purpose intention Christ dyed not for the redemption of all in a generalitie but of the Elect only whom he so especially and entirely loved In like sort testifieth S. Iohn saying In this appeared the love of God toward us marke still that word Vs that God sent his onely begotten Sonne into the vvorld that vve might live through him And againe he saith Herein is love not that vve loved God but that he loved us and sent his Sonne to be a reconciliation for our sinnes Here you likewise see that the sending of his sonne is an effect and argument of his most deare and speciall love toward his Church and people If then this be as indeed it is an argument of such high speciall and incomparable love in Christ to give himselfe to death and likewise in God his Father to send him into the world to that end and that this special and incomparable love belongeth onely to the Elect it must needes be granted that Christ his death being an argument of such unspeakeable and especial love was only for the Elect in Gods intention and purpose for those onely be the men whom he so entirely and unspeakeably loved and not the other But consider what Saint Paul yet further writeth saying thus Blessed bee God even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ vvhich hath blessed us vvith all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ as hee hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the vvorld that vvee should be holy and vvithout blame before him in love VVho hath predestinated us to be adopted through Iesus Christ in himselfe according to the good pleasure of his owne vvill to the praise of the glory of his grace vvhereby hee hath made us accepted in his bloud by vvhom vve have redemption through his bloud even the forgivenesse of sinnes according to his rich grace vvhereby he hath beene abounding toward us In which words you may againe perceive that those onely that were Elect before the foundation of the world be the men that be there said to have redemption through Christs bloud even the forgivenesse of sinnes and that for these two incomparable benefits namely of their Election before the foundations of the world and of their Redemption through the bloud of Christ they can never blesse God sufficiently nor yeeld him sufficient thankes Yea the Redemption which Christ by his bloud hath purchased for anie is an Eternall Redemption as the Epistle to the Hebrewes expressely affirmeth it and therefore if all in a generalitie aswel bad as good and Reproprobate aswell as Elect should have redemption by the death of Christ it should be an Eternall redemption as here you see even an everlasting discharge and forgivenesse of all their sinnes and so then should none be damned at all but all aswell one sort as another should be saved which if it be grosse and absurd false and untrue that also must be held grosse absurd and untrue whereupon this followeth But consider yet further that the bloud of Christ Iesus the Sonne of God is not dumbe dead vaine idle or ineffectual bloud but it is ever powerfull and effectuall to all those for whose benefit it was intended to be shed and therefore beside that it is called by S. Peter precious bloud or the bloud of price and value whereby Gods Church and people were bought and purchased it is further said in the Epistle to the Hebrews to be speaking blood and that it speaketh better things then that of Abel For indeed the bloud of Abel spake and cried for revenge against a Malefactor but contrariwise the bloud of Christ speaketh for mercie peace love reconciliation and attonement towards sinners and malefactors Yea the bloud of Christ hath these vertues attributed unto it namely to clense from all sinne to reconcile to iustifie to sanctifie and to save sinners Seeing then the bloud of Christ is of that great force vertue and efficacie and that none are cleansed from their sinnes reconciled iustified sanctified and saved but the elect onely it is apparant that that so precious prevalent powerfull and saving bloud of his was shed for the redemption of the Elect only and not of the Reprobate And therefore doe the Saints and elect people of God in the Revelation sing this Song unto that Immaculate Lamb Christ Iesus saying thus Thou art vvorthy to take the Booke and to open the seales thereof because thou vvast killed and hast redeemed us to God by thy bloud out of every kinred and tongue and people and nation Yea by the efficacie and vertue of Christ his death his buriall and his resurrection it is that Gods elect dye to sinne and burie sinne and be quickned and rise to newnesse of life which thing Reprobates cannot doe Againe it appeareth that Christ in his death suffering and satisfaction which hee made to the law and to Gods wrath and iustice bare the person only of the Elect to cleere and set them free insomuch that of them only it is said that they be In Christ and that they vvere circumcised â—n him or in his circumcision that they dyed together with him in his death that they rose together with him in his resurrection that they ascended with him into heaven and there sit vvith him in heavenly places By all which manner of speeches it is evident that the Elect and Elect onely be accounted his members and knit and conioined unto him Yea such is this neere coniunction and union betweene Christ the head and the Elect his members that considered together they be called verie Christ by S. Paul And therefore it is apparant that the Reprobates which are to bee damned were never In Christ Iesus nor made satisfaction to Gods Iustice in him for their sinnes nor died with him nor rose againe with him nor ascended with him into heaven nor have anie union or communion with him And this is further yet more evident by this that Christ Iesus himselfe doth directly disclaime all Reprobates in the praier which he maketh in the behalfe of all the Elect which his Father gave him saying thus I pray for them I pray not for the vvorld but for them vvhich thou hast given mee for they are thine Observe this well for here you see that Christ praieth and maketh intercession onely for the elect and utterly disclaymeth to pray for the world that is for the Reprobates of the world Sith then the Reprobates have no part nor portion in the praier and intercession of Christ by what right shall they have anie part or portion in his death or sacrificing himselfe upon the Crosse For the Priesthood of Christ consisteth chiefly in these two points namely in his oblation or sacrificing of himselfe upon the Crosse in his prayer or intercession and seeing the Reprobates never had nor have anie interest in the one neither can they have in the other And therefore also is Christ recorded
for us In which words you see that although some bee appointed to wrath yet othersome bee appointed to obtaine salvation by the meanes of their Lord Iesus Christ vvhich died for them and these which were thus predestinated and appointed not to wrath but to Salvation he sheweth that even for this verie cause they should be the more vigilant warie and circumspect as touching their lives and conversations to walke as Children of the light and of the day and not to be like unto those that be appointed to wrath and be of the night and of darknesse Againe S. Paul in his second Epistle to the Thessalonians speaking of some To whom God sent strong delusion to beleeve lies that they might all be damned which beleeved not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousnes distinguishing those that were of the Elect number from them he saith thus But wee ought to give thanks alway for you brethren beloved of the Lord because that God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation And there hee sheweth further how after this their election they be brought to salvation namely through sanctification of the spirit and beleefe of the truth So that you here still perceive that all bee not elect to salvation but some onely and that those that be thus elected bee such as bee afterward sanctified by the spirite of God and beleeve the Gospell and word of truth and so come in the end to the salvation appointed for them S. Paul againe to the same effect in his Epistle to the Ephesians saith thus Blessed be God even the father of our Lord Iesus Christ which hath blessed us with all spirituall blessings in heavenly things in Christ as he hath chosen us in him before the foundations of the world that wee should be holy and without blame before him in love In which words you likewise see that not all in a generalitie but some onelie bee elected and that those which be thus ordained and elected to life and salvation were in Gods purpose and decree so ordained and elected antequam iacerentur fundamenta mundi before the foundations of the world were laid But then here observe withall that those which be thus elected and predestinated of God to Salvation bee not so predestinate and elected to the end they should live licentiously wickedly or carelesly but to the end They should be holy and without blame before him in love for so be the very direct words of the Apostle Wherefore it is apparant that S. Paul from this matter and doctrine of Predestination and electing of men to salvation gathereth not anie argument of Licentiousnesse for neither can such argument from thence be rightly deduced what soever Atheists Papists or others thereupon untruly inferre but cleane contrariwise from hence he gathereth as likewise all the rest of Gods children doe matter to blesse praise and thanke God for ever and ever and therby provoketh men to shew forth the fruites of that their thankefulnesse by a continuall godly life and an holy conversation For indeed what will move a man to thankfulnesse and to shew his obedience towards God both in his thoughts and affections and in his words and in his workes and everie manner of way if his election to salvation decreed and purposed with God before the foundations of the world were laid will not moove him unto it seeing hee was then in Gods hand to have disposed of him as of a vessell either to honour or dishonour at his owne good and free pleasure there being then no matter of merit or desert in him why God should choâ—se him more then another yea at that time of his ordaining and appointing of him to salvation hee might if hee had so pleased have otherwise disposed of him and might have left and refuseâ— him as he did others to goe with them to everlasting wrath and eternall horrour and damnation Infinite and unspeakeable therefore must such a one needes conceive the love of God to be towards him in this case and such as can never be suficiently magnified Yea thus againe from this predestination and election of God doth S Paul in his Epistle to the Colossians likewise inferre as it is indeed most forcible thereunto matter of argument to perswade to all Christian vertues and to all godlines and holines of life for thus he saith Novv therefore as â—he elect of God holie and beloved put on tender mercie kindenes humblenes of minde meekenes long suffering forbearing one another and forgiveing one anoâ—her if anie man have a quarrell to another even â—s Christ forgave you even so doe yee c. Marke here also how from this that they were the Elect of God he gathereth this Argument to perswade to all goodnes godlines and Christian vertues And so likewise doth S. Peter also frame an Argument from thence to perswade to all holinesse of life Yee saith hee are a chosen generation a royall Priesthood an holy nation a peculiar people that ye should shevv forth the vertues of him that hath called you out of darkenes into his marveilous light By all which you see I hope sufficiently that out of this doctrine of Predestination can no Argument for licentiousnes or carelesnes of life be rightly deduced but the cleane contrarie For although God hath predestinated and foreordained what shall become of all men as he hath likewise of all things else wee are not therefore to grow carelesse and dissolute but all our chiefe care studie endeavour should be this namly to examin our selves our harts waies affections works thereby see whether we be of the number of those that be elected predestinated to salvation yea or no And if wee finde that we are therin to reioyce with powring forth everlasting praise and thankes unto God for so speciall ineffable and incomparable a favour and during all our life to shew forth the fruites of that thankefulnes by a continual endeavour to walke in the waies of God godlines And if anie upon examination of himselfe doe not yet finde the marks tokens of Gods children within him and of such a one as is predestinated to salvation hee is not therefore to be discouraged utterly or to dispaire but to know that he may be for all that of the number of Gods Children if hee neglect not to use the meanes which God hath appointed in that case inasmuch as God may hereafter at some one time or other before his death call him to faith and repentance and regenerate and sanctifie him by his spirit so testifie and make known the same unto him For as it is true that VVhom God hath predestinated them also hee calleth so no lesse true is it that God hath also set his appointed times and meanes when and how he will call them unto himselfe whom hee hath so predestinated which thing Christ Iesus also himselfe sheweth in the Parable namely that some were called
likewise touched him I say why should not all and euerie of these be by the same reason worshipped and adored with divine honour You see then what weake most poore reasons Papists have for this their Idolatry in worshipping a wooden Crosse in stead of the true God that made heaven and earth S. Ambrose directlie brandeth it and calleth it an Heathenish error to vvorship the Crosse vvhereon Christ dyed And yet neither are yee able to prove that all and everie of those severall Crosses which in so manie distant places of several Kingdomes and Countries amongst Papists be thus worshipped bee that verie Crosse whereon Christ our Saviour died and was crucified Yea it is a thing impossible that they all and everie of them they being so manie and diverse should or can bee that verie Crosse. 7 I shall not neede here to shew how the Pope of Rome is made a god or rather exalted above God himselfe in the Papacie because this is declared partlie before and partlie and more fully afterward But yet consider here whether they make not also the Church a God whilst they not onelie beleeve it but beleeve in it For accordinglie the Rhemists teach it to be lawfull to beleeve in Men and in the Church The Creede contrariwise teacheth us Credere sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam to beleeve that there is an holy Catholik Church but it doth not bid us to beleeve in the holy Catholike Church Yea it teacheth everie Christian to beleeve onelie In God for thus it saith I beleeve in God the Father c. and in Iesus Christ his only Sonne c. and I beleeve in the holy Ghost And this distinction of creatures and mysteries in the Creede from the Creator by the preposition In is likewise so observed and taught by the Ancient Fathers For Ruffinus saith thus Non dixit in sanctam Ecclesiam c. He said not I beleeve In the Catholicke Church nor In the remission of sinnes nor In the resurrection of the Body for if he had added the preposition In there should have beene the same force of meaning vvith that vvhich went before But now in those vvords in vvhich is set forth our faith of the Godhead it is said In God the Father and In Iesus Christ his Sonne and In the Holy Ghost But in the rest vvhere the speech is not of the Godhead but of Creatures and Mysteries the preposition In is not added that it should be said In the holy Church but that vvee should beleeve that there is an holy Church not as God but as a Church gathered unto God And men should beleeve that there is a remission of sinnes but not In the remission of sinnes and they should beleeve the resurrection of the Body but not In the resurrection of the Body Therefore by this syllable of Preposition the Creator is distinguished from the Creatures and things pertayning to God from things belonging to men Agreeablie to him writeth also Eusebius Emissenus saying Aliud est credere Deo aliud In Deum credere c. It is one thing to beleeve God and another thing to beleeve In God we ought of right to beleeve both Peter and Paul but to beleeve In Peter and Paul that vvere to bestow upon the servants the honour due to the Lord vvhich vve ought not to doe To beleeve him that is to give credite to him every one may doe it to a man but this to beleeve In him know that thou owest onely to the Divine Maiestie And this also is to be marked It is one thing Credere Deum to beleeve that there is a God and another thing Credere in Deum to beleeve in God for the Divel is found to beleeve that there is a God but to beleeve In God none is found to doe this but he vvhich hath devoutely trusted in him And therefore to beleeve that there is a God is to know naturally but to beleeve in God is faithfully to seeke him and vvith our vvhole love to passe into him So likewise touching the Articles of the Catholicke Church Remission of sinnes Resurrection c. he saith Let us beleeve In God These other things vve doe rehearse vve doe not beleeve in them but vve beleeve them These things I say vvee confesse not as God but as the benefites of God Primasius also observeth this distinction saying Fides perfecta est non solum Christum sed etiam In Christum credere It is perfect faith not onely to beleeve that Christ is but to beleeve In Christ. If you would know what it is to beleeve In God S. Cyprian will further informe you Non credit In Deum qui non in eo solo collocat totius foelicitatis suae fiduciam He doth not beleeve In God saith hee vvhich doth not repose in him alone the confidence of his vvhole felicity Credere in Creaturam est divinitatis offensio To beleeve in a Creature is an offence against the Deity saith Greg. Baeticus ad Gallam Placidiam Yea Cursed is the man that putteth his trust in man saith the Lord God himselfe Thus then you see a difference betweene Credere Deum and Credere Deo and Credere in Deum namelie that Credere Deum is to beleeve that there is a God and Credere Deo is to beleeve all that God speaketh to be true and thus farre Divels and Reprobates may goe but Credere in Deum to beleeve in God that is to repose the confidence of a mans whole felicitie not in his owne or in other mens merits nor in Saints or Angels or in the Church or in anie creatures but in God onlie is the faith and beleefe proper and peculiar to the true Christian. And herewithall you may perceive that Credere Ecclesiam Catholicam is to beleeve that there is a Catholike Church and Credere Ecclesiae Catholicae is to give credite to the Catholik-Church that is to beleeve that to be true which the Catholike Church teacheth and that Credere in Ecclesiam Catholicam is to repose a mans trust affiance faith and confidence in the Catholike Church which what is it else but to make a god of it and so to have moe gods then One and consequentlie to commit a most grosse Idolatrie For what greater dishonor or wrong can be done then to put the Church in the place of God or to attribute that to men or Angels or to anie creatures which properlie belongeth to the Creator But the Rhemists alledge three Texts of Scripture to prove it lawfull to beleeve in men The one is in the Epistle to Philemon where S. Paul speaketh thus unto him Hearing of thy love and faith vvhich thou hast toward the Lord Iesus and toward all the Saints c. But reddendo singula singulis it is easie to be perceived that Faith is there to be referred to Christ and Love to all the Saints for S. Paul himselfe who is the best expositor of his owne words
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
and yet having his sinnes forgiven him and therefore being bound to love Christ more then the rest because more was forgiven him Christ thrice requireth of him to manifest and declare that his greater love by so much the more diligenter feeding of his Sheeepe for this is the verie drift true scope and meaning of Christ in that place As S. Cyrill doth also declare in these wordes Because Peter saith he being enobled from Christ himselfe with the name of the Apostleship with others did thrice deny Christ in the time of his passion now by right is required of him three confessions of his love that three denials might be countervayled and recompensed vvith an equal number of confessings c. Christ asked of him vvhether he loved him more then the rest did for he that had experience of the greater clemency of the Lord towards him ought of right to be affected with greater love for although generally all the Disciples were stricken vvith great feare vvhen the Lord vvas betrayed yet the fault of Peter vvas greater then of the rest vvho so denyed Christ in so short a time Because therefore hee obteyned remission of sinnes by greater clemency of the Saviour greater love of right is required of him for he to vvhom more is forgiven ought more to love S. Augustine also upon this Text likewise inferreth saying Let the duty of love be to feed the Lords flocke And Chrysostome likewise saith Ter interrogat c. Christ asketh thrice and he alwayes commandeth the same thing that hee might shew how great care he hath of his sheepe and that the feeding of them is the greatest argument of love To the like effect speake other also of the ancient Fathers declaring that the speech of Christ to Peter touching the feeding of his sheepe belongeth not onely to Peter but to all Bishops Pastors and Ministers of the word also Wherefore S. Basil saith thus Christ said unto Peter Lovest thou mee Feede my sheepe And in like sort unto all Pastors and Doctors hee gave the same power a Token vvhereof is this that they doe All equally binde and loose aswell as Peter In like sort speaketh againe S. Augustine saying The vvords of Christ Lovest thou mee and Feed my sheepe vvhen they are spoken unto Peter they are spoken unto all And so witnesseth S. Ambrose also saying Our Lord said unto Peter Feede my sheepe vvhich sheepe and flocke not only Peter then received but he receiveth the same together vvith us and all vvee have received the same together with him So that Peter neither in respect of feeding the flocke of Christ nor in anie other respect can be shewed to have or to have exercised anie imperious or Princely primacie or Monarchical superioritie over the rest of the Apostles but was in respect of rule power and authoritie equal with the rest the rest with him And this also further appeareth by the verie Commission it selfe if you look upon it which was given to them when they were sent out into all the world for therein is no more principalitie power or authority given or appointed to the one then to the other But now here lastly observe withall that they be the Keyes of the Kingdome of heaven and not of Earthly kingdomes which Christ hath committed to his Ministers So that neither Excommunication nor anie other power of the Keyes be it never so lawfully or iustly administred or executed is of force to depose anie man from an earthly kingdome though it be of force being rightly used to seclude a man from the kingdom of God if he repent not And therfore here I must crave leave to tell you that most wickedly intolerably hath the Pope of Rome abused excommunication and the power of the Keyes whilst he hath used them for the pulling down of Kings and Princes from their Thrones and thereupon hath moved subiects to revolt from their Soveraignes to rebell against them Is not this sweet doctrine and an holy religion that upon no warrant at all yea contrarie to the rule commandement of God shall presume to perswade subiects to rebell against their lawfull Soveraignes because forsooth the Pope hath excommunicated them For consider well the matter First it appeareth that the Pope is no Minister at all of Christ but the verie Grand Antichrist as this Booke cleerely manifesteth and hath therefore no authoritie from Christ to excommunicate anie Christians at all much lesse to excommunicate Christian Kings and Princes But secondly if he had that authority that Princes were excommunicated by him yet is excommunication of no force be it never so rightly done or used to dissolve the duetie and allegeance of anie subiects or to depose from earthly kingdomes inasmuch as excommunication and the whole power of the Keyes as is here apparant stretcheth onlie to the Kingdome of Heaven and not to earthly Kingdomes I know they alledge that we are to account an excommunicate person as a Publican or Heathen What of this Admit if you will that hee were thereby become actually and in all respects a very Heathen yet I pray tell mee be not Heathen Kings Kings aswell as those that be Christian Yea were they not manifestly Heathen Kings and Princes whom neverthelesse S. Paul and S. Peter also commanded obedience and subiection to be yeelded unto Were not all those Heathen Emperors likewise to whom the first Christians that lived under their persecutions were neverthelesse obedient You see then that if it were so that excommunication did as it doth not make a christian King to become a verie heathen King in all points and respects yet still neverthelesse hee remaineth a King and consequently is still to be honoured and obeyed as a King of all his subiects They alledge secondly that the familiars and wonted companions of a man excommunicated are to withdraw their companie from him to the end hee may be ashamed of his sinne and so be brought to repentance but doth this inferre that therefore subiects may or ought to withdraw their obedience and allegeance from their King No such matter For subiects cannot be termed or held for familiars or companions to those Kings and Princes under whom they be but the Kings and Princes of other Nations and such as be forreiners if anie If the Father be excommunicated though others withdraw their companie from him to the end hee may be ashamed of his sinne committed yet may not his sonne that oweth special dutie to him as to his father therefore withdraw his duetie and obedience For though excommunication make him as an Heathen and a Publican yet it maketh him not no father but hee still remaineth a father as he was before and therefore of all his children is to be reverenced honoured and obeyed as a father So likewise if the Husband be excommunicate and that others therefore are to withdraw themselves from him yet neverthelesse hee still
a kind of matter appeared insomuch that S. Augustine himselfe sometime speaketh Doubtfully of it and with a peradventure there is some such thing But at other sometimes againe he is verie confident and resolute that there is no such third place and therefore in one place hee affirmeth it expresselie to be the faith of the Catholikes in that time to beleeve onelie these two places namelie Heaven and Hell But a third place saith hee vvee are utterly ignorant of Neyther doe vvee finde it to be in the holy Scriptures And againe he saith Duae quippè habitationes una in igne â—terno alia in regno aeterno For there be two habitations or dwelling places the one in everlasting fire the other in an everlasting kingdome Agreeablie wherunto the scripture that speaketh of fire for the punishment of people after their death expreslie affirmeth it to be an everlasting fire and unquenchable fire which is sufficient to take away all conceit of your temporarie and quenchable fire in your vainelie supposed Purgatorie Yea S. Augustine saith further In requie sunt animae piorum à corpore separatae c. The soules of the godly separated from their bodies be in rest or quietnesse and the soules of the ungodly suffer punishments untill the bodies of those doe rise againe unto life everlasting and the bodies of these unto eternall death vvhich is called the second death And so speaketh also S. Cyprian saying Quando isthinc excessum fuerit nullus iam poenitentiae locus nulâ—us satisfactionis effectus Hic vita aut amittitur aut tenetur Hic saâ—uti aeternae cultu Dei fructu fidei providetur VVhen men bee once departed out of this life there is no more place for repentance there is no more vvorke or effect of any satisfaction Here in this vvorld saith he life is eyther lost or got Here it is that provision is made for eternall salvation by the worshipping of God and the fruits of faith And again he there saith Then shall be vvithout fruit of repentance all griefe of paine inanis ploratio inefficax deprecatio and in vaine shall vveeping be then and prayers shall then be also uneffectuall and of no force 6 To what end then is also your praier for the dead or the Popes pardons and indulgences or singing or saying of Masses Trentals Requiems or anie other your workes satisfactorie or helpefull as you call them for the soules of the dead for in the place vvhere the Tree falleth there it lyeth whether it be toward the South or toward the North saith Ecclesiastes appointing likewise as here you see but two places in that behalfe Agreeably whereunto hee saith againe that when a man dieth his bodie as Dust returneth to the earth from vvhence it came and his soule or spirit returneth to God that gave it And againe he saith after that men are dead They have no more portion for ever in all that is done under the Sunne What part or portion then can they have in your praiers or in anie other works done by men that be living in this world Wee know and beleeve there is a communion of Saints and that the charitie and love of the Saints one towards another is verie great but yee see that the Saints and godlie Elect goe not after their death to anie place of Torment but into a place of blessednesse and heavenlie happinesse where they stand not in need of anie mortall mens praiers or other their workes whatsoever On the other side the soules of the ungodlie reprobates goe to Hell the place of the damned so that no praiers or other works whatsoever can doe them anie good for their ease or deliverance from thence And as for anie third sort of people that be neither Elect nor Reprobates such are not to be found It is true that in this life wee may beare one anothers burden and one may paie a debt for another and the abundance of one mans wealth may supplie the defect or want of another But as touching the next world it is not so for the Scripture saith that The Iust man shall live not by anie other mans but by his owne faith Againe it saith The soule that sinneth that shall dye And againe The righteousnesse of the righteous shall be upon himselfe and the vvickednesse of the vvicked shall be upon himselfe So that neither the righteousnesse nor the wickednesse of one shall bee imparted to another to save or condemne him Yea though these three men Noah Daniel and Iob were amongst them they should deliver but their owne soules by their righteousnesse saith the Lord God And againe the Psalmist saith A man can by no meanes redeeme his brother nor give to God a ransome for him It cost more to redeeme soules and therefore he must let that alone for ever Neither hath anie that is but a meere man anie such abundance of holinesse or righteousnesse in him as to be therewith able to supplie the defects or wants of others in that behalfe Yea all is little enough for himselfe when hee once commeth to stand in Gods presence and before his tribunall For even the holiest and iustest man that is must then say with King David Enter not O Lord into iudgement vvith thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be iustified Yea even the blessed Virgin Mary her selfe though a most godly and holy woman yet had not such abundance of holinesse in her as to be able thereby to be her owne Saviour much lesse to be able to merit the salvation of others for that she was in respect of her selfe a Sinner and consequently had need of Christ Iesus to bee her Saviour as well as other people her selfe plainely declared when shee said My soule doth magnifie the Lord and my spirit reioyceth in God my Saviour If she had had no sinne at all in her as some Papists affirme what need had she of a Saviour or how could Christ Iesus have beene her Saviour as shee calleth and affirmeth him For he is in no other respect called Iesus that is a Saviour but because he shall save his people from their sinnes as the Angel testifieth Againe doth not the Scripture say expressely that All have sinned and that vvhosoever be iustified be iustified freely by the grace of God through the redemption that is in Christ Iesus The Papists also talke much of the vertues and sufferings of S. Paul as though they were meritorious and satisfactorie as well for others as for himselfe when as nevertheles himselfe sheweth they were not sufficient for his owne salvation It is true that he saith in his Epistle to the Colossians that He reioyced in his sufferings for them that is for their sakes who thereby were to be encouraged strengthned and confirmed in the faith of Christ and that Hee did fill up or accomplish that which was yet behinde
in respect of his bodily presence and manhood departed from the world and in that respect is as himselfe affirmeth no more in the vvorld but in heaven untill the day of the general judgement as S. Peter also and our Creede doe teach us how grosse and absurd yea what misbeleevers be Papists that dare affirme him cleane contrarie to his owne testimonie and the testimonie of S. Peter and the rest of the Scriptures and contrarie also to the verie Creed it selfe to be still in the world in that his manhood and bodily presence It is high time therefore for all to renounce and forsake this monstrous and detestable errour if they will be right Christians and right beleevers As for that Text where it is said No man ascendeth up to heaven but he that descended from heaven even the sonne of man vvhich is in heaven It is easily answered and resolved for most true it is that the Sonne of man Christ Iesus was even then in heaven in his Deitie at such time when hee was also upon the earth in his humanitie So that in respect of that his Deitie or Godhead it is that being upon the earth he was neverthelesse also in heaven and not in respect of his manhood or humanitie for his manhood or humanitie or bodily presence was then on the earth and could not also be in heaven at one and the selfe same time as is before declared S. Iohn saith that Every spirit vvhich confesseth not that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God but this is the spirit of Antichrist Now what is it else to denie Iesus Christ to be come in the flesh but to denie him to be true man and like unto men in all things sinne onely excepted Whilest men therefore thus denie Christ to be come in the flesh that is to have all the properties of a True man and to be like unto other men in all things sinne onely excepted how can they cleere themselves but that they must be enforced to yeeld and confesse that they be herein led not by the spirit of Christ but by the spirit of Antichrist Yea whilest they thus say that Christ is in his manhood and natural bodie present upon earth what doe they else but denie or impugne not onely those Articles of the Creed viz. that Christ is ascended into heaven and that there hee sitteth at the right hand of God his Father and that from thence he shall come to iudge the quicke and the dead But this Article also that Iesus Christ vvas borne of the Virgin Mary and was incarnate and made man of her substance For this doubtlesse is the right Iesus Christ in whom wee are to beleeve but by this their doctrine they contrariwise beleeve in another Iesus Christ namely in such a one as they affirme by this their Transubstantiation to be made of another substance namelie out of the substance of a piece of bread And how can such a Christ so made of the substance of a piece of bread be the true Christ Of which and of all other sorts of false Christs the true Christ Iesus himselfe hath given us sufficieÌ„t forewarning Fiftly they herein make their Massing Priest after their words of consecration uttered to be the maker of his Maker namelie of Iesus Christ And that Iesus Christ is thus made anew everie day or so oft as their Masse is celebrated How manie thousand Iesus Christs by this meanes will they have in the world But can anie be so absurdlie impious as to beleeve or suppose that Christ Iesus can be made out of the substance of a piece of bread by a Priest by vertue of anie words of consecration uttered or by anie devise whatsoever Can anie creature possibly make his Creator or the thing made make his maker Fie on these and all other such senselesse detestable abominations Diverse other absurdities also of the Papists might here be further alledged but these before mentioned will I hope suffice to declare the most grosse and most notorious false exposition of the Popish Church concerning those wordes of Christ This is my Body in the Lords Supper wherby they strangely suppose a Transubstantiation and a carnal eating of Christ his verâ—e natural bodie contrarie to the Scriptures and contrarie to all sense reason right faith and true Religion For ye must learne so to expound Scripture as that yee make all the rest of the Scriptures to stand and agree with that sense you set upon it so that there may be no repugnancie But the sense and exposition which the Popish church setteth upon those words of Christ namely This is my Body is cleerely repugnant to other Scriptures and even to the verie Articles also of the Creede aswell as to all sense and reason as is before apparant and therefore it cannot possibly be the right sense nor true exposition What remaineth then but that the right and true sense and meaning of those words is and must needs be the same which the Protestants set upon them because that their exposition is consonant agreeing to the rest of the Scriptures and to all the Articles of the Creede aswell as to all sense and reason and is also sutable and correspondent to the like usuall ordinarie phrase and manner of speech in other and former Sacraments amongst the Iewes the old people of God under the old Testament according to which maner of speech Christ also spake when he instituted this Sacrament of his Supper under the new Testament calling according to the usuall Sacramental phrase the signe by the name of the thing signified Which thing I trust is now so cleare and evident as that none can iustly anie longer make anie doubt or question of it 5 But yet for the fuller discussing hereof it will not be amisse here to speake a few words touching Consecration because upon Consecration it is that they seeme to build their before mentioned error of Transubstantiation Let us therfore consider what Consecration is and what it importeth or worketh To Consecrate then is to take a thing from the prophane or ordinarie and common use and to destinate or appoint it to some holy use and end And if wee would know how things come to bee consecrate or sanctified S. Paul saith that everie Creature of God is good and nothing to bee refused if it bee received with thankesgiving For it is sanctified saith hee by the word of God and prayer Sanctification then or Consecration of a thing doth here appeare to bee by the institution and word of God and by praier or invocation whereof thankesgiving is a part And therefore the Lord Iesus before he brake the bread and gave it hee Blessed that is he gave thankes to his Father that hee out of his love to men had appointed him to bee the Redeemer for the satisfying of his Iustice in the behalfe of his elect and had given him authoritie to institute this
By whom saith S. Paul speaking of Christ Iesus our Mediatour VVee have boldnesse and entrance with confidence through faith in him Againe it is written thus Let us therefore goe boldly unto the Throne of grace that wee may receive mercie and finde grace to helpe in time of neede And againe it is said That by the blood of Iesus Christ wee may bee bold to enter into the holy place Observe in all these places that through Christ his mediation wee have boldnesse and may bee bold to come unto God As touching that reason which yee draw from the manner of earthlie Kinges Princes to whom you say men usuallie have not accesse without some friend to be their mediator unto him Although the cases be verie unlike between God and an earthly man yet it is before answered that wee have a friend to bee our Mediatour unto God in the Court of heaven and that a most assured and especial friend namelie Iesus Christ whose love hath shewed it selfe to bee farre greater toward us then the love of anie Saints or Angells is or can bee in bearing the wrath of God for us due to our sinnes and being made a curse for us to deliver us from that Curse of the Law which wee most iustly had deserved to beare and must have borne for ever in our owne persons to our owne everlasting woes and confusion had not hee interposed himselfe as our most loving and kinde suertie and Saviour Can anie have or desire to have a better or more assured friend then this But you further alledge that the Saints deceased and Angells doe pray for us What of that For thereupon it followeth not that therefore wee must or maie praie to them Everie good and godly Christian doth pray one for another whilst they live together in this world yet for all that it were monstrous and intolerable impietie for anie one of them to fall downe before another of them and to direct his prayer unto him as he doth unto God But you say that it is lawfull in this life for one Christian to desire another to pray unto God for him and why then should it not bee lawfull to desire the Saints in heaven to pray for us I answer that the cases bee nothing like and that there is that reason for the one which is not for the other For first when I desire a man living with mee in this world to pray for mee I am sure that hee heareth mee when I thus request him for otherwise I speake in vaine unto him But you are not sure that the Saints in heaven which bee departed this life doe heare you when yee speake unto them and desire them to pray unto God for you You may peradventure suppose conceit and imagine that they heare you but assurance thereof or undoubted proofe yee can produce none And S. Augustine telleth you plainelie that they doe not heare your praiers for thus hee saith Ibi siquidem sunt spiritus defunctorum ubi nec vident neque audiunt c. The soules of the dead saith hee bee there where they doe neither see nor heare what is done or happeneth to men in this life yet such care they have of the living although they bee utterlie ignorant what they doe here on earth as our care is for the dead albeit what they doe wee likewise knovv not How vaine a thing then is it when you have no assurance that the Saints departed heare you for you neverthelesse â—o make praiers and petitions unto them as if you were sure that they heard you Secondlie there is manifest warrant yea and a commandement in the Scriptures for one Christian to praie for another whilst they bee living in this world but there is no commandement warrant or example to bee found in the Scripture which requireth or alloweth Christians to praie unto Saints departed this life Thirdlie yee in your praiers to Saints in heaven doe sometimes begge immediately even of them at their hands assistance help protectioÌ„ defence such other things as be indeed properly onely in the power hands of God to give Fourthly what do you else but attribute an omni-presence omni-science even a knowledge of the thoughts affections also of mens harts unto the Saints when so manie thousands of you in such a number of distant places and at several times doe pray unto them which things namelie omni-presence that is to be present everie where and omni-science that is to know all things and even the thoughts and affections of mens hearts be proper and peculiar to God alone But lastlie if the Saints in heaven did heare us yet were that no argument therefore to Invocate or pray unto them no more then wee may pray unto the Angels that stand about us and be able to heare our praiers For although wee may praie to none but him that can heare us yet may wee not exhibite Invocation or praier to everie one or to anie whosoever that can or is able to heare us For God onlie is in the way of religion to be invocated and praied unto and that onelie through the Mediation and Intercession of Iesus Christ and of no other as before appeareth 5 But there is yet further if we may beleeve their doctrine a fift point of a most grosse Idolatrie in the Popish Church For Bellarmine teacheth that even the verie Images themselves of Christ and of the Saints are to bee vvorshipped and that not by accident onely or improperly but properly also and by themselves so that the worship of them is determined in the Images as they be considered in themselves and not onely for or in respect of the things vvhich they represent Yea it is the constant opinion of Popish Divines saith Azâ—rius the Iesuite that the Image is to be vvorshipped and honoured with the same honour and vvorship vvherewith that is to be vvorshipped vvhose Image it is And Thomas Aquinas likewise teacheth saying Cum Christus latriae adoratione sit adorandus Imago quoque eius eadem adoratione adoranda est That seeing Christ is to bee vvorshipped vvith Latria that is vvith that worship that is proper unto God His IMAGE also is to be vvorshipped vvith the very same vvorship But touching Christ First how doe they prove it lawfull to make an Image of Him sith hee is not man onelie but God also for can anie make an Image or representation of him that is both God an man That image then which ye say ye make of Christ in respect of his humanitie onelie consider whether it be anie more the picture or image of Christ then of anie other man Secondlie how do ye prove it to be the true Image of Christ in respect of his humanitie Thirdlie admit it were the verie picture and Image of Christ made either in wood stone brasse silver gold or howsoever is it fit that this Image made of Mettal or
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—
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
they were nor of the Fathers of the Societie Iohannes de Ziguenza Emanuel de Roias and Gaspar de Mena nor of the Pope himselfe upon whose sentence they wholly ground their Resolution either then was or hereafter will bee of any force to remove them one whit from the allegeance and duetie which they doe owe unto their King and Countrey Nay I am in good hope that their Ioyall mindes will so farre distaste that evill lesson which those great Rabbies of theirs would have them learne that it will teach them to unlearne another bad lesson wherewith they have beene most miserably deluded namely that in the doctrine of Religion vvee are to attend not what the thing is that is said but what the person is that speaketh it But how dangerous a thing it is to have the faith of our Lord Iesus Christ in respect of persons and to give entertainement to the truth not so much for it selfe as for the regard that is had to the deliverer of it I wish men would learne otherwise then by wofull experience in themselves The truth saith Claudius is to be loved for it selfe not for the Man or for the Angell by vvhom it is preached For hee that doth love it in respect of the preachers of it may love lyes also if they peradventure shall deliver any as here without all peradventure the Pope and his Doctors have done unlesse the teaching of flatt Rebellion and high Treason may passe in the account of Catholicke verities The Lord of his mercie open their eyes that they may see the light and give them grace to receive the love of the truth that they may be saved The Lord likewise grant if it be his blessed will that Truth and Peace may meet together in our dayes that we may be all gathered into one fold under one shepheard and that the whole earth may be filled with his glory Amen Amen FINIS Rom. 13 1.2 Tit. 3.1 Matth. â—2 21 Deut. â—8 1 2 3 4 5 c. Levit. 26 3 4 5 6 c. Deut. 7.11 12 13 14 c. 1. King 2. â— 4. 1 Chron. 8.7 8 9 10. 2. Thess. 2.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Coloss. 3.16 Primas in hunc locum Heb. 5.12 Heb. 3.13 Rom. 15.14 1. Thess. 5 11. Iude vers 3. Levit. 19.17 Iam. 5.19 20. Act. 18.2 3.24 25 26. Deut. 17 18 19 20. Iosh. 1.8 Act. 8.27 28 29 30. c. Act. 17.11 Ioh. 5.39 Deu. 31.11 12. â—3 Et Iosh. 8.34 35. Deut. 6.6 7. Psal. 1.2 2. Tim 3 14 15 16 17. The second Epistle of S. Iohn vers 1. Psal. 119 9. Eccles. 12.1 Euseb. lib. 6. cap. 3. Basil. epist. 74 Theodor. de curand Graecorum affect lib 5. Chrysost in Gen. hom 7. In Gen hom 21 Comment in Matth hom 2. In Epist. ad Heb Hom. 17. In Epist. ad Coloss. Hom. 9. Coloss 3.16 Hebr 5.12 Heb 3.13 Rom 15.14 1. Thess. 5.11 Levit. 19.17 Iam. 5.19 20. Luk. 8.16 1. Cor 12.7 Luke 9 26. Rom. 10.10 Bellar. de noâ— Eccl. cap. 2. 1. King 22.5 6 7 8 9 10 11 c Exod. 23.2 Matt. 18 20. Panor de elect electi potestate ¶ significasti Pigh hierar Ecclesiast lib. 6. cap 5. 4. Lib. 6. cap. 7. Lib. 6. cap. 13. Chrysost de sancto adorando Spiritu Caus 24. quest 1. § à recta in gloss ¶ Novitatibus Gers in tract an liceat in causa fidei a Pontifice appellare Alfons advers haeres lib. 1 c. 4. Sul. praelo Ascentiano An. Dom. 1534. Alfons lib. 1. cap. 4. Alfons lib. 1. cap. 2. Erasm. annot in 1. Cor. ex cap. 7. Arboreus in Theosoph li. 4. cap. 32. Concil Basil. epist. Synodal 3. de authorit Consil. supra Papam Dist 9. negare Aug ad Vinc. Vict. Aug cont Crescon lib. 2. c 32. Aug Epist. 112. â—d Paulin. August cont Faust. Manich. lib. 11. cap. 5. Aug Epist. 119. August cont Faust. li. 11. c. 5. Epist. 48. Depecca merit remiss li 1 ca. 22. cont Crescon lib. 2. cap. 31. Aug. de nat gra cont Pelag cap. 61. Euseb lib. 7. cap. 5. Bellarm. de Antichristo cap. 12. Turrcer in C. Sanct Rom. d. 15. n 12. Marsil Defens p. 413. Andrad Defens Trid. l. 2. Doâ—â— Baâ—n 22. pag 58. 59. Euseb lib. 5. cap. 20. Coloss. 2.8 2. Thess. 2.1 2 3. Euseb lib 3. cap. 19.33 39. Clem. Strom. lib. 1. 6. Clem Strom. lib. 2. Lib. 7. Lib. 6. Clem. Strom. lib. 7. Euseb. lib. 5. cap. 28. Iren. lib. 3. ca. 1. Hieronym in Matth. 23. Hieronym in Agg. cap. 1. Tertull. de câ—rona Militis nu 3. Basil. de Spiritu sancto c. 29. Hieronym in Dialog cont Lucif c. 4. Athan. contra gentes Chrysost. hom 1. ad Tit. oper imperf in Matt. hom 41. Cyril in Levit. lib. 5. Aug. in Ioh. tract 44. Vincent adver haeret Bellarm. de noâ—is Eccl. cap. 2. De Bono Viduit c. 1. tom 4. Tertull. cont Hermog Chrysost hom 13. in 2. cor Greâ— Nyss. Orat de iis qui adeunt Hieros Ioh. 5.39 Act. 17.11 2. Cor. 1.24 4.5 Matth. 24.4 Mat. 16.6.12 1. Thess. 5.21 1. Ioh. 4.1 Chrysost. in Act. Hom. 33. Basil. Ethic. de sin 72 pag. 432. Orig. in Iesu Nave Hom 21. Ambr. de Virgin lib. 3 cap. 1. Cyâ—â—l catech 4. Chrysost Hom. 3. in Laz. Chrysost Hom. 9. in 2. cor Aug de doct christ lib. 2. cap. 6. Hieronym com in Esai· c. 19. Basil. Regul contract qu. 167. Slâ—id commentat Act. 11.26 1. Pet. 2.13 The Kings Supremacie over persons Ecclesiasticall as well as Civill declared 1. Pet. 1 2.3 c. 1. Pet. 5.12 c. Rom 13.1 2 3 4 5. Rom. 1 7. Rom. 13.1 Chrysost. in Rom. 13. Hom. 23. Theodor. in Rom. 13. Theoph in Rom. 13. Oecumenius in Rom. 13. Bernard Ep. 42. Aenâ—s Silvius lib. 1. de gestis Basil. Concil Gregor epist. li. â— C. 100.103 Optat. contra Parm lib. 3. Tert. ad Scapul Tert. Apolog. cap 30. Concil Tolet. 6. cap. 14. Defensor pacis part 2. ca. 23. Ema Sa. Aphor. Bellarm. de Cler. cap 28. Rev. 9.11 1. Pet. 2.13 14. Rom. 13.3 4. The authority of Kings in matters Ecclesiasticall declared Rom. 13.4 Even Heathen and Pagan Kings have the authoritie to coÌ„mâ—nd to make lawes proclamations for God his service albeit they doe not alwaies extend it and use it accordingly Esra 7.1.21.23.26.27 Dan. 3.29 Dan. 6.26 Euseb lib 8. c. 19 lib. 9. c. 9. c. Esay 49.23 Aug. epist. 50. 2. Chro. 14.4.2 2. Chr 33.16 2. Chr 34.33 Aug. in li. 1. ca. 6. cont Epist. Parmenian Aug. in Evang. Ioan. tract 2. Aug. epist. 48. Luke 14.23 Aug. epist. 50. Act. 9.4.19 Acts 22.7 c. Psal. 2.10 11 2. Kin. 18 4. 2. Kin. 23.3 4 5 6. c. Ion. 3.6 7 8 9. Dan. 3.28.29 Dan. 6.26 c. August cont 2 Gaudent epist. lib. 2. cap. 17. Ion. 3.6 7 8 9 10. Luke 1â— â—3 August contra