveth and continueth ever a Priest by reason of that his everlasting and unremoveable Priesthood perpetually resident and inherent in his owne person Thus Melchisedech a Type and figure of Christ and Christ himselfe be resembled and compared together By all which you may infallibly perceive that Christ onely and none but he is or can be a Priest according to the order of Melchisedech and consequently that Popish Priests be extremely audacious and impudently impious that dare and doe challenge to themselves to be Priests according to that order 3 Howbeit there be Priests neverthelesse under the New Testament for all true Christians whosoever be Priests and are expressely so entitled in the holy Scriptures not that anie of them are to offer up Christ in a bodily sacrifice but that they are to sacrifice their owne bodies as S. Paul declareth by killing and mortifying their owne lusts and concupiscences and other their vile affections and consecrating themselves wholly unto God and his service Christ hath made us saith S. Iohn Kings and Priests even to God his Father S. Peter likewise saith thus Yee are a chosen generation a royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar people set at libertie that ye should shew forth the vertues of him that hath called you out of Darkenesse into his marveylous light And againe he saith Ye as lively stones be made a spiritual house an holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Iesus Christ. In which places you see that All generally whosoever that bee the member of Christ are and be termed Priests and withal you see the reason why they are so entitled namely not because they are to offer anie bodily sacrifice of Christ but in respect of spiritual sacrifices as S. Peter here expressely calleth them which they are to offer up unto God Of which sort is the sacrificing of their owne bodies before mentioned by S. Paul and the sacrifices likewise of praises and thankesgivings and of praier which ascendeth up like incense unto God the sacrifice also of righteousnesse of doing good and giving almes and distributing to those that be in necessitie and such like for all these be called sacrifices And hereby also is verified the Prophecie in Malachy where God saith thus From the rising of the Sunne unto the going downe â—f the same my Name is great among the Gentiles and in every place Incense shall be offered to my Name and a pure offering for my Name is great among the Gentiles saith the Lord of Hosts I say this Prophecie is verified not by anie supposed carnal or bodily sacrificing of Christ in the Popish Masse which is a most ungodly and impure thing but by those spiritual sacrifices before mentioned which All Christians everie where are to offer up unto God Neither ought it to seeme strange to anie that all the Members of Christ generally be they men or women be thus termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacerdotes that is Priests for yee see it is by the Scriptures cleere and evident and therefore must be confessed Wherefore also Tertullian saith Nonne Laici Sacerdotes Be not Lay people also Priests As for those that beare Ecclesiastical office in the Christian Church they have no where throughout all the New Testament this terme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacerdotes that is Priests specially or properly given unto them but they are there evermore called by other names as Bishops Pastors Doctors Presbyters Deacons Ministers and such like so carefully doth the whole New Testament shunne that word Sacerdotes that is Priests from being attributed to the Ministers of the Gospel speciallie or peculiarlie but useth it as a name general and common to all Christians It is true neverthelesse that in the ancient Fathers they bee sometimes called Sacerdotes and the Lords â—able also is sutably in the same ancient Fathers sometimes called an Altar Howbeit these be not proper but alluding and tropical speeches signifying that as in the Iewish Church they had an Altar and Priests to offer sacrifices thereupon so in the Christian
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
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
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
White field among whom there was contention about the order of Easter For Lasreanus the Abbot of the monastery of Leighlin unto whom there were subject a thousand and five hundred monkes defended the new order that lately came from Rome but others defended the old This Lasreanus or Lazerianus is the man who in other Legends of no greater credite then this wee now have in hand is reported to have beene the Bishop of Romes legat in Ireland and is commonly accounted to have beene the first Bishop of the Church of Leighlin His principall antagonist at this meeting was one Munna founder of the monastery which from him was called Teach-munna that is the house of Munna in the Bishoprick of Meath who would needs bring this question to the same kinde of triall here that Augustin is said to have done in England In defence of the Roman order Bede telleth us that Augustin made this motion to the Brittish Bishops for a finall conclusion of the businesse Let us beseech God which maketh men to dwell of one minde together in their fathers house that he will vouchsafe by some heavenly signs to make known unto us what traditiō is to be followed by what way we may hasten to the entry of his kingdome Let some sick man be brought hither and by whose prayers he shall be cured let his faith and working be beleeved to be acceptable unto God and to be followed by all men Now Munna who stood in defence of the order formerly used by the Brittish and Irish maketh a more liberall proffer in this kinde and leaveth Lasreanus to his choyce Let us dispute briefely saith he but in the name of God let us give judgement Three things are given to thy choyce Lasreanus Two bookes shall be cast into the fire a booke of the old order and of the new that wee may see whether of them both shall be freed from the fire Or let two Monkes one of mine and another of thine be shut up into one house and let the house be burnt and wee shall see which of them will escape untouched of the fire Or let us goe unto the grave of a just Monke that is dead and rayse him up againe and let him tell us after what order we ought to celebrate Easter this yeare But Lasreanus being wiser then so refused to put so great a matter to that hazzard and therefore returned this grave answer unto Munna if all be true that is in the Legend We will not goe unto thy judgement because we know that for the greatnesse of thy labour and holinesse if thou shouldest bid that mount Marge should be changed into the place of the White field and the White field into the place of mount Marge God vvould presently doe this for thy sake So prodigall doe some make God to be of miracles and in a maner carelesse how they should fall as if in the dispensing of them he did respect the gracing of persons rather then of causes In what yeare this Councell of the White field was held is not certainly known nor yet whether S. Munna be that whited wall of whom we heard Cummianus complaine The Synod of Strenshalch before mentioned was assembled long after at Whitby called by the Saxons Streanesheale in Yorkeshire the yeare of our Lord DCLXIIII for the decision of the same question Concerning which in the life of Wilfrid written at the commandement of Acca who in the time of Bede was Bishop of Hangustald or Hexham in Northumberland we reade thus Vpon a certaine time in the dayes of Colman metropolitan Bishop of the citie of Yorke Oswi and Alhfrid his sonne being Kings the Abbots and Priests and all the degrees of Ecclesiasticall orders meeting together at the monastery which is called Streaneshel in the presence of Hilde the most godly mother of that abbay in presence also of the Kings and the two Bishops Colman Aegelberht inquiry was made touching the observatiō of Easter what was most right to be held whether Easter should be kept according to the custome of the Brittons and the Scottes and all the Northren part upon the Lords day that came from the XIIII day of the Moone untill the XX. or whether it were better that Easter Sonday should be celebrated from the XV. day of the Moone untill the XXI after the maner of the See Apostolick Time was given unto Bishop Colman in the first place as it vvas fit to deliver his reason in the audience of all Who with an undaunted minde made his answer and sayd Our fathers and their predecessors who were manifestly inspired by the holy Ghost as Columkille was did ordayne that Easter should be celebrated upon the Lords day that fell upon the XIIII Moone following the example of Iohn the Apostle and Evangelist who leaned upon the brest of our Lord at his last Supper and was called the lover of the Lord. He celebrated Easter upon the XIIII day of the Moone and we with the same confidence celebrate the same as his disciples Polycarpus and others did neyther dare we for our parts neyther will we change this Bede relateth his speech thus This Easter which I use to observe I received from my elders who did send me Bishop hither which all our fathers men beloved of God are knowne to have celebrated after the same maner Which that it may not seeme unto any to be contemned and rejected it is the same which the blessed Evangelist Iohn the disciple specially beloved by our Lord with all the Churches which he did oversee is read to have celebrated Fridegodus who wrote the life of Wilfride at the command of Odo archbishop of Canterbury expresseth the same in verse after this maner Nos seriem patriam non frivola scripta tenemus Discipulo eusebij Polycarpo dante Iohannis Ille etenim bis septenae sub tempore Phaebae Sanctum praefixit nobis fore Pascha colendum Atque nefas dixit si quis contraria sentit On the contrarie side Wilfride objected unto Colman and his clerkes of Ireland that they with their complices the Pictes and the Brittons out of the two utmost Iles and those not whole neyther did with a foolish labour fight against the whole world And if that Columb of yours saith he yea and ours also if he were Christs was holy and powerfull in vertues could he be preferred before the most blessed prince of the Apostles unto vvhom the Lord said Thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevayle against it and I will give unto thee the keyes of the kingdome of heaven Which last words wrought much upon the simplicitie of King Oswy who feared that when he should come to the doors of the kingdome of heaven there would be none to open if he were displeased who was proved to keepe the keyes but prevayled nothing with Bishop Colman who