had knowne them it would neuer haue beene Therefore notwithstanding these cauils of an hellish Locust wee haue now two tryed meanes whereby we may finde out good and bad Ministers Gods Spirit and Gods Word which of themselues were sufficient if our strength were answerable but seeing we are weake to weild such weapons without some helpe therefore God hath giuen and good men haue obserued three other good yet secondary meanes by which together with the Spirit and the Word we may quickly discerne betweene good and bad Guides And the first of these 3. Meanes which is the third in order is as we noted the summe of their calling described vnto vs in holy Scripture first in their Ingresse secondly in their Progresse thirdly in their Constancie and true perseuerance Their Ingresse is by a lawfull calling from God as g Iohn 3.27 a man can receiue nothing except it bee giuen from aboue and that both inwardly and outwardly Inwardly by speciall endowment of abilitie and willingnes wrought by Gods Spirit in their honest education or trayning vp to learning vpon the certaine conscience of which fitnes they may as lawfully craue admittance as Ahimaaz did of Ioab h 2. Sam. 18.22 to runne vnto DAVID otherwise not lest they proue but either bold intruders or vnconscionable vndertakers of so honourable a Calling which they cannot discharge as there are too many now adayes blue coates turned to blacke who make the Ministerie the last remedie or meanes of maintayning themselues to verifie our old English Prouerbe When hee is good for nothing then make a Priest of him But who is sufficient i 2. Cor. 2.16 saith the Apostle for these things Well To his inward indowments hee must outwardly â—ee ordayned and put apart vnto that great Worke by the laying on of hands as were k Act. 13.3 Saul and Barnabas l 1. Tim. 4 14. Timothie and other m Tit. 1.3 Presbyters in Creete by Titus For this good order is a necessary let and stop against all Iereboams n 1. Reg. 13.33 Priests who being of the basest people commonly without both learning and honestie would consecrate themselues for Priests of the high places as at this day Swenâ—kfelâ—ians Libertines Anabaptists Brownists Familists and such other addle-brayned and idle Illuminates presume to doe without any ordinary calling or appointment of their Superiours like o Ierem. 23.21 those prophets which ranne when God sent them not But forward The Progresse of a good Guide is when to his vttermost hee seriously laboureth to performe all those duties of his Office requirable at his hands as they are set downe in many places of holy Scriptures especially in 1. Tim. 3. and Tit. 1. where as Chrysostome well p Chrysost hom 10. in 1. Tim. 3. obserueth what hee speaketh of one agreeth vnto all that are good Guides But who shall examine this Not the people Ob. saith q Stapleton vbi supra STAPLETON they being but sheepe but other Shepheards or the whole Company and Communitie of Priests and especially the head of the Shepheards Christs Vicar on earth must iudge and know this But I answere First Sol. that if by Christs Vicar hee meane the Pope he beggeth a question that will not bee granted since the Pope is neyther the Vicar of Christ but r Vid. Sermon in 1. Ioh. 2.18.19.20 Antichrist himselfe neither hath he more power or authoritie to make this scrutinie then any other Prelate since as in Å¿ Cyprian de Vnitate Ecclesiae Cyprians iudgement the other Apostles were equall to PETER So in t August lib. 2. de baptis cap. 2. Augustines opinion other Bishops in their Diocesses haue as great power and authoritie to iudge of their inferiours as hath the Pope in his place it being the Decree u Concil Carthag 1. apud Cyprian August of the Councell of Carthage that none should call himselfe a Bishop of Bishops or by a tyrannicall manner force his fellowes to a necessitie of obeying since euery Bishop according to the licence of his libertie and power hath his owne iudgement Secondly that the censure Ecclesiasticall which either Priests in a Councell or Bishops in their Consistorie may lawfully giue of Ministers according to the Apostolike rules and Canons Ecclesiasticall is no let or hinderance to priuate men from their secret examination and tryall of good or bad Ministers by comparing their doctrine and liues with the Word of God for their owne priuate quiet and good satisfaction they being bound x Act. 20.32 to slee the Wolfe and discouer the y Iohn 10.3 Thiefe as much as they may For as in the Law euery z Deut. 13.4 mans hand was to be stretched out against the Intiser vnto Idolatry so are we all in the Gospell bound by our faith and loue in Christ a 1. Cor. 16.20 to detest with execration all those be they Ministers or people who loue not the Lord Iesus as euery one who will but examine the state of the Popish Clergie by the Apostles rules shall finde that they haue good cause to flee such both Heretikes and Hypocrites who swarue so farre both in their doctrine and in their liues from not onely the rules of the blessed Apostle but also from their owne Canons which I neede not produce being freed from that labour by the diligent and most godly paines of diuers most worthy and reuerend Diuines of the Reformed Church as yet not answered by any Papist referring all who heare me to the reading of b Beza Confess cap. 7. Beza c Heming in Antichrist machi Hemingius d Binder cap. 13. Theolog. Schoâ—asticae Binder and our owne good Countreyman the most painefull searcher of truth e D. Willet in Synops Pap. pa. â—43 â—44 c. Doctor Willet Lastly Constancie and perseuerance is a great marke of a good Guide when we finde that neither Honours nor age will and doth withdraw him from his former paynes as he is exhorted to bee f Reuel 2.10 faithfull to the death and to g Reuel 3.11 hold that hee hath that no man take his Crowne since he h Matth. 10.22 that endureth to the end shall bee saued For albeit hee cannot being olde endure so much labour as he tooke when hee was young yet must he pro virili imploy himselfe as much as he can both for the full discharge of himselfe and encouragement of others who by his graue example will if Grace be in them be prouoked to paines i Luke 12.43 Happie is that man whom his Master when hee commeth shall find so doing and happie those people who are blessed with such a Guide that leadeth them to life k Dan. 12.3 They shall shine as the firmament and bee as the starres for euer and euer Now the fourth meanes of searching and finding out a good Guide from a bad 4. Meanes is the testimonie of the ancient
5.11 from sinners But such then are openly knowne for secret tares must x Math. 13.30 stand till haruest If some aske Why so Sol. I answere Because man may in partialitie plucke vp wheate for tares and let tares grow for wheate Therefore God who is neuer deceiued neither can be corrupted reserueth that iudgement vnto himselfe to be reuealed sometimes in this world by some notorious iudgement but certainely hereafter in the world to come as Gregorie Nyssen y Gregor Nyss lib. de Resurrect anima ad sor pag. 193. hath worthily expounded that point of the Parable Let them grow till the haruest saying The Husbandman letteth alone amongst vs some adulterous seedes not that they should alwayes preuaile against the more precious Corne but that the ground by its inward strength may wither and dry vp some of the branches and make others of them flourishing and fruitfull which if it be not done here then doth he reserue the discerning of the fruit of the field vnto the fire But be it so that the Church is here spotlesse the second point is most false that their Churches and Congregations or Conuenticles rather and Satanicall Synagogues are pure and perfect For to rake vp this Sinke a little and make knowne their filthynesse and abominations marke their doctrine They z Vid. L. Osian M. Barnard vbi supra denie the old Testament they hold it vnlawfull for any man to take an Oath before a Magistrate they forbidding the Baptisme of children allow rebaptizing and sebaptizing as SMITH baptized himselfe they hold Iustification by the works of Regeneration they hold all things to be common euen Wiues whom they diuorce without iust cause they deny Magistracie pretending libertie but practising licenciousnesse For looke into their liues a little Are they not phantasticall depending vpon Enthusiasmes Are they not schismaticall making rents without reason Are they not Coozeners deluding the simple Are they not proud deriding the godly Are they not debauched in all filthy Venerie Are they not disobedient to all good Order by confused Anarchie I neede not send you further to seeke how these men liue then to Amsterdam and the Low Countries where they a Esay 59.4 hatch Cockatrice egs and weaue Spiders webs b Vid Sleidan lib. 5. 10. Commentar Swenckfeldians were manifest in the rebellious rusticks of Germanie Anabaptists by those who were suppressed at Mounster and our English Brownists discouer themselues too farre by their manifold exorbitancies against God King Church Common-wealth and their owne fellowes if we may beleeue c Tho. White his discouerie of Brownists Master White and others who haue seene them and conuersed with them Therefore pleade they for perfection as much as they please we know that all is not Gold which glistereth we find that they are d Prou. 30.12 not cleane from their wickednesse but that they are the very broode of the auncient Montanists Manichees Nouatians Donatists and Priscillianists making shew without substance and as they began idlely so ending odiously by the iudgement of God who will not suffer them to raigne any long time that Truth may preuaile So that now deare brethren leauing these three kind of Perfectists vnto Gods iust correction let vs in the feare of God take direction the second vse of our doctrine hereby vnto spirituall growth and proceeding in pietie 2. For direction as wee are very often mooued thereunto first by S. Paul e Ephes 4.15 following the truth in loue grow vp vnto him in all things which is the head euen Christ Secondly by S. Peter f 2. Pet. 3.18 grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ For as Leo well g Leo Ser. 8. de Pass dom cap. 8. obserued Qui non proficit deficit qui nihil acquirit nonnihil perdit He that goeth not forward runneth backward and he that getteth nothing loseth some-what because his loue chilleth his hope halteth and faith faileth who runneth not forward to gaine the Crowne For no h Luke 9.62 man hauing put his hand to the plow and looking backe is fit for the kingdome of God since as Tertullian i Tertull. lib. de Idololatr cap. 12 iudged well sepelire patrem tardum fuit fidei to pretend for excuse against spirituall proceeding the buriall of our father is a slowing of faith that should be alwayes liuely And therefore as the old Romanes k Apud Plin. lib. 18. cap. 19. vsed to say Arator nisi incuruus praeuaricatur The plow-man vnlesse he lye hard vpon the Plow-stilt may make balks in goodland So may we say of a Christian that vnlesse he presse very hard towards the marke he l 1. Cor. 9.26 beareth but the aire he cannot attaine to what he seeketh since we m Luke 13.21 must striue against flesh and bloud to enter in at the strait gate It may be that many blocks are laid in our way some by aduersitie some by prosperitie But what saith holy Dauid The n Psal 92.12 righteous shall flourish like a Palme tree he shall grow like a Cedar in Libanon like a Palme tree in aduersitie and like a Cedar in prosperitie For as the o Gellius lib. 3. cap. 6. Palme groweth higher and spreadeth it selfe broader the greater the waight is which is laid vpon it so the truly godly the more they are pressed with afflictions for the Gospels sake the more they grow in the goodnesse thereof as Hilarie p Hilar. lib. 7. de Triuit said very well of the Church Hoc Ecclesiae proprium est vt tum vincat cum laeditur tum intelligatur cum arguitur tum obtineat cum descritur This is the propertie of the Church then to ouercome when it is hurt then to be vnderstood when it is reprooued then to obtaine when it is forsaken And as the Cedar q Plin. lib. 16. cap. 40. wheresoeuer it grow neuer feeleth the worme but alwayes is found so a good man wheresoeuer he liue yet carrieth a sound conscience without a gnawing worme no pleasure either pussing or pampering him vp who r Phil. 4.12 can want and abound taking euery thing for an help to set him forward vnto all perfection Are we men in nature Be not Dwarfes in Grace God my brethren hath in his goodnesse towards vs his children in Great BRITAINE giuen many many Motiues and meanes to this perfection but especially foure as first the Word preached neuer before so plentifully or so purely as it hath been of late yeers to our wonderfull comfort while we profit thereby as to their vtter ouerthrow and condemnation who bring not foorth fruites worthy of it For it is as desperate Physicke as euer Parâ—celsus gaue Å¿ 2. Cor. 2.16 either the sauour of life vnto life or else the sauour of death vnto death Secondly good examples of many great and good Worthies of Israel who going before prouoke
cap. 11 Interim that the signes of a true Church are sound doctrine and the right vse of the Sacraments I am weary of wading thorow these puddles of pollution wherewith Pope and Papists doe pester the Church of Christ The tenth Article denied and therefore I will not speake of their denying the absolute and free remission of sinnes mentioned in the tenth article by their a Bellar. lib. 1. de Amiss grat lib. Arbitr cap. 1. 2. distinction of sinne into veniall and mortall and their tenent grounded thereupon b Idem lib. 1. de Purgator cap. 11. rat 2. that the punishment eternall of both is fully remitted in Christ but the temporall punishment for the veniall sinne is to be satisfied for by our selues either here or in Purgatorie whereas Scripture telleth vs that c Rom. 6.23 the wages of sinne is death and d Ephes 1.7 Hebr. 9.22 1. Iohn 1.7 that there is no remission of sinne but by Christ in his blood and that e Psal 49.7 Ephes â— 8 no man of vs can redeeme his owne soule and that f Eccles 9.4 Reuel 14 13. after this life there is no place either for repentance or remission and that g Luke 17.10 The eleuenth Article denied when we haue done all that we can doe we are but vnprofitable seruants neither will I trouble you with recounting the Atheisme of Iohn the 23. condemned and deposed by the Councell of Constance h Concil Constant sess 11. art penultimo sess 12. tom 3. Concil apud Binnium for denying the immortalitie of the soule and the resurrection of the dead specified in the eleuenth article because peraduenture i Canus lib. 6. loc Comm. cap. 8. ad 11. arg they will say that it was not è cathedra although k Bellar. lib. 4. de Pontifice Rom. cap. 5. he then was Pope certaine not vncertaine for else he needed not to haue been so solemnely depriued and another ordayned to be his true successor Lastly The twelfth Article misunderstood I wil not now touch at large that most presumptuous and sawcie doctrine deliuered in their l Aquinat appendix q. 96. art 1. 4. Schooles without all text of Scripture or witnesse of ancient Fathers de aureolis that is of a further crowne and reward then perfect and essentiall happinesse such as they assigne to Virgins Martyrs and the more learned For although m Danaeus Isagog Christ p. 4. lib. 6. cap. 8. Bucanus loc 36. quaest 14. we deny not the degrees of glory there proportioned by God according to the seuerall measures of grace as n Gregor in Psal 7 poenitent ss 142. Gregory well obserued God to giue rewards in heauen not per but secundum according to our workes done here vpon earth Yet can not we here know eyther to whom in particular the greatest degree of glory shall be giuen there or whether this litle crowne which they will haue to be added to the great one differ from essentiall happinesse since o 1. Cor. 2.9 eye hath not seene nor eare heard neither haue entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that loue him Where p 2. Cor. 12.3 S. Paul professeth ignorance I will not search to know since secrets q Deut. 29.29 are Gods who concealeth the measure of future glory to further our endeuours vnto the highest degree thereof by faith hope and loue Many are their errors and mightie their bad opinions conceiued against the right vnderstanding of the Sacraments and the Lords Prayer all the grounds of the Catechisme which because other r Fr. Gomarus inresp ad F. Coster p. 1 M. Perkins Aduertisement M. D. Abbots in Bishop G. Powel godly and learned men haue fully discouered I will not relate hauing I hope layd open so plainely to the view of the world the Popes deniall of the Christian faith that no man can otherwise iudge of him then of an Å¿ Tit. 3.10 Heretike iustly to be cast off after so many admonitions seeing that as the t Grat. caus 24 q. 3. can 28. Canon law out of S. u August lib. de vti iâ—ate credendi cap. 1. Augustine defineth an Heretike so the Pope and Papists haue proued themselues to be An Heretique is he who for temporall profit and especially for glory and principalitie either forgeth first or followeth after false and new opinions and he who beleeueth such men is a man illuded by a certaine imagination of truth and godlinesse Yet is he not so hereticall Of the Popes Iniquitie against the ten Commandements as most villanously wicked and wickedly repugnant to all Gods Commaundements deliuered in the Decalogue as shall be demonstrated by many notorious and crying sinnes of seuerall Popes whereof some one way and some another way haue to make vp the monstrous body of sinfull Antichrist broken Gods Commaundements in word or in deede by doctrine or by life For now to make instance in euery particular against the first Commaundement Against the first Commandement as Antichrist was an Atheist and a coniurer so finde we in good histories that such were diuers Popes Atheists as he euen x Stella Balaeus Valera in vita Leonis 10. Leo decimus who said to Cardinall Petrus Bembus the great Scholler of his time citing a place out of the Gospell What profit this fable of Christ hath brought to vs and our company all the world knoweth Coniurers as y Benno Cardinalis de vit gestis Hildebran apud Gâ—wâ—art in Catalâ—go test Veritat tom â— lib. 13. pag. 383. Gregory the seuenth commonly called Hildebrand following the steps of eighteene together of his sweete predecessors euen to Syluester the second who z Platina in Syluestro z. gaue himselfe to the Deuill that hee might attaine to the greatest honours like as a Hieronym Marius in Eusebio C. Valera in Alexand. 6. Alexander the sixth did that hee might bee Pope I maruaile how these Beasts ouer whom the b Mat. 16.18 gates of Hell haue so farre preuailed could be Peters successours eyther in person or in doctrine since not onely Gods c Deut. 18.12 Law casteth out such hel-hounds from amongst Gods people but also their owne corrupted d Gratian. c. 26 q. 5. ca. 11.12.13 Canon law together with the rascall rabble of all their e Nauarrus Enchir. cap. 11. num 28. Tolet. lib. 4. Instruct cap. 14. Iacob à Graphijs p. 1. lib. 2 cap. 6. Azor tom 1. lib. 9. Instit cap. 13.14 c. Against the second Commandement 1. By Idolatry coozening Casuists denounce against such Monsters of the true blacke gard the great Excommunication as a sure seale of the second death reserued for such vile Non-repentants But see how he sinneth against the second Commandement by Idolatry and Superstition to shew himselfe truely Antichrist For if
they no place at all in determining of the second point Who is this great Antichrist because they liued before the time wherein that great Antichrist who lurked in those Fathers dayes vnder a mysterie was to be detected disclosed and found to sit at Rome and by his deeds to fulfill all those Prophecies which the holy Ghost had deliuered concerning him in the Scriptures So that our holy Brethren who yet expect a more full expressement of Antichrist in some one particular vile Monster that should if it were possible surpasse the Pope in villany are not so much against vs as they seeme to bee in show seeing it is not any good liking they haue of the Pope whom they confesse to be Antichrist but onely the iust detestation of so wicked a Monster as is Antichrist that draweth them to imagine the further deferring of his most dangerous and accursed approach They are in hope Wee are in faith and both in loue They expect a farre off Wee behold euen at hand the end of all these miseries by the fore-past reuealing the present rage and raigning the future happy ruine of Antichrist and his Kingdome now settled in Rome Wee agree both in the maine not much differing in the Bye As wee yeeld to them in the iust execration of the odious nature of this abominable Antichrist so farre as they prooue what they speake from the Scriptures euen so in like manner are they bee they neuer so learned and wise with patience and loue to heare and to iudge vs their deare Brethren speaking with some knowledge in true zeale concerning the maner of the reuealing of Antichrist which they hold yet to be in futuro We finde to be fully finished in praeterito in praesenti both in times before and now If any x 1. Cor. 14.30 31. thing bee reuealed to another that sitteth by let the first hold his peace For yee may all prophesie one by one that all may learne and all may be comforted y Homer 2. Odyss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 weake men combined may worke much good since z Ouid. quae non prosunt singula multa iuuant what one cannot many may Proofes of our Assertion from the ancient Fathers § XXVII And yet I speake not this in diffidence of our cause For wee want not the authoritie of ancient Fathers either prophesying beforehand or zealously publishing vpon his appearance that the Great Antichrist is alreadie come and the Pope of Rome is hee I will produce no Babes but onely such as without exception are either produced by a Canis Catechis cap. de nouiss quaest 3. Canisius and b Coccius tom 2. Catholicism lib. 10. art 30. 1. Prophesying before Coccius as if they were on their side or else registred for eye-witnesses by good Historians For those who beforehand prophesied of Antichrist and of his seat or kingdome agree vpon these two points The first that Antichrist shall sit at Article 1 Rome rearing vp his Kingdome vpon the ruines of the Romane Empire For to this Article speaketh First Tertullian when c Tertullian in Apâ—loget cap. 32. hee saith that Christians pray for the safetie of the Romane Empire because by the course thereof the great Persecutions which must come by Antichrist are put off and hindred Secondly Cyrill of Hierusalem when d Cyrill Hierosolymitan Catechesi 15. hee saith that Antichrist shall violently take vnto himselfe the power of the Romane Empire Thirdly Ambrose when e Ambros in 2. Thes 2. hee saith that Christ shall not come till the Romane Empire faile and Antichrist appeare who must kill the Saints giuing libertie to the Romanes yet vnder his owne name Fourthly f Chrysost hom 4. in 2 Thes 2. Chrysostome followed by g Theophylact. in 2. Thes 2. Theophylact h Oecumenius in 2. Thes 2. Oecumenius and i Radulphus Fluuiac lib. 18. in Leuit cap. 1. Rudolphus Fluuiacensis when both he and they after him ioyntly affirme that Antichrist by trecherie must destroy the Romane Empire The second that Rome is Babylon the proper seate of Antichrist which shall be destroyed before the end of the World For to this Article Article 2 speaketh First Tertullian who in full assurance of what he speaketh oftentimes k Tertullian lib. in Iudaeos cap. 9. lib. 3. in Marcion cap. 13. vseth these words Babylon in our Apostle Saint IOHN beareth the figure of the Citie of Rome therefore great and proud by her Kingdome and a destroyer of the Saints Secondly Hierome who liuing at that time when Rome was wholly Christian vnder Constantius Iulian and Valentinianus the First yet in foresight of future Apostasie therein there beginning vnder a Mysterie but afterward openly to be complemented very l Hierony tom 1. Ep. 17. ad Marcellum Ep. 151. ad Algosiam qu. 11. in Praefat. ad translat Dydimi de spirit Sanct. Omnia secund Editionem Parisiens 1609. often termeth that Citie Babylon and the purple Whoore spoken of in the Reuelation wherein sometimes hee was an inhabitant Now this cannot bee spoken of Babylon in Mesopotamia which then was desolate and where Hierome neuer liued Thirdly Lactantius who m Lactant. li. 7. Instit cap. 25. alluding to the Sybilline Oracle saith that when that head of the World shall fall and beginne to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is but a street or Impetus for it is deriued either of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sluo or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 traho who can doubt but that an end is at hand vpon all humane affaires and vpon all the World The words of the Sybill to which he alludeth are these as learned n Xistus Betuleius in Annot. in Lactantium Betuleius doth cite them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Rome shall bee a street and Delus vnknowne c. But let vs leaue these Prophesies and come to performances For Antichrist did no sooner appeare in his likenesse but God in his mercie to wards his Elect sent forth his faithfull Witnesses of euery sort Publishing his present approach by open Verdit to publish abroad vnto the World that the Mystery was reuealed and Antichrist was then come and seated in Rome It is odious to say it and idle if wee prooue it not Therefore that Papists especially in England may at length see and marke how their Pope was reputed off in former times euen before Iohn Wickliffe spake against him in Oxford the Pope shall haue faire play his Cause shall bee tryed by a Grand Inquest of twelue good men and true according to the o Sir Thom. Smith de rep Anglor l. 2. c. 18. onely most laudable custome of the Common-wealth of England whereof foure shall be Kings and Princes foure shall be Arch-bishops A Iurie Impanneled and Bishops and foure shall bee Abbots or Monkes Behold now the Prisoner standing at the Barre who because hee is become a Peere in the World shall