the bookes de Sacramentis was wont to say thus If there bee so great force in the speech of our Lord Iesus that the things which were not began to be how much more operatiue is it that things still be what they were and yet bee changed into another things But now because that clause that things still bee what they were make sore against Transubstantiation in the Roman Edition and that of Paris an 1603. that clause is cleane left out and S. Ambrose must no longer say so S. Chrysostom or the Author of the imperfect worke vpoÌ„ Mathew was wont to haue these words If it be so dangerous to transferre vnto private vses those holy vessels in which the true body of Christ is not but the mystery of his body is contained how much more c. But what is become of them now In the edition printed at Antwerp by Ioannes Steelsius anno 1537. at Paris by Ioannes Roigny 1543. and by Audoenus Parvus 1557. not a syllable of those words in which the true body of Christ is not but the mystery of his body is contained appeares Why Because they make so strongly against your Reall Presence So likewise where he vsed in the elder impressions to say the sacrifice of bread and wine now in these latter editions hee is forced to change his language and to say the sacrifice of the body and bloud of Christ. More examples I might easily produce but these are sufficient to shew that Vincentius Lirinensis had good reason when hee gaue this Caveat But neither alwaies nor all kind of heresies are to bee impugned after this manner but such only as are new and late when they first arise while by straightnesse of time it selfe they be hindred from falsifying the rules of the ancient Faith and before that their poison spreading farther they attempt to corrupt the writings of the Ancient But farre spread and inveterate heresies are not to be set on this way forasmuch as by long continuance of time a long occasion hath layne open vnto them to steale away the truth But returne we againe to the matter from which we haue a little digrest The Fathers say you differed not in points essentiall True Neither doe we as is aboue shewed yet by your leaue their differences were not alwaies in petty matters vnlesse Rebaptization Communicating of infants the Popes vniversall iurisdiction and the like bee of small consequence with you Their differences were not so bitter as ours No were When they proceeded not only to curse one another but to fire bloudshed and banishment also And when casting off the rule of pietie they did nothing but increase strife threats envy and quaâ—rels every man with all tyranny pursuing his ambition whereby as S. Basil saith the Church of God was vnmercifully drawne in sunder and his flock troubled without all care or pittie Lastly say you they differed in matters vndecided by a generall Councell What then No danger No danger Then belike a man may safely beleeue all he lists before a Councell determine it The very high way to Atheisme For so the very Articles of the Creed during the first three hundred yeares after Christ should be but disputable points and not necessary For vntill Constantine the great there were no generall Councels By the same reason your Adoration of Images was no matter of Faith till the second Councel of Nice about 800 yeares after Christ nor Transubstantiation till the Councell of Lateran some 1200 yeares nor Merit nor Iustification by workes nor the most of your Tenents till the Trent Councell aboue foureteene hundred yeares after Christ. If they were I require you to shew what generall Councell had before determined them If you cannot then are you but novellers and hold not the ancient Faith The truth is Councells cannot make that an Article which was not but whether they decree or not decree whatsoever God affirmeth in his word as soone as it commeth to our knowledge is absolutely and vpon paine of damnation to be beleeued And it is horrible sacriledge and impiety to thinke that it is not necessary to beleeue God vnlesse a Councell of the Pope say Amen vnto it Yea but say you we nor haue nor can haue generall Councels No more can you nor any Church in Christendome without the generall consent of Christian Princes Synods of our owne Churches we may haue and haue had by the indulgence of our Princes More then this you cannot haue For you are but a handful of the Christian world and the greatest part thereof neither is nor will bee subject vnto you When you can get the Greek Church and that in Prester Iohns countrey with the Armenians and others to submit themselues vnto the Popes omnipotent and vbiquitaâ—y power then may you peradventure haue hope to call a generall Councell But that I think will be at the Greek Kalends that is in plaine English at Nevermasse Howsoever say you if you may not relie on the Fathers because of their differences neither may you on vs because of ours If this be a sound reason as I confesse it is neither may you rely on the Church of Rome because of theirs But you mistake the matter much if you thinke wee require men to relie on our bare authoritie That privilege belongs vnto Christ only and vnder him to those holy Pen-men of the Bible that wrote by inspiration To vs appertaineth to proue what we say by their authoritie and when wee haue so done to require assent and not before If Scripture and sound deduction from it according to the art of reasoning together with the proofe of the sense thereof by the circumstances of the place and the analogie of Faith will not moue you we can but pittie your wilfulnesse and leaue you vnto God till he turne your heart and haue mercy vpon you For certainely miserable is the case of that man who knowing the Scriptures to be Gods word and hauing the vse of right reason shall refuse triall both by the one and the other preferring therevnto the authoritie of man which may erre it selfe and lead others into errour N. N. Your conclusion is you meane not to forsake the religion taught in that Church which is descended from Christ and his Apostles by succession but with Litinensis to preferre it before all things That you will follow vniversality Antiquitie and consent in your beleefe that faith which hath beene held from time to time in all places in all seasons by all or the most Doctors of Christianity That Church which as S. Augustine saith had her beginning by the entring of nations got authority by miracles was increased by charity and established by continuance and hath had succession from S. Peters chaire to our time That church which is knowne by the name of Catholike both to friends and foes even Heretikes tearming her so calling themselues for distinctions sake Reformers Illuminates Vnspotted brethren In
good and Cicero saith that vnhonest men may be callidi ve◠suti subtle and crafty but Prudentes wise they can never bee The reason is evident because whatsoever is not just is not profitable nay nothing is more vnprofitable then to be hurtfully wise insomuch as Socrates seems to haue iust cause when he cursed him who first distinguished betweene profitable and honest Now to bee wise without innocence is very hurtfull vnto publike states for it overthrowes the society of man if one man may aduantage himselfe by the harme of another For as in the fable of Menenius Agrippa the whole body soone perished when the rest of the members to ease themselues wronged the belly so the whole common-wealth will quickly be dissolued if men may be wise for themselues only and hurtfull vnto others Neither is such wisdome hurtfull only to the publike but also to a mans owne selfe For sinne being the only evill that can hurt a man hee hurts himselfe most who to decline a little evill of paine or losse or disgrace commits an evill against his owne soule Whereby first hee looseth the peace of his conscience which is the happinesse of a man yea his heauen vpon earth For the iust man is as bold as a lyon and a good conscience is a continuall feast saith Salomon Nay Epicurus himselfe who placeth the chiefest blessednesse of a man in pleasure confesseth that a man cannot liue comfortably vnles he liue innocently For as oyle preserueth the light of the lampe so doth innocence maintaine peace and ioy in the conscience Againe as by sinne the peace of conscience is lost so it worketh confusion of face in the day of judgement when men shall bee judged not by their worldly wisdome but according to their innocence Oh how many will there at that day cry out with Cicero O me nunquam sapientem aliquando id quod non eram falso existimatum aye me that indeede was never wise but falsely thought to be what I was not And with those in the booke of Wisdome We fooles thought his life madnesse and his end without honor How is hee counted among the children of God and his portion is among the Saints But the innocent heart shall then lift vp a chearfull countenance as knowing that though here it were despised yet there it shall be iustified and rewarded with a crowne of glory O innocence innocence had I the tongue both of men and Angells yet were I not able sufficiently to extoll thee The man that possesseth thee nothing can hurt he is every where secure If he be tempted it maketh for his advantage if he bee humbled it is for his advancement if he fight he conquereth if he be slaine hee is crowned In bondage hee is free in danger safe in tribulation ioyfull the righteous loue him the vnrighteous in their conscience cannot but approue him and God himselfe highly esteemeth of him Alas alas that among men innocence should so little be regarded Every man desireth to haue all other things good a good house good land a good wife good apparell a good horse every thing good but a good and an innocent soule who desireth to haue I cannot but wonder wherein man hath so highly offended his owne selfe that he should thus wish all the things about him to be good and himselfe only to be evill Perhaps thou wilt say if I may be wise for my selfe no farther then innocence will giue me leaue I shall bee a right innocent indeede liuing but a poore life and nothing set by of any Nought set by of any What not of God not of his holy angells not of his blessed Saints and children For as for wicked men their honouring doth but avile and abase vs. And what talkest thou of a poore life Is not innocencie it selfe great riches If thy chest bee full of treasure thou countest thy selfe rich and canst thou be poore if thy heart be full of innocence Haue theeues and robbers and evill men store of wealth and hath hee no riches in store for thee Yes he hath already bestowed vpon thee the treasures of sanctifying graces and reserueth for thee immortality and glory and eternall life O the blessednesse of that man who is both wise and innocent But where shall a man finde such a Serpent-Doue such a wise innocent If a man should light a candle with Diogenes and narrowly search every corner of the World for him I thinke he should hardly finde any but must be faine to cry out with the Prophet David Helpe Lord for there is not a good man left Of wise and deepe Machiavillians I suppose he may readily finde more then a good many such as subordinate religion vnto policy holding that rule in Seneca Pietas honestas pudor privata bona sunt Reges quâ licet eant piety honesty modesty are the vertues of private men Princes may doe what they list vbi tantum honesta dominantilicent Precario regnatur hee is not an absolute King but raigneth at anothers pleasure who may doe nothing but what is honest and that of Lewis the 11. Qui nescit dissimulare nescit regnane hee hath not the feat of gouerning that cannot discemble These how wise soever they seeme in their own conceits are the veriest fooles in the world they say that all state-policy is built vpon pretence of religion and yet saying it is but a pretence they confesse they build but on a sandy foundation The scripture brandeth them for very fooles Dixit insipiens c. hee is but a foole that saith in his heart there is no good O miseros homines saith Saint Augustine qui cum voluntesse mali nolnut esse veritatem quâ damnantur mali Wretched men who resoluing to be evill would not there should bee a truth to condemne the evill Among these great pollititians who hauing no religion in them yet carefully take it on them our superpoliticke Iesuits may beare the bell Who more pious in shew Who more mischievous in practise Even in their doctrine vnder the title of Catholike faith they teach Treasons and murthers and lying and periuring equivocations making way to the fulfilling of Christs prophecie that in the latter time nor faith nor truth should be found on earth Vnto these wise hypocrites and all others who care more for semblance then substance in religion giue me leaue to say with S◠Chrysostome O hypocrite if it be good to be good why wilt thou seeme to bee that which thou wilt not be If it be evill to be evill why wilt thou bee that which thou wilt not seeme to be If it bee good to seeme to be good it is better to be so if it be evill to seeme to be evill it is worse to be so wherefore either seeme as thou art or be as thou seemest to be But let vs come home to our selues and apply this doctrine a little more closely and particularly That you my Lords are wise as Serpents
cause to bee confident vpon them then your selues but only to vindicate the honour and dignity of the Scriptures which of your side are too basely sleighted and neglected And as touching this particular place of Saint Augustine notwithstanding all the flourish you make therewith yet shall you never be able to proue what you intend thereby as I come now to demonstrate This booke de vtilitate credendi I haue now twice for your sake throughly read ouer and with the best attention I could In it I find the authority of the Catholik Church made the first motiue or meanes vnto Faith by which we doe beleeue but not the first principle and reason of faith for which wee doe beleeue The occasion of writing it was this Saint Augustine hauing lately through Gods grace escaped out of the toiles of the Manichean Heretiks in which for the space of nine yeares hee had beene entangled is very desirous to recouer from them his friend Honoratus also as yet continuing in his error and held fast by them This he doubteth not through the same grace of God soone to effect may hee but find him duly prepared and disposed For vntill hee be wrought from his hereticall pertinacy and stifnesse vnto a more Christian moderation and equability he shall with all his arguments but wash a bricke as they say and spend his oile and labour to little purpose That which made him so vntoward and hard to be wrought vpon was the faire and plausible insinuation of the Manichees that they pressed no man to beleeue vntill they had first cleared and manifested the truth whereas others terrified men with superstition and commanded Faith before they tendred any reason vnto them Wherefore to remoue this preiudice and to frame him vnto a more indifferent temper he employeth in this booke all his strength and skill labouring to demonstrate the Vtility of beleeuing and how requisite it is to yeeld to authority before with pure minds we can discerne the truth And this is the only drift and scope he aimeth at in this booke neither medleth hee therein with any of the Manichean heresies but reserueth the confutation conviction of them vntill some other time as appeareth by the very closing vp thereof where he willeth Honoratus to remember that he hath not yet begunne to refute the Manichees nor to seâ— himselfe against those toies nor hath opened any great matter touching Catholike Doctrine Whence thus I argue If S. Augustin in this booke dispute against Honoratus from the Churches authority as the last resolution of Faith then hath he opened therein the greatest point of Christian religion and confuted thereby the Manichean heresie inasmuch as the Catholike Church vtterly condemned it But S. Augustin in expresse words affirmeth that he hath not so much as begun to refute the Manichees nor opened any great matter touching Catholike doctrine Therefore he disputeth not from the Churches authority as the last resolution of Faith True it is he is much in commending authority setting forth the benefit of beleeving it But what authority What beleeuing that authority which is grounded vpon the Generall opinion fame and consent of people nations that Beleeuing which is Morall and only prepares the minde to divine illumination If so then certainly cannot St Augustins authoritie be the last Principle of Faith For this is infallibile and absolutelie necessarie as well to the wise as vnwise that but an vncertaine step or staire to raise vs vp vnto God not necessarie to them that are wise What then is it in S. Augustins iudgment Surely the first inducement or Introduction to the search of divine Mysteries For saith he it is authoritie only which moueth fooles to hasten vnto wisdome And againe to a man that is not able to discerne the truth that he may be made fit for it and suffer himselfe to be purged authority is at hand Had hee thought it to be more then so he would never haue considered it without certainty of truth Yet so doth hee even in the passage by you alledged They saith hee that know the Church affirme her to be more sincere in truth then other sects but touching her truth is another question In a word as in other arts and sciences He that will learne must beleeue his teachers so in these heavenly mysteries also would Saint Augustine haue all those that are not initiated such as his friend Honoratus was to beginne with Authority Not that it is a sufficient warranty for whatsoever we learne but for that it is the readiest and likeliest way to bring vs vnto learning N. N. Thus Saint Augustine teaching his friend how he might both know and beleeue the Catholike Church and all that she taught simply and without asking reason or proofe And as for knowing or discerning her from all other Churches that may pretend to be Catholike wee heare his marks that shee is more eminent vniversall greater in number and in possession of the name Catholike The second that shee may be beleeued securely and cannot deceiue nor bee deceiued in matters of Faith he proueth elsewhere concluding finally in this place If thou doest seeme to thy selfe now saith Augustine to haue beene sufficiently tossed vp downe among Sectaries and wouldst put an end to these labours and turmoiles follow the way of Catholike discipline which hath flowne downe vnto vs from Christ by his Apostles and is to flow from vs to our posterity I. D. Out of that passage of St Augustine you obserue two things first what be the Marks by which the Catholike Church may be discerned secondly that shee may be beleeued securely as one that can neither deceiue nor he deceiued As touching the former you say Saint Augustines Markes are these foure Eminence Vniversality Multitude and Possession of the name Catholike Wherevnto I answere first that Saint Augustine maketh none of these things Notes of the Church For three of them namely Eminencie Vniversality and Possession of the name Catholike he doth not at all mention Eminencie I confesse is foisted into your translation but no where appeares in the Originall Of the fourth to wit Multitude all that he affirmeth is this that in his time there were more Christians then of any other religion and that among all Sects of Christians there was one Church consisting of a greater number then all the rest which is not enough to establish it for a marke of the Church Where by the way giue me leaue to demand why whereas Saint Augustine saith Christians are more then Iewes and worshippers of Images put together you render it the Iewes and Gentiles put together For what the reason should bee I cannot conceiue vnlesse it be the same for which you raze out of your Catechismes the second Commandement But I answere secondly that as St Augustine maketh none of them Marks so neither are they Markes for Proper they are not nor Perpetuall and
in these westerne parts of the kingdome he hath not left his equall neither doe I speake any thing to amplifie by way of Rhetorick I speake lesse then the truth His morall wisdome appeared in the checking of his appetite by temperance and sobrietie free he was in the lawfull vse of Gods creatures but neuer excessiue nor euer could be drawne to it either by example or perswasion which in a constitution so crazie was no doubt vnder God a speciall meanes for the drawing out the thread of his life in his carriage he was graue yet sociable enough courteous yet without affectation or vaine complement a sure friend to the vtmost of his power where he professed it yet without flatterie His ciuill wisdome appeared in the gouernment of his parrish and his family in the education of his Children and the Children of his freinds vpon speciall request committed to his charge in his owne matches and the matches of his daughters and lastly in the preseruing managing and disposing of that estate which God lent him in an orderly manner His spirituall or diuine wisdome appeared in his great knowledge in the sacred scripture in which with Timothy he was trained vp from a Child and as another Apollos grew mighty in them whereunto he added the helpe of the best Interpreters both ancient and moderne the serious study of the Fathers the schoole-diuines the Ecclesiasticall story and the controuersies of the present times aswell with the Romanists as among our selues that in matters not only of Doctrine but discipline in all which he was so well studied and vpon all fitting occasions so willing and ready either by writing or speech to expresse himselfe as many and those not vnlearned Divines were content nay glad to draw water from his well and to light their candles at his torch nay some of his aduersaries in his life time haue in open pulpit since his death to Gods glory their owne comfort and his honour confessed as much But the highest point of his spirituall wisdome appeared in the practise of piety in a due conformitie of his actions to his speculation drawing out as it were a faire coppy in the course of his life of those wholesome lessons which he found in his bookes formed in his braine and taught to others And herein indeede doe I take the very marrow and pith of spirituall wisdome to consist in the possession and fruition of supernaturall truths according to that of the great Earle of Mirandula Veritatem Philosophia quaerit Theologia inuenit religio possidet Philosophy seekes the truth Diuinity finds it but religion possesseth it Religion I say which bindes vs to the performance of our duties to God and man One maine branch of this duty and effect of this wisdome was his Teaching He taught euery where euery way by his example by his pen but specially by his tongue by his tongue both priuately and publiquely publiquely by expounding by catechizing by preaching in which he was so diligent that since his entring into the Ministery which he often professed to be his greatest honour and comfort in this world he waded through the whole body of the Bible from the beginning of Genesis to the end of the reuelation And as he was thus diligent in teaching so was he constant in his course as long as his health and strength would giue him leaue and I may truly say beyond his strength resoluing with that vncle of his no lesse good then great that a General should die in the feild a Preacher in the pulpit The manner of his teaching was not by loud vociferation or ridiculous gesticulation or ostentation of wit or affectation of words but in the euident demonstration of the spirit and power it was demonstratiue masculine and mighty through God to the pulling downe of strong holds deepe it was and yet cleare rationall and yet diuine perspicuous yet punctuall artificial yet profitable calme yet peircing pōderous yet familiar so as the ablest of his hearers might alwayes learne somewhat yet the simplest vnderstand all which was a rare mixture and in this mixture hee ran a middle moderate course most agreeable to the Canons constitutiōs of that Church in which hee was borne and bred betwixt the apish superstition of some and the peevish singularity of others betwixt blind deuotion and ouer-bold presumption betwixt vnreasonable obedience and vnwarrantable disconformitie betwixt popish tyranny grounded vpon carnall policie and popular confusion guided by meere fancie the one labouring for an vsurped Monarchy and to turne all the body into head the other for a lawlesse anarchy and to haue a body without a head Now though in his teaching he ranne this middle course yet did it alwayes aime not only at the information of the iudgment but the reformation of the will the beating downe of impiety and the convincing of the conscience to the drawing of his hearers as from ignorance to knowledge and from errour to truth so likewise thereby from rebellion to obedience from prophanenesse to religion And truely I little doubt but many a good soule now a Saint in heauen did they vnderstand our actions and desires and withall could make knowne their conceits to vs would soone giue vs to vnderstand that vnder God he was the instrument for the turning of them to righteousnesse and so for the directing and conducting of them to that place of their blisse and as little doubt I but many a good soule who heares me this day in secret and in silence blesseth God and the memory of this good man for that spirituall knowledge and comfort which they haue receaued by his Ministery once I am sure that a vertuous Gentlewoman of good note and ranke hath since his death by her letters written with her owne hand to some of his neerest freinds testified her turning to righteousnesse to haue beene first wrought by his meanes and noe question but many others might as iustly and truly doe the like were they so disposed or occasion required it This was the course of his life here now for the manner of his departure hence when his last sicknesse first seazed on him he accounted himselfe noe man of this world when he was in his best health though as a pilgrime he walked in it yet as a souldier he neuer warred after it but now being thus arested and imprisoned he professed to his friends who came to visite him holding vp his hands to heauen that though his body was here yet his heart was aboue and consequently his treasure for where a mans treasure is there will his heart be also He likewise assured vs that though he saw death approaching yet he feared it not death being now but a droane the sting thereof taken out during his sicknes he made his household his congregation his chamber his chappell and his bed his pulpit from whence he cast forth many hloy and heauenly eiaculations and made a most diuine confession
of his faith not onely to the satisfaction and instruction but admiration of his hearers Among the rest two things there were which he much and often insisted vpon the one that he hoped onely to be saued by the merits of Iesus Christ the other that he constantly perseuered in the faith and religion professed and maintained in the Church of England in which he was borne baptized and bred and this he many times and earnestly protested in a very serious and solemne manner pawning his soule vpon the truth thereof His glasse being now almost runne and the houre of his dissolution drawing on though his memorie and senses no way failed him he desired to be absolued after the manner prescribed by our Church and according to his desire hauing first made a briefe confession therevpon expressing a hearty contrition together with an assurance of remission by the pretious bloud of his deare Sauiour he receiued absolution froÌ„ the mouth of a lawfull minister having receiued it professed that he found great ease coÌ„fort therein withall that he was desirous likewise to haue receiued the blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist if the state of his body would haue permitted him not long after imagining with himselfe that he heard some sweete Musike calling vpoÌ„ Christ Sweet Iesus kill me that I may liue with thee he sweetly fell asleepe in the Lord as did the Protomartyr who ready to yeeld vp the Ghost prayed and said Lord Iesus receiue my spirit Thus he liued and thus he dyed neere approaching the great climactericall of his age And by this time I am sure you find and feele with me that we haue all a great losse in the losse of this one man His flocke hath lost a faithfull pastor his wife a louing husband his children a tender father his seruants a good master his neighbours a freindly neighbour his freinds a trusty freind his kindred a deare kinsman this whole countrey a great ornament The king hath lost a loyall subject the kingdome a true-hearted Englishman the Cleargy a principall light the Church a dutifull sonne the Arts a zealous Patron and religion a stout Champion we haue all lost onely he hath gotten by our losse he hath made a happy exchange instead of his congregation singing of Psalmes with them here he is now ioyned to the congregation of the first borne whose names are written in heauen with whom he beares a part in the euerlasting Halleluiahs instead of the Church militant he is inrooled in the Church trivmphant hauing his palme in his hand in token of victory instead of his freinds and kinsfolke here he is become the companion of the blessed Saints and glorious Angels instead of his wife and Children and lands and goods and attendants here he now enioyes the blisfull vision of the face of God and the full fruition of Iesus Christ by meanes whereof no doubt he shines as the brightnesse of the firmament nay as the brightest starre in the firmament and â—o shall shine for euer and euer Sic mihi contingat viuere sicque mori God graunt we may so liue as with him we may dye comfortably and so dye as with him we may liue againe shine in glory euerlastingly Who so is wise will ponder these things and they shall vnderstand the loving kindnesse of the Lord Consider then what I haue said the Lord giue you vnderstanding in all things SACRAE TRINITATI GLORIA This Sermon being presented to the veiw of the Right Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop of Exeter together with the Authors purpose of publishing these ensuing workes of his deceased friend it pleased his Lordship to returne this following answere which together with the Sermon may serue in part to let the world know his great worth though in a manner buried in obscurity Worthy Mr Dr Hakewill I Doe heartily congratulate to my dead friend and Colleagian this your so iust and noble a commemoration It is much that you haue said but in this subiect no whit more then enough I can second every word of your prayses and can hardly restraine my hand from an additionall repetition How much ingenuity how much learning and worth how much sweetnesse of conversation how much elegance of expression how much integrity and holinesse haue we lost in that man No man euer knew him but must needs say that one of the brightest Starres in our West is now set The excellent parts that were in him were a fit instance for that your learnedly defended position of the vigour of this last age wherevnto he gaue his accurate and witty astipulation I doe much reioyce yet to heare that we shall be beholden to you for some mitigation of the sorrow of his losse by preseruing aliue some of the post-hume issue of that gracious and exquisite brayne which when the world shall see they will marvell that such excellencies could lye so close and shall confesse them as much past value as recovery Besides those skillfull and rare peeces of Divinity tracts and Sermons I hope for my old loue to those studies we shall see abroad some excellent monuments of his Latine Poesie in which faculty I dare boldly say few if any in our age exceeded him In his Polemicall discourses some whereof I haue by me how easie is it for any judicious Reader to obserue the true Genius of his renowned Vncle Bishop Iewell such smoothnesse of style such sharpnesse of witt such interspersions of well-applyed reading such graue and holy vrbanity shortly for I well foresaw how apt my Pen would bee to runne after you in this pleasing track of so well deserued praise these workes shall be as the Cloake which our Prophet left behind him in his rapture into heauen What remaines but that we should looke vp after him in a care and indeauour of readinesse for our day and earnestly pray to our God that as he hath pleased to fetch him away in the Chariot of Death so that he will double his spirit on those he hath thought good to leaue yet below In the meane time I thanke you for the favour of this your graue seasonable and worthy Sermon which I desire may be prefixed as a meet preface to the published Labours of this happy Author Exon Palace Mar. 22. 1631. Fare-well from your loving friend and fellow-labourer Ios. Exon. TWO TREATISES 1 Concerning the force and efficacy of reading 2 Christs prayer for his Church OXFORD Printed by I.L. for E. F. 1633. ACT. 15.21 For Moses of old time hath in every Citty them that Preach him being read in the Synagogues every Sabbath day OMitting for the present whatsoeuer else might profitably be observed out of these words I will at this time only inquire these three things The first whether preaching in this place be distinguished from Reading The second whether Reading be a kind of Preaching The third whether reading be an ordinary meanes to beget Faith and convert a soule
evills that befall them vnto the godly as in old time the gentiles did to the Christians and nowadaies Papists doe to Protestants ingratitude in requiting the much good they enioy by them with nothing else but hatred and persecution Well doth Solomon confound Fooles and Wicked for were not wicked men meere fooles they would neuer thus malice their best friends nor seeke to destroy them by whom themselues are preserved from destruction For certainly will they nill they sapiens est stulti redemptio the wise man is the fooles ransome as saith Philo and iust men are the pillers of the house the brazen walls of a country the charets and horsemen of a nation without whom the world is but a stage of vanity a cage of vncleane birds cannot long subsist Wherefore although to our griefe we see wicked men too thicke sowne among vs yet because so many good men are mingled with them let vs reioyce and be glad giue God hearty thankes for them hoping that while they continue with vs Gods blessing shall continue vpon vs also And when it shall please him to translate any of them from hence let vs solicite him with our devoutest prayers vt vno avulso suppullulet alter Aureus simili frondescat virga metallo the one branch being pluckt off another golden one may grow vp in the place thereof for the perpetuation of his favours towards vs. Secondly doth God in executing iudgement distinguish betweene good and bad sparing the one and punishing the other here is a right precedent for you my Lords and other iudges and rulers of the land to imitate Yee are in scripture stiled Gods and in this principally are yee to resemble God Ye are carefully to separate betwixt the pretious and the vile not so as to iustifie the wicked and to condemne the innocent for both are an abomination to the Lord saith Solomon but to punish the evill doers and to praise them that doe well for to this end are ye sent as St Peter saith There is no greater cause either of apostasie in the Church or of sedition in the commonwealth then when they that deserue well of both are vilipended or neglected and lewd vnworthy men are honoured with the reward due vnto vertue Oh therefore let vertuous worthy men find grace in your eyes let them in the name of God be cherished and countenanced by you ever remēbring that they are the meanes of much good vnto the place where they liue As for wicked men bend your browes vpon them and as they deserue it let them feele the edge of your sword Pinguior victima mactari Deo non potest quam homo sceleratus a fatter sacrifice can yee not kill vnto God then a wicked man If yee spare him yee spare not your owne selues judex ipse damnatur cum nocens absolvitur the iudge himselfe is condemned when the guilty person is absolved And seeing so many Amorites yet remaining in the land they now begin to pricke sorer in our sides then heretofore hoping for a linsey wolsey Church at least ere long it is high time for you to looke carefully herevnto Tranquillitas est vbi solus Petrus navigat tempestas vbi Iudas adiungitur saith Ambrose if Peter saile alone all is calme if Iudas saile with him nought but storme and tempest If we cannot vtterly be rid of them let them be hewers of wood drawers of water with the Gibeonits God forbid they should steere at the helme and be proud commanders Thirdly and lastly doth God sometimes enwrap both good and bad in the same punishment This my Lords is a mysterie vnimitable and farre aboue your reach and to follow God in such actions were to make your selues as ridiculous as little children who will needs put vpon them their fathers coats though they be no way proportionable vnto them Theodosius the Emperour for the fault of one man at Thessalonica involved many innocents into the same punishment but hee was faine to doe penance for it before he could be receiued into the Church by Saint Ambrose If Polititians thinke they see reason of state in it yet policy must yeeld to religion the rule whereof is Fiat iustitia ruant coeli evill may not bee done that good may come of it For the least evill of fault is greater then the greatest evill of punishment that being evill in nature this only to sence otherwise an act of iustice it selfe Neverthelesse albeit this act of God be not to be imitated by vs yet seeing the wicked by reason of their mixture with the Godly draw downe common plagues vpon them both it ought to be our wisdome first to labour for their conversion and if it may be to worke them into Gods favour then if this cannot bee effected either to separate them from vs by the hand of iustice or to separate our selues from them at least wise in dislike affection For as Solomon saith He that walketh with the wise shall be wise but a companion of fooles shall be afflicted And thus much of the first part which is Gods action now of the second which is Abrahams affection How Abraham stands affected in this particular case of Sodom is cleare and evident by his words Be it farre saith he from thee to doe this thing to stay the righteous with the wicked and that the righteous should be even as the wicked be it farre from thee He vtterly mislikes that the righteous should perish together with the wicked and desires rather that God would be pleased either to spare the wicked Sodomites for those righteous ones which happily were among them or else to deliver the righteous from the destruction of the wicked In a word he seemes to be solicitous for them all both for the Sodomites whether good or evill in generall and in particular for his brother Lot who dwelt among them But here it will happily be said what doth Abraham prescribe vnto God impose a law vpon him Is God to be ruled by man and divine actions to be directed by humane affections Farre be such temerity farre be such presumption from the Father of the faithfull No he knowes and confesses himselfe to be but dust and ashes and that God is not only Liberrimus agens one that freely doth whatsoever hee will both in heauen and earth but also Sapientissimus needing no counsellor to advise him but knowing best himselfe what is to be done He doth not therefore presume to order the actions of God but only proposeth his humble sute vnto God neither doth he take vpon him to direct him but to deprecate for others It will peradventure yet farther be said that God had already signified his purpose vnto Abraham and what he meant to doe Which being so it had beene his dutie to laid his hand vpon his mouth and to haue rested in his will without farther contradiction or opposition And here caeca
philosophâ sententiâ I detest those men whose mouthes are full of the rules of Morality yet practise none of them But in a Minister of the Gospell it is yet a fouler incongruity if their words and workes disagree When Demades saw king Philip dancing I wonder ô Philip quoth he seeing thou bearest the person of a King that thou dost the workes of Thersites Much more rightly may I say of these I marvell that hauing taken vpon them the office of Phinees with what face they can act the part of Zimri Impudent beyond measure must they needs be who being guiltie none more of drunkennesse adultery blasphemy and the like yet lift vp their voices like trumpets and presume in open pulpit bitterly to inveigh against the same sinnes in others Every one will say to such a one Medice cura teipsum Physitian heale thy selfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you take vpon you to cure others being your selues full of boyles and vlcers It is altogether preposterous for a strumpet to take vpon her the reformation of the stewes Manus quae sordes abluit munda esse debet saith Gregory the hand had need to bee cleane that cleanseth other things The Spartans when an evill man gaue them good counsell caused an honest man to say the same then imbraced it What speake I of Spartans God cannot abide that a wicked mā hating to be reformed should once take his covenant in his mouth A more dangerous pestilence then a lewd Minister there cannot be the contagion of his life quickly infecteth euery one thinketh it not only lawfull but safe also to follow his guide And thus I feare doe they many times reason the Preacher indeed earnestly disswades from sinne and perswades vnto sanctitie of life threatning hell vnto the one and promising heauen vnto the other but if he beleeued verily that there is a heauen or a hell doe you thinke hee would liue such a deboisht and dissolute life as he doth He knowes well enough what he doth none better let vs doe as hee doth eat and drinke and be merry for to morrow wee shall die And thus Hophni Phinees behauing themselues like the sonnes of Belial are the very causes of Atheisme and prophanenesse in the world and by this meanes draw contempt not only on themselues but also vpon the sacrifices and religion of God But contrarily whosoever saith our Saviour Christ shall doe the commandements of God himselfe and teach others to doe them too shall be called great in the Kingdome of Heaven Of such a one it will bee reported that God is in him of a truth The Saints will receiue him as an Angell of God even as Christ Iesus and be ready to plucke out their eyes to giue them to him As for others he cannot but finde approuement in their consciences for as the wise heathen said Adeò gratiosa est virtus vt insitum etiam malis sit probare meliora so gratious a thing is vertue that even wicked men by the instinct of nature allow and commend that which is good And thus much of the third and last part the redresse of our contempt Now it remaines before I dismisse you briefly to make some particular application And here though I well might yet will I not extend my exhortation farther then our Apostle doth his hee restraineth his to Titus that is to the Minister so will I mine First therefore if according to our hopes and desires wee might now haue enioyed the presence of the reverend Father of this Diocesse I would humbly haue intreated him to See that Titus be not despised That to this end he would haue speciall care whom hee admits into this holy order for Non ex quolibet ligno fit Mercurius every man is not fit to make a Minister Farre be it from so reverend a Bishop either with Ieroboam to make Priests of the basest of the people or with Caligula to destinate his horse Incitatus to the Consulship That also hee would be pleased to beare an eye vpon those that are already admitted to countenance those that walke worthy of their places and severely to censure such as either by their idlenesse or misliuing scandalize their profession But I represse my selfe and from him that is absent turne my speech vnto you that are present and haue delegate power and authority from him You and those that depend vpon you doe I earnestly beseech to see to it also that Titus be not despised Good reason haue I thus to beseech you for your exorbitations and abuses redound to the dishonour of your Lord though he neither act them nor approue them and from him descend to the skirts of his clothing vs his inferiour Ministers Shall I tell you a story David sonne to Philip the good Duke of Burgundy being Bishop of Vtrecht would needs one day not by his Poser but by himselfe make triall of those that offered themselues to holy orders and finding them vnsufficient reiected all but three His officers therewith offended said it would be a foule shame to the Church if of three hundred three only should be admitted To whom the Bishop it would bee a fouler shame if insteed of men asses might be admitted Yea but say they this age breeds not Pauls and Hieroms you must take such as it affords I require not such quoth the Bishop but asses will I not admit Then must you increase our wages say they for by such asses doe wee liue Thus you see that inferiour officers sometime commit errors which the superiors know not of wherewith notwithstanding hee is charged and that they seeke more their owne advantage then the dignity either of the Church or the Churches Ministry It was the complaint of Saint Bernard in his time that Church officers studied more how to empty mens purses then to reforme their vices I feare these times are little better and that our mony is rather visited then our manners so the fees come in roundly no matter how irregularly men liue O that your principall aime were to redresse abuses to remoue scandalls out of the Church how pretious would your name bee among the Saints and what honour might you gaine both to Church and Churchmen What shall I farther say No more but this Your Courts are called Christian God grant your carriage may be so Christian in them that they may ever truly be as they are called My last addresse shall be to you my brethren and fellowes in the Ministry whom I adiure in the name of Iesus Christ carefully to see that no man despise you And to this end Hoc agite Take heede both to your selues and the flocke over which the holy Ghost hath made you overseers To your selues that you may proue Good men to your flocks that you may approue your selues Good Ministers Either by it selfe will not serue the turne what God hath joyned together may not be put asunder Liue
them so farre as to hold the bason and ewer to him to serue in the first dish at his table to hold his stirrop to lead his horse yea to bee his horses too and to carry him on their shoulders All this I marvell by what right Aaron aduanced not himselfe aboue Moses Christ denied his kingdome to be of this world Peter claimed no such power ancient Popes acknowledged Kings and Emperours to be their good Lords and Masters The first that vsurped it was a mushrom of the last night that brand of hell Hildebrand whom therefore Baronius makes the patterne of a perfect Pope as Machiavel doth that monster Caesar Borgia of a perfect Prince Secondly as they subject all Monarchs to the Bishop of Rome so he exempteth all Clerkes from their jurisdiction etiam vnctos culinae their cookes and skullions too erecting to himselfe a Monarchie in euery state possessing a third part in them affirming that Kings may not punish his Clarkes because they are not their subjects threatning theÌ„ with a thunderbolt from the Vatican if they shall presume so to doe This also I maruell by what law Divine we haue demonstrated the contrary Humane Princes cannot grant such priuileges as derogate from their soueraignty But since the Church of Rome is turned into a Court no maruell if Christian liberty also bee changed into temporall franchises and immunities Finally they teach that if a Prince become a tyrant or be an hereticke or excommunicate it is lawfull then to arme against him to set vpon him with dags kniues poisons yea if need be to vndermine and blow vp whole Parliaments with gunpouder and if any of them for such practises be convented before the Magistrate they may elude their examinations with equivocations and mentall reservations as they tearme it in their canting language but in true and plaine speech hellish lying and perjury Certainely for these traiterous and more then heathenish doctrines yee may be sure in scripture they haue neither precept nor example out of the Scripture the only presidents they can haue are the ancient Pharisees whom Iosephus reporteth to haue beene great enimies vnto kings and Mahumetan Assasins whose profession it was to murther Christian Princes and for cogging and cheating the Priscillian hereticks whose rule was Iura perjura secretum prodere noli sweare forsweare and bewray not in any case the mysteries of our sect and profession But besides Anabaptists and Papists there are others whose doctrines are sound and good yet out of an evill habit and custome yeeld not vnto Magistrates their due honour And are there not among vs too many of this kinde What muttering what whispering what censuring what sinister construction set vpon euery action what discouering what blazing of infirmities what so high but we will reach at what so deep but wee will bee sounding the bottome of Is this the honour is this the obedience is this the thankfulnes wherewith we requite our gouernours You will say they are vnjust tyrants oppressors bribers God forbid yet suppose it were so What if parents wrong their children and husbands bee froward to their wiues shall children therefore dishonour their parents and wiues their husbands As we delight in faire weather so must wee also patiently endure stormes and tempests when they come Hard Rehoboam must haue subjection as well as David and servants must be subject not only to good and courteous but also to froward Masters Happily our sins haue deserued such chastisement and then in wrath God sendeth evill Magistrates A certaine holy man they say expostulated on a time with God why he had permitted Phocas being so cruell a man to bee Emperour to whom a voice answered that if a worse man could haue beene found he should haue beene set over them the wickednesse of the world requiring it In these cases the only weapons of Christians are preces lachrymae fasting and prayer and whatsoeuer Magistrates be stâ—â—l wee must needs be subiect Wee must be subiect for feare of wrath for there is no mocking with princes Durum est scribere contra cos qui possunt proscribere it is dangerous to contest with them that can outlaw vs and turne vs out of all wee haue and to jest with those that can gladio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 returne the iest backe againe with the sword But to be subiect for Wrath only is no pleasing sacrifice vnto God nimis angusta est innocentia ad legem tantùm bonum esse it is but a poore innocence that is forced by law No wee must bee subiect for Conscience for the Lords sake If the heathen man being damned what he had learned by the study of Philosophy could answere to doe that willingly which others doe by compulsion should not a Christian bee ashamed not to learne so much by Christian religion The first lesson that Christian religion teacheth is humility if this be once learned Conscionable subiection will soone follow For where pride raignes Omnes dominari nemo servire vult every one will be a King none will be subiect but Humility is a vertue that fits vs Obedience and to doe the commandements of others As for you my Lords to whom according to your place subiection is due giue mee leaue to addresse my speech vnto you in the words of the Apostle to Titus See that no man despise you Neither let the speech seeme strange vnto you for if you be despised it proceeds mostly from your owne default either you are not such men or such Magistrates as you should be It is a great incongruity to looke for honour while your actions are dishonourable and to bee called and counted Lords being servants vnto base lusts and affections First then if you will haue others to be subiect vnto you bee you subiect vnto God kisse the sonne honour and obey him and God will honour you While man liued in subiection vnto God all the rest of the creatures stood in awe of him but when once he rebelled against God by eating of the forbidden fruit they rebelled against him also In like manner will it be with you if yee honour him men shall honour you if otherwise he knoweth how to poure contempt vpon princes also Next it behooueth you to carry yourselues in your places as becometh you that is as Iudges not as marchants not as marchants to buy and sell mens rights but as just Iudges to giue vnto every man his right And to this end it may please you to remember that the Scripture calleth you Gods and therefore that yee should bee like vnto God not accepting the persons of any nor suffering your selues to bee corrupted by any meanes but in every thing to giue righteous iudgement Remember I beseech you also that God standeth in the congregation of Gods and although in places of judicature an empty throne be not now set for him as it was among the Ethiopians yet be assured that he is alwaies present with you and will
one and the very same according to his humane substance absent from heauen when he was in earth and forsaking the earth when he ascended to heauen And a little after how could he ascend but as a locall and true man evidently employing that he cannot be a true man who is not Locall and circumscribed in one place And indeed if the Body of Christ be aboue in Heauen and in many places here on earth at one time as at London Paris Rome else-where and not in the severall spaces betweene either it will follow that there are as many distinct bodies of Christ as there are places wherein it is or that his Body is many hundred miles off and separated from it selfe either of which is most vnreasonable and absurd For as Saint Paul saith there is but one Lord and heauen and earth are many miles asunder Besides it would follow that the Body of Christ is out of that which containeth it consequently that that which containeth it containeth it not which is a meere contradiction Nay if that Mathematicall principle be true as vndoubtedly it is that those bodies which touch the same point doe also touch one the other it will necessarily follow that the Priests fingers which touch the Body of Christ in London must needs at the same time touch his fingers who holdeth the same in Rome And so shall not only the Body of Christ be in divers places at once but by vertue thereof those things also that are many hundred leagues a sunder shall actually touch one the other Vnto these and the like absurdities for the saluing of them you haue nothing to oppose saue only the Omnipotence of God to whom nothing is impossible But withall you forget that this hath beene the ordinary refuge of the heretiks who as Tertullian saith faine what they list of God as if he had done it because hee could doe it whereas we should not because hee can doe all things therefore beleeue he hath done it but rather search whether he haue done it or no. True it is God is omnipotent but by doing what he will as Augustine saith not by suffering what he will not Whence also some things he therefore cannot doe because he is omnipotent He cannot deny himselfe saith Saint Paul and it is impossible that he should lye And This impossibility saith Ambrose is not of infirmity but of maiesty because his truth admitteth not a lye nor his power the note of inconstancie So that whatsoever is repugnant to the Nature and Truth of God because he is Almighty he cannot doe And such are all contradictions both the parts whereof cannot possibly be true at once but if the one be true the other must needs be false Hence it is held for an vndoubted Maxime in Schooles that God cannot doe those things that imply contradiction the reason because so he should be false himselfe Now this Doctrine of yours implies in it innumerable contradictions as by and by shall be demonstrated among the rest this that the same Body at the same time shall in heauen haue shape quantity distinction of parts circumscription and all other essentiall properties of a Body and yet in the Sacrament shall be destitute of them all Both of which if vpon presumption of Gods Omnipotence you will needs still beleeue I must plainely tell you that to build on his Power with impeachment of his Truth is not Faith but Infidelity Thirdly it destroyeth the Nature of a Sacrament For proofe whereof I will vse no other grounds then those which your owne men and Bellarmine in particular haue laid for me To the constitution of a Sacrament of the new Testament three things among sundry other saith he are necessarily required First there must be a Signe that is as Saint Augustine defineth it a thing which besides that shape or kinde that it offereth unto our sences of it selfe causeth some other thing to come into our minde Whence it followeth both that the Signe is something knowne and that it is a thing differing from that which it signifieth or whereof it is a signe Secondly that this signe must be sensible or visible For a Sacrament is intrinsecally and essentially a ceremony of Religion and a Ceremony is an externall act Wherefore the Fathers every-where teach that Sacraments are certaine Footsteps or Manuductions vnto things spirituall Invisible Thirdly that the signe must hold due analogie and proportion with the thing signified according to that of S. Augustin If Sacraments had not a certaine similitude of those things whereof they are Sacraments they were altogether no Sacraments And hence is it that the Fathers call them Anti-types that is things of like Forme and liuely expressing that which they present These things being thus granted out of them I frame this argument That which destroyeth the signe in the sacrament by confounding it with the thing signified making it invisible and insensible and holding no analogie or proportion with that whereof it is a signe destroyeth the nature of a Sacrament But your doctrine of the Reall Presence by Transubstantiation doth all this Ergo it also destroyeth the nature of the Sacrament The Major or first Proposition is by you as wee haue now shewed yeelded vnto vs and cannot bee denied The Minor or second Proposition I thus proue in every particular And first that it destroyeth the signe For if any remaine either it is bread or the Accidents of bread or the body of Christ for there is not a fourth But bread it cannot bee for the Element is not a signe vntill it be consecrated and bread is no sooner consecrated but forthwith it ceaseth to be And if it be not then neither is it a signe for of that which is not nothing can be affirmed Againe the Accidents of bread as Colour Savours measure and the like are not it For besides that it is impossible that Accidents should haue any subsistence without their subiect the Being of an Accident being to be in its subiect it is very strange and vnconceauable if they could how the meere Accidents of bread should represent and signifie the body of Christ. The rather because the signe was ordained by Christ to bee a helpe vnto our Faith and to lead vs as it were by the hand vnto the thing signified Whereas the Accidents of bread without the substance thereof are rather lets and hinderances vnto vs and with no more reason can bee called signes of Christs body then a darke cloud that keepeth off the light of the Sunne from our eyes may bee called a signe or Representation of the Sunne Adde herevnto that such a signe is required as is materiall and elementall according to that of S. Augustin The word being added to the element it is made a Sacrament So Hugh so Bellarmin so the rest Now to call Accidents by name of Elements is a new straine of Philologie vncouth
this you will remaine during life and then if your life hinder not as you hope it will not you shall enioy everlasting life I. D. What you professe you will not doe that you haue already done Very weake wavering haue you shew'd your selfe in forsaking that religion which is descended vnto vs by succession from Christ and his Apostles and hath alwaies beene taught and maintained in the Catholike Church to embrace a new vpstart superstition vtterly vnknowne to the Primitiue times and growne out of the earth but some two or three nights agoe What Motiues you then had for your revolt I knowe not They that knewe you well speake of some other thing rather then Conscience The best construction I can set vpon it is this you had beene but badly informed in the truth And now least you should incurre the imputation of levitie and inconstancie if you returned to vs againe I feare you haue obstinately resolved to close your eyes and not to see the truth how brightly soever it shine vpon So that the saying which I thinke I haue some where read in Tertullian is verified vpon you Miserable is the case of that man who was perswaded before hee was instructed and afterward refuseth to be instructed because hee is perswaded The sayings of Vincentius Lirinensis and S. Augustin we well allow of but the application of them to your selfe hath more face then forehead in it For as of old Dioscorus the Heretike cryed out in the Councell of Chalcedon I am cast out with the Fathers I defend the doctrine of the Fathers I passe not beyond them in any point and I haue their testimonies not barely but in their very bookes even so you and wish no more modesty nor truth then he I follow vniversality antiquitie and consent in my Beleefe I stand to the Faith that hath beene held in all places in all seasons by all or the most Bishops Priests Doctors in Christianitie I follow a Church begun by entrance of nations authorized by miracles encreased by charitie established by continuance in which is succession from Saint Peters Chaire and knowne of all by the name Catholike But soft good sir how is all this proued For you cannot bee ignorant that we deny al these things affirming the clean contrary that the Romish Synagogue is not the Church S. August speakes of but altogether degenerated from it that the points in difference betwixt vs were neither Vniversall nor Ancient but sprung vp of late ever as they rose vp mightily opposed by the most famous Clerks of their times If you would perswade vs otherwise you may not thinke to prevaile with your strong imaginations but you must convince vs with sound demonstrations wherein God wot the best of you all are as weake as water For as for your selfe I cannot but wonder that knowing no more then you haue picked out of the writings of two or three sneaking Friers you yet talke so coÌ„fidently and presumptuously of Vniversalitie Antiquity and consent in all places and seasons of all Bishops Priests and Doctors as if either your selfe had liued all the while to see it with your eyes or had read all the story of the Church and whatsoever monuments they haue left behind them If you thinke you may be so bold and confident vpon your Author tell vs I pray you why we may not be as bold and confident on our The rather seeing your writers are open maintainers of Equivocation and I knowe not what pious frauds and lies which our men even from their hearts detest abhorre But why should either we or you trust so much vnto deceitfull man The safest course would be with the wise â—ereans to search the Scriptures whether these things be so or not He that shall doe this with an honest heart and out of the loue of truth cannot but finde satisfaction vnlesse hee fayle that hath promised seeke and yee shall finde Verily one testimonie from the mouth of God and his sacred word wil be of more force to settle the Conscience then ten thousand of those Topicall arguments probabilities wherewith your Author gulleth and beguileth you But where you say that the Roman Church is by all both friends and enimies knowne and called by the name Catholike you shew your selfe to be a pleasant and merry man It may bee some of vs at some times may haue called some Recusants Catholikes What then Doe we therefore indeed count you so Nothing lesse for wee call you not so in earnest as if you were so but only in jest and by way of Irony because you affect to bee called so Otherwise then thus wee never either count or call you or your Church Catholike Why Should wee seeing you your selues howsoever in word you retaine it yet in effect seeme to disclaime it calling your selues Roman Catholikes For Catholike is Vniversall Roman Particular that is of the whole world this of one Citty So that Roman Catholike is as much as to say Particular Vniversall that is Not catholike Catholike Whence it followeth evidently that while you restraine your Faith to Roman you vtterly cut it off and your selfe withall from being Catholike Hauing therefore lost the kernell why are you so greedy of the shell Of the name I mean being destitute of the thing Content your selfe with Roman leaue Catholike vnto vs. For wee are indeed the true Catholikes holding all that Faith and only that Faith which the Apostles preached and was generally beleeued throughout the World An ancient friend of mine and a worthy Scholler being demanded in a Stationers shop in Venice while there he followed the Lord Embassadour what was the difference betweene vs here in England and the Catholikes answered None at all for wee count our selues good Catholikes But the party being loth to be put of so pressed him againe to know the difference betwixt vs here and them there and was answered This that wee beleeue the Catholike Faith contained in the Creed but beleeued not the thirteenth Article which the Pope had added to it But it being replied that hee knew none such the Extravagant of Pope Boniface was brought where hee defines it to bee altogether of necessity to salvation to euery humane Creature to bee vnder the Bishop of Rome The beleefe of this thirteenth Article thus patched vnto the rest by your thirteenth Apostle may perhaps make you Bonifacian or Roman but the beleefe of the other twelue makes vs I am sure true and perfect Catholikes Whether you allow vs the name or not it matters nothing as neither whatsoever nicknames you impose vpon vs. For by the grace of God wee are what wee are and it is neither the one nor the other that can make vs other then wee are As neither can you by assuming the name of Catholike or any other Sectaries by calling themselues Illuminates or Vnspotted Brethren make your selues to be that which indeed you are not For as for Reformers although such Corruptions
the naturall light of humane reason can afford which what a glow-worme it is and how subiect to mistaking who sees not Aristotle whose eyes were as sharpe sighted and peircing into these matters as ever any mans yet confesseth we are but owly-eyed in them and the Pyrrhonian Philosophers saw so much vncertainty in most things that they grew to maintaine an impossibility of knowing any thing So vaine is man in his imaginations and so full of darkenesse is his foolish heart that when they professe themselues to be most wise they become the starkest fooles But the truths of this divine science being supernaturall haue their certainty from a supernaturall light even the revelation of Gods spirit which can neither deceiue nor bee deceiued according to that of our Sauiour Flesh and blood hath not revealed this vnto thee but my Father which is in Heauen This is the light shining in the darke vntill the day dawne the day-starre rising in our hearts the Certitude of Faith which is simply and absolutely so because no falsehood can possibly be vnder it and being as Chrysostome saith more firme then all Demonstration as standing not in the enticeing speech of mans wisdome but in plaine evidence of the spirit and of Power True it is that this our Science sometime receiueth from humane wisdome yet not because shee needs it but because wee neede it nor for any defect or vncertainty in it but for the weaknesse of our vnderstanding which by those things that are knowne to naturall reason is more easily brought to vnderstand those things which are aboue reason For otherwise she is so farre from receiuing her Principles from any other Science that shee either allowes or controls all their rules and maxims as being their soveraigne Queene and Mistresse And thus much of the excellency of the Science of Divinity now of the Efficacy of the Ministry As is the man so is his strength saith the Proverbe in like manner as is our science so is our Ministry that the most noble therefore this the most powerfull That is most powerfull which worketh most effectually to atchieue ' its end and the more difficult the end is to bee attained the greater is the power that attaineth it Now what is the end of the Ministry It is as Saint Paul saith to build vp the body of Christ to open mens eyes and to turne them from darkenesse to light and from the power of Satan vnto God that they may receiue forgiuenesse of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith in Christ that is in a word to make men partakers both of the state of grace in this life and of eternall glory in the life to come An employment as of highest consequence so of greatest difficulty that Saint Paul wondreth who might be sufficient for it Chrysostome saith that the Angels themselues would tremble to vndergoe the burthen Yet hath it pleased the wisdome of God in earthly vessels to convey vnto vs these heavenly treasures and to make the Ministry of weake mortall men mighty in operation able to pull downe strong holds and to cast downe imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it selfe against the knowledge of God and to captiue every thought to the obedience of Christ. Hence is it that Esay calleth the word of God the arme of the Lord and Saint Paul the preaching of the Gospell the power of God vnto salvation Hence that God himselfe affirmeth that his word shall never returne vnto him void but shall accomplish that which he will and prosper in the thing whereto he sends it Is it is not strange that the wolfe should dwell with the lambe and the leopard with the kid and calfe and the lion and the fat beast lye together and a little child lead them That the cow and the beare should feede together and their young ones lye downe together and the Lyon eate straw like the Oxe That the sucking child should play on the hole of the aspe and the weaned child put his hand on the Cockatrices den and all without either hurt or danger Yet all this is done through the knowledge of the Lord and by the power of our Ministry This is it that filleth vp every vally and levelleth every mountaine and hill that maketh the crooked straight and the rough waies smooth that all flesh may see the salvation of God The meaning of which allegoricall speech I cannot better expresse then in the words of Lactantius giue mee the man that is cholericke a railer vnruly and with a few words of God I will make him as meeke as a lambe Giue mee him that is greedy covetous gripple and I will make him liberall and giue bountifully with his owne hands giue me him that is fearefull of paine and death eftsoones shall he contemne his gibbets fires and Phalaris bull Giue me the lecher the adulterer the taverne haunter and by and by shalt thou see him sober chast and continent Giue me the cruell and bloud thirsty man and his fury shall soone be turned into clemency Finally giue me the vniust man the foole the sinner and forthwith hee shall be iust and wise and innocent Such and so great is the power of this divine wisdome that it quickly changeth a man and transformes him into another shape so as ye can hardly know him to be the same Neither let any man thinke that these are but words no they haue ordinarily beene and are daily done Did not Ionas with one sermon humble the pride of the King of Niniveh and all that mighty citty into sackcloth and ashes Did not Peter at his first preaching to the Iewes pricke them to the heart and at once adde about three thousand soules vnto the Church Did not Paul discoursing of iustice and temperance and iudgement to come make Felix the governour although a heathen yet to tremble But what speake I of particulars which are infinite Never did Alexander or Cesar with their huge hosts of armed men win so great victories or erect such troopes of honour to themselues as did the holy Apostles vnto the name of Christ. They were in number but twelue for the most part poore fishermen and vnlettered and despised in the eye of the world and yet within a few yeares armed only with the sword of the mouth and the power of this Ministry they conquered the whole world and subdued it to the obedience of Christ. And whom they subdued they so setled in the Faith that rather then they would renounce it they were content to endure most exquisite torments and to loose a thousand liues In like manner hath the Ministry hitherto prevailed and shall successiuely vnto the worlds end How many families of Philosophers haue heretofore failed without successor How many sects of Hereticks are vanished and melted away as dew before the sunne But the Church
of Christ and his religion shall never faile The heavens shall sooner loose their influence and the starres their light then the Ministry of the Church be without its strength and vertue Neither the open violence of tyrants nor the secret vnderminings of Antichrist nor hell it selfe shall ever be able to let or hinder it And thus much of the Efficacy and Operatiue power of the Ministry The authority and jurisdiction annexed therevnto is exceeding great and ample I stand astonished at the consideration thereof for among the sonnes of men there is none comparable to it Among the sonnes of men say I Nay among the Angells of God saith Chrysostome For neither to them nor to Kings or Princes but only to the Ministers of the Gospell are the keyes of the kingdome of heaven giuen These only haue power to open the kingdome of heauen to all that beleeue and to shut the gates against those that continue in incredulity These haue authority to binde and loose to remit and retaine sinnes to enter men by baptisme into the visible Church to admit them or withold them from the holy communion to cut off notorious sinners from the body of the Church by excommunication to deliuer them over to Satan and if they proue incorrigible by anathema maranatha to separate them from the Church vntill the Lord come Adde herevnto that whatsoever they doe here on earth by vertue of the keyes the same is eftsoones ratified by God in heauen according to that of our Saviour whose sins soeuer yee remit they are remitted and whose sinnes soeuer yee retaine they are retained and againe whatsoeuer yee shall binde on earth shall be bound in heauen and whatsoeuer yee shall loose in earth shall be loosed in heauen Now as the Iurisdiction of the Ministrie is wondrous great so is the extent thereof exceeding large For it stretcheth it selfe without exception of condition or degree vnto all men If I should say Angels also perhaps I should not say much amisse Else what meaneth that of the Apostle vnto Principalities and Powers in heauenly places is made knowne by the Church the manifold wisdome of God For seeing the Church maketh nothing knowne but by the Ministrie and the Angels come to the knowledge of the manifold wisdome of God by the Church it seemeth that they also are in some things informed by the Ministrie And thus at length to summe vp all that hath beene said you haue clearely demonstrated not only that the Science we professe is of all other the most transcendent and operation of our Ministrie the most effectuall but also that the authority and jurisdiction therevnto annexed is of all other the greatest and largest Out of all which I hope I may be bold to inferre the conclusion principally intended that our calling is therefore of all other the most worthy And is it so indeed that the Ministry is of all callings the most noble and honourable Then belike they that are advanced therevnto are accordingly to be esteemed Without question they are Reason telleth vs it ought to be so God commandeth that it be so The more strange it seemes that whereas all other sorts of men are regarded answerably vnto their places Ministers only are vilipended and least set by For that so it hath ever beene the monuments of former ages sufficiently testifie Noah was mocked of the old world Lot of the Sodomites Aaron of Korah Dathan and Abiron David of Michol Micaiah of Ahab and his false Prophets Elizeus of the children and Iehus captaines and generally all the Messengers and Prophets of the Lord by the Iewes In the new Testament Christ himselfe was set at naught the Apostles when they were filled with the extraordinary gifts of the holy Ghost were flouted at as full of new wine St. Paul when he discoursed most profoundlie before the Athenians of the mysteries of Christian religion was counted of them but a vaine Babler and vniversallie all the Apostles every where were no better reckoned of then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the offals off scourings of the world doe not we Ministers now a dayes drinke of the same cup or are we not baptized with the same baptisme wherewith Christ and his Apostles were yes verily Contempt pursues vs also and perhaps the more the more inferior we are vnto them Giue me leaue to shew it in particular if for no other cause yet to confound the hypocrisie of these times wherein men loue not to be but to seeme to be and to take religion on them rather then into them howbeit briefly for what pleasure can either you take in hearing or I in discoursing of so sad a theme The Honour due vnto the Ministrie is double Internal External Internal in the Minde in the Affection In the Minde honourable estimation in the Affection Loue. External in Word in Gesture in Deed. In Word honourable mention in Gesture reverent behaviour in deed liberal and bountifull maintenance All these Honours doe we iustlie claime as due vnto vs yet are they all most shamefully denied vs. For as touching the first it is as cleare as the sun at noone-day by what hath beene already said that the Calling of the Ministry is in it selfe aboue all other the most honourable Expresse testimonie of Scripture vnanswerable arguments deduced from it haue sufficiently manifested the same Now wee know that reason would that every thing be valued according to the worth thereof and very simple doe wee count him that sets no better price vpon silver then lead vpon gold then copper vpon emerauds and diamonds then pibble stones Which being so it followeth that the Ministry of the Gospell being indeed so pretious a jewell as in the iudgement of all accordingly to be esteemed and very foolish or froward must hee needs be that disesteemeth or vndervalueth so invaluable a treasure And yet how many are there in these daies who despise this sacred function and set it at nought some happily through ignorance not knowing the worth thereof but others out of profanenesse preferring a messe of pottage before a birth-right An evident signe and token whereof this may bee among others that those of the better ranke either for wealth or gentility count themselues too good for the Ministry and hold it a foule disparagement to bestow their children that way No that is an employment fit for poore mens children only Or if at any time they vouchsafe to designe their sonnes therevnto they are but of the yonger sort ard such as they finde altogether vnapt for any other calling for otherwise the law or marchandise or some trade of more advantage swaies them and carries them cleane away Nay even those that are of good parentage and equall vnto others if once they enter into the Ministry they hold them abased thereby and the very name of a Priest shall bee cast into their teeth as a