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A65422 Popery anatomized, or, A learned, pious, and elaborat treatise wherein many of the greatest and weightiest points of controversie, between us and papists, are handled, and the truth of our doctrine clearly proved : and the falshood of their religion and doctrine anatomized, and laid open, and most evidently convicted and confuted by Scripture, fathers, and also by some of their own popes, doctors, cardinals, and of their own writers : in answer to M. Gilbert Brown, priest / by that learned, singularly pious, and eminently faithful servant of Jesus Christ M. John Welsch ...; Reply against Mr. Gilbert Browne, priest Welch, John, 1568?-1622.; Craford, Matthew. Brief discovery of the bloody, rebellious and treasonable principles and practises of papists. 1672 (1672) Wing W1312; ESTC R38526 397,536 586

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against you for wrath and vengeance then ever Abels blood did against his brother Cain Gen. 4.10 Now therefore at the last repent you of it Purge your hands of it and at the least vouchsafe so much upon every Church as may sustain a Pastor to break the bread of life unto them and think the damnation of so many millions of souls of your poor brethren who might have been saved for ought that ye know if they had had the Gospel of salvation preached unto them too great guiltiness suppose ye had not blood upon blood Otherwise if ye will not I call heaven and earth to witness against you Deut. 30.19 that the indignation of the LORD shal root you and your posterity out of the land of the living and their blood that perish for want of teaching shal be laid to your charge and ye shal be arraigned as murderers of their souls in that great day And not only that curse shal fall upon you which was commanded to be pronounced upon Mount Hebal Deut. 27.23.18 for causing the blind to go out of the way whereunto all the people should say Amen But also that most fearful and irrevocable sentence shal be pronounced and executed upon you in that great day by the Judge of the whole earth Depart from me ye cursed in that everlasting fire of hell to be damned with the Devil and his Angels for evermore Matth. 25.41 Lay it therefore to your hearts and flatter not your selves in a carnal and vain presumption Be not cruel to your own souls and to the souls of the poor people any more otherwise ye shal most assuredly drink of the wine of the wrath of God and be casten in the great wine-fat of his wrath where there ye shal be tormented day and night Let every one of us therefore in the conscience of so great and singular mercies which the LORD hath vouchsafed upon us in such a plentiful measure Harden not our hearts while it is called to day but let us rent them and turn them unto the LORD our GOD Heb. 4.7 Joel 2.13 and let us not delay it while he calls upon us by his word and spreads out his arms unto us Otherwise if we will not but despise the day of our salvation then I protest unto you in the Name of the great GOD that he will hear the cry of our sins and will abhor us greatly as he did Israel that he shal forsake his glorious Tents and Tabernacles in this land and first give over his strength to captivitie and his glory to the hands of our enemies Psal 78.49.60.61 c. And then accounting no more of us then of the myre in the street he shal deliver us over both old and young Pastor and people to the sword of the enemie For this I dare say if he take his Kingdom from us he shal not let Scotland be a free Kingdom Matth. 21.43 as it hath been before For true is he who hath said it The Nation and Kingdom that will not serve thee shal perish and these Nations shal be utterly destroyed Esai 60.12 And if he spare not his own strength and glory I mean his glorious Gospel but deliver it over into captivity into the hands of his enemies he shal have no compassion of us but shal surrender us over to the edge of the sword to be consumed thereby and as the LORD hath been more abundant in his mercy towards us then towards any others so shal his wrath be accordingly For if other Kingdoms or Nations yea if Tyrus or Sidon Sodom or Gomorrha Matth. 11.21.22 yea if the Turks or barbarous Americans had heard the things that we have heard they would have repented long since in sackcloth and ashes and therefore our condemnation shal be heavier then any condemnation under heaven Now therefore if there be any consolation in CHRIST if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the Spirit Philip. 2.1 if any love to his glorie to his blood to his Gospel and if there be any compassion and mercy in your hearts to this poor and sinful land and his poor Church and Kingdom therein repent you of your sins reconcile you to GOD take hold of his blood wash you and cleanse you in it until ye be white and bright in his eyes Rev. 7.14 Bring him into the chambers of your hearts and make him to dwell in you Eph. 3.17 Galat. 6.14 that he may crucifie your sins and bury them in the grave with him Col 2.12.13 and may quicken and raise you up together wi●h him and may set you in those heavenly places with himself Eph. 2 5 6. And then having rooted and grounded your hearts in him Col. 2.7 and having filled your souls with the abundance of his presence bring him out first to your families and then to your tenants servants neighbors and people According to your callings instruct them rebuke them admonish them correct them and reform them and rest not till ye have set him up as a LORD and a King in their hearts or at the least till you have obtained this assurance in your consciences that ye have been so faithful and sincere in your callings that if CHRIST be hid from any to whom your callings or occasions have reached he is hid from such only as perish Now oh that the LORD would give us these hearts and so purge us that we might be thus fruitful to the praise of his glory then assuredly would he repent him of all the evil that he hath thought against us then should he have delight in us in our posterity and then these Canaanites I mean the relicks of that cursed generation of Babel the Church of Rome which is yet left unrooted out of this land to try us and tempt us if we will serve the LORD our GOD and to be pricks and thorns in our side should not bring us in bondage again but should be made tributaries to JESUS CHRIST yea our latter estat should be more glorious then the former Now let us find this favor in thy eyes O LORD our Redeemer and glorifie thy great Name among us by converting our hearts at the least the hearts of all thy children in mercy rather then by confounding and consuming of us in thy wrath and indignation For wherefore should thy enemies say Take up their GOD and their Gospel Wherefore should they O LORD our GOD blaspheme thy holy Name when they shal see thee angrie with thy own inheritance and redeemed ones Oh! turn us unto thee and put us not away from thy face and let not those that are thy enemies triumph over us Purchase thy self an everlasting Name through our conversion and repentance that the enemie and the avenger may be still and our hearts may be inlarged and our mouthes may be opened to proclaim the everlasting mercies and to shout forth thy praises Turn you unto him you that are his children and delight in his Tents You that love
and her Son unto them What horrible blasphemy is this Who can give Christ but only God the Father They say God will give them that worship her a reward here and heaven hereafter How shal I praise the redeemed by thee speaking of Mary And in the prose of the Mass they have this prayer Jure matris impera Redemptori that is By thy motherly authority command the Redeemer And as concerning her Psalteries how horrible is it to see all that David spake of the Father Son and holy Spirit to be transferred and applyed to her without exception from the beginning to the end changing only the style of the eternal Lord in the style of our Lady blaspheming Blessed is he who loves Mary fears her and praises her name who hopes in her The heavens declare thy glory and the earth and the fulness thereof Blessed are all they who love thee because thou hast washen their sins in thy mercies Have mercy on me O mother of mercy and according to the bowels of thy compassions wash me from all mine iniquities Save me for thy names sake Let Mary be lifted up and all her enemies will be scattered Lord give thy judgement to thy Son and thy mercy to the Queen his mother Lady salvation and life is in thy hand O how good is God to them that worship his mother God is the God of vengeance but thou art the Queen of mercy Come let us worship the Lady let us praise the Virgin who hath saved us let us confess our sins unto her The Lord said unto our Lady Sit here my mother on my right hand O mankind rejoyce because God hath given to thee such a Mediatrix and at the name of Mary let all knees bow in heaven in earth and in Hell This Lady Psalter was compyled by a Cardinal of Rome Bonaventure who was canonized for a Saint by Pope Sixtus the fourth anno 1470. After the same manner have they corrupted the Songs of the Prophets of Simeon and of the Virgin blaspheming after this manner My soul rejoyceth in my Lady My soul magnifie my Lady c. Now letst thou O Lord the servant of Mary depart in peace because my eyes have seen the salvation of Mary And to put an end to these abominations they ascribe unto the Virgin that which the holy Ghost hath spoken only of Jesus Christ the everlasting wisdom of his Father The Lord hath possessed me in the beginning of his way before he made any thing I was ordained from everlasting Prov. 8.22 And Pope Leo the 10. calls her Deam a Goddess Epist 17. In the General Council of Lateran in stead of praying to God through Christ for the assistance of his Spirit they crave the help and assistance of Mary Concil Lateran sub Julio 2. Leone 10. Sess 9.10 c. And Pope Pius the fifth acknowledgeth her for the victory of the Christians against the Turk in their combat which was stricken on the sea and for that victory hath ordained a yearly rememberance of her to be kept Martyrologium Rom. act 7. And Antoninus one of their Archbishops saith Hist. part 3. tit 23. cap. 3. That Christ sitting at the right hand of God the Father rose up angry to have slain all the sinners in the earth and when none was able to resist his mother came to him and pacified him till two of his servants Franciscus and Dominicus might be sent to them and that Christ answered Behold I am pacified and have accepted thy face I appeal your conscience M. Gilbert before the Lord Jesus Christ as ye must appear before him in that great day whether these speeches be not the speeches and blasphemies of the Dragon or not And whether this doctrine and Religion of yours be not idolatrous blasphemous and Antichristian or not Not only have they spoyled the Lord Jesus of his mediation intercession and of his glory due to him and mankind of their salvation purchased by his blood in ascribing it to Saints Angels and to the Virgin Mary but also in ascribing them unto their consecrat things as their holy water the tree of the Cross the sign of the Cross their golden silver and stony Crosses For unto the Cross they give the worship of Latria as themselves testifie which by their own confession is only proper to God Thomas in part 3. summae quaest 25. artic 4. Cajet in comment in illum locum Thomae Andradius in lib. 9. orthod explic And their prayer to the Cross and the sign of the Cross is to help them defend them and save them and they adore it and worship it They pray such like that the holy water may be salvation unto them and that by the sparging of the same the health of their soul the strengthening of their faith the security of their hope may be given them Unto the Images and relicks of the Saints they offer sacrifice in burning incense unto them which the Scripture calles an oblation only proper to the living God Mark 9 49. Therefore Ezechias brake the brazen serpent because they burnt incense unto it 2. Kings 18.4 And the burning of incense to Baal is counted idolatry 2. Kings 23.5 They pray for their golden silver and stony crosses that as the world was purged from the guiltiness of sin by the Cross of Christ so by the merit of this Cross these who offer it up may be forgiven of all their actual sins Pontif. Rom. part 2 tit de benedict novae crucis Careat omni peccato perpetrato Is not this to set up their stony c. Crosses in the room of the blood of Jesus Christ They ascribe to the tree of the Cross that which is only proper to God saying Salva catervam that is Give salvation to the assembly gathered together in thy praises Brevia Rom. in fest invent exalt sanctae crucis They worship their images after the same manner as the Heathens did their Idols And as the Heathens Baruc. 6.3 bure their golden silver and timber Idols upon their shoulders so do the Papists Baron nota Marti Rom. Sleidan com lib. 9. Jodoc meg peregr Hieros cap. 3. Pellic. in Baruc cap. 6. The Heathens worshipped their idols the Papists do the same in falling down before the images of Saints Conc. Trid. Sess 25. The Heathens decked their idols with vestiments as though they had been men so do the Papists with their images which some of themselves think to be an abuse and would have it abolished Molin Epist Valen. Salig Espen hist Eccles Ecclesia reform in Gallia lib. 4. They lighted candles before their idols which their idols saw not so do the Papists Erasm colloq peregrin relig ergo Polyd. Virg. de invent rer lib. 2. cap. 23. lib. 6. cap. 13. There the faces of their Gods were made black through the smoke of their incense which was burnt in their worship as it is exponed by some so do the Papists burn incense to their golden
Sabbath that we may set forth wheat c. Vers 9. I will cause the Sun to go down at noon and darken the earth in the clear day And I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs to lamentations c. And vers 11. I will send a famin in the land not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water but of hearing the Word of the Lord. And they shal wander from sea to sea and from the North even to the East they shal run to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord and shal not find it Zech. 11.8 Their soul abhorred me then said I I will not feed you that that dieth let it die Now is not the wearying despising slighting and contemning of the Ordinances of Christ so evident among us that he that runs may read it 4. A fourth sin for which the Lord threatens to give up with folk is formality and lukewarmness contenting themselves with a form of godliness without the power thereof 2. Thess 2.10.11.12 Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved and for this cause God shal send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie c. And Laodicea is threatned for her lukewarmness to be spewed out of Christs mouth Rev 3.16 Now what age or generation could ever parallel this for formality and lukewarmness in the matters of God And may we not be justly given up to the delusions of Antichrist 5 A fifth sin is unbelief and disobedience to the call of God in the Gospel Hosea 9.17 My God will cast them away because they did not hearken unto him and they shal wander among the Nations Was it not for this sin that the Lord upbraided those Cities wherein most of his mighty works were done and threatens to bring desolation on them Matth. 11.21.22.23.24 Were not the Jews cut off for their unbelief Rom. 11.20 And is there no sad evidences and symptoms of this sin every where How few are they that have received Christ by faith is endeavoring Gospel-obedience And may we not fear lest the judgement of Chorazin Capernaum and Bethsaida be ours 6. A sixth sin for which the Lord threatens to remove the Candlestick is falling from our first love Rev. 2.4 Now have we not declined not only from the love and zeal which our fathers had but also even from that love zeal and diligence in duty that once we our selves had 7. A seventh sin is stupidity and impenitency under all Gods dispensations whether of mercy or judgement Jer. 8.5.6 7. And is not this sin so manifest that he that runs may read it Who is smiting on his thigh and saying What have I done How few are noticing what God is contending for or laying their iniquities to heart Several others might be instanced but these may suffice to show us what ground of fear we may have of Gods giving us up to the delusions of Antichrist yea is he not in a great measure departed from us Hath he not sore cracked if not broken the staves of beauty and bands our unity and authority We are divided in his anger and contempt is powred upon us Is not the blessing of Ordinances much restrained How few are converted and built up by the Gospel Yea what deadness decay and withering is upon all even the Lords people And how many are content to live without God and suffer him to be gone Now lay all these together and we will see that the ground of fear is greater then is apprehended by many Therefore let us be laying the hazard of the Church and of our selves and posterity to heart and let us be stirring up our selves to deal with the Lord by mourning and repentance prayer and supplications for the turning away of his wrath and for the powring out of his vials upon Antichrist If ever there was a time wherein repentance and mourning for our sins and the sins of the Land was called for it is now For are not our sins very great And is not the cry of them come up to heaven And is not the Lord hearkning and hearing if any man will repent him 〈◊〉 the evil of his doings and say What evil have I done For he is waiting to see what we will do before he leave us altogether For he hath in a great measure left us already For are we not stricken with blindness confusion and astonishment and trembling of heart Is he not in a great measure departed from his Ordinances For is not that light darkned that life withered that strength abated that presence evanished that tenderness gone these influences withholden that sometimes were wont to be felt in Ordinances Yea is not prayer restrained and love waxed exceeding cold and hardness of heart grown universal delight in God and in his Word and in the exercises of godliness grown exceeding rare Doth not God hide his f●ce from us and answer us with terrible things in righteousness All which speak that the glory of the Lord is departed from the Temple to the threshold Let us therefore lay these things seriously to heart and break up our fallow ground and circumcise our selves to the Lord and take away the fore-skins of our hearts lest his fury break forth like fire and burn that none can quench it Jer. 4.3 For is he not crying both by his Word and dispensations Be instructed O Jerusalem O Britain lest my soul depart from thee lest I make thee desolat a land not inhabited Jer. 6 8. Repentance and Reformation is only the mean to prevent our ruine therefore let us be dealing with him who is the Prince exalted to give repentance and remission of sins for the powring out of that spirit upon the land O! if we were all about this work then there might yet be hope in Israel concerning us The Lord who is rich in mercy grant us mercy so as to be stirred up to true mourning and repentance and to be laying more seriously to heart the grounds of his contention Amen FINIS Errata Page 1. line 7. for Churches read Church p. 9. r. Rev. 14.11 p. 33. l. 19. r. Arim. p. 37. l. 30. r. Bellarmins p. 58. l. 32. r. Sacramentis p. 92. l. 23. r. imports p. 128. l. 5. r. naturis p. 151. l. 9. r. is p. 172. l. 18. r. books p. 212. l. 9. r. The eleventh p. 388. l. 7. r. if it be of works p. 393. l. 32. r. one p. 413. l. 33. r. Ephes p. 443 l. 6. r. so great and l. 13. r. King p. 481. l. 33. r. gravest p. 484. l. 10. r. persecute p. 489. l. 22. r. Protestants of integrity
the beautie of Sion and the glorious presence of his Redeemer fill your privie chambers with strong cryes and many tears Cause heaven and earth to be filled with groans and sighs of his own Spirit in you and take a claught of that Prince of life ere he remove altogether and before he have stollen himself far away that he cannot be found again And wrestle with him as Jacob did and let him not depart out of your hearts entreat him yea enforce him as it were by your tears and sorrowful cryes not to leave his own Tents and Tabernacles in this Land not to give over his glorious Gospel which is his strength and glorie into captivity in the hands of their enemies Remember that he cannot abide the intercession of his own Spirit in his own He cannot hide his eyes from his own flesh and blood he can deny nothing to his own beloved Son that makes intercession for his Saints Let us therefore step up to that Throne of grace with all confidence and assuredly as he is true who hath promised we shal find grace and mercy in the time of this our need both comfort to our own hearts and it may be peace in our dayes that our eyes shal not see the evils that are to come and at that bright appearing of our LORD of life all tears shal be wiped away from our eyes We shal be clothed with those long white robes and shal be fed with the fatness of his house and shal drink of the rivers of his pleasures which is at his right hand for evermore For Sions sake in this Land Christian Reader have I thus written unto thee and for Jerusalems cause have I not kept silence at this time that her glory and wonted brightness may be renewed that the Church of Scotland which was the beauty of Europe and the praise of the whole earth for her liberty purity and discipline might be established in the same and her salvation and righteousness might break forth as a burning lamp to all the Nations of the earth and that other Churches in other Kingdoms which desired to see our beauty and spiritual glory and accounted them blessed which might have had the occasion to have dwelt in our Tents to have seen and enjoyed the same yea who would have been content to have bought it with the price of their blood to their posteritie that they I say may see the continuance thereof and may rejoice Turn thou O LORD our GOD our hearts unto thee that thy glorious presence may be continued with us for ever for JESUS CHRIST his sake our LORD and Redeemer to whom be all praise and glory for ever and ever Amen Now I come to this matter in hand the occasion of it was this There was one who was sometimes an hearer of the word with me who shew me that he had been in conference with a Papist and he had brought him thus far that if he would show him of any that professed our Religion before Martin Luther he would renounce his Papistry and therefore desired me to set them down in writ The which I did and set it down in this form as thou seest it here So this being carried to M. Gilbert Brown he writs an answer to it and sent it to me Unto the which I have made this reply Thou hast them all three here first that which I did write then his answer to it and then my reply to his answer Indeed it is true Christian Reader that there was many things that did hinder me withdraw me from this resolution either to make any answer to it at all or yet to let it go forth to the light As first that so many things have been written already by the lights lanterns of this age against that ruinous Babel that all further cōvictions seemed to be superfluous Next the conscience of my own tenuitie and weakness together with a continual burden of a fourfold teaching every week in my ordinary charge beside others both privat and publick duties which not only my own people but also this desolat Countrey craved whereby I was let to afford that time and studie unto it as the gravity of such a matter required And last of all the consideration both of the person and work of the adversary that neither the one nor the other would be accounted worthy of any answer at all himself being both rejected and excommunicated according to the express commandment of the holy Ghost as an Heretick being perverted and damned in his own conscience and delivered over unto Satan that he might learn if it were possible not to blaspheme the everlasting truth of GOD any more Tit. 3.10.11.12 1. Cor. 5.5 1. Tim. 1.20 And also denounced his rebel for his treasonable attempts both against this Church and Kingdom his work also being so foolish in its self as both I heard his Majestie affirm that he was a foolish reasoner in it and also I hope the indifferent Reader shal see the same his reasons arguments being also so oft answered unto by the learned of our side so that it seemed but actum agere to make any further answer thereunto yet notwithstanding of all these impediments these motions and reasons prevailed with me at the last both to answer it and also to let it go forth to the open view and sight of all men to wit the conscience of that duty which I ow unto the truth of GOD being so highly blasphemed and evil spoken of the unfained love of the salvation of my Countrey-men who for the most part are blinded with the smoke of the darkness of that bottomless pit the railing and thrasonical bragging of the adversary both by word and writ that it would never be answered and that the Ministery would never suffer an answer to come to light because they knew the answer to be unworthy and none other was able to answer to it the most earnest pressing of a great many of my brethren who knew the lamentable estat of this blind Countrey the constant desire of all men in this Countrey to see the same together with his Majesties most gracious acceptation of my endeavor and most favorable judgement of this my labor and most humane counsel to publish the same which did not a little incourage me and last of all the express commandment of the holy Ghost Answer a fool according to his follie lest he seem wise in his own eyes the which if it have place in any thing it must have place here where not only this seeming wise in his own eyes would undoubtedly follow upon my silence but also a seeming wise in the eyes of all this part of the Countrey almost both to the prejudice of the everlasting truth of GOD and also to the stumbling of the weak the further obduring of the obstinat and the wounding of the hearts of the godly therein Augustin lib. de Trinitate cap. 3. lib. cont Mend. cap. 6. hath
him as by another But to what purpose do ye quote the 9. of Matthew That the Son of man hath power to forgive sins For will you say that the Ministers of the Church have that absolut authority that he had The which if ye do then are ye blasphemous As for the word Priest wherewith ye style the Ministers of the Church I know that you and your Church takes more pleasure in this style then in all the styles which the holy Ghost hath given to the Ministers of the Church in the New Testament For among the manifold styles which are given to his Ministers yet hath he never given this style of a sacrificing Priest as proper to them throughout the whole New Testament But as your office of Priesthood is not written in Christ his latter Testament so neither is your style of sacrificing Priests contained in the same But new offices must have new styles SECTION XIV Of Extreme Vnction and whither it be a Sacrament Master Gilbert Brown SIxthly our doctrine is to make the Priests of the Church to anoint the sick with oyl in the Name of our Lord and to pray over him because it is the doctrine of the Apostles as we have in S. James in these words Is any sick among you let him bring in the Priests of the Church and let them pray over him anointing him with oyl in the Name of our Lord and the prayer of faith shal save the sick and our Lord shal lift him up and if he be in sins they shal be remitted him * James 4.15 August tom 4. super Levit. quaest 84. And because we find here an external form which is the anointing with oyl of an internal grace which is remission of sins therefore we say it is a Sacrament Now take from these places the vain subterfuges of our new men that will have him a Mediciner for the body in this and not for the soul the matter will be plain of it self M. John Welsch his Reply As to your doctrine of anointing of the sick with oyl and that not by every man but by a Priest not in all sicknesses but in the extremity of death not with every oyl but with oyl consecrated by the Bishop which Bellarmin makes essential to this Sacrament cap. 7. de extr unctione and that not all the parts and members of the body but the five organs of the senses and the reins and feet and that by this form of words Let God forgive thee whatsoever thou hast sinned by the sight hearing smelling c. by this holy unction and his most godly mercy The which you will have to have two effects The one the health of the body if it be expedient for the soul the other remission of the relicks of sins that remains and this ye make to be one of your Sacraments And for this purpose ye only bring one testimony of Scripture So that all the show of warrant you can pick out of the Scripture is this only place of James For I suppose with Bellarmin and sundry others you have seen that that place of Mark 6.13 which is also alledged by the Council of Trent for the confirmation of this doctrine would carry no show to make any thing for you and therefore it may be you have omitted it But this place serves nothing for your purpose For first I say this was a ceremonie annexed to the miraculous gift of healing as is plain both by the text using the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Lord will lift him up which is properly spoken of the health of the bodie and also by that place of Mark 6.13 where it is written that the Apostles anointed many sick with oyl and they healed them The which gift was not only given to the Apostles but also to the very Churches as is plain of the 1. Corinth 12. Unto another is given the gift of healing c. Now seeing this extraordinary gift is ceased in the Church of God wherefore will you superstitiously use the ceremonie So either avow M. Gilbert that your Priests have this miraculous gift of healing which I suppose ye will not or else leave off the ceremonie Secondly by this argument ye may as wel make all the rest of the ceremonies which our Savior and his Apostles Peter and Paul and the believers in the primitive Church used toward the sick blind lame and dead Sacraments As the laying on of hands Mark 16.18 which had both a command and a promise joyned with it anointing of the eyes of the blind with clay John 9.6 washing in the pool of Siloam c. John 5. Mat. 9.29 Acts 3.6 20.10 For why should not their examples be as well followed as the example of the Elders of the primitive Church And seeing you use not these ceremonies because ye want the miraculous gift which was joyned with them why do ye use this ceremonie superstitiously seeing ye want this gift also Thirdly I say this place can make nothing for your doctrine for this place saith Call the Elders of the Church and let them c. but you call for a sacrificing Priest This text saith in the plural number Call for the Elders your doctrine saith one Priest is sufficient This place speaks of oyl not mentioning a syllable of consecration blessing of it by the Bishop and that nine-fold salutation that ye give unto it Hail O holy oyl with the bowing of the knee and other ceremonies There is not a syllable in this nor in any other Scripture that speaks of these things and yet your doctrine will have all these ceremonies This place saith And the prayer of faith shal save the sick and you attribut it to the ointment This place puts no difference of sickness but your doctrine is that none be anointed but he who is lying in the bed and at the point of death This place only specifieth the anointing of the sick some of you reckons as the Council of Florentine seven parts some the five senses as necessary And therefore this moved Thomas of Aquin lib. 4. sent 4. dist 23. quaest to say That the form of this Sacrament is not extant in the Scripture Now if it be not extant in the Scripture what to do have we with it seeing the Scripture is able to make a man wise unto salvation and to make the man of God perfect in every good work Fourthly Beda Ecumenius and Theophylactus in their Commentaries upon these places and Thomas Waldensis lib. 2. de sacr Alphonsus de Castro de haeresibus two archpapists affirms that in the 6. of Mark 5. of James the self-same unction and anointing is meaned But Bellarmin de extr unct Jansenius in Marc. 6. two other Papists affirms and proves by firm reasons that that anointing in Mark is no Sacrament therefore neither is this anointing in James a Sacrament seeing as said is in both the places the self-same unction is meaned Fifthly I say all the
Church for calling the marriage of infidels a Sacrament For as we deny marriage to be a Sacrament at all properly so doth your Church deny the marriage of infidels to be a Sacrament properly But to let this pass I say because I will not deceive the Reader as ye do with appearances of contradictions through the ambiguity of the words Alphonsus de Castro lib. contra haeres verbo nuptiae haeres 3. Petrus a Soto lectio 2. de matrimonio two of your Doctors and sundry others say That marriage is not a proper Sacrament of the New Testament And yet the Council of Florence and Trent and sundry others of your Church say the contrary 2. Durandus a great Doctor of your Church saith in 4. dist 26. quaest 3. That marriage is not a Sacrament properly 3. Some of your Church held that carnal copulation in marriage is a part of the Sacrament some the contrary that it is neither a Sacrament nor a part of the Sacrament so Bellarmin testifies lib. 1. de sacram matrim c. 5. pag. 88. 4. Durandus and your Canonists hold That the Sacrament of marriage doth not confer grace unto them that receive it And yet our common doctrine is contrary this as Bellarmin grants ibidem Last of all Canus a learned Papist affirms That every marriage lawfully contracted among Christians is not a Sacrament but only that which is made by the Minister in a certain form of words the which Bellarmin and sundry others deny And you are of great diversity concerning the matter of that Sacrament among your selves These are not now shows of disorders and contradictions but they are so true and manifest that Bellarmin your chief campion hath confessed them de sacram matrim lib. 1. Judge thou now Christian Reader whither is it we or they that is at variance among our selves And this for the ninth point of your doctrine SECTION XVII Concerning Merit of Good Works M. Gilbert Brown ELeventhly our doctrine is that a man in the estat of grace doing good works merits or deserves a reward which is the doctrine of the Prophets Christ and his Apostles as may be perceived in these places and many the like a Gen. 15.1 2. Kings 15.7 Eccles 16.15 and 10.31 Psal 118.112 Prov. 11.18 Sap. 5.16 and ●10 17 Isai 3.10 Jer. 31.16 Fear not Abraham saith God I am thy protector and thy exceeding great reward In another place Therefore be ye of comfort and let not your hands be dissolved there shal be a reward for your work And in the Book Ecclesiasticus All mercy shal make place to every one according to the merit of his works With many more in the Old Testament then I am able to let down here But some of them I have noted And our Savior saith b Matth. 5.12 John 5.29 Matth. 10.42 and 16.1 and 16.27 and 25.34 and 20. Mark 9.41 Luke 6.35 Rejoyce and be glad for your reward is great in heaven And again They that have done good things shal come forth to the resurrection of life but they that have done evil to the resurrection of judgement And whosoever shal give drink to one of these little ones one cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple truly I say unto you he shal not lose his reward And c 1. Cor. 3.8.14 and 9.17.18 Eph. 6.8 S Paul saith Every one shal receive his own reward according to his labor And d 2. John 8. Rev. 22.12 S John saith Look to your selves that ye lose not the things which ye have wrought but that ye may receive a full reward And in his Revelation Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to render to every man according to his works With many more the like in the Word of God What can our new men say against this doctrine of Christ his Apostles and Prophets seeing that there is no reward without merit because merces and meritum have relation together For there is no reward promised in the Word of God but for doing and working And albeit God hath promised to reward all our good deeds yet this promise is not without a cause that is to them that will labor and work and to do according to his will For he hath promised no reward to them that will not work but to such as deserves the same by their doings as I have noted before in the book called Ecclesiasticus the 16. chapter Maister John Welsch his Reply As for your doctrine of merits of works wherein you say That a man in the estat of grace doth merit eternal life and glory and that as well in respect of the work it self as of the covenant and promise made unto it So Bellarmin lib. 5. de justific cap. 17. yea that the works are in vertue equal and of as great valor as the reward of eternal life is so that there is an equal proportion between the works and eternal life And there are some of your Church and those of the learned among you who have gone further and affirm That the good works of the righteous merits life eternal in respect of the worthiness and excellency of the work it self suppose the Lord had never made a promise or covenant as Cajetanus a Cardinal and Dominicus à Soto as Bellarmin reports of them lib. 5. de justif cap. 19. And M. Reynold saith pag. 105. That good works and evil are laid in different ballance that good works are the cause of heaven as evil works are the cause of hell And Andreas Vega saith in 5 quaest de justific That the reward of glory shal not be greater then our good works have deserved What blasphemy is this your doctrine And surely if in any one point of your doctrine you show your selves to be men who not only knows not the holiness of God the unspeakableness of that other life the perfection and infinit vertue of Christs merits the perfection of his Law and mans infirmity and weakness especially you manifest it in this point For if ye knew any of these things ye would never profess such damnable doctrine For that our works may merit eternal life as ye say and that not only in respect of the covenant but in respect of the work it self there are five things required 1. That the work be perfect according to that measure of perfection which the Law of God requires and the whole Law must be fulfilled and that perfectly and continually 2. The works must not be debt that is such works as we are bound before to do For the paying of that duty which we ow already cannot merit properly a reward For will you say that for the paying of that which you ow already you deserve a reward 3. There must be a proportion and equality between the work wrought and the reward it self For if the work be less and the reward greater then that which is more then the work is not of merit but of liberality 4.